Morning Joe - Morning Joe 3/13/24

Episode Date: March 13, 2024

White House announces $300M in new aid for Ukraine

her refused to engage in hypotheticals but today he did release the full transcript of his interviews with the president and what do you know it's not as old man forgets a lot as his summary made it out to be at one point her even complimented biden's memory specifically saying you appear to have a photographic understanding and recall so the exact opposite of his report summary. At this point, I'm worried about her cognitive ability. Did anyone ask him to identify a whale? Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Wednesday, March 13th. We have so much more to get to with that hearing yesterday on Capitol Hill. Democrats pressed the former special counsel on his language about President Biden's memory, while Republicans wanted to know why the president

wasn't charged. Meanwhile, also on Capitol Hill today, the House is expected to vote on a bill that could lead to a ban on one of the most popular apps in America. We'll explain that legislation. We'll also get analysis on the alarming comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin this morning about the threat to use nuclear weapons. He's saying that if Russia's sovereignty or independence is threatened, he'll use nukes. Good morning, everybody. Along with Willie and me, we have the host of Way Too Early, White House Bureau Chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire, MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle and senior political columnist for Politico, Jonathan Martin. Great group this morning. Also, President Biden has announced a new 300 million dollar weapons package for Ukraine.

According to U.S. officials, the package will include artillery shells and ammunition, anti-armor weapons, anti-aircraft missiles and spare parts. Defense officials say this is a one-time arrangement made possible through savings in long-term contracts with weapons makers. With foreign aid funding stalled on the hill, the Biden administration working to find creative ways to help Ukraine as the country faces dire weapons shortages in its fight against Russia. And Willie, wow, this along with the news just a few hours ago about Vladimir Putin threatening to use nuclear weapons. You have to wonder what the administration's thinking was. Maybe very concerned, stepping right over Congress to get that aid to Ukraine.

Yeah. Funding for Ukraine is an urgent matter. Underlined yesterday by Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk. He spoke to reporters outside the White House following a meeting that lasted about an hour and 40 minutes, saying he hopes House Speaker Johnson will realize inaction could cost thousands of lives in Ukraine. Quote, this is not some political skirmish that only matters here in America. The absence of this positive decision of Mr. Johnson will really cost thousands of lives there. Children, women. He must be aware of his personal responsibility. That's the Polish prime minister directly talking to Speaker Mike Johnson about getting this money in funding to Ukraine. So, Jonathan Lemire, this $300 million is kind of an ad hoc way to go about it. They found some money. They're going to get it to Ukraine. It's not the long-term solution to

funding Ukraine. Is there any movement in that effort to get Congress on board? Yeah. I mean, it's a help, but it's a drop in the bucket. And this comes at a moment, the Polish leadership president and prime minister and President Biden all again made this push yesterday to say, look, we need to get this funding to Ukraine. The world has rallied behind it, Kiev. But if the United States falls short, Russia is going to continue to advance. And this comes at a moment where Ukraine's had some success with drones launching, hitting targets in Russia, in Russia, behind Russian lines. But on the battlefield itself, they are running out of ammunition. And Russia has been able to make slow but steady, grueling progress here. I mean, we're going to get a report from Capitol Hill shortly. There is this discharge petition that

is starting to circulate to try to circumvent Speaker Johnson, to try to get a vote cast, to get this aid package done. It's seen as unlikely to succeed. It's certainly an uphill climb. And if that doesn't happen, we're going to keep seeing the White House and the administration try to find these creative ways, presidential drawdowns, the Pentagon finding funding here or there, and they'll ship it to Kyiv. But that's simply not going to be enough. And at a certain point, that's going to run out, too. It's wild, Mike, to hear. We have our internal political fights, but you hear it from the Polish prime minister who's on the border, who had such a role in bringing refugees to Ukraine, who feels this conflict and knows the Ukrainian government and its people so well,

to say directly to Speaker Johnson, hey, man, you've got to do something. You have to do it now. Women and children are going to die because of your inaction. You know, we're not embroidering the situation to state at this point in time for Ukraine. It's literally life and death for the country of Ukraine. Ukraine has a real personnel problem when it comes to the military, in addition to all the weaponry problems that they have, for lack of resources provided to them. Their army, the average age of their army in the field right now, I'm told, is in the early 40s, 40, 41, 42 years of age. Russia can just keep throwing personnel,

which they have been doing at a colossal casualty rate against the Ukrainians. The Ukrainians desperately need help. And we're sitting on our hands. Yeah. You know, to Mike's points and mentioning Poland, of course, Poland has incredible interest in what's going on here. They have a shared story with the Ukrainians. They took in millions of refugees, as Willie mentioned. And the leaders of Poland are here right now in Washington, meeting with the president and meeting with Congress, making the case for that aid and making it loud and clear. Willie. Yeah, let's we'll get back to the story in a bit. Let's turn back to politics here at home. The general election rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump

is essentially official this morning. That's because NBC News is projecting both men now have enough delegates to win their respective parties nominations following their latest primary wins. Last night, President Biden was projected to become the presumptive Democratic nominee after a win in the Georgia Democratic primary. Just hours later, Donald Trump was projected to secure his spot as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee after winning the Republican primary in Washington state. After last night's wins, President Biden issued a long statement arguing the threat Trump poses is greater than ever. In his words, he wrote, Donald Trump is running a campaign of resentment, revenge and

