← Deadline: White House
Deadline: White House
“Signs of resistance”
00:40:59
Nicolle Wallace covers growing signs of resistance against the Trump administration across poll numbers to sports figures speaking out against Trump to artists using music to promote unity in a time of deep division.
Loading summary
Transcript62 lines
- [00:00]
Cornell Belcher
O o Ozempic hi, I'm Michael from the Warren Treaty.
- [00:05]
Congressman Robert Garcia
You know the jingle now discover the facts about ozempic a GLP1. Only Novo Nordisk makes FDA approved ozempic.
- [00:12]
Cornell Belcher
Learn about the real thing.
- [00:14]
Commercial Announcer
Talk to your healthcare professional today. Call 1-833-OZEMPIC or visit ozempic.com to view the medication guide and to learn more About Ozempic. Semaglutide injection 0.5 milligram, 1 milligram and 2 milligrams. Exhausted from spending half your night cooking. Factor eliminates the stress with chef crafted fully prepared meals delivered to your door fresh, never Frozen, ready in two minutes. Factor delivers zero cooking, zero stress. Just heat and eat. Over 100 dietitian approved options weekly with no refined sugars, artificial sweeteners or refined seed oils. Right now go to FactorMeals.com Easy50OFF and use code Easy50OFF for 50% off and free breakfast for a year. That's FactorMeals.com Easy50 OFF and use code Easy50OFF.
- [01:08]
Nicole Wallace
Hi there everybody. It's 4 Gaga New York it is the single biggest story, the biggest development in American politics since Donald Trump first descended that golden escalator at Trump Tower more than a decade ago. Donald Trump is right now, as we come on the air, at his lowest point in terms of popularity in his political life. And now more than ever, there is both a permission structure and a growing imperative to speak out against Donald Trump and his administration. A brand new poll from CNN shows Donald Trump's approval rating at just 36%. Among independents, Donald Trump's approval rating is 26%. Just 32% of all Americans think Donald Trump has the right priorities. 68%. Almost 70% of all Americans say that Donald Trump is not paying attention to the most important problems they face in their lives. At this very moment, Donald Trump appears intent on proving those 68% of us right. Trump is doubling down on one of his least popular issues, the tariff regime. In the wake of the Supreme Court giving him a political get out of jail free card by striking down his tariff regime as illegal and unconstitutional. Donald Trump, snatching defeat from political victory, has announced he's going to impose a 15% global tariff. He says he's allowed to keep that in place for 150 days. In a post on Truth Social this morning, Trump threatened to use tariffs, quote, in a much more powerful and obnoxious way, with legal certainty, end quote. If there's one thing Americans have said they hate, it is Donald Trump's tariffs. Americans have been consistent about that in poll after poll after poll. And those Americans include people who voted for him. The latest, a survey in the Washington Post, Ipsos and ABC News that finds just 34% of Americans approve of Donald Trump's handling of tariffs. 64% disapprove. Identical to what it was back in April, and doing nothing to help the image of an administration that is deeply out of touch. Pictures emerged over the weekend of Donald Trump's handpicked FBI director, Kash Patel chugging beer and screaming and wearing a gold medal after the glorious US Men's hockey team won gold at those Olympics. Kash Patel was there on the taxpayer's dime while the FBI faces multiple crises here at home. In the midst of all of this, Donald Trump is claiming that if you look closely, support for him still exists. It's just quote, silent
- [03:45]
Activist/Protester
Tom Holman. Kristi Noem are people, they've been incredible, the job they've done, and they take nothing but abuse. But, you know, they're sort of pretty hardened to that, I think, because they
- [03:58]
Cornell Belcher
know they're doing the right thing.
- [04:00]
Activist/Protester
It just amazes me that there's not more support out there. It's just we actually have a silent support.
- [04:10]
Nicole Wallace
Kristi Noem of self described I had to shoot my puppy fame. Silent support. Okay. On Earth one, in reality, and increasingly on Earth two, too solid majorities of Americans oppose Donald Trump and his entire agenda. And those Americans are feeling braver and braver about being louder and louder. Signs of resistance to Donald Trump are now sprouting up everywhere you look in the public arena. And that is a real shift. With all eyes on Team usa, the Olympics, athlete after athlete after athlete had the courage to make themselves heard. Here's skier Chris Lillis.
