Morning Joe - Morning Joe 3/16/23

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

Stormy Daniels speaks with prosecutors investigating Trump

This isn't a question of vindication. It's not a question, as I stated before, about revenge. This is a my position is that at the end of the day, Donald Trump needs to be held accountable for his dirty deeds. If, in fact, that's the way that the facts play out. That was Donald Trump's former fixer after wrapping up his testimony to a Manhattan grand jury. By the way, a former fixer who went to jail actually got convicted and went to jail for being part of the scheme that Donald Trump is now being investigated. Michael Cohen spent two days on the stand answering questions about the hush money given to Stormy Daniels, the porn star. And now we're learning that she is talking to prosecutors. Also ahead, we'll dig into the new reporting out of Georgia on another phone call the former president made to an election official there in the aftermath of the 2020 election. It's like the end of the

hunt for Red October. Wait a minute. You mean there's another phone call? Yeah. First one was pretty bad. There's another Georgia phone call. Do we need another phone call? Yeah. That first one was pretty bad. There's another Georgia phone call. Do we need another phone call? Well, we got one. Okay. Plus, we'll have the latest on the Credit Suisse crisis, which has investors on edge about the stability of the global financial system. And whether what started in Silicon Valley goes across to Europe comes back to the big banks here in the United States.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is going after the Fed chair following the Silicon Valley bank collapse. We'll have her comments for you in just a moment. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Thursday, March 16th. With us, we have the host of Way Too Early, White House Bureau Chief of Politico, Jonathan Lemire, U.S. special correspondent for BBC News. Katty Kay is with us and White House editor for Politico, Sam Stein. And Jonathan Lemire, we're going to be getting to, obviously, the developments in the Donald Trump case. Many people believing that this is when Donald Trump finally gets indicted.

You see things, certainly see things lining up that way. What are they saying in Trump world? What are you hearing about this investigation and where it's headed? It certainly seems to be in its final stages. We know that Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels have both spoken to the Cohen of the grand jury. Daniels with prosecutors in recent days. This seems to be the end stage of this probe. There are preparations being made for the, we stress this, it's not done, but possible indictment of the former president of the United States, which of course would be history that has never happened before. And there is a sense it

could come soon in the next couple of weeks. Trump world, obviously not thrilled with that. They think there might be some political benefit. You can already see them sharpening their attacks here. They're going to claim this was a biased prosecutor in a deep blue liberal city who's trying to make hay by taking down Donald Trump in a sort of witch hunt-like investigation. You can read through all that. But it's still going to happen. And much as Trump has said of all the legal cases, this is the one they're worried least about, that they don't think this would be something that he would be convicted of. And they also think they have lots of delay tactics to push this off beyond the campaign. This would still be a moment where he were to be indicted. He would be

booked. He'd have to turn in. There would be a mugshot. That would be something that we'd all have to get used to. So there is a degree of worry there. Even if they think it won't hurt in the GOP primary field, they know it would in the general election. And by the way, you never know. I mean, we're four years after 2020 when evangelicals blindly lined up behind a guy that shared none of their faith, none of their belief system, none of their values personally. They were willing to look the other way with a porn star scandal in 2016.

Chances are good now going into this primary with evangelicals starting to look Ron DeSantis' way and other Republicans' way. This could be a split screen mugshot of Donald Trump and the porn star who he paid off with hush money right before the 2016 election. I'm not saying this is a bridge too far for evangelicals because these political evangelicals have crossed every bridge already and burn it. Yeah. And burn it. That said, this could be a convenient excuse for many of them to say, well, we just can't follow him. It's too messy. This isn't a Russia investigation. This isn't a Ukrainian investigation. This is him paying hush money to a porn star. Why? And then they can act shocked and stunned and deeply saddened that there has been gambling going on in the back of the bar. Right. And they can act shocked, even though this has been going on since before he was elected president.

And many have wondered if it would start and end with hush money to a porn star. Well, we're about Donald Trump. We're about to find out. And we're going to get to that. Andrew Weissman, obviously, a critical investigator in the Mueller investigation, is going to be in a minute. But let's go through some of the other. Yes. Other stories making big news this morning. Three U.S. officials tell NBC News that the aggressive action taken by Moscow to bring down a U.S. drone over the Black Sea was approved by, quote, the highest levels of the Kremlin. Moscow is now working to recover debris from the crash site. But U.S. officials say there are no indications those efforts have been successful to this point. Patty Kaye, a bit of a provocation, obviously.

