Morning Joe - Morning Joe 2/23/24

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

Haley makes final pitch to SC voters ahead of primary

But then you look at Donald Trump. It's not normal to pay $50 million in campaign contributions towards your personal court cases. It's not normal to mock the military. It's not normal to go and choose the side of a tyrant over our allies. It's not normal to have any of this happen. That's the problem. Nikki Haley making a final push in her home state ahead of tomorrow's Republican presidential primary. We'll bring you more from the campaign trail in just a moment. MSNBC and NBC News National Affairs Analyst John Heilman is standing by in Charleston, South Carolina. Also ahead, the former informant charged with lying to the FBI about President Biden and his son Hunter is back in custody this morning. We'll explain why he was re-arrested by federal authorities. Plus, we'll show you what President Biden is saying about his meeting with Alexei Navalny's widow and daughter. Good morning and welcome to

Morning Joe. It is Friday, February 23rd. Along with Joe, Willie and me, we have the host of Way Too Early and White House Fair Chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire, and Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and associate editor of The Washington Post and MSNBC political analyst Eugene Robinson is with us this morning as well. Diving right in, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley making her final pitch to voters in her home state of South Carolina with the GOP primary set to take place there tomorrow. Haley met with voters at an outdoor rally in Georgetown yesterday, doubling down on her pledge to stay in the race, despite significantly trailing frontrunner Donald Trump in the latest polls. I'm not doing this for me. Like they want it. First, they want to say that I was I wanted to

be vice president. I think I'm pretty much proven that is not what I'm trying to do. Then they were talking about my political future. I don't care about a political future. If I did, I would have been out by now. I'm doing this for my kids. I'm doing this for your kids and your grandkids. And joining us now from Charleston, South Carolina, MSNBC and NBC News National Affairs analyst John Heilman.

John, you've been posted up there for a long time getting the feel of this race. We've seen the polls. Nikki Haley has seen the polls. She's down big there. Donald Trump hasn't even put much effort in. He kind of swoops in and out for campaign events, doesn't think he really is going to get much resistance there. What's your sense of things now that we're on the eve of the primary? You know, well, first of all, as has been was the case in Iowa and the case in New Hampshire, my main sense of things is it's not the same without the Morning Joe crew down here. We miss you terribly in the Palmetto State as we did in the Granite State and the Hawkeye State. My other sense of things is that, you know, this has been a

strange South Carolina primary for the Republican Party. This primary has been going on here since 1980. It is, in a lot of ways, the most important of the early states in every case except for one since 1980. The winner of the South Carolina Republican Party, Republican primary has been the Republican nominee. That tradition looks likely to be repeated this time around as everyone assumes Donald Trump is going to win. The only question is by how much. But the way that Nikki Haley has campaigned here, the way that Trump has not campaigned here, the fact that Haley declared defiantly she's going on after South Carolina, the way this race has played out over the course of the home stretch here in

this week raises a bunch of questions about what happens next and why is Nikki Haley staying in? What is her end game? Those are some of the questions that I've been thinking about over the course of the last week down here. And they're at the core of the piece that you're about to see right now. South Carolina is full of historic sites. When it comes to presidential politics, nothing says South Carolina like Charleston Harbor and the USS Yorktown. Over the past 30 years, the Palmetto State Primary has become pivotal in both parties, and the Yorktown, the venue for candidates seeking big campaign moments. From John Kerry in 2003, I am a candidate for president of the United States of America. To John McCain in his final

speech of the 2008 GOP primary, cracking wise about Henry McMaster, then the state's attorney general, and now its governor. Do you know the difference between a lawyer and a catfish? One is a scum-sucking bottom dweller, and the other is a fish. And from Newt Gingrich on the eve of the vote here in 2012, poking at Mitt Romney. I do not believe we can defeat Barack Obama with a Massachusetts moderate. To Donald Trump in 2016, mocking a rival who'd soon become his most grotesque supplicant. I mean, Lindsey Graham, he's got zero. He's at zero. Zero. Thank you.

And unfurling a proposal that would soon become one of his most infamous policies. A total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. Trump, Gingrich and McCain all won the South Carolina primary. So it's no wonder that Nikki Haley would close out her campaign on Friday night at the Yorktown 2 after a week spent crisscrossing the state and attacking Trump more forcefully than she's ever done before. He lost it for us in 2018. He lost it for us in 2020. He lost it for us in 2022. But look at what happened last week. Republicans lose a vote on Israel. Republicans lose a vote on Mayorkas and the border. The RNC chair loses her job.

