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Joe Biden TRANSCRIPT: 3/9/20, The Last Word w/ Lawrence O'Donnell

Guests: Joe Biden, Austan Goolsbee

LAWRENCE O`DONNELL, MSNBC HOST:  Good evening.

And I interviewed Joe Biden this morning in Michigan and my anecdotal airport report of the last, I don`t know, three days I`ve been in one, two, four airports is very few masks out there in the airports, very few lines, and on the airplanes, which are still reasonably full, the ones I`ve been on, one thing you don`t hear, two things you don`t hear, you don`t hear any babies crying in my experience, meaning the babies aren`t traveling, people changed those plans and you don`t hear anyone with a cough or sniffle or anything. It seems that people who are feeling healthy are the ones who are going to the airports at this stage.

RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST, "TRMS":  The traveling that I have done suggests that the people who are not feeling healthy are not traveling with you, they are traveling with me, instead, because I`ve been on like sniffle- ville every bit of public transportation I`ve been on in the past week and, of course, everything rings 10,000 times like that than it otherwise would.

O`DONNELL:  Yes, it is a strange time. We`re all making decisions day to day. I mean, in the interview I talked to Joe Biden about the decisions they`re making day to day about rallies and they`re not sure.

MADDOW:  Yes.

O`DONNELL:  They know what they have on the schedule for one day ahead of time and they`re not sure how much they can keep that up. So, it`s changing every day.

MADDOW:  I heard much a similar take from Senator Sanders.

O`DONNELL:  Yes.

MADDOW:  We`ll take it as it comes and take advice but they can`t -- I mean, it seems like they`re not planning far in advance on it and the president is saying, no, I`m never going to cancel a rally ever. So, it`s - - yes, day by day.

O`DONNELL:  Thank you, Rachel.

MADDOW:  Thanks, Lawrence.

O`DONNELL:  Well, Ireland has cancelled all St. Patrick`s Day parades and we do not know tonight if the president of the United States has been tested for coronavirus. Those are just two of the stranger data points in today`s coronavirus news.

Here is what the vice president said today when asked about the president being tested.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER:  Has the president been tested? He`s been in contact with people who are in proximity to somebody who had the virus.

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:  Let me be sure to get you an answer to that. I honestly don`t know the answer to the question, but we`ll refer that question and we`ll get you an answer from the White House physician very quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  That question came up because someone at a political conference the president attended nine days ago has tested positive for coronavirus and that person is known to have shaken hands with the person Donald Trump is seen shaking hands with in that photograph at that conference.

The vice president attended that same conference two days before the president. The vice president said today that he has not been tested because he has not been advised to get tested. Five Republican members of Congress including Senator Ted Cruz are self-quarantined because they attended that same political conference.

One of the self-quarantining Republicans is Congressman Matt Gaetz who made fun of the situation last week by wearing a gas mask in the House chamber. Since then, one person in Congressman Gaetz` district has died of coronavirus.

And another Republican congressman self-quarantining now is Mark Meadows who Donald Trump recently announced will be his next White House chief of staff. Mark Meadows could end up being the Anthony Scaramucci of White House chiefs of staff and never actually serving a day on the job depending on how Donald Trump feels about being in close proximity to someone who might or might not have been exposed to coronavirus.

Coronavirus could be changing the nature of the presidential campaign. I asked Joe Biden this morning if his campaign can continue holding rallies and he said that they are reevaluating that question every day.

Joe Biden had a rally tonight in Detroit where former presidential candidates, Senator Kamala Harris and Senator Cory Booker, joined him on stage after endorsing his candidacy.

I interviewed Vice President Biden this morning in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Bernie Sanders held an outdoor rally on an unusual warm day yesterday. The Sanders` campaign event dominated local news coverage in Grand Rapids yesterday, but new polls out today show Bernie Sanders behind Joe Biden in Michigan.

A Monmouth University poll of Michigan voters shows Joe Biden with a lead 51 percent to 36 percent and the Detroit free press shows Joe Biden with an even bigger lead over Bernie Sanders in Michigan, but -- this is important -- four years ago that very same poll by the Detroit Free Press showed Bernie Sanders a full 25 points behind Hillary Clinton in Michigan, the weekend before that Tuesday election day, and Bernie Sanders went on to win Michigan four years ago, keeping hope alive for his campaign, which is exactly what Jesse Jackson was doing for Bernie Sanders` campaign in Michigan yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE JACKSON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST:  Keep hope alive. Keep hope alive. Never surrender. Keep hope alive. Bernie Sanders can win, will win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  Two new national polls out today show similar results. The Quinnipiac poll shows Joe Biden ahead of Bernie Sanders nationally, 54 to 35 percent, among Democrats. A CNN poll shows Joe Biden ahead nationally 52 to 36 percent.

