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0:30

Kevin McCarthy's job hangs

0:32

in the balance after Democrats bailed

0:34

him out to avoid a shutdown. MAGA

0:37

Congressman Matt Gaetz saying today that

0:39

he'll file a motion to kick McCarthy out of his

0:41

job this week. Senator Chris

0:43

Murphy is here with his reaction to

0:45

what has been a wild weekend on Capitol

0:47

Hill. And he's coming up first. Plus,

0:50

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will be

0:52

live in studio with a view from the Biden

0:54

administration as the president frames this

0:56

whole episode as a full-on failure

0:59

for Republicans. And later, Donald

1:01

Trump is expected to travel to New York today

1:03

and attend the start of his civil fraud trial tomorrow.

1:06

Who better to talk to than former Trump lawyer

1:08

Michael Cohen? He blew the lid off Trump's shady business

1:10

dealings. He's on the witness

1:12

list for this trial, and he could come face-to-face

1:15

with his former boss for the first time in

1:17

years.

1:27

We are awaiting remarks from President Biden

1:29

at any moment from the White House. And when he's ready,

1:31

we'll take that to you live. But

1:34

in the meantime, I just want to level set

1:36

on what we've seen in Washington over the

1:38

last couple of days. One Republican

1:41

congressman said that the last week was like,

1:43

quote, riding a mechanical bull. That's

1:45

quite a visual, but pretty accurate. The

1:48

president is going to weigh in after Congress

1:50

managed to pass a short-term funding bill

1:52

that will keep the government open for the next 47

1:54

days. Now, preventing

1:56

a government shutdown

1:57

is obviously good news. And so

1:59

is the fact that. that the final bill didn't

2:01

include any of the devastating cuts to domestic

2:04

programs that had been on the table. So

2:06

for the time being, as of right now, House

2:09

Speaker Kevin McCarthy has managed to avoid

2:11

a complete disaster of Republicans'

2:13

own making by relying on Democratic

2:16

votes to get it over the finish line. Congratulations

2:19

are in order, I mean, I guess. But

2:21

before you all think, wow, maybe government is

2:23

functioning again in Washington, not quite.

2:27

Even though McCarthy tried to please his

2:29

fringe right by not including funding for Ukraine,

2:32

there's now the question of whether or not he will

2:34

keep his speakership. Earlier

2:36

today, Congressman Matt Gaetz announced he is going

2:38

to put forward a motion to vacate this

2:40

week, which is basically a motion to

2:42

kick McCarthy out of his job.

2:46

I do intend to file a motion to vacate against

2:48

Speaker McCarthy this week. I think we

2:51

need to rip off the Band-Aid. I think

2:53

we need to move on with new leadership

2:55

that can be trustworthy.

2:57

For his part, McCarthy said today,

3:00

bring it on. So is there

3:02

an alternative candidate for Speaker who

3:04

could get enough votes? Who knows? But

3:06

remember, it took 15 rounds last

3:09

time for McCarthy to get elected. So

3:11

another round or 15 rounds of

3:13

votes for speakership could become an

3:15

incredibly distracting time

3:17

suck. Of course, Matt Gaetz doesn't

3:19

really care much about that. This

3:22

also raises the question of what else Kevin

3:24

McCarthy might agree to in order to hold

3:26

on to his speakership ahead of another

3:28

spending fight. Those members who wanted to slash

3:31

the budget of the Justice Department in retaliation

3:33

for investigations into Donald Trump, they

3:36

will still be there, maybe even more

3:38

empowered. Those members insisting on

3:40

hard right immigration reform, they

3:42

aren't going anywhere either. In many ways,

3:44

this continuing resolution is just kicking

3:47

the can down the road, setting up a similar

3:49

fight where hundreds of thousands

3:51

of government employees, recipients of government

3:53

programs for low income families, parents

3:56

with kids in Head Start and yes, travelers

3:58

over the holidays. We'll again be riding

4:01

that mechanical bull waiting for a resolution

4:04

right before Thanksgiving. Now, while

4:06

some members like Congressman Don Bacon acknowledge

4:08

that in the House they are quote, tired

4:10

of effing around with these whack jobs, not

4:12

holding back their Congressman Bacon, this

4:14

entire saga has been just another

4:17

example of this dysfunction of Republican

4:19

governments and the absence

4:21

of leadership. It wasn't just the House this

4:23

week. We also watched a Republican

4:26

debate where the most memorable moments,

4:28

to the degree that there were any at all, are

4:30

a toss up between Nikki Haley and Tim Scott

4:33

screaming over each other about curtains

4:35

and Chris Christie using a cringy

4:37

prepared line to attack Donald Trump for

4:39

not appearing at the debate. The

4:42

guy who was leading the race by more than 20 points

4:44

ahead of all the candidates who were on that stage combined

4:47

brought us this bizarre scene, standing in front

4:49

of non-union workers at a non-union

4:51

plant, arguing he alone

4:53

was the candidate in favor of workers. You

4:55

heard that right during a UAW strike. Trump

4:58

is also still facing 91 felony counts and

5:00

was found by a judge

5:01

to have committed fraud.

5:02

And he is continuing to encourage

5:05

political violence. None of that was discussed

5:07

in the debate stage. There was also a seven

5:09

hour long impeachment hearing on Thursday, just

5:12

days before a potential shutdown, where even

5:14

Fox News favorite Jonathan Turley,

5:16

a key witness for Republicans, told lawmakers,

5:19

quote, I do not believe that the current

5:21

evidence would support articles of impeachment

5:23

and that even some of the evidence that Republicans

5:26

gathered actually favored President

5:28

Biden. So all in all, a

5:30

real bang up week for the Republican brand.

