The Ed Show for Monday, December 22nd, 2014

Guest: Charles Rangel, Jeff Chang, Robert Shrum, Zerlina Maxwell, Eddie
Vale, Annette Taddeo, Ricardo Herrero, Mikey Kay


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, (D) NEW YORK CITY: I`m asking everyone and this is
across the spectrum to put aside protest, put aside demonstrations until
these funerals are past. Let`s focus just on these families and what
they`ve lost. I think that`s the right way to try and build toward a more
unified and decent city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRAIG MELVIN, HOST: De Blasio asked to also call 911 if they get
information, if they had anything about any potential threats to police
officers. Officials also give more information on the lone gunman, 28-
year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, what they describe as disturbed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT BOYCE CHIEF OF DETECTIVES, NYPD: As I`ve said yesterday, he had to
try to commit suicide, about a year ago we got that from family members who
were still dealing in on that. What we`re seeing on social media
investigation basically on Instagram, we put out 119 images on his
Instagram account. A lot of these things are self despair, plus they`re
also antigovernment.

He goes in on November 25th of this year on antigovernment high rate and he
is called for a new challenge ETF was (inaudible). We spoke with his ex-
girlfriend the, lady he shot. And she was very courageous young woman.
She actually -- he put the gun to his own head when he broke into her
apartment and then she talked out of that and he later shot her before he
left. So that`s where we going with that. She said she never seen him
with a gun before, before that incident.

MELVIN: That ex-girlfriend by the way is still recovering in a Maryland
Hospital this evening. Meanwhile back here on Saturday Officers Wenjian
Liu and Rafael Ramos were shot in a point black range while setting in
their patrol car in Brooklyn, in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood. The shooter
did then run to a nearby subway station before killing himself. NBC`s
Chris Pollone has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS POLLONE, NBC NEWS: As the memorial to two murdered NYPD officers
grows in Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, the City`s Mayor is
calling for a halt to political protest and finger pointing with focus
turning to two grieving families and their fellow officers.

DE BLASIO: Let`s accompany this families on their difficult journey, let
see them through the funerals. Then debate can begin again.

POLLONE: Earlier the Mayor and Police Commissioner William Bratton visited
the families of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. The two were gun
down Saturday afternoon, assassinated, in the worlds of police as they sat
in their patrol car. Investigator say Ismaaiyl Brinsley driven at least
part by hated of the police, ambush the officers before killing himself.
Police say Brinsley have been arrested 19 times, his mother told him he
often violent and said he try to commit suicide last year.

But some believe recent nationwide protest over police tactics cause
Brinsley to act. Some New York Police unions feel betrayed by De Blasio
who has criticize the Eric Garner grand jury decision and police tactics.
Officers turn their back on De Blasio when he visited the hospital where
the officers died Saturday. But Bratton dismisses the criticism.

WILLIAM BRATTON, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: This is something
should be bringing us all together, not take us apart.

POLLONE: A span over policy being fought by politician as New Yorkers and
their police force more in the cities lost. Chris Pollone, NBC News.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELVIN: Governor Andrew Cuomo is among those calling for cooling off
period.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ANDREW CUOMO, (D) NEW YORK: To all the leaders who are involved on
all sides of this, the union officials, the activists, the elected
official. I think it`s time for a societal deep breath. I think we need a
cooling off period. This is a hold week. It`s Hanukkah, it`s Christmas,
we are coming up to Kwanzaa, and I think we should take this as a period of
reflection, and calm, and peace, and unity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELVIN: Well leaders involve their asking folks to reflect rather than add
commentary. The gruesome murders have ignited a fresh round of finger
pointing elsewhere. Former New York Governor George Pataki blaming Mayor
Bill de Blasio and Attorney General Eric Holder for inciting the murder
saying that killing were outcome of their divisive anti-cop rhetoric.

Meanwhile, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said blaming Mayor de Blasio goes too
far, but President Obama is not out of bounce.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: We`ve had four months of propaganda
starting with the President that everybody should hate the police. I don`t
care how you want to describe it, that`s what those protests are all about.
The protests are being embraced, the protests are being encouraged, the
protests -- even the ones that don`t lead to violence and a lot of them
lead to violence, all lead to a conclusion. The police are bad, the police
are racists. That is completely wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELVIN: Some criticize Mayor de Blasio for his commentary about policing
earlier this month when he mentioned the dangers that his son Dante, a
young black man, the dangers that he may face when interacting with police.
Tension has been noticeable between the Mayor and police officers.

Let`s turn now to Congressman Charlie Rangel of New York. Long time
Congressman. I want to pick up on something that former Mayor Rudy
Giuliani just said there that this protest have been all about hating the
police. Is that is there any truth to that?

REP. CHARLIE RANGEL, (D) NEW YORK: Mayor Giuliani has a long history of
heated rhetoric, especially as relates to the black community when he was
mayor. And this is not the time for me even get involve in discussing
anything that he has said. This is the time to bury those heroes, to make
certain our police. We know how much we respect them for what they are
doing. And to not express the feeling that a lot of people have.