We did hear from Lloyd Austin that he spoke to officials in Moscow. What can you tell us? Well, I mean, it's good that the conversations are taking place and they're not being met with radio silence, which has happened sometimes in the past. The Americans seem fairly confident

that there is nothing on that drone that would give Russia very much information, but even more confident that it'll be difficult for them to find it. The expectation is that by now that has sunk to the bottom, several thousand feet to the bottom of the Black Sea, and it would be extremely hard for Russia to recuperate anything of value. So I think the biggest issue here is that it shows that mistakes or provocations can happen very easily. This is a hot zone and we are in a situation where wars can be unpredictable and you don't know what's going to trigger something that leads to an escalation. And I think that's why people are looking at this drone incident as some kind of a warning for just, you know, be careful, because when we're in this kind of situation, you don't want things to escalate for a reason like this.

All right. Meanwhile, The New York Times reports the U.S. is promising to fully and quickly give Ukraine the weapons it needs for a spring counteroffensive against Russia. Speaking at a virtual meeting with some 50 countries, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pledged to support Kiev in the fight ahead. Ukraine has been burning through its arsenal to fend off Russia's invasion. And we hear the same thing coming from Germany. And, you know, it seems to me, Sam Stein, yes, it's very important when the two leading candidates for the Republican nomination start sounding like Ron Paul when it

comes to being an isolationist, sort of a, you know, America first type policy. But I wonder if we're over focusing on that right now, because you look at least in the Senate and even with the leadership in the House and Republicans one after another, whether it's Mitch McConnell, John Thune came out yesterday talking about it. Lindsey Graham, a very aggressive talking about how stupid Ron DeSantis is, isolationism and sort of this Neville Chamberlain approach was. Who else? John Cornyn. Yeah. Marco Rubio. A lot of people that don't always stick their neck out on on issues that may not be popular with the base. They've done that. Doesn't it seem that like the European allies and the Biden administration, most Republicans are still standing shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine? So I think we need to distinguish between the Senate Republicans and the House Republicans. Yes, the Senate Republicans kind of in almost universal fashion came out in condemnation of the Ron DeSantis statement in which he did not, which he said was just not a strategic interest of the United States.

Of course, there are members of that chamber. I'm thinking of Rand Paul, for instance, who probably do agree with it. The House Republicans are a different beast. They are much more closely aligned with that Tucker Carlson wing of the party. And they will, in fact, have committed, in fact, to holding up future aid for Ukraine to put it under scrutiny. Essentially, they want it audited. They want to make sure they understand where the money is going. But more or less, that's a cover for saying we want to slow down our alignment with Ukraine. I think where you end up, though, is to your point, Joe, if you read Ron DeSantis' statement a couple of times over, first of all,

yes, it was aligning with Tucker and Trump. But there were some caveats in there that I think were meant to cover his backside, which is he said we want to provide them with weaponry, but not in an escalatory manner. So give them some weapons, give them some defensive capabilities, but don't give them the type of stuff that could escalate the conflict. I think he's going to try to wiggle out a little bit by saying, I don't want to cut off Ukraine. I just want to fund them to the point where it's a stalemate. And I've got to say, I saw this a good bit when I was in the House,

where you would have people that would come out and make these statements, like Ron DeSantis did, about maybe involvement somewhere else across the globe. But it is always general enough that when the time came, when push came to shove, they almost always supported what the president wanted to do overseas, even when that president was Bill Clinton and the speaker at the time was Newt Gingrich. I think, again, you look at De Sandus' statement, you look at Kevin McCarthy's statement. I would be very surprised if they took the position of Trump. And I would say, yeah, whether they were that extreme and say, oh, this war will be over in 24 hours, which means, of course, that Donald Trump would do what we wouldn't all know he'd do,

and that is betray the freedom fighters in Ukraine and side with Vladimir Putin like he always does. 100%. What did he say? He was brilliant. He was savvy. He called the invasion beautiful. Moving on. The Biden administration is demanding TikTok's Chinese owners

sell all their stakes in the app or else the U.S. may ban it completely. That's according to sources cited by The Wall Street Journal. The popular video sharing app is owned by a Beijing based company, and many believe it poses a national security risk. I don't know. I don't know when this is going to come to a head because I keep trying to get it off my phone and then someone sends me a TikTok video. And doesn't that put it back on your phone? I don't understand it. Only if you download the app. But again, everybody worried about the balloon so

much. Yeah. They're letting China. I know. Their phones. Everyone's home. Every day. And anything that they. Every day. So we'll be following that story. I suggest perhaps we ought to reconsider TikTok. No. On a number of platforms that are used. Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Paris to join a national strike over President Emmanuel Macron's plan to raise the retirement age. The plan would raise the age from 62 to 64. In addition, it would deny a full pension to anyone who retires at that age without having worked for 43 years. The contested bill comes to a vote later today. We will be following that. And now to the big legal news this morning. Michael Cohen, the one time attorney and fixer for former President Donald Trump, wrapped up his testimony before a grand jury convened by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in its

investigation of Trump and hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Cohen spent about two hours yesterday testifying before the grand jury after his first appearance on Monday when he testified for about three hours. And the woman at the center of the hush money payments has now spoken with prosecutors in the case as well. Stormy Daniels' attorney said he and Daniels both met with prosecutors via Zoom yesterday, calling the conversation, quote, substantive and a good meeting. The attorney said Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, spoke her mind during the call and that she would make herself available as a witness moving forward if needed. Daniels alleges she had an affair with former President Trump in 2006 and was paid $130,000 in exchange for her silence during the 2016 election. No word yet on whether she will testify before the grand jury. And again, just to underline the fact,

