Jeremie at 11 o'clock last night I saw you offering an articulate Harvard Law version of the flaw and the president's take on his authority it's been about I don't know ten more hours and the governors are pushing back aggressively they form these regional coalition's and it seems that the president has eliminated himself as even a factor where do you see this outrageous allegation and the response today from the nation's governors well first just as a basic government 101 the government can ban a particular activity they can close a particular private sector activity they can't require a business to open they can't say to a restaurant owner you must serve your full menu there's no way practically for the federal government to dictate that the private sector opens that's my one second just as a matter of federalism as a matter of basic constitutional law got Donald Trump up there saying I take no responsibility yet I have total absolute authority it's basically what you expect a child king to say no responsibility total absolute authority and of course under our Constitution nichole we don't have Kings we don't have monarchs we dispense with that in the Revolutionary War and through all of our jurisprudence all of our constitutional history the Supreme Court has said over and over again the president's power is not limitless it's high with respect to national security but we're not talking about national security here we're talking about a form of economic security and health security and that domain this is not the president's soul hall you know Jeremy back she seemed to suggest to a reporter that he would have papers drawn up on that so I think that's how that exchange ended basically backing up his legal argument there is a history of Donald Trump seeking legal justification for the things he wants to do whether it's firing Muller something he asked his White House Counsel to do whether it's firing Jeff Sessions something he wanted to do and ultimately did the day after the midterms whether it's the rapid replacement of cabinet secretaries who displease him who aren't sufficiently loyal or get bad press chiefs of staff I think he's on his fourth or fifth who brought in a great propaganda artist in her own right Kaylie mcenany I mean what do you make of the peril that we face as a country that the kinds of people around Donald Trump will try to make his statement sort of true is that a lone dangerous well Nicole I can't recall hearing from some people who served with Donald Trump or with him in the Oval Office in the early months of his presidency I would say the first two years and they said and this really shocked them to their core they said that he directed them to pursue policies that violated federal law and when they told him sir you can't do this we can't do this he said do it anyway and as a result you saw cabinet secretaries and I won't name names though of course we could specific cabinet secretaries senior administration officials swept aside pushed out fired fired by tweet and fundamentally what was going on there was he was being told no you can't do this under the law and he said do it anyway you know Jonathan lumière this seems to be where this scandal has arrived I mean thousands of people have died thousands more are expected to lose their lives and Donald Trump is debating what the definition of absolute authority is in a briefing room with a maniacal focus on the press you see reporters like Ashley Parker like yourself or the best on the beat talking about imagined enemies I mean there is a layer in all of your reporting about the president's grasp on reality maybe not being a hundred percent think about the millions of Americans Nicole who tuned into that briefing yesterday looking for reassurance looking for information looking for updates Americans who are who are who have lost their jobs Americans who have lost a loved one those who are panicked and mourning and instead none of that was offered for at least 35 or 40 minutes or more in that briefing instead it was an airing of the president's grievances it was a screed against the press it was a lot of defensive pushing back against a number of stories over the last few days New York Times Washington Post I contributed to one of the Associated Press that outlined all the steps and warning signs that they missed his administration missed or ignored in January and February and the president of course doesn't take too kindly to that sort of criticism and it was capped off with that taxpayer-funded video made in the White House attacking members of the media because that was where the president's focus wasn't sure he sometimes scores points with the base when he goes after the press sure attacking the media's credibility maybe softens a bad headline that's gonna land down the road but that is of course not where the president's focus should be and we are seeing now with this split with the governor's we're also seeing as much as he claims total authority to this point he has put the onus on the state houses to handle this crisis to have come up with medical equipment to come up with masks to come up with ventilators to come up with tests and and that is up until now we see him refusing to accept any responsibility and only blame others and he's gone from scapegoat to scapegoat to scapegoat the AP also has an interview with Anthony Fauci and I think it's the first time I've seen him acknowledged publicly that essentially spending two hours plus whatever travel to the White House and prep time for those coronavirus daily briefings goes on there is not the best use of his time talk about that you're absolutely right Nicole my colleagues at The Associated Press sat down with dr.
Fauci earlier today and he said a few things that were very revealing first the point you just made that he finds these group these briefings grueling he certainly knows it's part of his job to deliver facts to the American people he wants to continue doing that he's not suggesting his alone to be part of it but these briefings have started to go hour and a half two hours two and a half hours and it is grueling sometimes he stands for them sometimes he sits but this is a man whose time he says could be used in a much better fashion he should be working he should be working on safety measures to try to try to protect the American public and instead he's made to sit there through these presidential diatribes we saw him yesterday in a cadence that sort of resembled a hostage video try to clarify his comments over the weekend where he was clearly trying to make good with the president and not face his his wrath for suggesting that some of these measures should have been put into place sooner and the other thing dr.
Crouch you said and this is particularly important because we anticipate that the White House today will announce the formation of a new council meant to look into restarting the nation's economy which the president wants to be done ASAP dr.
foutch II don't asked about the target date of May first said in his estimation that was far far too early and rather premature hey there I'm Chris Hayes from MSNBC thanks for watching MSNBC on YouTube if you want to keep up to date with the videos we're putting out you can click subscribe just below me or click over on this list to see lots of other great videos.