And his fingerprints were all over it. Everything he touches, we lose. How many more times do we have to lose before we say maybe he's the problem? He said that men and women who lost their lives in the military were suckers and losers. But it's because he's never been around a veteran. Donald Trump's never been near a uniform. The closest he's come to harm's way is a golf ball hitting him on the golf course. And that's the truth. He sided with a tyrant who's made no bones about wanting to destroy America. The idea that Trump would associate himself with Putin like that over our allies who stood with us after 9-11, in that one moment, he put all of our men and women in uniform that are serving there in danger. Haley's focus on Trump and Russia was especially pointed regarding the murder of Alexei Navalny.

Trump needs to answer to that. Does he think Putin killed him? Does he think Putin was right to kill him? And does he think Navalny was a hero? Trump had no intention of answering to any of that. We're doing much else this week in South Carolina, besides jetting in for a Fox News town hall and saying this about Navalny. He was a very brave guy and it's a horrible thing, but it's happening in our country, too. I got indicted four times. I have eight or nine trials, all because of the fact that I'm in politics. This Judge Arthur Engeron ruled against you for almost half a billion dollars, plus interest that runs every day. It's a lot of dough.

It is a form of Navalny. It is a form of communism or fascism. Yet Trump's unrelenting stream of self-aggrandizing, Putin-stroking gibberish has had no apparent effect on the state of the race. The former president is cruising, while the former governor spent the final 48 hours mired in controversy after answering a question from our own Ali Vitale about the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that under state law, frozen embryos are tantamount to children. I mean, embryos to me are babies.

You are talking about, to me, that's a life. And so I do see where that's coming from when they talk about that. Haley has been backpedaling from those remarks ever since, but whatever their long-run impact, in the short term, two things are clear. Haley is headed for an absolute drubbing in her home state. And she made clear this week in a speech in Greenville, her home state will not be her last stand. South Carolina will vote on Saturday, but on Sunday, I'll still be running for president. I'm not going anywhere. I'll keep fighting until the American people close the door.

That day is not today and it won't be on Saturday, not by a long shot. Haley noted in Green Bull that she's used to people questioning her intentions, but the questions facing her going forward are even more about her endgame. Milling around Charleston Harbor with former Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, I asked him why he thinks Haley is staying in and where she imagines this all might lead. Normally money kills you off in a campaign. She's got enough money to keep going. She's got, call it hanging around the hoop phenomenon wherein Trump can beat Trump. The legal system might beat Trump. Trump's next hamburger might beat Trump. The legal system might beat Trump. Trump's next hamburger might beat Trump.

His health. I mean, and so if you hang around the hoop long enough, you never know if a stray shot's coming your way and you can down it. But Dick Harpootlian, the legendarily mischievous trial lawyer and former chair of the state Democratic Party, believes that Haley is playing an even longer and possibly shrewder game than that. She's pure ambition and she's good at it. I would agree with her that Trump is going to lose. So the party is going to be looking for somebody when this election is over

who can bring people together who, you know, has been out on the stump, can help them raise money. I think she's looking at that and saying, I can say in writ large, I told you so. I told you so. I asked Harpoolian whether he thought in the end Haley could fit that bill. When you look at the Republican Party, she may be that.

Who else is out there? She is a new generation of Republican. And I think she can claim that mantle. If she gets through this and Trump loses, she's it. So interesting. I think personally, I think it's a brilliant move, John Hellman, to stay in there, to hang in there. Women are tough. And, you know, I think the moment and I'm curious to your thoughts on this, that she didn't feel like she had to worry what she said about Donald Trump, took the gloves off, stopped kicking

sideways and started saying it like it is, is when she really found her voice. And she's a breakout star now, no matter what happens in South Carolina. Yeah, I think, Mika, I think that's right. There are two different ways to look at Nikki Haley. And here, there are people who, everyone recognize she has a lot of political skill. There are also recognize that she's very ambitious and that there are those the cynical people about her say, you know, she kind of blows with the wind and she's never been very consistent. She kind of takes whatever side of an issue that she thinks is going to get her the furthest. Other people sort of say she has evolved in a genuine way to your kind of point and that it took her some time to find her voice and maybe too late, but that she's found it eventually.