Michael Cohen has already gone to jail for being part of Donald Trump's scheme to give her hush money right before the election. Let's bring it right now. NBC News legal analyst Andrew Weissman. He's a former general counsel of the FBI and served as lead prosecutor in the Mueller special counsel's office. You know, Andrew, if the Boston Red Sox get as many wins this year as as I've heard people say, the legal walls are closing in on Donald Trump. Then the Sox, through the years, then the Sox are going to have a great year, probably win 145 games, win the World Series. So my question to you, since we know that's not going to happen, my question to you is, how is this time any different than all the other times we've heard over the past five years that, quote, the walls are closing in on Donald Trump? That is a great question. The analogy is also pretty great. So I think that there is a big difference here. It is hard to imagine that Alvin Bragg, the D.A. in Manhattan, would be engaging in these kind of very public steps.

So let me stop you right there. Let me stop you for skeptics, for skeptics that are watching. I'm so glad you started with that, because at the end of the day, Alvin Bragg, he's a politician. He's a D.A. He's got to get elected. So let me just ask you the question this way. Can you can you conceive of a reason why an elected DA would go through all of these steps and not indict Donald Trump at the end of the day? Exactly. I don't see him doing this and not indicting because the expectations in the media and I think for sort of all of the electorate is that this is going to happen. I'd say another piece that is worth considering is defense counsel for Donald Trump have reportedly already been in to make arguments to Alvin Bragg. That's an important step that you do at the very end of a case. Before

you indict, you give the other side an opportunity to be heard, to make any and all arguments. That has already happened. So with that happening, which clearly can be made public and has been, and you have Michael Cohen, who is somebody who obviously speaks a lot to the media. They knew if they put him in the grand jury, that would become very well known. It's really hard to see that there won't be a decision on this imminently. And whether Alvin Bragg is a politician or whether he is just a complete straight shooter of a DA, I think that he is going to look at this evidence and it's really hard to imagine that he wouldn't say go forward. It's also worth remembering this is the DA who rejected the Mark Pomerantz entreaty over a year ago to go forward saying the case was not ready. So that's that's a

sign that he is actually not doing this for politics, but is really deciding on the merits. Is there enough proof here? But we'll see. But I think that we should, you know, be very, very conscious that this is likely to come down very soon. Andrew, we shall be vigilant. So let's take the step and suggest that the indictment does happen. Walk us through. Explain to the viewers here the difference, because there could be could be a misdemeanor, could be a felony. Right. There has to be something established to make it a felony. And then just by what you know of the evidence, the indictment is one thing. Do you think it's strong enough for a potential conviction? Great questions. So there is a real complication on the issue of how this could get charged under state law.

There is a very strong misdemeanor, which means you could only go to jail for up to a year. Obviously, it's just by the fact that it's called a misdemeanor suggests it is not as serious as any felony. And that misdemeanor is filing a false business record. The factual predication for that would be the cover-up scheme for the payment of the money, which was it was not denominated as hush money payments to keep a porn star from talking and damaging his election possibilities. It was categorized as legal fees to Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen has testified before Congress and admitted that was just a ruse that was used. So that would be the misdemeanor. In order for it to be a felony, it has to be that crime of making a false statement has to be in furtherance or to cover up another crime. That's the rub where people have a lot of questions about what crime the DA is going to use.

So I think that is a real issue. And your issue about whether this will hold up, I think it's that piece that is the most vulnerable. The misdemeanor seems very, very clear and there should be very strong proof. But whether they can link it to another crime and thus make it a felony and a more serious charge, that's going to be an issue. And Andrew, what would all of that mean then in terms of sentencing? I know there has been, I mean, the kind of conventional wisdom is that this doesn't carry jail time. Do you see any circumstances in which it might do? And if it doesn't, what are the other sentencing possibilities, charging possibilities? Sure. So that obviously is way down the road. There would have to be a trial that could take that could, frankly, unfortunately, take years before that happens. We know from the Trump organization and Allen Weisselberg cases that those took 16 months to go to trial. And you can imagine, since this is Trump expertise of throwing sand in the gears to delay things, that this one could take even longer. But if there is a trial and charges and

