Transcripts For MSNBCW Deadline 20240703

And the late senator john mccain, the president described a Battle For The Future of our country against a movement led by the former president , facing criminal charges for trying to overturn an election, while also running for the white house for a third time. There is something dangerous happening in america right now. There is an Extremist Movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy, the Maga Movement. Not every republican, not even a majority of republicans adhere to the maga extremist ideology. I know because ive been able to work with republicans my whole career. But there is no question Todays Republican Party is driven and intimidated by maga republican extremists. Their extreme agenda carried out with fundamentally all the institutions of institutions of american democracies as we know it. My friends, theyre not hiding their attacks. Theyre openly promoting them, attacking the free press as the enemy of the people. Attacking the rule of law as an impediment, fomenting Voter Suppression and election subversion. Did you ever think wed be having debates at the stage of your careers where Banning Books, Banning Books and burying history . Trump says the constitution gave him, quote, the right the do whatever he wants as president , end of quote. Ive never heard a President Say that in jest. The president also warning that donald trump would take a Wrecking Ball to the functioning of our government and to the constitution if reelected. Seizing power, concentrating power, attempting to abuse power, encouraging and packing key institution, spewing conspiracy theories, spreading lies for profit and power to divide america in every way, inciting violence against those who risked their lives to keep merge safe, weaponizing against the very soul of who we are as americans. This maga threat is a threat to the brick and mortar of our Democratic Institutions. Its also a threat to the character of our nation. The president also taking on some of the most dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric coming from donald trump in just the last few days, including attacks against this network and nbc news, and of course his claim that our countrys top military official, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff general mark milley should be executed for treason. That is just the latest in what has become a years long pattern of attacks on the military and on our veterans going back to when trump slammed mccains valor. Here is what the president had to say about trumps attacks on milley. Thinking is the United States of america. And although i dont believe even a majority of republicans think that, the silence is deafening. Joining us now, cofounder and Executive Director at protect democracy, and political strategist matt dowd, and with me at the table for the hour, New York Times Editorial Board member mara gay. Ill start with you. You run a democracy watchdog group. Your reaction to the president s comments today in light of what we have been hearing from the former president over the past several days. Well, thanks for having me. I think the speech was incredibly important. There are two things that i think the president said i want to call attention to that were especially important. One is that democracy and the protection of it is the defining issue of our time and is the defining issue of the election. And thats because Everything Else flows from it. Whether you believe in high taxes or low taxes, whether you believe in more regulation or more open markets, whether you believe in gun safety and gun control or the second amendment, the disagreement over those issues is what america and democracy is all about, that we can argue over them. We can debate them. We can vote on them. People can win, enact them and then they can lose and someone else can win the next time. But if you dont have democracy, you cant have those arguments, and you cant have them peacefully. And donald trump and his Maga Movement are attempting to eliminate our ability to maintain that set of free choices. And i think making clear that thats why a protection of democracy is the most important thing is central to what the president is saying, and Everyone Needs to understand. The other thing i think is important the president said, this is not a partisan issue. There are progressive, moderates and conservatives who are united, a vast majority of them on the protection of democracy. There are democratic and Republican Voters who all want to protect our democracy. We have an Extremist Faction led by donald trump that has captured the elected apparatus of the Republican Party, but it is a minority in this country, and the vast majority of us, from left to right who want to preserve what the founders gave us have to unite together in defense of our democracy. Yeah, and to that point, matt, that is what the president tried to crystallize in his speech, that the majority of this country Still Believes in democracy. The most stark image we have all seen, january 6th, the insurrection, the attack on the capitol, the president using that as a motivating factor to remind americans of what is at stake physically and metaphorically. Do you think speeches like this go some way towards repairing the damage of what we saw on january 6th . Do you feel that americans are actually responding to the threat that was outlined by the president in his speech . Well, im going build on what ian talked about. I think speeches like this inspire us to protect democracy, because its ultimately not up to joe biden. Its ultimately up to all of us to protect democracy and protect our constitution through the elections that we will have, and holding politicians accountable. I think, i hope that this, the president , this is not just a singular speech, that this basically is the launch for what 2024 is about. I say that both as an american who believes in democracy, but also as somebody that can see political strategy. The best political strategy and winning campaigns in 2022 were the ones that made democracy their center of their campaign. I think the president and his campaign has discovered that running this as a referendum on bidenomics. You can argue over the facts of it and all that. But in the end, that is not going to be as successful as the campaign on democracy. And i hope that the president broadens this in the ways ian said, but also in the ways that our fundamental freedoms and liberties, including Economic Freedom and liberty are dependent on us having the constitutional democracy, and whether or not you belief in the freedom of choice, the freedom of kids to go to school safely, the freedom for us to be safe from the ravages of climate change, all of those freedoms and liberties we have, including the freedom and liberty to climb the economic ladder are completely totally dependent upon us having a constitution. I hope the president is not just giving one speech in arizona, but we see this as a series of speeches. Right. That encourage all of us to act upon it and use it as the mode with which we vote next year. Let me ask you really quick, matt, as being the political strategist on this panel. The white house had originally thought about giving the speech in valley forge, George Washingtons former Military Base in pennsylvania before settling on arizona and announcing the creation of this Mccain Library. Talk us to about that moment, that mccain factor, the fact that he decided to use somebody who not only was across the aisle, somebody who actually ran against him and had some their moments of contention throughout the political debate, if you will of that season, and using that as the backdrop to make this call. Well, i actually think arizona was the perfect spot to give this speech for a variety of reasons. One, you mentioned that john mccain, who has tried to stand independent of this. John mccain couldnt win a republican nomination in any state, let alone in arizona today as he couldnt win an election as a republican because of how far the republicans have gone, including the idea that now kari lake, who is the greatest election denier in the United States, has now going to run a senate race in the second race that john mccain won. Arizona has been in many ways one of the Center States in this election denial and attacks on our democracy by the republicans. You put michigan in that and wisconsin in that. But arizona is one of the key places where that has been fostered and the Republican Party has been so fundamentally changed. That to me is why picking arizona not only because of john mccain, but the circumstances over the last few years of where an election denialism virus has taken root, and how do we combat that in a nonpartisan way. Its not only just bipartisan, it is democrats, republicans, and independents can join together and say we may disagree with each other on 100 different issues. But we all can believe in a constitutional democracy. And arizona is one of the key places where that battle is going to be fought. To matts point, its incredible when you really think about it. The year 2023, an american president standing up to defend the most basic principles of our democracy. Basic like accepting the will of voters, not allowing Political Violence to take place in our discourse. Its quite remarkable. And this is not the first speech he has given defending democracy. It colonel wont be the last speech. What does it say about our country that this is the tenor of the campaign for 2024 . Well, there is an urgency, and the choice in the ballot is shaping up to be existential potentially for the countrys democracy. The thing that i thought was interesting about this particular speech, and it wasnt the first and hopefully it wont be the last on democracy, which is an issue that by the way, i think motived a lot of voters in 2020 to come out. Right. Both in the Democratic Base and independence, former republicans, et cetera, but this particular speech almost had a vintage feel to it, like a fireside chat. Stylistically, it kind of reminded me of something we would have seen from mccain or much earlier from Ronald Reagan even. And it just was a reminder for me that elections, president ial elections are often decided