MELVIN: Yeah.

RANGEL: You said that earlier today, there are many levels that we have to
discuss. But we should allow these heroes to be buried, a lot of those
areas after doing the mentally ill.

MELVIN: Yeah.

RANGEL: The ability to get guns. The violence in our city and our
country. And God forbid, we should talk about race. But after the burial
this great city ours has the ability to come together and deal with this in
an honest way and not to point fingers.

MELVIN: We heard from Bill Bratton. We heard from the commissioner -- I
think it was Bill Bratton, either yesterday, the day before who indicated
that this was about the worst that he seen in New York in several decades
in terms of the relationship between police and the people they are
policing. What say you to that? You`ve been around a long time. You.

RANGEL: You`re doing right (ph).

MELVIN: . seen the ups and downs with regards to that relationship.

RANGEL: Ups and downs...

MELVIN: Is this the worst it`s ever been or?

RANGEL: I -- Listen, everyday is a challenge and we`re lucky to be alive,
to be able to deal with it. I`ve been through combat, I`ve been through
911, I`ve been through all of these things. And I tell you with all the
blessing that God has giving us, if we can`t deal with a crazy guy to kill
to heroes in the great city of New York, there`s nothing wrong with the
situation. It`s wrong with the people that are in charge.

MELVIN: So you think it`s about this one crazy guy on your words. You
don`t think it`s about anything more than that, you don`t think that
this...

RANGEL: There are some people that have just been waiting to attack the
President as you just heard, which anybody that is going to relate the
President in this incident has -- should be seeing a psychiatrist himself.
And that the true of the matter is that the mayor of the city of New York
represents the millions of people in this city. If you feel that you`re so
insecure that you have to say that the blood for these murders on his hand,
that is self reflected and no one should even comment on what he has to
say.

My believe is that if you just take a look and see the different races that
involve in this, you know, we got an Asian hero, we have a Latino guy.
They got families and once in China and the other has Latin background. We
have an Irish guy that`s in charge with boys, who got a Italian guy that
the mayor the city of New York, who got a crazy black guy from Maryland who
came up here to kill these two. And we got a problem in communication
between our community and the police. Let`s not take this incident.

MELVIN: Yeah.

RANGEL: Which is totally unrelated except people who are looking to
expresses themselves and it doesn`t show respect for the families.

MELVIN: You don`t think they`re calling for moratorium on the protest is
appropriate?

RANGEL: Well when people feel hurt about something that they have. They
can make the determination as long as what they`re doing is respectful. Of
course if anyone ask my view and they haven`t.

MELVIN: Yeah.

RANGEL: I would yes. Let`s have a week and dedicate that to nonviolence,
dedicate it to better understanding. And during this time of the year,
bring up the chaplains of the police department. And those have talk about
Jesus and Quanser and Moises. And fill in the gap that we got with hate
going on now. And the thing is that everyone knows is undercurrent that
everything everyone is saying. And they`re just using this horrific event
in order to express themselves. It`s just fair to this guys who -- and
those who are alive and each and everyday...

MELVIN: Yeah.

RANGEL: ... do what these two gentlemen have done. Put their lives on the
line and then they have a couple of people now what to get their feeling is
who can be the meanest.

MELVIN: Yeah.

RANGEL: . about problem that are totally, totally unrelated to these
murders.

MELVIN: Long time New York Congressman, Charlie Rangel. Always enjoy your
prospective sir. Thank you.

RANGEL: Thank you Craig.

MELVIN: For more I want to bring in James Peterson Director of Africana
studies at Lehigh University also MSNBC contributor and Jeff Chang author
of "Who we be, the colonization of America."

Professor, let me start with you. I know that your probably saw and heard
some of that news conference that wrapped up just a short time ago. What
do you make of that? I mean it sounded like that the tone was noticeably
different from what we heard over the weekend.

JAMES PETERSON, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Well, sure. I mean that -- well now
that everyone is really calling for calm and calling for a shift and tone
because they`re noticing that there is certain figures who want to play a
political football with his particularly tragic issue. I think the mayor
and different people who`re taking to the media are now trying to represent
a face that models kind of what they want to see on the ground which is a
much calmer tone, a more sensible sense of thinking this through. And I
think that should lead people to the conclusion as the congressman just
said that we really have to disconnect these two cases.

It`s a horrible tragedy that took place in New York City this weekend of
obviously a troubled person committed this murders and that should be
though through and prosecuted in taking care on it`s own, but the emergent
movement around antipolice brutality. Not antipolice Craig, but antipolice
brutally is a national movement...

MELVIN: Yeah.

PETERSON: ... that has many cases that filtered in and through. And then
this is why you see some people resist into the calling of protest right
now.

MELVIN: What do you think this is going to mean for that larger movement
that you just referenced, the antipolice brutally movement?