And she eventually dug in against Trump and was willing to take him on in the full threat of way she has. And that that is that she's now kind of convincing in that role. I will say, as in New Hampshire, the case, the state and the state here, a lot of people wonder how different this race would have been if she had been going against Trump, guns blazing the way she is now, if she'd been doing that for six months as opposed to just a couple of months. John, I'm curious. I've heard Nikki Haley skeptics for a very long time talking about, oh, she's shallow. She's this. She's that. She's mechanical. I must say,

and I again, Mika and I met her when she was a state representative in her first debate. We were both impressed with her, both on the stage and talking to her on the side. She seems really impressive. If Donald Trump were not in the race, she seems far more impressive than any of the opponents that she was running against. She is the last woman standing. I'm curious what your take is of somebody that's covered a lot of campaigns, been to countless primaries and seen people talk about her political skills on the stage. And then after the speech is over, is this someone that the Republican Party could be looking to if if Donald Trump is not sidelined by something this year and if she ends up being the standard bearer four years from now? Well, I think there are kind of three answers to that question, Joe. One is kind of pure political athlete. You know, is she her performance skills, her ability to project, her ability to connect?

I think, you know, she is she has been very good for a long time. She has gotten better. Everyone, even her most even the most skeptical and cynical people about her here acknowledge that she has really grown in the course of this presidential campaign. In terms of just performance skills, she way better than she was even three months ago and certainly more better than she was a year ago. So she's she's a she's at this point a pretty a pretty high level political athlete. There's the question about what's at her core. You know, what is she really? She has, if you look at the last, you know, her career since she became governor, she was a Tea Party kind of figure.

She became more of a centrist figure after the when she took down the Confederate flag. She then switched over and became kind of a Trumpian figure when she went to join him. She then became kind of a Trump critic. So she's been in a lot of different places ideologically. And I think, though, you know, to be a really successful presidential candidate in the end, the combination of performance skills with a real mooring, knowing who you are, knowing what your what your core beliefs are and projecting those consistently, that's that's necessary. And then there's the third part, which is what happens after, if Donald Trump loses or ends up in jail or both and isn't reelected president of the United States at the end of this year, what happens to the Republican Party? That

is like the big $20 million existential question. Is there a big fight for the soul of the party where some older version of Republicanism rears its head up again and tries to reclaim the Republican Party? Or has Trump fundamentally corrupted the party and remade it in his image to the point where the people like Nikki Haley, where she is now, and other more traditional Republicans are just they've lost the party for good. And Trump has left a, if not permanent, very long lasting imprint on it. Those are the questions we don't know the answers to. But if there's going to be a big fight for the soul of the party next year and beyond, she'll be in that fight. Gene, you are a South Carolina native here on the panel this morning. I was talking to a friend down there about tomorrow's primary, and he said people like

Nikki Haley. She was a two- time governor there, elected and reelected. They like her, but they love Donald Trump talking about Republicans down there. There is that a different level of zeal for Donald Trump than there is for Nikki Haley. I would add in again, I know we talk about this a lot. There was another poll yesterday from Marquette that shows in head to head matchups, as with all polls, Donald Trump and Joe Biden pretty much tied within the margin of error. And Nikki Haley defeating Joe Biden in this poll anyway, pretty significantly, but in most polls winning outside the margin of error, which is her case. Get me to that one-on-one and I'm the one who will beat Biden.

Yeah. And so, look, there's still a lot of questions to answer about Nikki Haley. I think she will certainly lose tomorrow. I think she may well get drubbed. Last time I was in South Carolina earlier this month, I just heard Trump, Trump, Trump. But there is a reservoir of goodwill among Republicans for Nikki Haley. Among Democrats, not so much. You're not going to get a big crossover vote from Democrats who might have skipped the Democratic primary in order to vote for her in the Republican primary. She's not going to get that.

And so I think Heilman asks the right questions. What's what's next for her? And is she capable of defining what a post-Trump Republican Party would look like? And I am not sure about that. I mean, she she definitely is so much better on the stump than than she, I think, has ever been. And the anti-Trump voice that she's finding is a good one for her. But I would go a bit further than John. I mean, I think that's the first sort of authentic and, at least for the last little while, consistent voice that I've heard from Nikki Haley. She has bent with the political winds over the years. You know, she took down the Confederate flag after refusing to do so for a long time. Absolutely wouldn't hear of it until the Mother Emanuel massacre. And so that was the moment. Yes, she did it then. But it was a total 360 for her. And so, you know, we're 180. The question is,