- [04:52]
Cornell Belcher
I feel heartbroken about what's happened in the United States when, you know, I'm pretty sure you're referencing ice and some of the protests and things like that. I think that as a country, we need to focus on respecting everybody's rights and making sure that we're treating our citizens as well as anybody with love and respect. And I hope that when people look at athletes compete in the Olympics, they realize that that's the America that we're trying to represent.
- [05:20]
Nicole Wallace
In an interview released last week, Olympic gold medalist Alyssa Liu opened up about her feelings about the Trump administration.
- [05:29]
Claire McCaskill
I think it is really important also
- [05:31]
Nicole Wallace
to, you know, notice, like, the faults in our own government. Y very, very similar to my dad. Like, yeah, things, things are a little, little rough.
- [05:43]
Claire McCaskill
A little rough in our countries,
- [05:47]
Nicole Wallace
little rough in our country tennis star Coco Gafs also spoke out. She told reporters at a tournament in Dubai. This quote, I don't think people should be dying in the streets just for existing. It is tough to wake up and see something because I do care a lot about our country. I think people think I don't for some reason, but I do. I'm very proud to be American. You don't have to represent the entire values of what's going on in the leadership. I think there are a lot of people around that I believe in the things I believe in, believe in diversity and equality. Here at home, there is a vibrant and growing protest movement. In Minneapolis, superstar singer Brandi Carlisle invited a group of activists to join her in singing a song that has become a rallying cry to the resistance to ICE and to Donald Trump's brutal immigration enforcement tactics. Watch some of that moment.
- [06:39]
Claire McCaskill
Singing resistance.
- [06:53]
Nicole Wallace
It's okay to change your mind.
- [06:57]
Michelle Norris
And you can join us, join us here anytime. Oh, it was.
- [07:14]
Nicole Wallace
This rising tide of resistance to Donald Trump in every corner of American public life, from sports to entertainment to music. And growing is Donald Trump's approval rating. And standing with the American people sinks lower and lower is where we start today. Political analyst, the former Senator Claire McCaskill is here. Also joining us, senior contributing editor Michelle Norris is back. Plus, political analyst and pollster Cornell Belcher is with us as well. I could talk about Brandi Carlisle and the athletes for the whole hour, but let me just root myself in data. Cornell, tell me what you see in the polls.
- [07:52]
Cornell Belcher
Well, I see a sort of cratering that, frankly, Nicole, I haven't seen since we voted Donald Trump out of office several years back, all the data. And look, Nicole, we talked about a great deal is the middle of the electorate where a lot of elections are won or lost. If you look at the Washington Post numbers around moderates, over 60% disapprove of his jobs. Moderate voters and that moderate swath of the electorate is where you win a lot of elections. And if you look at suburban voters, which I pay a lot of attention to in the data, you know, his again, you have over 60% of suburban voters disapproving of his, of his job overall. And then you get into the details of it, around economy, around inflation and even around immigration, these key middle of the electorate, moderate voters and suburban voters have turned hard against the president. And I think when you look at how Democrats have been overperforming for the last year in special elections and off your elections, that you see that moderate and that sort of, that moderate swath of voters, those independent voters who, who often determine elections along with turnout, moving solidly against the president. And I think at some point, if you're going into a midterm, Nicole, the Republicans have to try to change those numbers, because you cannot go into a midterm with, with these sort of numbers for your party and the top of the ticket.
- [09:21]
Nicole Wallace
CORNELL Let me let me just put up let me just go a little deeper here. So this is the difference from one year ago. And I think the reason I have looked and scoured the country for signs that the culture was gonna lead or sort of reflect our politics is from something Joan Baez said to me. She said, you know, we had each other and we weren't looking for politicians. And she stood, she talked about singing with Martin, with Martin Luther King Jr. I mean. And so I started looking outside of just elected Democrats, and I started looking, and I have tracked almost daily what seems to be a ballooning, sort of a swell of the safety in numbers, which is something that you heard the people on the streets of Minneapolis talk about. How can you be out there after Renee Nicole Goode was murdered? Well, because we're safer together. Seventeen days later, Alex Preddy is killed, and they're out there in larger numbers than after Renee Nicole Goode is out there. There seems to be a mirror, if you will, happening in culture and in sports. And it was really, really clear during the Olympics that there was permission structure suggests they were waiting for approval, almost like a sort of a safety structure, if you will, that they felt safe speaking out against what's happening in the country. Is that tracked in the polls, or are the polls sort of a reflection of that, or how do you see that correlating to the polls? Cornell?