increasingly by just thousands of voters, Tens Of Thousands of voters and a handful of states. And some of those voters in arizona, former mccain voters in michigan really dont want to see the countrys democracy damaged in this way or put at risk. So they may not be tried and true democrats, but theyre really disturbed by donald trump and his behavior and by magaism, if you will. And so i think joe biden was directly appealing to those voters, more than he was in this particular speech saying lets rally the troops and the base. Matt, lets talk about the politics of this for a moment. The President Saying that the Republican Party is not your fathers or your grandfathers gop. And we honestly, we heard that a couple of weeks ago from mitt romney when he announced he is not running for reelection. Is that a play for voters who sit in the middle of the political spectrum . Because my concern is a little bit about what mitt romney did, which is he said im not voting for joe biden. Im not going to vote for donald trump. And for me i think that undermines the crisis that were facing, and how in 2024 this is a vote about preserving democracy over party. Well, i think that there is a number of republicans who dont like donald trump, like mitt romney, who think he is a danger to the country, but have not completely come to terms with what the Republican Party has fundamentally become. I think theyre in the stages of grief on this. I think actually joe biden has had to go through this process. He had thought the start of his presidency was oh, yeah, hes part of the Republican Party, but i can work with a bunch of them and all that and has discovered what the Republican Party has fundamentally become. And this choice, and i would argue with mitt romney, who i know, i would argue with him is put aside the Personality Difference and major issues that he has. This really is a choice between the forces of prodemocracy, independents, republicans and democrats and the forces of autocracy. And thats the fundamental choice. Leave out republican and democrat jersey. Thats the choice. If that is the election between donald trump and joe biden, joe biden, for all you may fault him for, stands with the forces of democracy, and donald trump stands with autocracy. You got to choose. Ian, what do you make of President Biden slamming the attacks on General Milley . Its something we have seen so dangerously seep into this countrys rhetoric where donald trump normalizes this type of speech, whether it was about john mccain or other american veterans, but now he is openly calling for the execution of our countrys top military officer. And joe biden came to General Milleys defense. Well, credit to him for covering that and focusing on it, because i think one of the reasons it was important for the president to mention is it that it didnt lead a lo of our papers or National Newscasts when the former president leading candidate for the gop nomination essentially threatened to execute the chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff for being insufficiently loyal to him. And i think its important not only to recognize the gravity of that situation. We cant talk enough about it. But what it means about the entire team of trumpism, which is an effort to introduce Political Violence into the way that we conduct democracy in this country. We were just talking about mitt romney. And i think something that didnt get enough attention is an excerpt from mckay calkins biography in which romney reveals that during deliberations on the house familiar and the senate floor about the impeachment, whether to vote to impeach and vote to convict donald trump of inciting an insurrection to overturn our democracy, romney spoke to members who were inclined to vote to impeach and vote to convict trump, but were afraid to do so for fears that it would endanger themselves and put their families in physical danger. And we cannot have a democracy when our elected representatives are voting out of fear for their lives and that is what donald trump has introduced into our politics and we need to reject it. Such an important point by ian. Not just mitt romney. We just heard that with General Milley as well. General milley in his interview reacting to those comments said that he had to take measures to protect himself and his family. And its just unbelievable to think that our countrys top general is seeking protection or is protecting himself and his family from the frontrunner of the Republican Party because we know what happens when that kind of rhetoric is heard by somebody out there who is an ardent maga follower. Im glad were talking about it. I think something that matthew said a moment ago really struck me, which is this idea that republicans may be in the stages of grief trying to come to terms with what their party has become. And i think its not just true for republicans. Its actually really true for Many Americans of good will, people who whatever their political persuasion are firmly committed to american democracy, do not believe in Political Violence, want to see citizenship in place remain, have this remain a strong country. But its hard to kind of accept how far and how extreme the Republican Party has taken the attacks on democracy. Right. I think its hard to really kind of come to terms with the fact that all of us are being asked to really stand up for democracy and not just maybe cast a ballot in a president ial election. And check out for four years. Stay engaged. To stay engaged. But also just for members of congress. All of us have a tendency to say well, our institutions are strong. Theyll handle it. But weve already seen the Political Violence and the conspiracy. Right. Behind january 6th. And it wasnt just january 6th. It was charlottesville. Its a series of horrific Political Violence that we have seen ever since. Thats the reality. The longer we ignore that and pretend like everything is okay, the stronger trumpism becomes and the weaker the democracy becomes. I was going to say quickly about the issue of grief, i get that the Republican Party may be having this moment of grief, but we just dont have time for them to wake up and realize what their choices are. Its very clear. Youre either going to go down the road of donald trump and maga or defend democracy at every turn. Let me play for you really quickly something that nancy pelosi said at the atlantic festival. Take a listen. Donald trump is elected president , do you actually worry about our Nuclear Stability . The way you worry about china and russias Nuclear Stability . My friends, its very hard for me to have a conversation predicated on if donald trump is elected. But we have to. We simply cannot allow it to happen. Our democracy is at stake. [ applause ] yes, yes. Yes what . Yes. Yes to all of the above. Yes. I just want to get a yes. I worry. So is this where we are right now, that democrats see the return of donald trump as an existential threat to our democracy . I think democratic voters know that. I think thats clear. You know, i think that there is still an element, its not necessarily within a party, i think there is still an element of americans who are invested in disbelief about whats happening, about what were seeing, because its so scary to accept that what weve seen elsewhere could happen here. I think there is an historical reading of the moment. Were talking about the insertion of Political Violence by donald trump. But of course thats actually a reinsertion because it wasnt that long ago that Political Violence was an accepted part of the american experience. And any Black American over the age of 50 could tell you that. So i think that we need to try to come to terms with what this moment requires of us as citizens, as journalists, as elected officials, and it might be more than we are used to giving. And i think the sooner that we can accept that, the stronger the democracy will be. Now let me read you a part of some new reporting on the rational behind todays speech in politico. Actually, i think we yeah, right there. The biden team had thought the danger posed by trump would fade over time or that attacks from republican primary candidates would drag him down. Instead, trump has continued to dominate the republican field, even as criminal indictments against him have mounted. Your thoughts on the rationale for this speech against the current political climate. Well, i think this conversation were having is so absolutely important with maya and ian and you in this. You know, this is what i was trying to say is that even joe biden, who has a good heart and wants to believe has had a hard time going from the place of denial to the place of acceptance of this is what we are in and this is what were fighting against. And its not just donald trump in this. Its not remove donald trump and everything is fine. We have a third or 40 of the American Public who seems to be able to accept the idea that we can abandon democracy if it achieve, if it allows them to achieve whatever end they have in the course of this. And thats the most sort of disturbing part of this process is we dont lose democracy overnight. Its not just like its not just one day it is and one day it isnt. This is my fear following up with what something maya said is, is that americans, and especially the sort of Swing Voter Group of americans watches this. And i dont think they fully they think oh, yeah, im worried about the price of ground beef and the price of bread or the price of gas and all that, but well always have democracy. And i think its incumbent on all of us and other leaders to say what is fundamentally at stake. All of those as i discussed, all of those freedom anson liberties, the idea that you can collective bargain as a union, as a high likelihood of going away if we lose our democracy. The idea of Trial By Jury and respecting independent judicial decisions goes away if we lose our constitutional democracy. And so i think its of this conversation is so important that that group of americans who accepts eastbound Democratic Institutions as eternal when theyre not, and if we lose them, what else do we lose. Ian bassin, matt dowd, thank you to the both of you. Mara, please stick around. In the next hour, were going have more on the president s address today in arizona. John mccains wife cindy and son jack will join us a little later on in the program. When we come back, what the president warned about the threats to our democracy. A complete split screen. Republicans on the hill flexing a complete and total abuse of their power, heading on a path to something this country has only attempted a handful of times. Plus, another big loss for the expresident , spelling very bad news for him monday in his hometown of new york city. Were going tell you about that. And later in the show, how the gop is no longer the National Security party thanks to the rights push to politicize the military. All those stories and more when deadline white house continues after this. Dont go anywhere. Where. In just a few clicks. And well come to you with a replacement you can trust. Man looks great. Tech thats service on your time. Schedule now. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. The power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. And thats a good thing . Great in my book who are you . No power . No problem. Introducing stormready wifi. Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery backup to keep you online. Only from xfinity. Home of the xfinity 10g network. Donald trump impeachments, oh, how many impeachments . Weve got two there. How many indictments, four. How many for biden . Zero, zero. Were here because of math. Thats what this is about. They cant safe donald trump. They cant take away the two impeachments and the four indictments. But they can try to put some numbers on the board for joe biden. When are you going have the vote on impeachment, mr. Chairman . What are you scared of . Call the vote. Come on. If you all think there is so much evidence, were here, call the vote on impeachment. Impeach him right now. I dare you. A powerful moment there today. Democrats on the House Oversight committee sharply criticizing the republican chairman and the majority. Who held their first impeachment Inquiry Hearing into president joe biden. In fact, republicans tried to argue that biden has engaged in impeachable offenses, even their own witness said there is no evidence to support that claim as of now. And i want to emphasize what it is that were here today for. This is a question of an impeachment inquiry. It is not a vote on articles of impeachment. In fact, i do not believe that the Current Evidence would support articles of impeachment. That was the republican star witness. Lets bring in democratic congressman Gerry Connolly of virginia and member of the House Oversight committee. Mara is also back with us. Congressman, thank you so much for making time for us today. You were in that hearing today. I was watching up it on tv. But describe for us what was it like for you to sit through that and witness what the republicans were presenting . Well, its kind of a combination of alice and wonderland and a soviet show trial. Especially jim jordan trying to connect facts that are not connected and trying to take innuendo and make it sound like its criminal activity. And meanwhile, the backdrop is these guys arent doing their job and are about to shut down government, and we have prima facie evidence of a real set of alleged criminal activity by a president , but its not joe biden. And just this week we had a new york judge actually decide that the Trump Organization had engaged in criminal fraud in inflating its value for the purpose of qualifying for financial loans. And as a result, they risk the dismemberment of the Trump Organization in new york state. Crickets. Not a word about that. Let me play for you, congressman, a clip that i thought was actually very telling. Not a lot of words, but it speaks for itself. This is when republicans called a roll call vote. It appears that many of them were just absent. They decided not to show up. Watch. This is the motion to table mr. Raskins motion. Mr. Jordan . Yes . Mr. Jordan votes aye. Mr. Turner . Mr. Gosar . Ms. Fox . Mr. Grossman. Mr. Palmer . Mr. Higgins . As theyre holding this hearing, as we see just two days before a potential devastating Government Shutdown and the fact that most republican members on this committee didnt even bother to show up for the hearing this morning. Do you get the impression, congressman, that even republicans may not be considering this impeachment as a priority right now . I think they know its a sham. I think they know there is no evidence. And remember, mccarthy only agreed, against his own a longstanding policy that it requires a vote of the full house, to direct an inquiry of impeachment as an appeasement to the far right in the hopes that by agreeing to that he would get their votes on the Appropriation Bills and on some kind of shortterm funding of the federal government. This is trying to buy them off. Its not a serious inquiry as to any kind of action by the president that could even conceivably fall within the category of high crimes and misdemeanors. I thought one of the more telling moments of the hearing was when you were opposing these questions kind of rhetorically, kind a little sarcastically acting one of the experts, what would happen if the soninlaw of the president was working as the chief diplomat on middle east peace, but also taking in millions of dollars of business deals once he leaves office. Would that be something that would be worth about a impeachable investigation . And it seemed most of the republicans did not make the connection that you were trying to suggest, which is if there was a serious accountability pursuit, it would be for donald trump and his family and what they did while they were in the white house, not when something happened with joe biden. Exactly. Every category they put up. Branding, oh, you want branding . Lets talk about towers all over the world. Right. That immediately created a Conflict Of Interest if he became president of the United States. Follow the foreign money. Well, Jared Kushner days after leaving the white house with the Mid East Portfolio got 2 billion loan or financing from the saudi crown prince. On and on, theyre projecting. The problem isnt joe biden. And there is no evidence to suggest personally hes been involved at all, but there is plenty of evidence to tell us about the sorry trail of the alleged criminal activity involving donald trump. Congressman Gerry Connolly, sir, its always a pleasure. Thank you for your time today. My pleasure. Thank you for having me. So mara, lets talk about how democrats react to this. We got some of that today in the hearing. We just heard some of it from Gerry Connolly. But when you have republicans trying to put on this theatrical farce, and they want to consume the energy both in congress and the attention of the nation, when we are facing a looming shutdown just a couple of hours away, a couple of days away, how do democrats respond to that moment . How do they not get sucked into this petty game that the republicans are trying to play and keep the ball focused on whats at stake . Well, i think we saw a little bit of it, which is you start telling the actual story of what really is going on, which is that you have Somebody Running for president , the frontrunner in the Republican Party, who is a threat to democracy, and who has been indicted, and who has a series of allegations against him that are quite serious of which there is mounting evidence. And so there is some of that being done. But i think this is a special moment and a carry one for many families and federal employees, and many other americans because we do have a looming federal Government Shutdown. The thing thats kind of mystifying about the behavior of the republicans in congress, this impeachment inquiry, they know full well that Government Shutdowns actually dont help them. I think americans are savvy enough, they probably the republicans will be blamed for that. So one of the things that the democrats should be you would think would be looking to do is start really pointing out that while there is a sham hearing going on right now, at the same time, you have military members that may not get paid. The air Traffic Controllers who wont be able to go to work, the tsa workers. You know, the border patrol, okay, at the time when we have a crisis. And so i dont think thats what americans are looking to washington for in this moment from any Political Party. And i dont think that there is really any kind of sham inquiry that is going to save republicans at this point from being held responsible for shutting down the government, if thats what comes to pass. And i really hope thats not what comes to pass. I hope that cooler heads will prevail, because thats the last thing this country needs right now. Very Wishful Thinking on your part between matt gaetz and Kevin Mccarthy the way theyve been going at it the last couple of days. Mara, please stick around. When we come back, the new York Appeals Court has shut down the president s last hope of delaying his big fraud trial. And news today, he may be called to testify as well. Were going bring you all the very latest on a not very good day for the expresident. Stay with us. L spaces. The alwayson, odorfighting Air Freshener you set and forget. No outlets used, no batteries needed, no effort required. So your bathroom stays continuously fresh for 45 days. 