inside the memoir are a ton of revelation, including this one, to perk up the ears of prosecutors and jack smith's office. cheney reveals mccarthy told her two days after the election he talked to trump and trump acknowledged he had lost the 2020 election. he needs to go through all the stages of grief, he said. cheney writes, she thought to herself those stages seemed to involve tweeting in all caps. we all know what happened after the election. donald trump fights desperately to overturn his election defeat. kevin mccarthy enabled him every step of the way. liz cheney says about the current speaker, cheney recounts how johnson pressured members to throw out election results from four states trump had lost. when i confirmed with him the flaws in his legal argument, he would say something to effect of, we just need to do this one last thing for trump. according to cheney, that effectively became the republican party ice agenda. here's what happened just before the capitol was attacked on the 6th. "cheneib a scene in the goploak room where members were encouraged to sign their names on electoral vote election sheets, lined up on the table for each state the rns were contesting. most members knew it was a farce and another display of fealty to donaldtrump. among them was mark green of tennessee. he moved down the line, signing his name to the pieces o paper, green said sheepishly to no one in particular, "the things we do for the orange jesus." in the aftermath of the insurrection, cheney's vote to impeach the ex-president and her refusal to back down from that vote cost her her position in republican leadershi her seat in congress. her conclusion now, "i am very sad to say that america can no longer count on aody of elected rnso protect our republic. every one ofus, republican, democrat, independent, must work and vote together tonse that donald trump and those who have appeased, enabled, and collaborated with him are defeated. this is the cause of our time." and that is where we start this hour with "washington post" congressional investigation reporter jackie aluma knicks. and charlie sykes. with me at the table for the hour, "new york times" editorial board member mara gay. first to the former member of the january 6th select committee adam schiff, also running for congress. what is your reaction to what cheney is saying about her former colleagues? >> it goes to a fundamental truth of the last six years, whiches that donald trump could not have done any of the damage that he inflicted, the tearing down of our institutions, the causing americans to distrust our election process, weakening the foundation of our system, and that is voting, but for the willing enablement of so many of her colleagues in congress. one of the terrible realizations of these years is how many enablers there were and how few people of courage and conviction there were also. and it gets to a fundamental truth that the historian robert carroll once described in an interview, when he said the power doesn't corrupt as much as it reveals. it doesn't always reveal the best, but it says a lot about who we are. it revealed liz cheney and adam kinzinger to be people of great power and conviction, but there were also literally 100 kevin mccarthys and alese stefaniks. this has put our democracy in peril. >> cheney describes a caucus often in fear of donald trump. i want to read a particularly telling bit from cnn's reporting about thebook. "she recounts gop colleagues, who she doe't name, told her he knew what trump had doneas impeachable, but he wasfrai that voting to imped t his wife and new babn danger. i abs understood his fear," she writes, "but i also thought perhaps you need to be in another job." congressman, you're no stranger to threats or intimidation, particularly because of the stance you have taken against the ex-president. do you share liz cheney's attitude on this, which is, if you can't stand the heat, get out the kitchen? >> absolutely. you know, you're right, this is a very dangerous trend we have seen of increasing acceptance and advocacy of political violence i think egged on by the former president. but if you're not willing to do your job, even when it involves getting threatened, then you better find another job right now, because there are things more important and standing up for our constitution and defending your responsibilities and, you know, living up to your oath of office is the most important. i remember speaking toed a adkinsing her, and he was saying that people keep saying liz and i are so courageous. it's not that we're so courageous, but we're surrounded by cowards. i think what we've come to learn is we knew inherently that courage can be contagious, but we also found during these years is so can cowardice. no one would speak out. there was this herd mentality, and there still is, people afraid of donald trump, unwilling to do the right thing when they know the right thing because they're either in fear of their personal safety or, more often, just the pedestrian concern over whether they get to keep their job. and, you know, for those members, i would just say there are more important things than keeping your job. being able to look at yourself in the mirror is one of them. >> let's pick up on that thread, because there is an anecdote that is reported by cnn out of cheney's memoir where she talks about the fact there was resistance on the part of some democrats adding their names to the 1/6 committee. nancy pelosi's staff and cheney's retelling hands her a list of all of the perhaps critical things that cheney had said about pelosi in the last year. pelosi said, so, why are you wasting my time? cheney said she has admiration for pelosi's leadership, she agrees with pelosi on the one thing that matters most. raskin has said much the same. they do agree on safeguarding democracy. is there a cross party coalition for democracy? what would it look like for a group of republicans and democrats to come together on this core issue? >> well, it would look, i think, a lot like the january 6th committee. i love that anecdote about nancy pelosi, because it's so classic nancy pelosi. it doesn't matter what liz may have said in the past. what matters and mattered to nancy pelosi is, is she the right person for this committee to do this work, and she clearly was. you know, but for adam and liz on that committee, none of these witnesses would have come forward. what made the hearing so power successful almost all were republicans that came forward because of liz and adam. with the leadership of bennie thompson, we worked together, notwithstanding, you know, deep ideological differences that each of us had with each other. i never thought i would be singing so many praises of a cheney before, but i came to deeply respect her, and i think that was very mutual in terms of all of us on the committee. so, i think there certainly is a cross-party nonpartisan coalition devoted to our constitution. you see a lot of republicans out of office, speaking in the same way that liz is, and i wish there were more people in elected positions of power willing to do that as well. >> congressman adam schiff, as always, thank you so much for spending time with us and getting us started. i want to bring in charlie and turn to you. talk about where we are today. there are multiple gag orders where trump's attorneys are saying he's not responsible for how his supporters interpret what he says, cheney says. a republican member of congress more than two years ago feared for his family if he voted to impeach. that congressman knew exactly how dangerous trump's rhetoric was. you can see the chilling effect that comes from the fear of knowing you could end up on the side of his wrath. >> there's nothing theoretical about all of this. we've gone through all of this. we've seen what's happened on january 6th. we've seen incidents of political violence around the country. we know what the temperature is. you know, this goes back to this notion that if you just humor donald trump that somehow everything will be okay. and yet after all these years, and i think this is what's so important about liz cheney coming out with this book now, she reminds us of the price of that kind of appeasement, that kind of self-rationalization, and what it can lead to. make no mistake about it, unless donald trump is held accountable, what happened on january 6th, 2021, is basically a rehearsal for what might be coming if, in fact, donald trump continues to tear everything down and ratchet up the kind of rhetoric that we're seeing on a daily basis now. >> liz cheney has said a lot about republican politics. this also reads as an eyewitness account of what happened before, during, and after january 6th. is liz cheney a potential witness for the prosecution? >> that's a really good question and one that i think i haven't even given much thought to since we know that there have been so many people who have cooperated with the committee and now jack smith's team in terms of -- as they've conducted their investigation and pressed criminal charges against the former president for his efforts to overturn the results of the election. that includes some of the people who were closest to him. at the end of the day, liz cheney was in the chamber and privy to interesting closed-door conversations that she's now extremely far from. but in those days following january 6th, she feels on a lot of these conference calls with kevin mccarthy. she was talking with mccarthy about, you know, his views of the president, the former president, and what he had done, how he bore responsibility for january 6th, all these