Morning Joe - Morning Joe 9/15/23

Episode Date: September 15, 2023

Trump pressed on classified documents

They don't even mention the Presidential Records Act. This is all about the Presidential Records Act. I'm allowed to have these documents. I'm allowed to take these documents, classified or not classified. And frankly, when I have them, they become unclassified. People think you have to go through a ritual. You don't. At least in my opinion, you don't.

The question is simply, your lawyers signed a certification saying they had turned over everything that was responsive. Then when the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, they found documents that were responsive that had not been produced. Mark Clask. I don't know what the timing is. Again, I'd have to check.

That's it. I don't know. I just don't know the timing. All I know is I'm allowed to have those documents. But once you get a subpoena, you have to turn them over. I know this.

I don't even know that because I have the right to have those documents. So I don't really know that. All right. Once again, Donald Trump seeming to confess on the air how fun it must be to be his attorneys in all these cases against him. We'll have much more on that straight ahead. Plus, we'll get expert legal analysis on the new

federal charges for Hunter Biden. Also ahead, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy dares the far right members of his party to try to take the gavel away from him. And breaking news, a historic strike is underway this morning. For the first time ever, the United Auto Workers are taking on Detroit's big three at the same time. We'll go through the union's demands and how the automakers are responding. A lot to get to on this Friday morning. Good morning, everyone. It is Friday, September 15th. And along with Joe, Willie and me, we have former White House press secretary, now an MSNBC host, Jen Psaki. The host of way too early, White House beer chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire. And MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle joins us this morning.

Willie Geist, they say confession is good for the soul. I guess that's why Donald Trump keeps talking to reporters on TV. OK, it's amazing. He sits down with Megyn Kelly. He sat down with our Kristen Welker, the new moderator of Meet the Press, and just continues continues to confess. And we have a new Trump classic among thousands where he says, I know that I don't even know this, immediately contradicting himself when it's told when a subpoena is presented to you, have to turn over the documents. Also, he can keep citing the Presidential Records Act and he can keep being wrong about that. That doesn't mean that you as an individual get to take the

documents with you when you leave the White House. Not remotely what the Presidential Records Act says. They go to the National Archives. Those documents belong to the government. So maybe that argument plays well with his audience, with his base. But again, I guess for the 1000th time, that's not at all how the Presidential Records Act works. No, no, it's not, Mike Barnicle. And yet he continues trying to use that excuse and continues talking around in circles. But again, at the end of every one of these interviews, you've got prosecutors who are just, you know, looking down at their notebooks and go, well, that was a productive help. Yeah. Productive interview for us. I mean, he's just basically just confessing for the prosecutors every time he gets it gets in front of a camera. Can you imagine being his lawyer or lawyers? I mean, every every appearance is the tail of the tape. That's where it goes. It goes directly to a tape that all I have to do in the prosecution is turn on the tape.

And endless interviews with Megyn Kelly, everyone, everyone, Kristen Welker, everyone, everyone who's ever interviewed him. He has said something almost indictable during the course of a regular interview. A nightmare. Here's a candidate or rather here's here's someone, a suspect, someone under indictment who will never, ever take the stand in a court of law because of this. Yeah. And and as his attorney, not only do you have to deal with all that, but you also have to look at him in the face and say, good job, Mr. President, or you'll get fired. Let's start with the federal grand jury, though, the indictment of President Biden's son, Hunter, on three felony gun charges setting

the stage for a possible criminal trial during the 2024 campaign. Two counts are tied to Hunter Biden allegedly completing a form indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he purchased a Colt Cobra revolver in October of 2018. The third count alleges he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic. Two of the counts carry maximum prison sentences of 10 years, while the third has a maximum of five years. Each count also carries a maximum fine of $250,000. The historic indictment against the son of a sitting president comes after a plea deal fell apart earlier this year and after House Republicans launched an impeachment inquiry seeking bank records and other documents from the president and his son. The case is being

overseen by special counsel David Weiss, who also headed the investigation. Weiss is a Trump appointee who was kept on as U.S. attorney for Delaware because of the sensitive and unique nature of the investigation. Attorney General Merrick Garland named Weiss as special counsel in August, just as negotiation over the tax and gun charges collapsed. Lead counsel for Hunter Biden, Abby Lowell, issued a statement that reads in part, quote, We believe these charges are barred by the agreement the prosecutors made with Mr. Biden, the recent rulings by several federal courts that this statute is unconstitutional and the facts that he did not violate the law. And we plan to demonstrate all of that in court. The White House referred requests for comment

to the Justice Department and to Hunter Biden's legal team. Willie. And joining us now, former FBI general counsel, now an NBC News legal analyst, Andrew Weissman. Andrew, good morning. So we have to draw some lines here because so much has been conflated by opponents of President Biden. These three charges are specifically related to Hunter Biden buying a firearm. And the charges are that he lied on the form, filling out the application for the gun, that he wasn't using narcotics, and then that he possessed a gun while he was using narcotics. So what is the significance of this case, if you see any, to the larger investigations around Hunter Biden that Republicans say may be connected to Joe Biden, although there's no evidence presented of that yet?

