Entries from Jul 2017
Baseball Offers Hope

“Senator, we live in an age of political polarization, you work in an arena of polarization, is there anything that the United States Senate can learn from the fact that yesterday the Chicago Cubs dealt with the Chicago White Sox in a big trade?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle with a chuckle during a conversation with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) about the Chicago White Sox trading pitcher Jose Quintana to the Chicago Cubs. Listen to Durbin’s response here and why the move “gives hope to the world.”

Partisan Health Care

“With the existing state of crisis in health care in America, wouldn’t it have been simpler just to take the parts of Obamacare that clearly have trouble functioning and just fix them instead of doing what they’re doing now?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of Hoover Institution Research Fellow Lanhee Chen, who formerly worked with Gov. Mitt Romney, during a conversation about the Senate Republicans’ health care bill designed to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act. Listen to Chen’s response here.

Fake News from Russia

“The level of sophistication in many of these campaigns, especially at the presidential level, is astounding. Targeting voters down to a single block — where they live, what their habits are, what they like, what they dislike. And it’s always been a wonderment that the Russians were able to so skillfully hone in on specific areas of this country,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during the panel conversation on the latest developments in the investigation into the Trump campaigns alleged involvement with Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Listen to more of the discussion here.

Is Ignorance a Defense?

“Bob Bauer, I’d like to ask you on behalf of low IQ people everywhere: I’m sitting in a meeting on June 9th and I’ve got an attorney from Russia coming in, offering potential dirt on an opponent of my father running for President of the United States. Can my defense today be: ‘I was just stupid, I didn’t know anything about the law.’ Is ignorance a defense here?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of attorney and former White House Counsel Bob Bauer as the panel talks about Donald Trump Jr. – President Donald Trump’s son – having emails that spell out a meeting with a Russian lawyer during the election process after being promised damaging information on then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Listen to Bauer’s response here.

Words and Tweets Matter

“(President Donald Trump’s) biggest nemesis happens to be his oldest son, who can’t stop talking it seems. And you have as a result of that…you have the public face of the GOP in the Senate and the House, many people still standing and sort of supporting this; but, you have the private face of the GOP when you talk to these people off camera: They are crazy with doubt,” said Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during the panel discussion about the increasing isolation and lack of GOP support for President Trump.

Special Treatment for Kushner?

In the ongoing discussion of the President’s son – Donald Trump Jr. – and his now-public emails about a meeting with a Russian lawyer during the election process to receive damaging information on then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle asks MSNBC justice and security analyst Matthew Miller: “With regard to this one young man who is an employee of the federal government working at the White House, Jared Kushner. He has as high a security clearance as you can have, and yet he did not have the judgment after receiving those emails to realize that this was just wrong — that Russia is not our friend; Russia is our enemy. So, what would be the process now of revoking that security clearance?” Hear Miller’s response about the preferential treatment being afforded POTUS’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Trump Jr.: Right v. Wrong

“I don’t know what the exact definition of collusion is. I’m not a lawyer. But I do know what the exact definition of right and wrong is, and this was wrong,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a panel conversion about recently uncovered emails that show that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer during the election process after being promised damaging information on then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. “I also know that the emails prove beyond a shadow of the doubt when the President of the United States said in Europe that nobody really knows whether Russia was involved. Well, we now know for sure that Russia was involved, and we now know for sure that Donald Trump Jr. sat there and was willing to participate with Russia.” Listen to more of the discussion here.

Connecting the Dots

“What’s your sense about the source of these stories, the leaks in these (New York Times) stories. The intelligence community is multifaceted, located geographically distant from one another. What’s your sense?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of former FBI special agent Clint Watts during the continuing conversation about the investigation into the Trump family’s connections with Russia. Hear Watts’ answer here about the source of the leaks and why there’s “only one way to connect the dots.”

Donald Trump Jr. and Russia

“I’ve covered a lot of campaigns. I know a lot of people who work in campaigns. If someone comes into a campaign office to see the campaign manager, or the brother, or the son of the candidate and says: ‘Hey, I have some great stuff from Russia. A Russian guy gave me this stuff.’ And, everything like that: You know what you do? – you call Clint,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as he references former FBI Agent Clint Watts, a panelist on the show, during the ongoing discussion about The New York Times reports that Donald Trump Jr. – President Donald Trump’s son – was told in an email of Russia’s effort to aid the Trump campaign, ahead of Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer he believed would offer him damaging information on then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Listen to more of the discussion here and what might be next in the Trump Administration investigation.

POTUS at G20: A Man Alone

“There seems to be a consensus that the President at the G20 meeting was a man alone. The question now is whether the diminished role of America that he defines — is that going to be forever? What has he done? What has he done to the presidency, to the role of the presidency, the image of the presidency, to the status of the United States and the world with our allies? Are we America alone now as opposed to America first?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the panel examines President Donald Trump’s performance at the 2017 G20 summit. Tune in to watch ABC Australia’s viral clip in which political editor Chris Uhlmann offers a serious critique of POTUS at the G20 summit.

Russian Relations

“David, based upon your past reporting, do you think General McMaster and General Mattis are on the same page with regard to the Russians as it seems most of the White House staff are?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a conversation with The Washington Post’s foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius about National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ position toward Russia and whether they are in agreement with President Donald Trump about how to handle Russian relations. Listen to Ignatius’ response here.

The Truth About Russia

“The tentacles of the Russian story are strangling his presidency in terms of getting anything done legislatively in Congress,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during the show’s ongoing conversation about the most recent reports that Donald Trump Jr. – President Donald Trump’s son – secretly met with a Russian lawyer during the election process after being promised damaging information on then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Listen in on the discussion here.

Position of Peril?

While the Morning Joe panel discusses reporting in The New York Times that Donald Trump Jr. – President Donald Trump’s son – met with a Russian lawyer during the election process after being promised damaging information on then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, senior contributor Mike Barnicle explains: “One of the keys to the story…is the line that `three advisers to the White House were briefed on the meeting,’ indicated to The Times that the meeting did occur. That would seem to indicate that they feel that Donald Trump Jr. has placed his father in some position of peril.” Hear more about the story and situation here with hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

Pete Frates

“I am deeply sorry that I tweeted erroneous information this morning about Pete Frates — information that was provided by a family friend. I thank God that it was wrong. Pete is currently resting comfortably in the hospital here in Boston. He is a hero among us who needs our prayers and support more now than ever.” – Mike Barnicle