John Heilemann and Yamiche Alcindor will join us later in this hour to discuss the state of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

At this evening`s White House briefing on the coronavirus, President Trump spoke only for a few minutes and then left the room handing over the proceedings to Mike Pence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE:  I want to express appreciation to the governor of California and his administration, the governor of Georgia, the governor of Texas for their strong cooperation with us in resolving the issues around the Grand Princess.

(END VIDOE CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  The president couldn`t have liked that. In the past, the president has called the governor of California a clown and on Friday, the last time Donald Trump fully participated in any press briefing about coronavirus, Donald Trump said this about the governor of Washington, the state hardest hit by coronavirus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:  Well, I told Mike not to be complimentary of the governor because that governor is a snake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  That Governor Jay Inslee just had a discussion with Rachel Maddow in the last hour that was more illuminating about the reality of the coronavirus crisis than anything we have heard from any White House official.

Donald Trump called Governor Inslee a snake on Friday afternoon after the stock market had closed and when the market next reopened, which was this morning in New York at 9:30 a.m., the market instantly dropped almost 1,700 points in part some analysts suggested because of the president`s public statements about the coronavirus crisis.

Austan Goolsbee, former economic advisor to President Obama will join us at the end of the hour to consider what is happening to the economy and the stock market and what that means for people`s jobs and the ability to support their families and the ability to support themselves in retirement, and will consider the possibility of a payroll tax cut that the president mentioned in passing in his brief remarks at tonight`s press briefing.

We begin our interview with Vice President Biden this morning, a few minutes after a trading halt in the stock market.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O`DONNELL:  Mr. Vice President, we`ve known each other 25 years. When you just walked in this room, it`s the first time we haven`t shaken hands and seeing each other in 25 years -- a minor symbol of what has changed in this country and changed so dramatically just over the last few days.

What do you have to say to the country about what`s happening now with the coronavirus public health threat and what we`ve seen today in the markets? A threat to people`s retirement security, everything that they are expecting in their lives is now being threatened.

JOE BIDEN (D), 2020 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  Well, look, Lawrence, I don`t want to be to critical of the president but you know, this gets down to competence and capability. And the -- unfortunately, the president has very - no confidence in how to handle this crisis. Not that there`s any clear answer here to make this all go away.

But the idea that he shows up at the CDC and says that, well you know, this is like -- everything`s just perfect, you know. Just like my call to the leader of Ukraine, I mean, people just wonder what`s going on and he`s down there golfing today.

I mean, there`s no sense of urgency. The American people, I think, want to know that their president is on top of this, understands it and that he`s being guided by science.

Second thing is, in terms of capability. They -- this president has not, this administration has not moved to take advantage of the capability that exists within the health community, has not prepared local hospitals, has not provided equipment, has not trained personnel, has not thought through -- at least if he -- they`ve thought it through, they haven`t announced it to the American people.

And the American people are just saying wait a minute, what`s going on here? What`s happening? And so, just like - we walked in, and we joked and said no shaking hands. Well, and I`m following the directions, and so are you of the CDC.

And the other thing is, there seems to be little coordination with the rest of the world and how we`re dealing with this.

This is a worldwide pandemic. This is just not the United States of America. And so, I think there`s a reason why you see the markets falling and you see the reason -- the reason why people are very upset. But I think if the president were to have -- just get out of the way, let the experts at CDC and others handle this, speak to it, talk about what needs to be done, we`d all be better off.

O`DONNELL:  Do you think the market reaction is a reaction to the markets realizing the president simply does not tell them or the world, or this country, the truth about this situation? And a market needs clear information.

BIDEN:  I believe that`s the case. Now, it doesn`t mean the market wouldn`t still go down, but it wouldn`t collapse I don`t think. Now who can say?

But I think there`s no confidence in the president in anything he says or does. He turns everything into what he thinks is a political benefit for himself. And he`s actually imploding in the process.

But there`s a lot of innocent bystanders that are being badly hurt. And I just think - I mean, I wish he would just be quiet. I really mean it.

That`s a really awful thing to say about a president, but he`d be quiet. Just let the experts speak and acknowledge whatever they suggest to him is what we should be doing.