5:33

But the problem is their dysfunction

5:35

impacts all of us. And 47 days

5:38

from now, will Republicans make funding

5:40

the government contingent on deep cuts to social

5:42

safety nets? Will it be about implementing

5:45

draconian policies at the border? And

5:47

will McCarthy continue to cut out Ukraine

5:49

funding at the behest of MAGA

5:51

Republicans?

5:52

Numbers of Congress can breathe a sigh of relief for now,

5:54

for this moment. But in just a month and a half,

5:57

we could be right back where this moment started. joining

6:00

me now is Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of

6:02

Connecticut. So Senator, we are waiting

6:04

for the president to speak, but you're the perfect person

6:07

to level set for us here. I wanna start with the

6:09

news from Matt Gaetz this morning, that he's

6:11

going to offer a motion to vacate the speakership

6:14

this week. He wants McCarthy removed.

6:16

You of course have not been in the House for a long

6:18

time, but you do have to work with the chaotic House.

6:21

How concerned are you that an already

6:23

kind of wild House could become even more difficult

6:25

to work with?

6:30

Well, listen, this is an ongoing

6:33

disaster for the American people.

6:35

Republicans are simply not fit

6:37

to govern. They're not serious people.

6:40

And while the House of Representatives

6:44

Republican caucus is gonna go through another round

6:46

of naval gazing, deciding who's gonna lead

6:48

them, people out there are hurting, right? We

6:50

still have crises that we need to tackle,

6:52

whether it be the record number of people dying

6:55

of overdoses, the continued gun violence

6:57

crisis, and House Republicans

6:59

are gonna spend the next couple weeks arguing

7:02

amongst themselves as to who should be the next

7:04

speaker. And well,

7:07

I'm glad that we are not shutting down

7:09

the federal government. What a low bar

7:12

for House Republicans that

7:14

we celebrate the fact that they can just barely

7:16

keep the lights on with hours to go

7:18

before a shutdown occurs. McCarthy,

7:22

obviously had to reach out and get Democratic

7:24

votes, as you will have to do 45 days from now.

7:27

But as you mentioned, the price here is that

7:29

he gave in to Republican demands to cut

7:31

Ukraine off. And ultimately,

7:33

American security is at risk if we

7:35

don't start funding Ukraine again. And

7:37

that will be one of the big fights that we

7:40

have to undertake over the next month

7:42

and a half. It's not enough to just keep

7:44

the lights on the federal government. We

7:46

actually have to live up to our national

7:49

security obligations. And one of those is making

7:51

sure that Kyiv doesn't become a Russian city.

7:53

I wanna get to that. And there's

7:56

a lot at risk here. I do wanna ask you, I mean,

7:58

with that in mind, there's rumors that... that Speaker

8:00

McCarthy could bring a funding bill

8:02

for Ukraine to the floor. He did at the last

8:04

moment decide to work with Democrats to

8:07

keep the government open. It could be worse

8:09

is what I'm saying. Is there incentive

8:12

to try to save McCarthy as Speaker?

8:17

So no matter who is

8:19

the Speaker of the House, no matter who's in charge of the

8:22

Republican caucus, the path

8:24

to a majority in the House runs

8:26

through Democrats who actually

8:29

want the federal government to operate and

8:31

want to help Ukraine and a handful

8:33

of more responsible Republicans.

8:36

So that's the problem here is that

8:38

whether McCarthy's in charge or somebody else,

8:41

the governing majority in the House

8:44

are Democrats and a minority

8:47

of Republicans. I

8:49

hope that McCarthy is gonna make good on

8:51

his commitment to bring a Ukraine supplemental

8:54

funding bill before the House

8:56

because what we know is that it has the majority.

8:58

In the Senate and the House, there's a commanding,

9:01

easy majority of members who will support

9:03

continued funding for Ukraine.

9:06

And my worry is that if we wait until

9:10

the middle or end of November to have

9:12

this conversation about whether we're still supporting

9:15

Ukraine, it may be too late for Ukraine by that

9:18

point. So my preference is

9:20

in the next few weeks to bring a supplemental funding

9:22

bill before the Senate, send that over

9:24

to the House and really dare

9:27

McCarthy to make the decision to abandon

9:29

Ukraine even though he has a majority

9:32

of Republicans and Democrats who will support Ukraine.

9:35

Are you worried at all that

9:37

this potential threat to his speakership

9:40

could make him put pause on

9:43

the idea of bringing up this supplemental funding

9:45

bill that he's been rumored to be considering?

9:51

Well, I'm concerned by the fact that when

9:54

it came down to it, the

9:57

only demand that McCarthy was

9:59

willing to give... into that

10:01

was coming from his hard right was

10:03

the demand to abandon Ukraine. He stood

10:05

up to them on their immigration demands.

10:08

He rejected their spending cuts. But

10:10

the one thing he did give into

10:13

was this idea that we should end

10:15

American support for Ukraine, which is, let's just

10:17

be honest, an invitation

10:20

for Putin to march his army straight into the rest

10:22

of Ukraine. It is an abandonment of the

10:24

entire post-World War II order. So

10:28

that doesn't bode well for the

10:30

future of Ukraine. It just means that those

10:32

of us who believe that this is a worthwhile fight are

10:34

going to have to step up our advocacy efforts

10:36

in the next several weeks and months.

10:39

You've been through, unfortunately, a lot

10:41

of these spending fights before,

10:43

government shutdowns before. What

10:46

do you think the next 45 days look like? And

10:48

is your expectation we're looking at a similar

10:51

situation in the lead-up

10:53

to Thanksgiving?

