steele, oh, no, we have two michael steels tonight, in the same two-hour broadcast. please welcome back to the broadcast, michael steel, who is former press secretary for former house speaker john boehner and a guy who knows the hill very well. also with us, another returning guest, glen kirshner, former federal prosecutor and msnbc

i mentioned michael steele coming back. contrast from the chaos to new traditions of government being upheld. also, the wider rebuke to the capitol riots. that's what michael steele returns on, including a special guest. get 0.9% financing on the 2021 rx 350. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. ♪ ♪ get 0.9% financing on the 2021 rx 350. when the chapstick goes on. it's on. get yours on at chapstick.com let's start with all the dads who aren't exactly “sports guys.” narrow it to all the non-sports dads who love watching sports... in the rain. with kids who can catch “almost” everything. especially a cold. that brings us to you. you're the one we made mywalgreens for. an easier way to save, shop, and perhaps catch a break. introducing mywalgreens. join and get 30 minute pickup at walgreens.com at novartis, our goal is to help keep cosentyx accessible and affordable. if you're taking cosentyx and your insurance or coverage changes or you need help paying cosentyx connect is here to help. don't use if you're al

tim miller, michael steele. our thanks. >>> coming up for us, wall street gets a taste of the power of the people, at least the people who are at home and logged in to reddit. >>> millions of amateur traders are trying to beat wall streeters at their own game. it turns out if you've got time on your hands, a little disposable income and an internet connection you can play in the big leagues. prompted by an online message board on reddit, small investors have sent shares for certain companies like gamestop and blackberry soaring. and we get the story tonight from nbc news correspondent jo ling kent. >> reporter: tonight it's wall street's david versus goliath. the struggling video game retailer gamestop suddenly one of the hottest stocks, skyrocketing about 8,000% over six months. driven by the whims of a group of armchair investors online. >> this has become a game. >> reporter: what are they trying to accomplish? >> well, it started as an idea that they were going to demonstrate that they had more power than wa

michael steele, michael beschloss, a thanks to both of you on this inauguration eve. >> thanks. >>> right now here in washington, d.c., and across the country, families are hurting, businesses are hurting, how this pandemic has made this inauguration unlike any other. we also want to show you live pictures from inside the capitol once again because just a few moments ago, left side of your screen, of course, president-elect joe biden's treasury secretary nominee janet yellen, miss yellen was talking about the economic relief she thinks makes the most sense in this pandemic. she said that she thinks it's better to spend right now to spend right now, to get out of the pandemic. she also went on to say economic relief will lead to lowering the debt in the long run as the economy grows. janet yellen saying that just a few moments ago. apparently in between when her shot would freeze there during her virtual confirmation hearing. we'll be right back. this is msnbc. 'll be right back. this is msnbc. >>> this morning our country hit an unthinkable new milestone in this pandemic. here's the lates

michael steele, former chairman of the republican national committee. former lieutenant governor of maryland. these days the host of "the michael steele" project and senior adviser for the lincoln project. so, michael, i was looking at the pictures tonight of viceroy pence reviewing the national guard troops outside in the absence of a functioning president. and i was looking at the rob portman quote. i'm sitting here wondering what republicans are ready to take the donald trump training wheels off, put on their big boy and girl pants, and be a political party? >> that -- that doesn't exist. you know, the reality of the republican party right now with respect to donald trump is he owns it. he bought it. he reshaped it. he figured out where, you know, what was in the closet and, you know, he exposed it internally in a way that, you know, people, like, embarrassed, they don't want to say anything about that's what the portman statement boils down to. you cannot in the face of what happened last week just place the blame squarely where it belongs and state

i sure would like to take that off of his resume right now, and political analyst, michael steele. and host of andrea mitchell reports, andrea mitchell. and also from bbc, katty kay. john heilemann, what happened? >> all hell broke loose and you're doing a good job of talking about it. i think the broad outlines of what happened are obviously clear at this point. you know, we had in some ways, you know so much of the trump administration have been shocking but not surprised. it was, you know, stunning on some level, but obviously when it's all opened up in the clear

i want to bring in michael steele and chuck rosenberg. on that very point, you know, i want to play just a little bit of some republicans, and this is sort of a before and after thing. these are republican senators james langford, representative jim jordan, and representative matt gaetz before and after the siege. >> constitutional crisis in our country right now is that millions of americans are being told to sit down and shut up. their opinions matter. >> this is a heated political moment. we've got to be able to bring volume down. speaker pelosi talking about, well, let's impeach the president with one week to go and to try to drive this is trying to drive a wedge further, is trying to make a difficult situation more difficult. >> we should do our duty. we should object to and vote for this objection to the arizona electors. now the democrats are going to try to remove the president from office just seven days before he's set to leave anyway. i do not see how that unifies the country. >> states that do not run clean elections should be