O`DONNELL: Senator Bernie Sanders says that this public health crisis is yet another, in his view, a perfect example of why we need a health care system with Medicare for All, some version of Medicare for All, at least, because everyone would know, an absolutely guarantee that they would be able to get the treatment they need, and it would not be costing them the way some people have been getting billed for --

BIDEN: You don`t have to do Medicare for All for that. The Biden proposal we -- you`d be covered for all of this. The fact of the matter is that everyone would be covered under taking Obamacare, restoring the cuts that have been made, and putting in the public option of Medicare- like option. You know, and by the way, Medicare -- if everybody -- let`s assume everybody had Medicare covering everything now.

Do you think people would be any less concerned? I don`t think so.

O`DONNELL:  No, but they`d know how they were going to get their service.

BIDEN:  Well, by the way, look. The question is how are you going to get your service, period? Forget the healthcare plan for a second. What services do you get?

There`s none being provided right now. There`s not enough testing kits. There`s not enough information as to who should be tested and how it`s going to be tested. There`s not enough information as to what hospitals you go to. There`s not enough beds available.

And so, Medicare doesn`t fix that. My plan, the Obamacare that I build on, would take care of it all in terms of the billing and all those things they`re concerned about what it`s going to cost them, but it does not solve the underlying problem.

Where do you go? Who do you talk to? What information do you get?

That is not something that of anyone on Medicare today. Let me put it this way. Anybody who`s on Medicare today, OK, they have Medicare.

O`DONNELL:  Right.

BIDEN:  Do think they`re any less or any less concerned?

You know, the fact that an elderly person who`s worried about her -- is in a nursing home and has Medicare or is working in a way that all their bills are covered for Medicare, they`re saying, well, I`m OK. Don`t worry about this. It goes well beyond that.

And again, I don`t think Bernie or I can try to turn this into a debate about Medicare for All or a Biden plan building on Obamacare. It`s much beyond that right now. It`s about re-instilling some confidence and be prepared.

We are not prepared, and there`s things we should be doing. And, by the way, the fact that the United States Congress says Democrats and Republicans, wait a minute, we have to fund this. We have to get the money out there now.

Well, I mean, it goes well beyond a plan. It goes beyond what is -- what structures exist in society today in the United States of America to deal with this problem. What are they? And every -- wait a minute (ph).

O`DONNELL:  Let`s assume -- and I`ve asked other candidates this kind of question.

BIDEN:  Yes.

O`DONNELL:  Veto question. Let`s flash forward. You`re president. Bernie Sanders is still active in the Senate. He manages to get Medicare for All through the Senate in some compromised version, the Elizabeth Warren version or other version. Nancy Pelosi gets a version of it through the House of Representatives.

It comes to your desk. Do you veto it?

BIDEN:  I would veto anything that delays providing the security and the certainty of healthcare being available now. If they got that through in by some miracle or there`s an epiphany that occurred and some miracle occurred that said, OK, it`s passed. Then you got to look at the cost.

I want to know, how did they find $35 trillion? What is that doing? Is it going to significantly raise taxes on the middle class, which it will? What`s going to happen?

Look, my opposition isn`t to the principle that there should be - you should have Medicare. I mean, I -- look, everybody -- healthcare should be a right in America. My opposition relates to whether or not, A, it`s doable, two, what the cost is, and what the consequences for the rest of the budget are.

How are you going to find $35 trillion over the next 10 years without having profound impacts on everything from taxes for middle class and working class people as well as -- as well as the impact on the rest of the budget?

O`DONNELL:  What is going to happen to rallies going forward in this campaign? Are you reconsidering gathering people together, especially in indoor arenas?

BIDEN:  I`m looking up to the CDC to get guidance on that. What I`m going to do and to give people reassurance is I`m not doing the rope lines like I used because people -

(CROSSTALK)

O`DONNELL:  Are you just not shaking hands with voters?

BIDEN:  Well, no, I haven`t -- I -- it`s awfully hard.

O`DONNELL:  It`s hard for you especially.

BIDEN:  No, I know. And people reach out.

But I think that -- what I`m doing now is instead of doing what they call for the viewing audience, the rope line, the after speech you go down and say hello to all the folks and you shake hands, hear their concerns, and let them tell you what`s on their mind. That I think is -- we`re going to be guided by the evolving concern that exists on the part of the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, as to what we should be doing.

