Morning Joe - Deputy AG: DOJ not investigating agent who shot Good

Episode Date: January 19, 2026

Deputy AG: DOJ not investigating agent who shot Good To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And now, a message from the President of the United States. I hope everyone had a nice holiday and got what they wanted for Christmas. I got what I wanted, my very own someone else's Nobel Prize, which I'll cherish. Oh, Marco's passing me a note here. Don't read this out loud, but maybe don't talk about that. Also, do you like me circle yes or no? Marco, I'm going to need a third option. Now, let's get a few words from my vice president, J.D. Vance.

While you're talking, I'm just going to sort of walk around in the background and look out windows. Thank you, Mr. President. You know, actually, I'd like to spend some time today, you know, talking about the new terrorist. And for those people who oppose, you know, our mission in Greenland. Hey, you know what? I see a Cardinal and a Blue Jay in the same tree. Wow, you don't see that a lot. Very interesting. Sir, are you okay?

No, I'm not. I don't think so. Thank you, J.D. Next up, I'd like to bring in a member of my cabinet who wears many hats in terms of responsibility and hat. Secretary of Homeland Security, Christy Noam. Obviously, there's been clashes on both sides in Minneapolis, and have we been perfect?

Yes. And I know a lot of people looking at the situation in Minnesota are wondering the same thing. Can I join ice? Well, let me ask you this. Is your neck wider than your head? Are you currently wearing a Punisher T-shirt? Have you ever punched a hole in the wall

because your son took a dance class? If the answer is yes, then grab a gun, any gun, and settle up, big boy. And just know, you can always count on me, because my last name is Nome, as in, do I have the situation under control? Noem. I don't. Saturday Night Live covering a lot of ground in its cold open over the weekend. And we have a lot to cover as well here on Morning Joe. We talk about the Pentagon, which is putting 1,500 soldiers on standby for a possible deployment to Minnesota.

We'll bring you a live report from Minneapolis in just a moment. Plus, President Trump is punishing eight NATO allies who oppose his pursuit of acquiring Greenland. We'll look at how the leaders of those European countries, may respond. We're also going to go through the slew of new pardons from President Trump, including one for a woman he had already freed for a separate crime. And we're down to the final four in the NFL playoffs. We'll bring you the highlights and some low lights from yesterday's games, closing out the divisional round. Oh, pass. Good morning and welcome to morning, Joe. It is Monday, January 19th. It is, of course, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we'll have thoughts on that.

as well. I'm Jonathan Lemire. Thank you for being with us this morning. With me, we have the host of Politics Nation on MS Now, the Reverend Al Sharpton. He is, of course, also president of the National Action Network. President Emeritus, the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haas, is here. MS Now, Washington Reporter and host of the weekend, Jackie Alamane, joins us, as well as presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize winning author John Meachan. Joe Meek-a-Willey, have the morning off. Thank you for being with us, a great group to get us going. this morning. And we'll start with the Pentagon, which has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to be ready for possible deployment to Minnesota amid a major immigration enforcement operation.

That's according to two defense officials. They say that two infantry Italians from the Army's 11th Airborne Division in Alaska are on prepared-to-deploy status. One official says that troops could be sent if President Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, which allows active duty forces to act as law enforcement. Trump recently threatened to use the law, then said there was no need to do so, quote, right now. Minnesota Governor Tim Walts has been repeatedly urging the president to stand down. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has now opened a criminal investigation into two top Democrats in the state of Minnesota. This move marks a major escalation in the clash between state and federal officials in the wake of the killing of Renee Nicole Good. People familiar with the matter

tell MS now that the Justice Department is investigating Minnesota Governor Tim Walls, as well as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Brigh. The probe focuses on two allegations that the leaders, both of whom who have been very critical of the crackdown by ICE in that state, that they allegedly obstructed federal immigration enforcement following that fatal shooting. Both men immediately denounced the investigation, called it a baseless and a weaponization of law enforcement. The mayor said the subpoenas are an obvious attempt to intimidate him, but insisted it would not work. And Governor Walls added this.

Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous authoritarian tactic. The governor added, the only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her. And to that very point, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche was asked yesterday on Fox News about the possibility of a probe into the ICE agent who shot and killed good. Is the FBI conducting the investigation into that agent, into the shooting? What can you tell us about that? Will it be made public? Look, what happened on that day has been reviewed by millions and millions of Americans

because it was recorded on phones when it happened. The Civil Rights, the Department of Justice, our Civil Rights Unit, we don't just go out and investigate every time an officer is forced to defend himself against somebody or putting his life in danger. We never do. We investigate when it's appropriate to investigate. And that is not the case here. It wasn't the case when it happened, and it's not the case today.

