Morning Joe - Morning Joe 7/11/22

Episode Date: July 11, 2022

Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon expected to testify in Jan 6th hearing

A very small portion, as you know, went down to the Capitol, and then a very small portion of them went in. But I will tell you, they were angry from the standpoint of what happened in the election, because they're smart and they see and they saw what happened, and I believe that that was a big part of what happened on January 6th. You said before you didn't want to talk about Capitol. Should I move on?

Yeah, let's skip to 6th. When you're telling people that a presidential election is being stolen, you can't be shocked when people believe you and then become violent. At some point, they have to take responsibility. You know, you know, the thing is, Mika. Yeah. I mean, first of all, Donald Trump saying it's smart. Yeah. So smart that while he's sitting there lying to them and grifting and getting hundreds of millions of dollars from people lying, saying, please give me money. We're going to fight this election. It all goes to him.

First of all, not smart there. And also, unfortunately, there are a lot of people that went up to the Capitol because they believe Donald Trump. They believed his lies. They're sitting in prison right now. He's just sitting back, Mar-a-alago, living his life, loving it. Family vacations around the world. Making more money. Yeah, flying around on his private, you know, his private, I don't know, 757, whatever it is.

Flying from one country club to another. And they're sitting in jail. But you'll notice the kids didn't talk about what happened on January 6th for good reason, because they've talked to the January 6th committee. Yeah, we've got the texts. They were all horrified, like everybody else, begging Donald Trump to stop the mob, to stop the lies. So what you were watching was just a clip from a new documentary. Unprecedented is the title covering the 2020 election and the aftermath of the attack on the Capitol. We're going to speak today with the film's director who had extraordinary access to

the president and his inner circle during that critical time now under investigation. And while the president's eldest children didn't want to speak about the events surrounding January 6th, other members of Trump's inner circle are now willing to do so. Former Trump aide Steve Bannon says he's willing to testify. Former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone has already testified behind closed doors. While a former member of one of the extremist groups that led the attack is set to appear as a witness at the next hearing scheduled for tomorrow. We're going to break down what all of this means for the investigation, which has been very carefully laid out by the January 6th committee. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Monday, July 11th. With us, we have the White House PR chief at Politico and the host of

Way Too Early, Jonathan Lemire, who never gets off television five hours a day. No problem. He just keeps going. Jonathan is probably tired this morning. Watched a baseball game last night, a couple of baseball games this weekend. No, he split with the yankees despite all the money they they spend jonathan it was it was inspiring yeah and surprise and surprising the red sox got crushed thursday and friday against what we can only call the juggernaut from the Bronx, Joe, with its 7.4 billion dollar payroll. Greatest team ever. And yet the scrappy, hungry, just happy to be here Red Sox pulled off comeback victories both Saturday and Sunday nights. Greatest team ever, mind you. Greatest team ever. And we did so with some help from a Red Sox player named Jeter,

which I think we're all still getting used to. Jeter Downs, named after Derek Jeter, who was a – I think he was a shortstop for the Yankees a few years ago. I forget. Anyway, he got a couple of key hits over the last weekend. And, yeah, the Sox, despite shorthanded, out and Devers didn't play, were down a bunch of pitchers, managed to get two games from the greatest team ever. So that's not a bad weekend.

I mean, there's no doubt the Yankees are the greatest team ever. They're going to win the World Series. We all know that. Well, let's just keep telling them they're going to win the World Series. Look at the Orioles. Put that back up, TJ, for one second, and then we're going to move on to news. But look at the Orioles. This is an incredible story.

The Orioles have been in last place, I think, since like 1924. Baltimore Orioles have won eight or nine in a row now. And look at that. They're only a couple of games behind the Blue Jays, a couple of games out of wild card contention. I'm going to have to start seeing what's happening in Baltimore. The O's are red hot. In fact, right now, you obviously see the Yankees, the greatest team ever,

still running away with the division. But the next four wildcard contenders right now, and remember, three teams make it this year. But the next four are those four teams. It's all American League East teams. Red Sox raise Blue Jays, and the Orioles only two games out. So, yes, as you say, the Orioles have struggled since the Coolidge administration, but they seem to be putting some things together now and good for Baltimore.