thingss gone into further detail in her book. although i'm not necessarily sure she could add to the criminal case against trump, and there seems to be a lot of other people like his former white house counsel, people who were providing things to him on the outside, parent of these off-the-rails meetings we've all covered now repeatedly. they happened in the oval office ahead of the certification. people like john eastman, who i think lended themselves to providing more evidence that's more pertinent to the criminal case at hand. >> we've talked a lot about members of the house of representatives, but also words liz cheney has for members of the u.s. senate, specifically mitch mcconnell, who she accuses of flip-flopping on the trump impeachment. is is from cnn's reporting. "cheney writes mcconnell was firm in his view that trump i like where i am, he told her, according to the book, following news reports that he was contemplating voting to convict trump. mcconnell later changed course, apparently because h believed trump would jade away after 2020. leader mcconnell, who had made a career out of savvy political calculation and behind-the-scenes maneuvering, got this one wrong." the consequences of his having gotten that wrong. >> right. not just about him getting it wrong. i think the thing that's powerful about liz cheney's story and her book is the idea that she's not just taking us into, you know, what donald trump's head space may have been. she's taking into the kind of head space, if you will, of the entire republican party, an apparatus, and of the american institutions at the heart of congress, at the heart of democracy. she's kind of giving us a blow by blow of what went wrong, what went right, what could have gone even worse if a couple people hadn't stood up and did the right thing on january 6th. so i think it's really important because we do get fixated, understandably, on the former president himself, but the attempted coup on january 6th, and frankly in the weeks earlier, it wasn't just one person. it wasn't just the president. there were accomplices. and i think that she really gives us a sense of why that institution, meaning the republican party, you know, broke down and, you know, the failures of courage on many levels, and mitch mcconnell of course did come out after january 6th and had strong words in support of democracy. and then, you know, those flip-flops were extremely damaging to democracy as well, and i think that liz cheney is essentially kind of a rabbi in this story that can get very complicated. she's a truth teller. it reminds me of cassidy hutchinson, the former white house aide, who testified in the january 6th committee, because no one can tell a story more powerfully than republicans themselves who were there at the table in the room, and they have a certain credibility. also, this election next year is likely to be decided by voters in just a handful of states. so, you do wonder if there are republicans, moderate republicans out there, who read that book and may think, i just can't vote for trump again. i may not like joe biden, but -- you know, this book could make a difference. >> especially, charlie, as part of the republican theory of the case as cheney outlined, is this idea that eventually it would fade away, go away. it hasn't. in part because there have not been institutional republicans who have been willing to continuously beat the drum on this. i want you to listen to in message former president george w. bush sent after cheney voted to impeach trump. he wrote, "liz, courage is in short supply these ys. thank you for yours. you showed strong leadership, and i'm not surprised. lead on. 43." what does it say about the gop that the last republican president sent a message of support for his republican successor? >> that's extraordinary. it says a lot that, you know, the previous republican nominee for president, mitt romney, is saying that he's willing to vote for a democrat over donald trump. so, this is what liz cheney -- this is the significance of liz cheney, and maya is absolutely right. it's worth remembering, even though, you know, a lot of this is not new, that this is a cheney. this is liz cheney. this is somebody who was a deeply conservative republican who was in the leadership of the house of representatives. she is within that world. and so many of the voices that are coming out now are the people who are, you know, in the white house, who were part of trump's team, his former secretary of defense, his attorney general, his national security adviser. all of these people saying to the american people, look, remember what happened. this is what we saw. this is the danger that donald trump poses. maya is absolutely right. there is a real significance about the challenge that they are opposing to members of their own party. are you going to continue to look the other way? are you going to continue to enable this? because it's not just same old, same old. it's not just rewarding donald trump for what he's done, because donald trump is escalating. trump 2.0 is not the same as trump 1.0. trump is raising the stakes all the time. so, therefore, the moral challenge to republicans who see what's going on, who know what's going on, but have refused to speak ut, i think is becoming greater and greater all the time. so i think the fact that liz cheney, liz cheney, of all people, is going to be front and center once again is crucial at this particular moment. i think the republican party has already made the decision that it is, you know, trump all the way down, but they won't be able to do it without having her voice in their ear saying, okay, remember what you claimed to stand for, remember why you got into politics in the first place, and remember when you once thought that the country was more important than your own personal ambition. >> like a little jimmy cricket on their shoulder. let's talk about one of the most jaw-dropping anecdotes in the book, involving mccarthy's decision to visit trump at mar-a-lago three weeks after the january 6th attack. you will recall this photo of the two of them. cheney confronted mccarthy about the meeting. there it is. here's whappened. "mar-a-lago, wt the hell, kevin? they're reallyrried, mccarthy said. trp'not eating, so they asked me to come see him. you went to mar-a-lago because trump's not eating? yeah, he's really greszed, mccarthy said." if only kevin mccarthy was as worried about democracy, jackie, as he was about trump being too depressed to eat. >> yeah. kevin mccarthy has often found himself, as have other republicans in this place where we had to explain the discrepancy between his closed-door tough talk on the former president to his colleagues versus his actual real-life behavior and continued fealty towards trump that he demonstrated in real time while claiming otherwise. cheney obviously, you know, saw right through what mccarthy was claiming here, and i think we should note that at the end of the day not only was this moment a moment that not just liz cheney but others credited as the sort of singular act that brought trump back into the fold post january 6th, after mccarthy had previously been leading the charge against trump on these private conversations and in these private conference calls, saying that he singularly bore responsibility for encouraging his supporters to storm the capitol on january 6th. but then, posing for that picture with him, the both of them, was sort of the start of the rehabilitation tour that trump went on where he quickly became once again the de facto leader of the republican party. we should note that this loyalty to trump at all costs, as cheney outlines, there are these different reasons why people, you know, go against their morals and what they're privately feeling in order to back him and support him, whether it's the threat of violence or the desire to hang on to power, it does not pay off in the end. kevin mccarthy threw trump a lifeline, and when mccarthy needed it in return, when we needed the former president to call off matt gaetz and the other hard-line republicans from moving forward with their pledge to oust him as speaker, trump was nowhere to be found. he was fairly silent on social media, and this was a decision that matt gaetz later said that him and trump were aligned on in terms of removing mccarthy from power because he was -- had demonstrated some things that were insufficiently loyal to trump. >> if you have enjoyed this conversation about liz cheney's new book, we want you to know that liz cheney is going to join rachel maddow for her first primetime interview about her new book monday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern. and this is news. nicolle will be back here on tuesday for an extended interview with cheney live in studio, one day and one day only. she is back tuesday, december 5th, on "deadline: white house." she'll talk to liz cheney about her new book, "oath and honor." not to be missed. thank you to our guests. when we come back, the civil fraud trial continues. on the stand today was the contact between donald trump and all those loans deutsche bank vouched for. the key bank erp at the heart of his empire very connected to the trumps. we'll tell you what she had to say. and the truce between israel and hamas is due to end shortly. talks are continuing to end the pause in fighting as more hostages are released tonight, including one american. a live report from the region coming up. later in the show, another warning of america's tilt towards authoritarianism from someone who's seen much of it up close. one federal judge on what is to come if the big lie is allowed to persist. 