retribution that threatens the very idea of America. Voters now have a choice to make about the future of this country. Are we going to stand up and defend our democracy or let others tear it down? Will we restore the right to choose and protect our freedoms or let extremists take them away? President continued, I believe the American people will choose to keep us moving into the future. With every crisis, America has always emerged stronger and more united on the other side. This November will be no different, and I believe we will do it together. Meanwhile, in a nearly four minute video posted to social media,

former President Trump celebrated last night's results and, of course, went after Joe Biden. This was a great day of victory. Last week was something very special, Super Tuesday. But now we have to get back to work because we have the worst president in the history of our country. His name is Joe Biden,

sometimes referred to as Crooked Joe Biden, and he must be defeated. NBC News national political correspondent Steve Kornacki is looking at how things might play out for the Biden and Trump campaigns between now and November. Steve. The rematch is on. It's Trump Biden part two. So let's take our first look at the road to 270. What does the playing field look like at the outset of this campaign? So this is how we ended up in 2020. The Trump states in red, obviously the Biden states in blue.

It all added up to 306 electoral votes for Joe Biden and the presidency. And the first thing to know looking at this is that math would be different even if Biden won all the same states he won. And even if Trump won all the same states he won and even if Trump won all the same states he won. Why? Because we had the census and we had reapportionment since 2020. And that changes the number of electoral votes in some states. So if you apply the new electoral vote totals from the census, that same combination of states now only gives Biden 303, Trump 235. A net gain of three electoral votes in the Trump states just because of the census and reapportionment. So that's the starting point based on 2020.

And then the question is, OK, what's the battleground here? And the obvious battleground would be the five states that Donald Trump carried in 2016, but then Joe Biden flipped and won in 2020. That's Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona, those five states. So if the Trump campaign obviously wants to be an offense in these states, needs to flip these states. How many? Well, the math can vary a little bit here, but let's go through the simplest path, at least mathematically from the Trump standpoint. It would be to take the closest of these five states. And the two that were the closest were Georgia, margin in 2020, about 12,000 votes. Arizona, 10,000 vote or so margin.

So if, big if here, but just showing you the math, if Trump were able to win Georgia, 251. If he added Arizona to that, 262. Still not enough, even with those two states, to hit 270. Meaning, if he wins back the two closest that he lost in 20, Trump still needs to add one of these three, a Wisconsin, a Michigan, a Pennsylvania, which was the closest in 2020. By a margin of just over 20,000 votes, it was Wisconsin. So you could see if Wisconsin were to join those other two,

Trump would just clear 270. And that would then be enough if he didn't lose any other states that he won. And that's the other big question here.'t lose any other states that he won. And that's the other big question here. Are there any states on this map? We're going to find out in the next few months that these campaigns can succeed putting in play that we don't think of as being in play right now. The one the Democrats would like to put in play, we'll see if they can, is North Carolina. North Carolina is a pretty big state, you know, 16 electoral votes. Margin had come down for Trump one of both times, but

his margin was reduced in 2020. Poll this week put Trump up five points in North Carolina. A lot of people think it's a pipe dream for Democrats to win it this year, but they're certainly going to try. And if they were to succeed, just showing you again here, look what that does to the electoral college math. Now you'd have Trump winning back two states here in the Sun Belt and a Midwestern state, but not having Carolina. Biden would still win in the Electoral College there. Again, that would be flipping a Trump state. So we'll see if the Democrats can succeed in doing that. We'll see if the Republicans can succeed in doing it anywhere. It's only our first look and there are many, many more to come.

All right, Steve Kornacki, thanks very much as always. So, Jonathan Martin, there's no mystery here, right? I mean, this is Michigan, this is Wisconsin, this is Pennsylvania. We know, you know, we've seen the movie, Georgia. They're going to be fighting. It looks like it's trending a little Trump's way, but there'll be a fight. Biden won last time. But we know where this race is going to be decided and we's predictable where it's going to be fought. What's less predictable, obviously, are sort of the contours of the race. But look, I think Arizona and Georgia were probably the biggest surprises for Biden four years ago. I think it's going to be tough for him to hold on this time around in both states. Pennsylvania, of the three Great Lakes states, probably the best one for Biden right now, Michigan and Wisconsin a bit tougher. But I think that's where the action is mostly, are those three Great Lakes states. Biden holds on there and he wins. He loses those three states or any one of them and Trump probably wins. I don't think it's more complicated than that,

Willie. Yeah, there's not much of a path for the president otherwise. And certainly a reflection of a campaign's priorities is the candidate's time. And he was in Pennsylvania over the weekend. He's visited Pennsylvania by far more than any other state. A few times, yeah. Other than Delaware, of course. And he heads to Wisconsin and Michigan today, a two-day swing. Looking at, and Steve did a good job laying out the map there. There is one state, though, Democrats think they can flip. They acknowledge Arizona's going to be harder this time. Georgia's going to be harder. Some worries about Nevada, too. North Carolina, though. North Carolina, a state where abortion rights are going to be on the ballot. And now the Republicans have also nominated a conspiracy theorist and a Holocaust denier for governor.

