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evening. Once again, I'm Stephanie Ruhl. We are now

0:36

228 days

0:38

from the election and less than an

0:40

hour away from a midnight deadline to

0:42

pass the bill to fund the government

0:44

and avert a partial shutdown again.

0:47

Earlier today, the House passed a

0:49

$1.2 trillion government funding package, which

0:51

then went to the Senate for

0:53

a vote. That vote still

0:56

has not happened. So let's bring in

0:58

Sahil Kapoor, senior national political reporter for

1:00

NBC News. Why? Because

1:02

we need you to explain this to us,

1:04

Sahil. Why hasn't this vote happened? It's almost

1:06

midnight. Okay, well, Stephanie, they're

1:08

haggling over amendments right now. That sounds excruciating

1:10

and boring. It's because it is. But what

1:12

it all boils down to is that the

1:14

Senate can't vote on anything quickly without the

1:16

unanimous consent of all 100 members. And

1:19

they don't have that right now simply

1:21

because Republicans are trying to force votes

1:23

on a bunch of tough issues like

1:26

immigration, trying to put Democrats in politically

1:28

difficult positions, votes on amendments that some

1:30

centrist Democrats would actually support if it

1:32

came up. And that means

1:34

it would actually pass. It would change

1:36

the bill, which would then be forced to get sent

1:39

back to the House, which is just adjourned for a

1:41

two week recess. So then we would

1:43

have a protracted shutdown, which puts Chuck Schumer,

1:45

the majority leader, in this awkward position of

1:47

needing Republican consent to grant votes on amendments,

1:49

but having to make sure all of those

1:51

amendments fail. So look, this is only because

1:53

they left things until the last minute, Stephanie.

1:55

This is a 1,000 page bill, spends more

1:57

than a trillion dollars. It was released just...

2:00

yesterday and it passed the House just this morning, giving

2:02

the Senate very little time to do it. If they

2:04

had saved more time, they could have ping ponged the

2:06

bill back and forth from the House and the Senate,

2:08

but this is what happens when you wait literally until

2:10

the 11th hour to do your job. 11th

2:14

hour, I see what you did there. All right, then what's the

2:16

over-under? Is there gonna be a vote tonight or what? They're

2:19

still negotiating behind me and they haven't given up

2:21

hope on trying to get a vote tonight, but

2:23

we are going to enter into a partial government

2:25

shutdown because it's less than an hour away, even

2:27

if they come to an agreement right away, which

2:29

is far from certain. It would take

2:31

several hours to get through all those, both on amendments

2:33

and to pass in the bill. So the best case

2:35

scenario is we're looking at a technical government shutdown for

2:38

several hours if they figure it out. If

2:40

they don't get a deal and it's plausible they don't

2:42

get a deal to vote quickly, then this could drag

2:44

out until Monday, which means it would not be a

2:47

technical shutdown, not just be the weekend when a

2:49

lot of government workers don't show up to work

2:51

like most people anyway. It means some services in

2:53

the government could be suspended on Monday. It

2:56

means there could be a bunch of furloughs

2:58

of workers with hundreds of thousands of workers.

3:00

Essential functions like TSA screenings and air traffic

3:02

control would continue regardless, but Stephanie, this would

3:05

be the first government shutdown since 2019. All

3:08

right, Sahil, do not go too far. If

3:11

anything changes, come on back. We want live

3:13

updates. And while this

3:15

is happening, House Republicans who do

3:17

currently hold the majority could be

3:19

on the verge of yet another

3:21

battle over their leadership. Hard right

3:23

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is

3:25

back again. She filed a motion

3:27

to oust her speaker, Mike Johnson,

3:30

even as the House was voting on the

3:32

spending bill to avoid a partial shutdown. That's

3:34

when she did it. That bill was pushed

3:37

through by Speaker Johnson himself. Greene,

3:39

who is among the no votes,

3:41

says the bill was a win

3:43

for Democrats and showed Johnson had

3:45

betrayed House Republicans. It's

3:48

more of a warning and a pink flip.

3:50

And I do not wish to inflict pain

3:52

on our conference and to throw the House

3:54

in chaos. Time for us

3:56

to go through the process, take

3:59

our time. and find a new speaker

4:01

of the House that will stand with

4:03

Republicans and our Republican majority instead of

4:06

standing with the Democrats. This bill was

4:08

passed without a majority of Republicans. This

4:10

is a Democrat budget and it was

4:12

passed by Mike Johnson. Meanwhile,

4:16

the speaker is once again facing

4:18

a shrinking GOP majority. Congressman

4:21

Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, who announced

4:23

last month he would not run

4:25

for reelection, said he would now

4:27

leave Congress much sooner, April 19th,

4:30

months before expected. That means

4:32

the party's already slim majority is

4:34

now down to just one single

4:37

vote. With that, let's bring in

4:39

our lead-off panel tonight. My friend John Allen

4:41

is here, Senior National Politics Reporter for NBC

4:43

News, Susan Glasser, Staff Writer for The New

4:45

Yorker, and Mark Leibovich, Staff Writer

4:47

for The Atlantic. Mark, it

4:50

seems like a lot of House Republicans

4:52

are mad at Speaker Johnson for working

4:54

with Democrats. Marjorie Taylor Greene said it,

4:57

no, this is a win for Democrats.

5:00

What about a win for America?

5:02

Isn't it the job to work with

5:04

other lawmakers on the other side of

5:07

the aisle to do very basic, crucial

5:09

things like keeping the government open? Yeah,

5:13

that's so quaint and old-fashioned. I mean, that is

5:15

not how this has worked. I mean, essentially the

5:17

fringe elements of the party, which is now the

5:19

mainstream element of

5:22

the party, like the Marjorie Taylor Greene of

5:24

the world, hold a veto on anything that

5:26

could possibly pass. And I think, look, I

5:29

mean, this has been hanging over Mike

5:31

Johnson since the day he became Speaker.