It's a great baseball town, a great ballpark. It's nice to see them finally playing better. Yeah, and you know what I always say, Mika, what's good for Baltimore is good for America. We love Baltimore. That's true. And also, you know, we're talking these other teams. It really doesn't matter because you look at a team like the 2001 Seattle Mariners, won 116 games. Of course, they won the World Series, the 1954 Indians, greatest pitching staff of all time,

one of the greatest directors of all time. They won the World Series. And, of course, you go back to 1906, one of the greatest baseball teams ever, legendary. They played their crosstown rivals, the White Sox, and, of course, they won that World Series. So when you win a lot of games in a regular season, Jonathan Lemire, you always automatically win the World Series, right? The track record is there, Joe.

We'll just look at the championship banners. All those teams have hung and hope the Yankees do exactly the same. Why do you know that? Anyhow. By the way, all those teams set records for the most wins during the regular season, and all those teams lost. Now back to the news. We're just a little in the good in Boston. They did not win the World Series.

For the love of the game, Joe. For the love of the game. That's why we play. Just for the love of the game. We just love the game. Against the greatest team of all time, the Yankees. Thanks, guys. Who could ever beat the Yankees?

The next hearing into the January 6th Capitol attack is tomorrow, and we'll focus on what the committee has called the marshalling of the mob. This will reportedly include evidence of coordination between Donald Trump world and extremist groups that led the attack on the Capitol, such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. This week, of course, we'll be drawing the line, which, of course, every legal scholar say you have to draw a line between these extremist groups, stand back and stand by, and Donald Trump. Oh, yeah. A source tells NBC News that former Oath Keepers spokesperson Jason Van Tatenhoff will testify. He left the group in 2017, but will speak about how it spreads propaganda and how it became radical over the years.

He has met with the committee twice before. Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone appeared before the House Select Committee on Friday. He sat down for a marathon interview behind closed doors, arriving around 845 a.m. and leaving shortly before 5.30 p.m. He and his lawyers took several breaks throughout the day, but all told Cipollone was in the deposition room for more than seven hours. Committee members said he was cooperative and sworn testimony didn't contradict that of other witnesses. He had relevant information about what was happening in the White House, and we are really grateful to him that he was willing to come before the committee and share that with us. Can you give me an idea of what he would not

touch? He claimed privilege on conversations that related to the advice he provided directly to the president or conversations with the president. But I think we still got a lot of relevant information from him. And it provides us another perspective on what was happening in the White House in those weeks running up to January 6th that were so critically important. I think there was a lot of information that fit into this bigger puzzle that we're putting together. And we have different voices telling about the same meeting and more or less telling the same narrative. Are we going to hear excerpts of Cipollone's video testimony in this week's hearings? Yes, we will have some excerpts of Mr. Cipollone's testimony. He was able to provide information on basically all of

the critical issues that we're looking at and including the president's what I would call dereliction of duty on the day of January. We're going to get to use a lot of Mr. Cipollone's testimony to corroborate other things we've learned along the way. He was the White House counsel at the time. He was aware of every major move I think that Donald Trump was making to try to overthrow the 2020 election and essentially seize the presidency. And so I considered his testimony valuable. You know, Jonathan Lemire, Cipollone is, I guess you could say, January 6th's trump card. You look at all the most important testimony that's come out over the past several weeks. You look at what the lawyers had in that meeting where Jeffrey Clark was deciding that he was going to take over the Justice Department,

despite the fact he was an environmental lawyer. What you'd always hear these people testifying, angry Donahue, Eric, and then they would say Pat Cipollone was there saying you can't do it, but you'd never hear from Cipollone. Then, of course, Cassidy Hutchinson, the same thing. We heard one shocking revelation after another. Pat Cipollone always there. Pat Cipollone walking in with Ms. Hutchinson saying, hey, Mark, you have to do something here. People are going to die. Hey, Mark, it's going to be on you. And it's always Pat Cipollone, other people speaking for Pat Cipollone. That testimony is going to be extraordinarily important this week. And it's going to be from the person closest to Trump inside the White House, his counsel. I mean, you can't overstate the importance