10:57

Well, I certainly worry

10:59

that we're in for a series

11:02

of Groundhog Days, where we

11:04

are just having the same fight

11:08

where McCarthy and these arsonist

11:10

Republicans bring us up to the precipice

11:13

of shutdown over and

11:15

over. And of course, the reality is this

11:17

is terrible for the American economy.

11:20

If these hard-right Republicans claim to

11:22

be fiscal conservatives, it's just

11:24

not fiscally conservative to shut down

11:26

the government, because we ultimately pay

11:29

federal employees who are furloughed when they come back

11:31

to work. But it also costs the American

11:33

economy billions of dollars

11:36

when the federal government shuts down.

11:39

So I think the next year and a half

11:41

are just going to be a series of ongoing disasters

11:45

in the House of Representatives. And

11:47

I think we're going to have to try to

11:49

do a better job of making the case to them that

11:51

there's nothing fiscally conservative about threatening

11:53

shutdown or actually going through

11:55

a shutdown.

11:56

It's all a reminder of the power

11:59

of voting and how important is who's in charge. Just

12:01

to go to politics for a moment, RFK

12:04

Jr. is out with a new video strongly

12:07

hinting he could run for a third party

12:09

ticket, teasing a major announcement. We

12:11

don't know what that means. Do you worry

12:13

that him running as an independent or

12:16

third party could hurt President Biden

12:19

and the Democrats?

12:23

I don't.

12:24

I mean, frankly, what you see is that

12:26

the portions of the electorate that are interested

12:29

in Robert Kennedy Jr.

12:32

tend to be coming from Donald

12:34

Trump's conspiracy theory base.

12:37

So if he's running as an independent, I

12:39

think that may end up hurting Donald

12:42

Trump or the Republican nominee more than Joe

12:44

Biden. I also think that the fascination

12:47

with RFK Jr.'s candidacy

12:49

was a bit of an elite media fascination.

12:52

I think ultimately voters know what the stakes are

12:55

here and you are going to I

12:57

think third party candidates are not going to be as

13:00

big a deal come the general election as folks

13:02

may think. People who support

13:05

democracy, who support Ukraine,

13:07

who support competence in government are

13:09

going to understand that the

13:12

only way to preserve those things

13:15

is to vote for Joe Biden.

13:16

Senator Chris Murphy, thank you for

13:18

encouraging people to take a deep breath about that

13:20

and also worry about Ukraine funding, which

13:22

is a huge threat. It was a pleasure talking

13:25

to you today. We've got our eyes on the White

13:27

House where we are awaiting remarks from President Biden

13:29

and we'll take you to that live when it happens. Up next,

13:31

I'll ask Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

13:34

how likely he thinks it is that Congress

13:36

can come to an agreement in the next six weeks

13:38

or so before government shuts down right before

13:40

holiday travel. Plus, as Donald

13:42

Trump prepares to head to New York today for a

13:44

fraud trial that starts tomorrow, I

13:46

look back at everything that led to this

13:48

moment and later Michael Cohen, who

13:50

is on the witness list for Trump's trial, will tell us

13:53

what he's expecting to see play out in the courtroom

13:55

when he comes face to face with Donald Trump for

13:58

the first time

13:59

in years. that.

14:07

We're waiting for President Biden to speak

14:09

from the White House. We'll take that to you live whenever

14:12

he's ready. But after Congress

14:14

avoided a shutdown last night with time running

14:16

out, there's a lot to dig into here.

14:19

In a statement after signing a stopgap bill, the president

14:21

said, quote, the American people expect their

14:23

government to work. Let's make sure it does.

14:26

Hard to disagree with that. Think about what everybody wants to

14:28

happen. We do expect our government

14:30

to work. Of course we do. But lately, House Republicans

14:33

have had a hard time holding up their

14:35

end of the bargain. Here's what else the president

14:37

had to say in his statement last night. Quote, we

14:39

should never have been in this position in the

14:41

first place. Just a few months ago, Speaker

14:43

McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement to avoid

14:46

precisely this type of manufactured

14:48

crisis. For weeks, extreme House Republicans

14:50

tried to walk away from that deal by demanding

14:53

drastic cuts that would have been devastating for

14:55

millions of Americans. They failed.

14:58

Joining me now here on set is Transportation

15:00

Secretary Pete Buttigieg. It's

15:02

great to see you, Mr. Secretary. Congratulations

15:05

on your iron man. That's quite a feat. So

15:07

I just want to start with the path forward here, because

15:09

I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief. But we're

15:11

not far. Forty five days, forty seven

15:13

days is not long until

15:16

we could face this again. And

15:18

we just heard this morning from Matt Gaetz that he

15:20

wants to challenge Speaker McCarthy's

15:22

speakership, which could fit at risk his willingness to work

15:24

with Democrats. How concerned are

15:26

you about that

15:28

potential threat and what it could mean for being

15:31

able to negotiate with the House?

15:32

Well, not only would the fact

15:34

of a shutdown had been incredibly damaging,

15:36

but just having that threat and

15:38

that chaos that goes with it dangling

15:41

over us, not just dangling over the administration,

15:43

but dangling over the American people is

15:46

not helpful. Now, we're going to keep our heads down, keep

15:48

doing the work. As the president said, people expect

15:50

their government to work. And that's what we do. We're

15:53

focused on getting the machinery of

15:55

government to work for people. I started

15:57

my week last week, Monday in Nebraska.

17:10

in

18:00

time for the Thanksgiving holiday, this could stop

18:02

it in its tracks. And nobody wants

18:04

this. At least nobody out in the real world wants

18:07

this. So we really need the House

18:09

Republicans to, first of all, come to terms with each other.

18:12

They seem to have trouble sorting out their differences internally.