So much of this is just pure demography, right? You tell me the demographics of a certain state, a certain zip code, even. I can probably tell you who's going to win. And that gets to the heart of that split between Nevada and North Carolina. Nevada, much more working class, dramatically fewer college-educated voters in Nevada. There's not a big kind of upscale suburb in Las Vegas. Very different in North Carolina because you have two population centers in Charlotte and Raleigh with a ton of college-educated voters who historically were kind of Bush Republicans who are now up for grabs. And I think that's why the Biden folks feel a little better about North Carolina and a little more concerned about Nevada. So Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, certainly Detroit, what's going on with the Democrats and the black vote? I think it's more of a gender issue than it is a racial issue. I think Democrats have a profound challenge with men of all races and especially working class men. And it's not just

working class white men. I think they have a problem with working class African-Americans and Hispanics. Why? Why? I think part of it is just pure cultural politics. They, you know, men tend to be more instinctually conservative regardless of race. And they see a sort of Democratic Party that culture has drifted left and they're more gettable because of that. But let's be clear, this is a margins game. This is not a sort of a huge, but margins matter in this election. And if 5% of black men in Milwaukee or Detroit stay home or vote for RFK Jr., that's a profound threat to Biden. And RFK Jr. now potentially with Aaron Rodgers as his running mate. Yes, we're going to talk more about that.

Wisconsin up for grabs. We're going to talk more about that. Yes, Aaron Rodgers on the short list to be vice president. An active NFL player, by the way. I'll believe what I see. Robert F. Kennedy. Yeah, the Jets. Something interesting in Georgia last night, we said it might be trending a little bit Trump's's way there was a poll that had them within the margin of error it would be close

yeah but it was interesting to watch last night particularly what you're talking about these college educated republicans a lot of them still went for nikki haley last night i mean she she stole about 70 000 protest votes donald trump won by we all know the number just under 12 000 last time that would be an interesting group they're trying to force feed the pill to the dog and the dog won't take the pill. Well, it's like, guys, the primary is over. She's dropped out. They still won't take the damn pill. Right. And I think that gets to the heart of Trump's challenges that places like Cobb County, which, you know, were once the beating heart of the realignment in the 70s and 80s from Democrats to the GOP have now flipped back. This is new to a district. And they simply don't want to vote for the Trump version of the GOP. Not sure that they're sold yet on Biden, but they're still

gettable. No question about it. Yeah. And finally, the one other aspect that we can talk about later is how his legal cases impact the election moving ahead. Now that it started in earnest, the judge in the E. Jean Carroll case approved like ninety one million dollars that Trump put down for his appeal. Did he defame her again? Will there be another civil defamation trial? And also he should be in court in two weeks for the porn star hush money case. And I believe if his delay effort doesn't work, Donald Trump has to be in court for that, hearing all the details of the case against him coming out. It'll be interesting to see how that plays into all of this. And we'll talk about it a little later on Morning Joe. Still ahead now, House lawmakers are set to vote on a bill today that could ban the popular social media app TikTok.

But would the legislation get anywhere in the Senate? Also ahead, Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock joins us on the heels of Georgia's presidential primary results last night. We'll also be joined by two Democratic House lawmakers who are pressing the president and party leaders to focus on border security ahead of November. And we'll get to yesterday's high stakes hearing with special counsel Robert Herr. There seemed to be one area of agreement for Democrats and Republicans. Both were pretty dissatisfied with his answers yesterday. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be back in just one minute. Welcome back. It's 17 past the hour. House lawmakers grilled former special counsel Robert Herr for more than four hours yesterday about his investigation into President Biden's handling of classified documents. Herr testified before the House Judiciary Committee,

standing by the conclusions he outlined in a report last month that Biden should not be criminally charged and that the president demonstrated severe memory problems while being interviewed. Yesterday, those House Democrats accused the Trump-appointed prosecutor of showing partisanship in his report, while Republicans tried to get Herr to admit the president is senile. Mr. Herr, based on your report, did you find that the president was senile? I did not. That conclusion does not appear in my report, Congressman. Unfortunately, you are part of the Praetorian Guard that guards the swamp out here in Washington, D.C., protecting the elites. And Joe Biden is part of that company of the elites.

Joe Biden broke the law. But because he's a forgetful old man who would appear sympathetic to a jury, Mr. Herr chose not to bring charges. We get to this glaring double standard. The fact that the only person being prosecuted for this offense happens to be the president's political opponent makes this an unprecedented assault on our democracy. House Republicans may be desperate to convince America that white conservative men are on the losing end of a two-tiered justice system, a theory that appeals to the MAGA crowd but has no basis in reality. You said to President Biden, you have appear to have a photographic understanding and recall of the House. Did you say that to President Biden? Those words do appear on page 47 of the transcript. Photographic is what you said. Is that right? That word does appear on page 47 of the transcript.