of him verifying what we've all heard so far. Yeah, it can't be overstated exactly right. What a key get this was for the committee and reports are Cipollone did not decline to answer any questions. He was forthcoming. He also didn't contradict any testimony we've heard from other witnesses. And that's important because that doesn't include those group of lawyers, but also Cassidy Hutchinson, who a lot of people in Trump world were trying to smear and say that she couldn't be trusted. Cipollone is sort of the authority here in the legal counsel in the room, of course. And we know that on January 6th, he repeatedly told Meadows, other Trump aides and the president himself, hey, this is potentially illegal. We could all get arrested today. I'm paraphrasing. But certainly

he was well aware of the legal jeopardy that they were all in. And the committee, very eager to put his testimony in place here. We expect this is at least for now the last week of scheduled hearings. There are two tomorrow and then Thursday. Steve Bannon, suddenly a former Trump aide. I know we're going to talk more about him later, but Bannon has now said he'd want to testify, too, although there's a reason for that because he's trying to avoid being prosecuted in another case. But the committee, while welcoming the testimony, wants to do it behind closed doors. They're not going to let him hijack a public hearing. But we're going to hear about the Trump world's ties to hate groups tomorrow. And then on Thursday,

at least for now, the finale in prime time, where Cipollone's testimony will be key, recreating those three hours on January 6th, where President Trump stood by and did nothing as supporters committed violence in his name at the Capitol. All right. Let's bring in staff writer at The Atlantic, Mark Leibovich. He is the author of the new book that is officially out tomorrow. So, Mark, we're going to get to you in just a moment. The book is called Thank You for Your Servitude. Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission. And it's about a lot more than Trump. It's about

the Republicans and others. So we'll get to that in just a moment. President Biden is going to be hosting an event today at the White House celebrating the signing of bipartisan gun legislation bill he signed last month. Biden's going to welcome elected officials, gun safety advocates and experts, along with survivors and family members and victims of mass shootings. The new federal law funds crisis intervention, closes a so-called boyfriend loophole and exchanges required background checks for people under the age of 21. Mika? Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has tested positive for COVID-19. His spokesperson describes it as a mild case. On Friday, New York City health

officials urged residents to return to indoor mask wearing, noting they're seeing high levels of infection. And multiple Chinese cities are installing fresh COVID-19 restrictions to curb a new massive outbreak of infections. Over the weekend, the country's most populous city, Shanghai, confirmed that the increasingly dominant sub-variant of Omicron has arrived. City officials have told residents of several districts to get tested twice in another round of mass screenings from Tuesday to Thursday in hopes of checking infections and to check preventing another all out lockdown. The arrival of the latest coronavirus variant in China comes as a lot of residents have only recently emerged from grueling two months of confinement in their home. And Jonathan O'Meara, it has been, you know, not only has it been brutal for China, when you look at what's happened with, let's just say it, their absolutely disastrous COVID policy, a zero COVID policy,

not only has it just torn that country apart, it continues to wreck the global economy. It continues to cause massive shortfalls and a lot of imports, not only to the United States, but countries across the globe. And it's one of the key reasons why we have such a supply chain crisis. It's really something that the country that started COVID with with, you know, in Wuhan. They're the ones that that may be the last out of it just because they mismanaged it so horribly. Yeah. And the issues you just mentioned about supply chain issues are obviously contributing to global inflation. And yet, despite by any measure a failed response to the pandemic, China has doubled down. Beijing and President Xi there have said that they're going to keep doing this. They've already mapped out the next few years,

saying this COVID zero policy, that's what they call it, will continue, which will lead to these massive lockdowns of these truly gigantic cities there, even after relatively small outbreaks. And here at home, Joe, certainly nothing compared to what we're seeing there. But we are, cases are rising across the United States as well. Senator Schumer just mentioned, but about 90% of the country back in a high transmission area. Now, thankfully, this variant doesn't seem to be causing more severe illness among people, but it's extraordinarily contagious. And those who have gotten sick tend to get it again just a few weeks later because it evades immunity so quickly. So that's something that officials are starting to worry about the possible strains in hospitals here in the U.S. again.