And so -- but, for example, the last two events which surprised everybody I actually -- I, you know, went down, waved to people, went through, touched arms, fist bumped, that kind of thing. And I think you`re going to see more of that on the part of everyone, and they`re going to be guided by the issue of whether or not we should have big indoor rallies, those kinds of things. That`s all in motion right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O`DONNELL:  We have breaking news at this hour. The White House has released a statement answering the question raised at the beginning of this hour when I began this show. The statement says the president has not received the coronavirus testing because he has neither had prolonged close contact with any known confirmed coronavirus patients, nor does he have any symptoms, President Trump remains in excellent health and his physician will continue to closely monitor him.

We will have more of my interview with Joe Biden. You were seeing the interview in its entirety, every word of every question, every word of every answer. You`re going to see all of that when we come back. You`ll hear Joe Biden`s reaction to what some women called the gut punch of Elizabeth Warren dropping out of the race and listen carefully to Joe Biden`s answer when I ask him if he would choose a vice presidential nominee from the group of presidential candidates who have run against him.

You`ll hear Joe Biden respond to Bernie Sanders` charge that the Democratic establishment forced Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg to drop out of the race. And my final question to Joe Biden was, what do you most admire about Bernie Sanders?

All of that is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL:  We`ll continue now with the entirety of our interview with Joe Biden conducted this morning in Michigan, including in this segment, Senator Bernie Sanders` assertion that the Democratic establishment forced Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar out of the race to help Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O`DONNELL:  Yesterday, Senator Sanders said that the Democratic establishment forced Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar to drop out of the race. He used the word "forced".

Did you force them to drop out of the race?

BIDEN:  Look, that`s the African-American community, suburban women, people who are hard working, high school educated people who are struggling, they`re the ones -- that`s the establishment of the Democratic Party and that`s what happened. They`re the folks when these primaries voted for me. They voted for me. They`re not voting for Bernie. At least they didn`t vote for -- they may tomorrow decide they`re going to vote for Bernie.

But it`s not about the establishment forcing anybody out. I mean, Bernie tries to make this all the time, and it`s always about pressure. You know I heard, for example, that I`m taking -- I have $9 billion or $90 billion billionaires that are supporting me. I`ve never taken a contribution over 2,800 bucks. My average contribution is about -- as of yesterday $44.

I mean, this -- we got to stop this kind of stuff. We got to -- we`re running against Donald Trump. We ought to start telling the truth about this.

And the idea that we are -- that -- I heard him say that, well, the Democratic establishment, I guess that means some cabal sitting in a room somewhere and said, well, we got to stop Bernie Sanders here, and let`s all get together and do the following.

I am flattered and I am pleased and I am honored by all the former candidates saying, OK, we had a fair race, we didn`t make it, and it`s a real hard thing. I`ve lost before. You know as well as I do it`s hard to say, OK, I lost, but now, I`m throwing my full support behind for the following reasons.

If you notice the people endorsing me aren`t just generic endorsements, they`re stating why they are for me. And because those who got out and I don`t have that fundamental -- there`s really no fundamental difference in where we want to take the country on healthcare, education, global warming, you know, race relations, a whole range of things.

And so, I think it`s -- I`m just very flattered by the support. But the idea that some establishment sitting back there and made up of whoever it is he thinks there are, the folks who brought me back were an overwhelming support from African Americans, significant support from -- and by the way, in each of these Super Tuesday primaries, we raised turnout exponentially across the board and they voted for our candidacy.

They voted for our candidacy because now it`s getting down to OK we got to decide, how are we going to run this election, who`s best committing to beat Donald Trump, and who do I think can do it and agree with.

O`DONNELL:  When Elizabeth Warren dropped out last week, Bernie Sanders characterized this at this point as the race between what he called two old white guys. They --

BIDEN:  I`m a young white guy now (ph0.

O`DONNELL: Rachel Maddow went up to Cambridge, did an hour interview with Elizabeth Warren.

Lily Adams was on with me that night. She`s the granddaughter of Ann Richards. She worked on Kamala Harris`s campaign. She said it was a gut punch, a gut punch to see all of the leading women candidates knocked out of this campaign. Four United States Senators, the strongest field, field, of women candidates we`ve ever seen in a presidential campaign. Hilary Clinton was obviously stronger when she ran but as a field.

And do you understand what Lily Adams means by that gut punch, what that felt like to women?

BIDEN:  Sure, I do. And that`s why in 2018, I went and campaigned for more women than anybody else did. We elected 41 new members to the House. I went out in their districts. I went in those purple districts, and I helped them win.

Well, let me put it this way -- they asked me to come in and they won not because of me but despite of me maybe.