Never appeared in your report, though. Is that correct? The word photographic? That does not appear in my report. I now want to show you and play a video of what is absolutely not photographic. In the failing New York Times by an anonymous, really an anonymous, gutless coward. We are a nation that just recently heard that Saudi Arabia and Russia will repeat. I hope they now go and take a look at the oranges, the oranges of the investigation. And I watch our police and our firemen down on 7-Eleven, down at the World Trade Center. And we did with Obama. We won an election that everyone said couldn't be won. This is the very definition of totalitarianism.

And let me begin by wishing you a beautiful... Look, do you remember this? Do you remember? God bless the United Church. The windmills are driving them crazy. They're driving... They're driving the whales, I think, a little batty. You know, that's too easy, Willie. I mean, that video, we could go on and on,

and I'm sure Joe has some great imitations. But the truth is, it's stunning, the hypocrisy that was seen on Capitol Hill yesterday. One Republican saying that this situation with President Biden, the documents was an unprecedented assault on our democracy. You know, I would listen for a second. I would take him seriously for a second if he wasn't also defending a man who incited a riot on January 6th and says the people who stormed the Capitol are hostages, those who are serving in jail for attacking our Capitol. And people died that day and they beat cops, tried to steal an election. That's the guy that they're standing by. And he also admitted he would take dirt

on his political rival from a foreign leader, from Ukraine's leader of all countries. It's incredible that they can sit there and even talk about this with a straight face when that's the guy that they are standing by and they're blind, completely blind to everything he says and done. And it's glaring what he says and done. It's dangerous what he says and does. Yeah. Or even just limit it to the issue at hand, which is classified documents. If you want to compare the two cases of classified documents with what

they're talking about yesterday with the special counsel and what Donald Trump did and is alleged to have done. And what we've heard from more witnesses just in the last couple of days that happened at Mar-a-Lago and the obstruction that took place that the special counsel himself says President Biden did not engage in obstruction and he didn't believe any charges should be brought. It is amazing that many of those Republicans can sit with a straight face and have their performative outrage about what Joe Biden did without saying a word about what President Trump did, which Democrats were happy to raise every time they got the chance yesterday. Let's bring in NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Julie Serkin and NBC News justice and intelligence correspondent Ken Delaney. And good morning to you both. Julie, I'll start with you. What was it like up on Capitol Hill yesterday from the outside? A lot of performative outrage on both sides, a lot of grandstanding, a lot of people talking to their own audiences. Did anything move the meter there?

That's always what happens, Willie, in these hearings. Everybody is playing to their base and talking to their audiences. No, listen, I was in the hearing all day. I was outside of the hearing talking to lawmakers as they came out of the hearing. One source I spoke to afterward, who was closely involved in the planning of the hearing, told me that he didn't feel like any side got what they wanted out of Robert Herr. He really stuck to the script. He didn't veer off in what he already either put in his report or put in the transcript that lawmakers only got their hands on a short time before the hearing. That was some of the frustration we heard from Republicans. If anything, he sort of neutralized both sides on this issue. It didn't feel like there were any fireworks. Nothing super interesting came out of this that we didn't already

report before. One moment that I thought was interesting was when Jim Jordan, the chairman, was pressing Robert Herr on whether he thought that the Department of Justice should release those audio recordings to Congress. Remember, this is something that DOJ said that they were working on declassifying, perhaps working through the classification of the actual audio of the interview that took place with the president October 8th and 9th, Robert Herr responded that, of course, he has no say when it comes to that, but that he considered that not only the written transcript, but that and everything, the full body of evidence when writing the report on President Biden. But of course, you saw Republicans, Eric Swalwell, for example, who came out afterwards and told me that he thought that this was perhaps that Herr omitting certain things that he from the transcript in the report was him trying to curry favor with Republicans.

He pressed him if he was trying to get a job in the Trump administration, in a future potential Trump administration. Her said, of course, politics did not play with this. But all in all, I mean, you'll hear more from Ken, who was all over this. But nothing really stood out and there was no fireworks and no one was really happy. Republicans or Democrats at the conclusion of this hearing. So, Ken, that's the politics. So let's talk about the substance, as it were, of yesterday in terms of both the hearing, but also the transcript, which was indeed distributed just before things kicked off yesterday. What did we learn? Is there anything new about how the president was handling these documents? And what else did we learn about how these interviews went and how Herr represented them?

Jonathan, that is the right question, because what I was going to say is the most newsworthy thing that happened yesterday was nothing that happened during the testimony. It was, in fact, the release of the transcript of the president's five hour interview with Robert Herr because that transcript showed, yes, that while Mr. Biden certainly made some verbal flubs and certainly got some dates wrong and including the death of his son by a factor of two years and confirming our reporting that it was actually President Biden, not Rob Herr, that first brought up the death of Beau Biden. But at the same time, it also showed that the president was in command of a lot of facts from things that happened years ago, that he was cracking jokes, that he was generally years ago, but also not senile or not, you know, blathering, which is a suggestion. There were some whispers that this transcript was going to be utterly devastating and the White House was going to try to fight to keep it secret. That's not what happened. And I think that really neutralized, along with his performance at the State of the Union,