who at her core is Nikki Haley? And we will find out, but I don't see a lot of other tremendous talent out there. I didn't see a lot of other tremendous talent in the race against Trump. So it could be her. We'll have to see. She's got money. She's going to talent in the race against Trump. So it could be her. We'll have to see. She's got money. She's going to stay in the race. And campaigns end when the money runs out. So we're going to be hearing from her for a while, and we'll see what happens. Yeah, certainly Haley has impressed here in this final stretch. As Gene said, she's vowing to stay in. She's got the money to do so. Maybe she hangs around just in case one of these criminal cases does something to Trump that none of us can expect. But John Hammond,

she's almost certainly going to get trounced tomorrow night. So let's talk a little bit here about the guy who's going to win, which is Donald Trump. As you say, he's not been much of a president in South Carolina. He hasn't needed to be. But how does, when you talk to his aides, how do they feel like the campaign is going, not just because they're going to beat Nikki Haley, but going forward? Because some red alarms are starting to flash here about some fundraising issues that the former president is having. At least to this point, he is not the draw, particularly those small dollar donors that he was in previous campaigns. Yeah, I think that's a concern, Jonathan. Look, there's a, you know, you've got two different,

he's not the draw that he once was, and he's got a new kind of draw on the funds that he hadn't, didn't have before. You know, Donald Trump's had various precarious finances for a long time, but these legal challenges, both in terms of the, what he's having to pay the attorneys and in terms of what he's now getting hit with in terms of some of these cases, in terms of damages that he has to pay is really extraordinary. It's another way in which Trump is an unprecedented candidate. And look, I mean, you know, the weird thing about this race down here, and we've seen this in other states, but it's really evident here, right? I think it was Willie who just said, you know,

that down here, that perfectly captures the attitude, which is, you know, people like Nikki Haley, people love Donald Trump. The love for Donald Trump, though, that we're used to seeing in state after state, which is he comes into town, he has a giant rally and there's 30,000 people, 40,000 people, they're all out here. It's like, you know, the Trump event, he's not only has he not been here very much this week. I mean, he came here for that. Really, he's down. He's got a couple of events today. But the rest of this week, other than the Foxtown Hall, he hadn't been here. And and the and when he's been around and I made this point up in New Hampshire and people, some people on the on the Trump loving right got mad. But he had a heart. He was not filling up arenas with the kind of energy, the huge, those events from what we remember from 2016,

where 50,000 people in the heat in Georgia would show up for him. It's a diminished, the enthusiasm for him is real, but it's diminished. And you really feel here, more than anything, the sense that that statistic people cite all the time. 75% of the country doesn't want this race. It's on both sides. There's a sense of like acquiescence to this where people are, you know, Trump will win by, you know, north of 20 points probably tomorrow. He's not been behind. He's not been ahead by less than 20 in a year. He's been ahead of the field here by somewhere between 20 and 35 points for a year straight. So it's not one poll.

It's not yesterday's poll or last week's poll. He's had a huge lead here. But man, you do not see Trump signs in the yards out here. You do not have the sense of the fervor that he once commanded. He has a big, giant hammerlock on the party. But people are kind of like, OK, I guess we got Trump and Biden. And that's that's as true on the Republican side of the party as it is on the Democratic side. There's just this sort of like, OK, well, the fall is going to be, I guess, where the action's at. There's not a lot of energy here. And that's unusual for a South Carolina Republican primary. The Trump show has gotten old. Well, I mean, it has. And John, John brings up a great point.

I always noticed in political campaigns, locally especially, yard signs were such a leading indicator. If you like a politician enough to put their yard sign in your front yard, That is a massive statement. And it's something that I focused on in my campaign. It's something that I saw. But you don't see. Remember in 16, we would talk about driving through the country, driving through New England, driving through the Midwest, and you would see hand-painted Trump signs out there. There still may be some out there, but there is no doubt, Willie, and maybe you hear the same thing talking to your friends who were big supporters of Trump in 16 and 20.