If circumstances change and there's something that we do, we need to investigate around that shooting or any other shooting, we will. But we are not going to bow to pressure from the media, bowed a pressure from politicians, and do something that we never do, not under this administration, not under the last administration. And so, no, we are not investigating. And if there comes a time when we need to, we will, but it's not now. Extraordinary dismissing out of hand the possibility of any sort of investigation. Meanwhile, Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara is questioning the actions of the ICE agent

who shot and killed Renee Good earlier this month. In an interview with 60 minutes, O'Hara said the agent appeared to violate basic officer safety principles when approaching goods SUV, repeatedly placing himself in the vehicle's path just before the shooting. I've seen the videos, and it's not clear to me why he appears to be in the path of the vehicle more than once. When you approach someone in a vehicle in a law enforcement encounter, it's a very basic steps you take to ensure the officer's safety and to de-escalate the situation.

Echoing, we've heard from so many active and former law enforcement personnel since the shooting. joining us now live from Minneapolis, MS now reporter Namdi Igonwu. Nandi, great to see you again. It is obviously tensions high there in Minnesota in the wake of the DOJ's word that these investigations may come. Give us the scene there. What is it like for the people coming out of the weekend, you know, on this holiday morning? Well, Jonathan, as we've talked about, there have been a lot of protests as people here are frustrated by what they view as a lack of accountability or lack of you know, into a lack of proper investigation and to the death of Renee Good. There have been calls here since the day of that shooting from state leaders and protesters alike that the officer involved here at least is subject to an in-depth investigation into his actions.

And the more the federal government indicates that will not take place, the more frustration built here among the people I speak to. We saw a variety of protests over the weekend as tensions remain high, like you point out. On Saturday, for instance, there was a right-wing influencer who, as self-described as an Islamophobe that held a protest that intended to march through an area in the city called Little Somalia. What ended up happening there is only about roughly a dozen people came to support him. But against the advice of several state leaders, hundreds of counter-protesters came and met him, and that resulted in quite volatile scenes on Saturday and some concerns that there could be perhaps escalation or violence that could result in additional surge of

federal resources that at least of now has not happened. But later that night, at the liberal building where I am, which of course serves as a de facto headquarters for ice, there was even more protest. There was more of those tent scenes you've seen between law enforcement and protesters upset at the presence of the thousands of ICE agents that have descended in the city. I want to show you some of the reinforcement that have now been added in the face of some of those tense clashes here at this building. If you see all of this new fencing right here, that's just come up in the last 24 hours as the Hennepin County Sheriff has started playing more of an active role in ensuring that at the very least, they're doing what they can to limit the interactions between

protesters, often who are very upset and agents that are often tasked with guarding this building. So we actually saw a pretty astounding scene yesterday where there was a row of sheriff vehicles all across this road, creating a physical barrier that's now been replaced with this new fencing that at least is supposed to serve as a, as helping create a designated area for protesters. That also comes roughly a day later on Sunday. We saw additional protests. despite the very, very cold weather we're currently experiencing. There was a postal worker protest, which was notable, of course, because postal workers are federal employees, but they've been among the loudest voices against the surge of federal

personnel we've seen here. There was also a protest at a church in St. Paul after protesters say they identified a pastor who also works as an ICE agent and held a demonstration in his church. We know that of all the protests that took place this weekend, that's the one that the Justice Department has paid attention to. They've indicated that they at least plan on investigating some of the the, quote, agitators that interrupted the church proceeding there. So despite the cold weather, people still making their voices heard and protests still very

much so continuing. MS now reporter Namdi Igonwu continuing to great reporting for us live from Minneapolis. Namdi, thank you again. So Reverend Al Sharpton, I'll begin with you, so much ground to cover here these last few days in Minneapolis. But you've been on the scene of so many of these protests. You've certainly at time, you know, called for justice when it comes to a fatal shooting involving a law enforcement.

I can't think, though, of too many moments where the officials in charge of this probe, because let's remember, the feds have completely cut out, state and local, you know, investigators here, they flat out say, nope, there's nothing to see here. We don't need to, we've seen the video, that's enough. And even suggesting that in the court of public opinion that this officer was acquitted, when actually per poll after poll after poll and protest after protest, exactly the opposite seems to be the case. The most disturbing thing that I heard in the comments made

by the Deputy Attorney General Blanche is saying that the officer was operating in self-defense and therefore there was nothing to investigate here. Well, who determined it was self-defense? How do you determine that without an indefinite? investigation. Clearly, many of us have seen, millions of us have seen the videotapes. It does not appear at any point he was defending himself. And defending himself against what? An unarmed woman who had just dropped her six-year-old to school and who at best said to him, I'm not mad at you, buddy.