Yeah, very contagious. I mean, we know so many people that have it. And again, not not serious implications, but boy, they'll get it one time after another, after another. As Mika mentioned, we have with us staff writer for The Atlantic, Mark Leibovich. Mark, we've already talked about the Boston Red Sox, so I don't think we can talk about the Red Sox twice in one block. But let's talk instead about your new book officially out tomorrow called Thank You for Your Servitude, Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission. And Mark, what's interesting about this book is it's not really a book about Donald Trump. It's it's really a sequel to your last books about Washington, D.C.

and and how it is a company town. But how and I love how you say this, how what we used to look down upon 10 years ago seems like sort of like the glory days of Washington. When you compare what started happening, happening in and around the White House and in and around that Trump hotel just down the street. Yeah, I mean, I did not want to. First of all, I didn't want to write another Trump book. I'm not trying to outdo anyone as far as, you know, finding the killer White House anecdote about, you know, Donald Trump feeding dog food to Mike Pence or something. I wanted to focus on the enablers, the Republican Party, the people in Washington. And basically, Washington was dominated in these years by Donald Trump and his Republican lapdogs who made it work for them. And I basically spent five years sort of debriefing the Kevin McCarthy's and the Lindsey Graham's and, you know,

the Chris Christie's and the Marco Rubio's and basically the entire party apparatus on why they were doing this, why they were playing ball with this guy and essentially how they made it work for themselves and how they sort of let this be inflicted on the country in general. So, look, this is not a comedy of manners like this town was. You know, hopefully it's a fun book that people want to read on the beach. But essentially, it's about the people who allowed him to happen and continue to allow him to be rehabilitated at every turn. Well, you know, and one of the most surprising things about me for me reading this book is seeing how these characters, Lindsey Graham, especially. But Lindsey and the guy who runs the House for the Republicans, they both admitted that they do it for access.

They do they do it for their own selfish reasons. Yeah. But they all know how it ends. That's the part that's so hard to understand. We'll talk about this more. Mark, stay with us. We want to get into all of those characters in your new book and also the questions we just discussed. And also ahead on Morning Joe, President Biden is defending a controversial visit to Saudi Arabia next week. We're going to read from his new piece in The

Washington Post. Does he really want to go? Plus, the latest from Ukraine, where more than a dozen people were killed when a Russian rocket hit an apartment building in the eastern part of the country. Also ahead, filmmaker Alex Holder will join us to discuss his new three-part documentary that pulls back the curtain on what was happening inside Trump world before and after the 2020 election. And a pregnant woman in Texas was pulled over for using the HOV lane, but says her unborn child should count as a passenger since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Well, yeah, they say it's human life. She argues the state can't have it both ways. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back. Oh, beautiful shot of the White House at 624 a.m. on the East Coast. The sun is coming up. Isn't that gorgeous? What a gorgeous shot.

You know, last week, Mika, just out of nowhere, I tweeted something about Chicago and how much I loved the band, even though they were always kicked around by critics. And the response on Twitter, pretty overwhelming. I just say this. I was surprised by how many people just absolutely loved the band Chicago because, you know, critics love to slag on groups like Chicago, of course, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney all the time, despite the fact the guy was perhaps the greatest figure in in in rock history. But Chicago, a lot of Chicago fans out there. And that was, of course, I've been searching so long. All right. Let's get to this op ed. The New York Times entitled I was betrayed by President Trump. Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Ganel, who was injured during the January 6th attack at the Capitol, writes in part this.