if he is convicted, the issue of whether he goes to jail, I do think in large part will depend on whether it's a misdemeanor or a felony that holds up at the end of the day. And you say the felony is going to be very hard to get, right? It sounds like you're saying the felony is a real reach here. I think it could be. I mean, there's been a lot of discussion about what that other felony could be. So, for instance, it could be a federal crime that this is in furtherance of campaign finance violations. And there's an issue under state law whether any federal crime would be sufficient or whether the state criminal statute requires there to be another state crime. So you're sure that Donald Trump

will challenge that, saying, you know what, another federal case wouldn't be enough. It has to be another state crime. And then the issue is what state crime are they going to use? And that's where I think a lot of people are sort of scratching their head, trying to figure out exactly what Alan Bragg is going to do. So one of the, I think, lot of people are sort of scratching their head, trying to figure out exactly what Alvin Bragg is going to do. So one of the, I think, only remaining issues is, how is he going to try and figure out to make this a felony? All right, NBC News legal analyst Andrew Weissman, thank you so much. Greatly appreciate it.

Let me just really quickly throw it out into the panel. Anybody that wants to jump in, feel free to jump in. I'm just wondering, does it make sense to charge Donald Trump, a former president, for a misdemeanor when and his obstruction actions during the documents case is is if there is a slam dunk out there would be the slam dunk. But starting with a case that Trump has a good shot of beating, Jonathan Meir, you've been following this guy forever. Doesn't that just play into Donald Trump's hand? Isn't that exactly what Donald Trump would want? Yeah, they'd probably welcome that because then they could paint every other investigation with the same brush and say, look, it's all biased. This is nonsense.

This is, look how weak this is. This is, this is a stretch. And they'd have legal analysts talk. And perhaps in this case, as Andrew just did, very credibly saying that a, that a felony here on this particular case would be a reach. And it would be, it would be so typical Trump, frankly, for him to be able to slip off the hook here, potentially in other cases as well because of this one, because he'd be able to shape the political perception that this is all bias.

It just feeds into this narrative that he's created already. Now, of course, every case is going to be tried on its own merits. One prosecutor probably won't be looking at another to make his or her own decision. Certainly, the documents case is probably the most easily proved. That's what analysts say. Georgia also poses a real threat to Trump. January 6th, of course, the biggest of all we've heard. That would be a difficult case.

We just simply don't know yet where Jack Smith is in that investigation. But yeah, but this one in Manhattan, there's some risk here. There's some risk here of this potentially backfiring, giving Trump some political life. And I guess if the argument, if we are a nation of laws and no man is above the law, if a guy commits a misdemeanor, he commits a misdemeanor and he needs to be charged. I don't think the law is looking at these. Whether he's an ex-president or whether he's a construction worker or whether she's a teacher or whatever. Again, the law is the law at the end of the day. And no, no person is supposed to be above the law, even though Donald Trump's lived his whole life that way. That's right. We're going to see what happens and come back to this. We have a lot of other stories going on this morning. Credit Suisse is showing some signs of life this morning. Its shares are up 23 percent in

overseas trading. The rally comes after a late night announcement that it would borrow about fifty four billion dollars from the Swiss National Bank. On Tuesday, the 166-year-old lender acknowledged some problems with its financial reports. Then yesterday, a dramatic stock sell-off was sparked by Credit Suisse's top investor, the Saudi National Bank, which said it would not provide more funding for the troubled bank. The chairman for the Saudi bank later clarified that decision was because of regulatory issues. The New York Times points out that Credit Suisse has been battered by years of mistakes and controversies, including huge trading losses, involvement in money laundering and spying on former employees. Wow. Joining us now, CNBC's Frank Holland. Frank, thank you so much

for being with us. You look at what happened with a red hot startup bank that, of course, been around for decades, but was the place for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to go and investors to go. They got in trouble last week. Now you've got a 166 year old European institution getting in trouble this week. Both of them requiring, in effect, bailouts. This doesn't seem so limited. Is the entire banking system worldwide in crisis? Do we have reason to worry? Well, first off, good morning. Thanks for having me on. There's definitely a crisis of confidence when it comes to liquidity.

All these banks globally, just in general, are way better off than they were at the start of the financial crisis. We see a much different picture. There's a lot more regulation. We have increased stress tests when it comes to banks. So certainly in a very different position when it comes to their balance sheets. The crisis could be in our confidence in our regional banks in the United States. And Credit Suisse, as you just mentioned, Mika's kind of touched on it. This has a history of problems.