PETERSON: It`s a critical crossroad. I think what the people of New York
need to understand is that this movement is a lot bigger than New York.
It`s bigger than Eric Garner. It`s bigger than Michael Brown and just
Ferguson. I mean, you`re talking about organizer and activist all over the
country, this is a national movement that has to do with ending violence in
certain communities. It`s not a movement that`s about violence in anyway.

And so the people who`re the leaders, young people Craig, who are leaders
of this movement, I think are deeply invested in sustaining their momentum
even beyond and through this particular tragedy just to show and just to
demonstrate that although this is an awful thing to happen to this
officers. The person who committed this heinous act is not related at all
to the emerging movement around ending police brutally in our communities.

MELVIN: Jeff, there is something else in that news conference that
distract me, Commissioner Bratton saying at one point, you know, he said,
"You know, we`re making so much of this chasm that exist between Mayor de
Blasio and the police force. This is a chasm that has existed in New York
City for decades. The police have never really like the Mayor a great
deal. How accurate is that?

JEFF CHANG AUTHOR, "WHO WE BE": Well, you know, I can`t comment
specifically to the internal politics, to sort of inside piece while I`m
(inaudible) on the west coast of what`s been happening there. But I can
say is that the movements that have been taking place really since August
9th are some of the biggest movement we`ve seen in the history of the U.S.
around police accountability.

If you look at August 9th all the way through now, it`s been a daily
occurrence. It involves million of people and it`s been about transforming
the culture of violence that not too often targets, and contains, and also
it ends black lives.

And I think that raised the issue to the level of discussion such now the
(inaudible) can say that racist and race relations are the most important
issue on the table that we`re facing. And so it`s an issue that is much
larger than New York City alone. It`s an issue that resonates and it`s an
issue I think that the movement is going to continue to raise.

I just wanted to make that point to be able to talk about the fact that we
haven`t had a consensus for racial justice in this country for half a
century. And this movement has actually put that bad on the table.

MELVIN: Professor the...

PETERSON: Craig.

MELVIN: Go ahead, go ahead.

PETERSON: In terms of the internal politics in New York, you know,
Commissioner Bratton is trying to down play it. But even he has to admit
that there`s a lot going on there with contract talks and there is a long
history of their being tension between a sort of executive, the city of New
York and the people who represent the unions for the police we have a very,
very, very strong union. But we can`t allow those figures to play politics
around this particular situation.

MELVIN: Jeff, the mayor talks about the characterization. He`s
specifically talk about the characterization of the protesters here in New
York City during that news conference. I want to play what he said and
then talk about on the other side, here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DE BLASIO: I heard for so many protesters who appreciated the NYPD. I`ve
heard from NYPD officers and leaders who said they sought peaceful protest,
respectful protest. What you manage to do is pull up the few who do not
represent the majority, who are saying unacceptable things, who shouldn`t
be saying those things and the sum -- who actually physically attack police
officers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELVIN: Mayor de Blasio taking one of the reporters there in the news
conference to task for question about by the protesters and the
characterization of the protesters. Jeff, do you feel like the protester -
- in general the protester in New York City, the protester in Ferguson, the
protester D.C., the protester on the West Coast as well, the Brooklyn
protesters. Had they been unfairly characterized, generalized even?

CHANG: Yeah, I think so. I think that the message is lost in the focus on
the very scattered and small amounts of looting and violence that have
occurred. In fact again the protest have been about transforming the
culture of violence that causes us to have these types of events in Eric
Garner and Michael Brown or Renisha McBride happening every generation and
us having to go back out into the streets and a lot of respects, to be able
to call attention to the fact that these legacies of racial injustice have
not been addressed.

And so the vast majority of the millions of people who have been in the
streets have been peaceful. And I think that the message of that movement.

MELVIN: Yeah.

CHANG: . is getting through, it`s absolutely getting through.

MELVIN: Jeff Chang, James Peterson, thank you both. I do appreciate your
time tonight.

PETERSON: Thanks Craig.

CHANG: Thank you.

MELVIN: Coming up, what the buzz surrounding Elizabeth Warren could mean
for Hillary Clinton. Trenders is straight ahead.

Then a little bit later, from the man you brought you some of the worse of
the birth movement, now comes the first court room battle on the
President`s immigration order. We will reintroduce you to Larry Klayman.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MELVIN: Welcome back to the Ed Show. We`ve got some breaking news past
long right now. A law enforcement official told NBC News a short time ago
that New York Congressman Michael Grimm is expected to plea guilty to one
count of tax fraud tomorrow in federal court.

Grimm charged in April with 20 felony counts were allegedly concealing more
than a million dollars in wages and sales from a restaurant that he co-
owned in Manhattan.

When asked about the guilty plea today, Grimm`s attorney had no comment.

I want to bring in NBC News Congressional Correspondent Luke Russert for a
little bit more information here.

Luke, what more do we know?

LUKE RUSSERT, NBC NEWS: Well, what we know is sort of what you just said
Craig. And in fact, we do expect Michael Grimm to plea guilty to that one
federal count of tax avoidance.