But the point is that I`m not a pundit. There is -- for example, I saw the -- there was sexism in Hilary`s race, and the way -- and it`s real. The idea of sexism and racism still exists in the United States of America.

That`s why I feel so strongly about what I pushed everyday from the Violence Against Women Act to teaching my granddaughters they can do anything, anything, anything my grandsons can do.

O`DONNELL:  But is this presidential campaign a lesson to your granddaughters that they can d anything they want to do?

BIDEN:  Well, you know, I think so, in a sense that, look, every campaign is slightly different. And I`m not a pundit, but all I know is that I feel very strongly that there -- sexism and racism still exists in this country in a big way. And as president of the United States, if I`m elected president, I`m going to do all I can to continue to root it out.

O`DONNELL:  The very first presidential decision you will have to make is that decision that Barack Obama made in 2008 to choose you as vice president. That is the first test of a presidency.

What does what you`ve seen of the women campaigning and what you have felt and what you are aware of, that gut punch felt like this week for them dropping out, what does that -- how does that impact your vice presidential thinking?

BIDEN:  Well, first of all, I think there are a number of incredibly confident women capable of being president that have run and haven`t even run yet and are out there senators and governors alike.

And so, for me, I think the most important thing -- excuse me, choosing the vice president is whether or not the person is simpatico with me in terms of where I want to take the country.

It`s really important that the next president is able to do what Barack was able to do with me. Turn and handover 10, 20 percent of the portfolios and say, you do it as if you were president because there`s so much that lands on a president`s desk that he can`t or she can`t do it all by themselves.

And so, that requires -- I trust all the women that are out there if they were to be my vice president. It`s presumptuous to be talking about this -- I`m not the nominee yet -- but someone who is simpatico with where I want to take the country.

We can disagree on tactics but not on strategy. And so, that`s the first test. And there are a number of women and African Americans as well who would meet that criteria for me.

But I`m not focused on that at this point. But I promise you my administration from vice president on is going to look like the country.

O`DONNELL:  In your experience, and I mean your lifetime of political experience and watching this choice made, a running mate.

Do you think that it`s important that it be someone who actually has been tested on that presidential debate stage the way I assume Barack Obama thought it was very important that his vice presidential candidate had already been tested at that level as you were standing beside him on the debate stage?

BIDEN:  I think that`s a very important factor.

O`DONNELL:  Very important factor. And we`re going to leave it at that today?

BIDEN:  Yes.

O`DONNELL:  OK.

BIDEN:  By the way there`s a number of women as well when tested in other ways, not on the debate stage, but in their debates in their states and being national figures. So, you know, but -- yes, I think that`s an important factor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O`DONNELL:  Coming up, one debate point that Bernie Sanders always wins against Joe Biden is that Bernie Sanders was right about the Iraq war from the start and Joe Biden was wrong.

You will hear Joe Biden admit that mistake and tell us what he most admires about Bernie Sanders.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL: Here is the rest of the full interview with Joe Biden that I conducted this morning in Grand Rapids, Michigan. You are seeing every word of every question and every word of every answer in their entirety tonight, in the exact sequence that the questions were asked and answered.

There was a time constraint about 20 minutes so that the Biden campaign could stay on schedule today in Michigan. In this final segment I asked Vice President Biden, if Bernie Sanders judgment on the vote authorizing the Iraq war was better than Joe Biden`s and I asked Joe Biden, what he most admires about Bernie Sanders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: Two soldiers killed yesterday in Iraq. You say that your vote on the Iraq war was based on the President`s wishes, representation that this wasn`t about going to war. It was about presenting a clear at least, threat to Saddam Hussein.

Bernie Sanders says I saw right through that. I was right. I knew what George Bush was up to. When we look back on it, can we say that Sen. Sanders` judgment about that was better than yours?

BIDEN: Look, the reason I voted for what I did was to try to prevent a war from happening because remember, the threat was to go to war. The argument was because Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. So he said that I need to be able to get the Security Council to agree to send in inspectors, to put pressure on Saddam to find out whether or not he`s using and he`s producing nuclear weapons.

And at the time, I said that`s your reason, all right I get it. That was the - the rationale was that`s the way to not go to war because I didn`t believe he had those nuclear weapons. I didn`t believe he had those weapons of mass destruction. And you may remember, the debates we had after that period about when Colin said - anyway so that was the rationale.

What happened was when we went in, determined that they hyped what in fact was occurring, they didn`t - there was no concrete proof of what he was doing and they still went to war and the irony of ironies is the first thing that Barack Obama did when I got elected - when we got elected President and Vice President, was turn to me and say, end the war, not a joke.