I don't think that's indicative of the entire European banking sector. This is a bank that a lot of analysts have called a problem child. There's been issues, as you mentioned, spying on employees, liquidity right now. I mean, there just continues to be something going on with this bank. But there certainly is that crisis of confidence here in the United States. We saw people pulling their deposits out of Silicon Valley Bank. Here in the United States. We don't have a problem with liquidity when it comes to our major banks. However, we could have a problem if too much if there are too many inflows into the big banks. It can make it very difficult for those smaller banks to succeed and thrive. I think somebody really put it well here on CNBC. I'm going to take credit for their coining this phrase. We had too big to fail back in the financial crisis. Now we might have too small to succeed when it comes to small banks. Oh, there you go. I like that, Frank. Anytime somebody says, wait, Winston Churchill didn't say that. I said, okay, I'll take credit for it. And you just took credit from a colleague.

I like it. Exactly. CNBC's Frank Holland. Good artist, Sparrow. Yes. Great artist, Steele. Exactly. Thank you very much. Thank you artist, Sparrow. Yes. Great artist, Steele. Exactly. Thank you very much. Thank you, Frank. By the way, before we go to break, we want to revisit one of our top stories this morning, the downing of that U.S. drone over the Black Sea by Russia. We have video now of the drone's interaction with that Russian jet. The video was taken from a camera on the drone's underside and shows two different passes taken by the jets to spray the drone with fuel. The second interaction shows the collision with the propeller at the rear of the drone, which is seen in the footage. So this now has been released.

We'll be following this. Still ahead on Morning Joe. So did I? I'm just curious. Did I mean, I wouldn't be shocked if it happened. But yeah. Sam Stein, did the Russians accidentally hit the drone? They would not.

I think they were trying to spray it with fuel and they hit it and they accidentally hit it, which would be par for the course for Russia's military in 2022 and 2023. It's a distinction without a difference. I don't know. It is it is kind of clumsy. Yes. But, you know, I suppose the direct hit was is better than a spray with fuel. But that's Russian military. I guess it is. OK. All right. Still ahead on Morning Joe, the first Trump to DeSantis defection inside the Republican Party. We'll tell you which lawmaker is throwing his support behind the Florida governor.

It's kind of a surprise. Yeah, it is. Kind of a surprise. Even though the governor is not even in the race. Not yet. Also ahead, new reporting on the opposition. But have you seen him throw a baseball? Yeah, no, it's flippy floppy.

Also ahead, the new reporting on the opposition file. The former president is building to fight off a potential challenge from Ron DeSantis. That's all straight ahead. Plus, we have a full wrap up for you of the second annual 3050 summit in Abu Dhabi. Really, it's hard. I was putting this together with our editors. It is really hard to believe how remarkable this event was and how amazing all the women were who came from 50 countries, 500 women coming together to really mentor, work together, make connections, cross-cultural, cross-generational. It was really the most incredible women's summit I've ever been to.

It was actually, Forbes put it best, it was the greatest gathering, global gathering of women in history. And you just look at what our audience, what our friends saw last week, where you're talking to Hillary Clinton and Elena Zelenska, Gloria Steinem, Billie Jean King. I mean, the icons of the women's rights movement. All on the same stage. All on the same stage. And then you look at all of the other people throughout the week. It's really just an absolutely incredible, incredible event at the crossroads of the world. So we have the highlights for you coming up and also how you can get involved and also

nominate someone for the next U.S. 50 over 50 list. The nominations are open. You can nominate someone starting now. We'll have all the information for you coming up on Morning Show. I'm now king Beautiful shot of New York City. Boat coming out. Are you on that boat? Sun going up. No, that was Scutro and me. Who's driving you?

Yeah, the first time I met Scutro was when we were in New York. Drove you on a little dinghy. Drove me on a little dinghy. He said, hey, dude, do you want to go to the city? That literally happened. We can bump out with that shot. That's how me on a little dinghy. He said, hey, Dave, you want to go to the city? That literally happened. We can bump out with that shot.

But look at that shot, though. It is like a painting. Beautiful. It's time now at 34 past the hour for a look at the morning papers. And we begin in Arkansas, where the Sentinel Record reports State House lawmakers advanced a bill that allows parents to challenge certain library books. The bill would require libraries to form committees to review challenges to books and file an appeal. Librarians who knowingly distribute material that's considered obscene to children could also face criminal prosecution. The legislation now heads to the Senate in New York. By the way, I just gotta say, the generality,

the ambiguity, that is the entire purpose of this. Well, you got the whole internet for kids to go to, by the way. I'm just saying it's like in Florida, Rhonda Sanders scares the hell out of teachers and librarians. Yeah. So they take books off the bookshelf

and then he catches grief for it. And then Caddy, after he catches grief for it, he goes, oh, no, I didn't want a book on Roberto Clemente band. That's stupid. When, of course, stupid. The whole argument was that if there's any suggestion of systemic racism out there, if if if there are things things that line up with critical racism. I mean, just so dumb, dumb. But then when they ask him to actually specify what the requirements are, he deliberately keeps it ambiguous. Same thing here with this Arkansas law. You just spread fear among educators so they don't know what to put on the shelves and what they don't, you know, do know what to put on the shelves. It's outrageous.

