Morning Joe - Morning Joe 11/21/22

Episode Date: November 21, 2022

5 killed after gunman opens fire at LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs

I'm thinking, like, at any second, this man could just bust through the door and kill us if he really wanted to. Thank God he didn't really know, I guess, where he was going. The police didn't even know we were in the dressing room. Once they found us, we were escorted out. When we were escorted out, bodies on the ground, blood, shattered glass, people dead. It was sad. A witness describing the scene and what he saw just around midnight Saturday after a gunman entered an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado and began to fire, killing five people, injuring 25 more,

before he was confronted and subdued by two people inside the club. We'll have a live report from Colorado Springs in just a moment. Plus, Attorney General Merrick Garland names a special counsel to investigate ongoing federal probes into Donald Trump. We will have reaction and take a closer look at the veteran prosecutor who will decide whether Trump should be charged. Meanwhile, high profile Republicans continue to urge the Republican Party to move on from Trump, including former appointees and allies. We'll have the very latest. Good morning. Welcome to Morning Joe. It is Monday, November 21st. With us, we have the host of way too early, White House bureau chief at Politico, back from his 10-day bender in Southeast Asia, Mr. Jonathan Lemire.

Also with us, MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle. Joe and Mika have the morning off. We want to begin, though, in Colorado Springs, where a community is grieving this morning following the deadly mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub there. Five people were killed, 25 others hurt after a man wearing body armor, armed with an AR-15 style rifle and a handgun, opened fire inside Club Q just before midnight. The one person who survived the shooting telling the New York Times he thought the gunshots were part of the music on Saturday night, but then he saw the muzzle of a gun and ran. Police say the tragedy could have been much worse if not for the brave actions of two people inside that club. While the suspect was inside of the club, at least two heroic people inside the club confronted and fought with the suspect

and were able to stop the suspect from continuing to kill and harm others. We owe them a great debt of thanks. Police have identified the gunman as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldridge, but have not yet determined a motive. Joining us now from Colorado Springs, NBC News correspondent Priscilla Thompson. Priscilla, good morning. What are you seeing and hearing there? And what more do we know about a potential motive here?

Yeah. Well, Willie, good morning. You see this memorial behind me that has grown over the past 24 hours as people from this community come here to pay their respects for those five victims. What we are learning at this moment, we know that there are those 25 people who were injured. At least 18 of them are still hospitalized, some in critical condition. And of course, the big question is why? Why did this happen? Why did the shooter walk into this club and commit such a devastating act of violence. We know that there was someone by the

same name and with the same birth date who was arrested last year for making bomb threats to his mother. But we don't know the status of that case. Officials have declined to say whether or not the suspect in this case is the same person that was arrested last year. But they do say that they are looking at that case in relation to what happened here over the weekend. And I have been speaking to community members who have been coming here. A lot of people just overcome with emotion as they come to pay their respects. I spoke to one person, Sophie, and I want to play a little bit of what she, uh, what they said to me about how it feels right now to be someone of the LGBTQ plus community after a tragedy like this has happened here. Take a listen. This is not an easy day. This is a lot to just wake up to as a

transgender person living in Colorado Springs. This is a hard city to live in already. So waking up to something this in your face is just a reminder of the hate that we live with in this city every day and the love that we need to fight it with. You can't fight hate with hate. So we tried to bring a little bit of love here today. And still so much hurt in this community, but also so many questions and also praise for those two people that you noted who essentially fought with the gunman, the mayor saying that they were able to take a gun from him and actually hit the gunman and get him on the ground. And just to give you context about the timeline here, they say that within one minute, those patrons rushed that gunman. So within one minute, he was able to kill five people, injure 25 people. And we're still working to learn about if there were any red flag laws that might

have been raised here about this suspect and how exactly he obtained this gun. And of course, the biggest question of all, why? Willie? And to that question, Priscilla, we know and we respect the fact that the police want to wait until they know for sure to ascribe a motive to what happened here. But this is an LGBTQ club. They had advertised a drag brunch on Sunday morning for Transgender Remembrance Day. And this man, according to the witnesses anyway, walked in with a rifle and just started shooting indiscriminately. So where will the investigation go from here?