joining me now is congresswoman ayannah presley of massachusetts and along with michael steele, former chairman of the rnc and chuck rosenberg, former u.s. attorney and senior fbi official. i'm going to start with you, congresswoman. i want to first ask you. you went through this ordeal. we did not. i want to give you an opportunity to talk about what you experienced and how is your staff and how are you doing in the wake of it in? >> thank you, joy. it was a harrowing experience. they were terrorizing members of congress and all who work in the capitol, our staff. i was, for a period there, with my husband and my chief of staff on the ground in the dark with gas masks in our hand and the doors barricaded. >> and you know, we heard speaker pelosi talk about her staff hiding under a table. she showed that -- she showed the table on "60 minutes" and then, you know, they played back the banging on the door. i mean, it had to be terrifying. and i wonder how you feel in the wake of that. people like lee, a fellow member of congress, opposing impeachment and calling for

steele, former chairman of the committee, now host of the michael steele podcast. good evening. tim, i would like to begin with you. it is clear tim mccarthy can't quit trump. i mean, he could have said it with flowers. he could have done late night pajama facetime, but he's going down there. he's going all in. this was the guy who once presented trump with just the flavors of star burst that trump liked. he threw out the others. most of us don't have a guy like that in our lives. if you can find someone in life to look at you the way tim mccarthy looks at donald trump, sign him up -- kevin mccarthy, sorry. sign him up, keep him. tim, not to be confused with kevin, what do you make of this relationship? this was a quick turn around. >> i'm in the market for a star burst man myself, brian. here's another deep cut for you. kevin mccarthy said in a private call before the election said that he thought donald trump was an asset of vladimir putin's and he was rooting for donald trump to lose but thought he had to go along with him for survival. that was five years ago.

thank you very much to all of you, kasie hunt, phil rucker, michael steele, kasie hunt, thank you all. >>> speaker pelosi opened up about the terrifying experience for her young staff hiding inside the offices as it was sieged. >> what happened was a terrible, terrible, violation of the capitol. this door they broke down. >> oh, my goodness. >> they broke that down. >> look at that. they broke the door. >> yeah, they smashed it in. the staff went under the table, barricaded the door, turned out the lights and were silent in the dark under the table -- >> under the table? >> under the table for 2 1/2 hours. >> wow. >> policy was so strong. democratic congressman from ohio joining me now. i want to ask you about the capitol police, under fire and being praised for their heroic actions. but the leadership of the police and sergeants at arm and there's a lot of blame going back and forth, didn't plan for this. you have oversight over the police and law enforcement actions on the hill. what do you want to know? >> absolutely outrageous why all of the intelligence -- and it's not like you n

views, michael steele. but this is, and i imagine it's difficult for the gosar family, even with the rightful criticism of some of the brothers' actions, we got families all over the country, michael, that are being ripped apart. >> yeah. >> and one of the questions is how do you try to bring it back together with the factual and moral baseline that people care about? >> i think the way dave's talked about this kind of shows you both the frustration and the separation. there comes a point in that very familiar and impersonal family relationship where you go dude, i can't go there with you. and i'm trying to pull you back, but you keep resisting that effort, and then the family just lets go. we've heard the stories and talked about the thanksgiving dinners since this trumpian era began that have gone off the rails, you know. the holidays, the spending time with family members, the stress of this constant drumbeat of trumpism by those who support trump and those quite frankly who don't. so it really does beg

michael steele, your reaction? >> thank you, hello. we've been talking in this space about this for awhile now, okay, better late than never. a lot of damage done. understood. be prepared for the noise of the anti tech stuff and how big tech is undermining the president and the other side of the coin we need to be vigilant about. there are other sites down that are being created informing like parlor and others where this will continue to go on and fester. so it is important that we be prepared and recognize not just what's in front of us in terms of twitter, facebook, instagram and the other big name institutions. what's on the side and behind us. that is being formted and informed and shaped to carry on this antidemocratic messaging. narrative, get out the call to arms. and crush it. at every possible turn. do not let it live nor breathe a minute longer because we know what it's about. we have seen it play out in front of our eyes. let's not pretent it's not happening elsewhere. >> our panel stays. this is a developing story. msnbc f