- [10:53]
Cornell Belcher
Well, I think, and we've talked about this before, I think culture leads politics, right? What you see happening in the social spaces and in culture spaces, they actually, you know, typically happen before you. You pick it up in data and certainly before politicians start, start, start reacting to it. I think if you look at sort of the conversation that's going on, at least on the left of, of our political space right now, that wasn't initiated by Democratic elected officials. That was Democratic elected officials being, being led. Right? And you've reported on it before, and I think it's remarkable the number of people who say that, again, they're not necessarily people who've been part of protest before, and they're not particularly partisan, but they got to take to the streets because of what they're seeing, and it's a values conversation. And I know so many of my our Democratic friends want to say, oh, it's affordability. It's affordability. Those people aren't taken to the streets who've never taken to the streets because of affordability. It's a more values and aspirational thing that's happening. And again, you know it as well as I do. You know, mobilizers are hope and anger and not sort of the best constructed economics argument. I think what you see right now is a reaction to the values that so many Americans feel are being undermined by what's happening in this country. And that's far more effective than any economic argument that a Democratic consultant has come up with in the last several years.
- [12:30]
Nicole Wallace
Well, they're also, they seem to be moving to the streets because they have the agency to protect each other. Right. That if I can't do anything about this national mess, I can put on every coat in my coat closet in sub zero temperature and go out there and try to protect my neighbors. And Michelle Norris, I know you use this term that has sort of haunted me since you said it, but you saw some echoes to the French resistance and you talked about that when you were on the ground in Minneapolis,
- [13:03]
Michelle Norris
and that's still going on. I am concerned about people. I have been concerned about people hitting a wall of exhaustion and I've yet to see it. I talk to people in Minneapolis every day and they're still willing to go out and find safety in numbers and in some cases stand on a street corner by themselves and protect children who are going to school or blow a whistle because they see ice activity in the cities or in the surrounding. But to pick on something that Cornell said about culture, I do believe that culture leads politics and hope and anger are often the motivating factors. And that's what drives people to rallies and that's what drives people to the polls, the anger over what they're seeing, for instance, in the Twin Cities. But I think there's something in the middle that might be going on that is reflected in these polls, in that it's the sort of pain points that gel those changes, that cement those changes. And people are really feeling a lot of those pain points right now in terms of the economy and in terms of the instability in America. We just are living in this seesaw moment where there's so much chaos and instability and that is creating a certain kind of exhaustion. And I think when Donald Trump, oddly, when he talks about the center, there may be people who are the silent majority in the center. I don't know if there's certainly a majority, but some people may not show up at polls but are feeling a lot of uncertainty because they feel pain points when they go to the grocery store. You own a construction firm, you feel a pain point right now because you're not sure if you have a stable employment force. And so there are all kinds of things that are starting to be evident in these polls. And I think it's very, it's gonna be very hard for him to turn that around. And instead of distancing themselves from Donald Trump, his party seems to be doubling down on that, which is its own conundrum. Because you would think they would be giving him the Heisman right now, trying to create some air for themselves to reach out to people who obviously are in great disdain of the president.
- [14:48]
Nicole Wallace
Well, I mean, Clara, just to take that smart point even further, that Michel is making the chaos instability are manufactured by Donald Trump. I mean, the Supreme Court on Friday gave Trump an off ramp from his least popular policy, which is tariffs, which is inextricably linked to his lowest approval rating, which is on inflation. And if Donald Trump, I mean, I think Michelle has a really important point about people who care the most about the economy are still persuadable. And, and Donald Trump seems hell bent on proving their dissatisfaction with him. Correct. I mean, the polling among independents is the most significant. And if you look at where it was a year ago when he gave his first State of the Union address. Trump, Trump, it says. Trump addressed Congress last year for the first time since return to the White House. His approval rating stood at A career high 48% in CNN's free speech polling. Since then, he has lost ground across all major demographic groups. Some of the steepest declines include a 19 point drop in approval among Latino Americans, an 18 point drop among Americans younger than 45among independents. Trump's approval rating has dropped 15 points over the last year to 26%. I mean, to lose close to 20 points among Latinos among people under 45 and 15 points among independents, you have to work at that. That is historic. Historic deterioration.