18:14

And then work with us, as by the way, it happened

18:16

yesterday, right? Where the Democrats, who were ready to work

18:19

the whole time with them, provided the votes

18:21

to make sure that we avoided the shutdown, kept the government

18:23

running. But we can't just lurch from

18:25

threat to threat, potential shutdown to

18:27

potential shutdown. Sooner or later, this trauma

18:30

has to end. It's very destabilizing

18:33

for everyone. Since you're here, I did,

18:35

and you are a military veteran, I have to ask you

18:37

about your reaction to former President Trump's

18:39

recent comments implying that former

18:41

chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley,

18:44

should be executed. It's crazy every time

18:46

I say that out loud. My colleague, Von Hilliard,

18:48

caught up with him on Friday and asked him about it. So

18:50

let's listen to that, and then I wanna talk to you about it on the other side.

18:53

General Milley, what

18:55

he did is really treasonous. If you look at what

18:57

he said to China, he's

19:00

either stupid or it's treason.

19:02

But why think there are many people that would

19:04

call it treason? But why think just thank you

19:06

very much.

19:08

It's alarming, not surprising,

19:11

but given you've served and you're a long-time

19:13

public servant, what is your reaction

19:14

to that? The level of disrespect

19:17

for the American military, not to mention

19:20

for the general, is

19:22

both shocking and not shocking. I mean, look, this is part of

19:24

a lifelong pattern with the former president that

19:27

I would argue was first displayed when he faked

19:30

a disability in order to avoid having to go to

19:32

Vietnam and allowed, I assume, some

19:34

working class person to go in his

19:36

place and has continued

19:38

ever since. Made a name for himself

19:41

by basically saying that

19:45

he did not respect John McCain because

19:48

he was a war hero. And

19:51

look, a lot of this, obviously, is to get attention

19:53

and you hesitate to reward that.

19:56

On the other hand, we do, in fact, still

19:58

have some boundaries that matter in this country. And

20:00

one of them is that our regard for the military

20:03

and our respect for the military is nonpartisan,

20:06

it's non-political, and it's universal.

20:08

And that is especially important because that's

20:11

part of how the military does their job. I knew

20:13

every time I put on that uniform, every

20:15

time I went to work, every time I got into a vehicle,

20:17

every time I went outside the wire, that

20:20

I was with men and women who were serving and supporting

20:22

each other and responsive to a chain

20:24

of command that was not about politics, that

20:28

did not break down because of our political differences.

20:31

This undermines that. It threatens that.

20:34

And it threatens it at a time when we

20:36

need those institutions that are still

20:39

at least somewhat outside of the chaos

20:41

that the last administration sowed and that some

20:44

extreme House Republicans are selling

20:46

as we speak. We need

20:48

what the military has to offer by way

20:50

of nonpartisan stability more

20:53

than ever. And I would say, General Milley, he's been a class act

20:55

in how he's dealt with it.

20:56

You've also run for president.

20:58

You've been a very public figure for several

21:01

years now, and you've been the subject

21:03

of threats yourself. Trump

21:06

also mocked Nancy Pelosi's husband

21:08

being attacked at his home by a man with a hammer.

21:11

And I just wanted to ask you, having experienced this

21:13

before, how concerned you are about

21:15

that and this kind of continued stoking

21:18

of violence and kind of echoing

21:20

of it by the former president?

21:22

One of the marks of whether a country

21:24

is a free and democratic and open

21:27

society is that there is no

21:30

political violence. And to have

21:32

this level of whether it's

21:34

joking about it, stoking it, or actually

21:37

perpetrating it, which happened a few blocks from where we're sitting

21:40

on January 6th, that is an extreme

21:42

concern. I think for anybody who cares about the

21:45

trajectory of the United States, not

21:47

to mention anyone who is personally

21:49

impacted by that. There is enough that public

21:52

servants and people who go to work in

21:55

this administration or in Congress have to worry

21:57

about, let alone their families. people

22:00

who choose to go into public service, although

22:02

again, if you're going into civilian public

22:04

service, the last thing you should have to worry about is a threat to

22:06

your safety. But their family,

22:09

their spouses,

22:10

children,

22:11

surely one thing we should all be

22:13

able to agree on is that they are absolutely

22:16

off limits to these kinds of threats. We should

22:18

be able to. Secretary Pete Buttigieg,

22:20

thank you so much for joining me today and for all

22:23

of your work to make us be able to travel for holidays

22:25

and many more things. We're still waiting for

22:27

President Biden to speak, and we'll bring that to you live

22:29

as soon as he walks out. Coming

22:31

up next, as Donald Trump prepares to travel to New York

22:33

for the start of his civil fraud trial, we're going

22:35

to take a deep dive into the lifetime of exaggeration

22:38

that led to this moment. And later, Trump's

22:40

former attorney, Michael Cohen, knows better than anyone

22:43

what we should expect because he's on the witness list.

22:46

He joins me live in just a few minutes. We're back after

22:48

this.

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23:06

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23:08

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23:20

Hi, this is Ari Melber. We're living

23:22

through an unprecedented moment in history. Former

23:24

President Trump facing criminal indictments

23:26

and trials. And on MSNBC's podcast,

23:29

Prosecuting Donald Trump, veteran prosecutors

23:31

Andrew Weissman and Mary McCord break down the charges

23:34

and what we could see at these trials. Search

23:37

for Prosecuting Donald Trump wherever you get your podcasts.

