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so he's going to have to come up with some cash and he's Donald Trump apparently is coming up with some creative ways to do so one day after finding out he was on the hook for more than $350 million the former president unveiled a new Trump themed product to a less than receptive crowd that's the real deal that's the real deal I just want to thank you very much for being here it's an honor it's an honor you're all sneaker heads your sneaker heads right wow lot of emotion there's a lot of emotion

in this room thank you thank you first of all let's know that's the first time Trump has faced a hostile audience in a long time and it was clear he didn't quite know what to do with those little disappointed you're not wearing them John I was sort of hoping you'd reason why the camera is only from the waist up here no no Footwear reveals uh this morning but that was Trump at Sneaker Con for some reason which was held in Philadelphia over the weekend and he did roll out a new line of shoes sell

ing for a cool $399 a pair Trump also announced a new fragrance line priced at $99 a bottle where each sent symbolizes quote victory and strength we'll leave you to decide what that actually smells like let's mail in voting is totally corrupt get that through your head it has to be the votes I mean it has to be you must vote you must go and vote remember the primary is Tuesday February 27th we need you to get out and vote to set the stage for November go vote November [Applause] 27 so that's Don

ald Trump continuing his yearslong campaign against early and mailin voting Saturday night during his rally in Michigan many his fellow Republicans wish he would stop doing that he went so well from yeah and then then that's so we caught it he mixed up the primary date in that state telling his voters telling his supporters to vote on both February 27th and November 27th if they wait for that latter date probably won't help his cause another legal matter we saw it play out in fton County at the

end of last week um the district attorney there fonnie Willis giving pretty impassion defense on Thursday uh and then the state decid not to call her she did not appear on the stand again on Friday what's your read as to how how that went in the end of at the end of on Friday and where things could go next in that case yeah so through a couple of different prisms uh Jonathan uh legally the defendants have to show that there was some um improper Financial Arrangement that that that makes out of c

onflict of interest if the defendants can show a conflict of interest a financial one by Miss Willis hiring Mr Wade uh when they had a romantic relationship and that she somehow benefited from the money that was being paid to him that could be a conflict they could be disqualified from the case that's the legal part and I don't think the defendants have succeeded yet I mean it's messy it's ugly if you've watched any of it you probably have sort of that icky feeling uh when you uh when you see it

but I don't know that they've made out the disqualification grounds yet politically it's a mess because there's a bunch of things that happened uh at the hearing that showed sort of U it it got into personal relationships uh between uh Miss Willis and Mr Wade there was some contention about when that relationship started there was a witness who might have been very important on that fact but he didn't testify fully because Mr Wade was invoking a privilege to preclude him from doing that briefly

does any of that really matter for the substance of the of the Georgia case though maybe so if the if the Romantic relationship between Mr Wade and M will began before he was hired by her in Fon County then the affidavit that he submitted might be false and not only did would that uh affidavit be false caddy Miss Willis propounded that affidavit provided that affidavit to the court in support of her contention that the relationship started subsequently by the way at any point and I was a prosec

utor for a long time if a supervisor is having relationship with a subordinate regardless of when it starts that's reason for the subordinate or the supervisor to step away from the case so in some ways to me it doesn't really matter when it started but if it started before she hired him you might have false affidavits in this case and that if I may caddy raises a separate Point even if the defendants fail to show an actual conflict of interest and they may may very well fail an appearance of a

conflict of an interest is also a problem and as prosecutors you have to be sensitive to the appearance so even if the legal motion fails and the judge doesn't disqualify M Willis or Mr Wade from the case you still have an appearance and that's messy it certainly all means that we're talking about this rather than the substance of the Georgia case as well at the moment though on this President's Day you have a new piece in the New York Times that's looking at a new survey ranking US presidents y

ou right in part this President Biden has not had a lot of fun cruising polls lately he has a lower approval writing than every president going back to Dwight D Eisenhower at this stage of their ten years and he Trails former president Donald J Trump in a fall rematch but Mr B Mr Biden can take solace from one survey in which he is way out in front of Mr Trump a new poll of historians ranks Mr Biden as the 14th best president in American history just ahead of wooder Wilson Ronald Reagan and ulys

is srant while that may not give Mr Biden a spot on Mount Rushmore it certainly puts him well ahead of Mr Trump who places dead last as the worst president ever and in the six o' hour I made a gratuitous mention of Chester Arthur this is where I will ask you this is where I call supporters call you yeah I'm still waiting by the phone um I hope you'll mention Franklin Pierce at some point and you're mentioned here another overlooked president um but tell us about this ranking here and why histori