So there's no connection at all. I mean, this is an alleged crime related to the purchase of a single gun. There's nothing about Burisma. There's nothing about Ukraine. There's nothing about foreign business. This is simply a purchase of a gun. I do expect that we're going to see the federal tax charges that were initially sought to be brought in Delaware, that we're going to see those as soon as today, possibly. Those, it'll be interesting to see what they say the source of the income was. There may be a connection, But it's important to note that to date, there's simply no evidence that's come up with respect to the current president having any role in terms of any sort of illegality regarding those tax charges.

But it remains to be seen what's alleged by the special counsel here. Andrew, it's Jonathan. Let's get your assessment of this charge in terms of how common it is that someone would be actually charged with this. And then secondly, even if we're adding tax charges to it, as you suspect may happen. Sketch us out for us the likelihood of this going to trial, and if so, when. Sure. The way I look at this is when the former president was charged in the four separate indictments that exist, a legitimate question that people could and did ask was whether he was being treated comparably to other people. In other words, is there a precedent for other people being charged

in like circumstances? And in the January 6th case, it was an easy call because scores and scores of people have been charged for doing less than the former president. The same thing in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. So you could look to how other people had been charged and say this is consonant and consistent with the rule of law. I do not think that is possible in the Hunter Biden case to say that. This really strikes me as an abuse of the enormous discretion that a prosecutor has in deciding not just can you bring a charge, because here you obviously can do it. There is probable cause that a grand jury found. But should you be bringing the charges? And here, the first two charges are

completely duplicative. And as you mentioned, it's just not very common to see this type of charge in my 21 years as a prosecutor. I never saw this charge. And I think that's common here. Jen Psaki, given what Andrew just said, I think this question about the politics of it and you can take a question to him as well. But first, just wanted to hear your thoughts politically. This is the indictment of the president's son. It's serious. And I was gauging reaction on Capitol Hill. And you had major players in the Democratic Party, Jamie Raskin and others, Eric Swalwell, all of them respecting the law.

There was no screeching and crying about the weaponization of the judicial system. There was this is sad. We have to follow the law. We have to see what happens if someone does something wrong. They have to be brought to account. This isn't the president. Clear facts. You're saying they acted like people who actually respect American democracy. Correct. Here's like Raskin. You're saying they weren't like fascists to when their leaders were charged with something. They tried to tear down the jury system. They tried to tear down the FBI. They're trying. So they weren't like they weren't like Republicans who are playing fascists that we were going to tear down the FBI,

the Justice Department and even attack the jury system if they didn't like. And really, if I may, how can those Republicans say everything they've been saying, which is ridiculous every step of the way, but then say this stupid. And I gauged Republican reaction and right wing television. And they were acting. Well, the hypocrisy is boundless. Here's Jamie Raskin. And then we'll get to Jen Psaki on the other side. I don't think people should applaud the system when it works for Hunter Biden,

but then try to tear the system down when it works for Donald Trump. I mean, both of them have been indicted on various charges. The presumption of innocence operates for both of them. Due process rights operate for both of them. And, you know, we shouldn't take delight in other people's misfortunes, but we have to have a rule of law. I mean, we have to have a rule of law, Mika and Joe. It's such a relief to hear that from people, including when it's about, as you just said, somebody who is very close to the president. I mean, first and foremost, the politics of this are a little hard to predict. But right now you have the president's son, somebody he loves deeply,

somebody who has very publicly struggled with drug addiction, now facing these charges, which are serious. And I'll let Andrew do a contemplation of the legality and the process and all of that, which I know a lot of us have questions on. What is tricky to watch here and what I think we all will be watching is what do Republicans do with this on the Hill as it relates to their impeachment process baloney efforts? Right. We didn't see a lot of that yesterday. A lot of the tying of these charges to their impeachment efforts. If there are additional charges that we see from the tying of these charges to their impeachment efforts. If there are additional charges that we see from the Department of Justice that Andrew just alluded to, I suspect they would try to do that. But right now, what we're looking at, and I think on the politics of this, you know, millions

of Americans have dealt with family members who have dealt with drug addiction, who've dealt with alcohol addiction, who have dealt with a range of addiction. My bet is right now this is a heartbroken president in the White House who is worried about his son. And we're all watching to see kind of what happens with this. So, Andrew, my question for you. Yeah, I was going to say, Andrew, because I'm just curious because we're all trying to figure this out. What happens exactly next here?