michael steele joins me and jeremy peters as well. michael, first to you. the exact timing of the start of an impeachment trial yet to be determined, but growing number of republicans are arguing you can't impeach trump since he's already out of office. that's a constitutional issue, welles the holdup on organizing the senate. what about the impeachment trial and the biden agenda? >> well, in once sense, andrea, it's sort of a drama that the new administration really doesn't want. you can already sort of sense from the president's remarks and jen psaki's remarks, they're trying to do a little bit of a heisman move. that's over on that senate side. we're doing the executive-level work of the presidency. but it's a drama that's going to unfold regardless. and they're going to be having to deal with that. so the reality remains that the senate wants to complete the action as a result of that and the consequences from january 6th. the president needs to be held accountable for that. his involvement, his role, all of that has to get vetted publicly. but it is ce

michael steel, thank you very much. i appreciate you both. have a good evening. you're both canceled! you're being silenced. i'm silencing you right now. >>> the growing threat of right wing violence of america is up next. and what we're learning about the role of the proud boys in the capitol raid. 123450i >>> the threat of right wing skri lens remains a clear and present danger. that is according to a terrorism advisory released yesterday by the department of homeland security warning more attacks can follow the deadly capitol insurrection. meanwhile, three charges and one defendant with ties with an extremist group. they are cautioning the proud boys to determine to what extent they may have planned in advance. they have found a home in the republican party, and the guardian dubbed them useful thugs to the now former president. we are reporting a former gathering of the president's d.c. hotel on the eve of the cal toll siege. according to a former official post on media, members of the former president's family were there, allegedly, with loyalists like michae

. >>> with us now, political strategist, republican michael steele, a former head of the rnc. and democrat teamo o'mara. let me go to you first, michael. thank you both for being with us. take a listen to senator pat toomey, a republican. he was on this morning with "meet the press." because i want to get your perspective on where the republican party is ten days before the inauguration. >> i think the best way for our country, chuck, is for the president to resign and go away as soon as possible. i actually do believe that the president has disqualified himself. i don't think he's a viable candidate for office ever again. >> former chairman of the republican party steele, where is the party when you have toomey saying that, you have some republicans have political laryngitis, others are saying they will not impeach? what is the state of the party? >> well, it's good to be with you, rev. the reality of it is fairly straightforward. pat toomey, senator sasse, ben sasse, mitt romney, there's a very, very small cohort of senator republican senators who would align themselves with

michael steele, thank you very much, my friend. appreciate you. >>> up next, sneak peek at my exclusive interview with speaker nancy pelosi. you will hear her thoughts on trump, on biden, and the road ahead for democrats. we'll be back after this. for de. we'll be back after this >>> speaker nancy pelosi is not holding anything back. earlier today i sat down with her inside the u.s. capitol, a building that's been transformed since a maga mob attempted insurrection. speaker pelosi called them terrorists, described donald trump as a stain on our country. >> he's not going to greet the incoming president, which may be appropriate, since he tried to undo the election. we now have for the first time in our history something other than a peaceful transfer of power. >> that's right. >> what does that mean for us. >> i think we're bigger than all of this. donald trump was a stain on our country. i don't think we could have sustained our democracy if he had two terms in office for what he was doing to our institutions and doing to our cons

i do feel a rumble. >> michael steele, i just want to ask you how do you feel watching that? watching liz cheney's name being used and seeing republicans try to make these arguments? >> well, i'm very proud of what liz did and i think she exhibited the kind of leadership that many republicans like myself had been hoping for and looking for over the past four years. we are in this moment, it is a critical moment, on the heels of an attack against the united states that was organized, sponsored and promoted by some in my party, and so to have her voice in the forefront of this, knowing her conservative bona fides, her principled republican positions on a host of issues brings that kind of legitimacy to this discussion that you did not have in the last impeachment trial. did you not have in those -- in those conversations. so it's not so much that steny hoyer referred to her the way he did, it's the fact that she stood up in the first instance and declaatively stated where she was and where she stood, and now, i guess, the watch is which republicans follow behind her. my view, i

i want to thank michael steel and adam gentleson. we're moment as way from president-elect joe biden who is set to unveil a $2 trillion emergency coronavirus plan. joining me now is msnbc correspondent jeff bennett. we're waiting for this to start. jeff, give us a taste of what we're going to see coming up here. >> yeah. joy, people close to the president-elect say this plan is ambitious and achievable. so he's going to call on congress to pass nearly $2 trillion in the covid-19 relief package which will do a couple of things. one, it calls for raising the minimum wage, federal minimum wage to $15. it would boost the direct payments to americans from $600 to $2,000. it also has money in there to safely reopen schools. but the biggest thing, the biggest take away here is that joe biden is calling for billions of dollars, roughly $200 billion to create a national vaccine program. and the reason why that matters is because our team is told that the biden transition only this week with six days to go before he is sworn in as the next pre