And this goes into a long-standing investigation into Mr. Grimm`s
activities. He has been accused within the past of some pretty serious
things, campaign financial irregularities, having ties with someone who was
believed to be associated with the mafia. And there were, in fact, there
was 20 counts to the original indictment. So this is in fact going to be
case and only will plea guilty to one. That means he is somehow was able
to avoid the other 19.

All that being said, Michael Grimm was reelected in this last midterms
Craig, and this is his third term as a member of Congress. He has come
under scrutiny from Democrats before for these improprieties alleged. And
so they run against that in the past. They didn`t really put up too much
of a fight in his last race. But expect there to be call from Democrats
once this becomes more official for him to step down.

I reached out to GOP leadership aids today. They do not offer any response
right away is to whether or not the leadership within his own party would
call him to step down. But I don`t suspect that John Boehner will want to
have to deal with someone like Michael Grimm.

MELVIN: Yeah.

RUSSERT: He`d admitted felon in his conference having into the New Year.
It`s not the type of message Republicans want to push Craig.

MELVIN: Is he looking at jail time here?

RUSSERT: It could be. We do not know what exactly his plea will
encompass.

MELVIN: OK.

RUSSERT: That`s going to be and keep eye on to (inaudible) goes to federal
court in Brooklyn at 1:00 p.m. But I would be really surprise Craig, if by
the start of the next Congress he still is a member of Congress. I don`t
see how John Boehner doesn`t try and move his force and not behind the
scenes.

It`s a speculation from my part, but knowing how Boehner operates, he is
not like people who do things like this in his conference.

MELVIN: Luke Russert, following at all force from D.C. this Monday
afternoon. Luke, thanks as always sir. I do appreciate you.

RUSSERT: Take care as well.

MELVIN: Coming up, immigration actions first in fighting in the GOP, our
Rapid Response Panel will weigh in on that.

Then a little bit later, picture perfect. We will take a look at the year
of this selfie.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MELVIN: Time now for the Trenders.

Keep in touch by the way with the Ed Show. Keep in touch with us all --
we`re all over into webs. Over there -- yeah, right there at Ed Show.
We`re also on Facebook as well.

The Ed Show Social Media Nation has decided and we are reporting. Here are
today`s top Trenders voted on by you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 10 years Ron Howard is going to make a movie out of
this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The number three trender, the real deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There has been fall out that`s tied to that massive
cyber attack on Sony Pictures.

BARACK OBAMA, CURRENT AND 44TH PRESIDENT OF AMERICA: I think there was act
of cyber vandalism that was very costly, very expensive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The hack may cost Sony upwards of $100 million.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Movie watchers might still get a glimpse of The
Interview.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The (inaudible) for Sony Pictures says the studio
will eventually release "The Interview."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The New York Times report, the company may release
the movie for free on crackle.com, the streaming video site its own.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Haters going to hate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The number two trender, winter wined up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Winter is coming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, its travel crunch time for Christmas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Come on. Let`s go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will winter weather wreck your holiday plan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we`ve got a couple of storm systems that are going
to make a mass out really a large part of the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then on Wednesday, the strongest storms down
through the South East but we could see delays, Washington, New York, up
into Boston.

MACAULAY CULKIN, ACTOR: Oh no. My parents in Florida and I`m in New York.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There will be a couple of lighter snow showers to
wintry mix to South Chicago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: if you live in (inaudible), you`ve been dreaming of a
white Christmas, you got it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But now winter is still coming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And today`s top trender, poll position.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New polling out they`re suggesting that Hillary Clinton
is still the clear front-runner for the Democratic nomination in 2016. 61
percent are likely Democratic voters say, they will go for Clinton in a
possible primary.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary kept the commanding lead over 2016 hope
polls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their support maybe slipping, Warren up from 7 percent
to 13 percent since June.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A number of young women, Democrats obviously believe
that Elizabeth Warren is a great viable candidate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In that same poll, she`s down from 73 percent in
January.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The closer you get to a real life election process,
the more critical people are going to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELVIN: Joined now by Bob Shrum, Democratic Strategist, Warshaw Professor
of Politics at the University of Southern California. Zerlina Maxwell,
Political Analyst, Contributor at thegrio.com.

Bob, let me start with you. What do these latest numbers tell us if they
tell us anything about Democratic voters?

ROBERT SHRUM, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well they tell us that the press
wants a contest and they really got to promote one (inaudible).

MELVIN: Really Bob, Bob.

SHRUM: In my view, yeah. They want one. Number two, there are some
people on the left to want a contest, want to challenge Hillary Clinton.
But if you look inside that poll, I think its 63 percent of self-
identified, liberals are for.

The Elizabeth Warren candidacy in my view is a fantasy. It`s not going to
happen. She keeps saying she`s not running.

And in fact, I believe that Hillary Clinton will go out there and she`ll
talk about the same kind of issues Elizabeth Warren is talking about, like
income and equality and how we make affair of society.

The fact is that if you look at Hillary Clinton, she has a commanding role
in this right now, far more than she did in 2007. When I got in a lot of
trouble with the Clinton people because I said, I thought she was
vulnerable.