ans ranked I mean 14th that's pretty good what were the reasons yeah by the way I can make a good case for Chester Arthur I think he's underrated um look that'll be in our 10 o' hour every president is appealing to two constituencies one of course is the American public because you don't get to be president unless you get their support but the other is history every single president of course has his eye and eventually her eye on where they are in history and what Mark they're going to leave thi

s President of course saw himself at one point as another FDR we could argue about that but he wanted to make his Mark and they and so to have this poll I think is a little bit gratifying now can you genuinely measure an incumbent president's place in history when he's not even done of course not his place history will depend in part on whether he wins this fall or not if he loses this fall and and ushers Donald Trump back into the presidency that will definitely affect his story's view of his o

f his presidency but in any case what it says is that they are respecting him for having ousted Trump in the first place and trying to restore the presidency and the country to a certain degree of normaly uh and it also says something about Donald Trump of course is that he's dead last they do not consider him even they consider even worse than James Buchanan Franklin Pierce uh and the other sort of 19th century U you know failures who got us into the Civil War and mismanaged it afterwards John

meum just called the control room and Lobby for Jes K pulk to be in the top 10 we should know for the record the top five in order Lincoln FDR Washington Teddy Roosevelt uh Thomas Jefferson and catd a final note I recall there was one of these surve a few years ago when it came out also had Trump last and the uh descendants of James Buchanan who traditionally is ranked last were thrilled and gave interviews saying finally we're not bringing up the rear Franklin Pierce is a direct antecedent of b

arara bush yes that's true that exactly right trivia I've been to the Franklin Pierce Homestead in New Hampshire I will admit that in the safety of this I went to his grave there yeah I I I have I got you matched this a very geeky group here let's go from history I'm running against him because I don't think he should be the right I don't think he's the right person at the right time I don't think he should be president the last thing on my mind is who I'm going to support the only thing on my m

ind is how we're going to win this the only thing on my mind is how we're going to make sure that we correct what's happening in America and we bring this country back together allow her to heal and move on in a strong way I'm not thinking about who I'm going to support in an election but but you've already said it we are going to have a we are going to have have a female president of the United States it will either be me or it will be KLA Harris and if Donald Trump is the nominee of the in for

the Republican Party he will not win every poll shows that he will not win and we will have a president KLA Harris I'm not going to allow that to happen I'm not stopping I'm not going anywhere we're going to do this for the Long Haul and we're going to finish it does that mean you will not support him if he's the Republican nominee that means I'm going to run and I'm going to win and y'all can talk about support later right now you can ask him if he's going to support me when I'm the nominee Re

publican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaking with ABC News yesterday declining to say this time whether she'll still plans to support Donald Trump if he eventually becomes the GOP nominee for president we should know a very important week for Haley South Carolina primary looms since her home state poll suggest she's going to lose and lose badly she certainly has the money to stay in beyond that and she said she would Michigan super Tuesday and Beyond uh we shall see uh and on this Presid

ent's Day many say that American democracy is facing its biggest test since Lincoln led the country through the Civil War and joining us now award-winning historian and best-selling author Alan C gzo his new book is titled our ancient Faith Lincoln democracy and the American experiment and Allan congratulations on the book and let's let's start right there with that with that premise that this nation right now is facing its greatest test since the Civil War what can we learn from Lincoln as we f

ace it well I think there is a sense in the atmosphere of almost palpable anxiety about democracy Democracy in America democracy around the world I I I can remember back in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down and then two years later the Soviet Union implodes we thought democracy was the coming thing we talked about it as being the end of history and then over the last 30 some years we have seen that fail we've seen an authoritarian regime take hold of Russia we see one of the world's biggest ec

onomies if not the biggest economy in the hands of a totalitarian system and people wonder are are we really seeing the bankruptcy of democracy that's a question we ask ourselves today what I want to do in our ancient faith is to talk about Lincoln and democracy because over and over again when people confront this question about democracy we look we look back we look back especially to the figure of Lincoln because he was the president of the United States at this time of of terrible terrible c

risis when when the whole American experiment looked like it was about to go up quite literally in Smoke and the phrase itself tells you a good deal our ancient Faith uh he he uses those words in 1854 in a great speech he gives in poror Illinois and he speaks of our ancient Faith being democracy that we should embrace democracy almost with the same kind of fervor that religious devotees would Embrace a religion and then what what are the components of this and he actually goes on in that speech