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That can be analyzed by ai in real time. So researchers can identify which areas are at risk. And help life underwater flourish. Some Breaking News to bring you. In the last hour, an Appeals Court has cleared the expresident s civil fraud trial to officially begin at monday apt 10 00 a. M. , rejecting Donald Trumps request to delay the trial after he suffered a major blow to his Real Estate Empire in this case earlier this week. It comes hours after some probably not so welcome news today for the disgraced expresident , also in this case. Donald trump is among 28 witnesses that we can now expect to be called to testify, according to new documents filed today by the new York Attorney general letitia james, along with three of his adult children, don jr. , eric and ivanka trump. With that, it is important to keep in mind that this is the same guy who worked for years to avoid going under oath, who from what we have already heard for ourselves is many things, but so far in this case not really excellent at appearing innocent when he is actually presented with a mountain of evidence. Watch. The 2019 statement of Financial Condition contained false and misleading evaluations and statements, is 245 correct . Same answer. You knew at the time it was finalized that the year 2019 statement of Financial Condition contained false and misleading statements, is that correct . Same answer. In preparing the 2019 statement of Financial Condition, mr. Weisselberg and mr. Mccann any followed your instructions to inflate Asset Valuations on by employing false and misleading conditions, is that correct . Same answer. Sam answer. Join our conversation, former u. S. Attorney Harry Litman Winnk Times Investigative Reporter susan creag is here. Suzanne, ill start with you. Youve been covering trump many years specifically on his finances and businesses. What is your reaction to all of this news . How does this play out . And importantly, do you think donald trump will actually testify . Well, just on todays ruling, we were expecting it to come down. And i didnt expect it to be delayed. I dont think you normally see judges throw something a judge has already weighed in. It was going to go ahead, waiting for the Appeals Court to reverse that would have been surprising. So its going to start on monday. And i would expect donald trump to be called at some point. He will be one of the last witnesses, apparently. But i would expect to see him come forward. And just its important to know now the trial because earlier this week we had that partial motion for Summary Judgment, where the judge essentially said the main count, the fraud charge has been decided. And he has been found liable. So the case is going to center primarily now on the fine, which could be a penalty up to 250 million. And i have to say when i saw the witness list, i noticed that donald trump was the second to last in order. I went right to the last person who may be called. And its an Investment Banker who has been on wall street for some time, and one of his areas of expertise is disgorgement, because thats going the main game when this trial starts. Its just going to be how much will the disgorgement be. And its important because the judge on tuesday, we dont quite know how this is going toe play out. But immediately a monitor has been put in charge of a number of trumps properties. And those are important now. A monitor will oversee those. And for the taxpayers of new york, you want them to perform well until all this is settled because ultimately what could happen is those properties will be sold to pay for any penalty that could come out at the end of this. Such an important point about the witnesses, harry. We got the list, 28 witnesses by the attorney general. They include trump, three of his kids, michael cohen, a slew of bankers, as we heard there from suzanne, accountants, current and former trump employees including the infamous allen weisselberg, former trump financial officer. This is massive about years of fraud after searing rulings against trump already this week. What do you make of the developments today . So exactly as you say. Its 2. 2 billion, and if the opinion holds up, its not just a matter of the 250 million, but the receiver will decide along with the judge whats going to happen to the assets of all those corporations. Now just a couple sort of legal points matter here. First, you wouldnt normally be able to cause someone who is going to step up and give the Fifth Amendment. And notice all the witness, the majority of them are from the trump side of the ledger. Thats because they already waive their Fifth Amendment rights in part when they testified and gave depositions in advance of the trial. So they cant now take that back. On the other hand, they can continue to press the Fifth Amendment to the quote which is what we were seeing trump doing with the same answer, same answer. That, though, because its a civil trial can be proffered to the jury as a reason to think that trump is not telling the truth or being fully forthcoming. One other point, the angeron ruling, what the Appeals Court made quick work of today is a different lawsuit brought for not fulfilling in theory the Court Of Appeals mandate. The actual motion for Summary Judgment that angeron presented, its still potentially to trump to try to appeal that. Well see. The Court Of Appeals doesnt seem very interested. But he does have one more card left to play before the given trial date of october 2nd. That is monday. Harry, don jr. Is tweeting this week about how absurd this case. We also saw that the deposition, trump read a prepared statement that echoed his own paranoid conspiracies and delusions about being the victim in this. Watch. This is the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country. There has never been another president or perhaps even another politician who has been persecuted, harassed, and in every other way unfairly treated like president donald j. Trump. So i have a twopartner for you on that. One, how does that kind of stuff go over if in fact he does take the stand . And more importantly, this is a by who in his own words said that you never plead the fifth unless youre guilty, something to that effect when he was a candidate and he was going after others who had pleaded the fifth. Hed say thats for mobsters, if you will. Can that statement be presented to the jury to say, well, if he is going to plead his fifth, or take the fifth on this stand, this is the same by who a couple of years ago said anyone who does that is guilty. Right. The short answer is everything is fair game that a defendant says, and certainly anything in the public eye. The only kind of weapon that trump would have to try to parry is to say its not relevant, or its so president ial and will confuse the jury. But the rules of evidence are clear. So there is no Fifth Amendment there. What he just said there can absolutely be said to the jury. And to me, it really drips of arrogance and is not going to give very good jury appeal in new york in particular. So suzanne, the trial starts monday. How long do we expect it to last . When can we expect a decision in how quickly afterwards would that come to a conclusion in terms of the properties and the assets that are now under monitorship . Sure. It was initially scheduled for two or three months. And i think now in light of this ruling this week, i think it will be shorter. Almost certainly will be shorter. I think we can see something maybe we never know. Its not a jury trial. Its going to be a bench trial. But it could last a month. I dont think its going to go as long as long as we expected. And then there is going to be appeals. I think the where his assets are going to go, and how all of that is going the play out is going to take some time and more advice from the court. You know, we know that this monitor has been put over them now. He is essentially out of the drivers seat, as are his family members. Its worth noting ivanka trump is the only one not barred from doing business in the state just because she was in a separate ruling, she won a fight with the courts and was thrown out. But the three of them, two of his sons and he will no longer be involved in the businesses. I just think thats going take a while to play out in court, and also its going to need definition from the court on what it means. Some of the assets that are named, there are companies where there are assets outside of the state. What does all this mean . And trumps side was in court this week just trying to get some clarity on this. And the other thing, i just want to make one note about trump testifying, and that is that he has given another deposition in this case where he actually did testify, and it kind of gives you any idea, there is one where he took the fifth and there was another one where he did testify. And parts of it appeared quite unhinged. He was taking credit for averting nuclear war and he was meandering everywhere. He is saying his properties are the mona lisas and are just impossible to value. You just imagine. Its note a new thought. I think everybody who has heard him speak and who has seen depositions that he has given knows that he can be, you know, unpredictable. And theyre going put him on the stand, and i think that that could be part of it. And i think the attorney general is going to want to get him on the stand for that, because it could potentially factor in to what the damages are in this case. Yeah, of course we all remember that train wreck of a deposition in the e. Jean carroll trial. Always a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. Were going to be speaking to you next week a lot as well. When we come back, just how sensitive are the documents the expresident has stashed way in maralago . You wont believe this, but the Doj Raising Serious Red Flags today on where trumps lawyers can even view them. That update coming up next. The promise of our constitution and the hope that liberty and justice is for all people. But heres the truth. Attacks on our constitutional rights, yours and mine are greater than theyve ever been. The right for all to vote. Reproductive rights. The rights of immigrant families. The right to equal justice for black, brown and lgbtq folks. The time to act to protect our rights is now. Thats why im hoping youll join me today in supporting the American Civil Liberties union. Its easy to make a difference. 