ALSO – EXCLUSIVE WITH SEN. MICHAEL BENNET: “I’VE GOT A DIFFERENT SET OF EXPERIENCES THAN THE OTHER FOLKS” IN 2020 RACE
PLUS – REP. ADAM SCHIFF EXCLUSIVE: PRIORITY IS TO ENSURE PRESIDENT TRUMP ISN’T MOTIVATED BY “FEAR OF COMPROMISE”
FEB. 10, 2019 – Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said today on Meet the Press that “you absolutely cannot” rule out another government shutdown, when asked about negotiations over funding for President Trump’s proposed border wall.
Mulvaney told moderator Chuck Todd that negations are “all over the map because of the Democrats” and that “the White House, at the request of all the parties on the Hill, have sort of stepped back. We’re still participating, we’re still listening, we’re still talking, but we’re not leading the negotiations.”
When asked about a deadline for making a deal, Mulvaney said, “I’ve been told it’s today. I was at Camp David with a couple of the conference members on Friday night and they were told to be in town today to get ready to sign a conference report.”
Mulvaney also suggested that President Trump would not have to declare a national emergency to access funds to build a border wall, saying “There are certain sums of money that are available to the president … what we’re looking at doing with President Trump is stuff that is entirely legal, stuff that is laid out in law already … there’s pots of money where presidents, all presidents, have access to without a national emergency.”
When asked why the White House did not meet the Senate deadline to provide a report on the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Mulvaney said, “I honestly don’t know and have not been familiar and worked into those negotiations. I do know that there are some requirements placed upon us by Congress, but I’m not aware of the status of that report.”
Chuck Todd also asked Mulvaney if the president knew anything about National Enquirer publisher David Pecker’s reporting on Jeff Bezos to which he replied, “I have not had one second’s worth of conversation with the president of the United States about the Jeff Bezos situation.” Watch the full interview.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who is considering a run for president, also joined the program for an exclusive interview and said of the current 2020 Democratic field, “I’ve got a different set of experiences than the other folks in the race … we’ve got a million people that are going to run, which I think is great, we have to do it. And I think having one more voice in that conversation that’s focused on America’s future, I don’t think would hurt.”
When asked about the push from Democrats on the left for Medicare for All, Sen. Bennet said it seems like a “bad opening offer for me.” “Remember when President Obama said, ‘If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance.’ And then a few people in America actually lost their insurance because of the way that the plan worked. Now what Democrats are saying is, ‘If you like your insurance, we’re going to take it away from you’ from 180 million people that get their insurance from their employer and like it, where 20 million Americans who are on Medicare Advantage, and love it.’” Watch the full interview.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, also joined the program for an exclusive interview and discussed the parameters of his investigation into President Trump’s finances saying, “Our priority is to make sure the President of the United States is working in the national interest, that he is not motivated by some pecuniary interest or fear of compromise or actual compromise. That’s the length and breadth of it.”
He continued by saying that while President Trump was a candidate, “he was telling the country he had no business dealings with Russia, he was pursuing the most lucrative deal, I think, of his life and seeking the Kremlin’s help to make it happen. That’s a different form of collusion, but it is equally compromising to the country because it means the President of the United States is looking out for his bank account and not for the United States of America.” Watch the full interview.
WBUR Senior Washington News Correspondent and NBC News Contributor Kimberly Atkins, Chief Political Analyst for CBN News and Co-Author of “The Faith of Donald J. Trump: A Spiritual Biography” David Brody, Daily Kos Founder and Vox Media Co-Founder Markos Moulitsas and NBC News Correspondent and Host of MSNBC Live Katy Tur joined the broadcast’s roundtable for insight and analysis on the week in politics. Watch the full panel.
Read the full transcript of Meet the Press this morning and follow the show on Twitter and on Facebook for the latest.
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