THROUGH THE REST OF THE TOP STORIES.
I WILL START WITH YOU WITH NEWS FROM CAPITOL HILL.
A DEAL BREAKING LESS THAN AN HOUR AGO WHEN THE GOVERNMENT
FROM SHUTTING DOWN ON FRIDAY. IT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SPEAKER
VOWED NOT TO DO, CONTINUING RESOLUTIONS.
THIS WILL KICK THE CAN FOR TWO WEEKS BUT IT DOES COME WITH AN
AGREEMENT TO ACTUALLY GET SOME SPENDING BILLS PASSED?
>> SIX OF THE SPENDING BILLS
AND SOME OF THE LESSER OF THE CONTROVERSIAL ONES, THE DEFENSE
DEPARTMENT IS NOT IN THERE, BUT WE ARE ACTUALLY HEARING NOW
THAT IT IS IN THERE, THE COMMERCE JUSTICE SCIENCE BILL
WILL BE INCLUDED. IT IS ESSENTIALLY A FULL YEAR
SPENDING BILL BUT IT TAKES TIME TO GET THOSE THROUGH BOTH
CHAMBERS. THEY ARE SAYING IS WE ARE GOING
TO PUT THIS BAND-AID OUT THERE TO KEEP THE GOVERNMENT OPEN AND
KEEP THE AGENCIES THAT WOULD HAVE SHUT DOWN ON SATURDAY OPEN
WHILE WE DELIBERATE THE STEEL. -- THIS DEAL.
THIS IS A POSITIVE SIGN, STILL TO BE DEBATED ARE THE OTHER
AGENCIES THAT WOULD NOW SHUTDOWN ON MARCH 22ND. KAILEY:
WHAT IS REMARKABLE IS IF THIS IS ONLY KICKING THE CAN DOWN
THE ROAD, ANOTHER ADDITIONAL WEEK FOR THE FIRST BATCH OF
BILLS, MIKE JOHNSON SAID HE DIDN'T WANT TO DO MORE CR'S.
THE MAJORITY WHIP TOLD US THERE WILL NOT BE ANOTHER CR THAT
PASSES WITH THE SUPPORT OF THIS REPUBLICAN CONFERENCE.
CAN MIKE JOHNSON GET THIS ACROSS THE LINE?
>> IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO WATCH HOW THIS HAPPENS.
HE HAS TO VIOLATE WHAT IS CALLED THE 72 HOUR RULE.
THAT THEY SIT ON A PIECE OF LEGISLATION TO GIVE EVERYONE
THE OPPORTUNITY TO READ IT. NOBODY ACTUALLY READS THE
LEGISLATION, BUT IT ALLOWS PEOPLE POLICE TIME TO MAKE
AMENDMENTS AND HAVE QUESTIONS. RIGHT OFF OF THE BAT HE IS
ALREADY GOING TO DRAW SOME OPPOSITION FROM MEMBERS OF HIS
CAUCUS. IT WILL NEED SOME DEMOCRATIC
SUPPORT TO GET THROUGH. WHERE IT GETS TRICKIER ON THE
PROCEDURAL VOTES, THE BOATS TO BRING IT TO THE FLOOR AND HOW
HE HANDLES THAT WILL BE KEY. WHETHER THEY BRING IT TO THE
FLOOR UNDER REGULAR ORDER OR THEY BRING IT TO THE FLOOR
EXPEDITIOUSLY, SOMETHING THAT WOULD REQUIRE A 2/3RDS MAJORITY.
KAILEY: THANK YOU FOR JOINING US THIS
EVENING. IT HAS BEEN A FUN DAY NOT JUST
BECAUSE OF THE PROGRESS ON FUNDING, BUT BECAUSE OF ANOTHER
MAJOR STORY IN CONGRESS TODAY. MITCH MCCONNELL ANNOUNCING
PLANS TO STEP DOWN AS HIS PARTY'S LEADER AFTER THE
NOVEMBER ELECTION . HE SPOKE ON THE SENATE FLOOR
EARLIER.
>> ONE OF LIFE'S MOST UNAPPRECIATED TALENT IS TO KNOW
WHEN TO MOVE ON TO LIFE'S NEXT CHAPTER.
I STAND BEFORE YOU TODAY MR. PRESIDENT AND MY COLLEAGUES TO
SAY THIS WILL BE MY LAST TERM AS REPUBLICAN LEADER OF THE
SENATE. KAILEY:
JOINING US NOW FOR MORE, OUR GUEST HAS A NEW OPINION COLUMN
ON THE TERMINAL TITLED MCCONNELL HAS NO PLACE IN
TRUMP'S PARTY.