Right. There's a lot of talk, which is important for all of us to know about maximum sentencing, but what happens now? Could this really go through the course of next year? What are we really looking at after yesterday? So I think as you heard from Abby Lowell, the new defense counsel, that you're going to see two types of motions, at. One is that there was a pretrial diversion agreement that was signed by the government in connection with these gun charges. And the claim is going to be made that this is barred because the Department of Justice, through the special counsel, agreed that these cases would be deferred. So they're going to seek to enforce that agreement,

and we'll see how the judge rules on that. The second, which is quite ironic, and Jen, I'm sure it doesn't escape you, that Republicans have obviously been touting the importance of the Second Amendment. And a very lively issue that is going to go to the Supreme Court deals with the constitutionality of this statute. And the Republicans have generally taken the position that this statute and parts of it are unconstitutional because they infringe on the Second Amendment. So what's really unusual here is that you have charges that are definitely going to be subjected to scrutiny as whether they violate the Constitution or not. And so it's unusual for the department to be bringing these charges at this moment while this is still untested as to whether

they will withstand that scrutiny. So I think that is the second thing. And that obviously could take some time to get litigated. Well, and Willie, there's so many questions, layered upon questions. You talk about the politicalization. As we always say here, if Hunter Biden did something that he deserves to be charged with

and is ultimately convicted, it's very sad for him or for anybody, but he'll go to jail. And that's what the law is in this case, though. There's so many strange things. First of all, Abby Lowell brings up. I mean, they made a deal with him. Then they broke the deal. I mean, are they going to be barred from doing that? Then you have, as Andrew said, you've got the Fifth Circuit and other circuits going. We're not actually sure that this that this this law that he's charged in is even constitutional. And then you have the fact that in 2021, only five percent, only five percent of the charges of these type of charges were were related to guns. And I haven't I haven't found one that's related to a gun charge. If you actually didn't use that gun in commission with another crime, which he did not do. And then you look at the

uniqueness of the misdemeanor tax charges as well that may be coming down the pike. And it just seems, again, that if his last name were Smith, you know what? He would have pled out a long time ago and these charges wouldn't have been brought. And it's a really interesting point you make and Andrew just made, which is that imagine, say, this were Don Jr. and he were brought up on these charges. He'd be a Second Amendment hero, right? Like this law shouldn't even exist. They would point to the pending litigation that you're talking about here. But it is Hunter Biden. And they believe, and the reaction from Republicans has been, this is just the first step. This is just the gun charge on Hunter Biden. Now let's get to the other stuff. That's House Republicans talking about impeachment.

And again, without evidence yet, tying Hunter Biden's business dealings to the president of the United States. And Mike Barnicle, Jen Psaki pointed to it a second ago. But just the way that this may be impacting the president of the United States. Again, this is his son who's had addiction problems now bringing trouble to him in his bid to win reelection and his bid to keep Donald Trump out of the White House again, which a lot of the country views as an urgent matter. How do you think all of this on a personal level is impacting President Biden? Well, Willie, the president is now part of a long line of parents across this country who have a family, a member of a family within their family who's

suffering from addiction. There are thousands of them from coast to coast. Too many people have been touched by addiction of their children. He carries that every single day. He also goes to work every single day as president of the United States, which is a 24-7 job. And the weight of the presidency is enormous. None of us can really factor into what it must be like to carry the responsibilities of being president of the United States. But hovering above that job each and every day for Joe Biden and Jill Biden is the concern and the constant worry about Hunter Biden. No, trying to figure out, you know, will this set him off? Will this trouble him even more deeply? Will this get him back onto something that we don't want him doing?

So they worry about that all the time. And that affects him, obviously. And we're going to see what happens ongoing. Hunter seems to be pretty strong, according to people who know him, still standing up strong, going through what he's going through. We'll find out. But in the meantime, we have these charges that were brought yesterday. And, Andrew, I want to ask you, you mentioned the diversion agreement that apparently was signed prior to the breakup of the deal earlier this summer. Does that mean it's a contract that I'll avoid

automatically? Does it have any effect right now? And before you answer, I want to tell you that yesterday I was texting with a former federal prosecutor who now sits on the bench. And I asked him if an ordinary citizen were charged with lying on a gun application, he or she was an addict, what would happen to that ordinary citizen? And here was his response as he texted back to me. He said, I've lost it. But basically, he said, not much. He'd lose the gun. He would lose his gun license. Other than that, unless there were other factors involved, nothing would happen to him unless he was very unlucky or his name was Hunter Biden. That was his response. What's your response? So I completely agree. I've never actually seen this charge brought in 21 years.