So to come to say that you have determined there was self-defense here is to in many ways act as if there was an investigation. They've determined self-defense for the ICE officer, the ICE, uh, gentleman without even investigating that. There's another testimony to that. There's no establishment to that. We don't even know if the man himself said he was operating in self-defense. So I think that this rips off any veil of duplicity on this on the side of those in the in Homeland Security and those that are in the Justice Department that don't want to investigate this case and let the facts stand where they may in front of a grand jury in Minnesota. Richard Haas, let's talk about what could be an extraordinary step if President Trump does indeed invoke the Insurrection Act. Some speculation might even come today on MLK holiday.

He had sort of backed off at a smidge over the weekend, but I'm told that this is still an active consideration. and then some troops were put on alert in Alaska, perhaps because they're used to colder weather. It's not unclear why DOD picked them. But just talk to us, like, how rare this is, if you were to take this step, and what it would mean for the situation there on the ground. Look, the Insurrection Act passed over two centuries ago, opens up the possibility of deploying armed forces on the continental United States.

It's happened a few times, but normally in fairly extreme situations. What we're seeing here is not necessarily a situation to say the least that warrants it. The scale of it, Jonathan, is enormous. It seems almost more likely to provoke confrontations than to wind them down to calm things down. So that worries me. Also, this incident highlights the real question of training. What it takes to be effective in the military is qualitatively fundamentally different than law enforcement. So part of the problem is we're putting people who are trained for one context,

in a fundamentally different context. And the kind of incidents you had the other day where this woman got killed, that's not going to be the exception. That is going to be the rule. Now, so I think in all these issues, plus there's one more here, which worries me, which is if the situation doesn't seem to warrant it,

to send 1,500 troops, talk about escalation. Talk about what's going on here? What's motivating this? And there's a lot of people who are worried that this is a bit of a test drive. This is a bit of desensitizing America establishing precedents about what could be the greater, both the numbers as well as geographies, use of American military forces in the run-up to November 2026. The idea that this creates an

environment in which the administration positions itself to control the political process in this country and what happens to be our 250th year. Yeah, a number of Democratic leaders voicing those very concerns. We just showed some polls a second ago, new polls from CBS about how the American public souring on ISIS tactics here, in part because there is this culture of confrontation. They see there are moments where it does feel like they're trying to provoke these incidents. And John Meacham, with that is the backdrop,

with using the federal government at times explicitly for the president's political purposes, i.e. these ICE agents, but also now we hear reports that its Department of Justice make clear. They're not investigating the officer involved, But instead, the Minnesota elected officials, the governor of Minnesota, the mayor of Minneapolis, they're the ones who might actually face federal law enforcement because President Trump, frankly, doesn't like what they're saying. That's exactly right.

I mean, we're seeing every, not every, but too many authoritarian or authoritarian adjacent tools being used here. And that's not hyperbole. I don't think we're panicking or banging on our high chairs. I think these are, you know, the evidence of our eyes is that, you know, a party that believed in states' rights 20 minutes ago is now very much excited about the exertion of federal power. I was just thinking, predictably perhaps, late in his life, Dwight Eisenhower, was asked what his greatest regret was as president.

And if we talked about what one of his greatest moments was, it would be the deployment of federal troops, the 101st Airborne, into Little Rock, Arkansas to enforce the orders of the federal court to desegregate Central High School. It was a moment where the federal government threw its full weight behind what Reverend Sharpton will, I think, agree was the most significant Supreme Court decision, one of the watershed moments of the 20th century freedom movements. He regretted it, not because of what it did, but because it so troubled him that an American president would have to project force within the American border. And on Bloody Sunday, 1965, the eight days between Bloody Sunday and President Johnson giving the great speech on voting rights, he was trying to avoid sending troops to Alabama.

Because as he put it, it'll be like reconstruction all over again. What links those two things? Those were American presidents who believed deeply in the Constitution, who regretted the fact. who regretted the fact that they had to do something that felt extreme. And yet what we're seeing here is a president who does not have that sense of restraint or respect for the constitutional ethos. He wanted to, he considered invoking Insurrection Act back in 2020 during the protests around the George Floyd killing.

He was talked out of it. His defense secretary at the time said that he thought we advised against it strongly. It's unclear that anyone would put up that sort of opposition this time around. So the Wall Street Journal is now highlighting the pressure that ICE officers are facing to make daily arrest quotas.