5:34

What's interesting about the guy who preceded

5:37

him, Kevin McCarthy, is arguably two responsible

5:39

things he did. One

5:41

was cut a debt ceiling deal

5:44

with the White House

5:46

and was the thing

5:48

that actually ended his speakership. I mean,

5:51

that was what did it for him.

5:53

So look, I mean, this is what

5:55

happens. This has become the chaos that

5:57

has defined the Republican conference, and this

5:59

will probably happen again. And look, I mean, as

6:01

you mentioned, I mean, the majority is down to

6:03

one, that's going to continue to but there's not

6:05

a lot more room or barely any room for

6:07

that to continue also. Susan

6:10

Marjorie Taylor Greene has gotten nothing

6:12

done on a legislative basis. And

6:15

she says she does not want to cause

6:17

chaos. How can she possibly

6:20

think that threatening to remove the

6:22

speaker isn't pure chaos? Well,

6:26

perhaps the comment wasn't on the

6:28

level. You

6:30

know, the whole situation really does

6:33

remind me of the

6:35

phrase that former speaker john vader,

6:37

who basically threw up his hands

6:39

and said, I'm out of here,

6:42

rather than deal with this kind

6:44

of tactics and that the motion

6:46

to vacate the chair, he called

6:48

the members of Congress like Marjorie

6:50

Taylor Greene legislative tourists. And, you

6:52

know, he said, essentially, and this was

6:54

already years ago, that the House Republican

6:56

Conference that he himself led had

6:59

become basically ungovernable. And I think

7:01

that's what we're dealing with here.

7:03

It's an ungovernable conference that

7:05

does not want to govern. And so

7:08

when they won the majority in

7:10

the house, essentially, the contradiction embedded

7:12

at the heart of this conference,

7:14

you know, became everybody's problem and

7:17

not just a sideshow circus. But,

7:19

you know, governing implies things like

7:22

keeping the government open. And,

7:24

you know, that's just incompatible with the

7:26

kind of person, Marjorie Taylor Greene is

7:28

in politics, not to legislate, but

7:31

to create a circus performance of sorts and to

7:33

see all those cameras in front of her, like

7:35

we just showed tonight, frankly, but with only one

7:38

vote, you got to wonder if there's one

7:40

more Republican out there who says like

7:42

Congressman Gallagher, you know, a neck of

7:44

this, and then we'd really have some

7:46

some chaos and some interesting times. I

7:49

do want to talk about that more. But

7:51

before we do that, let's talk about a

7:53

newly elected Democrat, Tom Swazie. He has replaced

7:55

George Santos. I want to share what he

7:58

said earlier about Mike Johnson. Would

8:01

you vote to help protect Speaker Johnson and his

8:03

speakership? Yes, I would. This is a comedy routine,

8:06

what they're doing, the idea of trying to kick

8:08

the speaker out for trying to keep the government

8:10

open. It's absurd. So I'm fed up with it,

8:12

and I'll vote to keep him a speaker. John,

8:17

there you have it, the guy from Long

8:19

Island calling it a clown show. Would other

8:21

Democrats join Swazi to protect Johnson just to

8:23

keep a general sense of order? Yeah,

8:27

funny thing happened on the way to Congress. The

8:31

tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight, I guess,

8:34

Swazi saying this is comic. I

8:36

think that there are probably a handful of

8:39

Democrats that would vote to not have the

8:41

chaos. But to be honest, I mean, they're

8:43

trying to win a House majority. So

8:45

it's only the few that believe that

8:47

that would help them in their general election in

8:49

November. For most of the Democrats, we've already seen

8:51

what they would do. They

8:53

basically allowed Kevin McCarthy to get

8:57

jacked by his own caucus. And

8:59

I don't think they see any reason to bail out

9:01

this majority as they're going to go campaign against them.

9:05

I guess it shouldn't be a surprise,

9:07

but Kevin McCarthy tonight weighed in on

9:10

what's happening with Mike Johnson, comparing it

9:12

to, of course, his own removal last

9:14

year. Watch this. What's

9:17

happening in Congress today goes back

9:20

to when those eight Republicans led

9:22

by Gates partnered with every

9:24

single Democrat to decide who could

9:26

be Speaker. That's when Republicans

9:29

lost the majority. Mark,

9:32

what's the difference between what happened to McCarthy

9:34

and what's happening now? Well,

9:36

I mean, it hasn't happened quite yet.

9:39

I mean, it's first of

9:41

all, they're almost losing the majority. I mean,

9:43

by pure attrition. I

9:45

mean, Mike Gallagher leaving today, when you do get

9:47

a sense that people one after another are just

9:49

throwing their hands up and before you know it, you're

9:51

in the minority. So I mean,

9:54

in McCarthy's case, I mean, it was, you

9:56

know, you were piecing together a lot of

9:58

people with grievances. It just

10:00

seems like, as Susan said, I mean, it's a

10:02

legislative terrorist, but it's also just a few people.

10:04

And I do think, I guess

10:07

I would disagree with John a little bit in

10:09

that I think quite a few Democrats would sign

10:11

on to help Speaker Johnson,

10:13

probably because Ukraine aid is so vitally

10:15

important to so many of them. And

10:17

that is, you know, it's

10:20

quite tangible, I mean, to actually

10:22

getting something done in a budget.