And, you know, I saw lots and lots of cases in New York and in D.C., I do think that this is a situation where the last name of the person is making a difference, and that's not how the rule of law is supposed to work. With respect to your first question, when you have an agreement with the government, it is enforceable. You can bring a motion, which I am confident that Abby Lowell will bring, for what's called specific performance. So, if the government agrees to do something, they can't renege, and it can be enforced. The issue will be whether the agreement was really final. Now, at the hearing that was held last month, both sides said this was signed, both said it was independent of any other part of the deal in terms of it had nothing to do with

the tax charges, and both sides said that to the court. So it's going to be very hard for the government to try and wiggle out of that, given their representations to a federal judge. Nor should the government be trying to wiggle out of something. If they agreed to something, even if you regret it later, that's not what you do when you're representing the government. You have to stand by your word. All right, Andrew, stand by, because we've got a lot more to talk to you about, including former President Trump confessing on tape again.

The confessional hour of power. Does he know he's doing it? He just, you know. There's a reason why none of these lawyers can let him get up on the stand. Okay, still ahead. Also still ahead on Morning Joe, the United Autos Workers Union officially on strike

this morning after failing to reach new contract deals with Detroit's big three automakers. We'll take a look at where negotiations stand this morning and we'll talk to Michigan Senator Gary Peters about the possible nationwide impact of the strike. Plus, Kevin McCarthy dares his Republican critics in the House to carry out their threat of holding a vote to remove him as speaker. What he had to say to his GOP colleagues behind closed doors and ahead of a potential government shutdown. President Biden tries to sell Bidenomics by launching a new attack on Republicans and Donald Trump's economic policies. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back.

It is 26 past the hour. A live look at the Capitol on this beautiful Friday morning. Beautiful Friday. Made it to Friday. We made it to Friday. Yep. More now from that interview where Donald Trump seemed to confess to some of the federal charges against him. Crimes. When he talks, it happens. Crimes. All the time. Post

Megyn Kelly pressed Trump on his handling of classified materials and the audio recording of him showing a classified document to people at his golf club in New Jersey. OK, but let's get to my question. Why would you be holding up a newspaper saying this is still secret? I'd have to look at it. I could declassify it if I were president. I would have to look at it. But that's what you told Brett Baer.

You told Brett Baer that that was a newspaper or a magazine. I could have declassified. No, I also told Brett Baer, as I remember, I don't know, it was a longtime interview. Well, you tell me, what were you waving around? I also told Brett Baer that it wasn't a classified document. What were you waving around in that meeting? Because it certainly sounds like it was an attack plan. I'm not going to talk to you about that because that's already been, I think, very substantiated.

And there's no problem with it. It hasn't been substantiated. Jack Smith says it was the attack plan. Megan, let me just tell you. And you told Brett Baer it was the attack plan. Let me tell you. Here we go again. I'm covered by the Presidential Records Act.

I'm allowed to do what I want to do. I'm allowed to have documents. The Presidential Records Act is civil, not criminal. In any way, it's civil. And I'm covered by it 100%. And this shouldn't even be a case. And then they say I fought them and I obstructed. This is the same thing.

They have a fake crime. There is no crime. In fact, it's civil. It's not criminal. That's true. They're saying that's why they say Espionage Act to make it criminal. Oh, they make it Espionage Act like it's something like the Spanish Armada is going to raid us. And look, the Espionage Act of 1917 has no impact on this i am covered

a hundred percent i got it there's a dispute about that about whether presidential just so my audience i don't think there's any dispute that i'm covered under the presidential records act well you're covered but it's not clear that it allowed you to take all those documents you can't say it says it says what it says. You're allowed. And do you believe that every CIA document that came to you as president was automatically yours to keep no matter what? I'm not going to answer that question. So that's the dispute. No, no, because I think it's clear in the document.

But it's nothing, nothing, nothing about it. It's clear. Andrew Weissman, that was the biggest nonsense, biggest BS. I mean, him saying that he could take whatever he wanted to take because of the Presidential Records Act, it doesn't fall under the Presidential Records Act. The guy steals nuclear secrets. He steals secret plans. And again, I'm not exactly sure why this wasn't pushed a little bit more there. But he told Susie Wiles, what I am holding is a classified document. I shouldn't be showing it to you.