Citing ICE officials, the paper reports that agents are expected to take into custody 3,000 people nationwide each and every day. day. The daily benchmark works out to about one million arrests in one year. The journal writes this. Though ICE has never come close to meeting that daily goal, officers are rewarded for making arrests, even if the immigrants they take in are later released. Additionally, the paper highlights how the Minneapolis operation feels different on the ground compared to other major cities where ICE has

been deployed. That's because some 3,000 federal officers are operating. in and around Minneapolis, a city of 430,000 people. Compare that with just a few hundred ages sent to Chicago last fall, a much, much bigger city with 2.7 million residents. And Jackie, this perverse incentive structure seems to me to come from two places. One, Stephen Miller, and those daily meetings, those conference calls where he's urging officials, get your numbers up, get your numbers up. This is his brainchild, and Secretary Nome is trying to carry that out. but also the legislation, the so-called big, beautiful bill, which put together an extraordinary increase in funding for ICE, allowing them to do some hiring, and then try to meet these

unheard of goals. Yeah, Jonathan, that those, these quotas and this quota in particular is one of the primary reasons that experts, law enforcement officials, and lawmakers that I've spoken with and that we've talked to on the show over the past month have attributed to some of the bubbling tensions that we're seeing right now. This heightened sense of being emboldened and encouraged by the administration to go to extreme and violent lengths as we're seeing play out over all of this video footage and on live television over the past two weeks in particular in the wake of Renee Good's death. But it's not just the quotas that obviously has led to this.

There's other parts of the culture and the training of all of these DHS officials and these ICE agents in particular. Since the Trump administration took office with relation to the way that they're now being encouraged to do their jobs and simultaneously produce content for what a lot of critics have called what is essentially a propaganda arm of DHS, Nome has basically set up a production center along with Greg Bovino and in conjunction with Tom Holman, where they're encouraged to not only hit those quotas, but take video footage of it. That's why we saw Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent, who did shoot Renee Good, holding his cell phone, his camera.

He was recording the interaction at the time. So there's a number of different factors that have really contributed directly to what we're seeing play out right now, where ICE agents are running ran. rampant, especially in Minneapolis. And it's why you now see Democratic lawmakers calling to hold back on this funding bill that's going to be negotiated imminently, potentially starting this week. So that funding to continue these operations is going to be put on hold. Yeah, that's social media content, including Greg Bavino, marching around with the Praetorian Guard in Minneapolis the last couple of days. We have much, much more on Minneapolis throughout our morning. Next, our morning, Joe,

We'll turn to Greenland and bring you the new developments on President Trump's push to acquire that island. As a new letter from the president appears to give some insight on why he's so dead set on buying the Arctic territory. And as we go to break, a quick look at the travelers' forecast this morning from Accuethers, Ariela Scalise. Arellia, how's it looking today? Jonathan, it's cold as snow moves out of Boston. The wind picks up. Acura, the real field temperatures from New York City to D.C. into the 20s today. The southeast is turning less humid, but quite breezy out there with high temperatures into the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Overall, a pretty good day for travel. No problems in Atlanta, but the wind picking up in Boston that could lead to minor delays this afternoon. To help you make the best decisions of be more in the know, make sure to download the Accuether app today. The national emergency is avoiding a national emergency. That it, it, it, It is a strategic decision by the president. This is a geopolitical decision. And he is able to use the economic might of the U.S. to avoid a hot war. So why wouldn't we do that?

You know, same thing. That what if we had a national emergency coming with these gigantic trade balances that we had with the rest of the world? I've been in financial markets for 30, 45 years, much better to be strategic. avoid the emergency. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson, with that, shall we say, circular logic pertaining to Greenland. President Trump is now imposing new tariffs on eight European NATO allies in retaliation for their opposition to his push to acquire that island.

The tariffs will start at 10% on February 1st, and they'll rise to 25% on June 1st. They will stay in place until a deal is, reached on a U.S. purchase of Greenland. That's what Trump wrote in a truth social post over the weekend. The targeted countries responded with a joint statement condemning the move, saying it undermines transatlantic relations and risks, in their words, a dangerous downward spiral. In a call with Trump yesterday, UK and Prime Minister Kirstarmor told him that applying tariffs

on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is wrong. and that European leaders emphasized NATO cooperation and sovereignty. Trump, meanwhile, continues to press the issue, posting late last night that, quote, NATO has been telling Denmark for 20 years that you have to get the Russian threat away from Greenland. Unfortunately, Denmark has been unable to do anything about it. Now it is time, and it will be done. And President Trump is now linking his threats against Greenland with not being a war. the Nobel Peace Prize?

In a letter to the Norwegian Prime Minister obtained by Bloomberg, the president wrote in part this, considering your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped eight wars plus, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace.

Trump went on to write that although, quote, thinking about peace will always be predominant, now Trump can think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. President added, the world is not secure unless we have complete and total control of Greenland. The Nobel Peace Prize, of course, however, is not decided by the Norwegian government,

but instead is awarded by an independent committee. That's a fact that Norwegian Prime Minister tells Bloomberg he has explained to the president several times. Richard Haas, I mean, it would almost be parity if it wasn't so dangerous. First of all, President Trump accepted someone else's Nobel Peace Prize. last week. I would say the not a good way to make you a frontrunner for next year's award is to try to seize a NATO allies territory. And that's what this is. It is using tariffs against some of our closest friends. And again, refusing to rule out the use of force to take Greenland. An island, first of all, Denmark has said, you want to build a base, go ahead. An island where

they're saying, we're actually, you know, yes, just do Russia and potentially China post threats on the horizon? Maybe nothing imminent. And that this is something, though, that would shatter our most successful alliance. And President Trump, his threats are only gaining steam. You know, Jonathan, we spend a lot of time on this show talking about tough issues. How do you deal with China and Taiwan? How do you deal with Russia and Ukraine? This might be the simplest issue that we've ever talked about.