10:24

But also, it's not

10:26

as if Democrats bailing out Republicans or Mike

10:28

Johnson specifically is going to bail out

10:30

Republicans as far as ending their chaotic

10:33

reign. I think, you know, that could

10:35

possibly lead to greater defections,

10:38

more defections. And frankly,

10:40

you know, I think help Democrats more down the road

10:42

if this continues. I don't think it's tenable for

10:44

Johnson. But I think he might see more of

10:47

that. And it could be an

10:49

interesting dynamic going forward. Let's

10:51

stay on this slim, slim, slim majority that

10:53

the Republicans now have, now down to one

10:56

vote. What do we know

10:58

about Mike Gallagher's decision to leave and to

11:00

leave early? Because now that

11:02

seat will sit vacant till November. Yeah,

11:06

it's a fascinating thing that happened. He's already said he

11:08

wasn't going to run for reelection. He was going to

11:10

stick around, help get things done and boom. Today,

11:13

you know, we were reporting on this this

11:15

morning, myself and Scott Wong at NBC. He

11:18

basically starts telling colleagues like, hey, I'm

11:20

out of here now. You

11:23

know, he is attributing this to

11:25

family personal decisions. But obviously,

11:27

what's gone on in Congress has rubbed him the

11:29

wrong way. He was a Republican

11:32

who voted against the impeachment of

11:34

Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security Secretary,

11:37

very much at odds with his party

11:39

and his caucus, very frustrated with what's

11:41

going on in Congress. And

11:43

you know, I think he felt like it was

11:45

time to get out and go to the private

11:48

sector. What that leaves Republicans with, though, is a

11:50

caucus that is that much less manageable. Everybody who

11:52

would sort of vote for what you would consider

11:54

normie things is now gone. They don't

11:56

have as many of those as they would like. They've got more

11:58

people who are. who are sort

12:00

of itching for dysfunction and

12:03

destruction. In fact, those two things,

12:05

dysfunction and destruction, are basically

12:08

a point for at least a

12:10

significant number of Republicans. Well,

12:12

then let's talk about what's motivating them,

12:14

Susan, because Gallagher's announcement comes just weeks

12:16

after Ken Buck suddenly decided

12:18

to leave. Are they sending a message

12:21

that they are so angry, they do

12:23

not care about helping Republicans hold the

12:25

majority? Is it their only way of

12:28

actually curbing the Marjorie Taylor

12:30

Greene offensive? They're

12:33

not curbing it. Essentially, they're throwing up their

12:35

hands and walking away from the fight. I

12:37

mean, I think that's really kind of the

12:39

macro story of the last

12:41

few years in politics,

12:43

really in the Republican Party, is

12:46

that you're seeing what

12:48

you might call team normal throw

12:50

up their hands and largely walk away from

12:53

the fight. Donald Trump and the Trumpists, if

12:55

you will, have sort of won the day

12:58

when it comes to the Republican Party.

13:00

It's not the same party that was

13:02

before. I've been really struck by the

13:04

fact that you've seen so many Republican

13:06

committee chairs leave Congress.

13:09

Carson Gallagher was somebody who had a

13:11

history of being respected by Democrats as

13:13

well as Republicans. He was working on

13:17

an area where there's a surprising

13:19

amount of consensus in today's Washington,

13:21

which is around policy toward China.

13:23

And that's just not the kind

13:26

of rational conversation that we're having.

13:28

And I'm just, I'm really struck

13:30

by the fact that Congress has

13:32

essentially been transformed into

13:35

a non-legislative body. It's

13:37

all about theatrics.

13:40

This Republican majority has been as

13:42

broken as anything I've ever

13:44

seen in American politics. The

13:46

repeated crises over their own

13:48

governance, inability to hold their

13:50

conference together, inability to pass

13:52

basic spending legislation. When I was a

13:55

young reporter on Capitol Hill, after

13:57

I graduated from college,

14:00

the early 1990s, the deadline

14:02

for Congress to pass these bills

14:04

is September 30th. That's the

14:06

end of the fiscal year. Here we're having

14:08

this conversation at the very end of March.

14:11

It's broken. In

14:14

my sense, lifetime, they have not

14:16

passed the spending bills by the

14:18

deadline. It's a

14:20

joke, basically. Campaign

14:23

slogans, vote for me, get dysfunction.

14:25

All right, new topic. House oversight

14:27

chairman James Comer was asked about

14:29

his beloved Biden impeachment inquiry today,

14:31

and I want to share what

14:33

happened. Where

14:36

are you attempting to go at

14:39

this point, Congressman? Well,

14:41

I want to hold accountability. That's what we said

14:43

all along. We said when he lost investigation, we

14:46

want to provide the truth to the American people

14:48

and then provide real accountability. So what does real

14:50

accountability look like? Does it look like impeaching Joe

14:52

Biden in the House and then the Senate tabling

14:55

it like they're going to do with

14:57

the Merrick Garland impeachment? Or does it

14:59

mean providing real criminal referrals to the

15:01

Department of Justice? I think the

15:03

latter. I believe that the best path

15:05

to accountability is criminal referrals. I

15:09

believe that I just heard a word salad and I'm

15:12

glad there wasn't a drinking game or you had to drink

15:14

when you heard the word accountability. None of that

15:16

made sense, Mark. What's going on here? First

15:19

of all, it's a pretty good idea. I mean, I didn't

15:21

come prepared here, but it would actually be a good drinking

15:23

game. It is late night. It

15:25

is late night. I don't think he knows what he's talking about.

15:27

I mean, a word salad is, I think

15:30

that's even generous. I mean, first of

15:32

all, the Merrick Garland impeachment, I think

15:34

he meant Alejandro Michorquez. I mean, this

15:36

is very, I mean, there was a

15:38

great moment, I think a couple of

15:40

days ago, Jared Moskowitz, Democrat of New

15:42

York, basically looked at Comer and Jim

15:44

Jordan during a committee hearing and said,

15:47

look, why don't you impeach him now?

15:49

I'll sort of forward it. I'm waiting for

15:51

a second. And no one said anything. I

15:53

mean, everyone, you know, no

15:55

serious person thinks this is a serious effort.