he has no loyalty to the republican party. >> juanita tolliver, jacqueline alamany, michael steel, we appreciate your analysis. thank you very much. >>> we have two big international stories coming up. first, russia is seeing mass protests over the arrest of opposition leader alexei navalny. how will the biden administration deal with vladimir putin? >>> plus, the president's decision to block the keystone xl pipeline is not sitting well with our neighbors to the north. we'll hear from the premier of alberta, canada, and from an activist fighting to protect tribal lands. >>> before we get to that, the headlines. >> good evening to you, joshua. stories we're watching this hour mexico's president tested positive for the coronavirus. he tweeted he has mild symptoms and is receiving medical treatment. he plans to continue working through that illness. >>> at least one person was hospitalized after a police officer drove through a crowd in tacoma, washington. the police department says a group crowded that vehicle and hit its body and windows. independent investigators are looking into the

steele, oh, no, we have two michael steels tonight, in the same two-hour broadcast. please welcome back to the broadcast, michael steel, who is former press secretary for former house speaker john boehner and a guy who knows the hill very well. also with us, another returning guest, glen kirshner, former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst and counselor, let me begin with you. tell the good folks watching why it is that you are the guy to talk to when we are discussing what could be a huge investigation into not only what happened in the district today, but how it was allowed to happen. what was your prior role there? >> so, brian, i was a federal prosecutor for 30 years, almost 25 of those years i was a prosecutor in the washington, d.c. u.s. attorney's office. so we would routinely see between 75 and 125 lockups every day. now that i'm retired from the department of justice, i don't mind saying that one of my least favorite duties was reporting to the basement of the courthouse at 7:00 a.m. to begin to go through that lockup list and what it entailed was int

michael steele is still here. david, your thoughts on everything that transpired yesterday and specifically the three presidents -- former presidents who were in attendance. >> critically important words from three former presidents, and though they may have been offered to our new president, joe biden, the audience intended was the world. that was a message for the world to hear and for world leaders to hear and american democracy, in the words of joe biden, had prevailed yesterday, that our system had sustained four years of disruption under donald trump. and all you have to do for a brief moment, nicole, is think about if the message of unity had failed yesterday, where we would be. the importance of that message of unity. you know, joe biden did not give an overtly ideological speech. it would have seemed tone deaf. it would have been tone deaf if he had seemed overconfident. i mean, we've lived through four years of a president offering false confidence. we are a nation beleaguered by a pandemic with an econo

. >> to that very point, michael steele, who in the white house is working to ensure republicans don't vote to impeach the president over the last four years you had mitch mcconnell keeping the senate in line. the president had access to twitter and that's what he used to throw his weight around and scare those republicans with his threats into saying i better stand with him. right now he doesn't have either. >> no, he doesn't, and there is not the coordinated level of effort that we saw in the first impeachment process, even going back into the mueller period of that investigation where the white house out of the political shop, you know, would fan out to the hill and coordinate it and have that direct communication with the leadership in the house and the senate. that is completely broken down. that is not in place right now. it is a little bit like the wild, wild west in that sense that everybody is kind of on their own, which makes the role of a mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy and certainly a liz cheney that much more important to the ultimate outcome. you know, you are not goin

joining me now is michael steel. why do so many still feel such allegiance or maybe a better fried, still so scared of donald trump when he was than deplatt formed, and it has been a pretty long time. >> i don't think it is so much fear as in the famed tweet or a barrage of insults from the overall office. i think it is more about allegiance. i think the party aligned itself even though there are corners and edges unsettled by it. he is going because he wants to shore up his position in the house. he wants to keep everybody on the same page with the president and find out from him what he thinks about what is going on. mitch mcconnell is doing the rope-a-dope. he is up against the ropes. he is wearing you down. he has you chasing your tail around what will he do next. so this is a consistent pattern that we have seen for some time now we have to break ourselves of it at this point. we have to stop falling into the trap that there is something of real sub fans that is a paradigm of change. this is an alignment that is

joining our conversation, michael steele, not the michael steele we're used to seeing, our other friend, michael steele, he was a press secretary for republicans on the hill, including former speaker john boehner. i was happy to hear that we get to talk to you today and let me just ask you, what is the company seeking and how do you repair your reputation with the millions of americans who are so intoxicated with disinformation that they carried out an insurrection against the capitol santa fe >> people in positions of authority and influence have lied to the american people. they have attacked a great american company, and they have also, worse, undermined the american people's confidence in the democratic system, our election system that undergirds our constitutional republic. there's no way we can put a dollar figure on the reputational harm that has been done, but we think that this is a start to have accountability for knowingly spreading lies. look at this. dominion, according to an analysis by "the washington post," dominion voting systems used in counties -- excuse me -- countie