And the idea that it's reached this point is beyond absurd. If we want to have closer security and economic ties to Greenland, there's a case for doing that. So let's just posit that. Just do it. Send Marco Rubio over the Secretary of State and have him negotiate a deal. They are willing to do it. We have all the infrastructure diplomatically to do it already. There's all sorts of agreements.

We want to increase American presence on the island. We have wound it down 99%. We can do that. We can do all this. We don't need a confrontation. We don't need tariffs. We don't need threats. We don't need mafia talk.

So you have to ask yourself, what is going on? The idea in foreign policy, it's like a new doctrine. It's the real estate doctrine of foreign policy. Unless you own something, it's not secure. Well, last I checked, we didn't own Europe, and we got through, NATO got through the Cold War without a war. We don't own Taiwan. China's not invaded Taiwan.

So the idea you have to own things to protect them is preposterous. There is no historical basis for that. So you almost have to think we are trying to provoke a crisis with Europe for a year now. this administration, beginning with J.D. Vance, going over to Munich, has tried to start a cultural war with Europe. And what we see this now is playing out. You could be forgiven to think we are trying to wreck the most fundamental relationship we have had now for three quarters of a century. And by the way, we are getting far along the road to succeeding, even if we, quote unquote, don't invade. I think Europeans now have come to see us as the threat. They no longer.

longer trust us to make good on our commitments to Europe. What we are doing is essentially turning upside down what has worked for 75 years and we have nothing to put in this place. That relationship led to American peace and prosperity played a role for these 75 years as well. And it's also, of course, fulfilling Vladimir Putin's wildest dreams that NATO would be threatened like this. So a recent piece by the Wall Street Journal editorial board is titled The Greenland War of 26. And it reads in part this way. For more than 75 years, the fondest dream of Russian strategy has been to defied Western Europe from the U.S. and break the NATO alliance.

That is now a possibility as President Trump presses his campaign to capture Greenland, no matter what the locals or its Denmark owner thinks. Tariffs in the cause of bullying imperialism is the wrong way to make a deal, and they might stiffen opposition on the island and in Europe. No one should underestimate the shock. his Greenland project is producing among allies. Along with his tariffs and his tilt toward Russia against Ukraine, he is alienating Western Europe in a way that will be hard to repair.

Whether or not Mr. Trump believes it, the U.S. needs friends in the world. He seems to think that if he captures Greenland, history will remember him as another Thomas Jefferson, who took the Louisiana purchase or William Seward, who got Alaska. The cost of his afflatus to the U.S. interests, will be greater than he imagines. And John Meacham, when we saw Seward's name in there, we immediately, we were very grateful that we had you on the show already.

They were colleagues. I was set up, teed up for you very nicely there. So, yes, we have heard a lot about President Trump. Yes, maybe it's real estate doctrine. Maybe he wants to, also he has a Western Hemisphere sort of, you know, look here where he wants to, you know, dominate our part of the world, the Don Roe doctrine, in his words. But this is, you know, this is not the time of Thomas Jefferson.

This is a very different time in place. And President Trump, to Richard's point, just seems to be wanting to blow up the established world order. I believe in almost everything Richard Haas ever says. There's one thing I would just elaborate on in what he, what Richard just said, which is we don't need Greenland or we don't need this confrontation. but need, and I think that need is the critical word here. I think President Trump is self-evidently at this point has a need for these dramas. He has personalized our politics and our foreign policy in a way. And Richard, you check me.

I really don't, and this is against my business bottle, I think this is unprecedented. Because this is a kingly pre-glorious revolution. kind of autocracy, where a king is, his feelings are hurt because of this prize obsession. And so, therefore, the great power of the state, the panoply of power, is going to be deployed in the service of his own, and I'll just say it, emotional and I suppose political, although I can't believe that even the Trump base is all that. I don't think anybody woke up thinking, oh, my God, Greenland is the key to prosperity and the future of the middle class. And so I think we're living in a world where his own needs are dominating our policy.

And I think, too, you know, again, there's, as Richard says, there's, I'm sure there could be a great case for doing this. That's fine. Make the case. You know, that's the way we govern, right? 49.9% of the people who voted in November 2024 decided, yeah, let's try this again. But were they voting for all of this? And at what point, and to me, this is the critical question. of the next three years, at what point do they, do those voters somehow signal that they don't want a king?