What else will police be looking at? Right. So police say that they have already been working to obtain multiple search warrants to search the suspect's home, looking at those social media accounts to see if they can find anything that shows that he had hate towards a targeted group. Of course, in this case, the LGBTQ plus community. And of course, that suspect is expected to survive. He was injured. He is hospitalized. But police are working to interview and actually speak to him and try to see what they can learn from him about why he chose to commit this act of violence, speaking to family members and friends, and of course, speaking to

the witnesses who were here over the weekend about what they heard, what they saw as this incident unfolded. But I will tell you, a lot of the people that I've spoken to on the ground here feel like this was absolutely a hate crime. They feel like this was a targeted attack. This is known to be a safe space for this group in this community. And they feel like there is no reason that someone would have walked into this club and committed this crime were it not for hate against this community, Willie. A terrible, terrible tragedy with could have been much worse, as you say, if not for the heroism of some of the people inside that club. NBC's Priscilla Thompson in Colorado Springs. Priscilla, thanks so much. As Priscilla mentioned, a man with the same name and age as the club's shooting

suspect was arrested in June of last year after the man's mother called police to report he had threatened her with a bomb and other weapons. He surrendered to police after a three-hour standoff that forced neighbors to evacuate. He was booked on felony kidnapping and menacing charges. But the Associated Press points out there's no public record prosecutors ever moved forward with that case or that police or relatives ever tried to trigger Colorado's red flag law. Coming up on Morning Joe, we will speak with the district attorney in Colorado Springs overseeing potential charges here. And we'll also bring in the president and CEO of GLAAD, Sarah Kate Ellis. That's coming up in just a few minutes. Turning to politics, Attorney General

Merrick Garland is appointing a special counsel now to oversee the two ongoing federal investigations into Donald Trump concerning 2020 election interference and the Mar-a-Lago documents case, along with possible obstruction in that investigation. Garland has named veteran prosecutor Jack Smith to the position. The Justice Department says Smith has resigned from his position at The Hague, where he investigated war crimes committed during the Kosovo War. He will return to the United States immediately to begin his new assignment. Naming a special counsel gives Garland some distance from the investigation

should his boss, President Biden, face off against Trump in the next presidential election. Based on recent developments, including the former president's announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election, and the sitting president's announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election and the sitting president's stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel. Such an appointment underscores the department's commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters. Throughout his career, Jack Smith has built a reputation as an impartial and determined prosecutor who leads teams with energy and focus to follow the facts wherever they lead. As special counsel, he will exercise independent prosecutorial judgment to decide whether charges should be brought. Again, Attorney General Garland appointed by President Biden wanting to give himself some distance from this investigation now that Trump has gotten into the race. The former president

spent the weekend, as you can imagine, railing against Attorney General Garland's announcement in a series of statements, interviews, and at a Mar-a-Lago event, the 2024 presidential candidate bemoaned what he called the witch hunts that he has dealt with over the years. This horrendous abuse of power is the latest in a long series of witch hunts. It started a long time ago. They want to do bad things to the greatest movement in the history of our country, but in particular, bad things to me. But I've gotten used to it. It's lucky. It's lucky. A lot of people wouldn't get used to it so easily. This is a rigged deal, just as the 2020 election was rigged, and we can't let them get away with

it. Over the years, I've given millions and millions of pages of documents, tax returns and everything else, and they have found nothing, which means I've proven to be one of the most honest and innocent people ever in our country. Again, the two investigations the special prosecutor will be looking into, despite what the president said there, are his leading of an attempted coup against the government around 2020 election and the taking of classified documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago. Let's bring in former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance. She's an MSNBC legal analyst and the founder of the conservative website The Bulwark, Charlie Sykes. Good morning to you both. Joyce, let me start with you and what we know about Jack Smith, a prosecutor at the federal level, but also now a war crimes prosecutor at The Hague. What do you make of the move here and the choice of Mr. Smith? Well, Merrick Garland clearly wasn't trying to appeal to the former president because there's

nothing that could convince him that any investigation into his conduct has integrity. What Garland is trying to do here is simply doing the right thing in the right way. And it's something of a signal that he believes that there may well be sufficient evidence to indict Trump, because if that wasn't going to be the case, there would have been no reason for Garland himself to decline on an investigation. So not to read the tea leaves too far, but it does seem to signal that DOJ believes that there's serious business ahead. Smith is well qualified. He has experience both in main justice, but out in the field at U.S. attorney's offices. And there's nothing like trying a lot

of cases to help you understand when you have enough evidence to proceed in a very serious case. There's just no substitute for that experience. So he brings that along with managerial ability. He was actually briefly an acting United States attorney in Nashville during the Trump administration. And also he brings his experience in Kosovo where he joined that team. It's interesting, Willie. They had actually been in progress for over a year with the investigation. No charges had been brought.

He joined as they call it the specialist council in that situation. And charges were brought over 100 of them. So he seems well positioned to hit the ground running here. So, Joyce, let's stay with you and talk a little timeline. There's been a sense of real momentum in these investigations over the summer into early fall before DOJ pushes pause, at least publicly, because of that unwritten rule about not talking publicly, commenting about an investigation 60 days near an election. That has come and gone. But bringing in a new person like this, is this is there a sense here as qualified as he is?