so michael steele, i think that's kind of a fair response. i think twitter is a place where people are lobbing pot shots at each other. it's not helpful, honestly. but it was ted cruz trying to weasel his way back in after being an insurrectionist and inciting a mob, a mob that murdered. no thank you. since twitter can't control these people, since twitter has no sense of responsibility as to what shows up and who shows up on their platform, i guess alexandria ocasio-cortez has to stand up for yourself. >> she had to clear the decks and make it clear across the spectrum. no, you can sit this one out. thank you very much. and what you are going to see, and it's already begun, and joe have talked about it and others have reported on it, you know, the backstroke. okay. well, that was then and this is no. no, we really, really weren't involved in that little thing that happened january 6th. so they want people to forget. so we want to go to business as usual. given the reporting that's out there. given what we were just talking about. given the a

james carval and michael steele, thank you for joining me. michael, as good as it is to see you james clearly won it with the outfit. >> it's carnival time. >> there you go. >> totally. >> mardi gras right around the corner. we might not be having parades in new orleans this year, but james carville is delivering. >>> we are hours away from surpassing an extraordinary number, 400,000 u.s. coronavirus american deaths. a member of president-elect biden's coronavirus advisory board joins us on how they plan to overcome the trump administration's mistakes with vaccine distribution. mornings were made for better things than rheumatoid arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz... a pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough. xeljanz can help relieve joint pain and swelling, stiffness, and helps stop further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, l

. >> michael steele what do you see as the path forward for republicans right now? >> i think the senate cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. i think they need to delay any impeachment trial of president trump while they get the biden cabinet confirmed and then act in a bipartisan way on a smaller, more targeted covid relief bill. i don't think there is any appetite among republicans for such a large bill. i don't think there is any possibility even with the reconciliation process of passing it with only democratic votes. the only way to get much needed relief to the american people as quickly as possible, speed up vaccinations, increase testing, is to delay the trial and move forward with a relatively targeted much smaller covid relief bill. >> don't the democrats have the votes, though, to do this if they feel like it? are you talking about trying to say break through a filibuster if republicans decide to filibuster a democratic plan? >> i guarantee a bill this size will be filibustered. democrats do not have the votes given the narrowness of their majority

steele. i swear one night we will have you on to talk about some something other than your house being on fire and broken into or having plagues or locust or being on a fault line. >> man, come on. >> you know, you will get this fixer upper fixed up one of these days. but i appreciate you making time for us. we'll get it done. you'll get it done. thanks very much. >>> now, we discussed the future of the republican party with michael, but we're also going to talk about the future of the democratic party. outgoing dnc chair tom perez is coming up in our next hour. >>> just ahead, former fbi director james comey said that joe biden should, indeed, consider pardoning donald trump for the sake of moving the nation forward. we'll get some perspective from the former lead prosecutor in robert mueller's special counsel's office. >>> also, we're taking more of your questions about the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccines. a member of president-elect biden's transition covid-19 advisory board will bri

michael steele, thank you very much, my friend. i realize this is a difficult conversation for everyone. thank you for being here. >>> earlier on in the show we asked why are you awake and i want to know not just why you're awake, but to give us some reasons to be hopeful after this really dark day we had yesterday and frankly, i don't think we had so many responses to this question. i am absolutely overwhelmed and so grateful to start my day with all of you. we got this photo from maggie. she writes, i have six grandchildren. and they will be part of the change we wish to see. that's beautiful. jason tweeted this. i'm optimistic because ending slavery started as grass roots movement. we do the right thing because that's who we are. amen. josh emails to say he's optimistic because so many of his 12th grade students reached out to him yesterday especially those who just voted for first time. josh says, he believes it's clear that this generation of new voters won't stand for their voice and their vote being threatened by disinformat

kristen welker, jonathan, michael steele, thank you so much. >>> danger inside the capitol. we were talking about the cori bush claim of threat from her colleague. well, security around washington remains high. lawmakers are on alert as concerns grow about some of their fellow elected officials. stay with us. more on that coming up. needles. essential for pine trees, but maybe not for people with certain inflammatory conditions. because there are options. like an “unjection™”. xeljanz. the first and only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to severe ulcerative colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz fo