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Talk to your eye doctor about ga and learn more at gawontwait. Com any new fuellings filings, jack smith pushing back. This one in the classified document case. Its set to begin in may in a federal courtroom in florida. The filing telling us something extraordinary about the evidence after the judge ruled that trump can only discuss classified documents with his lawyers in an approved facility in miami. According to the Justice Department and its prosecutors, nine of those documents in question are so sensitive that his defense team cannot store them there. They can only view them by coming to washington, d. C. We are back with harry and mara. Harry, what does that tell us . The doj notes that there are attempts to expeditiously find a location in florida that can store these documents. What does it tell you about the sensitive nature of the documents that the doj cannot even find somewhere to store them in florida . How might that impact the time line of the trial . Right. What they have is makeshift. It wont accommodate i can only imagine these you look at them and you turn to stone. I have dealt with classified documents, but this is a different level. They will arrange it. Now trumps lawyers are empowered to see it. They will try to have something more secure in florida. An important thing to remember, his charges dont really depend on the nature or the gravity or how classified and sensitive they are. Its just that he took them. Right now, the parties are wrangling over, can you summarize some documents or not . Trump is trying to say, not only cant you, but its going to take months to even talk about this. Smith is saying, maybe an extra little bit of time, but trump not surprisingly is using it to try to wrangle a big delay. It certainly says among the documents are nine that are breathtakingly sensitive. I would be scared to be in the same room with them, let me put it that way. Mara, what do you make of the fact that this guy is running for president again . The government basically telling him in his own trial, we do not trust you with these documents. If you want to see them, you and your lawyers have to come to d. C. To harrys point between how sensitive these documents are and the potential that he may have had them in his possession, i assume thats why they have these documents in the evidence. I think its a reminder that, donald trump has built his political brand on breaking the rules. For some americans, certainly in his base, there seems to be something appealing about, im fudging how much money i make or how big my house is, im not going to pay a cent more in taxes than they force me to, that has an appeal for better or worse. The problem is that donald trump has normalized that behavior. His behavior is far more extreme than that. This is just a reminder that he is accused of betraying the american republic. This is very serious. The charges from january 6th, they are also very serious, that he is facing. Also, i would point out, his attempts to overturn the election so the georgia case is very serious. Its a reminder that this isnt just Court Procedure thats unfolding. Theres a president who is accused of extremely serious crimes against the democracy. I think that can kind of get lost in all of the Court Reporting that we do. It can be very technical. There are serious accusations being made here that can really hurt the country and can hurt service members, too. Harry, doesnt the actual presence of these nine documents underscore the violation that trump is accused of, that this material was so highly classified, so highly sensitive that it should not have been anywhere outside of the national archives, not in his place at bedminster or in florida . Yeah, absolutely. It puts into context the real sort of panic initial response by the u. S. Government to just get them back first and foremost, which is what you want to do. An interesting point about these documents. The fact that they are so sensitive and he is permitted to use them, that suggests that the Intelligence Community is sort of behind this prosecution. Otherwise, they would just try to shut it down and say, forget about those documents. Very important point there. Harry, mara, thank you to the both of you. Appreciate you spending time with us. Up next, its a maga legislative tantrum. Why its putting our National Security at risk. The next hour starts right after a quick break. Right after a quick break. You founded your Kayak Company because you love the ocean not spreadsheets. You need to hire. I need indeed. Indeed you do. Indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. Visit indeed. Com hire get the new Iphone 15 Pro with titanium from Boost Infinite Matchinand transcend toiption. A wireless utopia. The new titanium Iphone 15 Pro. On us, with no trade in needed. Infinitely better. Do you struggle with occasional nerve aches in your hands or feet . Try Nervive Nerve relief from the worlds number one nerve care company. Nervive contains ala to relieve nerve aches, and bcomplex vitamins to fortify healthy nerves. Try nervive. And, try nervive pain relieving rollon. President trump recently said your dealings with china were so gregious that in times gone by the punishment would have been death. Thats right, he said that. Thats correct. He is suggesting you be punished by death. The former Commander In Chief to his former top military advisor. Look, im a soldier. I have been faithful and loyal to the constitution of the United States 44 1 2 years. My family and i have sacrificed greatly for this country. Hi, its 5 00 in new york. Im in for nicolle wallace. What an extraordinary moment in american history. The top general of the United States responding to a death threat made by a former president on a social media post. Treason is not a word to throw around lightly. This is not even the first time we have heard trump use that threat against his perceived enemies. Trump loves to hide behind the thin veneer of plausible deniability. He knows exactly what he is doing. If a mob boss were to say in times gone by people like you would have had their legs broken, nobody would mistake for a historical observation. The suggestion here is pretty clear for anyone who sees it. It comes from a man whoas one of americas loudest megaphones, one that is aimed at millions of extreis are well armed and who insist the government is illegitimate and who believe that people like General Milley are part of a deep state and a plot against the country. It was aimed specifically at one man. Milley noted it meant more. As much as these comments are directed at me, its also at the institution of the military. Theres 2. 1 million of us in uniform. The American People can take it to the bank that all of us, every single one of us, from private to general, are loyal to the constitution and will never turn our back on it, No Matter What the threat, the humiliation, No Matter What. We are willing to die for that document. We are willing to deploy to combat. We are willing to lose an arm, a leg, an eye to protect and defend that document and the American People. Im not going to comment directly on those things. But i can tell you this military, this soldier, me, will never turn my back on the constitution. For the record, was there anything inappropriate or treasonous about the calls you made to china . None. Zero. Trumps comments so egregious that as we spoke about in the last hour, President Biden had to address them in his speech today on american democracy. Biden slamming the extreme maga agenda and calling out attacks against the men and women of the u. S. Armed forces. Congressional members of the Republican Party, they are showing true colors when it comes to the military as well. Yesterday, weaponizing funding of the United States Defense Department with a vote to cut the salary of defense secretary lloyd austin to 1. A measure that is not expected to go any further, but it is still a striking signal of the Republican Partys priorities in this day and age. Joining our conversation this hour, retired u. S. Marine corps colonel amy mcgrath, Executive Producer of the circus john hielman and ben rhodes. Amy, i will start with you. I want to talk about this attack on General Milley and his response. What went through your mind when you heard it . How do you think the rest of the military is viewing these comments about the chairman of the joint chiefs . What went through my mind when i saw General Milleys response was, i was proud. He stood up and said what we all believe, which is, we dont take an oath to one man. We dont take an oath to a Political Party. We take an oath to the constitution. I thought that was really important. He said he would never turn his back on the constitution. Those members in the military will not turn their backs on the constitution. I think we are in a very dangerous place right now. A lot of folks are saying, this is bad, we should never the president should have never former president should have never threatened the chairman of the joint chiefs, he was a good guy. Its bigger than that. We are in a dangerous place when the former president of the United States threatens execution of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff. Think about how bad that is. Not only that, but where is the condemnation . Where is the condemnation from members of the republican members of the house, senate . We had a debate last night with all these other candidates on the republican side for presidency. Not a single one talked about this. We are in a bad place when thats happening. Certainly a bad place. Yet, its not the first time. The danger we have in this country is we heard donald trump and most of the Republican Party is like, donald trump is just being donald trump, its rhetoric. But he has accused former president obama, former fbi director and now the former Joint Chiefs Of Staff of treason. And going further by saying General Milley should be executed. How serious of a threat is this . I think its really serious. It cuts across what donald trump is doing and what the Republican Party is doing. With donald trump, we have seen a pattern of him having particular antagonism for the military and National Security agencies i think because they are the most nonpartisan parts of the u. S. Government. The department of justice, the fbi, the military, these are not people in place because of their partisan affiliations. What he seems to loath is the fact that they do serve the constitution more than they serve his personal interests. You have seen him insult everybody from john mccain to a disabled person who worked for General Milley, gold star families, calling people losers. A disregard for the sacrifice of the military. Lets be very clear here. You have tommy tuberville, a republican senator, holding up hundreds if not thousands of promotions. You have the Republican Caucus in the house voting to cut lloyd