They don't want a monarch, that the Constitution still matters to them. How does that happen? That is one of the great questions of our time. And Jackie Alamani, John Meacham, did just, he said correctly. This is not something that a lot of people wanted, you know, even those who voted for President Trump. And you've got a new piece for MS now, noting that even some of his staunchest allies on the Hill are kind of quietly, you're warning against this. So this is perhaps a rare moment where Republicans might break for Trump. So tell us more about how these allies are trying to seek some sort of off-ramp to get Trump off of Greenland. Yeah, and I do want to be very clear before I go into the details of it, this could very, very, well be a Sisyphian task. I mean, at the end of the day, we have not seen Republicans really

successfully push back against Trump yet, but we are seeing a lot of hardline Republicans look at this and trying to redirect Trump's attention. The situation right now, as they kind of view it, is Trump is already getting everything and has much power as he could possibly have in Greenland because of the U.S. military presence and also because Denmark has already said so and been willing to concede more of the island to the U.S. and to Trump's whims. So what these Republican lawmakers are doing, some of whom are on the Greenland Congressional Caucus, which is led by Warren Davidson, who has a very good relationship with the president, is trying to redirect him to focus on ramping up commercial engagements and trade engagements,

potentially presenting a compactive association, a diplomatic arrangement that we have with the Marshall Islands. that could be something that could be done as well. There's various options being thrown around, also doing a critical minerals deal similar to something that has already been hashed out with Ukraine. But again, as one person told me, this is a solution in search of a problem. And I think what it all does get at is this underlying idea that Trump's claim that this is a national security need is a pretext for something else. Now, I'm not quite sure what that's something else is.

Obviously, John and Richard just laid out that a lot of this is about Trump's psyche, his desire to potentially get his face on Mount Rushmore. But I do not think we should write off the possibility of economic coercion here. And the rumors that are running rampant amongst Scandinavian embassies and Danish diplomats that this is potentially a bid to create more data processing centers and have a, again, more robust. critical minerals engagement on the island in order to continue with the minerals that are needed for semiconductors. And there are a lot of people who are worried that the PayPal Mafia, one of whom is the Danish ambassador at this point, are going to be involved in some sort of backchanneling here in order to actually execute Trump's desire for territorial acquisition. The White House told us in a statement for this piece, that essentially nothing short of that is going to be sufficient

in terms of satisfying Trump on this issue. Yeah, that he has only doubled and tripled down on this. There are many reasons why he may want to acquire it. At the end of the day, it's not ours, and they don't want to give it to us. And yet, President Trump persists. MS. Now is Jackie Allen. Amey, really good piece. Thank you also for joining us this morning. We'll have more on Greenland later today as well. But Reverend Sharpton, we do want to make sure to spend a moment on today's other meeting, an important meeting. It is, of course, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. You're in Washington. Tell us how you plan to commemorate this day, but also just what it means. And I feel like it takes on an added resonance in some ways, you know, this might be a harder day

because of everything that is happening right now and just the scenes that we're seeing across our country. Well, it does take on a different type of focus today. Annually, our National Action Network, which I had, has a breakfast in Washington, the nation's capital, co-chaired by Martin Luther King III and Andrea Waters King, who head the Drummajor Institute, and both of them are here with me. And we honor people that have kept the dream alive. Eric Holder, former Attorney General, is one of our honorees this morning. Then I fly to New York and do the New York National National National National Network Public Forum, the governor, the mayor, and others asked to come, and they'll be there this afternoon to talk about what they're doing to keep the dream alive.

I've never seen, though, in the years that we've had this holiday, and I remember when Mrs. King and Stevie Wonder and others really rallied to get this holiday, and Ronald Reagan as president, and signed it. In all of those years, and I was a youth director in the King movement, starting with the year he was killed, I've never seen the civil rights and human rights things that Dr. King fought for at such risk. Not only are we seeing what we're seeing

in Minneapolis active on the ground. We are seeing the Supreme Court weighing on whether to take out section two of the Voting Rights Act, which was a bedrock legislation coming out of the King movement. We're seeing DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion taken away, which was part of an offspring from the Civil Rights Act of 64. So as we celebrate Dr. King, they are dismantling what Dr. King stood for. And many of us are saying that this King Day and what message it brings is more important than it's ever been since it's been a federal holiday.