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( ♪ ♪ ) what causes a curve down there? who can treat this? stop typing, and start talking. it could be a medical condition called peyronie's disease, or pd. you're not alone, there is hope. find a specialized urologist who can diagnose and treat pd. visit makeapdplan.com today. it was an especially crucial remarkable day in perhaps the ex-president's most deeply personal trial that threatens to bring down the trump organization. the testimony from his longtime banker, the former deutsche bank executive who oversaw more than $300 million of loans for trump at a time when many banks were refusing to do business with him. it was 2011, the start of an unusual business relationship and a decade in which the new york attorney general says the trump family inflated their net worth to deceive banks and insurers. today in a civil fraud trial in new york, she appeared far less enthusiastic about her relationship with trump, who today she called merely a customer. but at the time, she krld him such a big guest at the bank she called it, quote, whale hunting. szanne from "the new york times" is back. and stephanie ruhle is here. mara is back with us too. what did we learn from this witness today? >> well, i think we heard that deutsche bank had a great relationship with donald trump and really valued him. it goes to the fact that they, you know, were happy with him, the loans were performing, so kind of, you know, the same no harm, no foul defense that we've been hearing. it doesn't mean of course that statutes weren't violated, but the talk was very much that they were happy with him. i have to tell you, i keep thinking about the testimony over the last few days from these bankers at deutsche bank, and i have to just say i am not surprised they are here today. and this relationship goes back far further than when rosemary, the banker who was up today, was introduced to deutsche bank in 2020 lech. deutsche bank has been involved with donald trump since the 1990s, starting with 40 wall street. it was the first loan they extended to him. and in 2008, they got into a huge fight with him over the chicago loan to the point where donald trump sued them during the middle of the financial crisis. his loan for the tower in chicago that he was building was due to be paid. he was renegotiating it. it was in the middle of the financial crisis. as they were renegotiating, he slapped them with a lawsuit, essentially blaming them for the financial crisis. the bank was so upset at the time, they renegotiated it, but they said we are never doing business with this guy again. they were so burned that this customer would sue them, they said forget it. lo and behold, three years later, another arm of the bank looking for profit, looking for, you know, a customer, i guess a whale as it was put today, got back into bed with him and not only loaned on the chicago tower but did other loans with him. and, you know, lo and behold, i just can't say i'm surprised that, you know, these loans, they were performing, but the fact they ended up again sort of in a mess in court because of donald trump isn't surprising. i think it's just important to understand the arc of this relationship, that it didn't just start in 2011 with deutsche bank and donald trump. >> right, because there's deutsch, then this specific relationship with her. >> this tomfoolery is straight-up nonsense. susanne has it right. the institutional side of the bank since the '90s were doing business with trump. why? deutsche bank didn't have a presence in the u.s. when they wanted a big presence here, how about the big circus business guy, donald trump? he's a name. so the institutional -- >> and they thought he would bring in other names. >> not in the beginning. but he's a anymore, people know him. the institutional side starts to do business with him, right? he then starts to really insulate his net worth and he says to them, after he's done "the apprentice" and he's getting successful again, here's my worth. they laughed him out of the building. they are like get the h-e-double hockey stick out of this building and never come back. he basically walks in the side door to the private wealth management side of the bank because jared kushner knows rosemary, and she says, yes, let's do business together. it's absolute nonsense about today, rosemary saying, listen, i was whale hunting, which is possible because in private wealth management, deutsche bank wasn't especially good, people didn't know them as a household name, and donald trump could be a name. they could have him at events, at big golf outings. but the absolute nonsense in the whale hunting, she was wasn't a saleswoman at sac's looking for somebody with an american express black card, okay? there are strict rules and regulations, right? the banking industry is one of the most highly regulated industries in the world, okay. she had to take a number of licensing exams, right? kyc -- know your client. this idea of hunting for whales, after you hunt that whale, there's an enormous amount of due diligence that has to happen where the bank figures out if that whale has real meat on the bone to do business with or if it's just a bunch of blubber. for rosary to say, golly gee, i didn't know, baloney. she did know. she brought this client into the bank, and she is responsible for knowing if that was good business. she's out there going, they were just another customer. come on, now. >> is that part of why she seemed so uncomfortable on the stand? >> she seemed so uncomfortable because, let me tell you, she was not a household name in that company. she was not a name anyone in senior management even knew, okay? i knew people from the basement to the c-suite. she wasn't a name you knew. yet now, she is going to go down in history forever linked to donald trump and deutsche bank. >> she might not have been a household name, but sue, you had an interview in 2016, trump incorrectly referred to her as the head of deutsche bank, she is the boss, mr. trump said, so clearly, it was his impression that she was running the show. >> sure she was. she added hundreds of millions of dollars worth of loans. jared kushner was involved in a transaction years ago where he owned part of the business that rosemary and other deutsche bank employees bought an apartment from him. that is an enormous conflict of interest. yet that happened and the bank's going, golly gee, we didn't know. nonsense. >> back to 2011, donald trump had other banks, we're not doing business with this guy. >> it takes me back to 2008 and the collapse of the world market, because i don't know that we talk enough about the larger story here, which is that wall street and the banks, though highly regulated, essentially helped make this enormous threat to democracy. i mean, they backed this fantasy that this was a man who was a successful businessman, who clearly was a showman and continues to be, but none of it was real. and piece by piece, we're sieging the dominos fall in this civil trial. it feels all kind of smoke and mirrors. and yet, wall street backed him and backed this fantasy. i do think that there's not enough conversation about the moral failure, not that you're going to take that to the bank. >> in 2008, it wasn't just the business they did with deutsche bank. the entire banking industry sold america a bill of goods that everyone should own a home, and they got people tangled in subprime mortgages. many of those people still aren't out from under it. this was all part of a greater scheme that the banking industry said, yes, let's extend these loans to people we shouldn't. >> there's going to be a great segment on the 11th hour. >> sue, before i let you go, i have to get you in here. your sense of what we can expect from this trial in the closing weeks, specifically the defense closing with testimony from trump himself. >> next week we have coming up, i think eric trump will be the noteworthy witness, and well eel hear more about how much deutsche bank valued the trumps and how great the relationship was. it's going to be more of the same. i think with donald trump, i think we're going to see probably a pretty accurate replay of what we saw when he first took the stand, which was he is the victim here, people were out to get him, he had a great relationship with the banks, all the loans were paid back. and, you know, his assets i think tell us a lot about how they're not just -- you know, he wasn't undervaluing him. they were worth way more than his financial statements. but even if you want to go beyond that, you know, there was disclaimers in it, and he just relied on professional advice to put them together. so he's got nothing to do with it essentially. then we're heading into closing arguments coming that week, so, december 11th, 12th. we may not get closing argumentses that week but probably the week after. >> all going to be watching. susanne, craig, rueful rule thanks for spending time with us. up next, the man leading the house republican caucus is perhaps trying to avoid the expulsion vote for george santos. what is holding it up and what when will it happen? 