austins salary, another man who served for decades, to 1. You have the woke military. They are targeting the military in the same way they targeted other aspects of american life. We know that there are crazy people that will sometimes act on those threats. We know that they could erode the trust that americans have uniformly had in the United States military. I would like to think that they are picking a battle they will lose and that there are enough people who dont like this that maybe they are the swing voters they need. The problem that we have is nobody else is willing to raise their voice. There was a debate where they could point out that donald trump threatened to kill the chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff and they whiffed on it. Its interesting that this is probably because these are the institutions that are immune to our politics. They are not as bendable, if you will, to the political discourse. John, you probably saw President Bidens speech today, calling out trumps antidemocratic rhetoric. I want to play you more of what he had to say. Here he is on his predecessors view of those serving in the country, to bens point. I know we all try not to remember it, but thats what he said. He called Servicemen Suckers and losers. Is john a sucker . Was my son who lived next to a burn pit for a year, came home and died, was he a sucker for volunteering to serve his country . The same guy who denigrates john mccain, its not only wrong, its unamerican. It never changes. The maga extremists have made it clear where they stand. The challenge for the rest of america, for the majority of americans is to make clear where we stand. Do we still believe in the constitution . Do you believe in the basic decency and respect . Understand the threats to our democracy. Your takeaway from bidens speech today . What did you think . I thought the speech was good and necessary. Its always good to hear joe biden hitting these themes. He should hit them loud and more frequently. Theres nothing about raising the stakes of this election and this moment that doesnt play to his advantage to the extent he can get it through to voters who are out there who are persuadable. The other thing, the fact that this was tied to as biden called him, his friend and former adversary, john mccain, is important historically. Its eight years ago when donald trump arrived on the National Political scene and did the first thing that made the collective conventional wisdom in every establishment, every pundit say, he is done. He attacked john mccain for having been captured, for having been a pow. All of us lit our hair on fire and said, he is finished. You cant, as a republican, attack a veteran, attack a wounded warrior, Attack Someone who is a pow, john mccain, for god sakes. Not only did he survive, but he got more popular on the other side of it. People scratched their heads and said, how can this be in this Republican Party . Eight year later, he has continued along that line, consistently, these comments about mark milley, as you said before. We heard things like this consistently over the last eight years. The normalization of Political Violence, which starts with the normalization of Political Violence rhetoric. Joe biden asked, was my son a sucker . Was john mccain a sucker . In Donald Trumps head, they were suckers. He made that very clear. There has been no political cost for him. You could argue donald trump is more popular in the Republican Party, more powerful and popular than he has ever been over eight years. That raises pretty profound questions not just about donald trump but about the totality of the Republican Party, which in any generation prior, that position would have consigned you to the dust bin of history. Instead, it made donald trump into the leader of a party becoming a cult of personality. Theres no clearer evidence than this. It made the Republican Party a cult of personality because we have seen other republicans echo his comments about again milley. No one has come out condemning this. Reflect on this. Wrongly or rightly, the Republican Party was seen as the promilitary party, coming to the defense of the military, seeking for them more money at every turn. Here you are having leaders of the Republican Party basically calling the leaders of the military traitors. Yeah. The incredibly sad part about that is, theres very little pushback within the Republican Party. What it shows to me is that this party is no longer the party of National Security. They are disqualifying themselves almost on a weekly basis with their antics, this extremism, the fact that they are not able to stand up against Party Leadership like donald trump who are saying these outrageous things against our military. Its not just the rhetoric. Look at tommy tuberville. Look at his actions in holding up 350, almost 400 positions for senior port National Security posts. Look at what they have done here in the house with this antic of Secretary Of Defense austins supposed pay cut. They are consistently willing to throw our National Security under the bus, to throw our military under the bus for purely partisan political purposes. That really hasnt been done before in modern american history. So to see it within the Republican Party that once prided itself on being the party when i grew up, when i was in the military, that was the Party Everybody wanted to be in because they were strong, they were considered the party of the military and veterans. No longer. Now they are the party of trump. We got to make sure that voters know that. Ben, General Milley was asked about his personal safety. Its hard to imagine you would be asking the general about his personal safety. But its something that even mitt romney alluded to in that Profile Piece that was written about him about how some members of his caucus will not vote or did not vote to impeach donald trump because they were afraid for their families. Listen to General Milley talk about this. It almost seems odd to ask this question, because the former Commander In Chief seems to be calling for your execution. Are you worried about your safety . Ive got adequate safety precautions. I wish those comments had not been made, but they were. We will take appropriate measures to ensure my safety and the safety of my family. You know better than most, its hard to recruit people to work in the american government. That pool is shrinking because of the rhetoric, because of whats happening to our politics. Then you see Something Like this and you see that the people that are serving this country in any capacity are literally putting their life on the line to be able to carry out their jobs. Yeah. We have already had incidents of Political Violence in this country. We are Playing With Fire if we think that this volume of rhetoric and this degree of threats is not going to lead a crazy person to try to do something. Theres the danger of something horrific happening to somebody like General Milley, which is extraordinary given this is a man that fought in iraq, put his life at risk. There are stories of him literally putting his life on the line. Now he has to worry about this. Theres something tragic about that. More than that, i think its introducing a level of toxicity that will lead people to think, you know, do i want to retire early or do i want to go for that next job . Do i want to run for office or maybe do i want to go into Something Else . I think its probably filtering out good people who are just taking a look at this and saying, i want no part of it. Probably attracting people who say, im a chaos agent. Put me in, i will serve donald trump. General milley said this is a message donald trump is delivering to over 2 Million People in the military. Part of that message is, trump trying to find maga people and saying, i want you to stand up. When trump comes back, there will be no General Milley. He will make sure he has people in these positions who will do his bidding. Thats what should worry people. If he wins, its not milley and mcmaster and john kelly. Its the nut cases from day one in all these places. John, i have to ask you about the politics of this. When you if you are running for office to beat and defeat donald trump, doesnt it make sense for you to condemn and to highlight the negative things that he is doing . Last night on that republican stage, the nominees standing there, as ben said, whiffing at the chance to condemn donald trump for the commends he made about General Milley, im not asking them to be a profile in courage, but wouldnt you use that opportunity to say, look at this agent, look at this chaos agent, look how crazy he has become, how unhinged that he is calling for the execution of our top general . You would like to think that this would be an example, in the case of the military and particularly the extreme rhetoric that donald trump used against mark milley, that there would be this would be somehow immune from what had been increasingly the laws of republican politics which is that if you attack donald trump, you lose. You think about the republican field. Im out here in los angeles. I was at the debate. There was a little bit more criticism of donald trump, not a moment of it on this front. Not only did the candidates not attack donald trump, criticize him for what he said about milley, but it wasnt the moderators didnt think it was newsworthy enough to raise it in the debate. The reality, if you look at that republican field, the people who decided to take donald trump on, maybe the only one doing a little bit well is chris christie, there is not a market in the Republican Party today this is what the cult of personality is. Theres not a market for taking on donald trump. I would say, its the right thing to do to criticize donald trump on this front, not politically, but moralmorally, trying to reform the Republican Party. What it is not they are not wrong if they are judging that attacking donald trump will not be to their political benefit. Theres no evidence that criticizing donald trump is the way to win in this republican nomination fight. Thats incredibly sad and tragic. I dont condone it, but i understand what these weak individuals up there are thinking. I cant take a big swing at donald