In fact, we're wondering if they're going to try to make this the last federal holiday. They've already stopped under this president, Donald Trump, where you can't go to the national parks you used to free. If you want to bring your family, you bring it free on King Day, MLK Day, and Juneteenth. He stopped that, but he kept Flag Day, which happens to be his birthday. You can go celebrate Trump Day for free. On the King Day, you'll have to pay today. It just happens to be his birthday. And we should also note Reverend Sharpton wrote a beautiful essay about Dr. King that you could,

read in today's edition of the T, the Morning Joe newsletter, subscribe so you can get it in your inbox this afternoon. John Meacham, turning to you now, just your thoughts on the legacy of Dr. King, particularly in the year 2026. He offered, Dutch King offered, and what became as tragically his final Sunday sermon, which was four days before he was killed in Memphis at the Washington National Cathedral. He said, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. That's the way God's universe is made. That's the way it is structured.

I hesitate to talk about covenant theology with Reverend Al here because he'll correct me. But America is a covenant. We recognize the inherent dignity of each other, not least because it's the right thing to do, but because the recognition of another person's inherent dignity increases the chances that they will recognize ours. It is a pragmatic covenant. And when the rule of the strong and the rule of brute force becomes the predominant factor as opposed to the covenant recognition of each other, then the fundamental promise of the country is at risk. Don't mean to be, again, hyperbolic, don't mean to pull a fire alarm, but sometimes there's a fire, and sometimes you need to

pull the fire alarm. And I would just urge everyone, not just today, but every day, to think about what is it that makes the country special? What is it that makes the country a place where your own rights are secure? And I promise you, history. History tells us that your own rights are most secure when the other fellow's rights are also secure. So well said, there is a fire. Presidential historian John Meacham, thank you so much for joining us this morning. Coming up here, we'll take a break for the news and turn to sports as the final four teams in the NFL head to the conference title games. Pablo Tori is here and will break down the highlights from this weekend's divisional round.

I know who won. Morning Joe, be right back. In motion. Williams, drifting, sprinting for space. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams with a simply miraculous touchdown pass to put Chicago in position to tie their divisional playoff game against the Rams last night with just 18 seconds left. It's the play of the year. The stadium was shaking after this throw.

But Williams then had a cost. Turnover in overtime. Bears made a stop, but then Williams threw an interception on Chicago's first possession of the extra period. The receiver maybe gave up on the route it looked like. It gave L.A. the ball back at their 22. There's third pick thrown by Williams in the game. The Rams put together a couple first downs and then kicked that 42-yard game-winning field goal. Harrison Mivas, the hero, sending L.A. to the NFC Championship game. As for the AFC game yesterday afternoon. Oh. What happened? The Patriots are in the title game after a strong defensive performance yesterday against the Houston, Texans, bad conditions.

Rain, snow, it was a mess. So is C.J. Straub. The Pats picked off Houston's quarterback four times, including that pick six from Marcus Jones, who returned it 26 yards to the end zone. Drake May had his struggles, but also three touchdowns leading to the Pats to their 16th conference championship game all time. but it's their first trip in seven seasons. The last one when Tom Brady was quarterback. The Pats will now take on the Denver Broncos in the NFC title game, but Denver will be without its starting quarterback, Bo Nix.

After Knicks broke his ankle right at the end of Saturday's overtime win against the Buffalo Bills, the other game will be an NFC West Showdown, the Seattle Seahawks who just simply obliterated the Niners on Saturday, they will host the L.A. Ramps. Seahawks and Rams split their two meetings during the regular season in games that were decided by a total of three points. Let's bring in the host to Pablo Tori finds out. MS now contributor of Pablo Tori.

Let's do one game at a time. I actually want to start not with the Patriots. We've got to start with that Bears game last night. Yeah. The throw from Caleb Williams was one of the great plays you'll ever see. He sprinted back 20 plus yards. The ball was in the air almost 50 yards for the touchdown. It felt like they had all momentum.

Some wonder if they should have gone for two and the win right there with the Rams so shell-shocked. But to then, it's the Caleb Williams experience. He throws a pick in the overtime. And the bear, all America was behind the bears yesterday, but they didn't get the win. It's so fun to watch him, especially if you don't care whether the bears win or lose.

Because what he does is the stuff that has been outlawed by the physics engines of video games. He's moving backwards. You don't set your feet, and he throws it 55 yards, That wasn't just a Madden play. That was a techno ball play. Oh, but this is the stuff that you can't do anymore because it's deemed unrealistic. And so the popular vote in terms of like, what do you want to see in the conference championship games? Of course, people want Caleb Williams as much as the Rams have been very good all season.

But this is a weekend in which we add two classics, two overtime classics. One blowout. And I would say, a predicted coronation, which John Lemire is finally working his way in. into feeling and enjoying. You notice a pep Richard and his teleprompter read there. Just like a little, a little bit of joy finally, knowing that, I don't know,

someone's ankle just shattered to make this road even a little easier. We have lost the backup quarterbacks before the Nick Foals tweet went viral. The Nick Folls tweet went viral yesterday. I didn't need that. Thanks, Nick. But yeah, let's talk about the Pats, Richard, for a second and then Pablo jump in.