You run the deal to bring out 150 plus thousand combat troops from Iraq and I did. So you know the idea that I took the word of a President saying that he wasn`t going to go to war and this was a way to avoid going to war, was in fact a mistake. It was a mistake. I`ve acknowledged that 15 years ago.

But the idea that Bernie Sanders` judgment on foreign policy is superior to mine, I find - I`m anxious to beat him on that question.

O`DONNELL: Final question before you go you`ve known Bernie Sanders a long time. He`s known you a long time. He calls you, a friend. You call him, a friend. What do you most admire about Bernie Sanders?

BIDEN: What I most admire about him is his - his consistency. What worries me though is his unwillingness to ever acknowledge that anything he said or suggests is - could have been a mistake and the second thing is that I wish he`d level more with all of us about what his proposals are going to cost and what impact is it going to have on people.

Like for example, he has $60 trillion of proposals out there. He thinks he can get it done. How`s he going to do that? Even just Medicare for all is going to - is going to double the federal budget. I mean per year. I mean, the idea that it`s not going to affect taxes, not going to require significant cuts in social programs around the world.

I just think, that`s surprising me about him. He started off saying yep, this is going to increase taxes. We are going to require income tax increase, we`re going to require withholding tax increase and all of a sudden, the candor is gone.

And so, I think Bernie Sanders is a decent, honorable man and I think we should be focusing on our substantive differences in an honest way. For example, his attack on me on social security, it`s just flat wrong.

(Inaudible) in fact pointed out, it`s just not true. I don`t do things like that. I`m not going to do things like that. And I think it`s important. That only helps elect Donald Trump. It doesn`t help elect anybody on the democratic side.

O`DONNELL: Mr. Vice President, we`re out of time because of your schedule and we will shake hands. I hope maybe next time.

BIDEN: I hope so too. I hope so.

O`DONNELL: Thank you.

BIDEN: Thanks for having me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: And up next, tomorrow is our second Super Tuesday with six states voting this time including Michigan which saved Bernie Sanders campaign, four years ago when he pulled off a come from behind big win in Michigan. Polling has Bernie Sanders behind once again in Michigan just like it did four years ago.

Will Michigan give Bernie Sanders, the big win that he needs one more time? That`s next with John Holliman and Yamiche Alcindor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL: Michigan is to Bernie Sanders as South Carolina was to Joe Biden. Michigan is Bernie Sanders` fire wall. Everything is on the line tomorrow night for Bernie Sanders in Michigan. That is where Bernie Sanders won a key upset victory against Hillary Clinton, four years ago, defying the polls in Michigan and keeping his campaign in contention for that democratic nomination.

He has to do that tomorrow on our second Super Tuesday when six states will be voting with Michigan delivering the largest number of delegates. Like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden has Mississippi locked up. Joe Biden has a significant lead over Bernie Sanders in Michigan according to the latest polls.

But four years ago, Hillary Clinton had a 25 point lead on Bernie Sanders in Michigan the weekend before the voting and Bernie Sanders still pulled out a victory. Bernie Sanders campaigned today in Michigan and Missouri which also votes tomorrow.

Here`s some of what Bernie Sanders had to say in Missouri.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you want to defeat Trump, which all Democrats do, a majority of independents, some Republicans do, we are - that campaign, we`ve got our transform this country so that we have an economy that works for you and you and you, not just wealthy campaign contributors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: Joe Biden`s last word to Michigan voters was tonight at a rally in Detroit where Kamala Harris and Cory Booker made their first appearances on the campaign trail after endorsing Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): He is the best one to stand up for all of us in America. And that person is one person. That person`s name is Joe Biden.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): What we know is that we will nor be overlooked and we will not be canceled. So that`s what this election is about. It`s about saying we know we matter. We know the power`s with the people.

Yes, we have not achieved the ideals of our country yet we all know that too. But we know that if we stop fighting, we will never get there and so we fight. That is the strength of we are as a nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: Joining our discussion now Yamiche Alcindor, White House correspondent for the PBS Newshour and an MSNBC political analyst and John Heilemann, national affairs analyst for NBC news and MSNBC.

He is also the co-host of Showtimes` `The Circus` and Editor in Chief of `The Recount.` Great episode of `The Circus` last night John. Yamiche, I want to start with you. We see Cory Booker, Kamala Harris on their very first campaign trail appearance with Joe Biden and it`s in Detroit, night before Michigan votes.