trump or im going to lose. Apparently, they think losing matters more than their ethics and their principals and their party and their country. Besides the speech that we heard today from President Biden, one thats crystallizing what 2024 is going to be about, protecting and saving our democracy, what do democrats have to do to really ground and make central this theme of the extremism, the maga extremism has arrived in america, and it is now at our doorstep . I think theres a lot democrats can do. I agree with john. I think the challenge is that the republicans who are not attacking trump or milley, they are losing anyway. You have mitt romney saying im not going to vote for joe biden and im not going to vote for trump. You can lose and have a conscience or not. I think something will happen like tommy tuberville. I can tell you, if that happened if a democratic senator was doing that, the Republican Party would put money behind it. The president would be out there regularly talking about it. They would fly to Base Communities and doing events with people whose promotions are held up, military families. I think that this is politically important. There are not that many voters up for grabs. To put on a political hat for a second, i think there are soft trump voters in places who are veteran, military families, who may agree with trump about a lot of stuff but are uncomfortable about this. Democrats have to make a message to those people. Look at what he is doing. The reality, he is such a chaos agent and that it is a one day story and then it disappears. You have to make this message day in and day out from the party, from paid media, from surrogates out in these communities to these audiences so that this stuff sticks. Its not a free pass where they say insane stuff and not be held accountable. President biden did a good job of setting the table for that message. Our people need to carry it forward. Dont go anywhere. We have more to discuss. When we return, President Biden today paying special tribute to his former Senate Colleague and friend, the late john mccain. Mccains wife and his son will join me live after the break. We will talk to them about what the president said. What the former editor of the Washington Post revealed about the Pressure Campaign his paper was under from trump and his soninlaw Jared Kushner. Kushner pushed to get him fired over the coverage of the russia election interference investigation. What that tells us about how far trump would be willing to go next time around. Having triplets is. Amazing expensive. So, we switched to the bargain detergent, but we ended up using three times as much and the clothes still werent as clean as with tide. So were back with tide, and the clothes are clean again. Do 3x the laundry and get a tide clean. Its got o be tide. Tourists tourists that turn into scientists. Tourists photographing thousands of miles of remote coral reefs. That can be analyzed by ai in real time. So researchers can identify which areas are at risk. And help life underwater flourish. The conversation we had he had with my son, the attorney general of the state of delaware, a decorated major in the u. S. Army, was a guy who spent a year in iraq, about serving in a war overseas, about the courage and battle against the same cancer that took john and my son. Two weeks ago, i thought about john as i was standing in another part of the world, in vietnam. As i stood there paying my respects, i thought about how much i miss my friend. I thought about how much america missed john right now. How much america needed johns courage and foresight and vision. I thought about what john stood for, what he fought for, what he was willing to die for. I thought about what we owed john, what i owed him. The linchpin of the president s remarks today on democracy, the late senator john mccain, a man for whom one could freely quibble on matters of policy, but never, ever on questions of patriotism, the rule of law, the promise of americas democracy. Of course, the big announcement today, new funding to construct a pridentialstyle Mccain Library and museum in partnership with the Mccain Institute and arizona state. Joining us, his wife and his son. Its great to have both of you with us. Ambassador, let me start with you. Give us an idea of how you felt today. The president of the United States speaking of your husband and the legacy that he left behind in such glowing terms, now opening this library. Well, first of all, im so glad to have been here today. I was deeply humbled, deeply honored by not just the president coming here but the kind words that he had to say about my husband. The two of them were such great friends. Through the years worked together on many different issues, disagreed on many issues. It was always for the good of the country, never for the good of any one person. Jack, your thoughts on hearing the president today speak about your father and the Important Role he plays and occupies in our countrys collective conscience. He articulated not just their friendship but most importantly the symbolism thats the legacy of my father. Those are very potent but also always an important reminder. We are very grateful for his words and for his presence here in arizona. Ambassador, when people think of your husband, there is a bygone sense of bipartisanship, especially when it comes to broader american themes, liberty, the rule of law, honest patriotism. I would see senator mccain and senator biden on many trips to the middle east. Are we missing that kind of bipartisanship in this country . What do you make of where we are as a country politically speaking . No doubt we are missing it. The idea that working together seems to have disappeared someplace. What johns legacy will do and what this library will represent are just those ideals. We are not just working together but ethics, having a good Moral Compass about what you do. The decisions being made are good for the country, not necessarily good for the person. Doing the right thing. Its those things that i think we are missing right now. Also, i believe that this library can be influential in reminding people of the importance of them. Expand on that, jack. Your family has a storied history in the military. You are a fourth generation naval officer. You fly helicopters. You have been an advocate for helping afghan refugees. Theres no doubt thats an extension of your dads legacy of service. How would you say that legacy will be reflected in this new library . Absolutely. If you could break the library down into a single phrase, it would be his mantra, which was, service to a cause greater than your selfinterest. Service takes many forms, whether thats civil, military, all the way down to volunteering at an animal shelter. The inspiration is a willingness to serve your community and your country. Thats the unequivocal one line tag for you. It also will help represent arizona here at home and in the United States at large and in the world. It will be a place where leaders can come not just to debate but to find common ground, but to Work Together to help support the ideas that underpin our democracy. Jack, im curious to get your thoughts as someone who has served but also about your father who heroically served as well. What do you think your father would have said about the comments directed towards general mark milley and he be executed for the treason that donald trump accuses him of . As somebody who still serves, i have to refrain from making any commentary. Mostly, i just i think that he would have much to say, but i would never put words in his mouth. He would be upset with me about that. Absolutely. Correctly so. Let me ask you, ambassador, if i could point that question to you. What do you think your late husband would say about general mark milley be the target of those comments from the former president . His attitude would be just as i had said before, is that none of this is good for the country. The best thing we can do is to get back to business as usual, try to make sure the decisions that are made and the laws that are passed are for the good of the country and not for the good of one person. Never forgetting that character matters. Character matters in our leaders. We should demand that. President biden, ambassador, used the backdrop of the Mccain Library to call on all of us to be engaged and drawing a stark contrast of what is at stake. Do you plan on being a voice in the 2024 election . Can people expect to hear from you in some capacity with President Biden poised to run against donald trump once again . As you said, i am the Executive Director of the world food program. Thats a u. N. Agency. By mandate, im not nonpolitical. I work for the good of the world in trying to feed people who are starving to death. Fair enough. I want to play a bit more of the president today. There was an important story that he told at the beginning of his remarks. It was about after his return from vietnam. John mccain, the military man, assigned to accompany lawmakers. He and senator biden stopped in hawaii on the way to the destination. I will let the president take it from here. The chief of Naval Operations was there. They did an event. John kept looking at your mom. Im serious. He said, god, shes beautiful. I said, she is, john. I said, go say hi to her. No, no, no. I wont go into more detail. I insisted they meet. I take credit. I take credit. I just told your mom. [ applause ] john and i had something in common. We both married way above our station. Way above our station. Ambassador, can you confirm the details of that story, if they are true, or how do you describe that moment . I do remember it like it happened yesterday. Yes, both he and his wife came over to me and said, you have got to meet this guy. You have got to. They basically drug him over. Of course, i was standing there. The rest is history, as you would say. It was a Chance Meeting and one i will forever be grateful to the president and the first lady for. We are forever grateful for your husband and his service. Thank you to the both of you for spending time and sharing your thoughts with us today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amy, john and ben, thank you for spending time with us. When we return, we have heard the disgraced expresident threaten removing networks, including this one, off the air should he win a second term. We are getting new details about a Pressure Campaign run by his soninlaw against the Washington Post against its russia coverage. That after a quick break. Cover. That after a quick break this is Spring Semester at fairfieldsuisun unified. They switched to google tools for education because theres never been a reported Ransomware Attack on a chromebook. Now theyre focused on learning knowing that their data is secure. listen, your deodorant just has to work. I use secret aluminum free. Just swipe and it lasts all day. Secret helps eliminate odor, instead of just masking it. And hours later, i still smell fresh. Secret works ohhh yesss. I have moderate to severe crohns disease. Now, theres skyrizi. Ohhh yesss. 