My right foot and left shoulder were so damaged that I needed multiple surgeries. I have spent a year and a half in physical therapy for chronic pain that I will that I have been told will never go away. My young son almost lost his father and my wife had to quit medical school owing the stress and demands of my ongoing recovery. Five of my colleagues in law enforcement died and more than 850 rioters were arrested. So many families have been ruined

because of one man's lust for power. Even more galling are the Republicans who still refuse to provide testimony under oath and instead dangerously downplay how close we came to losing our democracy. The enabling of Mr. Trump needs to stop now. He should not only be banned from running for any other government office, he should never be allowed near the White House again. I believe he betrayed his oath to defend the Constitution. And it was to the detriment of me, my colleagues and all Americans whom he was supposed to protect. And that's, of course, you know, one more question added on would be, does it you know, are there some legal issues that this president should be charged with

something? You know, the thing is, it has to be so galling. And you read this from from yet another police officer, another cop. It has to be so galling after these people were running around. These Republicans were running around for a year saying that blue lives matter and we love cops and and and Democrats wanted to fund the police. They don't love cops, despite the fact every Democratic leader we had on said the funding the cops was a stupid thing. But here you have Republicans who actually, when push comes to shove, really don't give a damn about cops. Blue lives matter. No, no, not if they're getting the hell beaten out of them. Who actually, when push comes to shove, really don't give a damn about cops. Blue Lives Matter? No, no, not if they're getting the hell beaten out of them, not if they're getting sprayed with bear spray.

Like these Republicans see Donald Trump and the Trump Republican Party see police officers getting the hell beaten out of them. Oh, my God. What do they care about? What do they say? What do they say? What do they say? Donald Trump says the crowd that was beating the hell out of these police officers, beating them to a pulp, beating them into an inch of their lives, beating them so badly and putting them

through things that some committed suicide. And and most police officers that were there blamed these riots for the death of several officers. What do they do? Donald Trump calls them patriots, says they're very smart. He thanks them, says he loves them. Congressman, Republican congressman. What do they do? They said, oh, they're just tourists.

Oh, OK. So if somebody beats the hell out of a cop in your town, what are you going to just call them tourists? Why is it that you really hate cops if they're not doing your political bidding? No, I just want to know why Republicans hate police officers. Why won't Republicans stand up for police officers? Why won't Republicans stand up for cops when they're getting the hell beaten out of them in Congress? They love yapping about how they support the blue when they go on the House floor. But when police officers are getting eviscerated,

when they're getting brutalized, when they're getting beaten to death, suddenly they love the rioters. They love the thugs. They love the people that are beating them up and beating them to death. They love these Republicans. These Republicans are calling these people tourists. These Republicans that don't want to get to the truth, that don't want to really understand why police officers were brutalized that day. That was the same liars who said that they love cops. They're the ones that are stopping everybody who's responsible for the beating of and the eventual death of these police officers. They're stopping justice from happening.

So they don't love cops. They hate cops. If cops are actually doing their job and trying to stop their party from not being able to steal an election. It's heartbreaking that I belong to a party that I thought was a law and order party. That's the words. Those are the words we used. And those were the words we use our entire lives. And they said, support the blue, blue lives. No, no, no. Republicans hate cops. If you listen to the Republicans that are trying to stop those of us who want justice for people who brutalized those police officers on January 6th.

You can't say you love the cops in one situation and then not seek justice in another situation where police officers are getting brutalized. It just doesn't work that way. And it makes me sad. It makes me sad that my former party cares so little about police officers. Any human being would seek justice if this happened at their home. This is the people's house. This is all of our house.

And this happened. And they don't see an issue here. Who exactly are we talking about? We're talking to Donald Trump because Donald Trump said he loved these people that brutalized police officers. We're talking about Republican members of Congress who stood in the way of every investigation. You know, Democrats wanted a bipartisan, bicameral look at this. They refused. House Democrats asked Kevin McCarthy if he would be part of a bipartisan process. He refused. You had members of Congress, Republicans, of course, that were actually

standing at the door. We're going to help police officers stop the mob from coming in and killing everybody inside the House chamber. Within a couple of days, we're saying, oh, they were just tourists. There is nothing wrong. And Mark Leibovich, this comes back to you and what you're talking about. How could these people betray police officers, betray men and women in blue, betray these cops that they claimed they loved so much simply because they wanted to defend Donald Trump's attempt to overtake the government more than they wanted to defend the men in blue, the women in blue. I mean, what's maddening about this and, you know, you watch this video and I just find myself just getting so, like, emotional and just sick all over again. But, you know, again, I spent, you know, years basically talking to the Republican Party, who has basically assumed this posture where they're protected every day. And