- [16:19]
Michelle Norris
Yeah.
- [16:19]
Claire McCaskill
I mean, and his reaction to the Supreme Court decision is fascinating to me because it's a knee jerk thing with him that he is angry that he doesn't have the power he wants to have, so be damned. The political position he's in, who cares? He's just mad that they have taken away some of his power. So he's going to try to prove that they can't do that. And you're Right. He had an off ramp. He could have written checks to Americans refunding the $175 billion that they collected last year and had his name on the checks, and they would have gone out. And I think Congress probably would have been okay with that. But he can't bring himself to do the politically correct thing because it's all about him. It's about his character. And one of the things in the polling, and I, Cornell will back me up on this. One of the things we used to watch internally on polls is the movement of people who disapprove to strongly disapprove, because that's where you find the enthusiasm. That's where you see the turnout. It's the barbell. We call it barbells. In polling where people are very, very much approved and very, very much disapproved. With not much in the middle, Trump is moving people from disapproved to strongly disapproved at a record rate. And by the way, the strongly approve is kind of like stuck. It's his 22% that he's always had. Strongly disapproved. They're not going anywhere, but they're not growing. And strongly approve. I should say his strongly approved is not growing. And those that kind of approved are moving more towards the middle. So everything on the scale is moving towards an enthusiasm and passion against this man because he cares more about his name on buildings and building, the White Ballroom and all that stuff. And he cares about them. He cares more about himself than he cares about them. And they're figuring it out.
- [18:25]
Nicole Wallace
It's an important point. And when. And it's why these stories about the President of the United States of America calling Olympic athletes who represent all of us during two weeks where most people welcome a respite from the chaos and the mayhem of our politics. Donald Trump inserted himself into those games by calling Olympians quote, losers, quote, a real loser. I'll show that to you. And it's just, it gets right to your point, Claire, where people that were growing weary of him may not like being represented by someone who calls our glorious Olympic athletes, quote, losers. No one's going anywhere. We'll have much more on all of this and what we're seeing in the polls ahead of this week's State of the Union. I want to tell you something, though. I'm a huge Brandi Carlisle fan. This concert that I showed you a clip from was on Saturday night, took place in Minneapolis. The live stream of that concert, you can still watch it. It's available until Midnight tonight on beats.com brandycarlisle all the proceeds from the live stream go toward helping the families impacted by ICE operations in Minneapolis. She's one of those superheroes among us in this moment in our country. So check that out. Also ahead for us, the Jeffrey Epstein story exploded today. The files that Donald Trump describes as a hoax and a distraction, even, quote, phony stuff. They continue to shake the world of politics overseas and media here in this country. We'll tell you about the latest names of people being held accountable. Also ahead, Donald Trump again threatening a public company saying it will, quote, pay the consequences if it doesn't fire a member of its own board for speaking out against him and his administration. How that company is responding to his latest autocratic overreach. All those stories and much more when Deadline White HOUSE continues after a quick break. Don't go anywhere. Thirdlove makes bras that actually fit. So they know if your bra feels
- [20:36]
Claire McCaskill
uncomfortable, the problem isn't your body, it's the bra.
- [20:40]
Nicole Wallace
ThirdLove designs for comfort. First, soft fabrics support that doesn't dig, pinch or slip.
- [20:46]
Claire McCaskill
Bras that feel good and look good
- [20:48]
Nicole Wallace
under everything you wear. Shop ThirdLove and explore over 60 sizes, including AA through H and half cup sizes you won't find anywhere else. Get $15 off your first purchase at thirdlove.com with CODE podcast 15
- [21:05]
Activist/Protester
Courage is Infectious or contagious or whatever. And that was so important because there's intimidation. That can be the same. But courage is the same also. And people have to say, wait a minute, I saw that person. They were courageous. They could lose something. I saw those people. That gives me the courage because I know that's what the right thing to do is, be courageous against this. Because it's exactly what they want to do. They want to intimidate us. And that's what we see with ice and we see all this stuff, you know, you got got to stand up because it'll never get better.