She`s obviously vulnerable. She could defeat herself. I don`t think
that`s going to happen.

MELVIN: How does she defeat herself Bob?

SHRUM: By not putting out a vision for the country. By not saying what
she stands for. By acting as if she`s entitled. And by running as a
candidate of restoration not change.

I don`t think she`ll do any of that. She`s very smart. She wins for 2008.
She was a great candidate of the end of 2008 by the way, by which time
she`d already loss the nomination. Then I think that`s where she`ll start.

I don`t think she`ll repeat the mistakes that she made early on in the 2008
process.

MELVIN: Zerlina, are you buying that. I mean, again, Hillary is still far
ahead of pack there. But she has law of some ground.

ZERLINA MAXWELLL, POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I mean, well, its two points,
it`s 63 to 61. And then Elizabeth Warren has gone up two points.

MELVIN: Right.

MAXWELL: But even in the context of her big, you know, explosive speech on
the Senate floor last week that rallied a lot of the Democratic base and
still she`s going at 13 percent in that same poll that we`re talking about
where Hillary has a commanding lead.

So I just think that like Bob said, she`s probably not going to run for
President, Elizabeth Warren.

MELVIN: Yeah.

MAXWELL: But.

MELVIN: She have said repeatedly she`s not running for President.

MAXWELL: Right. She said -- But, you know, they all say that and then
perhaps have the freedom to change their mind later. But I do think that
we should as Democrats be talking about, number one, we want Hillary to
move a little bit further to the left on certain issues like social
security for example, but also there is this notion that if Elizabeth
Warren remains in the Senate and Hillary Clinton goes on to be the
President that that team could be a progressive Powerhouse going forward.

MELVIN: That`s her theory Bob. Bob.

MAXWELL: That`s my theory.

MELVIN: . Bob, let`s (inaudible) here, let us talked about Jeb Bush. The
announcement, of course, that he has formed in the committee now. He`s
possibly running in 2016. What if anything does that mean for Hillary
Clinton candidacy?

SHRUM: Well I supposed it means if she`s the nominee that we could have
the back to the future election Clinton versus Bush, the Republicans
establish with this very much for Bush.

They`ve thinks that Chris Christie is deeply flawed that even if he got the
nomination he`d have a very tough time winning. They look at the rest of
the field and they say, we don`t think these folks could win.

Now, the problem that Bush has, he`s actually very conservative but he is
deviated on a couple of issues, immigration reform, the common core
education standards. He can go into these primaries and have some real
problems. So .

MELVIN: You mentioned common core and folks, they don`t follow these
things closely and there are folks out there who are rabid about common
core who have taken Jeb Bush to task for a couple of years now over common
core.

Is common core lead us something that could end up causing Jeb Bush a
nomination or even a primary victory or is that just something that a few
folks of the fringe care about a great deal?

MAXWELL: Well, the problem is that the fringe ends up being the
Republicans in primary. So, you know, when you have issues like common
core then has statement act of love with regards to immigration and, you
know, undocumented immigrants bringing their family members or, you know,
having children here.

I think he`s going to have a hard time in the same with that Mitt Romney
had in 2012 and in 2008. In that, he`s moderate and, you know, can be
strong general election candidate but he has to win the primary first. And
so that pandering that happens in the primary...

MELVIN: Yeah.

MAXWELL: ... I think perhaps will damage him going into the general in a
way that, you know, you can`t win.

MELVIN: And one thing for sure though -- I mean, he would have any trouble
raising money, Bob Shrum.

SHRUM: No, he won`t have any troubles. I said, he`s establishment choice
but we`re going to find out whether the establishment will prevail this
time as they have in every Republican race going back to Bob Dole and
George H. W. Bush. But it`s been getting tighter. It`s been getting
closer. It`s been getting tougher.

John McCain had to give more, move further to the right. Mitt Romney had
to do that to get the nomination. And we`re going to see whether or not
they can impose Jeb Bush as the Republican nominee.

He is the strongest Republican nominee by the way. We might as well be
honest about it. But there`s a lot of resistance inside the Republican
Party.

MELVIN: Well -- I mean, when you say the strongest Republican nominee that
we can think of.

MAXWELL: Right.

MELVIN: I mean, there`s chance that there`s someone out there that`s
contemplating a run really quickly (inaudible) back to Hillary Clinton.

There are those who have said that there is tremendous value in having a
contested primary. And not like a primary where, you know, you`ve got
three folks who wanted running and only one person really has a shoot. But
like a legitimate primary.

MAXWELL: Like a -- Right.

MELVIN: Do you not see value in that?

MAXWELL: No, I absolutely see value on that. I think it`s very important
for her to establish firmly that she`s going to protect social security and
other economic populist ideas.

And that perhaps if Elizabeth Warren were to jump into the race, that could
open up a debate. So even if Bernie Sanders jumps into the race, that
opens up the debate and make it more progressive.

MELVIN: Ms. Zerlina Maxwell, Bob Shrum, good to see both of you. Merry
Christmas...