But this is going to slow things down. Is this going to extend the process of the investigation until we get a resolution one way or another about possible criminal charges? So Garland says no, and he offers some compelling reasons to believe him. I'll say I think it's appropriate for us to all be watchful. But the argument runs something like this. Smith has a track record of jumping into existing investigations and hitting the ground running. The statement that Smith himself issued was a vow that the investigation would not shift into neutral while he got up to speed. Garland has promised that he

will get all of the resources that he needs. And this is a very different situation from the Mueller investigation. Mueller became special counsel eight days after Jim Comey, the FBI director, was fired by Donald Trump. There was no preexisting investigation for him to pick up and run with. He had to build everything from ground zero. He nonetheless moved remarkably quickly. I remember how surprised we all were when those first indictments began to come down. Smith has a very different scenario. He's got prosecutors and agents who are working on this matter, these matters, because it's both of the investigations, January 6th, as well as Mar-a-Lago.

And those folks will be able to shift over. He can continue working with them, with the professionals in the National Security Division. He should be able to move with some speed, even in this December period, where DOJ is normally a little bit quieter. And that's what I'll be looking for, to see if they run through the tape at the end of the year. And, you know, Mike, the criticism we've heard from Donald Trump in the last couple of days and from other Republicans over the weekend is about the timing, which is that Donald Trump announces he's running for president. And a couple of days later, the attorney general announces a special counsel where it's actually just the opposite. The attorney general has said, because Donald Trump announced he's running for president, I need to remove myself

from this because I was appointed by President Biden, who might be his opponent, and hand this over to someone who will be independent and who is not tied to the administration in that way. Yeah, well, Willie, the former president has ever been known for being reflective about events that surround him, which leads me to ask you, Charlie Sykes, the clip that we just played of the former president speaking, it struck me and I think others that he does not wear well the costume of a victim. Nobody likes to put it on, doesn't he? This, of course, is one of the great paradoxes. You know, the I alone can fix this. I am the great man. I will return America to greatness. But I am this besieged victim all the time. No, I mean, my first reaction was a little bit of disappointment that that looked like the attorney general was was was punting.

I think that Joyce's analysis, though, is is reassuring. And I think Jonathan asked the really the correct question. What is the speed of this? Is it going to be slowed down? I think it's naive to think that by appointing a special counsel, he is going to reduce any of the criticism that you're going to get from MAGA world and from Republicans. But as you mentioned, it was interesting watching that clip of Donald Trump once once again wallowing in his victimhood and looking past. I think it's going to be interesting over the next couple of months to see how other Republicans react to all this, particularly now that Donald Trump is alone as

an announced candidate with the spotlight on him so intensely. Yeah, we're going to hear from some Republicans condemning Donald Trump in just a few minutes. And meanwhile, in an interview that aired hours after the announcement of the special counsel, former attorney general under Trump, Bill Barr said he believes the Department of Justice does have a legitimate basis to indict Donald Trump over the classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. Here's what he said. If the Department of Justice can show that these were indeed very sensitive documents, which I think they probably were, and also show that the president consciously was involved in misleading the department, deceiving the government,

and playing games after he had received the subpoena for the documents, those are serious charges. That's a serious enough crime. That's serious. That's a serious enough crime. Well, I personally think that they probably have the basis for legitimately indicting the president. I don't know. I'm speculating. You're speculating.

But given what's gone on, I think they probably have the evidence that would check the box. They have the case. Do you think they will? I think it's becoming increasingly more likely. Increasingly more likely the Justice Department will indict Donald Trump, says his former attorney general. We've also heard Joyce Vance from the attorney general during the January 6th select committee hearings, his views about Donald Trump around 2020 and the election, everything that happened with January 6th. He did say, though, I will note that, well, if Donald Trump ends up being the nominee,

I'll have to really consider voting for him. We can put that to the side. But is he right? Does it look from where you're sitting, Joyce, like the Justice Department does have enough to indict Donald Trump on the classified documents? Well, look, far be it from me to agree with anything that Bill Barr says. I think he sort of X'd himself out of the public discourse when he lied to America about the contents of the Mueller report issuing that false summary that exonerated supposedly Donald Trump. But in this case, I think what his comments signal is increasingly to public observers who are looking at the evidence that's publicly known. It looks like Trump's conduct with regard to the classified documents is right inside of the heartland of cases that DOJ prosecutes.