neutralized a lot of this concern that was first raised and did raise some questions about why Mr. Herr, you know, so forcefully and front and center addressed those memory issues. Now, Herr, for his part, offered a fulsome defense of that yesterday, saying that he had to include those lines about the memory because he was writing a memo to the attorney general explaining why he wasn't prosecuting Joe Biden, even though Joe Biden was on tape saying, I found classified material in my house in 2017. And remember, didn't turn those documents in. And when he was asked about that, Mr. Biden said he didn't remember saying that, didn't remember anything about that episode. And so Herr thought it was relevant to say, well, OK, you know, what is a jury going

to perceive about his memory issues if he's saying, I don't remember. So, look, Herb, please, neither side yesterday. As a journalist, if I report a fair and accurate story and I make both sides mad, generally, I feel like I've done my job. Maybe Herb feels that way. He certainly didn't satisfy partisans of either party. So, Ken, the smoking gun they think they have, Republicans coming out of this, was that the White House asked, confirmed by Robert Herr yesterday for edits to the report, perhaps removing some of that language and descriptions of the mental acuity of the president. Did that feel like something in the room? Was that a big moment or is that significant in some way that the White House asked for that? Well, no, because we knew that, Willie. I mean, not everybody's paying as close attention to this

as Julie and I, but NBC News reported on an exchange of letters between Joe Biden's lawyers and the Justice Department, where Bob Bauer and others asked the DOJ to take that language out of the report before it was published. And the Justice Department, Merrick Garland referred it to the senior career official, non-political appointee at the DOJ. And he looked at it and his conclusion was, no, in fact, this language is appropriate. It's not designed to impugn Mr. Biden. It's designed to explain why he's not being charged. And so he essentially signed off on it. And they said, no, thanks. We're not making any changes. Now, some Democrats believe that Merrick Garland should have intervened himself. But DOJ officials passionately argue that had they done that, that would have been a scandal and they would have been accused of politically interfering on behalf of Joe Biden.

Yeah, it's a no win there. Julie, I want to ask you while we've got you here. Another big day on Capitol Hill just a few hours from now. The House will vote on a bipartisan bill that could ban TikTok in the United States. The vote expected take place 10 o'clock Eastern time. And right now, House leaders say they're confident they've got the votes to pass it. The bill would ban TikTok from American app stores if that social media giant does not divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance. If the bill passes today, it will go to the Senate, where its future there is unclear. TikTok actively fighting against the bill. The app CEO will meet with senators

in Washington today and tomorrow to try to prevent its passage. What does the future of this bill look like? Is TikTok going to be banned, Julie? Well, it looks like it's going to be a blowout vote in the House. At least that's what my sources are telling me, Willie. And that is why you see TikTok fighting so hard. I mean, notifications even on my phone popping up from TikTok telling all of its users, no matter how frequently you do use the app, join us, join us in preventing us from being silenced. Yesterday on the Hill, later in the afternoon, you had TikTok influencers, creators come to the Capitol and stand with about four of the 435 members of the House, which tells you how much support there is, bipartisan support behind this

effort trying to rally and stopping this bill from moving forward. So at about 10 o'clock this morning, the House is going to fast track this vote. They're going to need a two thirds margin to get it done. They expect that to happen. I can't tell you the last time we've seen such a bipartisan issue more than this. But in the Senate, its future is a little bit less clear. Right. The bill does not have a companion measure in the Senate. But you still heard from leaders on both sides of the aisle saying, no, this is a good product that should move forward. But again, you have some civil liberties folks in the in the Senate, on the Republican side, the Democratic side, probably trying to stop this effort from moving ahead. You have the TikTok CEO trying to get meetings with senators, but a lot of them, I'm told, said no way to sitting down in a room with the CEO.

So certainly this faces a little bit of an uphill battle in the Senate. But we expect it to clear with flying colors in the House. And of course, President Biden saying that he would sign this if and when the House and Senate pass it is good sign for both chambers. Big news to the millions and millions of people who use TikTok in this country. NBC's Julie Serkin and Ken Delaney, thanks so much for breaking all this down for us. We always appreciate it. And Jonathan, Donald Trump all over the place on this TikTok ban. His most recent position is that we shouldn't ban it because it will make Facebook stronger. An argument he received from a guy who owns a ton of TikTok who came down and visited Mar-a-Lago and twisted his arm and convinced him what to do. But it's interesting that Republicans, at least in this one case, have not been compelled

by Donald Trump's argument here and that they are going to go ahead, at least in the House today, and vote to ban TikTok. Yeah, stunning that Trump might be influenced by money. But that's that is what is happening here. While he was president, I mean, he was supportive of a TikTok ban. His administration took steps down that path. They didn't go through with it, but it was certainly on the table. And that's something he had been saying even out of office, too. And he's done a pretty abrupt about face recently. And I think that you hit nail on the head for one of the reasons why a major potential campaign donor suggested, hey, let's not do this. And now Trump has sort of cloaked that with criticism of Facebook and other fake news outlets say as a justification. And also he has, you know, I think he and his aides, Mika, have seen that TikTok has also become a pretty popular spot for right wing conservative talking points.