MAXWELL: Thank you,

MELVIN: ... to both of you.

SHRUM: Happy holidays.

MELVIN: Yeah.

Stick around, the Rapid Response Panel is next.

MORGAN BRENNAN, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: I`m Morgan Brennan with your CNBC
Market Wrap.

Stocks advance for a fourth straight session. The Dow gains 154 points
that closed at another record high and within striking distance of the
18,000 level. The S&P add 7 points, also hitting a record high. The
Nasdaq rise at 16.

Gas price has continued to move lower. Now, according AAA, they have
fallen for 88 days in a row and now average $2.39 cents a gallon. That is
the lowest since the spring of 2009.

An existing home sales fled more than 6 percent in November. Those hit a
six month low.

That`s it from CNBC, first in business worldwide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KLAYMAN, ATTORNEY: I call upon all of you to wage a second American
nonviolent revolution, to use civil disobedience, and to demand that this
President leaves town, to get out. Put the crime down. To get up off his
knees and to figuratively come up with his hands out.

JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF: We believe that the certificate
presented to the American public by the White House is a forgery. We said
that several months ago. What I said on March one, I will repeat it again,
show us the microfilm. Where is the microfilm? Where is the microfilm?
Is it in Hawaii? Department of Health?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELVIN: Welcome back to the Ed Show. Those are our first, those are first
two people -- those are the first two people I should say, taking legal
action to stop President Obama`s executive order on immigration. Today
Maricopa county Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Conservative Lawyer Larry Klayman
tried to convince the judge that the immigration system is not broken.

Klayman argued President Obama violated the constitution by making changes
to the immigration programs without congressional approval. The associated
press reporting today that the judge appears skeptical, that the case. You
might remember Klayman petition the Department of Homeland Security to
start deportation proceedings against President Obama.

It is also important to point out, that of a judge in this case, was
nominated by President Obama, meanwhile, some Republicans remain split over
President Obama`s new Cuba policy, that move actually has some Republicans
in fighting now. Last week, Kentucky`s senator Rand Paul tweeted, "Senator
Marco Rubio is acting like an isolationist, who wants to retreat to our
boarders and perhaps build a moat. I reject this isolationism."

Rubio responded to that tweet on Sunday, he didn`t hold back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, (R) FLORIDA: Rand, if he wants to become the chief chair
leader of Obama`s foreign policy, he certainly has a right to do that. I`m
going to continue to oppose the Obama poll foreign policy on Cuba, because
I know it won`t lead the freedom and liberty for the Cuban people which is
my sole interest here.

LAWRENCE O`DONNELL, THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O`DONNELL HOST: He`s
running hard for the nomination. If he gets it, could you support Rand
Paul in his foreign policy if you were the Republican nominee?

RUBIO: Well I anticipate supporting whoever the Republican nominee is, and
I`m pretty confident that the Republican nominee for president will be
someone who has a pretty forceful role -- view of America`s role in the
world as a defender of democracy and of freedom and also understand that
it`s important for America to be engaged on the global stage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELVIN: No matter what you look at this issue, it`s certainly going to be
hot topic heading in 2016. Joining by the Rapid Response Panel, Eddie
Vale, Vice-President of American Bridge 21st century. Annette Taddeo of
the Florida Democratic and Ricardo Herrero, Executive Director of Cuba Now.

All right, Eddie, let me start with you. How big when the issue is the
president`s new Cuba policy going to be for Republicans in 2016th?

EDDIE VALE, AMERICAN BRIDGE 21ST CENTURY: Well, I think it`s going to be a
really big issue for them because what you`re seeing, what they`re inviting
right now is they are not just pushing each other to the right for the
Republic primary. They are far from the right, not just of the American
people but also among the Cuban population in Florida.

MELVIN: Ricardo, are most republican voters split on this issue like Rubio
and Paul. I mean, are you in one camp or there other or is there`s new
ones here?

RICARDO HERRERO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF CUBA NOW: No. You see that they
are actually appealing to very different sectors within the community, with
Rubio. Mostly focused on appealing to the 65 and overcrowd. And Rand Paul
speaking for the majority of everybody else, it`s certainly young Cuban-
Americans.

MELVIN: Annette you`re there, how is Rubio stands -- playing in the
sunshine state?

ANNETTE TADDEO, FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC: Well I believe that the sunshine state
is with the President on this except like Ricardo just said, just a small
segment of the 65 plus and the hard liners, the Cuba hard liners. So they,
you know, the big question for 2016 is going to be whose -- what`s the
nominee going to do. Is the nominee going to go back and backwards after
50 plus years of doing this half decade?

MELVIN: Eddie, are there other republicans besides Rand Paul taking the
stands?

VALE: I think Rand Paul seems to be pretty out there by himself right now
in this issue. You seemed to see a lot of Republicans really rallying
behind the Cuban Community. And I think this also points to the bigger
problem they`re going to have, not just on immigration but on all the
issues, that more and more they try to appeal to the fringe element of the
republican base that controls the primary process, the more and more harm
they`re doing to their prospects of the general election just like we`ve
seen with Mitt Romney and John McCain. History is repeating itself all
over again.