15:58

I don't understand why the scene. The ad tricks keep

16:00

going on and on because everyone looks even more foolish

16:02

than they normally do. This

16:04

is obviously going nowhere. More

16:08

foolish than they normally do. We're talking about

16:10

our elected officials. Before I let you go,

16:12

Susan, I do want to get your thoughts on

16:15

the deadly attack that took place in

16:17

Moscow today. The Russian Investigative Committee says

16:19

60 people were confirmed dead.

16:21

We're going to have more on this ahead,

16:23

but I know you have reported from Russia

16:25

for years. What do we need to know

16:27

about this? What's your take? No,

16:30

I was having terrible flashbacks today.

16:32

I was actually in Moscow. We

16:34

covered the Nordos theater siege that

16:36

was probably the biggest mass casualty

16:38

event like this back in 2004.

16:44

It's an enormous scale. It appears

16:46

that both dead and injured

16:48

at this large concert venue on

16:50

the outskirts of Moscow. I

16:54

was very struck by how quickly US

16:57

officials were putting out this American intelligence

16:59

and trying to say, listen, we

17:02

validated this claim from the

17:04

Islamic State, which has taken credit

17:07

for this horrible act. We'll

17:10

see what Russia says about this.

17:12

Obviously, it's not lost on anyone that

17:14

is coming right after an election in

17:17

Russia. Also, in the midst of this

17:19

war in Ukraine, there was an enormous

17:21

wave of Russian attacks

17:24

on Ukrainian cities

17:26

today and Ukrainian civilian targets.

17:29

I'm going to be watching with great interest.

17:31

I thought it was very notable that we

17:34

haven't really heard from Vladimir Putin himself yet

17:37

comforting the country in this

17:40

moment of horrible attack. All right. Susan,

17:43

John, Mark, thank you all so much.

17:46

We return. Trump's truth social

17:48

merger could throw him a much needed

17:50

massive cash lifeline, but it might not

17:52

fail him out of the financial trouble

17:54

awaiting him this coming Monday. We're going

17:57

to get into it and later to

17:59

former Congress. Congressman weigh in on

18:01

Marjorie Taylor Greene's move to get rid of

18:04

the House Speaker. All of this happening in

18:06

the middle of an election year. They're going

18:08

to have to explain politics to me because

18:10

it don't make sense. The 11th hour just

18:12

getting underway on a very busy Friday night.

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When booking with other vacation rental apps,

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sounds like this. This

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place doesn't look like the pictures. Come on. The

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door's around back. What

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the? Is there a door

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behind all those spiders? It's

18:36

time to try one that sounds more like a

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vacation. Ah, look

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at how many spiders there aren't. Where

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should we lie down for eight consecutive

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hours first? Relax. You booked

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a verbal. Time for

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Participating McDonald's must opt into

19:14

rewards. So

19:22

here is the question of the day. Now

19:25

that Trump's media merger between Trump Media

19:27

and Technology Group, the company that owns

19:29

Truth Social, and Digital World

19:31

Acquisition Corp. has been approved, folks are

19:33

now wondering if he can use this

19:35

money to cover his bond, like Elon

19:38

Musk did with his Tesla position to

19:40

buy Twitter. And now there's a

19:42

lot of chatter out there that his 79 million

19:45

shares in the company could, could

19:47

be worth more than $3 billion. But

19:51

here's the thing. Nobody actually knows how Trump

19:53

Media will trade, or if anyone is

19:55

willing to lend him big money against

19:57

the value of the shares. But here's

19:59

what we do know. This company is

20:01

losing tens of millions of dollars.

20:03

It generated only $3.3 million

20:06

in advertising revenue over the first

20:08

nine months of last year. And

20:11

the entire platform is basically

20:13

dependent on one man's posts,

20:16

Donald Trump. Plus, the shares are

20:18

locked up for six months unless he gets

20:20

a special waiver. So, the big

20:22

question for any real lender, what is

20:25

the real business plan for this company?

20:27

I don't know, would Trump donors or followers

20:29

pay like a monthly fee for true social

20:31

memberships so they could see his posts? Maybe.

20:35

Or is this just the beginning of Donald

20:37

Trump's meme stock? Because we have

20:40

all learned that meme stocks are

20:42

not long-term investments. Let's turn

20:44

now to CNBC's senior analyst Ron Insana

20:46

and former Wall Street banker turned journalist

20:48

Bill Cohen. He's a founding partner at

20:50

Puck News. All right, Bill. Here's

20:54

an analogy that I have been using today to

20:56

describe this. Trump's followers, who are

20:58

theoretically going to buy up the stock, hold

21:00

it up for their trusted leader because they

21:03

love this guy, is akin

21:05

to his most devoted supporters storming

21:07

the Capitol, going to jail while

21:10

Trump watched, didn't pardon any of them, didn't cover

21:12

their legal bills. And what did he do? He

21:15

goes on throwing parties at Mar-a-Lago, running for

21:17

president, and living his life. So,

21:19

now here we are. They're going to buy

21:21

up his shares, prop it up, and potentially

21:24

he will then dump his shares into their

21:26

laps and he'll keep on trucking with the

21:28

dough. Yeah,

21:31

I saw you tweet about that earlier

21:34

tonight, Stephanie. And you

21:36

know, so you might be able to say it's

21:38

Donald Trump business as usual. He's

21:41

one lucky guy. Is that how you see this?

21:43

He's one lucky guy because if this had

21:46

not happened today, he'd be

21:48

really in trouble come Monday. Now

21:51

he can make a colorable argument, not a great

21:53

one, but he can make a colorable argument that

21:55

now he's got something worth $3 billion,

21:58

maybe. perhaps

22:00

somebody will lend him something against,

22:03

maybe one of his very wealthy friends, of which

22:05

there are a big handful who

22:07

might be willing to do this for him. But

22:09

as you said, Stephanie, this company

22:12

has basically zero revenue, making tens

22:14

of millions dollars of losses. It's

22:16

gonna be a meme stock. If

22:18

he goes to sell his stock,

22:20

it's gonna trade down dramatically, like

22:23

most SPAC stocks do anyway. So

22:28

I don't know anybody who's gonna take this risk, unless

22:30

they just wanna be in tight with Donald Trump. Okay,

22:33

but that's the thing. Ron,

22:35

yes, he does know some really wealthy

22:37

friends, but this company, all

22:39

it is, is Donald Trump's posts.