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I do think that he is going to be on an offensive. If he were to be reelected, i think he is going to whatever he wants in order to continue to push his own personal agenda. That was former cia director john brennan warning about the dangers of a second trump term. It comes amid new attacks by the disgraced expresident on journalists. Trump attacking the Parent Company of our network and of nbc saying it, quote, should be investigated for its country threatening treason, presumably for reporting the truth about him, and promised to deliver on such an investigation if elected. New reporting about how far the Trump Administration went in attacking a free press during his first term raised concerns that he would go further if reelected. In a new book, they detail how Jared Kushners efforts to get the man fird due to the investigation of the russia teerence. Ence the post won a pulitzer for that coverage. Joining our conversation, Charlie Sykes and former fbi counterintelligence agent peter struck. Peter, you were a key part of the mueller investigation. Talk to me a moment about what it feels like to see members of the Trump Administration and his family blatantly misrepresent the results of that investigation in an effort to silence journalists and get them fired. I conducted investigations in washington for a long time. The idea that somebody from the administration would try to put pressure on the media to sway the coverage is nothing new. Whats so absolutely different about donald trump is that this went well beyond trying to sway coverage. It absolutely involves demonstrated acts of violence in the past. Theres an individual who is in jail right now, convicted because he sent a number of explosive devices to enemies of trump, including to cnn. This isnt some hypothetical, when donald trump says this is treasonous behavior on the part of your Parent Company, when Jared Kushner goes out and says there needs to be a reckoning based on the Washington Post coverage, which they won a pulitzer. It came about as part of the coverage. Mueller convicted many people. This is not some fake news. This is not a hoax. The notion there would be this sort of pressure from both the president s soninlaw and a senior white house official in the context of this violence is troubling. This isnt a hypothetical. Theres nothing hidden about what donald trump is going to do. He is saying it clearly. I think he would all need to be ready for the potential for more violence, specifically, unfortunately, targeting the media. Charlie, i want to read another quote from the book. We were not just the enemy, we were the countrys enemy, in his telling. Hold on. I lost track of that here. We were not just the enemy, we were the country enemy. We were traitors less than a month into his presidency. Trump denounced the press as the enemy of the American People on twitter. Obviously, trump has always celebrated the physical assault of journalists. If he were bold enough to do that in his first term, what do you think he will do in his second term . I agree with peter. The president the former president is making it clear what he intends to do. Intends to use the power of government to go after his critics. Theres a long history a flashback to watergate. They threatened Carl Bernstein that if they ran a story about the coverup. Katherine graham would get her a graphic part of her anatomy caught in a fat wringer if thats published. The nixon folks wanted to threaten the Washington Post, but there were guardrails. They didnt have a Political Party that would stand in lockstep. Fast forward to now, this longstanding fantasy of going after the media, punishing them, putting them out of business could become a reality in a trump 2. 0presidency, because the Republican Party will not push back. He will use the powers of the presidency to get the state against his enemies. This is part of Donald Trumps pattern that he discredits, vilifies and then he tries to use his power to undermine them. He has done that very effectively with the mainstream media. He is doing it now with the criminal Justice System and the courts. In 2024, one of the big tests is whether those institutions will stand up against this obvious and very unsubtle attack. We are just getting Breaking News out of Fulton County, georgia. We need to fit in a quick break. We will have that when we come back. A quick break. We will have that when we come back yeah, most scented stuff gives me a headache, but this is just right. And i dont like anything. But i like this. 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His lawyer said its based on his confidence that his Honorable Court intends to fully and completely protect his constitutional right to a fair trial and guarantee him due process of law throughout the prosecution of the case in the superior court of Fulton County, georgia. Joining me at the table to help us break all of this down, legal analyst lisa rubin, charlie and peter are still with us. Lisa, give me the takeaway from this. Was it a surprise . What does it mean . I think it will be a surprise to many people. Its not a surprise to me. If you watched the removal proceedings, there have been three, they have been one disaster after another after another. Mark meadows is now appealing that ruling to the 11th circuit. The briefing was completed earlier this week. Donald trumps lawyer has been in court for each of those arguments. He understands that in order to get removal, it is nearly impossible to do without marshalling a bunch of evidence on your behalf. The defendants who didnt take the stand on their own behalf didnt have a prayer. Mark meadows even had a shred of luck to have it removed. Donald trump is facing enough criminal exposure that taking the stand would not be well advised. What do you make of the quote that i read that part of the reason he believes he is going to keep it in Fulton County as opposed to a federal judge is because he thinks he will get a fair trial in Fulton County. Implying that he initially didnt think that was the case. Im not sure that that was the case. I think this is part of it for him. One of the tradeoffs with speed for donald trump he didnt know how quickly Fulton County was going to move. There was a thought that the federal courts would move more slowly and would be a more hospitable place for a federal immunity defense that donald trump and mark meadows are thinking about trotting out. Now that they see that Fulton County will not move with speed we will see a trial by the, get a donald trump, it would not surprise me at all, will pass the election. He looks forward to the due process, which might be code for we intend to file challenge motions at every single possible moment to slow this down. He has a tough row to hoe either way, but is that you can get anything in Fulton County, well after the election next year. All right, peter strzok, Charlie Sykes, lisa rubin, thank you for spending time with us on this Breaking News story. We will squeeze in a quick break and be right back. Largest National Provider network. Only from unitedhealthcare. Children are the greatest joy and our best hope for a better future. Friends, they are the future. But did you know that millions of kids right here in our own backyard are facing hunger every day without healthy food . Its harder to grow, to thrive, to feel their best. The impact when children dont have enough to eat is tremendous because when youre hungry and your basic needs arent being met, you cannot learn. Thats why im here now, asking you to join me in helping end child hunger in america. This is a problem we know how to solve, and we can do it better by supporting no kid hungry for just 0. 63 a day, only 19 a month. You can help provide healthy meals like a Good Breakfast in class to power kids through their days. Breakfast in the classroom contributes to kids being more focused, which leads to higher grades. Test scores, and simply just their wellbeing. Ensuring all kids get a Good Breakfast and other nutritious food is a beautiful thing. Its a game changer and you can help make it happen. When you join me in supporting no kid hungry today, that food is not just food. Its energy, health, confidence, hope and even love. Yes, love. So please call now or go online to helpnokidhungry. Org, right now. Give 19 a month, only 0. 63 a day. And when you use your credit card, youll get this special team tshirt to show that youre helping kids build a Brighter Future for themselves. Thank you. Families are struggling to make ends meet. These are hard times, but together we can help connect americas kids with meals. So please call now or go online to give. Thank you. No, ladies and gentlemen, your eyes and ears are not deceiving you, yes, that was, indeed, secretary of state anthony blinking, bringing down the house with a surprise performance of muddy waters gucci gucci man. It was a state department wanting at global news and diplomacy initiative, which is meant to elevate music as a diplomatic tool to promote peace and democracy as a for the United States broader Foreign Policy goals according to the department and if you want to hear more from our talented secretary of state, you can check out his spotify, where he has released multiple songs under the name abe lincoln. Happy listening. 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