It is. It is so true. The media just obsesses the mainstream media, the lamestream media, whatever the extreme right wants to call it. They obsess on Joe Biden's base not being intense. Man, I just don't hear when I when I have conversations with friends that voted for Trump in 16 and 20. There is no excitement in 24. It's kind of like, yeah, I'm going to vote for him just because I don't want Biden in there or Kamala Harris in there. They'll say that. But it's not the urgency of 16 and 20. Like, yeah, man, he's going to get in there and he's

going to really make a huge difference and he's going to wipe the slate clean. Again, I know you're MAGA extremists that will say that to you, but the rank and file voters, John is so right. No excitement on his side of the ledger either. No, I think that's exactly right. The intense MAGA base isn't going anywhere. Whatever that number is, we can throw out numbers, the percentage of the Republican. I mean, even we started in Iowa in this process this year, and the turnout was very low for that primary. And even within that turnout, only half of those voters voted for Donald Trump. So, yes, he's going to sweep through all these early primaries in a way that we haven't seen candidates do before. You give him that. But I think you're right, Joe. Outside of the intense MAGA base, what I hear from friends is and it does leave you wondering if there were an alternative,

would they take it? Well, they've had the alternative of Nikki Haley in these first four races. Voters haven't taken it. But you do get the sense from rank and file Republicans who were fired up in 2016 that he was going to shake things up. He was the guy from The Apprentice. He was going to change Washington. He was going to make deals with Chuck Schumer because he knows him from New York. Everything was going to be different. Then he wins. They're excited. 2020, maybe a little less excited. And now I think, as John said, there's kind of a sense of resignation that it's going to be Biden and it's going to be Trump. And I guess I'll go vote for Donald Trump again. That's what I hear. I think the way you do, too. Yeah. Or it's just too much.

Don't want to vote. John Heilman, thank you so much for your report. Great report. We appreciate it this morning and coming up on Morning Joe. We'll show you President Biden's meeting with Alexei Navalny's family and go through the legacy that his widow, Yulia, is now taking on. Plus more fallout from the IVF ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court with additional providers. Can you believe that? Now?

No, I can't. Can you believe that Donald Trump goes around bragging about terminating Roe v. Wade and he's responsible not only for 10 year old girls that are raped having to flee Ohio. He's now it's he's now the guy that's responsible and he's still bragging about it. Now it's it's it's it's couples. It's women that want to have babies now being denied that right because of Donald Trump. Women who want to bring a life into this world and love a child are being denied that right. Because of because of Donald Trump.

There's no he brags about it. This is the consequence of him, quote, terminating Roe. Because of the ruling in Alabama and now additional providers are pausing services in that state. We'll talk about it. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back. The former informant charged with lying to the FBI about President Biden and his son Hunter with statements that were at the very heart of the House Republicans ongoing impeachment inquiry is back in custody this morning. Alexander Smirnoff was

arrested again late yesterday in the lobby of his attorney's office while meeting with them to discuss legal strategy. In a court filing, Smirnoff's attorneys say he was arrested for a second time on the same indictment and charges he was originally arraigned on and released from custody earlier this week. Prosecutors had asked a federal judge in California to detain him again after he initially was ordered released by a judge at a hearing in Las Vegas on Tuesday. A copy of the new arrest warrant shows it was issued by a judge in California yesterday. Prosecutors stated Smirnoff is actively peddling new lies that could impact this year's U.S.

elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials just a few months ago. Special Counsel David Weiss's office, which charged Smirnoff, did not respond to a request for comment by NBC News. So, Joe, a lot of people had wondered why he was released in the first place, given what we know about him. A judge in California now gave the arrest warrant. So he is back in custody. But just to remind our viewers, this is the guy who is at the core, a star witness for the committee that is seeking to impeach President Biden, a star on Fox News. The entire argument hinged on the idea that Joe Biden himself had

received five million dollars in bribes. That turns out to be completely fabricated by this star witness who now has been totally discredited. So when you're blinded by hatred of your political opponent, whether you're a news network or whether you're Congress, what happens? You let Russian disinformation get spread to your viewers on your news network. You let Russian disinformation get into the, I will call it, yeah, the sacred halls of the United States Congress. A place that's supposed to be the people's house instead turned over to people who so hate and so despise anybody who's not Donald Trump or who doesn't bow down to Donald Trump, that they actually fling open the doors wide, not only for rioters on January the 6th,

but also throw open the doors wide for Russian disinformation. And they still don't apologize for it. They were used as vehicles to promote Russian disinformation. They won't apologize for that. And I'll tell you, Donald Trump still, still hasn't come out and said anything about Vladimir Putin assassinating his opposition leader. It's grotesque. He's actually trying to parallel himself. In Russia, the mother. But parallel himself.