If I were still president, I could declassify it. But since I'm not president, I can't declassify it. He admitted everything right there on tape, clear as day. So I'm not exactly sure who he was lying to there and who's stupid enough to believe any of what he just said. Because, again, you look at the facts of this case and it's all there in black and white. Trump, Trump is, these entire cases are built by Donald Trump and people that Donald Trump hired. That's it. So the key there is that it's on tape. I mean, this is one where the government is just in the most incredible position because they

have the defendant on tape confessing to the crime. I also think, just to Willie's point, introducing this is you have the former leader of the free world saying he's not sure when you get a subpoena whether that means you have to produce documents. I mean, this case is just not about the facts. This is spinning to his base to try this case in the court of public opinion. There just isn't a dispute here if you are dispassionate about the facts. I think the biggest challenge for the government is getting this particular case to trial. They are not being helped out by the Florida judge, who has been very slow in making rulings and deciding things. So that, I think, is going to be the challenge. I suspect that they are putting all of their effort on the January 6th D.C. case,

because the Florida case is something that remains to be seen just exactly when that will go to trial. But the case itself is overwhelming. So, Jen, just to bore people even further, on June 9th of this year, three months ago, the National Archives put out a detailed statement in the face of all this, which you just heard from President Trump, former President Trump, which you hear from his lawyers about how the presidential records act. And they very politely said that none of what you're hearing from Trump and his team about our laws, our rules is true. One attorney for Donald Trump tried to then spin it and say, well,

there's usually a two year grace period where the president, former president, can take these records with him. He and his staff can sort through them and decide which are, no, the National Archives says, no, that's not at all how this works. So the people who need to hear this may not hear it, but if you're interested in the truth, you can go to the website of the National Archives. The statement is from June 9th and read a detailed explanation of what the Presidential Records Act says and does not say. That's true. And you can certainly become an expert on the Presidential Records Act should you choose. Now, I think it's also important to know here the indictment that Jack Smith wrote, the speaking indictment his team wrote, had a detailed list of the documents they are talking about here. Now, it doesn't have all the specifics, but what you can tell from their detailed list is that these are documents that have such a high level of classification. They have references like five eyes, which means,

you know, that it is only for the it is documents that we we got through the cooperation with some of our key partners. It has the highest level of clearance in the government. So what we're talking about here, put the Presidential Records Act, become an expert if you want, aside for just a moment, is the former president of the United States taking nuclear secrets, things that would put at risk our sources, people who are out there on the front lines trying to protect the United States every day, the methods through which they do that at risk. And he said also in that interview, which is the thing that stuck out to me, I didn't know the timing. Now, we all know the timing. We all know the timing was that they asked for the documents. He declined to provide them. And he held on to these highly sensitive documents and shared them and showed them to who knows who.

So outside of the Presidential Records Act, that's the piece that should be concerning. Well, and not only do you know the timing, he had his lawyers sign documents saying we have returned everything back to the FBI and the DOJ to the federal government and lied to the government about returning all the documents when he knew he had not returned all the documents. And then he went to his I.T. people and asked if they would destroy the tapes. Right. Yes. Now, they may not have destroyed them, but he asked for that, which would be, I don't know, what's the word? Obstruction? That's the issue. So, Andrew, earlier this week, the New York judge overseeing the hush money case against Donald Trump, remember that one, signaled he would be open to delaying the start of the trial. While a development like that is usually a setback for prosecutors,

Andrew, you say it's a win for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. You write about this in a new piece for MSNBC.com entitled Alvin Bragg Keeps Winning and Nobody's Talking About It. So tell us why this would be a win. Sure. Well, first, the fact that the Manhattan case may get moved is something that was sort of anticipated because the D.C. January 6th case, by all accounts, is the case that is the most significant. It is also one with a real timeline because that's the case that could go away if Trump or an ally were to win the presidency, because that's a federal case. And the president would have the power to just say, stop, don't go forward.

So that case really needs to be tried. And it is useful for the electorate, Democrats and Republicans, to have a jury verdict on that. So knowing that, both Judge Marchand, who is the New York judge, and D.A. Bragg, I think very graciously made it known that they were not going to be insisting that their case, although first in time in terms of when it was brought, that they had the view that if justice demands that another case go forward first, that they would not stand in the way. And Judge Mershan had a conversation with Tanya Chutkin, the D.C. judge. Judge Chutkin put that on the record, that that's what she did.