joining us now to talk about that polling and the future of the gop is former rnc chairman michael steele who's also an msnbc political analyst. sir, good evening. good to see you. >> hey, good to see you, man. >> what do you make of those poll numbers? >> well, they actually are representative of what we've seen over the last four years and certainly what we've seen inside the gop at particular inflection points of crises. instead of breaking ranks or creating a new approach to dealing with donald trump, the republicans tend to hunker down. they tend to stay fairly lockstep with him regardless of what he does. it is something that social scientists and political scientists will be examining for generations to understand exactly what was it about this man that required such a deep loyalty in the face of what we've just seen two weeks ago, an insurrection that he inspired. so, i'm not surprised by the polling at all. i'm not surprised that a vast majority of americans are appalled by what happened and are probably very happy to see donald trump go. but we should not also be surprised that

michael steel, i'm glad to have you here to talk about this. please come back to update us when you can. thank you so much, good to see you. >> coming up, why the destruction to the nation might be worse than most of us realize. f us realize. because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'll do it. good plan. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ (announcer) once-weekly ozempic® is helping i'll do it. many people with type 2 diabetes like emily lower their blood sugar. a majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. here's your a1c. oh! my a1c is under 7! (announcer) and you may lose weight. adults who took ozempic® lost on average up to 12 pounds. i lost almost 12 pounds! oh! (ann

to discuss, michael steele, and cofounders of punch bowl news, jake sherman. what do you make of what's happening in arizona? we've been saying for weeks republicans are going to be distancing themselves from trump since the insurrection on the capitol, but now you've got an election fraud pusher being reelected to run the party in arizona while the republican governor was censured by his own party for taking action to protect his state from the coronavirus. what is going on? >> well, i think you've just got to back up. i don't know why people keep insisting the party is somehow going to start running away from trump. i've never believed that and it's not going to happen. they will double down and as this impeachment trial unfolds you will see just how much the party is in lockstep with the man who was impeached for a second time. so what the arizona party did in censuring cindy mccain and the governor, what you see happening in the republican caucus with jim jordan and the so called freedom caucus, there's nothing free about that, going trying to take out, yo

michael steele, thank you very much. robert gibbs, thank you. kristen welker, thank you for sticking around. >>> still ahead with 14% of its population already inoculated, israel is leading the world in covid vaccinations. what is it doing that america is not? how can we learn from them? >>> later a gop pollsters warning to republicans on the eve of this certification of joe biden's win. biden's win. >> the party is in the process of tearing itself apart. i think the next 48 hours are going to be among the worst for the gop. >>> first, the new far more contagious strain of coronavirus has now been detected in a fourth state. t music) - [narrator] this is kate. she always wanted her smile to shine. now, she uses a capful of therabreath healthy smile oral rinse to give her the healthy, sparkly smile she always wanted. (crowd cheering) therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. at walmart, target and other fine stores. to fight wrinkles? it's neutrogena®. rapid wrinkle repair® visibly smooths fine lines in 1 week. deep wrinkles in 4. so you can kiss w

so is chuck rosenberg, michael steele, former chair of the rnc. mr. rosenberg, let me start with you. one of the chief arguments as you know against impeachment has been there's simply not enough time. here we are a week away from the inauguration of joe biden. there's, of course, the holiday on monday. what say you to that argument that there's not enough time to impeach, then convict president trump? >> i have a couple of things to say to that. there's enough time. it requires that the house and the senate move a little more quickly. second, those who drafted our constitution didn't include a clause that said that a president can be removed for committing high crimes and misdemeanors unless time is running out. no such thing. i guess they could have put in that clause. the notion is that if a president is dangerous to the republic, and this president is, then he ought to be impeached and removed. i would point out -- it's my analogy. but it's like somebody driving drunk for four years who gets pulled over as they are a block away from their home and

michael steele, since you are in the middle square, i'm going to start with you. this is your party. you led this party. can you republican party you are still a member of and that you led, is it dead or can it survive this latest iteration of it? >> you know, i think in light of the way the last few weeks have played itself out, the continual embrace of the kind of hatred and excuse-making around that hatred, sort of stewing -- stirring people's passion around insurrection, et cetera, the idea of the party is no longer a relevant piece. it has dropped into this wasteland of trumpism. so, the question becomes for republicans like myself and susan and others, is how do we begin to re-establish the ground here? and what course do we take to do that. there's great resistance inside the party. i've been told, you forfeited your right to even help the party on the other side of trump. i'm like, really? and when did you become a republican? you know, so that's the kind of fight. you have these folks who just showed up to the party, if you will, thinking that, you know,