Yeah, I mean, the whole prospect of banning books in America in the 21st century seems on the face of it. You've talked about fascism in this country, and I have some quibbles with the term fascism. But where do we know that countries ban books is in authoritarian regimes. And there is a smack of that happening in schools in the United States at the moment. And often it's being done, it's being driven by very minority of people who are incredibly vocal and making their views known, but aren't actually representative of where the majority of Americans are. And we see this happening time and again in this country at the moment,

where a minority of people on the far on the extremes of the political spectrum are disrupting the center. And that seems to be what's happening with these with the banning of these books in schools. Right. And they use the term obscene. I don't want my children to see obscene books in school. I don't want first graders, second, third, third, fourth to define obscene. Here's an idea. Have your Department of Education list the books that cause you grave concern and make the guidelines tight enough that there's not ambiguity. Because what Ron DeSantis wants to be able to do is go, oh, they want little kids to read critical race theory or, oh, they want little kids to read obscene books. But keeps it so general that you've got people in 67 different counties in the state of Florida, educators scared that if they make the wrong move, if they aren't aggressive enough in taking more books off the shelf than

not, then they'll lose their job. So again, this is not, you know, don't give us the false choice of, oh, you're either for third graders reading obscene books or, you know, you're for a book bet. No, this is very simple. Provide guidelines. Give our educators guidance. All right. In New York, the Buffalo News highlights new research on the covid pandemic and maternal deaths. According to government data, more than twelve hundred pregnant women died in 2021. That's a 40 percent increase from the year before. A separate report found covid was contributing factor in at least 400 maternal deaths in 2021. Experts say the pandemic worsened. The U.S. is already high maternal mortality rate.

We'll be following that on Know Your Value. And finally, in Illinois, the Beacon News reports sports betting for March Madness is expected to hit a new record. According to the American Gaming Association, 68 million people are expected to bet a total of $15.5 billion on the tournament. Last year, March Madness generated about $3 billion in wagers. Sam Stein, are you one of those people? Have you filled out a bracket yet? I filled out a bracket, but I'm not wagering money. I get too emotionally invested in UConn hoops.

And so if I had even more invested in it, I would probably disintegrate into a pool of anxiety. So no, I'm not going to do it. No. What about you, Jonathan Lemire? You jump in. Have you picked any pools winners yet? Put any money on any of these games? In fact, filling out my bracket as we speak, the morning Joe Poole here.

Final four. Here you go. Ready? UCLA, Duke, Houston, and Alabama. We'll go Alabama. He's really going there. How are you feeling? I'm working hard here.

I'm multitasking. How are we feeling here, Joe, about the Crimson Tide heading into this? And, you know, football powerhouse, you have something new here with basketball. It is. There's a cloud, obviously, over the team. I mean, there's a cloud because of the crimes that have been committed. I think the star is a witness to the crime, may have actually brought. I don't want to. I don't know. OK, so that's correct. He was he the guy that allegedly brought the gun

to the player? Yeah. So so that's hanging over the entire tournament. So it's kind of hard to go roll tide, eat your Doritos and cheer for Bama. Listen, I've been I've been wanting to see Alabama do great in basketball for a really long time. When I was there 800 years ago, they reached the Sweet 16 three or four times. It's very exciting. So in normal circumstances, this would be an absolutely thrilling year. But these aren't normal circumstances. But still, we'll see what happens and hope all goes well. All right. Last week, in honor of International Women's Day, Forbes and Know Your Value hosted a second

annual 3050 Summit in Abu Dhabi. The multicultural, multi-generational historic event was attended by over 500 women from 50 different countries. And we were joined by global icons, legends who truly changed the world for women and are changing the world. Here's a recap of the greatest global gathering of women in history. Hello to everybody on Morning Joe from everyone here at the 3050 Summit in Abu Dhabi. We're having a great time. We need to teach all women to know their value and to communicate it effectively.

It's one thing to know it, but you've got to be able to say it. I need you to say something to me. I am not ashamed, and it's all about the money. Let's all say it. I am not ashamed, and it's all about the money. The unbelievably successful women in this room, you can know that this runway is made for you and it is longer than you can ever imagine.

What really inspires me is that previously it was thought that first ladies are just soft power, but we have shown that it is not just a formality. We are a force and we can continue to change the world. Every one of us is an influencer. So everything you do does matter. You can do this. This is your chance to change the world.