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[rewind sound] before advil: [grunts] oh. advil dual action back pain fights back pain two ways. for 8 hours of relief. the one person who perhaps represents the chaos that has come to define the republican house, new york congressman george santos is gearing up for possible expulsion as the house is set to debate the resolution tomorrow with a potential vote on friday. santos has not been victim of a crime, but he faces 23 federal charges including fraud, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft. it appears the tide may have turned against santos after house ethics committee published its scathing report on how santos used campaign money to fund his lavish lifestyle. the congressman told reporters he expects to be ousted. while republican speaker mike johnson has not whipped the votes for expulsion, he told reporters today he directed his caucus to vote their conscience. joining us ali vitali and an msnbc political analyst tim miller. mara is also back. ali, doesn't seem like there are enough votes to expel george santos. >> certainly, when i was on that very wild, careening three-hour-long social media conversation that santos convened the day after thanksgiving, he also seems to be under the impression he is about to be expelled from congress. he was defiant in that. he said that he went from being -- his words -- the "it" girl when he was elected to congress to being the mary magdalene of the body. he had a words for his fellow lawmakers, a lot of allegations about the kind of lifestyles they lead in washington. but it all comes down to the fact that santos is very much still the center of this in terms of representing for democrats exactly what you were just saying, which is the idea that republicans are misrepresenting themselves and shaming this institution of congress. but then also for his party, he represents a lot of scandals that they would rather just push past. i mean, think about in january, when they were trying to convene this congress, multiple rounds of voting for then speaker kevin mccarthy, and in the midst of this, every day seems to bring some new revelation about a lie or scandal around george santos. that has not ended, and in fact has only gotten more legally worrisome for him, and now it could culminate in the end of this week with him no longer being a member of congress. there are political ramifications about that we have long talked about on this show, the idea that the republican majority is so slim here that even losing just one republican makes an already difficult job for republican leadership even more difficult. all of that is true. there's also the likelihood this district ultimately turns blue. it was a biden district before that. now, of course, with the sentiment on the ground, it could turn blue after whenever the special election is held. all those things will be the ramifications of expelling him, but certainly we expect that's a very real likelihood. you need two-thirds majority to do it. i think for the people who don't vote to expel, you can look at it less of a vote defending santos and more of a vote just worried about setting the precedent that they can expel lawmakers from this body, which is already difficult to do, but they can do that without the courts having reached their own conclusion, which for santos, the judicial, legal piece of this is still very much alive. >> jamie raskin said i'm a constitutionalist. tim, what does it tell you that the current speaker of the house isn't whipping votes for this but is also telling members do what you have to do? >> well, not exactly a profile in courage, and it's reminiscent of a couple other vote your consciences we've heard from republicans in the last eight years. i remember ted cruz saying that at the 2016 convention and then his conscience ended up leading him to vote for the person who had been helping his wife and his father. mccarthy took the same approach on the vote to overturn the election and ended up with the side that voted to overturn the election based on false premises. i think johnson is essentially, you know, following that path. you know, the situation with santos, he's been kept around by mccarthy because of what ali said, that he needed every vote. i don't think that situation has changed for johnson, but he had his brother to keep him around, but he has other political interests. for everybody else besides johnson, george santos doesn't bring anything to the table. a lot of these guys have had to swallow their pride, swallow their true feelings in order to go along with donald trump and put that donald trump badge on, as stefanik was pushing them to do in the meeting this morning, because donald trump brings them something, political power, voters, support. george santos doesn't bring people anything except for embarrassment. so, you know, there's not a whole lot of reason for them to come to his defense besides his concerns about precedent. i think that's why santos this week is probably going to have to sashay away, to borrow a phrase. >> when you say that, a three-hour twitter speech. don't forget that, tim. this is all a study in contrast. that is at least what is being set up here. so, it strikes me that you have the president today in pueblo, colorado, trying to draw a real distinction between himself and republicans, his administration and republicans going after lauren boebert in particular, the fact that you have these republicans who chose not to vote for federal infrastructure, and yet their districts desperately need it. what strikes me, is i understand this is going to be a presidential election year. there will be a nationalized environment. yet, it would seem that the contrast lands better when you go to a district and say, here is what we want to offer you, and here is what your congress person prioritized instead. >> i think that is in normal times how government works. unfortunately, i think the republican party at this point has proven to be much less interested in governing and delivering for constituents than in kind of fealty as we talked about to not just donald trump but trump voters. there's a lot of fear among republicans. they don't want to be primaried from the right. they don't want to be primaried by trump voters, you know, a mere tweet can send them out of office. that i think that's why we see a lot of strange behavior. even just -- it wasn't that long ago that i remember plenty of republican members of congress who, you know, if you called their office as a constituent, you were going to get the exact same services no matter what your political background was, democratic member of congress, same deal. there was a lot of work going on to deliver for constituents. it seems to be a lot less about that, a lot more about elections, the clown show. i have to say also the george santos situation is interesting because, you know, ultimately, that seat that has slipped the republicans, is, while leaning red, is up for grabs. i think the republicans are essentially saying we want this to be a sure thing. they don't want those headlines on the ground in new york. it is necessarily -- you know, it could flip back to the democrats, especially with new york map changing. so, i honestly think that this has nothing to do with governing. unfortunately, so much of republican politics has nothing to do at this point with policy. so, it's depressing to say that. i think there's a whole conversation about policy going on on the democratic side. and, you know, joe biden has been taking a lot of heat from his base of late on that front. but yet the republican side, it's as though it were on a different planet. >> planet one and planet two, as nicolle would say. ali vitali, tim miller, thanks for spending some time with us. we've got breaking news while we have been on the air. israel has confirmed 14 more hostages have been released by hamas. that includes one american in addition to two women earlier today. the negotiations to extend the cease-fire continues. that breaking news is next. okay, so here's my most requested hack for stubborn odors. you'll need vinegar, a large salad bowl and... oh, hi! have you tried new tide fabric rinse? it works after your detergent to fight deep odors 3 times better than detergent alone. i love that. try new tide fabric rinse. hi, my name is damion clark. if you have both medicare and medicaid, i have some really encouraging news that you'll definitely want to hear. depending on the plans available in your area, you may be eligible to get extra benefits with a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. all of these plans include a healthy options allowance, a monthly allowance to help pay for eligible groceries, utilities, rent, and over-the-counter items. the healthy options allowance is loaded onto a prepaid card each month. and whatever you don't spend, carries over from each month. other benefits on these plans include free rides to and from your medical appointments. and our large networks of doctors, hospitals and pharmacies. so, call the number on your screen now and ask about a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. humana. a more human way to healthcare. ♪♪ lowering bad cholesterol can be hard, even with a statin. diets and exercise add to the struggle. the effort can feel overwhelming. but today, it's possible to go from struggle to cholesterol success with leqvio. taken with a statin, leqvio is proven to lower bad cholesterol by 50%. so, if you feel like you're getting nowhere go with 2 doses a year of leqvio and keep bad cholesterol low. common side effects were injection site reaction, joint pain, and chest cold. when you're ready to go from struggle to cholesterol success talk to your doctor about twice-yearly leqvio to help you lower your cholesterol. lower. longer. leqvio® back with breaking news from the middle east. 14 more hostages have been released from hamas captivity, including one israeli-american citizen, the news coming just minutes before the deadline to extend the truce between hamas