- [21:37]
Nicole Wallace
Trump is so spiteful and threatens people that speak out, especially famous people. Are you afraid of him?
- [21:46]
Activist/Protester
I can't afford to be afraid. Of course you have anxiety. You're afraid, you're afraid. But you got to, you got to get out. You got to defy this. You cannot, you cannot allow them to intimidate you. It's the classic story. You cannot allow them to intimidate you. It's better that you strap on your balls and get out there and face them because you're not going to win the other way. They take your lunch money on A Monday. Don't think they're not going to take it on a 20 Wednesday or Thursday. And more. The bully in the schoolyard.
- [22:22]
Nicole Wallace
You quote, strap on your balls. It's an amazing way to put something that the most powerful businesses, the most prominent law firms, the most prestigious universities failed to do. I've covered the Trump story every day for nine years, and for the first 13 months of the second term, nobody did that. But little by little, the Epstein survivors shamed Democrats and Republicans into passing legislation. Today, there are big pieces of that story falling. The people in Minneapolis by going to the streets in bigger numbers after two American citizens were shot and killed and the Olympic athletes. I want to show you, Cornell, what Olympic skier Hunter Hess said, and then I want to tell you how Donald Trump treated him.
- [23:14]
Cornell Belcher
It brings up mixed emotions to represent the US Right now. I think it's a little hard. There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't. I think for me, it's more I'm representing my, like, friends and family back home, the people that represent it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the US I just think if. If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I'm representing it. Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S.
- [23:49]
Nicole Wallace
so, Cornell, he doesn't name names, but it's pretty clear. And frankly, Hunter, 68% of us are with you and knew exactly what you were saying. But Trump responded like this. Quote, US Olympic skier Hunter Hess, a real loser. Inexplicably capitalizing the L, said he doesn't represent his country in the current Winter Olympics. If that's the case, he shouldn't have tried out for the team. And it's too bad he's on it. Very hard to root for someone like this. Make America great again. The attack that Hunter sort of brought on when the President of the United States used his very powerful platform to attack him, he described this. Hunter Hess says the last two weeks were probably the hardest of his life. After President Trump's remarks after the onslaught, Hunter Hess found a way to have fun with it. Appearing to shape both hands in the form of the letter L after his first competitive appearance in these Games since Donald Trump's remarks about him, he even changed his Instagram bio. A real loser. It reads. My weird capitalizations. You know, Trump has been using his social media platform to attack people. I once made A wall Cornell during the first term. And it was, you know, the cast of Hamilton, Hillary Clinton, James Comey. It was so many people and institutions revered and relatively unknown. And I worry that it's so baked in as, like, what he does and the norm that we don't really pause and cover adequately the impact on a human being. And in this case, it was an Olympic athlete halfway around the world representing his country. I think that is chipping away at people's tolerance for all the other nonsense.
- [25:32]
Cornell Belcher
No, I do think it is a values piece to it. But before that, I do want to double down on what Senator McCaskill talked about is the, is not only the broadness of the dissatisfaction and disapproval, but the intensity. And right now you have a majority of independents who strongly disapprove of the job that the President is doing. And at some point when that, when, when, when that's so intense and is strong, it's hard to persuade. Right. There's persuadables if you're somewhat. But when someone's strongly disapproving or strongly against you, I don't know if there's enough money in commercials and digital ads to really, to. To really move them. Now, to the point about the values thing, I would argue that the values piece is actually a larger piece than the typical pocketbook transaction. I know we want to talk about wages and we want to talk about jobs and economics. But, Nicole, you know this, right? As someone who was at the Bush White House, so much of America makes sense of their lives through the prism of their values and their religiosity. And so much of our decisions aren't just a. A pocketbook transaction, but a values transition and a spiritual transition. And one of the questions I used to ask a lot in polling is, you know, who do you think better represents your values? Because in many ways, you know, it was hard for them to be for or against a candidate that they thought did not represent their values. And even more so than the immigration issues and some of the inflation issues, I'm going to go out on a limb and say the vast majority of Americans say this administration and this president does not represent their values. And there's something fundamental. There's something fundamentally problematic about that.