It's really important, I think, to say that we don't know the evidence that DOJ has internally. Sometimes as a prosecutor, you have evidence that's exculpatory, evidence that tends to show that someone isn't criminally liable, and that evidence might not be publicly available. So it would be a mistake for us to prejudge. But based on what we see, and I was one of the co-authors of a piece published in Just Security last week that exhaustively views the evidence and the law and concludes that prosecution is merited both on the documents charges and on obstruction of justice charges. And we will see now with the special counsel Jack Smith on the case how quickly they move there. Joyce Vance, thanks so much always for walking us through all

of this. We always appreciate it. Thank you. Still ahead on Morning Joe, a growing number of Republicans are urging their party to break from Donald Trump ahead of 2024. We'll take a look at what some leading GOP voices and potential White House contenders had to say over the weekend and how long this break may last. Plus, Elon Musk restores the former president's Twitter account, but Trump says he has no interest in returning to the site, at least for now. What it means for the continued chaos inside Twitter and parts of western New York are digging out after a record setting winter storm passed through the region. Eighty inches of snow in Orchard Park, New York, home of the Buffalo Bills. We'll have a live report from Buffalo. The Morning Joe comes right back.

It's a beautiful live picture as the sun begins to come up at 624 in the morning in Washington. A number of top Republicans there continue to urge the party to break from Trump ahead of 2024. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who's mulling his own presidential bid, tweeted this on Friday. We were told we'd get tired of winning, but I'm tired of losing. And so are most Republicans. Here is what New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said during a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition on Saturday. Candidate quality matters. Holy cow, have we learned that one the tough way. Look, here's a good policy. I got a great policy for the Republican Party. Let's stop supporting crazy, unelectable candidates in our primaries and start getting behind winners that can close the deal in November. There's a unique decision for you. I mean, really. Holy cow.

That's important. Don't just assume it's all going to work out. We keep losing and losing and losing. And the fact of the matter is the reason we're losing is because Donald Trump has put himself before everybody else. Donald Trump picked candidates with one criteria, only one. Not electability, not experience, not wisdom, not charisma, not the ability to govern. But do you believe the 2020 election was stolen or not? If you do, I endorse you. If you don't, I reject you. Well, let me tell you, that's not what this

party stands for. It's not what it should stand for in the future. And we've got to stop up and stop it now. Governor Christie also said over the weekend, Republicans have to stop treating Trump like Voldemort. They need to say his name out loud and confront him when they disagree with him. Former House Speaker Paul Ryan warned yesterday Republicans will lose the White House if the party supports Donald Trump in 2024. It's palpable right now. We get past Trump. We start winning elections. We stick with Trump. We keep losing elections. That's just how I see it. But he had incredible power in the primaries. I mean, his candidates won in the Republican primaries almost across the board. That's the point. He can get his people through the primaries, but they can't

win general elections. So it's really clear. I think the Republican voter is going to move on. That's why I don't think he ends up winning the nomination at the end of the day. I think we have a great stable of good, capable conservatives who are more than capable of winning this primary for presidency and winning the election. And I think Republican voters know that. So that's why I think our voters ultimately who really want to win are going to give us candidates who can win. What will it mean to the Republican Party if he actually wins the nomination again? We'd probably likely lose the White House. We just did in 20. So I think we'd probably lose the White House with Trump. And if there's someone not named Trump, my guess is we win the White House. But if I'm saying if he wins the general election, if he becomes president

again, I mean, the way Liz Cheney has put it, it's like an existential threat to the country. I just don't think he's going to. I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think he'll win. He's just unelectable. I think he's unelectable because that suburban voter, you think he's more popular since the 20th election with a swing voter in America or less? No evidence of that at all. But he does seem to have a hold on a good chunk of the Republican Party, whether or not it's a majority, we'll see. That's right. But I think he's going to continue to lose altitude because we want to win. And we know with him, we lose.

We have a string of losses to prove that point. And there are a lot of really good, capable conservatives who people, I think, like that are more than capable of not only being good conservatives in office, but can win elections. Look, here's how I was not an ever Trumper. You worked with a speaker. I was I governed with them and I'm very proud of those days. I'm proud of the accomplishments of the tax reform, the deregulation of criminal justice reform.

I'm really excited about the judges we got on the bench, not just the Supreme Court, but throughout the judiciary. But I am a never again Trumper. Why? Because I want to win and we lose with Trump. It was really clear to us in 18, in 20 and now in 2022. Former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan there. So, Charlie Sykes, there will be people watching those last several clips over the last couple of minutes and say, OK, but we've seen this movie before.