I just want us to value laughter more. It is the only emotion that cannot be compelled. Be willing to do whatever it takes to feel confident that you know whatever it is you're talking about and you have a very clear idea that you want to communicate 29 something like that in ballerina years that's getting up there already i'm ancient now at 40 um so to be getting that opportunity. Mika would tell you that's absolutely not true. That's not, it's not true that that was my frame of mind. I have two young girls and a son. And it's just so, my intention and my drive comes from a place of wanting to, you know, level the playing field for them.

I treat men and women the same. Same thing. Intimidated, be intimidated. I will stare you right out too. you know level the playing field for them I treat men and women the same yeah they said be intimidated I will stay you right out this is just like really helpful business advice and negotiating don't fill silence yes like as women don't feel like we always talk and like I used to do this and I get uncomfortable and like just say more in negotiations in in meetings. Stop. Stop. Don't fill the sideline. And if you make someone uncomfortable, let them be super uncomfortable.

How do you deal with men who are intimidated by your power? Say, are you all right? I became an entrepreneur really out of necessity. I was 27 years old, pregnant with my first child. I used a certain laundry detergent that is marketed for baby clothing. And I had an allergic reaction to it. My lungs closing and having all of these issues with my health. If you don't have outside accountability from black women, you are not going to be able to do this

for the long haul. No one's going to do this perfectly. Growing is weird and painful. And what I always say to people is that stumbling is evidence of momentum. Stumbling is evidence of momentum. If we are taking gems, that is one for me. So I'm waiting for my husband to toss to me. For those who have watched Morning Joe, this could be a while. Mika, take it away. All right, Joe, thank you so much. We're about to have a really important conversation. Our next guests have dedicated their lives to advancing the cause of women around the world. Pay equity is so important.

Until we have this one-to-one, we have a long way to go. Please, women, follow the money. Follow the money. How different the history of my country and the world would have been had we had Hillary Clinton. Instead of Trump. That's a conversation stopper.

The message should be that there's not one day to celebrate women, and there's not one day to talk about the challenges we face and the opportunities that are there for us to take advantage of, and that there is strength in numbers, supporting each other, supporting our own path forward, but bringing others along with us. That should be our goal, and that's really what this conference is all about.

It exactly is. I would like to thank all of the women on this stage because thanks to them, I understand that equality is normal. And I think the next step we need to make is to make sure that all women understand that it is normal. Not only think the next step we need to make is to make sure that all women understand that it is normal. Not only women, but men also. Happy International Women's Day.

And that was three days, a three day summit, but a three and a half. And it was really was absolutely remarkable. It's extraordinary that so much happened in such a short period of time. It was so positive, too. It was the the vibe vibe there was extraordinarily positive. And as Hillary Clinton said at the end with you, there's strength in numbers. And you saw the numbers there. Women from 50 different countries determined to level the playing field. All generations. And from all generations. And it was just a joy and a great vibe. All parts of the world.

And so congratulations, you, your team, did an extraordinary job. Forbes, what a great partner. This was something. We'll have Huma and Maggie and Randall on in the coming weeks to follow up. We have so many stories to follow up on, including these two women that I met on the Kelly Clarkson show who went there. It's a great story. I'll save it for their caddy. K. Um, this is what I saw in terms of the connections being made because we had so much mentoring and so many network of networking events and, um, legitimate ways that you could actually pick and connect with people. It reminded me of the advice you give with the confidence code. And I know you and Poppy were traveling, so you need to come next year.

There were so many women banking confidence, which is what you talk about, banking confidence by way of the connections and the support they were giving to each other. Yeah, I mean, that's what first of all, yes, I will definitely be there. That looks like so much fun. And that's my takeaway from all of this and all the work you've done on the summit, Mika, is that there were tangible results. There were things that people could take away from it that they could then use in their lives to make their lives better, to make their careers better, to make their own lives better. And I think that's what's—it's not just talk. There's a real value in that summit that people will keep with them. And the other

thing is, I was thinking of my mom. I grew up in the Middle East, not very far from where that summit was held. And she would have been so amazed to see all of those Arab women attending a summit empowering women. And I think that's just, it's just great that you did it there. There were a lot of dynamics going on there that made it historic. And honestly, I thank everybody for your coverage and what you were talking about, Katty, in terms of those connections and the real results from this. We're going to have a lot of follow up stories showing you those results taking place. And for extensive coverage of our summit, you can head over to KnowYourValue.com. And also to be involved next year, some way, somehow, guess what?

Nominations for Forbes and Know Your Value's third annual U.S. 50 over 50 list. They're open now. You can nominate someone. We're looking to spotlight women over the age of 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, who are shattering age and gender norms across every sector of business, politics, the sciences and society. So nominate that woman or even nominate yourself today. Head over to Forbes dot com for more details on that and then end up at the summit next year. And also we'll be going global again with the list. So there'll be more nominations opening up for Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa. We truly are global at this point.