They had a guy who was poisoned, killed slowly in a gulag in the Arctic. Poisoned three times. Poisoned three times, killed, murdered, which is what Donald Trump says he wants to do to his political opponents, wants them shot for treason, and also says that if that happens, he can't be held liable for it, that he's immune from that. But he's comparing himself to that guy. He's flying around on his private 757 plane, playing golf, cheating at golf. I'm sure that hasn't changed. And living in gold skyscrapers and at country clubs in Palm Beach and spreading big lies every day. And he compares himself to a freedom fighter who willingly goes back into the fray,

willingly goes back to fight tyranny in Russia, even though he knows that he could be killed. You know, it reminds me of his attacks on John McCain, where you had John McCain who couldn't lift his arms over his head because he stayed in Vietnam as a prisoner of war when he could have been released because of who his father was. And he refused. He said, no, I'm going to stay here until my band of brothers can come home with me. And because that, he spent the rest of his life not being able to raise his arms. And Donald Trump mocks him, ridicules him, mocks people that serve in the

military, mocks people and asks the question, why in the world would they ever, ever give their lives for their country? What's in it for them? The behavior is sick and grotesque. It is. And don't let it distract you from his connection to Russia, Trump's direct connection to Russia. At some point, you have to see what's happening. You have to look at this behavior. And instead of reacting and getting triggered, you've got to connect. But what they're doing is, Gene Robinson, what they're doing is not being offended by Donald Trump kowtowing to Putin. They have decided that in this personality cult, they, too, will kowtow to Vladimir Putin.

And in this case, little Mike in the House is letting Ukrainians die every day, letting Putin advance closer and closer to taking over that sovereign nation that wants to be connected to the West. And they're doing it. So instead of criticizing Donald Trump for this bizarre pro-Putin, pro-Russia behavior, they have decided we're going to adopt it ourselves and we're going to become the pro-Putin Republican Party. Absolutely. That's what they are. And it's shocking. This is a pretty desperate moment in the war in Ukraine, where Ukrainians on the front lines literally are running out of ammunition. They're running out of weapons to fire back at the Russians. They're getting out

gunned in a way that they weren't previously. And, you know, they've lost one really strategic town, and they will be fortunate if they can hold the line where they are now until more aid arrives. But what they need is the big chunk of military aid, the weapons that only the United States has and can supply. And the Republican Party, because of Donald Trump, really, is refusing to budge on that. Mike Johnson, the speaker, although Donald Trump is the real speaker of the House now, but the nominal speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, has always voted against Ukraine aid. He's got a thing about it, and he ought to be called out on that and asked to explain why he hasn't supported aid to Ukraine.

But the rest of his caucus is absolutely going along with him. It is a stunning reversal of everything that the Republican Party used to stand for. Not that long ago, 10 years ago, it's just unthinkable that the Republican Party would be doing this. But here again, we are. In the wake of Alexei Navalny's death, his widow, Yulia, is stepping up. And right after the break, we're going to take a look at her options moving forward in light of really this immersion training that she has had working alongside her husband. We'll be right back. In Russia, the mother of the deceased opposition leader alexei navalny says she has now seen his body but is still not allowed to claim it speaking in a video statement yesterday she

said officials are pressuring her to agree to a secret burial she accuses them of blackmail and claims they've told her if she doesn't agree to the secret burial, they've threatened to do something to her son's body. Until yesterday, she has been turned away repeatedly from the morgue where his body was allegedly taken. She says officials allowed her to see her son's body without her lawyer present, where they told her Alexei died of natural causes. Meanwhile, President Biden yesterday met with Navalny's widow and daughter, posting these images along with a message saying Navalny's legacy of courage will live on in Yulia and Dasha and the countless people across Russia fighting for democracy and human rights.

Yulia Navalny is stepping up to finish her husband's work and without a moment to spare. This 47-year-old mother, suddenly a widow, is now the face of the fight against fascism, and she is already showing the resolve of an unbreakable leader. Upon word of her husband's mysterious death, Yulia wanted to rush to her children, to cry with them, to console them. Instead, she stepped up to the podium at the Munich Security Conference,

dug in and demanded justice. I want Putin, all his circle, Putin's friends, his government, that they would be punished for what they did to our country. For years, Alexei Navalny used his charismatic connection with people to organize in a country that silenced the opposition against a regime that sent many of his supporters to prison. He used every platform possible on social media. His charm and dark humor drew in supporters all in the face of impossible circumstances. He was attacked not once but twice in 2017 when pro-Kremlin