22:41

Without them, there's nothing there. Like,

22:44

is anyone paying attention to history

22:46

repeating itself? The last time Trump

22:48

had a publicly traded company, it

22:50

failed spectacularly. It was a casino

22:52

company, of course. And it even

22:54

traded under the symbol, DJT, which

22:56

this will. Does anyone pay attention

22:58

to this? Oh, I know the

23:00

story quite well, Stephanie. I covered it back. I

23:03

know it was a fact. There was a now late

23:05

analyst on Wall Street, Marvin Rothman, who had very negative

23:08

things to say about the prospects for DJT. Donald

23:10

Trump sued him. Marvin

23:13

won the lawsuit and actually won enough money

23:15

to go out and start his own business,

23:17

because he was right about what happened to

23:19

DJT Enterprises, which was a series of casinos

23:21

in Atlantic City. Very hard to lose money

23:23

in that business. Donald Trump found a way

23:25

to do it. In this case, as

23:27

you say, I mean, is somebody willing to put up $500 million

23:31

and take the risk that that's going to

23:33

depreciate almost immediately once DJT goes public, particularly

23:36

if they know at some juncture he's going

23:38

to be selling shares? That's a

23:40

tough call. Even billionaires don't like to lose the

23:42

$100 million or $200 million or $300

23:45

million. So they're gonna have to

23:47

really be comfortable taking that kind of risk.

23:50

Okay, but that's exactly the point. Even

23:52

billionaires, they became billionaires

23:55

because they're smart, smooth

23:57

investors. Bill, so...

24:00

If one were to do this, it would

24:02

be public that they bought up these shares,

24:04

that they then toppled in their face. Or

24:06

if they decided they were going to be

24:08

the person that was going to put up

24:11

the bond for Donald Trump, wouldn't that cause

24:13

so much scrutiny for this person? Wouldn't

24:15

that have people wondering, what on earth

24:17

do you need a potential next president

24:19

to fix for you that you

24:22

would do something like this? Well,

24:24

of course, Stephanie, it would raise those kinds

24:26

of questions. That's

24:29

why this is a very, very

24:32

sketchy situation. But again,

24:34

I get back to the fact

24:36

that until today, like yesterday, he

24:38

couldn't have offered this as a potential

24:41

asset for somebody to lend against. Now

24:43

by some miracle of this shareholder

24:45

vote today and potential waiver of

24:47

the board letting him sell earlier

24:49

than six months, he might actually

24:52

be able to pull this off. He might

24:54

be able to find somebody. This

24:57

guy who owns 15%

24:59

of TikTok, who's a big Donald

25:02

Trump fan, might lend him $500 million

25:05

against that DWAC SPAC stock. I

25:07

wouldn't do it. You wouldn't

25:09

do it. And it'll certainly

25:12

trade down and it may not be a

25:14

good investment, but that guy may not

25:16

care. And there are other

25:18

ways to do it, Stephanie. You're talking about the co-founder

25:21

of Susquehanna, who is a huge investor

25:23

in TikTok. Of course, Donald Trump said,

25:25

I don't want to see TikTok getting

25:27

banned. It all stinks to the high

25:29

heavens. Do you think, Ron, this

25:31

is the reason Donald Trump really

25:33

hasn't returned to Twitter? Because his

25:35

posts are the only thing keeping

25:37

true social afloat. And true social

25:39

is Trump's money ticket to get

25:42

out of jail, theoretically.

25:44

Not literally. It

25:47

didn't really become actual

25:50

money until the SPAC

25:52

deal was closed, until the Acquisition

25:54

Corporation and Donald Trump's Truth Social,

25:56

the shareholders agreed to engage in

25:58

the merger and go public. Had that

26:00

not happened, had it been voted down, his shares would

26:02

have been worthless. You know, there is one other way

26:04

he can get money from this, which is an off-market

26:06

transaction. If you were to find a willing buyer for

26:08

1.6 of his stake, $500

26:12

million versus the presumed $3 billion it's

26:14

worth, you can do an off-market transaction

26:16

and just sell it in a single

26:18

block to someone else, highly unlikely. There

26:20

are ways for him to monetize this,

26:23

but yeah, he is the only asset

26:25

that Truth Social has. And from

26:28

a business perspective, I agree with Bill entirely. It's

26:30

not a great proposition. Stock will probably

26:32

trade down, but he might have just

26:35

enough in the way of

26:37

a stake in this company to get out of Dodge

26:39

and pay that money that he needs to pay to the courts in the

26:42

next several days. It's a

26:44

bad business move, so you'll have to wonder why

26:46

would someone do it? I'm out of time, but

26:48

quickly, Bill, any shock Trump files for bankruptcy, he

26:50

knows how to do that very well. Well,

26:53

he does. He's never filed for personal bankruptcy, as

26:55

you know, Stephanie, as he's the first to point

26:58

out. But until this merger

27:00

was agreed to today, I would

27:02

have, he would have be filing personal

27:05

bankruptcy on Sunday night. Now I think he's gonna

27:07

announce some sort of deal on Sunday night. You

27:09

know, he's Mr. Drama. He's gonna do it on

27:11

Sunday night just before everybody thinks he's gonna not

27:14

be able to pull this off. We'll

27:17

see. Gentlemen, thank you so much for being

27:19

here. And if you want more of this

27:21

story, I've got a whole analysis piece up

27:23

on msnbc.com right now. Check

27:26

it out. When we return from new

27:28

threats to oust the speaker, tomorrow, Republicans leaving

27:30

Congress, it is just another day on the

27:32

Hill, making a mess and

27:34

getting nothing done for America. We're gonna break

27:36

it down with two former congressmen who know

27:39

it all too well. Mayla McBower continues. We

27:49

need a new speaker. This is not personal

27:51

against Mike Johnson. He's a very good man.