That's a way to get their message out. Another reason to keep TikTok going. But we should note, though, he has said that he wants to preserve TikTok. He hasn't done really any active lobbying, though. We're told he's not calling lawmakers. He's not pushing them to change their votes. So it does seem like it'll pass the House today. And then we'll see about the Senate. So while that's going on, there was another surprise on Capitol Hill. Jay Mart, this one's for you. Republican Congressman Ken Buck announced he's leaving Congress at the end of the week in a move that will further shrink his party's slim majority.

His departure means the Republicans can spare just two votes on legislative matters before needing Democrats to govern. The Colorado lawmaker had previously announced he would retire at the end of his term. So, Congressman Buck, talk to me about what has frustrated you so much about this era of politics and this and particularly Congress. What's made it so difficult? You really need me to say that. You need me to explain what's so difficult about this place. I was, as you see, the number three in the seniority on that committee, and I asked questions last. And you need me to explain what is so complicated about that or how we try to impeach somebody for a difference in policy. We've taken impeachment and we've

made it a social media issue as opposed to a constitutional concept. This place just keeps going downhill. And I don't need to spend my time here. Wow. Gentlemen, Martin, I mean, I can't say it better than him. And he is frustrated, obviously, with his own party. And it doesn't seem like Speaker Johnson knew this was coming. No, he was blindsided, as was Steve Scalise, the number two in the House GOP leadership. Ken Buck has not been happy for a long time. And it kind of reflects the sort of radicalization of somebody in Ken Buck who, you know, came to some level of prominence running as a Tea Party candidate in 2010, which feels like the ice age for the U.S. Senate. So a political outsider who eventually gets to the House, has done almost 10 years in the House,

and has come to the conclusion, as quite a few folks have in the House in recent time, of this place is not worth it anymore. And Buck realized that and decided not to run, but is so frustrated now, he says, take this job and shove it. I'm leaving next week, which I think is sort of an extreme version of where a lot of people are in the House. He just says it out loud, Mika. Yeah, demonstrating what the problems are. God love him for it.

Yeah, Politicos, Jonathan Martin, thank you very much. We'll see you again soon. And coming up on Morning Joe, a new political ad is using Ronald Reagan's words to send a strong message to Republicans in Congress. Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman joins us with more on that next on Morning Joe. Russia has fired its top naval commander following a series of Ukrainian attacks on its Black Sea fleet. Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, who has led the Russian Navy for the past five years, was removed from command and replaced by the head of Russia's northern fleet. That's according to The New York Times, citing Ukrainian and Western officials. The Russian government has declined to confirm any of the personnel changes. Ukrainian officials estimate that one third of Russia's Black Sea fleet,

which once boasted 80 ships, has been destroyed since the war started two years ago. Meanwhile, although the Biden administration announced a new 300 million dollar weapons package for Ukraine, which we reported earlier, the aid bill that would provide 60 billion dollars in funding for Ukraine is still stalled in Congress. The Political Action Committee Vote Vets is launching an ad campaign calling on congressional Republicans to stand by Ukraine while invoking the words of none other than Ronald Reagan. Take a look. You all knew that some things are worth dying for.

One's country is worth dying for and democracy is worth dying for because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny. And you knew the people of your countries were behind you. These are the things that shaped the unity of the Allies. We in America have learned bitter lessons from two world wars. It is better to be here ready to protect the peace

than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent. The strength of America's allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe's democracies.

We were with you then. We were with you then. We're with you now. Wow. Well, Biden is at least joining us now, the former NSC director for European affairs and now a senior advisor for vote vets, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. Those are really powerful ad. I want to ask you more about VoteVets. But first, I'm curious, as an American citizen anxious about the Ukrainian plight, this move by the administration, I think about 300 million in weapons, ammunition and support going directly to Ukraine out of our defense coffers, bypassing Congress. How quickly can that get into action in Ukraine? Thanks for having me on, Mika. Always a pleasure. So this $300 million is part of what

is called presidential drawdown authority. I think there's about $4 billion left that the president has the authority to spend down based on legislation. He's going to provide some additional ammunition. There is good indications that ATACOMs, these long-range ATAC munitions with extended range, about 200 kilometers, will be delivered in this package. Very, very important. And it'll get there pretty quickly. We have the means to get it there quickly. I would hope that we could see some more of these types of flows in spite of the opposition from the Republicans continue until a $60 billion aid package is passed. But in the meantime, this is a critical gap filler for Ukraine that is suffering from severe ammunition shortages. And that results in some rollbacks on

the battlefield and frankly, more Ukrainian casualties, more Ukrainian dead. Right. I know you've you've seen some pretty crazy things through the Trump era. But I'm curious what your thoughts are on the Republicans in Congress who are holding back this aid. So there'll be a lot more of that over the course of the coming weeks. We're basically—VoteVets, representing some 2 million veterans and veterans' families, is launching the next in our pressure campaign for the Republicans to pass this critical aid bill. The reason that this veterans group is involved is because we don't want our troops being compelled to fight there overseas if Russia is successful in Ukraine and continues to advance,