and israel is set to expire. among the hostages released today, ten israeli citizens including an american citizen and two israeli russian citizens.expire. ten israeli citizens were released, including the american citizen, four thai and two israeli russian citizens. the american is the second to be freed after 4-year-old abigail over the weekend. we learned the youngest hostage may have been killed. the israeli defense forces said it's evaluating a statement by hamas that three hostages, including 10-month-old kifir and his brother and their mother were killed by israeli air strikes. nbc news is not able to verify the claim. the israeli cabinet is meeting to discuss extending the cease-fire. let's bring in dave noriega in tel aviv. what can you tell us? >> reporter: we are seeing the 14 hostages released means that this additional day of the cease-fire is back on track. there was a long period of time this evening where things were quiet. we saw the release of those two russian israelis that were releases outside of the framework. this additional group has been released. ten israeli citizens, four thai nationals. very importantly within that group of ten israeli citizens, there is one american citizen. that's significant. however, there are still more american citizens captive in gaza. we can expect the u.s. to continue exerting diplomatic pressure to ensure that the cease-fire is extended further and those hostages get out. >> what can you tell us about the tensions within the israeli government regarding a cease-fire? >> the government is facing different competing pressures from a few different directions. there's diplomatic pressure from the united states as well as the other nation states involved in the negotiations, such as qatar and egypt. the u.s. wants to see it goes along as necessary to get the hostages out. from within his own government coalition, netanyahu is facing pressure from the parties that form the far right fringe of the coalition. they said just today that if netanyahu made any deal for an indefinite cease-fire, they would leave the government. therefore, causing the coalition to collapse. netanyahu is unpopular. they are trying to play this in such a way that he is boxed in or corners. lastly, i will say he is facing pressure from the israeli public and from the families of hostages who are still inside the gaza strip who are saying all of the ones that i have spoken to that they want the cease-fire extended as long as necessary to get all of the hostages out. >> we have heard over and over again just how effective those families have been in pressuring the government. earlier today, the world health organization warned given the attacks on gaza's health system, more people could die from disease than bombings. listen to what one doctor had to say. >> when i speak with colleagues, doctors, surgeons in gaza, that's what they say. we don't have the words to describe the suffering. they have no clothes. they have no access to clean water. there are reports of starvation as people wait for a tin of sardines. they have no access to medical care. 75% of all hospitals in the gaza strip are no longer functional. they have been destroyed. there are efforts to justify what is happening right now. there is nothing justifiable about the brutal annihilation of a population's health care system. it's prohibited under international law. >> david, part of the cease-fire was about the exchange of hostages. part of it was also about getting resources and aid into gaza. what would it mean if the bombing were to resume? >> reporter: one of the most important aspects of the cease-fire has been not just the fact that aid has been able to get into the gaza strip, but the fact it's been able to be distributed widely throughout the gaza strip, including in the north where the heaviest of the bombing and the israeli military campaign has been. that is where there are still civilians there. approximately 1.7 million people were displaced into the south. there are 400,000 to 500,000 in the north. they need aid. the world health organization report was eye opening. not only did the cease-fire allow for the entry and distribution of aid, it also allowed for a little bit of the stepping back and assessment of the knock-on affect of the devastation that we are seeing. we were so focused for a long time on the immediate consequences of the bombing and the fighting, the death of people under the rubble, the deaths of women and children. now professionals, people who are assessing this are starting to ask themselves, what will it mean that so much infrastructure has been destroyed, so many hospitals have been rendered inoperable, so many people are without homes and crowded together in camps without proper shelter? the consequences of this, i think, are going to be difficult to measure, difficult to understand for probably years to come. >> those are the structural pieces to say nothing of the traumatic pieces that will ensue. i have 30 seconds left. your sense as you watch the tightrope the u.s. government is trying to walk here. >> i'm taking off my politics hat. i'm looking at the enormity of the suffering that we are seeing. we love seeing the images of israelis and americans and others reuniting with loved ones who have been wrongly taken, kidnapped by hamas. that's a blessing. we are grateful for that as humans. i think just the scale of the suffering in gaza is a lot to take in. there are human beings of every nation and background looking at innocent lives caught in the middle of two governments. i think it's a moment, especially in christmas season, to try and reaffirm the humanity. we don't want to lose that. >> our politics are best when they are informed by our humanity. david, thank you so much. mara, thank you for spending the house with us. a judge's warning about the spread of lies in this country that many let go unchallenged. a quick break for us. we will be right back. a quick break for us we will be right back. 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never concede. it doesn't happen. you don't concede when there's theft. >> i thought i was following my president. i thought i was following what we were called to do. >> what really made me want to come was the fact that i had supported trump all that time. i did believe that the election was being stolen. >> i was hanging on every word he was saying. everything he was putting out, i was following it. >> it's 5:00 in new york. the rioters on january 6, they believed what they were doing was right because they believed fraud had occurred in the election. why? because they were lied to. lied to by the ex-president who in his quest to stay in power spread falsehoods and attempted to undo democracy. last night, someone on the front lines protecting that democracy and america's rule of law made rare remarks about the assault on truth. a judge who was chief judge of d.c.'s federal trial court from 2016 until this past march whe she remains on the bench spoke out. at a gala for a women's lawyer group where she was a recipient of a war, she said, we are having a surprising and troubling moment in this country when the importance of facts is dismissed or ignored. that's risky business for all of us in our democracy. the facts matter. if her name sounds familiar, it's because she presided over the sentencing of many january 6 rioters, where she was very strongly in denouncing their conduct. she believed some of the doj's prosecutions were too lenient she said, let me make my view clear. the rioters were not mere protesters. adherence to the resume of law applied to the former president. she rejected trump's thought and forced mark meadows totestify. last night, s echoed the concerns of other defenders. she said the u.s. is at a crossroads, teetering on the brink of authoritarianism. she warned that big lies are springboards for authoritarians. that is where we start this house with amanda carpenter, frank figliuzzi and with me at the table, former top state department official during the obama administration, msnbc political analyst rick stingle. rick, the judges know they have to be careful, careful with their public opinion. she knew she was putting herself out there by saying this. it speaks to the stakes of the moment. >> yeah. i'm a little perplexed by it. something has changed. i wrote a book about this information called "information wars." wethis idea that facts were something everyone agreed on. today, people feel entitled to their own facts. they can judge their own facts. to say as the judge did -- she deals in facts. if people believe facts rather than lies, this wouldn't happen. with the lies that donald trump has said, there is -- that audience has no repository affect that they can agree on. our job as journalists and reporters and writers is to actually explain why something is the case rather than is not the case. rather than just say something is a fact. facts don't come underlined in yellow. she makes it seem as though they are. that's a higher burden today than there has been before. >> that burden incredibly high. here is the thing. this idea of a set of facts everyone can agree on. donald trump knew that the lies were lies, because the officials around him told him so. take a listen. >> there were isolated instances of fraud. none of them came close to calling into question the outcome of the election in any individual state. >> i made it clear i did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which i told the president was [ bleep ]. >> it's fair so say i agreed with attorney general barr's conclusion on december 1st. yes, i did. i supported