to talk about what he thinks is the Bedrock of democracy which is the consent of the Govern he says that's that is the sheet anchor of this American experiment in in democracy this American Republic now for him what especially that that meant was the opposite of slavery but when you start with consent of the government then from that you draw a number of really important points and yet Allan you write in the book that he wasn't without occasionally his own authoritarian Tendencies he shut down n

ewspapers in New York he would imprison people just on suspicion of of opposition to him or treat reasoners talk against him and you WR that he you think that if it came to uh if he were if he were alive today in 2024 the person that he would endorse for the presidency is not Joe Biden but Donald Trump well two things there one is yes there were moments in Lincoln's presidency when he reaches for what today we might stigmatize as some very authoritarian Solutions And yet when you back off for a

moment look at them you begin to realize that a lot of these happened incidental to the business of waging a civil war Civil War it's a catastrophic Affair I think that when you look at at Lincoln in the long term the dents that he puts in that are comparatively minor ones and what's more when the Civil War is over we go right back to being what we were if if what he had done was really something that threatened subversion then I think that we would have required some got a magic powder to get o

ver it but then comes the question what about today and I almost everywhere I go today people are asking exactly that question who would Lincoln who would Lincoln endorse and I F first of all I think there's really what I have to say is I don't know I mean Lincoln's been dead for 158 years so I I can't consult him but the but the other thing is that's when you do history it's not the same thing as doing prophecy so I the answer you have to give is I don't know no I mean it's like asking if Linco

ln Lincoln would use an Uber what he probably say is what's an Uber uh so it it doesn't translate easily but something that does go along with that and perhaps sheds a little bit of light is that Lincoln was on the one hand was he was very much a party loyalist identification with a political party was extremely important for Lincoln and sometimes that meant over his career he endorsed people that he did not agree with uh but at the same time he also during the Civil War calls upon all Americans

he calls especially upon Democrats and Republicans in his day to take a step above party to wage what he called a better battle on behalf of American principles that I think is the Lincoln that we want want to hear today interesting I think that is certainly true the book is our ancient Faith Lincoln democracy and the American experiment Allan C gzo thank you so much for joining morning congrats again on the book Peter 2 last few moments Donald Trump has posted his first remarks on the death of

Alexi naly he wrote this on Truth social the sudden death of Alexi Nali has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our country it is a slow steady progression with crooked radical left politicians prosecutors and judges leading us down a path to destruction open borders rigged elections and grossly unfair courtroom decisions are destroying America we are our nation in Decline a failing Nation MAA 2024 cadd um Donald Trump has once again made everything about himself uh he these are

of course his complaints about the campaign his complaints about the legal system hitting the campaign issues he wants to talk about at the Border in that in that message there are no condolences offered to navali or his his family and certainly no criticism of Vladimir Putin yeah I mean that's build as a response to naal but it's actually not a response to n at all I mean there's one sentence about sudden death of Nali with no context given to it and then he's moved back to what he's been send

ing posts about all weekend which is the justice system and at the weekend he seemed to be saying interestingly that actually his assets were greater than they were well then presumably that means he can pay that fine that he's just been awarded in New York of $350 million um but no there's not a lot there in the way of condolence and definitely not any criticism of Vladimir Putin very different from what President Biden has said about the death of Nal yeah and even Nikki Haley uh his lone Ral s

till for the Republican nomination and on for 75 years NATO has been the most important military Alliance in the world it's been the Cornerstone of America's security it's how we won the Cold War and defeated the Soviet Union and the only time NATO has invoked the sacred commitment of Article 5 was to stand with America after 9/11 every president since Truman has been a rock solid supporter of NATO except for Donald Trump trump wants to walk away from NATO he's even given Putin and Russia the gr

een light to attack America's allies I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want no president has ever said anything like it it's shameful it's weak it's dangerous it's unamerican Joe Biden understands the commitment we have made to Nato is good for America and the world and he will honor it because that's what a strong American president president does President Biden's re-election campaign out with that new political advertisement criticizing Donald Trump for his Embrace of Russia

n President Vladimir Putin Biden himself has called Trump's words unamerican joining us now is the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs committee Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York he's just back from attending the Munich security conference that we've been speaking about all morning where he met with Ukrainian president zalinski President Biden pinning the death of Alexi nalni firmly on Vladimir Putin um Congressman but what what could America do now to help the cause of Alexi na