just like Ronald Reagan said. Today, we have a rally kicking off at 11 on Capitol Hill with a dozen congressmen, several senators. We'll have a veteran of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that's been fighting in Ukraine since the beginning, talking about why he served overseas to defend the U.S. and why he's continuing to serve the U.S. but fighting in Ukraine to ensure that Russia is not successful there, doesn't continue to advance, and our troops are not drawn in. We have a video billboard with that ad that's going to be circulating around Capitol Hill, and we have Fox News ad buys with that. Why is it so important? Because there are still elements of the Republican Party that believe in the values of Ronald Reagan. We need

to remind them that we need to continue to build pressure. We're in a narrow window where this Ukraine aid bill can pass and we're going to do everything we can. The last part is, is that Republicans are not necessarily safe in their home districts. We have a plan to go after who we think are vulnerable Republicans to move them on this issue. And if they don't comply, if they don't pass a bill that's in the interest of the United States and preventing our troops from being forced to serve overseas, we're going to impose some costs. So this is a long pressure campaign unfolding over the next couple weeks to make sure this bill passes. It is clearly in the interest of the United States to continue to support Ukraine. Colonel Vindman, good morning. Thanks for being with us again today. I think a lot of times in

America, this conversation around getting aid to Ukraine is cast in grand terms, as it should be. You know, you're supporting democracy, you're supporting West, you're pushing back against Russia. But can you take it down to the ground level about what's happening or not happening? Because the House of Representatives, led by Speaker Johnson, is sitting on his hands and not pushing this aid to Ukraine. What does it look like to be a soldier, a Ukrainian soldier on the battlefield where you were making extraordinary gains? You protected your country for two years and now having to retreat. What is it like on the ground? Sure. Let me start with the good, frankly. It's amazing what the Ukrainians are doing.

If you look at the sea domain, it is striking that they destroyed a third of the Black Sea fleet, this powerful, ominous fleet based out of Sevastopol in Crimean Peninsula. They sunk it. It is. And they did that entirely on their own. In the air domain, they've advanced their drone technologies to target deep into Russian territory and go after critical infrastructure, military targets. They've used the weapons that we've provided to make a huge dent in Russia's air power, knocking out planes, advanced planes left and right. But the biggest challenges are, frankly, planes, advanced planes left and right. But the biggest challenges are, frankly, on the ground and the ground forces. The Russians outmatched the Ukrainians,

in some cases, 10 to 1, usually 5 to 1, in some cases 10 to 1, in artillery. And that means they could just pound away at Ukrainian defensive lines and do mass assaults. Unfortunately, these are cannon fodder type assaults with huge losses for the Russians, but they still are able to gain territory. And they're not able to overwhelm Ukrainians entirely, but they are able to inflict enough damage to make slow gains and press the Ukrainians, and at the same time, inflict lots of casualties,

not just on the military, but also on the civilian population. at the same time inflict lots of casualties, not just on the military, but also on the civilian population. So the biggest thing we could do is continue to support the Ukrainians by providing artillery, passing the $60 billion aid bill that will provide artillery for the Ukrainians. So, Colonel Vindman, you're clearly familiar with Ukraine and you're clearly familiar with the operations of Congress and budgeting and appropriations. Do you have any sense of why the Republicans, led by the speaker, seem not to understand that Ukraine is now and its democracy is now on the critical list? The the most disturbing thing is that I think a lot of them do understand a lot of them understand the stakes a lot of them understand the importance for u.s national security a lot of them actually

very well perceive that if ukraine is lost that russia will continue to advance and we may have troops in we will have troops in harm's way it's happened before they believe they know this to be true they are captured by donald trump. Donald Trump has a deep animus towards Ukraine. He was implicated in a corruption scheme, which I exposed, leading to his first impeachment. He's vindictive. He holds Ukraine responsible for that. And he's also a huge cheerleader for Vladimir Putin. On that basis, on that basis alone, he has compelled the Republican Party, including Speaker Johnson, to cast aside U.S. national security in favor of Trump's own agenda, personal agenda. And that means not just Ukrainian lives now, but it could mean

U.S. lives in the future. That is the most disturbing part, that we have a Republican party that's willing to set aside U.S. lives in the future. That is the most disturbing part, that we have a Republican party that's willing to set aside U.S. national security interests. Yeah. I mean, some would even be concerned that it's beyond Donald Trump, that it's in some way by happenstance or something else, a direct line to Putin. Who knows? A senior advisor for VoteVets, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. Thank you so much for coming on this morning and thank you for what you're doing. We appreciate it. In Turkey, President Erdogan is warning that NATO troops should not get involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine, saying it may spread the conflict further. Turkey supports Ukraine's sovereignty and has provided Ukraine military support, but has opposed sanctions against Moscow. Last week, President Zelensky

visited Istanbul, where Erdogan offered to host a peace summit between Russia and Ukraine. Erdogan is expected to meet with Putin later this month. We'll be following that as well. Willie? And joining us now is the U.S. We'll be following that as well. Willie. And joining us now is the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Jeff Flake. He, of course, former Republican congressman from Arizona. Mr. Ambassador, great to have you at the table with us. Great to be here. Under different circumstances than we used to talk to you. This is different. It is right. We're not going to ask you about any tweets or anything. That's that's great. Leaders of your party. So let's talk about what's happening on the ground. You