that conclusion. >> here is the thing. trump knew the facts. he didn't like them. >> yeah. all those officials told him the facts weren't true. january 6 still happened. i have to think, the judge when she made those remarks, she was being guarded. she sees the consequences of that lie in her court and up front and personal that i don't -- america has grappled with. when she's talking about the rising authoritarian threat. i think she's preparing herself -- we should be prepared for the 2024 election will look like should donald trump become the nominee. facts go out the window in a national way. this will be a campaign where the rule of law is at stake. right now, the courts have per forthed tremendously. they have a huge workload. there's a great piece in the new york times about why we need a rocket docket for cases. there's a precedent with watergate and the 2000 presidential election. we should move cases through. we should also be very clear-eyed about the fact that the rule of law is at stake. donald trump will use his campaign to absolve himself of criminality. if he does become president, he will make good on promises to pardon january 6 rioters as he has dangled pardons and find ways to excuse himself from any accountability that the courts may have exercised. not only do we need to listen to the warns, but we need to give the rule of law the support it deserves. i want those people to be pressed on that. so you are saying that you support a republican no platter what? you have no red lines? you were okay with him pardoning the january 6 rioters? if people try to hide behind the party affiliation and act like these things aren't happening, they are ignoring the facts in the same way the defendants are the judges are talking about. >> i want to underline the rules of law. they a in jack smith's outline. they built on the mistrust that the defendant was creating. targeted a function of the united states federal government. the process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election. frank, talk about the risk he poses to our national security here. >> listen, when someone like the judge, who every single day is wading through the big lie, people being prosecuted for acting on a lie, we need to pay attention. she's warning us about what's coming and what she's seeing right now. the threat -- we don't need to kind of be clairvoyant to figure out what the next administration looks like if trump wins. they have told us what they're going to do. that includes even within last 24 hours former president trump posting on social media that he thinks the government should come down hard on the media, the networks he doesn't like, specifically. mentioned this network. he said, more to come, watch out, or keep watching. he has plans. he has plans to get rid of civil service protection for federal employees. he has plans to turn the doj nao a weaponized mechanism that he will use against enemies. facts won't matter. ironically, if people think the judge is exaggerating, all they need to do is watch what happens over the course of the next few hours as we see people in the trump circle attack her. say she should be recused from everything. talk about how they want an authoritarian atmosphere. what has got me the most in recent weeks is when i engage with people and they tell me -- i talk about authoritarianism and fascism. they actually say, sign me up for that. i'm for that. i'm for the military in the streets. i like that idea. i'm for no more immigration. even when they personally have immigrated here themselves. this is people saying, this is my choice. the choice can't be clearer. we know the threat is clear. >> what you just said there, my stomach flip-flopped. it's an important point. i am not sure many people people understand what it would mean to live in a not democracy. >> people don't know our history. we revolted against a king, who could rule on their own. people don't understand that we have this special system where our military is controlled by civilians, not by themselves, not by some authoritarian power. trump is appealing to this base side that wants a strongman, that doesn't want to make decisions by ourselves. that's what democracy is all about, we make those decisions ourselves. people don't understand the history. people don't understand the damage and what can happen and his vision. which is a dark authoritarian vision that takes away people's freedoms. >> let's talk about another piece of the vision. you have a new piece out talking about his pardon abuses. one thing we can come back to is this idea that trump in his first four years, he didn't know how a lot of government functioned. he had disregard for how government functioned. part of the fear about the possibility of a second trump term is as frank said all of the commitments that he has already laid out as a march toward authoritarianism, but also that vision mashed with the fact that he does have a greater understanding of how to leverage the power of the federal government. >> yeah. there's been a lot of really excellent stakes reporting about the things trump will offensively do to punish and target his political enemies. with that, i think we need a fuller understanding of how he abused his pardon powers as president and what he would do with those if he was re-elected. there was a great story in "the new york times" talking about one of the pardons. he had a history of making threats against people that was ignored by the pardon office. they said, we will give a pardon for unclear circumstances other than maybe his connections to the kushner family. we want to look back. i have been talking with my colleagues about this issue. when we look back at the trump presidency, we saw he pioneered a different class of pardons. we call them henchmen pardons. they are defined by a political benefit they provided the president and a license for future law breaking. the first is self-protective that was used to obstruct justice in the cases of michael flynn and paul manafort and the russia investigation. other people he pardoned who refused to cooperate. he made good on them. that didn't get a lot of scrutiny. the second was to pardon illegal political activity. we saw that with steve bannon with fraud charges. the last one is really concerning. pardons to use it license political violence. trump as president issued pardons for military contract tors and army officers guilty of heinous crimes. then he is using that as a model in this campaign now to dangle pardons for political violence again in the form of dangling pardons for january 6 rioters. look at that. we have all this great reporting about the way that he will target political enemies. the flip side is, how will he use those to reward friends and allies to law breaking that advances himself in a personal or political way? we are calling them henchmen pardons. we need to dig into and contemplate further. >> as you write, pardons are about mercy, not about power. that's donald trump's entire way of seeing the world. frank, when you hear amanda detail the use of pardons, that have been granted, specifically those pardons for people who participated in the violence on january 6, i have to imagine that in your institutional fbi brain, that sets off alarms. >> it doesn't bode well for the future of the rule of law and for the ability of fbi to put fair-minded people who are sworn to protect and preserve the constitution to protect us. their work will be in vein, as will prosecutors around the country who will be hand picked by trump if he wins this election. you can toss out the rule of law. the pardon cases are really large. the work turns the table on trump. he has said wnts to come down on drug dealing and distribution. he pardoned a guy who was sentenced and convicted in a drug distribution case. he says he is for the common man and small businesses. he speaks with forked tongue. if people pay attention and dissect what's going on. with you encounter people who say, sign me up for authoritarianism, ask them to reverse it. ask them to put biden in where they see trump. talk about controlling everything in the government and controlling and taking away of rights, controlling the media and cracking down on free speech. now ask them to respond to that. many of them will say, i don't think we will have another election to worry about after trump. my party, the republican party, is what they will say, will be in control indefinitely. >> frank figliuzzi, as always, amanda carpenter, thank you for your time. rick will stick with us. more information about the american dual national who was released by hamas. she was taken hostage when hamas attacked. her sister said last month, they were attacked by 150 armed terrorists. they swarmed killing and kidnapping people and excusing people, babies, dogs. they witnessed the attack. her husband is still in custody. president biden spoke about the release moments ago. >> very good news to report. a woman in safe in egypt. she crossed the border. talked with her mother and father. they are appreciative. things are moving well. she will soon be home with her three children. that's all i have to say for right now. >> more as we get it. when we return, call it dominion 2.0. rupert murdoch being deposed in the $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit brought by election technology company smartmadic. it's the second time he has been questioned over his new network's spreading of the big lie. dan goldman on the fate on george santos. "deadline white house" continues after a quick break. 