Alvin Bragg made it known that he would not be opposing that. And I think from D.A. Bragg's point of view, that was really a sign of statesmanship. He could have been much more parochial and, you know, he's an elected official. He could have said, no, I brought my case first. I want to go first. And I think it's really commendable that he really looked at the big picture. I don't think it's a sign at all that his case is weak. I don't think he would have brought the case if he thought it was weak. He could not have been banking on this development. And so I think that's why it's a win for, frankly, the entire electorate to have the D.C. case

go before the Republican convention, before the general election. So there'll be a jury verdict, whichever way it goes. All right. NBC News legal analyst Andrew Weissman, thank you very much for joining us on this Friday morning and coming up much more ahead. The Philadelphia Eagles kicked off week two of the NFL regular season with a win over the Minnesota Vikings. We'll have the highlights from Thursday Night Football. Plus, NBC's Matthew Berry will join us with some insight for your fantasy lineup. Keep it right here on Morning Joe. third and four here comes pressure there goes the ball wide open it is smith again all the way for the touchdown roll tide eagles quarterback jalen hertz with a 63 yard bomb to white out davante smith in the third quarter of last night's matchup against the vikings that score gave the defending nfc champions a 20 point lead minnesota did close the gap and could not recover from three costly

fumbles the eagles get the win on a thursday night, 34-28 move to 2-0. Joe, you know, watching Jalen Hurts, he finished second last year in the MVP voting, only to Patrick Mahomes, who's probably the best player in the NFC last year. People weren't sure about him. When he came into the NFL, he bounced from Alabama to Oklahoma. He could run. Could he throw in a pro-style offense? Well, last night, he threw that dart to Devontae Adams, rushed for two touchdowns himself,

signed that big contract over the last few months, and the doubters are gone now. Jalen Hurts is an MVP-worthy player in the NFL. I mean, what an extraordinary story Jalen Hurts is. I mean, here's a guy who, you know, certainly was a hero at University of Alabama, but what we saluted him for his junior year was the fact that he was such a team player that when he was benched behind Tua, he still was a team player and he still kept his head up, a guy of great character. But, you know, Willie, you look on clips, you look clips from, I don't know, some of the best in the business, people we love to listen to, Colin Coward.

You listen to, you know, Shannon Sharp. You listen to others who said that Jalen Hurts was going to be a bust in the NFL. There was no way the Eagles should have picked him as high as they did and that he was going to be a failure. The fact that Jalen Hurts has proven everybody wrong and he's one of the great quarterbacks in the NFL right now and also that he's handled it with grace. He doesn't every day he doesn't get in front of a you know he doesn't do a Deion Sanders. Now I'm pulling for Deion at Colorado but after that first win I just wanted to say to Deion, keep your head down, buddy. You know, you got 11 games every year. Don't go out like screaming and yelling how great you are.

And people need to believe. But Jalen, he's just keeping his head down and he's talking on the field. And that's the type of quarterback. That's the type of leader you want. What a great story, though. It is. By the way, Coach Prime doesn't have keep your head down in his arsenal. That's not what he does. But, yeah, Jalen Hurts, I'm just happy for him. Like you say, he was a great quarterback at Alabama. He got hurt.

Tua took over. He went to Oklahoma, had success, too, and having a great NFL career. Eagles, 2-0. Last night's game, had success, too, and having a great NFL career. Eagles, 2-0. Last night's game also had plenty of fantasy football implications. Joining us now, NBC Sports fantasy football analyst, New York Times bestselling author Matthew Barry. He's the host of Fantasy Football Happy Hour, weekdays at noon Eastern on Peacock. Matthew, it's great to have you on the show. We want to talk about fantasy and show you our teams. I had a bleak week one, hoping to recover here in week two, but let's talk about the big story in the NFL last week, and that is Aaron Rodgers. Four plays into his career, the savior of the New York Jets, their long-suffering Jets fans who haven't been to or

won a Super Bowl since Joe Namath was in town, going down with the Achilles injury out for the season, and at least on offense, right back where they started with Zach Wilson before they got Aaron Rodgers. Now they have an incredible defense. They proved it by beating the Bills the other night. What are the prospects for the Jets here going forward? Well, first off, obviously they're worse. Anytime you lose a future Hall of Famer like Aaron Rodgers, that's not good, but I don't think the season is over for them. Now, the fact that they won their opening game against the

bills, I think that's helpful. And they have to your point, Willie, they have a great defense. They can run the ball. Well, they should do what the 49ers did last year when they faced a similar situation, they lost their starting quarterback. They've had super bowl aspirations. So they, you know, what you need to do with Zach Wilson is Brock Purdy this. Basically like, hey, Brock, you don't need to win the game for us. Just don't lose it for us. We're going to run the ball well. We're going to play great defense.

We're going to be conservative. The next five games are absolutely brutal. But if they can get out of this and say, let's say, go two and three over the next five because they won against the Bills and they go three and three, I think they're right in the thick of this. I don't think the season is over. Is it great? No, it isn't. But if I'm Jets fans, I will say I thought Zach Wilson looked okay,

you know, coming in cold, and he had that one really good drive and ultimately led the Jets to a win on Monday night. So, Matthew, let's get your sense of the two teams you met last year, Super Bowl. We just showed you the Eagles, obviously 2-0. Jalen Hurts remains an MVP candidate as candidate as well as of course a fantasy monster uh the chiefs lost their first one i think there's some questions about patrick mahomes and the quality of the weapons around him what do you think there as you watch can mahomes do it again with a banged

up travis kelsey and not much else yeah I guess I'm not as worried about that. I think just the track record of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes speaks for itself. You know, that was a bit of a fluky game on Thursday night. As you mentioned, there was no Travis Kelsey. So that opens up, you know, there's some bad missed drops. Those are professional wide receivers. I think they will be better as well. Give credit to the Detroit Lions.