they, you know, even the leadership and Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, Mitch McConnell, they have large security details. I mean, they're probably very, very safe. But all of them, you know, now when they get to an airport, they are accompanied by local police or by Capitol police, if they're high enough to protect them as they walk through the airport to protect them from the angry mob that they're now denying existed on January 6th. And again, I mean, this is a distillation of the monumental cowardice that has overtaken the putative leadership of the Republican Party right on down. You know, there's nothing about Donald Trump that, you know, I feel like there's a lot of information about Donald Trump. And, you know, assessments are now, you know, we have enough information on Donald Trump. I mean, what I do think is an undertold story, and this is, again, what the book is about, are these Republicans who have kept allowing it to happen.

And again, these police officers protect them every day. It's just I can't imagine what it must feel like to be able to deny that these police officers who were badly injured, you know, hundreds of them killed in some cases on January 6th to protect them and their colleagues, you know, dear friends are protecting them as they walk from point A to point B. You know, they have to sort of deny it happens on one hand. On the other hand, saying, hey, thanks a lot. Thanks for walking me to my car.

Thanks for driving me to the airport or whatever. It's just, you know, I don't know how they can sort of live with themselves. And, you know, I've talked to enough of them to know that it's kind of a miserable conscience experience. But ultimately what it is is a failure of conscience. Yeah. Mark, here's what you wrote in a new essay for The Atlantic adapted from the new book. It's it's been said before, but can never be emphasized enough. Without the complicity of the Republican Party, Donald Trump would just be a glorified geriatric fox watching golfer. I've interviewed scores of these collaborators trying to understand why they did what they did and how they could live with it.

These were the Kevin McCarthy's and the Lindsey Graham's and all the other busy parasitic suck ups who made the Trump era work for them. He humored and indulged him all the way down to the last exhausted strains of American democracy. And here's more of what you write about Kevin McCarthy and Lindsey Graham specifically, quote, I've known these men for years, but they are a classically Washington type, fun to be around, starstruck and desperate to keep their jobs or get better ones to maximize their place in the all important mix. On various occasions, I have asked them in so many words how they could sidle up to Trump like they have. The answer basically is that they did it because it was the savviest course, because it was best for them. Nearly all elected Republicans in Washington needed Trump's blessing and voters to remain there.

People like McCarthy and Graham benefited a great deal from making it work with Trump or managing the relationship. As they say, I could get Trump on the phone faster than any staff person who worked with him could get him on the phone. McCarthy bragged to me there was always a breathless racing quality to both men's voices when they talked about the thrill ride of being one of Trump's guys. And Mark, I'm wondering in these conversations, did they see the other side of this, the damage being done to democracy? Did they care? Because another thing Trump does is he likes to sort of get stuff on people and think he can kind of hold it over them. I just wonder why some of these men were pushed so far. Yeah, I mean, look, boy, I mean, volumes can be written about that.

I mean, I will say that the question is, did they know? Of course they knew. In fact, they would know, you know, within seconds of saying one thing before a microphone and then going back into a green room or just sort of walking away from the cameras and conceding this like, oh, my God, you know, I mean, they all know the truth about this. I mean, Lindsey Graham, all of them have this expression. You got to get the joke about Trump. The joke is that ultimately in private, they have no respect for him. I mean, at worst, they think he's a dangerous lunatic.

But, you know, again, to say that publicly is going to make them obsolete within the Republican Party. And again, what you've seen again and again with with a lot of these folks is just this dereliction of of any kind of character whatsoever. It's sort of a game to them. You asked me, you know, do they care? No. I mean, there's a whole section in the book, you know, sort of listing. I don't care. I don't care about the legacy. I don't care about the verdict of history. I don't care what my grandchildren are going to think. You know, I'll be dead. I mean, Rudy used to say that all the time. I'll be dead. I mean, Trump himself used to say, you know, if I lose, the only thing that matters

is I'm going to lose the election. That's the only part of my legacy that will matter. So nothing else matters. So, yeah, I mean, it's nihilism, essentially. And what's amazing about it is you see these incredible instances of character and courageousness, whether it's in Cassidy Hutchinson and some of the other witnesses on the January 6th committee, whether it's even, you know, the British conservatives finally standing up to Boris Johnson and, you know, in a less political context, you know, in Ukraine. I mean, there's great sort of resistance that you're seeing around the world. And yet the Republican Party remains just completely blocked off from from any effort to sort of stand up and do what they all know to be right.