23:42

President

23:46

Biden is speaking right now at the White House after

23:48

signing the StatsGap bill into law to avoid the government

23:50

shutdown late last night. Let's listen First

23:53

elected Snowden spoke about things

23:55

like gun safety, acerca of what happened with children

23:57

missing hands and weapons, and stops ties between President Trump and

23:59

two his courts here." traffic controllers and transportation

24:02

security officers are going to stay in the job, get

24:05

paid, preventing unnecessary delays

24:07

at airports all across America. And

24:09

millions of families will continue to

24:11

have access to critical food and nutrition

24:14

assistance, especially programs

24:16

for women and infant children and so

24:18

many other programs. And the vital

24:20

work in science and health from cancer

24:22

research to food safety is going to continue, as

24:25

will long-term disaster

24:27

recovery monies for communities devastated

24:30

by wildfires, super storms and

24:32

droughts. So security administration

24:36

will be fully funded, which means it will

24:38

be able to fully serve the needs

24:40

of the American people and the elderly.

24:43

But folks, the truth is we shouldn't

24:45

be here in the first place. We shouldn't have gotten here in the first

24:47

place. It's time to end governing

24:50

by crisis and keep your word

24:52

when you give it into Congress. A

24:55

few months ago, after a long negotiation

24:58

between myself and a Republican speaker

25:00

of the House of Representatives, we came to

25:02

agree on a budget agreement precisely

25:05

to avoid a manufactured crisis

25:07

that we just witnessed. But

25:10

the last few days and weeks, extreme

25:12

maggot Republicans tried to walk away

25:14

from that deal, running for deep

25:16

drastic spending cuts from 30 to 80 percent.

25:20

That would have been devastating for millions

25:22

of Americans. They failed again.

25:25

They failed again, and we stopped them. But

25:28

I'm under no illusions that they'll be back again.

25:31

You know, where I come from, when you make a deal and you

25:33

give your word, you keep it. You

25:35

give your word, you say, I'm going to do what I said I'm going to

25:37

do, and you do it. You keep it.

25:40

You keep your word. Now, I expect a Republican speaker of Republicans

25:42

in Congress to honor their word and keep

25:45

the deal they made months ago when they tried

25:47

to threaten us with almost

25:50

international bankruptcy by not paying our

25:52

debts. That includes comments

25:54

made for fully funded services

25:57

for our veterans and fully fund the

25:59

needs of the family. of our nation, you

26:01

know, protect the trans... We

26:04

have transformational investments we're already making

26:06

to deal with the climate crisis. We

26:09

are, you know, protect Medicare's ability

26:11

and power to negotiate lower prescription drug care.

26:13

We pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world. We're

26:16

finally making progress. Although

26:19

the speaker and overwhelming majority of the Congress

26:21

have steadfastly supported

26:24

Ukraine to defend itself against the aggression

26:26

and brutality of the Russians'

26:28

attack on women and children in addition

26:30

to the military in Ukraine, there's

26:33

no Ukraine funding this agreement.

26:34

Despite that, I did

26:37

not believe we could let millions of Americans

26:39

go through the pain of a government shutdown. But

26:42

let's be clear. I hope my

26:44

friends the other side keep their

26:46

word about support for Ukraine.

26:49

They said they're going to support Ukraine in a separate

26:51

vote. We cannot,

26:53

under any circumstance, allow American support

26:56

for Ukraine to be interrupted. I

26:58

fully expect the speaker to keep his commitment

27:00

to secure the passage and

27:02

support needed to help Ukraine as they defend

27:04

themselves against aggression and brutality. And

27:07

folks, you know, overwhelmingly,

27:09

there's an overwhelming number of Republicans

27:12

and Democrats in both the House and the Senate who support

27:14

Ukraine. Let's vote on

27:16

it. And I want to assure our American

27:19

allies and the American people and the people of Ukraine

27:22

that you can count on our support.

27:24

We will not walk away. The

27:26

vast majority of both parties, I'll say it again,

27:28

Democrats and Republicans, Senate and House support

27:32

helping Ukraine and the brutal aggression

27:34

that's being thrust upon them by Russia. Stop

27:37

playing games. Get

27:39

this done. This

27:42

agreement today, while averting

27:44

an immediate crisis, ends in, I

27:46

guess it's 45 days now. It's

27:49

already moving down. Just

27:51

before Thanksgiving. Quite frankly,

27:54

I'm sick and tired. I'm

27:56

sick and tired of the brinksmanship. people.

28:01

I've been doing this, you all point out to me a lot, a long

28:03

time. I've never quite seen a

28:06

Republican Congress or any Congress act like

28:08

this. This spring, mega

28:10

Republicans brought us to the brink, threatening

28:13

to fall on America's debt for the first

28:15

time in over 200 years, and

28:18

it would have caused a gigantic world crisis.

28:22

It was a home and abroad. But

28:24

we reached an agreement. We shook hands.

28:27

Said, here's the deal. Well,

28:30

now this fall, the maggot extremists once again,

28:32

and brought us to the brink this

28:34

time to a government shutdown and

28:37

going back on the deal they made months ago,

28:39

not keeping their word. Enough

28:42

is enough is enough. This

28:44

is not that complicated. The

28:47

brinkmanship has to end and there

28:49

should be another, there shouldn't be another

28:51

crisis. There's no excuse for

28:54

another crisis. Consequently, I

28:56

strongly urge my Republican

28:58

friends in Congress not to wait.

29:01

Don't waste time as you did all summer, pass

29:04

a year long budget agreement, honor the deal

29:06

we made a few months ago. We have

29:08

the strongest, we have the strongest economy

29:10

in the world today, the strongest economy in the

29:12

world today. We have more to do, but

29:15

we are the indispensable nation in the world,

29:17

internationally and

29:20

domestically, in terms of our economy.

29:22

Let's act like it. Let's act

29:25

like it. Stop the games.

29:28

Get to work. Make sure the

29:30

American people and our allies and friends around

29:32

the world know what we're doing.