27:53

And I have respect for him as a

27:55

person, but he is not doing the job.

27:57

He passed a budget that should have never...

28:00

been brought to the floor, did not represent

28:02

our conference, and it was passed with the

28:04

Democrats and without the majority of the majority.

28:09

It's a special night when we're mentioning Marjorie

28:11

Taylor Greene throughout the show. She has

28:13

officially filed a motion to oust Speaker

28:15

Mike Johnson. That is why we're talking

28:18

about her. Her move comes as multiple

28:20

House Republicans are heading for the exit

28:22

doors, leaving their majority hanging on by

28:24

a thread. If you haven't been keeping

28:26

track at home, Johnson has only been

28:28

Speaker for five months. Kevin McCarthy barely

28:30

held on for nine. Now, with these

28:32

other fellas gone, Republicans only have one

28:35

single vote to spare on legislation. Back

28:37

with us tonight, two men who

28:39

understand political dynamics in Congress, former

28:42

Democratic Congressman Conor Lamb and former

28:44

Republican Congressman Charlie Dent, both of

28:46

Pennsylvania. Charlie Marjorie said

28:49

today is the fight she, quote,

28:51

wants to have in an election

28:53

year. Is this

28:55

smart politics and an election year? Well,

28:58

I can't begin to tell you, Stephanie,

29:00

how idiotic this move is,

29:03

because look, they have a very slender

29:05

majority, a one vote

29:08

majority to begin with. I mean,

29:10

it's clear she does not want to be

29:12

in the majority. So think about it. In

29:14

eight months, there is an election where this

29:16

very slim majority is already at risk. The

29:18

House could easily flip. So

29:20

why not have another GOP

29:23

circular firing squad now

29:25

or whenever she tries to move this

29:28

motion to vacate? Why

29:30

not do that again? I mean, that's the thing.

29:32

It is beyond absurd. It is pure

29:35

lunacy that she somehow thinks

29:37

this is a good idea. Now, luckily

29:40

for Mike Johnson, it sounds like some

29:42

Democrats may not allow her to succeed

29:44

this time, unlike with Kevin McCarthy. But

29:46

as a political matter, it is just

29:49

beyond stupid. Democrats,

29:51

to save Mike Johnson, I potentially never thought I'd see

29:53

the day. Connor, what do you think this all means

29:55

for House Republicans? Well,

30:00

I think it just reveals they don't know what

30:02

they stand for. I think that's why they're having

30:04

so much trouble keeping their own

30:06

members. I mean, they have talented people like

30:08

Mike Gallagher quitting on them, and

30:10

they can't decide whether it's Kevin McCarthy or

30:13

Jim Jordan or Mike Johnson, whoever it is,

30:15

because they're not they're not actually debating like

30:17

a series of policy issues that they disagree

30:20

on, disagree on or anything like that. It's

30:23

just a power struggle among a bunch of people

30:25

who don't know how to use the power that

30:27

they have. And I think that's because

30:29

the whole party is based around Trump, now

30:31

the person. But

30:33

these guys are in Washington having to take votes

30:35

on a multitude of issues. You know,

30:37

they release budgets, doing things like raising the

30:39

age of Social Security in an election year

30:42

when people are already struggling with inflation. So

30:45

they're just lost in the sauce, as we might

30:47

be used to say in the military, and they

30:49

don't know their way out. So they're they're actually

30:51

kind of like children, in my view. And

30:54

I think that's going to put them back in the minority. I

30:57

want to talk about that Social Security move.

31:00

But first, Charlie, I am guessing you're on

31:02

like a retired Republican group chat. So you

31:04

might know this answer. When Ken Buck announced

31:07

he was retiring, he warned that more

31:09

Republicans could leave. Now we hear about Mike

31:11

Gallagher. What do you think is coming next? Well,

31:15

at this rate, House Republicans could be in

31:17

the minority by Memorial Day if the resignations

31:19

keep going at this rate. Well, I don't

31:22

want to particularly speculate about who will be

31:24

next. There may be. But you

31:26

know, you have to look at those members who have

31:28

already announced that they are retiring. You

31:30

have to look at that list of people who

31:33

might decide to resign early. Just think about it.

31:35

We lost about Republicans have lost about five members.

31:37

You think about McCarthy, Santos,

31:39

Bill Johnson of Ohio, Gallagher and

31:41

Buck, who all announced that either

31:44

have left or expelled, or will

31:46

soon be leaving. But you know, look

31:48

at maybe Kay Granger today of Texas. She's

31:51

had a distinguished record. She served a long

31:53

time. She just announced today that she's stepping

31:55

down as chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

31:58

She's over 80. You know, maybe maybe Who

32:00

knows? Maybe she decides to pack it in early.

32:02

And there may be some other members there who

32:04

could have personal or family reasons why

32:06

they need to leave or perhaps, you know,

32:08

obviously, some might be heading to the private

32:11

sector. So it's hard to say who will

32:13

be next. But at this rate, I bet there

32:15

will be another one or two who might leave. Only

32:18

in Congress when leaving, when you are

32:21

over the age of 80, is considered

32:23

packing it in early. That is amazing

32:25

to me. Conor, let's go back to

32:27

this House Republican budget

32:29

calling for raising the retirement age

32:32

for Social Security. You mentioned it

32:34

a moment ago, like for real,

32:36

this is an election year. They

32:38

have to know this will not

32:40

go over well with older voters.