- [27:12]
Nicole Wallace
Yeah, I mean, Michelle, we saw this in the diversity of these stories that the protests were telling about themselves. Right. Like, I interviewed protester, protester who said that he or she had never protested before. I just interviewed a school counselor who had never been out in a protest before, and he went out with an American flag and said, 4th and 5th grade children should not be running from their government. I mean, to Cornell's point, that was a value where he drew a line and said, this is not our country. Donald Trump is making that choice very stark for people. Do you believe it is your country when a five year old is, you know, snatched up off the street in his bunny hat?
- [27:54]
Michelle Norris
Or when a president mocks an Olympic athlete and calls them a loser, even though we just saw them win? You know, whether a president shouldn't be berating an athlete in their moment of glory? The Olympics, as you note, is a time when America can finally come together. A divided nation can come together and root for one country. And for, you know, two weeks, we could revel in that. And Donald Trump seems to be trying to even snatch that from us. Values, I agree with Cornell are very important piece of this, and it's a really potent cocktail when you mix the values with the economic pain that people are feeling. You know, you talk about personal conversations that you have with people. I was speaking to someone who owns a flooring company, and he's getting hit from all sides because the tariffs, you know, if you're buying wool carpet, it often comes from overseas, and you don't know how much it's gonna cost, and you can't tell your customers. And again, you know what I said before about having a stable employment base. He's not sure if his employers are gonna show up for work every day. And then on top of that, he was supporting a president who is. Feels like he's embarrassing him at this point because angering him at this point, because it may sound like a stretch when the president calls that skier a loser, it's again, your eyes are seeing something that do not comport with what you're hearing from this administration. It's not the same as them calling Alex Preddy or Renee Goode a domestic terrorist, but it kind of is because they're telling you to believe something that just does not comport with what you're seeing or what you know should be the case. The president should be issuing congratulation and just with an exclamation point and stop there. Even when the athletes do not agree with them. And that's what a grownup would do. That's what a grownup would do.
- [29:37]
Nicole Wallace
I mean, being the operative, the understatement of the hour, right? And I always feel like we're insulting toddlers, but to have less emotional regulation or manners than a toddler is exactly where we are. Cornell, thank you for starting us off today. When I saw these. I knew we needed to talk to you about them. Thank you for starting us off. Michelle and Claire, stick around. Coming up for us, the Epstein files continue to rattle and shake loose people in all corners of the globe. It's a story that clearly isn't going anywhere. If anything, it's picking up steam. We'll talk to Congressman Robert Garcia after the break on how he intends to keep up the momentum, starting with tomorrow night's State of the Union address. Stay with us.
- [30:24]
Commercial Announcer
Did you know about one in three people with plaque psoriasis may also develop psoriatic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness and swelling? Does this sound like you listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trymphyia gusocomab taken by injection is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy. And for adults with active psoriatic arthritis, serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu like symptoms or if you need a vaccine, imagine being a million miles away. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimfya. Tap this ad to learn more about Tremphaya, including important safety information.
- [31:26]
Nicole Wallace
The UK Continues to set the example when it comes to accountability for the conduct and potential crimes surrounding the deceased sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. Former UK Ambassador to the United States of America Peter Mandelson was arrested in London earlier today on suspicion of misconduct in public office over his ties to Epstein. Epstein, the same charge former Prince Andrew was arrested on last week. Mandelson has previously denied any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, in this country, the fallout from the Epstein files continues everywhere except inside the Trump administration. CBS contributor Dr. Peter Attia resigned today from his role as a contributor to cbs, effective immediately. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Attia is stepping aside, quote, after correspondence between Jeffrey Epstein and the researcher and health media personality came to light in the release of the Epstein files from the Department of Justice. Attia's name appears some 1700 times in the 3 million Epstein documents released on January 30th. The bulk of the emails between Peter Attia and Jeffrey Epstein are from the mid 2010s after Epstein was convicted on a Florida charge of soliciting prostitution from someone under 18. This is the kind of accountability that survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse have called for and led the way on. And they will continue to do that tomorrow night when many of the survivors will be on Capitol Hill for Donald Trump's State of the Union address, shining a spotlight on how the Trump administration has failed them. Here is how one member of the House Oversight Committee previewed tomorrow's event.