29:35

Thank you. Mr. President, Speaker McCarthy's

29:38

speakership is now at risk. Should

29:40

Democrats vote to help him keep that

29:42

job? I don't have

29:44

a vote on that matter. I'll leave that to the leadership

29:47

of the House and the Senate. Mr. President,

29:49

what are your words

29:50

to U.S. allies and

29:52

to the elected judge continue funding for your

29:54

great husband to reassure them?

29:56

I can reassure them. Look at me.

29:59

We're going to get it done.

31:34

remarks

32:00

there last night in the

32:02

statement. You've worked with Congress,

32:05

you've worked with a range of members. Do

32:07

you think it's possible to end this era

32:09

of governing by crisis? I think it

32:11

is, I think it has to be. And one

32:13

thing that I'm really struck by in the president's

32:15

remarks is how many times he went back to the

32:18

idea when you make a deal, you stick with

32:20

a deal. And I've noticed

32:22

many times serving under him,

32:24

I'm sure you had the same experience in the administration.

32:27

He believes deeply in keeping

32:30

your word, fidelity to your word.

32:32

And that's not just some quaint principle,

32:35

that is actually a governing strategy that

32:37

he has used to build the credibility

32:40

that got some of the biggest achievements of this administration

32:43

done, whether it was the bipartisan infrastructure

32:45

law passed when people didn't think you could do anything

32:47

bipartisan in this town, or the

32:50

CHIPs Act that also was done on a

32:52

bipartisan basis. So one thing that I'm

32:54

really struck by is this idea of

32:56

really calling the speaker and

32:58

calling House Republicans more generally to

33:01

their duty and their responsibility to do this

33:03

while having at the same time no illusions about

33:06

the dynamics that are going on. The

33:08

other thing that I think is really striking there

33:10

and that I'm glad he pointed out is

33:12

it's not just about the shutdown and the need that we

33:14

can't lurch from threat to threat, from shutdown to shutdown.

33:18

But what they were trying to threaten

33:20

a shutdown in order to get these cuts, these 30%

33:22

or more cuts, meant

33:26

for transportation. If we won a year with those kinds

33:28

of cuts, we would have to close air

33:30

traffic control powers across the country.

33:33

Cargo and passenger flights would be impacted.

33:35

Just to take one example, I'll give you another example,

33:38

railroad inspections would be cut back dramatically.

33:40

Some of the very same people who were quick to

33:42

try to score partisan points off of situations

33:45

like what happened in East Palisine, Ohio were

33:48

effectively demanding with

33:50

the threat of a shutdown as their leverage

33:52

that we cut the resources that are used

33:55

to keep railroads safe in this country. So I think

33:58

he, you can feel and see as he. speaks,

34:00

that he knows that the American people agree

34:03

with him, agree with the pluralities

34:05

that have voted to keep the government going, agree,

34:08

by the way, with the bipartisan majorities in both chambers

34:10

that we've got to do the right thing on Ukraine. And

34:12

I think that's why he was able to have that level of strength

34:15

in his message just now.

34:16

He also said he hopes Kevin McCarthy has

34:18

a personal revelation, which is a very Bidenism

34:21

thing to say. I enjoyed that.

34:24

You know, he also kind of encouraged members

34:26

to not delay, to just start acting.

34:29

It doesn't have to be the last moment. There was a similar

34:31

message from OMB director Shalanda Young,

34:33

one of your colleagues this morning. What

34:35

does that look like? I mean, it's the same members

34:37

here who are going to be voting on this in six weeks.

34:40

Do you think that's even possible?

34:41

Well, you know, we're about to find

34:43

out, but there's no reason to wait till the absolute

34:46

last. Why would you wait until it's

34:48

almost Thanksgiving and all that travels

34:51

about to begin and every

34:53

American just wants to be with their family to

34:55

allow this to come to a head yet again? I

34:58

know deadlines are like that sometimes. People

35:00

wait until the last minute, but it

35:02

is in nobody's interest to slow

35:04

walk this. And honestly, I think in everybody's

35:06

interest, including Speaker McCarthy, frankly, to

35:09

figure this out, not at the last minute,

35:11

but

35:11

at the earliest possible moment to go into

35:13

this week and get something done.

35:15

Sounds like some pretty good common sense. Secretary

35:17

Beajos, thank you for staying with me. I'll let you go

35:19

home to your twins now. I really appreciate

35:22

it. Coming up, Donald Trump's fraud trial in New

35:24

York starts tomorrow. Former Trump lawyer Michael

35:26

Cohen is standing by. We'll be right back.

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36:30

Of

36:35

all the lies that Donald Trump has

36:37

told during his time in public life, and there

36:39

have been many, many, none have

36:41

been more prolific and more flagrant

36:44

than his lies about his personal wealth.

36:47

It's been the core of not only how he presented

36:49

himself in the New York business world, but a core

36:52

of how he has run for president multiple

36:54

times. Trump has long portrayed

36:56

himself as a self-made billionaire, a

36:59

guy who supposedly started out with virtually

37:01

nothing and became the flashy

37:04

owner of a sprawling real estate empire, a

37:06

guy whose wealth was apparently so vast he

37:09

could leverage concessions with from contractors,

37:11

banks, and insurers, and a guy with

37:13

enough bravado and swagger to plaster

37:16

his name on buildings and land himself his

37:18

very own reality TV show. All

37:21

of that made up the brand that

37:23

has long been central to Trump's public identity.