Does it look like Joe Biden can hold on to the lead the polls say he has there but why were those polls wrong four years ago?

YAMICHE ALCINDOR, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT FOR THE PBS NEWSHOUR & MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Michigan really could either be Bernie Sanders` undoing or it could be the boost that he badly needs. I remember, four years ago, breaking the news to Bernie Sanders on the phone in an interview when he won Michigan. I was a reporter for The New York Times and I said well, what do you think about winning Michigan?

And he was stunned, he was excited because he knew he really needed that lead and he quickly turned into talking about the fact that Michigan was really the heart of where the trade wars had hurt Americans and that TPP and all these trade deals that Obama administration did, that it really hurt people`s lives.

And Bernie Sanders and his bench is essentially singing that same song. He`s talking about the fact that Joe Biden was part of this administration that hurt working class people in Michigan but there`s no coincidence that Joe Biden decided to roll out two of the most powerfully - powerful black voices in America to Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, two black senators to say look, we`re not the establishment.

And he said that to you tonight of course. Lawrence, he said, the establishment is not some - some people in a back room. It`s black voters in particular who boosted me in the South, who are the reason why I have this lead with Bernie Sanders.

And I think that that was a message, both to Bernie Sanders and to the people in Detroit to say, show up for me, I need you to turn out and if they turn up then Joe Biden will hold on to that lead. If they don`t, then Bernie Sanders might have this.

O`DONNELL: John, in the shot we just saw, in addition the Governor of Michigan was on the stage with Joe Biden. He was actually leaving the interview with me to rush over to meet the Governor of Michigan this morning.

So Bernie Sanders, great day in Michigan, campaigning yesterday which I saw up close in Michigan, followed by Joe Biden, coming into the state and closing big in Detroit tonight.

JOHN HEILEMANN, NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST FOR NBC NEWS & MSNBC: Yes, I mean look, here`s the reality that four years ago, Hillary Clinton came out of Super Tuesday with a 210 pledge delegate lead and the race went to Michigan where Bernie Sanders won a huge surprise shocking upset victory.

But he won it really narrowly and the reality was although it gave him life and he fought on for the next three months. His victory, narrow victory of Michigan did nothing for him to make him close for being the nominee.

O`DONNELL: Because of the delegate count.

HEILEMANN: Because of the delegate - you got proportional allocation. You win a race in a squeaker. Both candidates walk away with basically the same number of delegates, maybe you get a couple more. So you can close the gap.

Tomorrow night, Bernie Sanders desperately needs to win Michigan but if he wins Michigan, he`s behind in the polls right now. If he wins by a couple of percentage points, doesn`t solve his problem. His problem is he`s 75-80 delegates behind Joe Biden right now and on the same night that Bernie Sanders managed to pull off another upset in Michigan, Joe Biden is going to crush Bernie Sanders in Mississippi.

If African-American turnout turns out to be a Mississippi the way it was in Alabama, the way it was in all the African-American heavy states on Super Tuesday and that`s 31 delegate that Joe Biden might win pretty much all of.

That`s a 30 net delegate win for Joe Biden in Mississippi. At this point in the race, landslides are what matters. You need them. If you`re behind and if you have and if you get them when you`re ahead, you`re just making your lead more insurmountable and so Joe Biden looks Mississippi which Bernie Sanders abandoned a few days ago.

And part of what you heard Kamala Harris saying there in that event was expressing the anger of lot of African-Americans who feel like Bernie Sanders is not performed well with them in 2016.

He`s not performed well with them in 2020 and now to walk away from the state of Mississippi is both met a - sending a terrible message to African- Americans in the party and also giving Joe Biden, the landslide that`s going to make it harder for Bernie Sanders to ever catch up in this race.

O`DONNELL: Yamiche, I`d like to get your reaction to the part of the interview I was talking to Joe Biden about that gut punch that a lot of women talked about last week when finally the last woman with a chance in the race dropped out, Elizabeth Warren.

And then the discussion of the possible vice presidential choice that he might get to make and he pretty much - he came as close as he could to saying, he was going to choose someone who at some point was on that debate stage with him already.

He kind of went along with that concept of the choice while saying it`s important that women be represented. It felt like we were getting close to his thinking on this.

ALCINDOR: That`s right and I think - I thought about a lot of voters who told me that they were supporting Joe Biden, especially in South Carolina because they wanted someone who`s palable, they sought to suburban women, to people who they thought voted for President Trump and then voted for Obama.