- [33:07]
Cornell Belcher
I want the president to look the victims and their families in the eyes and say that this investigation is over and that there's nothing more to see because that's what he's been saying. He has yet to issue an apology to them and Bondi is yet to issue an apology to the victims and their families. So I really want the families to be there while the president talks about this, if he talks about this at all, because it's a reminder of promises made, promises not kept. It's a reminder of how he has covered up and continued cover ups of people who did terrible things.
- [33:41]
Nicole Wallace
I want to bring into our coverage Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia of California, he's the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, has been pivotal in pushing forward the Epstein investigation and the release of those files from the Department of Justice. Thank you for being here today.
- [33:56]
Congressman Robert Garcia
Sure thing.
- [33:58]
Nicole Wallace
I have had a lot of the brave survivors on who I know have good relationships with the committee when some of these big pillars have sort of fallen. The arrest of former Prince Andrew, the other sort of big pieces consequences, the resignation of the top lawyer, Goldman Sachs, Kathy Remler and others. And I wonder how sustainable you think it is that the Trump administration has this sort of see no evil, hear no evil posture.
- [34:29]
Congressman Robert Garcia
I don't think it's sustainable forever. And look, I think that clearly you're beginning to see accountability happening across the world and certainly in some parts of the United States, in corporate America and other places. And I think people should understand the scope of what's happening in the UK to have a former prince and now a former United States ambassador arrested. I mean, these are serious charges at the highest level of government in the UK and so it is incredibly important that us here in the US View that and put that same amount of pressure here. What's happening in our own White House with President Trump being in the files, as we know, almost more than anyone else, and yet leading a White House cover up, unwilling to answer questions, he's unwilling to have survivors come and speak with him in the Oval Office. The Attorney General who is leading the largest cover up probably in modern American history, you have a Commerce Secretary who said he had no relationship, of course, with Epstein post 2005. Now we know that he was in business with them, went to the island, communicated with them, and the list goes on and on. Alex Acosta, a former Trump labor secretary, Elon Musk, Steve Bannon advising Jeffrey Epstein. So the questions, the crimes, what's happening is larger here in our own country than anywhere else. And so accountability is going to come and we have to ensure that every single day we remind the President what the stakes are and that this is about justice for the survivors.
- [36:03]
Cornell Belcher
Survivors.
- [36:05]
Nicole Wallace
What do you make of the fact that in this country the ring of people who did what you just described? Peter Attia was an associate. We saw the depth of their relationship in the emails. Kathy Remler, who resigned her post at Goldman Sachs, was not his lawyer, but gave him legal advice, lost her post. Brad Karp emailed with him and is no longer the head of his law firm. But the inner ring is the, is the co conspirators, the men who abused and raped girls and women. How close are you to that ring?
- [36:43]
Congressman Robert Garcia
So that's something that we are actively working on. And I think it's important for folks to know this. Not only are we reviewing the files, but we're conducting very intense interviews on a regular basis. We are hearing from whistleblowers, we're talking to survivors. And so we're collecting information from a variety of sources and people, not just the files that have been released, but we should also be very clear that the DOJ has probably only released about half, half of the entire tranche of documents that they have. And so 50% probably over that are still sitting at the DOJ. And not a single one of those files have been released to the public or to the Congress. And so we are pretty sure that much of the information that we need to really ensure that that inner ring, the co conspirators, the powerful men that have been protected now for, quite frankly, multiple administrations, if there's going to be real accountability, then the Department of Justice needs to follow the law and release all the files. Because right now what we have is a White House cover up that is being directed by Donald Trump and Pam Bondi.
- [37:49]
Nicole Wallace
Tomorrow night, many of the survivors will be in attendance at the State of the Union. I think it's amazing and I hope it gives them some comfort that it's one of the rare issues in this country without a lot of partisan divide. 81% of Americans think Donald Trump is covering something up. 76% of Americans are unhappy with the level of transparency. What is the message? What is the value of people seeing the survivors of Epstein around this issue for which there's broad bipartisan support, the issue of transparency and accountability?