After January 6th, some Republicans walked out on the ledge and said, I'm done enough. We can't have Donald Trump with us. They turned around and saw there weren't a whole lot of people with them and walked back where they were. Is this time different just for the practical question of he lost the midterm elections effectively for them a couple of weeks ago? He lost the White House. He lost in 18. He lost the special election in 2021. And they want to hold on to power. Yeah, it's it's only going to be different if it's different. Having seen all the other times the Republicans have walked up to this line. But having having said that, I think one of the most interesting things over

the weekend was watching that parade of presidential candidates. Donald Trump did not sweep the field by preemptively getting into the race. Nobody backed away. If, in fact, he did have the iron grip on the party and he is still the dominant force in the party, you would have thought that that other candidates would have backed away from a direct challenge, but they didn't. But on the other hand, listening to my good friend Paul Ryan, and I wish he would have said these things a long time ago, you'll notice that he is confining himself just to saying that Trump is a loser. I think this is important that Republicans, I mean, I think this is a significant development

that Republicans are now saying we need to turn the page. We need to move on. He will lose for us. And maybe that will hit with primary voters. But then he was asked the question, well, what if Donald Trump became president again? What would it mean? And he's not willing to say that Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States. He is unwilling to say that it's not just a matter of winning and losing, but this is a man who lacks the character to be president of the United States, that he does pose an existential threat

to our democratic order. And so I wonder whether or not it's necessary that Republicans notice he's a loser, but I wonder whether it's sufficient, because if you're going to continue to say he was a great president and I was proud to work with him. It's all about losing. I'm not sure that's going to be enough to dethrone Donald Trump. So we just heard from Chris Christie a moment ago saying the Republican Party was not the party that embraced the big lie. And I'm going to respectfully disagree. That is who they are. The vast majority of Republicans have embraced the big lie. They have kowtowed to whatever Trump wants. And yes, as you just mentioned, there have been moments where the party could have broken from Trump.

It never, ever does. And we should tap the brakes here. You know, Trump maybe is at a weak moment at this particular, as we sit here in the middle of November, late November. But polling suggests that he still has a significant lead over, say, Ron DeSantis, perhaps his most formidable 2024 opponent. And Mike Barnicle, it is encouraging, I suppose, for some Republicans to see that there are some voices who are willing to speak out. We heard from Pence. We heard from Pompeo. We heard from Christie. There have been some others. And a lot of them are mulling their own 2024 presidential bid. But in a way, that plays right into Trump's hands, because Trump has a loyal base of support.

And the bigger that field gets, the more likely he's going to come out on top. Yeah. I mean, if it's a large field, he does have a better shot at coming out on top. You're absolutely right. But I think Charlie put his finger on a key point here. We saw Governor Sununu and Christie both speaking. And Charlie's point is valid. And I wonder about it myself. And Charlie, maybe you can expand upon it. Doesn't it really prove the point that Donald Trump has instilled such fear in other Republican candidates that they go right up to the tripwire of answering the question of if he does indeed,

God forbid, become president of the United States again. It poses a threat to national security and a threat to the larger existence of the United States of America as we know it. Yes, that's exactly right. Because, of course, the big fear is that Donald Trump is prepared to burn the house down if he doesn't get the nomination. So there's going to be a little bit of tentativeness there. But also the recognition that if you say that, you've essentially excommunicated yourself from this Republican Party. You know, ask Liz Cheney what happens when you say, you know, I'm never again Trump-er in that particular way. So, you know, that is one of the lines that they don't want to cross. They don't want to say that they would not support a

Republican or that they would vote for a Democrat. And again, does that really sound the alarm about Donald Trump? I mean, I understand the logic here that if you're going to move past Trump, you're going to have to get Republican voters who will say, OK, that was fine. Let's give him a gold watch. We need to turn the page. And this is the theme. We need to turn the page because we are losing. But I'm just not sure that that content free, morality free position is going to be enough. We've seen it. Interesting, Charlie. Yeah. To hear Bill Barr, who we played a minute ago talking about the investigations, talking about his former boss as a presidential candidate this time around,

said Trump should, quote, step aside, but also says there's a chance he still would support Trump if he's the party's nominee. If he would just, if he had just exerted some self-control and discipline and dialed back his, his, you know, pugnacity and his nastiness a little bit, he would have won the presidency and had a second term. And he didn't do that. He failed. He didn't do what the whole country hoped, which that he would rise to the occasion and rise to the office. And he didn't do that. So he's had his chance. He doesn't he obviously does not have the qualities necessary to unite the party, which is the first step on the

road back. And he should stand aside. If Donald Trump were the nominee for the Republican Party again, would you support him? Well, I'm just hoping it never comes to that, because I think it would be a tragedy if he's our nominee, if he's the Republican nominee. Could you vote against him? Could you vote not for the Republican if Donald Trump were the Republican nominee. Could you vote against him? Could you vote not for the Republican if Donald Trump were the Republican nominee?