MITCH MCCONNELL SAW THE W RTITING ON THE WALL AND THAT IS
A REFLECTION OF.
>> MAINLY, HE SAID IT VERY SAD AND HE SOUNDED WAS FULL AND HE
SOUNDED LIKE AN ELDERLY MAN AND TALKED ABOUT HOW OLD HE IS AND
THAT IS PART OF IT. HE HAS HAD SOME BOUTS WITH
ILLNESS AS WELL OVER THE LAST YEAR. IT IS ALSO THAT YOU CANNOT
IMAGINE THAT DONALD TRUMP WOULD HAVE MITCH MCCONNELL TO BE THE
HEAD OF THE SENATE. REPUBLICAN CAUCUS WHERE HE
WOULD BE REELECTED. I THINK HE IS BOWING TO THAT
REALITY. THIS IS A PARTY THAT IS NOT THE
PARTY HE JOINT WHICH WAS ALL ABOUT REAGAN AND REAGANISM AND
A BOLD FOREIGN POLICY AND WHAT SOME MIGHT CALL AN INTERVENTION
LIST APPROACH TO FOREIGN POLICY. IT IS A DIFFERENT PARTY NOW.
I THINK HE IS RECOGNIZING THAT AND LEAVING NOW AND RECOGNIZING
THAT AS MATT GAETZ SAID, HE TWEETED ABOUT THIS.
THIS WILL BE A DIFFERENT REPUBLICAN PARTY AND MATT GAETZ
SAID LISTEN, WE HAVE OUSTED MITCH MCCONNELL AND WE HAVE
OUSTED MCCARTHY AND WE HAVE OUSTED RONNA MCDANIEL WHO IS
THE RNC. THIS IS A DIFFERENT TIME. JOE:
HE SAID HE WILL CONTINUE SERVING KENTUCKY IN A DIFFERENT
SEAT. LIKE NANCY PELOSI.
WHAT COMPELS THESE VETERAN LAWMAKERS TO STAY AROUND AND
WAIT IN LINE IN THE CAFETERIA?
>> THESE PEOPLE HAVE HUGE STAFF AND IT IS PRESTIGIOUS AND THEY
HAVE ARE ENTOURAGE. THE TRAPPINGS OF POWER, IT IS
HARD TO GIVE UP. I THINK LISTENING TO MITCH
MCCONNELL TODAY, IT IS HARD TO IMAGINE THAT THIS IS A MAN THAT
WILL STAY AROUND TILL THE END OF HIS TERM.
HE IS NOT GOING TO RUN FOR REELECTION.
THAT IS WHAT HE SAID TODAY, THE SPEAKER EMERITUS IS HANGING
AROUND. IT IS TIME FOR A NEW GENERATION
AND THAT IS WHAT MITCH MCCONNELL SAID AND IT IS A
DIFFERENT REPUBLICAN PARTY. KAILEY:
WHERE THAT IN MIND WE TALK ABOUT THE THREE JOHNS, THE WHIP
FOR THE REPUBLICANS IN THE SENATE, WOULD THEY BE
REFLECTIVE OF THE NEW REPUBLICAN PARTY IF THEY WERE
TO BE LEADER? WILLOW BAY LIKE RICK SCOTT WHO
THE HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS HAS?
>> WE HAVE TO SEE WHAT DONALD TRUMP THINKS.
ONE OF THE THINGS YOU HAVE SEEN AMONG REPUBLICANS IS THAT THEY
FALL IN LINE WITH DONALD SCOTT. THEY DO NOT START OFF AS THE
MAGA WING BUT THEY MOLDED THEMSELVES TO STAY RELEVANT.
LINDSEY GRAHAM COMES TO MIND, HE IS TO BE BFF WITH JOHN
MCCAIN AND NOW HE IS BFF WITH DONALD TRUMP, DIAMETRICALLY
OPPOSED IDEA OF HOW AMERICA SHOULD BE AND HOW YOU SHOULD
BEHAVE IN LEADERSHIP. WE WILL SEE, DONALD TRUMP WILL
WEIGH IN AND HE HAS BEEN WAITING ON AN ENDORSEMENT FROM
MITCH MCCONNELL AND IN MANY WAYS HE DOES NOT NEED IT.