- [38:26]
Congressman Robert Garcia
Well, I'll share with you that I have invited to take a seat at the State of the Union, Annie Farmer. Annie is someone that I think folks know well. Her story, obviously her sister's story, her family's story on a survivor of abuse herself. And what is important for her, and we had many discussions about this, was she wants Donald Trump to know that there are survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. And in that audience, she wants Donald Trump to look up and see their faces there. And she wants to continue doing what she and other survivors have done, which has been to advocate for not just the survivors but for the full release of the files. And so there's going to be a lot happening tomorrow. There'll be survivors here. There'll be the State of the Union. There's going to be the people, State of the Union, which a lot of us are going to be telling stories from. The survivors directly, will be having events just to amplify the simple fact that they have not released the files. And we should be on this issue and this investigation every single day until they do so.
- [39:31]
Nicole Wallace
Congressman Robert Garcia will cover all of that. Thank you for giving us a little preview and thank you for your time today.
- [39:37]
Michelle Norris
Thank you.
- [39:38]
Nicole Wallace
We'll talk to Claire and Michelle about this on the other side of a very short break. Don't go anywhere. Claire and Michelle are still here. Claire, this issue didn't wasn't preordained. Right. That accountability would follow so dramatically as it has in the UK and in some corners of American public life. But what's happening is a result of the survivors telling their stories. What do you think of where we are in this right now?
- [40:12]
Claire McCaskill
Yeah, if I were still in the Senate, I would want Howard Lutnick to come in front of committees. And Howard Lutnick, if you look at what he did, he socialized with this guy and he did business with this guy on an extended basis after he was convicted of soliciting sex from an underage girl. And by the way, he's lied about it. So here we have the secretary of commerce in our government that is totally enmeshed with this trash and nothing is happening to him. Meanwhile, they're arresting people in the UK that's what's driving Americans crazy right now. And that's what, you know, I think it's great all the survivors are going to be there tomorrow night. I think it's an important message and it's all about them. But Howard Lutnick, it's really unbelievable that he's not suffering any consequences at this point.
- [41:07]
Nicole Wallace
Michelle, you get the last word well,
- [41:10]
Michelle Norris
sometimes justice is swift and sometimes it's patient. And these cases go back years, as we know. And I think that this is a turning point this week with the arrest of the person formerly known as a prince and now the former U.S. ambassador. And people see that even powerful men, all of that power, the British monarchy, couldn't protect them there. Why is it that powerful men are protected here and it doesn't add up? And we started talking about polling around politics. I'd love to see the polling around Epstein because I think that it probably has changed significantly this week and people are going to be looking for accountability that they have not yet seen.
- [41:45]
Nicole Wallace
That's a great point. I have not seen any numbers since after the arrest of the former prince, but we'll look for that. Claire McCaskill, Michelle Norris, thank you both so much for spending this hour with us. After the break, one of the biggest questions on everyone's mind today, when is this storm going to go away and what happens next? We'll try to answer those questions for you next. We are tracking that massive winter storm that has buried us here in New York and much of the Northeast today in more than 2ft of snow in some places. The blizzard like conditions of wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour are putting more than 40 million people under warnings in major cities from Philadelphia through New York and Boston at a standstill. Seven governors declared states of Emergency. More than 600,000 people lost power out on Long island. The roads are so treacherous that the snowplow couldn't handle it. It overturned on the highway in New York City, where the travel ban issued by our Mayor Mamdani expired hours ago. This is the scene in Central Park. Central park saw more than 19 inches of snow, the most in a decade. Thousands of flights have been canceled again for today at some of the country's busiest airports. And although cleanup continues across the Northeast, the snowfall is just about finished in most of the region as the storm makes its way off the coast. Still ahead for us today, Donald Trump threatening Netflix with, quote, consequences if it doesn't fire a board member that he wants them to fire because of something she said in a podcast, the link between his attempt to silence free speech and a big potential corporate merger. We'll get to that when the next hour of Deadline Whitehouse starts after a quick break. Stay with us.
- [43:32]
Commercial Announcer
Did you know about one in three people with plaque psoriasis may also develop psoriatic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness and swelling? Does this, does this sound like you listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trymphy Guselcomab, taken by injection, is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy. And for adults with active psoriatic arthritis, serious allergic reactions and increased risk of of infections and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu like symptoms or if you need a vaccine. Imagine being a million miles away. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tremphya. Tap this ad to learn more about Tremphya, including important safety information.