ly what's the most important thing what are the actions America could take the first actions that we can take is in the United States House of Representatives and pass the supplemental to help Ukraine defeat Russia uh that is the first thing that we can do that is something that is urgent and need it right now uh and I would think that the American people should rally and urge speaker Johnson soon as we get back the next week to put the bill on the floor the Senate bill that passed in a bipartis

an way and let's vote it out because it will show the unity of the United States and the rest of the of the democratic World against the actions of Vladimir Putin and what he has done to Mr naali so Congressman Meeks you uh in Munich had the opportunity to meet with Ukrainian president vadir zalinski showing that now tell us about his message to the American people but more narrowly to the American Congress who who do need to step up and send those weapons as we have chronically all morning it d

oes seem like Russia has the momentum in that war well there's no question that he was thankful to the Biden Administration and to members of Congress for what we've had done and he just talked about and was thanking uh us for that but he uh indicated uh of the victories that they have accomplished which people have not talked about you know Vladimir Putin thought he was able to wipe out Ukraine and take it over in two weeks we're now in two years and we were moving in the right direction and co

ntinued to move in the right direction but all we have to do is to give Ukraine the weapons that it needs to win so he showed even with the depletion that they're having now you know they're being outgunned because they don't have the ammunition but still they're taking out Russian tanks and Russian planes and if we would give them and pass this uh resolution pass this supplemental and give them what they need so that they can continue to take this fight to Vladimir Putin and the Russians they w

ill win they're already you know they're outm uh but they are winning you know almost 12 to one you know to every and every death is is is is is is is hard but for every one Ukrainian soldier that is lost 12 to 15 Russian soldiers are lost so it just shows that if they have what they need and I agree some of the long range missiles that now he needs to go in and to be able to attack uh in cria some of the where the weapons are being stored Etc that's being utilized to reach into uh Ukraine if he

had that that would help them in a mighty big way Congressman it's Ali Vitali I wonder if I can ask you for sort of a mood check from Munich because I know we often cover the chaos of Congress here but that travels overseas what were some of your conversations on the sidelines while you were in Munich how are other people in the global Community viewing the chaos of Congress right now well they're very concerned they're very concerned about American leadership uh and they are you know asking fo

r the first time for example uh they are following they want to know what is a motion to discharge and what would what other procedures could take place uh to help get the funding through they were asking and having very much concerns about uh Donald Trump returning to the white house uh and asking what are what are our plans and what did we think and how do we think the election was going to go there was concern about continued American leadership that they're looking the world is looking direc

tly at us and to see whether or not we stand and continue to leave or fall to the side their concern is that not only when you talk about what's taking place directly in Europe but they know that China is looking they know that North Korea is looking they know that Iran is looking and so these outside non-democratic led by dictators countries are looking to see what the Democratic countries led by the United States whether or not we will stand together and that was the overriding uh uh questions

uh on and on off the Record uh that was coming to us uh what will the United States do and will we continue to lead uh the Democratic countries of the world so Congressman Meeks of course the house is out for a couple weeks here as time is of the essence for Ukraine and also there's another deadline approaching that of a government shutdown scheduled for early March if a deal can't get reached by then uh and you'll only have a few days to do it give us a sense just three days in fact to get thi

s done uh Congressman tell us uh you what is your of concern about the government shutting down and can can speaker Johnson get a deal and still keep his job well look I know that uh leader Jeff has been talking been willing to work together and try to figure out how we can do something collectively and we need the Republicans to stand up you know uh even talking about this supplemental for example and most of the individuals that were there you know said that they would vote for it but you have

to get the bill on the floor put it on the floor you get members to vote for it same thing with you know making sure that we don't uh default on our on our debt or we don't default and we pass a budget get a bill that we can work on together and put it on the floor and let us vote on it so you know what you I anticipate happening right now because there not has not been the kind of work uh that should have been in and dealing with what the incoming and looming uh deal is concerned in regards to

our budget is another kick it down the road uh you know you do another uh continuation in that regards uh that may very well take place because the timing uh is uh is is so short because the house is not being ran properly I mean I just PL and simple you know we've got and what I think Americans are asking us to do is to work together Democrats and Republicans get together and talk we are ready on the Democratic side we've exhibited it uh time and time again whether you're talking about uh deal