have sort of a front row seat to it, serving inside of a NATO country. And what's going on in the place where you used to serve, which is this hold up of the aid to Ukraine? What are the consequences of that? How is that being felt? Well, first, as Mika said, Turkey has been great in terms of supporting Ukrainian sovereignty. They've supplied drones that have been very effective there. They invoked the Montreux Convention to keep Russian warships out of the Black Sea. That's been extremely important in the war. But from that seat, it's important to get this aid for Ukraine. They're running out and they need the help. And I can tell you, if you want

our NATO allies in the region to step up, then we have to remain committed. And that's why it's so important. One of the good things about having you as ambassador, I'm sure, was some of the thinking of President Biden is that you still know a whole bunch of people inside the Congress. Have you been able to prevail upon any of your old colleagues about how crucial this is? Well, I've often said that, you know, regimes may change in the world, but geography doesn't. And Turkey is always going to be important. And that's why when Sweden was able to get into NATO, Turkey was one of the holdouts there. They had some issues that they had to get resolved, and they did. But then Congress came through with a twenty three billion dollar F-16 sale right away to Turkey, which is important to keep Turkey interoperable. They have the largest army outside of us in NATO and the largest air force.

So it's important. Those kind of relationships are important. And I was happy that my former colleagues saw on this direct aid to Ukraine, though. Are you able to make the case to any of them? I'm making that case and I'm confident that they will come through with it. They understand the importance of keeping with our commitment and the fact that if we want, as I said, our NATO regional partners to step up, we have to remain committed. But let's speak to how we got here, how the Republican Party got here. We just played that ad that Lieutenant Colonel Vindman brought us using Ronald Reagan's words. I mean, this was certainly Republicans would be at the forefront of national security and certainly the forefront to standing up against Russia. What does it look like? How do you feel about how that's

deteriorated? Well, the best thing about being an ambassador is being 6,000 miles away from politics and not having to engage in partisan politics. But it is different. Even when I was there, you'd seen the trend. You know, we Republicans have traditionally been the party of Reagan, of strong national defense. I think there are many who still retain that creed. But, you know, it's been tough to see. But I'm confident, like I said, that we'll come through. This is a bipartisan issue. On the issues that I deal with, with Turkey

and that part of NATO, it's been completely bipartisan when I go back to the Hill and ask for this or that. You know, Ambassador, you mentioned geography a couple of minutes ago, and if you're standing in Istanbul, you can look across and you can see Asia. So the geography of Turkey is critical in global affairs, especially now, perhaps more than ever. How dicey is it or navigating the relationship with the United States, Turkey and Erdog, and Putin. That's a pretty complex relationship. Putin, Erdogan, and the ambassador to Turkey. How do you do it? What are the problems, if there are any?

You mentioned the proximity. I actually swam from Asia to Europe. There's a swim that they do every year that you swim across the Bosporus. You swim between the continents. That's how close it is. And Turkey occupies that position. It allowed them to invoke the Montreux Convention. Like I said, they control the Turkish Straits. That's important. They've been an important interlocutor in terms of negotiating the grain deal initially for Ukraine to be able to get grain out of the Black Sea

and prisoner exchanges on sanctions. As mentioned, they don't employ the same sanctions that we do. They say we have relationships economically with Russia that we have to depend on, particularly in the energy sector. Having said that, Turkey's committed not to allow Russia to circumvent sanctions through Turkey. And so we're working with them collaboratively on that issue. But it's extremely important. Those relationships have to be strong. And sometimes it's a challenging relationship because of Turkey's cultural, historical relationships, economic relationships with Russia. But like I said, they remain committed to Ukraine's sovereignty. And they've challenged the Russians in a number of areas, not just in Ukraine.

So it's a productive relationship. On another front, Ambassador, the Israel-Gaza war, I don't think a lot of people appreciate Turkey's role or its potential role in resolving this in some way. President Erdogan has been very critical of Israel, obviously, has called for a ceasefire. What can he do to help bring some kind of a lasting solution? That's a great point. You know, there again, you have war to the north in Ukraine, war to the south in Gaza, and Turkey sits right in the middle. As a 97 percent Muslim country, obviously, there are deep feelings of affinity with the Palestinians. And so they're very critical of what Israel has done in terms of going into Gaza. Having said

that, they haven't cut ties with Israel. And they have expressed a willingness to act as a guarantor the day after and to work with their other regional partners for a lasting peace. They're very supportive of the two-state solution, as we are. So I think we'll be working. I mean, it's tough to see any long-term durable solution in Gaza without regional powers like Turkey playing a role. Yeah, you're right in the middle of a lot going on in this world. I know you want to talk politics, and I respect that. But just generally speaking, if you're talking to some of your former colleagues,

how is life on the outside? There is life after the Senate. No, it's great. I mean, despite the dysfunction you see sometimes, there are good people there on both sides of the aisle trying to do the right thing. And I think they'll come through on Ukraine and on a number of these issues. So let's hope so. U.S. Ambassador Senator Jeff Flake, thanks so much. We appreciate it. Always good to see you.