And if they could in some ways convince the white voters to maybe do go with them, if they went with Joe Biden but then they always were hoping those same voters that he would then go on and pick a woman of color, specifically a black woman to be his VP.

And if you listened really closely, the person he was describing sounded a lot like Kamala here. I`m not saying that he`s going to pick her but it sounded a lot like her, someone who is a black woman, who`s been on the national debate stage.

Then you have her talking for him in you know being a surrogate in Detroit. It just sounded like it was like a clearly this is Sen. Harris but who knows.

O`DONNELL: I got as close as I could with that. John Heilemann, Yamiche Alcindor, thank you both for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it.

Well, the stock market is crashing. The economy could be headed for recession. Donald Trump says that`s all fake news. Those are the words he used for it, fake news but he also says we need payroll tax cuts to help a workforce facing the coronavirus and to prevent the economy from slipping into recession, even though he still says the economy is perfect.

President Obama`s former economic adviser Austan Goolsbee will tell us the hard truths that President Trump`s economic advisers might not be telling him. That`s next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL: Are you on the verge of losing your life savings or your job? Here`s one answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a great economy. We`re a very strong economy but this came, this blindsided the world and I think we`ve handled it very, very well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: That was the President after the stock market collapsed again today, at the White House press briefing on coronavirus, where the President made very brief remarks before in effect fleeing the briefing room while Vice President Pence and others took a few questions.

Earlier in the day, the President blamed the sinking stock market on a "fake news" but the news about coronavirus is very real and it is not going to get better quickly which is why the Trump administration is now proposing emergency legislation to try to head off a recession.

Before leaving the briefing tonight, Donald Trump identified one proposal to counter the economic effects of the coronavirus crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I`m going to be meeting with House Republicans, Mitch McConnell, everybody and discussing a possible payroll tax cut or relief, substantial relief, very substantial relief, that`s a big - that`s a big number.

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O`DONNELL: Joining our discussion now is Austan Goolsbee, former Chair of the Council of Economic advisers for President Obama. He`s now a professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. Professor Goolse, your reaction to what the market is doing, what the - what the economy looks like six months from now, if we can tell and the President`s latest idea of a payroll tax cut.

AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, FORMER CHAIRMAN, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, look, the market was borderline in terror. You know it started, we had one of the worst weeks in many years and then the flight to safety as the - as the finance people call it of people go buying up treasury bonds because they think that the safest asset in the world, literally brought the interest rate to the lowest it`s ever been.

So a lower than in a financial crisis, lower than ever and - and you saw today, the market drops, people are nervous. They look at China. They look at Italy. They see that there is severe - there is severe slowdowns in places where they have to impose these quarantines.

And we`re on the brink of what may be the biggest pandemic in over a century and it`s clear the White House has no idea what`s going on. They`re not - they`re not testing. We had the President of the United States himself get up a few days ago and say we have only 14 cases and pretty soon that will be down to zero.

And public health officials in the United States and around the world just kind of looked at each other and said, oh my God, is there not a plan to try to slow the spread of this virus?

Because that is the critical thing for helping the economy. The reason that people getting a payroll tax cut is probably not the right answer is because a, a bunch of people are going to lose their jobs so they don`t pay payroll tax.

A bunch of people are retired so they don`t pay any payroll tax but even if you give the people in it, a payroll tax cut, they`re not going out of their house because they`re afraid to go to public places and a large share of the U.S. economy are services and the face to face kind of activities that are exactly what get hammered in this kind of a fear crisis.

And so I don`t really see that the payroll tax is the obvious first step on that.

O`DONNELL: Is there a first step to take here to deal with what the economic conditions you foresee and any - and what the stock market`s doing?

GOOLSBEE: Yes look, I think there are several first steps. The - and the backdrop to the first steps are we have to hope that this corona virus follows the pattern of a flu virus, not an Ebola virus, which is to say is that if we get to warmer weather and in the summer, that we might have some kind of a respite and that the infection rates might go down.

So the - the first thing is, you don`t want to have people having to go bankrupt and - and you don`t want to have to have them go to work when they`re sick so I think paid leave is that absolute first step, that we ought to be getting everybody paid leave and the thing about virus economics as I say, that makes it different than regular is that with virus economics, the best thing you could do for the economy is - has nothing to do with the economy. It`s to slow the spread of the virus.

O`DONNELL: Austan Goolsbee, thank you very much for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it.

That is tonight`s LAST WORD. "THE 11TH HOUR" with Brian Williams starts now.

 

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