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astrazeneca may be able to help. ask your doctor about breztri. it was nine months ago, almost to the day, that the world got its first look at the explosive evidence lawyers for dominion voting systems unearthed by deposing fox news executives and staff. nine months is a long time. if you remember anything, we are betting it's what rupert murdoch had to say about red, blue and green. >> this is what rupert murdoch had to say about pillow guy in his deposition, according to dominion. >> it's not red or blue, it's green. essentially admitting it was about money and not necessarily truth. that unforgettable turned up the heat on fox. we know how that story ended. at the very, very, very, very last second. fox agreed to a settlement. now it's deja vu for murdoch. today and yesterday, he was deposed in another billion dollar defamation suit against fox. this time, a $2.7 billion defamation suit brought by smartmadic. they are accusing fox for launching a disinformation case against them. murdoch's deposition could fuel a defamation battle. joining us, renell anderson jones, plus nick konfasuri. it was a defamation fight of the century. dominion was seeking $1.6 billion in damages. right out of the gate, they are asking for more money. talk to me about how the cases compare. >> it's almost the same case. you probably could have used the same script from the last case. as for this one, it's really similar. fox is accused of promoting and broadcasting lies that it knew were untrue for the purpose of retaining their audience and making money. it's the same set of claims. as murdoch was the star witness for dominion, he could be the star witness for smartmadic. he said, i knew biden won the election. i was worried about the claims we were making on the air about the election. that became the sum and substance of the settlement. the dominion made the case. >> i want to refresh everne memory, including my own, how smartmatic intersects with dominion. giuliani went on lou dob show and brought up dominion, triggering the first of many smears. all of the software is softmadic. the votes go to spain. one fox executive was ruced to try to get through, dominio has nothing to do with smartmatic. this situation is crossing dangerous lines. not only was fox just getting it wrong, but you point out there's another important distinction that could be an advantage was that smartmatic was used in one county in the country. why is that important? >> it's important because of the narrative that's going on. you are right the diagram, if we were drawing it, of the overlap between the pieces of evidence in each case has a massive overlapping center. it's the same cast of characters. both on the fox side, and also on source side. it is also the same basic narrative claim, which is that fox made a conscious corporate decision to lean into these lies and conspiracies about the voting machine companies in order to woo back followers of trump who gravitated to other more amenable outlets in the right wing media ecosystem. the difference on the question of the comparison of the companies is that dominion had a role in a lot more outlets for voting in the 2020 election than smartmatic had. smartmatic argues here that it had a very small and uncontroversial role in the 2020 election. it was essentially used in one county that wasn't in any kind of dispute. the david and goliath narrative is stronger than it was for dominion. to the extent that dominion had to face fox's powerful arguments about newsworthiness. fox coming forward to say, what we were doing was advancing a wider conversation about the stability and legitimacy of election technology that was important to an important election. smartmatic can respond and say, that might have been true of dominion. burt it wasn't true of us. we had such a small role in it that this was just a targeted attack that was designed to advance the conspiracy theory rather than related to anything newsworthy. >> help me understand. smartmatic, they are going into the defamation suit with the benefit of dominion having unearthed a mountain of damning evidence. how does it work? are there limitations in terms of how much of smartmatic can u? >> there's so much in the public domain in the dominion case. putting aside what might very main under seal or inaccessible, the broad strokes that are necessary to begin the case that fox knowingly told lies on the air are in newspapers like mine and websites around the world. these documents were made public eventually. they tell a big part of the tale. i think the question for smartmatic, the same for dominion was, can they pin fox quite so closely to say that the people who made the decisions of what to air also knew as the time that what they were airing was recklessly wrong and maliciously wrong? that's the question for a court and a jury. there's a ton of public evidence -- there's a bunch of stuff. there's plenty to work with. >> as someone referenced the rule of law and the importance of facts. the media and you see how there are multiple institutions that are complicit not just in the initial carrying of the lie but the longevity of the lie. >> yes. it's like the nyu professor said, we need to take about the stakes, not the odds. i will be the skunk at the picnic. let's stipulate that fox did liable smartmatic. if they were going to settle, why did they wait and settle with the revelatios process dur during this? we wanted it to go to trial. have a liable case against fox. i think they won't do that. i'm surprised it's gone on as long as it has gone on. >> rick, you most provocative thing was said. when we return, hunter biden looks to call republicans' bluff. george santos faces a possible expunge. i will be joined by dan goldman of new york. stay with us. by dan goldman of new york. stay with us bladder leak underwear has one job. i just want to feel protected! especially for those sudden gush moments. when your keys are in the door and your body's like, “it's happening”! if you're worried about your protection, it's not the right protection. always discreet protects like no other. with double leak guards that help prevent gushes escaping from the sides. and a rapid dry core that locks in your heaviest gush quickly for up to zero leaks. and it contours, to everybody. now this, is protection! always discreet- the protection we deserve! everyone is busy this time of year, lawmakers included. ten legislative days left. four more days to fund it before it shuts down. that's a smart. we told you about what is in store for george santos on friday, when the house will decide whether or not it will expel one of its own for the sixth time in american history. then there is hunter biden, the focus of so many republicans, calling their bluff, agreeing to testify in public in the inquiry. let's bring in daniel goldman of new york joining from the capitol. in trying to explain why he rejected the offer of public testimony from hunter biden, republican james comer mentioned you specifically. take a listen. >> as the investigation, the hearings go, you have 20 members on each side that have five minutes. we have tens of thousands of documents where we need to sit down and ask questions without filibustering, without interruption, without going five minutes back and forth with jamie raskin and dan goldman and moskowitz trying to disrupt the committee meeting. >> your reaction to the reasoning there. >> what he is saying is that he and the republicans don't know how to ask questions. five minutes is plenty. i ask many questions. i get to the bottom of what i'm trying to do in five minutes. there are no interrupts in those five minutes. it's just an admission, not only that they are incapable of con conducting a real investigation. if they had anything to connect hunter biden to his father, they would be eager to have a public hearing. there are video clips of comer saying in recent months that he would welcome hunter biden in pivate or public. he chose to come in publically. understandably, he doesn't trust chairman comer who has been misleading the american public based on closed-door deppization d -- depositions this entire experience. that's not good enough for comer. that would prevent him from manipulaing testimony. he would have to acknowledge ta -- that his investigation is a sham and failure. >> the vote on the future of george santos, any clarity on which way that will go? >> no. i think even the question that we are wondering whether republicans will vote to expel someone who has admitted to lying about just about everything related to his biography, his employment, his education and then was found not only to have committed numerous campaign finance violations, but to have flat out stolen $200,000 almost for his own personal use, this is as much of a fraudster as anyone i prosecuted in my ten years as a prosecutor. the fact that it's not certain and clearcut that he will be voted out, where he is unfit to serve, is really a reflection on the sad state of the republican party. >> when the stakes could not be higher. chuck schumer delivering a speech today on anti-semitism. >> anti-semites are taking advantage of the pro-palestinian movement to espouse hate toward jewish people. we see so many young people aiding and abetting the a -- the cause. >> congressman, your sense of why this speech was critical in this moment. >> i share the leader's sentiments. he is my constituent. we live near each other in new york city. as awful as october 7th was for so many people to see the destruction and barbarity of hamas. in many ways, it wasn't surprising. we know hamas is a terrorist organization. there's been a rise in anti-semitism rather than rallies around the jewish people in defense of what is clearly an effort by a terrorist organization to eliminate jews because their identity. i think the way senator schumer identified it is right. those of us who are progressive jews who have studied the civil rights movement, been on the front lines of so many equal justice and social justice issues feel deserted by our friends in that progressive movement when -- during our time of need. >> dan goldman from capitol hill. thank you for spending time with us. ahead, a sign that tommy tuberville might be ready to back down from his blockade of military promotions. military promotions. are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? 