So, Mark, congrats on the book. You obviously spent a lot of time with this cast of characters, and they had a moment when they could have walked away. Several. Yeah, well, January 6th in particular, when that happens, and there was a few weeks there where Trump looked like he might have been in the wilderness, and it starts to reverse itself when Kevin McCarthy makes the trip down to Mar-a-Lago, and that begins a parade of characters who do so. Trump gets acquitted in his impeachment and off we go. They have another moment right now. These January 6th hearings are so damning, the portrait they paint of what Trump

did. Is there any sense, do you have any suggestion at all that any of them would walk away from him were Trump to decide to run again in 24? My inclination is to say no, because, I mean, if history is a precedent, I mean, they've failed every single step of the way. And it's just even to this day is astonishing to me that after January 6th and the immediate aftermath of January 6th, that he is still a viable figure within the Republican Party. I mean, more than a viable figure. I mean, certainly the overwhelming favorite to be the nominee of the party for the third consecutive time, third consecutive time. But yeah, no, they were all I mean,

Kevin McCarthy's caught on tape saying, yeah, well, I'm going to ask him to resign. I mean, Mitch McConnell publicly condemned him in the in the harshest possible terms. And yet, you know, even before Kevin McCarthy went down with hat in hand to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring eight days after Donald Trump left Washington, I mean, Mitch McConnell, you know, gamed this system. He said, OK, we're not having an impeachment vote for the next, you know, we're not doing an impeachment trial for the next seven, eight days or however long it was. I mean, even though it all happened right in front of them, they knew what happened. He said, nope, we need to do this after the inauguration. And then after the inauguration, you know, most of the party said, well, he's a former president.

We're not going to we're not going to convict him, you know. So, yeah, there was an easy two steps. So Mitch McConnell, you know, maybe looks like more of a bystander than than Kevin McCarthy, but he's just as complicit. So, look, I don't think the Republicans have shown no, none whatsoever. But, you know, ultimately, Cassidy Hutchinson, you know, the Secretary of State or the Speaker of the House from Arizona, forgot his name. Bowers, Rusty Bowers. Rusty Bowers. I mean, there are people and, you know, maybe it's the threat of subpoena. Maybe it's just the wearing down of this that are coming forward. So, you know, maybe these hearings, I mean, if nothing else, have given a forum for people to actually, you know, wrestle with their consciousness,

consciousness, or at least talk to their lawyers enough to actually say something and maybe, you know, do something finally. All right. So, Mark, this is actually incredible timing with your book coming out, The Hearings this week. So we'll be having you back throughout the week for the new book entitled Thank You for Your Servitude, Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission. Thank you, Mark, very much. See you soon. And coming up, Steve Bannon now says he's willing to testify before the January 6th committee. We'll explain why he might be ready to talk after fighting subpoenas from lawmakers. Plus, the latest on the efforts to get Brittany Griner freed from a Russian jail as the WNBA

gives a big tribute to the star player. And we will break down what is next in the looming legal fight between Elon Musk and Twitter. Big developments over the weekend. Morning Joe is coming right back. It's 45 past the hour. President Biden says he is considering declaring a public health emergency to free up federal resources for abortion access. During a bike ride near his family beach house in Delaware yesterday, the president also encouraged women to keep speaking out against the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Keep protesting because keep making your point.

It's critically important. We can do a lot of things to accommodate the rights of women in the meantime. But fundamentally, the only thing that's going to change this is if we have a national law that reinstates Roe v. Wade. But as president, I don't have the authority to say that we're going to, you know, state Roe v. Wade as the law of the land. The only way we do that is through an election in the United States Congress. In the meantime, states can make those judgments. So my ultimate goal is to reinstate Roe v. Wade as a national law. All right. We've got a lot to talk about here. Meanwhile, the White House is defending the president's response to the Supreme Court ruling on abortion from progressives who say he hasn't done enough.