They played absolutely great. But I think they'll correct that. Kelsey is expected to be back this week. And so until we see that offense with Kelsey, I don't think we should judge. Again, they've won two of the last three Super Bowls. I'm not panicking on the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs just yet. So Matthew, let's check your panic meter on the team the Chiefs beat in the AFC Championship game last year. The Cincinnati Bengals, a very sexy Super Bowl pick coming into this season. They look terrible.

I mean, just flat out. Joe Burrow signed that massive contract earlier in the week. Couldn't get anything done against the Cleveland Browns. Burrow and Jamar Chase, obviously, huge fantasy guys. What's up with them? Yeah, it was a bad game, obviously, like really bad weather. Give Cleveland credit. They play really good defense. But also remember, Joe Burrow got injured pretty early in the preseason. He had no reason. That was basically a preseason game

for Joe Burrow. I'm not worried at all about the Bengals. Like, I'll just give you a couple of quick stats here. Last year at this time, after week week one the third best quarterback in fantasy football last year was carson wentz who currently doesn't have a job two top 10 running backs after week one last year were dalton hilliard and um james robinson you know who are you know deep deep backups on their current nfl teams i just you know the fact of the matter is is that um it's one week right think about a couple years ago i don't know week, right? Think about a couple of years ago. I don't know if you guys remember this, but a couple of years ago, the Packers went down to New Orleans and the Saints just absolutely crushed the Packers.

Like, just like it was some, some crazy score. I want to say it was like 34, three or something like that off the top of my head. I don't know, but it was an awful game for Aaron Rogers. Everyone's like, Oh, Rogers is done. It's over and everything like that. And Rogers is like, it was one bad game. We had a bad day at the office. We're going to be fine. That was 2021. And Rodgers ultimately ended up winning the MVP that year. Like I, it's one week, you know, in the words of Bill Belichick, we're on to Cincinnati. Like I, I think for the Chiefs

and the Bengals, I'm not concerned at all. There's just too long a track record of success from those guys. So Matthew, you were talking about quarterbacks. Let me tell you about my fantasy draft, OK? I'm doing my fantasy draft and I'm watching a baseball game on my iPad during the draft. So I screw it up, Mike, and I end up with a quarterback named Russell Wilson. He had a pretty good day last Sunday. I think he threw for two. That was OK and everything like that.

But I'm trying to figure out, should I move him? Should I drop him? What should I do with him? Because I don't like him. Yeah, I mean, obviously it depends on what else is available in your league. Are there quarterbacks on the waiver wire that you can go get? How easy is it for you to trade? Is it an only one quarterback league?

I'm not crazy about Russell Wilson. The concern here is that in fantasy football, to have success as a fantasy football quarterback, you need one of two things. You either need a quarterback that can give you points with his legs and his arms, like we saw from Jalen Hurts last night, as you guys were talking about a couple minutes ago, or you need to have 35 to 40 passing touchdown upside, the way that a Joe Burrow or a Justin Herbert does.

And the fact of the matter is, Russell just doesn't have that kind of passing upside at this stage of his career, and he doesn't run anymore. I mean, last year – I'm sorry, last week, one rush attempt in week number one. Not crazy about him this week. I think Sean Payton is an aggressive coach, and the Broncos are getting Jerry Judy back, so that will help that offense, the wide receiver, the talented wide receiver, Jerry Judy. But ultimately, yes, in an ideal world, I would upgrade your quarterback if you can.

So, yeah, you can email me, and I'll look at your waiver wire, see who's out there. So I've got a couple of my son's fantasy teams here. I'm going to check and see what you think of this. Let's see. Let's start. We'll start with Joey Scarborough here. He's got Gino Smith quarterback. What do you think of that? I like Gino. I like Gino this year. Gino was a top

10 fantasy quarterback last year. I think a lot of people were, uh, expecting him to be a bit of a fluke and I don't think he is. And I think about what Seattle did this year, right? Seattle didn't draft a quarterback, even though it had a high draft pick. They went out and they signed Geno to a big money contract. They went out and drafted Jackson Smith and Jigma, who many people, including myself, thought was the best wide receiver in the draft. They added Zach Charbonnet to the backfield, along with Ken Walker.