MELVIN: Ricardo, what effect if any do we think the President Obama`s
Cuban policy is going to have on voter turn out.

HERRERO: Well, I think it may galvanize a small sector -- a small and
dwindling sector of the Cuban-American community to vote against them or to
vote against the Democrats and the primary. But by and large, these
changes speak to the will of the majority of the Cuban-American community.
And certainly to Hispanics, not only South Florida but throughout the state
of Florida who largely favor this change in policy towards Cuba.

MELVIN: Annette, we were just talking about Jeb Bush. How do you think he
plays the Cuban issue moving forward?

TADDEO: He`s also another hard liner and he actually - a few weeks before
the President came out with his announcement gave a speech in Miami Florida
that was saying, we need to go further to the right and be more hard line
that we`ve been after a half decade. I think they are all fighting for the
hard line approach except for Senator Paul, so we`ll see what happens after
the nomination.

MELVIN: Eddie, really fast here, lastly, what`s your take on that what
we`re just talking about the share for (Pio), Larry claim in taking
President Obama`s executive action to court?

VALE: I think that the thing that you`re saying like with this Cuban
policy, those two are not an extreme fringe of the Republican movement.
What they`re pushing to sue President Obama to stop helping millions of
Americans is the policy of the Republican Party up to and including both
Boehner and McConnell.

MELVIN: But more often than that, it`s just rhetoric. I mean more off in
that it`s not, you know, actions like lawsuits.

VALE: I mean that`s what they say. That`s what we all thought about the
Affordable Care Act. They`ve been suing. They`re still fighting about
that. I think that you`re going to see in order to appease this Tea Party
of primary voters that there`s going to a lot more than just talk. There`s
going to be lawsuits. There`s going to be bills. They`re going to stop at
nothing to try to take away Obama`s assistance to millions of hard working
Latino-Americans.

MELVIN: Eddie Vale, Annette Taddeo, Ricardo Herrero, big thanks to you
guys. I do appreciate you.

VALE: Thanks for having us.

MELVIN: Coming up the latest on the Sony hacking case, and threats from
North Korea. Keep it here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MELVIN: Welcome back fans of The ED Show. And Ed`s Twitter count as well.
I know full well how much my colleague Ed Schultz loves a good selfie. Ed
has turned that camera around on himself to take snapshot after snapshot
working on the road, of course, out fishing on the lake as well, not
actually sure he caught that one but he took a picture with the fish
nonetheless.

Ed, no doubt, a trend setter. Perhaps ahead of the trend as well in 2014,
a year that some my have dubbed, the year of the selfie. NBC`s Raphael
Seth has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAPHAEL SETH, NBC CORRESPONDENT: When Ellen Degeneres interrupted the
Oscars to take a quick pic with her (inaudible) pals, selfie culture was
legitimize everywhere, like the day view of Jimmy Fallon`s tonight show.
Normal visits of the White House, the grave. Posing with the Pope may not
be this guy stairway to heaven.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The year 2014 might be the year of taking the selfie
to the next level.

SETH: But to get to that next level, you apparently had to take the
highway to the danger zone. Spectators at the tour, the French got tracked
with their trophy fixed and this young passenger felt the needs to document
her own plain crash.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God. Oh my God.

SETH: Running with the bulls maybe macho, running with the bulls with the
camera, loco (ph). That`s not to say animals didn`t follow the trend.
Camel selfie, deer selfie, lion, lemur, sloth. Sloth? Ostrich, turtle and
I guess maybe zebra. This may not count as a selfie but if you fly a drone
with a camera into a hawk territory, vengeances swift and awesome.

Speaking of vengeance, here`s what happened when a higher school took a
photo with a dazzle furry (ph), who made him pay the price. To some up,
2014 was not about what you did but the picture of you doing it. Selfie
indulgence revealed everything we needed to know about mankind. We engaged
in odd, inappropriate and mostly questionable behavior but we produced
amazing moments as well.

More so the odd but still. Awarding know (ph) if the selfie satisfaction
goes any further will end up taking selfies of our selfies. Raphael Seth,
NBC News.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELVIN: Love it, love it, love it, love it. Year of the selfie.

Coming up, new details in the U.S. response to North Korea and the
Hollywood cyber hacking case. This is the ED Show on MSNBC.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MELVIN: Welcome back to the ED Show in this Monday. North Korea`s
Internet went completely dark today. Expert said, the loss of service is
consistent with a, "Distributed denial of service attack." That`s what
it`s called and it comes just days after President Obama pledge a
proportional response to the recent attack on Sony Pictures, at a briefing
earlier today at State Department neither confirmed nor denied. Officials
neither confirmed nor denied U.S. involvement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIE HARF, STATE DEPARTMETNT SPOKESPERSON: We aren`t going to discuss,
you know, publicly operational details about the possible response options
or comments on those kind of reports in any way. Except to say that as we
implement our responses, some will be seen, some may not be seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELVIN: In less than a week after canceling the Christmas day release of
The Interview, Sony Pictures now says they are considering alternative ways
to distribute the controversial film.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BOIS, LAWYER, SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT: Sony only delayed this.
Sony has been fighting to get their picture distributed. It will be
distributed. How it`s going to be distributed, I don`t think anybody knows
quite yet. But it`s going to be distributed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELVIN: Lawyer for Sony Pictures vowing that the film will come out at
some point. At this point though, the consequences of the Sony Cyber
attack will far beyond lost box office revenue. The United States is not
reviewing whether to put North Korea back on its list of state sponsors of
terrorism.