White House communications director Kate Benningfield told The Washington Post, quote, Joe Biden's goal in responding to Dobbs is not set to satisfy some activists who have been consistently out of step with the mainstream of the Democratic Party. It's to deliver help to women who are in danger and assemble a broad based coalition to defend a woman's right to choose. A senior staffer from the 2020 Biden Harris campaign said she and other activists are offended by that statement. These people going into the street saying that we need a bodily autonomy. That is the excitement that Democrats need right now ahead of the midterms and to demonize them and say, you know, they're not mainstream. Well, abortion is a very popular issue in the country and it goes across Democratic and Republican lines. I think it was an unforced error and I hope they address it. I'm not sure they will.

But I took it offense to it. And a lot of people have. So I'm trying to understand what exactly what can he be doing right now that he's not doing, Joe? Well, that's what the White House is saying in that statement. And by the way, I'm sure a lot of thought went into that statement because Jonathan Lemire, as you know, there has been for quite some time there. You've had the progressive left in the Democratic Party. And let's just say it right here. The progressive left who hated him in the primaries, the progressive left who cheered his losses in Iowa, the progressive left who cheered his losses in New Hampshire, the progressive left said he was too old. He was too moderate. There was no way he could win. The progressive

left that was shocked when he won big in South Carolina, when he won big across the South, when he won big and ended up sweeping his way to victory in the Democratic primary. So there has been in Washington, I can't I can't speak for all over the country, but in Washington, there has been the question, why did Joe Biden run as a moderate and then get to Washington, D.C., and worry so much about what the most progressive elements of the party were saying? And I think the White House finally just had enough saying, oh, OK, you're going to keep criticizing us about everything. Well, listen, we're going to do what we can do, but stop acting like I can just wave a magic wand and suddenly make Roe v. Roe v. Wade the law of the land again. There's that.

And you've reported on an awful lot. Talk about that tension between moderate Democrats, between the most progressive wing of the Democratic Party and how this statement played out and why the White House finally just had enough. Yeah, the progressive left long time, as you just outlined, not enamored with Joe Biden. But when Biden was elected and they saw this an opportunity to do big things in his agenda, they White House aides were pretty blunt about it. They wanted to be FDR. They wanted to be LBJ. And that meant adopting some of these progressive platforms. And not all of them came to be. As we know, part of the president's legislative agenda fell on the rocks, crashed against the rocks last winter. But there's been a real source of tension here. The White House repeatedly has tried to reach out to the progressives. White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain in particular is the emissary from the West Wing to the Progressive Caucus. And I think there's

been a growing sense of frustration in the White House. Aides that I've talked to confirm this, that they have been growing. They have been really almost fed up with some of the demands from the left. Like, of course, they understand them on some issues, on other things, far less so. And I think that statement this weekend was a bit of a tell, a tell from the White House saying, look, we're doing what we can on abortion. We're doing what we can on guns, on voting rights. And that is frustrating to some Democrats. Now, to be fair, it wasn't just the progressive left upset at that Kate Bedingfield statement. It was a widespread number of Democrats across the party were frustrated by that because they feel like abortion rights is not just a

progressive issue. There are some things that are in the camp that progressives want more than other Democrats. Abortion rights pretty much has unanimous support across the Democratic Party. And there were a number of Democrats across the spectrum who felt like they were being marginalized by that statement. It'll be interesting to see if the White House says more about that in the days ahead. One that's very careful with their messaging. This one was not well received. But to the broader point, we heard more executive orders from the president on Friday on abortion rights. They're exploring others still, potentially the federal emergency, the health moment. But I think we're seeing still Democrats wanting more fire,

even if they can't deliver more way of results. All right. Still ahead as Russian casualties mount in Ukraine, Moscow appears to be desperate for new recruits. We'll tell you about the stealth mobilization it is resorting to. We'll be right back with much more. Morning, Joe..