Coming up, the mayor of Greater Manchester is on an American road trip, forging new partnerships for his city in the U.S. He makes his stop on Morning Joe just ahead. Plus, Dr. Anthony Fauci joins us amid renewed criticism over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Morning Joe, we'll be right back. That's a beautiful shot of New York City as the sun is coming up. Beautiful skyline. The mayor of Greater Manchester in the UK is hitting the road on a tour of the U.S. He started in North Carolina, wherein a push to strengthen economic ties. He and the governor of that state have agreed on a trade deal. He then traveled to Texas, where he attended the famous South by Southwest Music Festival, a type of event he's planning to bring to the UK.

Interesting. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is now in the Big Apple and he joins us live. Good to have you with us, sir. Mr. Mayor, thanks so much for being with us. First of all, I am sorry you're an Everton fan. We'll let you and Roger Bennett deal with that. Maybe this should end now. Let me just say I thank you and the people of Manchester for giving Liverpool its one highlight this year in the 7-0 victory of the United. That caused a lot of grief for us.

I'm really disappointed you've brought that up. But no, we're recovering from that. You know, we went actually, I did something for NBC Sports and the rivalry, the derby between United and City. And I was I actually was blown away by Manchester because I grew up like everybody else. Yeah. Listen to the Manchester sound from, you know, this. And I expected post-industrial right to be all around me. And it was an extraordinarily vibrant city. You just went to South by Southwest. I can't think of a better place to have a music festival,

an arts festival, a cultural festival, a tech festival than you're in your own city in Manchester. Yeah. And we're bringing one to Manchester later this year. And we were in South by to launch it. It's going to be called Beyond the Music. So it's going to be like South by Southwest, but a little with a Manchester twist on it. But we took a little known English band with us called New Order. I don't know whether Morning Joe viewers know them, but they caused quite a stir there. So it was fantastic.

I even found out that the second gentleman of the United States of America is a New Order fan and a Manchester United fan. So, yeah, we'll take that. That's good. Very nice. Certainly, yes, good taste in music. Well, maybe not the football there from the second gentleman. But let's talk about why else you're here with some of the economic ties. And tell us a little bit about this partnership you're hoping to establish in North Carolina, which is sort of seen as an up and coming financial hub here in the US.

Yes. So as you just heard, we're a very vibrant city. We are the fastest growing digital and tech hub in Europe. So the Manchester of old that people might think of, you know, the factories and very grimy. That's not today's Manchester. We're really on the move. So cities like Charlotte in North Carolina have got a lot in common with us, as has Austin. So I was in meeting the mayor of Austin. You know, we are the football capital of the UK. We are the music capital of the UK. But we really are a global centre now for digital tech, life sciences, low carbon. And this is why I'm

here in the UK. The message is quite simple. Look beyond London. Manchester is actually the place where it's all happening. And only yesterday, the UK government agreed a new devolution deal for us, meaning that we can do much more for ourselves now, like a US city or a US mayor. So these are exciting times for Manchester. Mr. Mayor, I'm married to a man who's been a city supporter since the age of seven. I hear they have a match coming up with Liverpool on April 1st which Joe Marsh might be interested in too. I'm rooting for them in that. So as you heard, I'm an Everton supporter.

So Everton are the other team in Liverpool. But it's hard when you're the mayor of Greater Manchester and you're born in Liverpool. I don't know if you could be the mayor of New York and be born in LA. I doubt it, I guess. It probably wouldn't go down very well. But it says something about the good people of Manchester, right?

That's true. I'm surprised you didn't have to switch your allegiance. Listen, you know, the U.K. has been trying to get a comprehensive deal at a national level, a trade deal with the U.S. ever since Brexit, and they haven't managed to get it. And it's pretty clear now that it's been put on the back burner. Is this the future, that it's going to be cities to cities doing more deals on things like trade, on culture,

but also things like climate change? Is that where the energy is? That's where the action is as far as I'm concerned. You know, I came here to meet Mike Bloomberg when I first got elected and that's the message he gave me, that it's all going to be about city to city going forward. And you know what? City to city takes the politics out of it. At national level, there's always tensions between states and countries. You get to the city level,

it's just all about, you know, get things done. And I think the city to city relationship is the key thing. All right. Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. Good to have you on. Thank you so much. And I hope to see you over this fall in Manchester. St. Patrick's Day in New York. Couldn't be better for someone with Irish heritage like me. There you go. There you go. By the way, I mean, I will say we did have two New York mayors in a row that were Red Sox fans. This is true.

They somehow survived it. Yeah, they did. Five terms between them. All right.