associates stained his face green. Navalny made it part of his message, never losing his humor. The second time, doctors believe a toxic chemical agent was mixed in, costing him vision in his right eye. In 2020, he became violently ill during a domestic flight to Moscow, where Russian officials wanted to keep him. Here you see Yulia's strength on full display, as documented on HBO Max. Her fierce protective instincts kicked in as she tore down Russian officials using the power of her voice to force the Russians to relent. Yulia coordinated the transport of her comatose husband to Germany in time to miraculously survive, recover and be tested. And that was Yulia's next fight, her determination to find the truth. German officials today said toxicology tests found unequivocal traces of a nerve agent called Novichok. Navalny could have stayed out of Russia,

but instead chose to go back and fight the system from within. And upon his return in 2021, he was arrested at the airport, spending the next three years in prison, separated from his family. This is Yulia and Alexei's last moment together ever. Yulia now steps into the global spotlight in a role she didn't want, but for which she received brutal, immersive training. She will likely bring with her a different approach while using the very skills that pushed her husband forward. While Alexei Navalny seemed to relish goading Putin. Putin's supposed to be not so stupid to use this novichok. If you want to kill someone, just shoot him. Jesus Christ.

Now Yulia stands fearlessly in the face of the Russian leader, without her witty, charismatic wingman, partner, inspiration, and love of her life. The worry for Yulia Navalny is now immediate and long-term. Where to live? How to begin again? How to stay hopeful? So I'll add another question to what's everything that's on her plate. Should she do this alone? And of course, the answer to that question is no. I urge all people who believe in democracy, especially powerful women in the Know Your Value community, to step up and help this woman. How can you help? You can help by supporting aid for Ukraine. You can help by

supporting the anti-corruption foundation that her and her husband started. And obviously, you can help by voting in the next presidential election. Connect the dots and see what's happening and see Russian aggression pervading our politics and see how she is standing in the face of this. And why shouldn't everybody else participate in protecting democracy and the lives of people who want freedom, who are murdered by dictators. It's so staggering. And let me bring in Richard Haass. He, of course, is the president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. It's so staggering, Richard, because we believed then. I still believe now. I know you do as well, that America is a city that shines brightly on the hill for all the world to see. It really is when we are at our best. And that's what Republicans used to believe. No more. They are about to elect a man in South Carolina and throughout the nation to represent them in the presidential election, Donald Trump,

who has nothing bad to say about Vladimir Putin, who time and time again defends Vladimir Putin, calls his invasion brilliant and won't even speak out on the murder. Of Navalny won't even speak out. For young people here, Richard, explain how unimaginable it is that this Republican Party has become so twisted and so perverted in its foreign policy under Donald Trump. Joe, you use the word grotesque. You just use the word unimaginable. Unconscionable comes to mind. But this is a Republican Party that has turned its back on its own principles, on its own DNA. They've moved about as far from the party of Ronald Reagan and either one of the George Bush's as you can can move. They've become isolationist. They've become pro authoritarian. They've become anti-democracy here at home. This is, you know, we are where we are. And the costs of this are extraordinary. Here we are, we're up against, we're a day away from the second anniversary of Russia's invasion, or second invasion, if you will, of Ukraine,

coming eight years after their invasion of 2014. Ukraine has been holding its own for two years. And now you've got, because of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, Ukrainians are losing real estate and they're losing lives. And it's unthinkable to imagine what happens to these young men when they're taken prisoner by the Russians. And none of this is baked into the cake. None of this needed to happen. This is simply because the United States has pulled the rug out from under Ukraine. And the consequences of this are awful for Ukraine, for all of Europe, coupled with Donald Trump's comments

about NATO. And the old line, the entire world is watching. Well, guess what? The entire world is watching. And we now have a Republican Party that's playing with the basics of who we are here at home and what we have been for 75 years in the world. And we had just yesterday the foreign minister of Poland on set with us saying exactly that, saying, yes, we are concerned that if you pull back, Vladimir Putin keeps moving west into Europe as a country that shares a border with Ukraine. And Mike Barnicle joins us as well. Mike, just going back to the images Mika was talking about a minute ago of President Biden hugging the family of Alexei Navalny there with his wife. Contrast that as voters. This isn't a political

question. This is a character question. As you move into the fall with what we saw from Donald Trump in this question, he won't condemn Vladimir Putin. He gives lip service to Navalny before quickly moving to his own victimhood, comparing himself to Alexei Navalny because he's being held accountable for alleged crimes he has committed in this country. Just contrast those two images of how they're handling this crisis, which is that the president of the United States condemning Vladimir Putin, rushing to meet with the family, and Donald Trump making this about him. Well, Willie, you're exactly right. Well, everything is political these days. This is of character. This is of culture. This is of courage. I mean, on the one hand, you have a