Well, again, I think it gets down to what I said, which is I would have to make the judgment at that point the impact on the country. And I'll have to see what's going on in the world, who the Democratic nominee is. If it's a progressive Democratic nominee, I can't imagine voting for him. But ideologically progressive

versus somebody who orchestrated an attack on the Capitol, whom betrayed his oath to the Constitution. As you said in your words, you still might vote for him. Depending on all this, it's hard for me to project what the future holds. The question is always a comparative one. You have to make a choice between two people. I don't believe in throwing my vote away on a third party. You don't rule out supporting President Trump again. No, I don't. Depends on the circumstances. Charlie, it remains astounding to hear people like Bill Barr, and he's done this before, and he's certainly not alone in this, to lay out the case, not just a political or policy case against Donald Trump, but a moral case against him, a case for democracy

against Donald Trump. We can't afford to have him there. He's failed and he goes down, ticks down the list. But, you know, I'll have to see. Maybe I'll vote for him. And we're talking. He says we have to see what happens. It likely will be Joe Biden running against him. So it's not a, you know, necessarily a wild eyed lefty running against Donald Trump if Joe Biden does, in fact, run. So what do you make of this argument? Because he's not alone. We've heard it before. Well, I don't like Donald Trump, but I can't vote for the Democrat. Well, that was the story in 2016, wasn't it? That it became a binary choice and the people who thought, you know, this is a terrible choice went along with it anyway. Well,

we've now seen what it's done. You know, look, if you're Bill Barr, you just said he's a failure. He lacks the character to be president. You know, he was he was he was deluded about a variety of things. You know, it shouldn't be that hard to say this man should never be president again. But the tug of that partisan loyalty is so strong that he's not able to carry it logically that I'm not going to vote to put him back in the Oval Office. I'm not going to give him back the nuclear codes. I'm not going to put him back in charge of the FBI and the IRS and the Department of Justice and the CIA. I'm never going to make him commander in chief again. What are you crazy? They cannot

bring themselves to say it. And I think that's been the history of the Republican Party for the last six years. They know who he is, but they're unable to quit him, even when the evidence is absolutely overwhelming. And so, Charlie, do comments like that lead you to believe that we'll hear all these protests for a while? It's how 2016 started as well, by the way. Now he can't be president. He can't be president.

And the moment he looks like the most powerful candidate and the base starts to rally that all these Republicans will fall in line behind him. Yeah. Well, that's been the history. And then until they change that, you have to assume that that's what's going to happen again, because if your entire case is that he can't win and there are a couple of polls showing him that maybe he can't, then you have nothing. If you're not willing to make the moral, political, constitutional case against Donald Trump. Charlie Sykes, thanks as always for your insights. We appreciate it. Coming up next here, the first public appearance of Kim Jong-un's daughter has some speculating about a possible succession plan for the North Korean leader. We'll get a live report from the region next on Morning Joe.

The Washington Post reports this morning Russia has secured a deal with Iran to begin making drones and other unmanned aircraft in Russia for Russia to use in its war against Ukraine. Russia has been using Iranian-made drones for weeks now, targeting key infrastructure facilities and residential buildings. According to the Post, officials say both Russia and Iran are ramping up the design process and could begin production within just months. If Russia acquires its own assembly line, it will be able to increase its inventory of highly destructive weapons that have proven effective in recent weeks. Russia is using the drones to attack heat, power and water sources. Jonathan Lemire, obviously, this is something the White House has been grappling with as well. What to do about this

supply line from Iran into Russia in the war against Ukraine, with the United States, of course, on the other side of that deal. Yeah. And it's a disturbing development, U.S. officials tell me, because even though the Russians are not particularly skilled in using the drones in the most accurate fashion, they don't have to be. These things are loaded with explosives. They can just sort of be in the area and still cause real damage. And that's what they're seeing here, is the Russians have struggled on nearly every front in this war. And We have seen one humiliating retreat after another. But they've hit upon something here that is working, and that's targeting civilian infrastructure.

And let's set aside just how terrible that is. These are not war targets. These are not military targets. These are people. But if Russia wants to sow chaos and try to unrest in Ukraine, this is a way to do it. And they have hit power structures, have hit heating, they've hit electrical grids, and they've plunged a lot of Ukraine into darkness. And now temperatures are getting colder there. Winter is approaching. And there's real fear, Willie, that a lot of Ukraine is going to spend this winter in the dark, that that's a real worry. They're using these drones to take out these infrastructure targets, and temperatures are freezing. And in fact, just this morning, Ukrainian officials signaling they're going to give evacuation orders to some cities, including Kherson, which they just recently reclaimed, because they feel like it will be