32:43

Yeah, I mean, again, it's just when

32:46

Trump isn't telling them what to do, they're totally

32:48

lost. And I think at times they fall back

32:50

on the old Paul Ryan playbook, which this is

32:52

part of, you know,

32:54

maybe it makes a group of them feel good

32:57

and like they agree on something. But, you know,

32:59

it's not just politically stupid. It's wrong. I mean,

33:01

think of the challenges that we have in society

33:03

right now. And in a state like mine, that

33:05

has one of the oldest populations of all the

33:07

big voting states, people

33:10

Social Security checks are not going as far

33:12

because of inflation, they just can't buy enough.

33:14

And that really hurts seniors. You

33:16

have people talking about AI every day, and the

33:18

effect it's going to have on the workforce. And

33:20

maybe it's going to drive people out of the

33:22

workforce at the time they can lease the floor.

33:24

It's just not the time to be adding four

33:26

more years of working life to people before they

33:28

can collect on the investment they made all those

33:31

years in their in their FICA contributions. On

33:34

an election year, just raise the age. Gentlemen,

33:36

thank you both for being here. Great to see

33:38

you, Connor and Charlie. When we return, one

33:41

of the largest and most popular

33:43

music venues in Moscow attacked by

33:45

Dunman and set on fire, the

33:47

latest out of Russia as the death toll

33:49

rises and the 11th hour continues. We

34:01

are following shocking news out of Moscow.

34:03

Officials with the Russian Investigative Committee now

34:05

say at least 60 people are dead

34:07

and more than 100 injured after a

34:09

shooting at a popular concert venue. That

34:11

number may still grow, and the incident

34:14

is being investigated as a possible terrorist

34:16

attack. My colleague Matt Bradley

34:18

has more, and we warn you, these images

34:20

are disturbing. Tonight,

34:25

terror strikes Russia's capital. The

34:29

Greek state claimed responsibility for an attack on a

34:31

concert hall in Moscow, where at

34:33

least three gunmen wearing camouflage opened

34:35

fire. The terror group claimed responsibility

34:37

on Telegram. NBC News hasn't been

34:39

able to verify their claim. The

34:42

gunmen reportedly threw bombs inside the theater,

34:44

targeting a sold-out house at Krakas City

34:46

Hall, a concert venue that seats a

34:48

maximum of nearly 10,000 people. We

34:54

heard gunshots. At first, we didn't understand what

34:56

had happened, said this eyewitness. Then

34:58

the terrorists came in and started shooting everyone.

35:01

The attacks at the huge theater ablaze. Emergency

35:04

workers are still struggling to put out

35:06

the fire and save whoever remains inside,

35:09

deploying helicopters to try to rescue people

35:11

from the building's roof, which has partially

35:13

collapsed. The attacks come two

35:15

weeks after the U.S. embassy in Moscow

35:18

warned Americans about terrorism, telling

35:20

them to avoid concerts and places with

35:22

large crowds. But the identity

35:24

and fate of the terrorists remains unclear.

35:27

But Russia's government has a long

35:29

list of enemies. Earlier this week,

35:31

Russian President Vladimir Putin won a

35:33

third term as president after elections

35:35

many observers said were rigged and

35:38

that some voters protested. Putin's

35:40

controversial war in Ukraine is now in

35:42

its third year. Just

35:46

today, Russia launched a barrage of 165

35:48

missiles and drones at Ukraine in one

35:50

of its largest salvos yet, targeting the

35:52

country's energy grid. The

35:55

White House tonight cautioned against linking Ukraine to

35:57

the attack, but as the death toll rises...

36:00

So too will demands for justice. I

36:04

want to welcome former FBI special

36:06

agent Clint Watts. He's also a

36:08

consultant for FBI's Counterterrorism Division and

36:11

an MSNBC national security analyst. Clint,

36:13

what else do we know so far? Yeah,

36:16

Stephanie, it seems more and more likely

36:18

that the claims by what is known

36:20

as Islamic State of Khorasan, that is

36:22

the group that was in Afghanistan, you

36:24

might remember, it was known

36:27

for the suicide bombing it did as

36:29

the US was withdrawing from Afghanistan. They've

36:32

claimed responsibility for this. And

36:34

you know, looking at all the different options

36:37

and possibilities that are out there for where

36:39

this came from, it does

36:41

match a targeting pattern that would line

36:43

up with the terrorist group. This is

36:45

a mass casualty target. The

36:47

way they entered in the videos that you

36:49

saw there, the indiscriminate killing and the destruction

36:52

all match that sort of a pattern. I

36:54

think we still need to wait and really

36:56

gain some more information. But I think the

36:58

State Department warning was very clear and very

37:00

spot on for what we saw here today,

37:03

which was large venues, large

37:06

gatherings and even concerts. And when you

37:08

compare that to what is known

37:10

as the Islamic State of Khorasan's attacks

37:12

they've claimed lately, they also did a

37:15

major attack just a little while ago

37:17

in Iran as well where they inflict

37:20

in many casualties. They are still a

37:22

force to be reckoned with. And

37:24

I think it just also points to what

37:26

looks like the US still having really good

37:28

intelligence on that group and being able to

37:30

forewarn others about what might happen. There

37:34

was that State Department warning and we

37:36

have great intelligence there. However, the majority

37:38

of the information we're getting tonight is

37:40

from the Russian Investigative Committee. Is

37:43

there any reason for us to not believe

37:45

the information we're getting from them? It is

37:47

Russia. Stephanie,

37:50

we should be skeptical. And we may never know

37:52

all the details or know if they're accurate. Immediately

37:55

after this attack, there was a flood of information coming

37:57

out of the Russian state media. some

38:00

of it blaming Ukraine and those

38:02

orbits on telegram, others trying to

38:05

make bold statements, but very little details

38:07

to it. So anything that's

38:09

coming out of Russia, at least this

38:11

early, especially with there's still some reaction

38:13

to the actual fires that were there, the

38:15

roof caught fire on the facility.