They have DK Metcalf and Kyle Lockett back there as well. I like Geno, and Geno is a guy, unlike Russell Wilson, he'll get you 30 rushing yards a game or something like that. So Geno's absolutely fine as a fantasy quarterback yeah yeah actually that was Jack my 50 year old it's uh Joey actually uh had a had a rough week he uh he had Joe Burrow as his quarterback uh but do you hold you hold Joe Burrow right I love Burrow. Joe Burrow is a top six fantasy quarterback. I mean, I love Joe more than Geno, to be candid.

Again, it was one week. It's a bad week. He had no preseason, really bad weather in that game. And give credit to the Cleveland Browns defense, which is one of the better defenses in the NFL. And so, yeah, tough day at the office for Joe Burrow. But this guy has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL for a long time. There is a reason why he is the highest paid player in the NFL.

He just signed that big contract. Joe Burrow is going to be just fine, I assure you and your son. And by the way, I want to underline something. You talked about the Browns' defense. The Browns' defense is exciting. They are good, and they make the Browns competitive, whoever they play this year, which is really great for the people of Cleveland. They need to at least get to a Super Bowl, if not finally win one.

But also, I want to circle back to what you had to say with the Jets, because I'll tell you, the day after, you know, everybody was melting down. Everybody was freaking out. I brought up Brock Purdy and what he did last year. But, you know, my view of a Super Bowl team, can't miss Super Bowl team, I just go back to Phil Simms and the Giants. A pretty good passer, a really good defense, a really good running attack, solid, you know, solid special teams play.

I mean, you look at this Jets team, they're built to go into the playoffs. They need a quarterback. You know, he doesn't have to be Joe Namath. He can be, you know, he can be Phil Simms. He can, you know, and Phil Simms is great, but I'm just saying, he doesn't have to be the flashiest guy in the world. Just put in a good middling performance, and the rest of this team can take you pretty far.

Yeah. I mean, listen, you lose Aaron Rodgers and there's a reason why there was so much excitement around Aaron Rodgers. And the fact is, is like, it's a downgrade, like, you know what? And that's no insult to Zach Wilson. There's a reason why the Jets paid all the money and the draft picks to go and get Aaron Rodgers. Having said that, given the situation that you're in, football is not a one person sport. It is a team sport to your point, Joe. And so again, there's a reason why Zach Wilson was drafted second overall the year he came out. There is talent there. I think it's somewhat mental. And I think having the off season where there's no pressure on him and Aaron Rodgers was there to take all the spotlight, I think helps this kid.

And the fact is, is that now he has a chance to be the savior, has a chance to rewrite his story. He doesn't need to win games for the Jets. He just needs to not lose them. And the Jets are smart. It's a good coaching step there. They know that. So, again, you will see a conservative offense. You will see them run the ball a lot.

They're going to play good defense. They have an elite wide receiver in Garrett Wilson. And, you know, they're going to, it's going to be, it's going to be short passes. It's going to be, you know, quick rollouts. It's going to be dump offs to the running backs. It's going to be simple stuff for Zach Wilson, at least initially. So again, it's not ideal. It's not awesome. The odds of the Jets making the Super Bowl certainly went down when Aaron Rodgers went down. But I don't think the season is over by any stretch of the means. Real quick, Matthew, before we go, we've got a big New York audience, a lot of Jets fans, also a lot of Giants fans, including myself. Tell me, last week's 40-0 pasting at home to the Cowboys was a fluke?

Yeah, I mean, look, give credit again to the Dallas Cowboys defense. They are really, really special. And again, really bad weather in New York. Just one of those bad days at the office. But here's what I would say about the Giants, who obviously overachieved a little bit last year. But I'm a Brian Dayball believer. I'm actually a Daniel Jones believer.

And so I think things are going to get a lot better this week on the road at Arizona. If the Giants lay an egg this week against the Cardinals, then everyone's allowed to panic. But until that time, I wouldn't. It just again, we've seen this before where teams have come out. They've just, they've laid an egg, especially in week one.

And everyone's going to like how the sky is falling. And then it's fine. Again, it's fine. It's week one. We're on to like how the sky is falling. And then it's fine. Again, it's fine. It's week one. We're on to Cincinnati. In the case of the Giants, we're on to Arizona. It was a weird week one in a lot of ways. Let's hope for Giants fans it was a fluke.

For Bengals fans, maybe too. It's a long season. The Fantasy Football Happy Hour airs weekdays at noon Eastern. And the Fantasy Football Pre-Game with Matthew Berry airs every NFL Sunday at 11 AM. Both of those on Peacock NBC sports fantasy football analyst, Matthew Berry. So great to have you on with us this morning. Please come back soon.

Thanks guys. Appreciate it.