thank you all to the reverend al sharpton, claire mccaskill and former republican chairman michael steele. thank you all very much for being here. >>> coming up, a closer look at our two systems of justice. keep it right here. still fresh unstopables in-wash scent booster downy unstopables to customizes yourcan gocar insurancetual.com so you only pay for what you need? really? i didn't-- aah! ok. i'm on vibrate. aaah! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ keeping your oysters busihas you swamped. you need to hire. i need indeed indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo on the sleep numberowest pri360 smart bed.son can it help with snoring? i've never heard snoring... exactly. no problem. ...and done. don't miss our weekend special. the queen sleep number 360 c2 smart bed is only $899. plus, 0% interest for 48 months. ends monday. working, parenting, problem solving. at new chapter vitamins we'

to talk about this, i want to bring in somebody who knows republican politics very well, michael steele. good morning to you. >> good to be with you. >> before we dive into all of the where the republican party goes next piece of it, give me your reaction to this impeachment trial news that we have heard break on our show this morning here, discussions, negotiations happening inside democratic leadership about when that could start. mitch mcconnell saying, delay it. how do you see this playing out? >> i think they need to delay this. we are learning more every day from law enforcement, from the investigations that are going on. was there coordination? how coordinated was it? who was involved? i don't think we have the facts right now to have a fair trial and arrive at a correct decision. we have higher priorities. getting the president's nominations cleared and dealing with the covid crisis. we need a covid bill and the cabinet filled out before we turn to this trial and when we know more. >> talk about now, the leadership of the gop. we saw one person who is a leader in the party in th

michael steele, i want to ask about coward is. it doesn't get enough attention about the dna, who stood up and i think gave fraudulent excuses for not voting with liz cheney and nine other much their republican colleagues. we should take it apart here and now. we could impeach him, because it would ainge other the rioters who wanted to overthrow -- these are the same people who would have laughed out of any debate any one of the either political party -- >> right. >> -- who weren't for, frankly waterboarding a terrorist. the people who were enthusiastic backers of the most brutal counter-terrorism policies that really aren't in place anymore, remain a stain on the former administration in which i served, those same people don't want to hurt the feelings of the insurrectionists who went there on the call of donald trump, many of them chanting "hang mike pence" and sought to do harm to the members of congress. >> so let me get this straight. these members are sensitive to the feelings of the individuals who were incited by the presi

let's bring in garrett haake, who is on capitol hill, our friend michael steele. claire is still with us. michael steele, portman as confounded me, as someone who worked beside him, i was shocked and sad he could never find his spine, display a conscience, or having known him as a fellow staffer, i'm sure he felt horror. >> i have known him for a long time. i know how difficult this particular travel has been for him. he's notice faced with this trumpian reality that i think a lot more republicans like him are going to come to face with. that is, my conscience, my values, my principles, do i just set them aside to avoid a tough primary? or do i look my constituents in the eye and look the country in the eye, and do the right thing, what my conscience dictates. not having spoken to the senator yet, i think that's where he's leaning. he's leaning into that, and bully for him. but it speaks to a broader issue, i think, nicolle about the direction of the country, the conversation trump is floating about creating his own maga party. can i add to it? please do. feel rig

steele. >> the irony of is it, a lot of people think i wrote this as a response to the attack on the capitol. but i actually turned it in that morning. and i had written it about a month prior. the song is to give hope, true hope as an artist, the job is to do and that true hope is grounded in struggle and in fact. >> marlen, i watched this two or three times and there were three sets of lyrics that jumped out with me. you said, we live in our own noose before we live in our own truth. that spoke to me as well. we hang ourselves every day with the lies that we perpetrate. >> it's about the psychological condition. and white supremacy is a psychological condition, it's an institutional condition. until we really acknowledge what's going on in the mirror, inside of ourselves, i don't see things really changing. >> that felt like an important exchange about justice, art and encourage. a lot happened last week, including the inauguration of a new president, you all embraced that video. you made it "the beat's" most watched segment on line. it drew 2.4 million views online and counting an

david plouffe, michael steel. another grebreak for us. new numbers have come in, during our interview segment. steve kornacki at the board when we come back, and also standing by, senator amy klobuchar who will be in the chamber for a consequential week ahead. ry? i spend a lot of time in my truck. it's my livelihood. ♪ rock music >> man: so i'm not taking any chances when something happens to it. so when my windshield cracked... my friend recommended safelite autoglass. they came right to me, with expert service where i needed it. ♪ rock music >> man: that's service i can trust... no matter what i'm hauling. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ at visionworks, and we want you to see yourself in your new glasses and think, "ooh!" but if you get home and your "ooh" is more of a "hmm..." you have 100 days to change your mind. that's the visionworks difference. visionworks. see the difference. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certai