ing with the Border issues the Republicans said they wanted to talk about that we we said we do that we put something together there was a deal that was done whether you're talking about the supplemental or whether you're talking about the budget we've agreed to certain things we've moved there supposed to be some compromise that's taking place the Republicans particularly the extreme Maga Republicans continue to just play games political games and I think that the United States the people of th

e United States and people around the world are watching and know that those games must stop congressman is so right whether it's Ukraine funding or whether it's shutting down the government or the or the debt sealing the world America's allies and its adversaries are watching what happens here on Capitol Hill ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs committee Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York thank you for joining us happy President's Day to you still the country meanwhile of

course in April the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case on whether a federal law can require doctors in Idaho a state with a near total abortion ban to perform emergency abortions when the health of the mother is at risk until then the abortion ban in Idaho remains in full effect it's the latest development in the state that has contributed to Growing confusion among doctors on how they can safely administer maternal care without the fear of some kind of criminal liability joining us now i

s Morning Joe reporter Daniela Pier Bravo Daniela tell us more about the impact of that abortion ban in home on what it's actually doing to Women's Healthcare in the state yeah good morning caddy the mostly rural state is already high on the list of maternal Health deserts in the country and in the last two years since row has been overturned the retention and recruitment of medical professionals has taken a major hit take a look Jennifer Atkins was expecting her second child when a 12we ultraso

und revealed severe complications in her pregnancy her doctor said her baby had Turner syndrome a rare condition that can often end in miscarriage they said it could take days to miscarry it could take weeks to miscarry and in the meantime your blood pressure could continue to deteriorate and and get higher and higher were all very concerned about um about the risk Jennifer and her family decided not to take that risk they traveled 400 miles from their home state of Idaho a state with a near tot

al abortion ban to Oregon in order to terminate her pregnancy now she's in the midst of a lawsuit with three other women against the state of Idaho arguing that despite facing severe pregnancy complications they were denied necessary and potentially life saving obstetric care the lawsuit which also includes two Physicians says the state's current abortion bans and its exceptions have sown confusion and fear among the medical community making it nearly impossible for doctors to provide care in th

e State I think that's really scary for providers Dr Lauren Coulson who represents a network of healthc Care Professionals in Idaho says a restrictions on abortion care are taking a toll on those who fear repercussions of the law we're all worried about that pregnant person showing up in the ER that um that is destabilizing in front of us and that we can't do anything about until that they are literally dying that worry among doctors is causing many to flee the state a new report by the Idaho ph

ysician well-being collaborative estimates that since August of 2022 Idaho has lost more than 20% of its Obstetricians Maternal Fetal Medicine Obstetricians who handle high-risk pregnancies have gone down by 55% there are less than five left in the state practicing full-time Rory Cole a fourthe medical student in Idaho is having difficulty deciding whether to choose a Residency program in the state saying the strict abortion laws are discouraging her from staying as more people leave the state a

s more doctors leave the State as more residents decide not to stay here as more medical students decide to not pursue training here that the um Outlook of health care for that population for idah hoens is more challenging there's been a big push to continue to train Family Physicians with these family docks potentially being more inclined to leave the state leave these rural communities that's going to leave a lot of places without Primary Care as well unfilled roles that have affected regular

care for pregnant mothers Dr Frank Johnson chief medical officer for St Luke's the largest Medical Group in Idaho told me mothers have to travel hours just to find available doctors he shared the case of one pregnant mother who suffered blood loss but couldn't get care close to home they had to go somewhere else to find that care and during that period of travel uh things went arai and uh that uh that that baby was lost unfortunately whether whether the fetus could have been saved with earlier c

are I don't know but certainly the complications to the mom were uh greater because of that delay that uh she had to go through with travel during our interview Jennifer Atkins shared that access to regular maternal care is something she's now worried about now that she's pregnant again Jennifer also mentioned that this pregnancy is already proving to be different than her last one saying that finding available appointments has been challenging being sent to a number of different hospitals acros

s the state just to find care all this comes at a dire time with the maternal mortality rate in the state experiencing an upward Trend making access to regular care even more important and in the last two year guys the two hospitals have closed their doors and NBC News obtained a letter sent to employees stating that another Women's Hospital in calwell Idaho is set to close its stores this April and of course it's not just Idaho we're hearing the same stories from Florida from Texas from Ohio as

well women just not being able to get healthare that they need Morning Joe reporter Daniela Bravo Daniela thank you um