Trump Denies Vulgar Comment, Attacks Durbin
BALDWIN: Just in to us here, this ridiculous war of words about what happened inside that White House meeting in which the President, we're told, made vulgar comments about African countries. He just gave us a new chapter and a new nickname. Let me read this President -- this presidential tweet for you that he just put out moments ago. He tweets -- Senator Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting. Deals can't get made when there is no trust. Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our military. So with me now, former RNC spokesman and Mitt Romney adviser, Kevin Sheridan. Hello, my friend.</s>KEVIN SHERIDAN, FORMER SPOKESMAN AND DIRECTOR OF REGIONAL MEDIA, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Good to see you.</s>BALDWIN: Listen -- I mean, you listen to all these different voices of these different people who were in the room. We know someone is lying. We know that. On policy, though, Kevin, the President is setting this up to be a Democrat versus Dreamers and the military.</s>SHERIDAN: Yes, and his -- you know, his tweet is obviously very Trumpian and kind of incendiary in the way that it makes fun of Dick Durbin. But there is a lot of truth to that, that the Democrats don't necessarily want a DACA deal. It seems that they would rather play politics with it despite what they're saying publicly. So, you know, he is putting his own spin on it, but this is the argument. And it's making it tougher for Republicans to come to the table because Democrats really, at the end of the day, aren't giving anything to Republicans. They're just demanding a clean DACA that they -- what they call a clean DACA, a different version from what the President calls a clean DACA, but they don't want to give anything for that. And so I think we're more likely probably now to be looking at kicking the can down the road again and having to do another extension into February for a temporary short-term spending. That's unfortunate, but, look, the sides just don't seem to be very close right now on</s>DACA. BALDWIN: Sure. And just because we don't have a Democrat sitting here, obviously, they would take issue with, you know, the playing politics point and that they -- talking about the 700,000 or 800,000 Dreamers in this country and that they're just, you know, looking out for them. But the real question, I think, to your point, is, are they willing to shut the government down over this? And that, we don't know yet. In this whole firestorm, you know, the leader of the Republican Party in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, is still silent. Is that stunning to you?</s>SHERIDAN: Well, he hasn't been asked in the public setting about it that I'm aware of. But if he is --</s>BALDWIN: But does he need to be asked --</s>SHERIDAN: -- I'm sure he will say something.</s>BALDWIN: -- to make a comment about the President and racism?</s>SHERIDAN: Look, every one of these senators and members of Congress have been asked a hundred times about different tweets and different things that President Trump has said. They almost always have critiqued him on it, and I expect they will continue to. When Paul Ryan was asked about it, he said it was unfortunate and not helpful. I think you'll see others continue to do that, but they're in the middle of tough negotiations right now. They're not going to be putting out, necessarily, statements, all of them, on this and -- but when they are asked, I think you're going to hear more from it.</s>BALDWIN: So listening to you, though, he hasn't put out a statement. Should he put out a statement? He is the leader of the Republicans on the Senate side, and the President is being called a racist.</s>SHERIDAN: Technically, I don't know. I think you could go either way on that, but I don't think there's any mistaking that Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump are not the same people. You know, Paul Ryan and anybody that knows Paul Ryan or knows Mitch McConnell knows they're very different types of Republicans from --</s>BALDWIN: OK.</s>SHERIDAN: -- or types of leaders from President Trump. They just don't talk the same way. They don't approach issues the same way. But their agendas overlap, and they do work together where they can.</s>BALDWIN: OK.</s>SHERIDAN: And I think that's what's important to remember.</s>BALDWIN: Quick question, 20 seconds, Mitt Romney, if he runs, would he be friend or foe of the President?</s>SHERIDAN: I think he's going to be Mitt Romney, and I think Governor Romney brings a lot to the table. He'd be excellent for Utah if he decides to do it. He won that state by, you know, almost 50 points in the 2016 election. I think he would -- he'd be an excellent addition to the Senate. I think when he can agree with the President, he will. And when he disagrees with him, like today, he'll probably speak out again. You know, he comes at this from a very unique position. He's an elder statesman in the party. And he is somebody with a constituency that's not necessarily going to care so much if the President is mad at him, so he'll have, actually, more leeway to speak out when he wants to. And I think you'll continue to hear his honest take on things.</s>BALDWIN: Very diplomatic answer of you, Kevin Sheridan. Thank you.</s>SHERIDAN: Thanks.</s>BALDWIN: Thank you so much on that. Next here, Queen Elizabeth says her crown is heavy enough to break her neck, five whole pounds. One of the many candid admissions in this rare interview with the Queen.