Joining me now, Mikey Kay, International Affair Correspondent, former
British Senior Officer as well.

Let`s start with that list of sponsors of terror. Sudan, on the list if
I`m not mistaken. Number of other players also on the list. Iran was on
the list, at one point is still on the list. What does that even mean?
And is that -- is being on that list enough to deter North Korea from being
bad in the future.

MIKEY KAY, FMR. BRITISH SR. OFFICER: It`s a million dollar question Craig,
I think it`s a brilliant question. I think, what we`ve got to do is we`ve
got to look at so what? So we put them on the terrorist, what are we
trying to achieve by that?

MELVIN: Right.

KAY: I think the "So what", in it`s sort of broader situation is, it`s
about sanctions. So if we look at sort of Iran for example, being put on
the terror list means that you know, you minimize trade. You minimized all
communications of that country. You restrict their assets that are
operating within the U.S. That`s not going to work with North Korea.
North Korea is already under severe sanctions which are constraining its
property and its trade. And to be honest with you Craig, that`s only going
to hurt the people.

MELVIN: Right. And Kim only demonstrated time and time again that he
really doesn`t care whether the masses of his people start (ph).

KAY: Exactly. And the other thing we`ve got to look at as well is the,
you know, we`ve could be very careful about placing a country on a terror
list predicated on a cyber attack. And the reason for that is, is that
North Korea doesn`t even feature in the top 10 when it comes to countries
that are responsible for worldwide cyber attacks. China is actually the
biggest country that is being...

MELVIN: Right.

KAY: ... filed to that. And the U.S. is in the top three. So we can`t
conflict the issue. North Korea has some serious issues going on. It`s
got an aspirations to build a nuclear capability and it`s got some of the
most severe human rights issues and criminal violations on the planet.

If that is what we`re trying to target, let`s make sure that we do that for
the right reasons, not disguise it under the guys of the cyber attack.

MELVIN: We just heard from the City Department spokesman a few moments,
ago they had a news conference earlier today, playing coy. Saying that we
weren`t -- we`re not behind the Internet outage in North Korea. First of
all, do you buy that? And secondly, if we were, would that be the
proportional response that President Obama promised?

KAY: Well, I think graduated and proportionate is right. I think
graduated and proportionate within the paradigm of cyber is also right. We
shouldn`t stop, you know, conflating the issue by looking at foreign policy
or sanctions. We should keep strictly within the cyber space.

You know, but what I do think Craig, is the, you know, moving forward, the
ability to penetrate someone`s infrastructure in terms of cyber is based on
the connectivity speed and the I.T. infrastructure within the country. If
you look at Indonesia at the moment, Indonesia has got increasing Internet
speeds but its I.T. infrastructures increasingly poor. So Indonesia is now
up there, because a lot of hackers are using I.P. addresses out of
Indonesia to attack other countries.

So it`s all about the I.T. structure in Korea. North Korea doesn`t have a
good I.T. structure and it`s certainly doesn`t have good Internet speed.
There`s no best position really to get in within that top ten hacking
countries.

MELVIN: We just heard from David Boies, their attorney for Sony, vowing
that this thing is going to come out in some ways former fashion. How do
you think it comes out? I mean, in what fashion, in what way will folks be
able to watch the interview. Make sure of going down the 125th here in New
York and picking up a copy in a few weeks probably.

KAY: Yeah, I mean that`s just been rightly said. I mean, no one`s ever
said that the interview is never going to play out in the movie sets up
(ph). It`s just been postponed. And actually, I mean, when I went to see
(inaudible), I saw the trailer for this. I have no interesting in watching
it whatsoever. But...

MELVIN: Other folks have said that.

KAY: ... I do have. I`m slightly curios now and probably we`ll going to
see in the movie theater as a consequence of what happen here. So in terms
of revenue that`s been lost on the Box Office, I mean that is a short-term
approach. I think in the long-term, this thing is going to make a lot of
money.

MELVIN: Mikey Kay, good to meet you. Thanks for stopping by this evening.

KAY: Sure.

MELVIN: That`s it. That`s it for the ED Show tonight. I`m Craig Melvin,
in for Ed Schultz. Politics Nation with Reverend Al Sharpton. Starts
right now.

AL SHARPTON, POLITICS NATION HOST: Good evening Craig.

MELVIN: Good evening Sir.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.
END

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