Republican Party that Richard just alluded to, that Joe has been speaking about not only today, but for a long period of time, a Republican Party seemingly devoted to Vladimir Putin and whatever Vladimir Putin wants to accomplish by destroying, literally destroying a single country, Ukraine, as well as destroying by murder most of his opponents, including Mr. Navalny, who just died because he was murdered, assassinated, actually, in prison by Vladimir Putin's people. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, here in America, tomorrow there's an election in South Carolina. Elections are about choices in America. They're about choices between people. You measure the people. You measure their character. You measure their courage. You measure where they want to take you into the future, what they're going to do for you and your family. It's pretty clear the contrast. On the one hand, you have Donald J. Trump, who cannot speak to the fact that a woman,

a widow, a mother cannot see her son's body. And on the other hand, you have the president of the United States, Joseph R. Biden, whose initial reaction is to reach out, meet with and comfort the family of Navalny. Those are two character choices that America can make. One has no character. The other, the president of the United States, you're looking at it right now. That's who he is. The president of the United States will also be announcing in the coming hours a new set of sanctions against Russia. We should note that previous waves of sanctions were only moderately effective. Putin had been

able to sanction proof his economy. He's still doing business with other nations like India, like China, to keep him afloat. A lot of the sanctions to be announced today were already in the works, timed to that two-year war anniversary. A few added after Navalny's death. And also breaking news right now, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

and a few other lawmakers just arrived in Kiev, in Ukraine, where they will meet with President Zelensky as another show of support. Richard Haass, as he, Sch Ukraine, where they will meet with President Zelensky as another show of support. Richard Haass, as he, Schumer, and other Democratic lawmakers and the president try to get this aid package across the line. And as we hit that two-year anniversary, we should reflect just how remarkable Ukraine's resistance has been. There was assessments from both Russian and U.S. intelligence, Richard, that Kiev was going to fall in 72 hours. It is not. And Ukraine has done a remarkable job holding Russia at bay. But project the future for us a little bit. If this aid package doesn't come through, how bad could this get? We know the tide of war is turning.

We know Russia has momentum. Where could this go? Well, first of all, Jonathan, just to underscore something you said, this has been an extraordinary accomplishment. When you look at what all the so-called experts were saying two years ago and you look at what's happened, what Ukraine has achieved with European and American backing is nothing short of extraordinary. And essentially over the last two years, Russia hasn't gained territory. Ukraine still controls 80 percent of its territory, but that's beginning to shift. I don't think it'll shift decisively. It's easier or less difficult to defend territory with diminished resources. Russia's military, as we've learned, is not 10

feet tall. So my sense is you'll see a slow grind as Russia has more manpower, more ammunition, more equipment. So I think there'll be a gradual loss of territory, particularly in the east of the country. But I don't think you'll see anything decisive. So I think at the end of the year, the war will be continuing. Ukraine will still be controlling 75 percent plus or minus of its of its territory. And I think everyone is waiting on the American election to see whether a military aid might be forthcoming then if it if it if it is not forthcoming before then. Let me sort of say one other thing. I see we're adding all these sanctions. I don't mean to pull poor cold water

on, but they're not going to be decisive. Russia will continue to sell its oil and gas to others. A lot of countries in the world are not lining up, supporting the sanctions. So we shouldn't kid ourselves. They're not going to have a meaningful impact there. Everybody wants Mr. Putin to be held accountable. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that it's going to that's going to happen. This is going to be an extraordinarily difficult, difficult grind made incomparably more so by what is going on in the American Congress. And above all, Republicans in the House of Representatives, we circle back. Let's just let's just call it for what it is. We are acting irresponsibly here. Ukraine is going to pay the price, but also the entire world.

But we are undermining the most fundamental of all principles there is in the world, that territory ought not to be acquired by force. If we let it here, let it happen here, and we're in the process of doing it, it won't be a turning point, but it will gradually, gradually erode order, which has so served our interests in Europe and around the world. And it's taken many, many decades to build up. Richard Haass, thank you very much for your analysis this morning.