HE IS BARRELING HIS WAY TO THE NOMINATION BACK TO THE WHITE
HOUSE. JOE:
LOOKING FOR HER COLUMN AS WE SAID IS ONLINE AND ON THE
TERMINAL. ELSEWHERE, PRESIDENT BIDEN AND
DONALD TRUMP WON THEIR PRIMARIES IN MICHIGAN YESTERDAY
AND SOME SIGNS OF TURMOIL EMERGING FOR BOTH MEN.
JOINING US IS THE BIG QUESTION. HOW MANY UNCOMMITTED VOTES YOU
MIGHT GET TO DISCORD FROM ARAB AND MUSLIM AMERICAN VOTERS, A
BIG PART OF THE DEMOCRATIC POPULATION VOTING POPULATION IN
MICHIGAN, HE GOT 100,000 UNCOMMITTED VOTES AND IT BROKE
DOWN TO NOT THE BEST SCORE FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES. 81% FOR BIDEN, 13% UNCOMMITTED.
WHAT DO YOU TAKE FROM THAT?
>> YOU NEVER WANT TO LOSE VOTES TO A CANDIDATE WHO DOES NOT
HAVE A NAME AND THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED HERE.
MICHIGAN PRIMARY POLITICS, IT DOES ALLOW VOTERS IN EACH PARTY
TO VOTE FOR UNCOMMITTED WHICH MEANS THAT THEY WILL STILL SENT
DELEGATES TO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, BUT THOSE
DELEGATES WILL NOT BE HONOR BOUND TO VOTE FOR JOE BIDEN ON
THE BALLOT ALTHOUGH THE LIKELY WILL VOTE FOR JOE BIDEN IF HE
IS THE PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE. THIS IS A PROTEST VOTE AND WHAT
YOU SAW IN THE PRIMARY LAST NIGHT WAS MOSTLY COLLEGE TOWNS,
ANN ARBOR, EAST, KALAMAZOO, ELEVATED NUMBERS OF PEOPLE
VOTING FOR UNCOMMITTED AND THAT REFLECTS THE YOUTH VOTE AND
ALSO IN DEARBORN, THE SUBURB OF DETROIT WITH A LARGE
ARAB-AMERICAN AND MUSLIM AMERICAN POPULATION, A LOT OF
ANXIETY AND FRUSTRATION ABOUT THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION
TOWARDS ISRAEL AND GAZA. THAT IS REFLECTED IN THAT BOAT.
KAILEY: ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PARTY,
THE OTHER PARTY IF YOU WILL, DONALD TRUMP GOT 70%, 30% OF
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY VOTERS WITH THE KNOWLEDGE THAT HE LIKELY IS
GOING TO BE THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE CHOSE NOT TO VOTE FOR
HIM, VOTING FOR NIKKI HALEY. TO THE TUNE OF 28%.
ESPECIALLY IN LIGHT OF THE BREAKING NEWS WE RECEIVED THAT
THE SUPREME COURT IS NOT GOING TO BE WEIGHING THE IMMUNITY
QUESTION AND WHETHER OR NOT HE CAN BE PROSECUTED IN
WASHINGTON, GO TO TRIAL AT SOME POINT BEFORE THE ELECTION.
HIS TRIAL IN NEW YORK AT THE END OF MARCH.
HOW WILL THAT FACTOR IN AS HE MOVES FORWARD TO WHAT LOOKED
LIKE A HIGHLY LIKELY ELECTION -- GENERAL ELECTION
CONTEST?
>> EVERYTHING WE ARE SEEING IN THE POLLS SHOWS THAT THEY STAND
BEHIND HIM ON ALL OF THE LEGAL ISSUES.
THERE IS NOTHING THAT WOULD SUGGEST THAT WOULD CHANGE GOING
FORWARD. HE SEEMS TO BE GAINING STEAM.
WE DID SEE IN MICHIGAN LAST NIGHT, 26% OF REPUBLICANS
COMPARE THAT AGAINST THE 13% OF DEMOCRATS WE JUST TALKED ABOUT
WHO VOTED UNCOMMITTED. 26% OF REPUBLICANS VOTED FOR
NIKKI HALEY. SHE IS OVER PERFORMING IN EVERY
STATE THAT SHE HAS BEEN IN SO FAR.
SHE IS GETTING INCREMENTALLY MORE DELEGATES, NOT ENOUGH TO
WIN THE NOMINATION BUT TO SHOW THAT THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT
PERCENTAGE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WHO IS LOOKING FOR AN
ALTERNATIVE TO BOTH DONALD TRUMP AND BIDEN.