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[ting] ♪♪ live in the moment. ask your doctor about otezla. the first time you made a sale online with godaddy was also the first time you heard of a town named dinosaur, colorado. we just got an order from dinosaur, colorado. start an easy to build, powerful website for free with a partner that always puts you first. start for free at godaddy.com i just always thought, “dog food is dog food” i didn't really piece together that dogs eat food. as soon as we brought the farmer's dog in, her skin was better, she was more active. if i can invest in her health and be proactive, i think it's worth it. visit betterforthem.com more than nine months into his blockade of military promotions over the abortion health care policy, tommy tuberville is trying to play savior. telling his republican colleagues yesterday, i got you into this mess, i'm going to get you out. he said he is considering dropping his blockade, quote, soon, but not today. leaving the path forward unclear. this attempt to safe face from harming the combat readiness comes at the same time chuck schumer said he is ready to bring a resolution to the floor that would allow all the promotions currently blocked to be considered in large groups. that would require nine republican colleagues to support it. joining us now host of the independent americans podcast paul rycoff. forget about the politics. what does it mean for our military readiness? >> welcome to the latest install of the stupid starring tommy tuberville. now he has become toxic tommy tuberville. republicans realized it's driving away independents, veterans, troops from the republican party because of one lone store and his radical agenda that disrupts our military. >> i want to return to that question of independence. it took nine months. >> did you see that yesterday he said on some interview show that the military is the weakest it has been -- >> i have that sound for you. let's play it. >> we have the weakest military that we have had in probably you or my lifetime. they can't get anybody to join the military. they are begging people to come back. we are in trouble. people better wake up and see what's going on. it's a disaster. >> irony is dead. he can say that and not be -- he has single handedly weakened the military. the fact he doesn't understand that. the fact that these people -- these are people, they don't have a political party. they take an original to the constitution. he is preventing them from serving to protect us, which was the ethos of the republican party. >> over a health care policy that's not working for their party. to this question -- there are multiple pieces here. there's staking everything on the question of preventing access to reprductive care. there's this question of glomming up the government. i can't imagine any of those sit well with independent voters. >> it's all bad. it's toxic. what's happening is alabama has the weakest senator in a generation or in a lifetime. this guy is politically toxic. his colleagues have recognized it. it's the moderates and veterans. they are finally hitting the rail and trying to get him in check. he can spin it however he wants. he has exposed to the country, to the world. our military has been biting their tongue. this is going to drive people away in an election year. this will impact trump or the republican nominee. officers will leave. families will be disrupted. imagine dealing with this over thanksgiving. 400 families dealt with this because of one political hack. >> amazing given republicans prided themselves on being the party of national security, whether that was actually true. that was part of the brand. a willingsness alleged brand. our military budget, by the way, is the equal of the next nine countries combined. our military is not weak. it hasn't been weak at any time during or lifetime. but i'm going to say a word now that's going to drive the remaining viewer of the show away. the filibuster. it's on an acronym. the fact we need 60 votes, which is not democratic to even do this -- we need to get rid of it. >> i have 60 seconds left so i can't engage with you on the filibuster. i'm going to ask a simpler math question. do you think the nine republicans who would stand with democrats if it came down to schumer having to put this up for a group vote? >> i'd ask my group friend. >> i think so. i think that's why tuberville is broking down. they told him in private they won't stand with him, and schumer should have brought this ahead much more quickly. the democrats should have taken the offense on this. it's a winning issue for america and our military, and would have been months ago. >> i love how he says, i'm going get you out of this mess, just not today. thanks for spending time with us. we're going to sneak in one more quick break, and then we'll be right back. right back (♪ music ♪) (♪ ♪) the walking tree is said to change its entire location in pursuit of sunlight (♪ ♪) where could reinvention take your business? accenture. let there be change. ♪♪ if you're on medicare, remember, the annual enrollment period is here. the time to choose your coverage begins october 15th and ends december 7th. so call unitedhealthcare and see how you can get more of what matters, with our broad range of plans including an aarp medicare advantage plan from unitedhealthcare. it can combine your hospital and doctor coverage with part d prescription drug coverage, and more, all in one simple plan. these plans are made to support your whole health with $0 annual physical exams, $0 lab tests and $0 preventive care like mammograms and colonoscopies. and you'll get more for your medicare dollar with $0 copays on most covered dental services a $0 eye exam and an allowance for eyewear plus $0 copays on hundreds of prescriptions, at the pharmacy or by mail. now's the time to look at unitedhealthcare's variety of plans. so give us a call to learn more about coverage options in your area. with our right plan promise, you have our commitment to helping you find the right plan for your needs. and to help make life with medicare simpler, you'll get the all-in-one member ucard. only from unitedhealthcare, the ucard is your unitedhealthcare member id and much more. show your ucard when you visit your primary care provider, dentist or eye doctor, or fill a prescription at the pharmacy. and use it to access medicare advantage's largest national network of providers. you can count on unitedhealthcare to help you get the care you need, when you need it. enrollment ends december 7th. now's the time to learn more about america's most chosen medicare advantage plans and how they can open doors to a simpler healthcare experience with the all-in-one ucard. call unitedhealthcare today about the only medicare advantage plans with the aarp name and get more of what matters to you. (music ends) she would say to you today, don't grieve for me, for now i'm free. don't grieve for me, because now i'm free. i've won the prize. jimmy tried to beat me here. i got here first. i won the prize. tell him i beat him and i'm waiting on him. >> a touching moment today from the funeral for former first lady rosalynn carter held at the carters' church in plains, georgia. this was the final service in three days of memorials for the first lady. her husband, president jimmy carter was in attendance. his children and grandchildren recounted cherished memories of rosalynn. many noted she helped transform the role of the modern first lady buck maybe none more concisely than their son, jack, who said that his father, quote, got used to mom disagreeing with him because she was really good at it and added, she became a partner in the true sense of the word where they had equal footing. another break for us. we'll be right back. we'll be rig bhtack. hi, i'm jason. i've lost 228 pounds on golo. so when my doctor told me i needed weight loss surgery, i knew i had to make a change. golo's helped me transition to a healthier, sustainable lifestyle. i'm so surprised just how crazy my metabolism has fired up. i have a trust in golo 'cause i know it works. golo isn't like every other program out there, and i'm living proof of it. (announcer) change your life at golo.com. that's golo.com. nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. thank you for spending part of your wednesday with us. we are so grateful. "the beat" with ari melber starts right now. >> welcome to "the beat." i. the ari melber. liz cheney making news with these revelations about trump's coup in her forthcoming book. the book as not out yet, but quotes, and we have details. what she's saying, including why donald trump at one point reportedly stopped eat. that's just what she says in the book. no commentary. also, jack smith winning another key round in the trump trial, which deals with the same coup. so we have both of those stories coming up, including one