37:26

It fed the presumption of great wealth and

37:28

success,

37:30

but

37:31

it was all built on a myth. First

37:33

of all, we've learned that Trump originally

37:35

lied his way onto the Forbes annual list of America's

37:38

richest people back in the 1980s, which is a very weird

37:41

thing to do. We learned that his net worth

37:43

was greatly overstated, and that the

37:45

value of the Trump brand was

37:48

probably just a fraction of what he claimed

37:50

it was. And it's well documented

37:52

that he was hardly a self-made billionaire.

37:54

He got his wealth from his father. Despite

37:57

those revelations, Trump's self-made

37:59

myth Trump hasn't posed much of a risk

38:01

to his livelihood or to his fortune. By

38:04

and large, he's gotten away with it. In

38:07

fact, Trump has long portrayed his lies as

38:09

relatively minor exaggerations,

38:12

something he once referred to as truthful

38:14

hyperbole, just an innocent form

38:16

of self-promotion. That's all it is. But

38:19

this week, a judge in New York had another

38:21

name for all of it,

38:23

fraud.

38:24

Trump wasn't just lying about his well-to-brandish

38:26

image. He was lying on official

38:28

documents as well, inflating the

38:31

value of his assets to banks and insurance

38:33

companies and exaggerating his net worth

38:35

by billions of dollars. And

38:38

you don't need to be an accountant, I'm certainly not, to

38:40

understand how ridiculous Trump's claims

38:42

were. For example, according

38:44

to the lawsuit, Trump's financial form

38:46

shows that in just four years, the

38:48

value of his apartment in Trump Tower had just

38:51

magically increased by 400 percent, magically,

38:54

magically. By 2015, he

38:56

claimed it was worth a whopping $327 million. Just

39:00

to put this in the absurd terms that it definitely

39:03

deserves, that is more than any

39:05

price, any person in U.S.

39:08

history has ever paid for an

39:10

apartment or home anywhere in this

39:12

country. Trump also valued

39:14

Mar-a-Lago as high as $740 million, which is about 10

39:16

times more than its

39:19

likely value. In his ruling

39:22

Tuesday, the judge found that Trump's financial

39:24

statements, quote, clearly contain fraudulent

39:26

valuations that defendants use in business.

39:29

And he said Trump's arguments, to the contrary,

39:31

were based in a fantasy world,

39:34

not

39:34

the real world.

39:36

Now, this case is still going to trial tomorrow

39:38

to determine what kind of damages Trump will have to

39:40

pay. That's the big question. But the

39:42

judge has already struck the most devastating

39:45

blow that could have come out of this lawsuit, something

39:47

experts call the, quote, corporate death

39:50

penalty. He ordered that Trump's

39:52

business licenses be rescinded in New York

39:54

state and that Trump's real estate holdings

39:56

be put in receivership. It means

39:58

that Trump could lose control of the state.

41:32

instrumental

42:00

you were to this case, what do you think it will

42:02

be like to see Trump face to face

42:04

for the first time in five years tomorrow?

42:09

Well, for me, I'm okay now.

42:12

I mean, obviously five years ago

42:14

when I was going through my

42:16

torment, it would have been very difficult.

42:19

But right now I'm looking forward

42:21

to actually seeing him in the

42:23

courtroom. I'd like him to be able to look

42:26

me in the face to understand

42:28

that he's created this and this is the first

42:30

time in his entire life that he

42:33

is going to be held accountable

42:35

and have to deal with the repercussions

42:38

of his own personal actions.

42:41

As you said, Michael, it's the first time

42:43

he's really being held accountable on this

42:45

front. Why do you think it took

42:47

so long for authorities to prove he was misrepresenting

42:50

his assets on official financial documents?

42:55

Yeah. So remember that the Trump

42:57

organization is really a glorified

43:00

mom and pop type company. You're

43:03

talking about a very myopic real estate

43:05

branding company,

43:07

very similar to like the Mafia.

43:09

There's a code of silence, Omerta,

43:12

so to speak, at

43:14

the Trump organization. So with

43:16

a privately held company, it's

43:18

incredibly difficult to understand

43:21

how they value assets, how

43:24

they handle the business unless

43:26

you have an insider there that's

43:28

willing to give up that information,

43:30

which is something that I did in seven

43:33

congressional hearings. The one that you

43:35

showed, 23 occasions

43:38

to the DA, to the New York Attorney

43:40

General. I mean, look, let me be very clear

43:42

about something. There is no

43:45

recovery for Donald as a

43:47

result of the civil

43:49

case being brought tomorrow by Attorney

43:51

General Tish James.

43:53

This ruling is called

43:55

a corporate death sentence by

43:58

a number of people. a

44:00

key role in this, but you're also a lawyer,

44:02

what will it mean for Trump to lose control over

44:05

several of his real estate holdings in New York? What

44:07

does that actually look like?

44:11

Well, first of all, I believe that it's more

44:13

than just several. Once he loses

44:15

the license within which to operate

44:17

the good standing of the certificates

44:20

of incorporation that make up what's

44:22

called the Trump Corporation, not

44:25

only is the main company now

44:28

going into the receivership, but there are

44:30

hundreds of other subsidiary

44:33

companies that additionally will

44:35

ultimately go as part of the receivership.

44:38

It is a financial

44:41

catastrophe. It is the death blow

44:43

to Donald. And I'll tell you, during my tenure

44:46

at the Trump Organization, I can tell

44:48

you this has always been his biggest

44:50

fear, that he would lose money, that

44:53

he would lose all of his money and that he

44:55

would no longer be considered the

44:57

mega billionaire that he tried to portray

45:00

himself as.

45:01

What do you expect knowing him as you

45:03

do, given this trials out there,

45:05

is all this is just going to happen in broad daylight?

45:08

How is he going to handle this in public?