a humanitarian crisis if those residents are there over the winter, if they don't have heat or power. So the Russians, if they're able to up their inventory of these drones, they'll be able to continue this offensive in perhaps even more widespread fashion. Russia continues to terrorize the civilian population, now doing it with the help of Iran and those drones. Meanwhile, North Korea's latest missile launch took place on Friday, with Kim Jong-un standing near the platform to watch the blast off of the country's largest intercontinental ballistic missile. So was his daughter. It's the first time Kim has revealed one of his children to the world. Photographs published by North Korean state media on Saturday show Kim holding hands with a girl

in front of a missile. Joining us now from Beijing, NBC News foreign correspondent Janice McEfrayer. Janice, those photos raising some speculation, I understand, about a possible succession plan in North Korea. Well, the images are fascinating because we haven't known that this child has existed before. And there they are holding hands. She's wearing little red shoes. And they're watching the launch of this towering ICBM. It's believed her name is Juai, that information coming from Dennis Rodman after he visited Pyongyang back in 2013.

But the question, Willie, is why at this of all events did Kim choose to reveal one of his children? And there are a lot of ways to look at it, that he may be telegraphing this message that there is a fourth generation power succession. It could also be that this was an attempt to humanize him, to soften his image. We saw that happen when his wife was eased into the picture back around 2011 or 2012. The officials in Pyongyang have a very highly calibrated public messaging. And the higher the propaganda goes, the more weight that message carries. So the fact that Kim unveiled his daughter was seen as a message to the world. But there's also the need to look at this through the domestic

lens. This is the launch of the largest road mobile ICBM capable of striking anywhere in the United States. And this for North Korea is seen as an achievement. It's a reason to celebrate inside the country. When Kim was with his daughter, state media wasn't hyping her up or even naming her. They referred to her simply as his beloved daughter, and his wife was there, too. So there are many ways that analysts are looking at this. The surprise of a little girl was one aspect of this missile launch. The other little surprise came in the form of a video. Officials have not released a video of a missile launch for five years. So there are analysts all over the world who are looking at this and parsing it for any information they can gather about the acceleration of the

missile, what it suggests about how the weapons program is advancing and its overall performance, because there just aren't any diplomatic channels that are open right now. The NSC confirming that on Friday and saying that there are no lines of communication in or out of North Korea, and the North Koreans really aren't interested in talking anyway. Willie? And as you say, South Korea concerned about the increase in frequency of some of these tests. They've seen missiles lobbed in their direction. NBC's Janice Mackey-Frayer reporting from Beijing this morning. Janice, thanks so much. Still ahead, we'll get the latest from Buffalo, where they are waking up with several feet of snow still on the ground

following a historic storm. We'll take you there when we come right back. Here's Patterson's time. He touched it. Cordero Patterson has a seam. Patterson splits it. Goodbye. Cordero Patterson, the ninth time in his NFL career. Hurts, pulls the trigger.

End zone, touchdown. From the 16-yard line, Marcus Jones. Got a block from Schooler. Here he goes. He's going to try to beat the putter. He does. He's gone. And that is a touchdown. Burr down at nine. Dalton heeds this one downfield. It is caught and taken in by Olame for a Saints touchdown. And in that direction, it's intercepted. He was throwing for Cooks, but Kendall Fuller has a takeaway,

and that's a commander's touchdown. Fake to Jacobs. Carr loads up. Adams is open. Walk-off touchdown. A sweep of the Broncos for Las Vegas. Point deep. Pollard has the catch, and no one will touch him again. Touchdown, Dallas.

40-3, the Cowboys beat the Vikings, and the Vikings are good this year. Crazy Sunday, and then there was a Sunday night game, a good one, between the Los Angeles Chargers. They hosted the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes connecting with tight end Travis Kelsey for three touchdowns. Big development for my fantasy team, including the go-ahead score with 31 seconds left in the game. The Chiefs extend their lead atop the NFC West with a 30 to 27 win over the Chargers. So Jonathan Lemire, crazy day in the NFL. We have to go back, and I'm sorry to Jets fans. They're definitely moving in the right direction. They're playing better this year. But talk about a heartbreaker for Jets fans,

and I know you're celebrating as a Pats fan. Effectively, the walk-off punt return for the Patriots to win a terrible game 10-3. That was one of the worst games in the history of football. It was horrendous. There were more punts than completions. I mean, it was dreadful, this game. But there is a truism. At the end of the day, the Jets will be the Jets. And this is now in a game where neither offense could do anything. How can you pump the ball to give that guy, Marcus Jones, a rookie, special teams, special, special teams player, a chance to return it? And he breaks it with scores with five seconds to go, more or less a walk-off punt. And the Patriots find yet another way to beat the Jets, or rephrase, the Jets find another way to lose to the Patriots.