joining me, carlos carbello and former rnc chair michael steele and elise jordan. on this covid relief bill, the need is nonnegotiable, getting the vaccines out there, the needs in terms of school reopenings and economic stimulus, if you were in congress today, what would you be coming to the table with? >> alicia, look, the republican has to decide a couple of things. number one, is it going to be a party committed to the truth? in that regard there's a big battle going on right now. clearly mitch mcconnell has made his decision and is trying to push the party in one direction but there are a lot of trump loyalists insisting on lies. the other big decision the party has to make is very relevant to your question. what kind of opposition are they going to be? are they going to be a constructive, mature opposition or reflexively say no to everything the administration puts out there? if i was in congress, i would be working to shape or influence that package, certainly not to block it at a time where there is so much need. so this is one of the big decisions that rep

michael steele, i want your impressions of what we saw yesterday. john's right and barry mccaffrey is right, it was a massive failure of law enforcement. we want to say there were a lot of officers fighting for their lives quite literally. we showed the video of the single officer backing up the steps, and thank god he got out of the way. there was a massive failure, no question about it. then there was the question of the republicans who made all of this possible. this is something you have been talking about for years now during the trump administration. lindsey graham finally -- i don't know, 3:00 in the morning, 2:00 in the morning last night saying enough is enough on january the 6th. he said that of 2021 with less than two weeks to go and after someone had been killed inside the capitol in the middle of a riot. what do you make of, what to you say to the republicans who enabled this and who still after the riot of yesterday late in the night voted against the electoral process and the certification of the electoral college in a couple of state

joining me is michael steele and phil rucker. thanks to both of you. phil, your colleague at "the post "reque post" writing that trump knows no limit. what is the fallout of that? how much damage is he willing to commit on his way out of office? >> andrea, he appears to want to try to burn the system down. his efforts are almost certain to fail in the congress. it still will have lasting inpai impact on our democracy because you will have joe biden becoming president and a large portion of the countrylected in a free and fashion. importantly, trump is not acting alone. he has the support of more than 100 house members, a dozen, perhaps more, republican senators who all say they will object on wednesday to the certification of the election results. >> michael, what does it mean for the republican party? you see people like jim langford and people who know better. ted cruz is a constitutional lawyer. he knows the difference. what are they trying to prove here? >> it's all about trump. it's all about the branding. some are jockeying to be the leader when

steel, former senior advisor to jeb bush. good morning, happy birthday new year to both of you. michael, i want to start with you, on how the republican campaign strategizes, how this changes based on this quarantine. if you're senator perdue, what's your game plan right now? >> i think the important thing is that he take the steps to protect his own health and the health of those around him. he's taking public health seriously and following the science. that's the smart thing to do and the right thing to do. the key issues in this campaign are pretty clear. these are races that could hand control of the senate to democrats, control of all of washington to radical liberals and that message has been loud and clear throughout this entire campaign so i don't think this last four days being quarantined will make a big difference, assuming that he is. >> joel, for the democratic candidates, how does this impact their strategies? does this shift the focus more over to the warnock-loeffler race? >> no. talking to folks on the ground

i'm joined now by michael steele, who used to run the rnc but endorsed joe biden this last cycle and political reporter libby casey. democra republicans feel it's the democrats who led this. it's speaker pelosi pushing for friday to impeach. the top ranking republican in government in congress other than donald trump, mitch mcconnell is open to this. >> you're right, ari. the democrats led this, and they got this thing rolling, but only the republicans can make it happen. and i think what we've heard in the last couple of hours from both the majority leader of the senate, mitch mcconnell, and the number three member in the house, liz cheney is part of that now movement. she represents the second house member to say impeachment, yes. and i think that that's going to potentially create a domino effect and move this thing along a lot faster than people realize. particularly when you look at the stature of those two individuals within the republican caucus on the hill, that is a significant step forward that mcconnell will go well, i'm fine with it. and liz cheney would come out on the h

and michael steele, former chairman of the republican national committee. you know, david, i kept thinking today about 2009. i was there, i was covering that inauguration, it was one of the coldest days i have ever spent, two coldest days of my reporting career, i think, two of them was the inauguration and the day that barack obama announced in springfield, which was even colder. and just -- you know, the sense that day in 2009 of the crush of crisis, you know, there was a kind of solemn anity to that day, despite the fact there were a million people on the mall. yet today felt even more solemnly urgent, because of the crisis and then the just -- seeing it everywhere you went with the masks and the social distancing and the national guard. what were you thinking as you were taking all that in, thinking about the inaugurations you've been apart of? >> well, you're right, chris. even election night in 2008, there wasn't much celebrating given the economic crisis that barack obama was going to inherit. i think we all hoped we wouldn't see a president in our l