45:12

Not well. And again, that assumes

45:15

that he actually appears tomorrow

45:17

for it. Being Donald

45:19

the way I do, I would say that

45:22

there's less than a 20% chance that

45:24

he actually shows

45:26

up. What is he showing up for? To

45:29

sit there and to watch? He's not

45:31

being called tomorrow. He's going to sit and

45:33

watch as the judge

45:36

listens to testimony based

45:38

upon how the valuations

45:40

were wrong, how the judge

45:43

in Goron is going to determine the

45:45

extent of the damages and as

45:48

Tish James are unsinkable, New York

45:50

Attorney General said, there is a baseline

45:53

here of $250 million. She

45:56

does not believe that it will be less

45:59

than $250 million. I suspect

46:02

it'll be in excess of 600 million. And

46:05

one of the things, Jen, that you asked me before about

46:07

how it affects the company, I want to be clear

46:10

about something. Most of the buildings,

46:13

actually all of the buildings that Donald had

46:15

built here in New York City,

46:18

they are condominiums. It is

46:21

not as if he owns those buildings.

46:23

What he has is a management company to operate

46:26

them, but for the most part, other

46:28

than several apartments in various

46:30

different buildings. It's owned by

46:33

individuals like you and me, the same

46:35

way you would own your home, pursuant to

46:37

what's called a fee simple absolute

46:39

title holder. So it's

46:42

not going to affect it that way, but he does have

46:44

commercial space. He has some garages,

46:46

he has restaurants, he has commercial

46:49

space. All of those assets,

46:51

including say Trump

46:53

Tower, not the residential side,

46:56

but the commercial side that is

46:58

office space, all of that will go

47:00

into receivership and ultimately

47:03

get liquidated in order to pay

47:05

off the amounts of money that Judge

47:08

Inguaron will ultimately determine.

47:10

So you know him well, you just said, which is

47:12

pretty significant, that he may not, you don't think he's going

47:14

to show up. 80%, you don't think he's

47:16

going to show up, even though he said

47:18

he was going to on Friday. He's also on

47:21

the witness list. Do

47:23

you think, as they said he would testify if he was

47:25

called, do you think that's the right thing?

47:28

I don't.

47:29

I mean, he didn't testify

47:32

before the E. Jean Carroll

47:34

case, though he said that he looked forward

47:36

to it. Remember, not everything

47:39

that Donald says, in fact most of the things

47:41

that Donald says turns out not to be

47:43

true. So do I think he wants to come

47:45

in and testify? The answer is no. One

47:48

of the worst things is when Donald

47:50

does testify, because the more

47:52

Donald testifies, the more he implicates

47:55

himself.

47:56

We've heard state attorney general

47:58

be unthinkable, I'll say. Leticia

48:00

James give you a lot of credit for this suit.

48:03

Do you think Trump understands, if you're

48:05

preparing to even look him in the eye, if he shows up tomorrow, do

48:07

you think he understands or thought

48:09

you'd be as formidable as an enemy when you parted

48:12

ways?

48:14

Well, one of the reasons that

48:17

he asked me to come to work for him in 2006 is for exactly

48:21

this reason. You know, he obvious,

48:23

whoever he listened to that told him it

48:25

would be a good idea to throw me under the

48:27

bus. Well, I think he should be on the

48:29

phone with them having a conversation. But

48:32

one of the other mistakes that they made is

48:34

when I had said to Emily

48:36

Fox at Vanity Fair that I would

48:38

take a bullet for him. It was at

48:40

the time, it was a true statement that I was making,

48:43

but I wouldn't take the bullet

48:44

if he was the one pulling the trigger. And

48:47

he was the one here pulling the trigger.

48:50

So look, this is all

48:52

on him. Again, it is the first time

48:54

in his entire life that

48:56

he is not only being held accountable

48:59

for his dirty deeds, but he's

49:02

suffering the repercussions of them as well.

49:05

Very quickly before I let you go,

49:07

Trump is actually scheduled to give a deposition

49:09

on Tuesday and the $500 million loss

49:11

that he filed against you. Do you think

49:13

he decided to say he was attending the

49:16

trial in New York in order to delay that deposition?

49:21

Listen, with Donald, you never know. He

49:24

clearly, it's not the first time that

49:26

he's delayed that. It would actually

49:28

now be the third time. And the interesting

49:31

part of this scenario

49:34

is the fact that Donald is the plaintiff.

49:36

Whoever heard of a defendant having

49:39

to try to force a plaintiff to

49:41

proceed with a lawsuit, especially

49:44

one for $500 million, he knows it's frivolous. He

49:48

knows that the worst thing

49:50

would be for me to depose

49:51

him because, as he

49:54

also said, he

49:56

needed Todd Blanche

49:58

to be there to ensure... that he doesn't

50:01

end up implicating himself

50:04

in a, what would normally be

50:06

a crime. And so

50:09

he needs him there in order to assert his fifth

50:12

amendment against self-incrimination.

50:14

This whole case is absolutely

50:17

batty. And I do believe that

50:19

it will ultimately be dismissed, whether

50:21

or not he shows up for a deposition.

50:24

Michael Cohen, thank you. We'll look forward to hearing

50:26

about it if you do see him face to face. Thanks

50:28

for joining me today. We'll be right back after a quick

50:30

break. Before we go today, a quick

50:33

reminder that this show is now on in prime

50:35

time on Monday nights. We have a great lineup

50:37

of guests joining the show tomorrow. Former

50:39

Manhattan district attorney Sy Vance and former

50:42

US attorney for the Southern district of New York

50:44

pre-baro. We'll join me tomorrow as

50:46

Donald Trump's fraud trial kicks off. That's

50:49

tomorrow night at

50:50

8 p.m.

50:50

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