That is now 14 straight times the Pats have beaten the Jets. That's incredible. Almost impossible to do in the NFL. And Mike, just for context, people didn't see the game. As John said, the Jets just had to get rid of it, punt it away, go to overtime, 3-3, eventually put us out of their mercy. They kick right to this kid who runs about a 4-3, this rookie Marcus Jones, and he just dusts them to win the game.

Incredible. Third round pick, the Jones boy being the Jones boy, the Jets being the Jets. I'm on a plane yesterday afternoon watching this game three to three and I didn't know what was more dreadful, the bumpy flight or the 3-3 game that I was watching. But then I turned to the other channel on the plane

and I'm watching the New York football giants and they're getting hammered. I'm getting hammered by a team that's inferior to them. And, uh, oh man, what a Sunday. Did you have Travis Kelsey on your fantasy team, Willie? I do. I do. He was an early pick for me. Three touchdowns really put it away last night. I feel good moving into second place in my division, but I won't bore you with those details. Yeah. The giants though, man, trap game. A lot of us saw that coming.

They're having a good season. We love the new coach. Here come the Lions into our place. Lions not having a great year, and they just wipe out the Giants. It was a terrible game. The Buffalo Bills. Terrible game for the Giants. The Buffalo Bills beat the Cleveland Browns 31-23.

After the league moved Buffalo's home game to Detroit because of several feet of snow that blanketed western New York, this is a look inside Buffalo's Highmark Stadium over the weekend. In Orchard Park, where the Buffalo Bills play, they got 80 inches of snow. 8-0. I can't even do the math, but that's a lot of snow. The historic storm dropped more than six feet of snow on the region. There's the math. At the peak of the storm, a record 21 and a half inches of snow fell in a 24-hour period, almost tripling the previous record of 7.6 inches. Two people did die from cardiac-related events caused by shoveling and snowblowing. Governor Kathy Hochul,

a Buffalo native, declared a state of emergency in 11 counties and activated the National Guard to help in clearing the roads. Joining us now live from Buffalo, NBC News correspondent Marissa Parra. Marissa, what a scene there in Buffalo. Yes, and you can see some of the cleanup happening behind me. So these guys have been working throughout the night. You can see those massive snow piles. And just to give you a little bit of perspective, because it might be hard to tell just how giant they are, you can see the light poles and you can see just how far the snow comes up there. Now, this is snow from not just the surrounding streets. You mentioned the stadium where the Bills play, well, where they're supposed to play, but didn't on Sunday.

Instead, they played in Detroit. And you, if you followed the Twitter account for the Bills, you know just how much snow is in the surrounding area. You talked about how many inches fell in the Orchard Park area, that one report, 80 inches, just for some perspective. That's a full, over a foot taller than I am standing right here. So right now, even though there is no snow falling, this area is still very much under a state of emergency because of this cleanup that's happening behind you, behind me rather. But I want to talk about what we have seen since we have been on the ground since Thursday. So when the snow was really at its peak on Friday, I mean,

the lake effect snow is so intense that there would be moments where it would be clear like this right here, right now. And then not even seconds later, there'd be an intense wall of snow where we couldn't even see. I would not have been able to see the camera. We had a couple of live shots where you could just barely make out my silhouette through all the thick blanket of snow. And you can imagine what havoc that wreaked on the roads. They instituted those travel bans and those travel advisories for a reason. But the thing is, there were still people that were out and about on the roads, and it made it very difficult for crews to come through and cloud the roads. So what we saw were a lot of people getting stuck one after another after another.

I mean, it was for miles. We saw a combination of people. I ended up getting out of the car to talk to them. We saw people who were coming from Niagara Falls. We saw people who were trying to deliver truck deliveries. And then take a listen to this guy who lives just outside of Buffalo, who said he was on his way somewhere. He ended up getting stranded, woke up the next morning, getting carried to a warming shelter by firefighters. They didn't even know us.

We're strangers. We're just walking through with gas cans, trying to get gas to our cars just to stay warm. And we're already, I'm soaking wet. By the time I got here, we ran out of gas. I was shivering. I had frostbite in my fingers. Bad. And I'm a veteran in this.

This is hoodie weather for us. And they're saying it's too cold for hoodies. So, Willie, one big concern here is just how dense this snow is, the weight, the pressure that this puts on everything it's on top of, including roofs. We've seen one roof collapse that Governor Hochul herself did visit the other day. And, of course, there is the fear over whether we could see more like we did in 2014. You mentioned the two people who died from cardiac arrest shoveling the snow. So they want to be clear and careful with everyone. Just take caution as you're taking care of your homes. Willie?

Yeah, dangerous situation. You just can't get over those snow totals. Incredible scenes. NBC's Marissa Parra in Buffalo for us. Thanks so much, Marissa. We appreciate it.