38:17

I think we need to really

38:19

hold and wait and see if more information can

38:21

come out tomorrow. Well, what

38:23

about skepticism around ISIS? Yes, they

38:25

claimed responsibility, but they did not

38:28

prove any, they didn't provide any

38:30

proof of this. And the claim

38:32

did come from an ISIS affiliated

38:34

news agency on telegram. Again, not

38:36

exactly a trusted source. That's

38:40

correct, Stephanie. And it's not exactly a trusted

38:42

source. They have executed other tax

38:44

and taken claim for them. Some of the accounts

38:46

that I've seen are remarkably

38:50

credible in the sense that they do take

38:52

claim and they do annotate attacks

38:54

that happen around the world and take responsibility for

38:56

it. But as you noted, you know, as we

38:58

were starting the segment, there are a lot of

39:00

people that are upset about what's going on inside

39:02

Russia. That is those that are mourning

39:04

the death of Alexina Balny just a month ago

39:07

in a prison where she believed that Vladimir

39:09

Putin is in his administration was in charge,

39:11

was in charge of the prison and actually

39:13

brought about his death. Severely, you

39:15

might remember just nine to

39:17

10 months ago, you have Guinea Prigozhin did

39:20

a march on Moscow and he

39:22

was later killed in a plane crash. So many

39:24

of his fighters were a year ago,

39:26

just a year ago, fighting in Bakhmoud and

39:28

losing their lives. There's a lot of different

39:31

entities that have the stake in

39:33

what's going on inside Russia might be willing to commit

39:35

violence on behalf of that. Excuse

39:39

me. There are still U.S. citizens in Moscow

39:41

right now. The State Department has said aid

39:44

is severely limited, obviously, due

39:46

to Russian constraints on

39:48

travel. Where does it leave those Americans? Stephanie,

39:52

they're in a tough spot. Anybody that's been inside

39:54

Russia over the last three years is going to have

39:56

a difficult time, everything from

39:58

communication to travel. And

40:00

the other part that we don't know about

40:03

this is while this may be one attack,

40:05

we've seen from Islamic State terrorist

40:07

groups and al-Qaeda terrorist groups before, they

40:09

oftentimes stage many attacks in order or

40:12

inspire other attacks to kick off. So

40:15

I'm sure that's a great concern for the

40:17

U.S. government right now as they try and protect

40:19

all the citizens of the United States that are still in

40:21

Russia at the moment. Sasha hated

40:23

sand, the way it stuck to things

40:25

for weeks. So

40:27

when Maddie shared a surf trip on

40:30

Expedia trip planner, he hesitated. Then

40:33

he added a hotel with a cliffside pool

40:35

to the plan and they

40:37

both spent the week in the water. You

40:40

were made to follow your whims. We

40:42

were made to find a place on the

40:44

beach with a pool and a waterfall and

40:46

a soaking tub and of course a great

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shower. Expedia made

40:51

to travel. Time

40:53

for a quick break to talk about McDonald's. Wake

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up and bagelize. Get your taste

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buds ready for McDonald's breakfast bagel sandwiches. Now

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41:22

Clint, thank you so much for helping us tonight.

41:24

We now have to turn to Washington where we

41:26

do have breaking news. It looks like

41:28

we may have some movement in the Senate

41:30

on a vote that could hopefully avert a

41:33

government shutdown. Let's bring my friend Sahil Kapoor

41:35

back with the latest. What's going on? It's

41:38

more than movement, Stephanie. We have white

41:40

smoke in the Senate. They have reached

41:43

that unanimous consent agreement that I mentioned

41:45

last hour that they were still negotiating on.

41:48

They have that deal and votes are going

41:50

to begin imminently. That's Chuck Schumer you see

41:52

on the screen. Just announcing

41:54

that agreement and we heard the magic words

41:56

without objection in the Senate, which means all

41:59

100. have agreed to it.

42:01

This sets up a vote on nine different

42:03

amendments before final passage of the bill. These

42:05

are all Republican amendments. Three of them have

42:07

been agreed to on a voice vote, which

42:10

means it will be done instantly. The other

42:12

six will get roll call votes. Just

42:14

muting my screen over there. The other six

42:16

will get roll call votes. Chuck Schumer has

42:18

pleaded with members to do this quickly. So

42:20

the amendments can be 10 minutes each, which

42:23

would set up passage of the final bill

42:25

sometime in the next hour, maybe a little

42:27

more than that. That's a little ambitious to

42:29

get senators to do votes that quickly. But

42:31

regardless, they have a deal here and there's not

42:33

going to be anything more than a technical shutdown.

42:36

There will officially be a lapse in funding at midnight

42:38

in just a matter of minutes, but for

42:41

all intents and purposes, the government will

42:43

remain funded. This completes a real roller

42:45

coaster of an appropriations process, Stephanie. $1.6

42:48

trillion, the government will be funded six

42:51

months into this process after four different stopgap

42:53

bills, after months and months of negotiations and

42:55

haggling and vibes going from good to bad,

42:57

to sour to weird, they finally figured this

42:59

out. Good, bad,

43:02

sour, weird, six months and it is

43:04

almost midnight. Time for

43:06

a quick break to talk about McDonald's. Wake

43:09

up and bagelize. Get your

43:11

taste buds ready for McDonald's breakfast bagel

43:13

sandwiches. Now just $3 only on

43:15

the app. Choose from a delicious steak,

43:17

egg and cheese bagel, bacon, egg and cheese bagel,

43:19

or sausage, egg and cheese bagel. Just

43:21

$3 when you order ahead on the app. Hurry

43:24

and seize this breakfast steal before it's gone.

43:26

Offer valid one time daily March 11th

43:28

through April 7th, 2024 participating McDonald's. Must

43:31

opt into rewards.