I mean, they, yes, it has been a charmed path. I will admit it. They had a soft schedule. They've benefited from some injuries here the last couple of weeks. And we'll get to the Denver matchup in a second. But let's also give credit. Patriot defense was terrific yesterday. They made just enough plays.

That's a fourth down conversion for a touchdown. Kishon Boutte made one of the great catches you'll ever see on the May touchdown pass. But yeah, the story yesterday, frankly, though, was C.J. Stroud, who looked like he had never picked up a football before. I have never seen a pro quarterback play as tentatively. And as the game went on, every pass had less zip on it, was less certain. And basically, every pass was up for an interception. I've just never seen a court act almost become a headcase in the course of a game. And that's what happened to see Jay Stroud yesterday.

Yeah, people have been wondering. This guy was as a rookie. One of the great rookies we've ever seen, his first season. And then the question has been, again, psychologically, did he get too high on his own supply, basically? Did he not realize what he had to do to keep developing? Has his offensive line also failed him? I think it's a yes and story. But frankly, like, the Patriots, as I unveil the power rankings for this weekend,

it's just very clear. It's very clear that number one overall, let me, excuse me, I know Joe isn't here to appreciate the production value. And so I'll just flutter these papers. Yes. It's just very clearly. Pats, parentheses, duh. Seahawks, blue.

blew out the Niners, Rams, and then, of course, the Broncos. Well, I'll take a minute here to say, first of all, the Seahawks deserve, I mean, that game was over. Literally opening kickoff was run back. The game was over. Seahawks, by far, looked the best of any team that played this weekend, and that's a tough place to play. Let's take him one more beat on. I will say, Pat's Broncos, you know, that's still a really good defense. That's a really good head coach.

That's a really good home field advantage. If you guys do not win that game, the pressure is on. The joke has been, the reality has been. This is Super Bowl or bust. Now it kind of feels that way. It actually feels that way. They would be an underdog against either team in the Super Bowl, but yes, they're expected.

We need a few seconds on the bills. Yeah, well, I was going to say that's actually where I was going next, is that the Bront, were overshadowed by, I guess, the Knicks injury at the end, was another season of heartbreak for the Buffalo for the Buffalo Bills. And questions about Josh Allen, who is now, he's the best player in the league. He had a wonderful season.

He did. But this is another playoff game. where he came up a little bit short. Now, some of his lost to Mahomes were not his fault. But an argument could be made that this one, at least sort of was. He under-through passes. He overthrew passes. Joe and I were going back and forth.

What came to mine was the old Abba Even quote about the Arabs. Josh Allen never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. This was his year. My Gould have the same quote. It's so funny. This was his year. Mahomes out and so forth. And they ought to have won.

And yeah, the refs, we can argue about the calls and all that for good reasons. But if Josh Allen had played like Josh Allen, they would have won the game. It's true that we still have no idea what a catch actually is in the NFL. That really had in this game, too. But, yeah, that's a particularly heartbreaking loss for the bills. We'll do spend more time later in the week previewing the conference title games. But tonight, college football will crowd its champion. The 10th ranked Miami Hurricanes will take on number one.

The Indiana Hoosiers. Yeah, that's right. Indiana Hoosiers. They're still number one, and they're undefeated. The championship is in Miami, making it something. of a home game for the hurricanes kickoff at 730 Eastern. Pablo, what are you looking for tonight? Indiana is a heavy favorite. Fernando Mendoz, the Heisman winner, has more touchdowns and incompletions in this

playoff run. A local kid as well, a home game for him in terms of where he's from. I have Miami, though. I have Miami, even though the run of Indiana and the historical run of Indiana, no five-star players, no five-star recruits on this roster. They have beaten pretty much every power in college football on the way here. But Miami, man, like the story of that team, if their pass rush, which is the best in the nation, can disrupt the very elder statesman along that offensive line of Indiana, which is excellent, but is built through the transfer portal. Can they disrupt them? To me, that's the recipe for an upset. So I like Miami, even though Las Vegas, even though every betting market says the Hoosiers are the smart money, somehow, which is a crazy statement to say about a college football national championship.

Got to go with Indiana because I want Indiana to win. I think Signetti is the great story in college sports. You've never seen a building job, a microwave rebuilding job like this. And also I was struck by the telling moment at the news conference here this weekend. Carson Beck, the Miami quarterback, was asked about the impact this playoff run has had on his classes. And he pointed out, I haven't taken a college class in two years. Because that is the way of the transfer portal and these extra eligibility. But don't call them employees.

These are not employees. These are student athletes. Let's make that clear. You took online courses, I'm sure. Undoubtedly. Well, that's the game tonight, 730 for the college football title. And yes, the conference championship games in the NFL next Sunday.