>> there have been shocking moments in the trump presidency, so many that it's hard to count, but if there was some kind of accounting for all the shocking moments in the trump presidency, this one, if we have the video, would certainly be near the top of the list. >> just now, president putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. ever u.s. intelligence agency has concluded that russia did. what, who, my first question for you, sir, who do you believe? >> they think it's russia. i have president putin. he said it's not russia or. i will say this, i don't see any reason why it would be. i will tell you president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. >> the president of the united states of america, donald trump, standing alongside russian president vladimir putin, aligning himself with russian claims over u.s. intelligence. denying what everyone at that point you to be true, russia interfered in the 2016 election. throughout his time in office, trump denied and downplayed, excused russian interference in americas elections. he called the investigation into that interference a hoax, a witch hunt, over and over again. mr. trump is set to be on trial for his own efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and his baseless claims of the election being stolen. trump's new defense, in that case, appears to be that the court should believe his claims about a stolen election, and the reason the court should believe the election was stolen is because of russian interference. i am not joking. this is from trump's lawyers latest motion in the federal elections case. between january 2019, and at least 2020, parties reportedly linked to russia's foreign intelligence service perpetrated with the fcc described as the worst cyber security incidents in history. on january 6th, 2021, the u. s. the cybersecurity agency deemed this threat poses a grave risk to the federal government and state local tribal and territorial governments. . just for a second, imagine being trump's lawyer, and going before the court to say, with a straight face, your client, donald trump, was just really concerned about russian election interference, and it was russia's fault, and not trump's, that certain americans distrusted the results of the 2020 election. that argument is part of a pair of new motions from trump's lawyers, demanding that the american government turnover thousands of documents that the defense believes will help trump prove his case in court. the russian interference stuff is the tip of the iceberg here. trump's lawyers wants the government to turn over everything they have on federal efforts to investigate fraud in the 2020 election. they want the government to turn over anything they have regarding undercover agents at the capitol on january 6th. thereby promoting the baseless theory that the violence on january 6th may have resulted from a failed sting operation by the fbi. the defense wants any documents or information supporting the baseless conspiracy that joe biden pressured merrick garland to indict donald trump. the defense wants to know the justice department pressured former vice president mike pence to change his testimony to prosecutors. the defense wants communications between the justice department and the biden family, including hunter biden, who has absolutely nothing to do with this case, except for the fact that republicans apparently like saying his name a lot. it seems obvious what trump is trying to do here. number one, bury this judge, judge chutkan, in paper, in an attempt to delay this trial. number two, re-litigate the big lie and so further mistrust in our democracy. three, dig up as much dirt as possible during the discovery process, and he was a during the campaign season. as trump's lawyers proceed in that three pronged effort, we are getting new evidence that trump, himself, knew it was all a lie. new excerpts from liz cheney's forthcoming book revealed that just two days after the 2020 election, republican leader kevin mccarthy told cheney that trump knew he lost the election. he knows it's over, mccarthy reportedly told cheney. he needs to go through all the stages of grief. that same day, that same day, kevin mccarthy went on fox news and said this. >> president trump won this election. everyone who is listening, do not be quiet. do not be silent about this. we cannot allow this to happen before our very eyes. >> donald trump forced to the republican party to go along with his election lies, even when he allegedly knew that he had lost the election. now he is going to attempt that same strategy in a federal courtroom. joining me now is melissa murray, professor at and what you law school, and co-host of the strict scrutiny podcast. also with me, former missouri senator and current msnbc political analyst, a great claire mccaskill. first, melissa, from a legal perspective, let me get your assessment of this request. 59 requests from the defense, 70 pages of legal motions, 300 pages of supporting exhibits asking for material that prosecutors don't even necessarily have been their position. >> as you said in the opening, alex, this is a long shot for donald trump, again there are multiple strategies that are being pursued here. the first, principally, is to slow judge chutkan down by inundating her with paper. as a general matter, defendants can ask for material that is relevant to their defense. they can't ask for the world. in situations like this, it comes down to whether or not the prosecution has withheld information that would be relevant to mounting a vigorous defense. here, some of this seems far field, certainly the materials on hunter biden that were requested do not seem relevant to the issues at play in the january 6th hearing. delay is the name of the game. they're also playing to another cord. that is the court of public opinion. you are right in that a lot of this is to sow the seeds of disinformation, and the idea the election was stolen in 2020, and the 2024 election is similarly imperiled. >> clare, the thing that almost made my head explode was the notion donald trump is deeply concerned about russian election interference. it defies explanation. is anybody out there to be convinced that joe biden was vladimir putin's pick for president in 2020, especially given the state of affairs between the two of them now? >> now. no one is buying that, except that group of people. somewhere around 20 to 25% of america has decided to believe whatever he says. he could say the most outlandish, outrageous, and has said the most outlandish and outrageous things, and they will believe it. i've got to tell you, looking at these cases, and i'd love melissa's take on this, it makes me dizzy. we have civil cases. we have civil cases in front of the d. c. circuit, and have been there for over a year after they were argued, and had not been decided. they touch on issues he is bringing up now. we have other civil cases against trump. we have criminal cases against trump. both federal and state level. all of this is swirling. it makes me dizzy. i'm a lawyer, it makes me dizzy. all of the cases out there, all of the motions are being filed. candidly, olivia peels that will be possible. i would like the respected judges on the bench of these cases, especially those in the appellate court, what could be their excuse for not deciding donald trump's appeal on the issue of immunity in civil trials? why in the world what that circuit be taking a year to decide a case? it's way outside the norm. >> we spent quite a bit of time talking about that yesterday, and the way these pretrial motions have, and beyond, these appeals, have a way of, potentially, really slowing down the timetable, even for an aggressive judge, like judge chutkan, which begs the question, melissa, i assume there is a lot in this request from the defense side is laughable. -- also assume there is something in there that has some merit that could throw gum in the works, if you will. do you have that sense? what might that be? what might be the implications of an extended discovery process here? >> that's exactly right. some of this is going to be outlandish. some of the material has been requested, we don't even know if the department of justice has that in its possession. it could be part of the government scholars of materials, but not things that are easily accessible to the prosecution, and therefore easily turned over to the defense. a good judge, a diligent judge, judge chutkan is a good and diligent judge, is going to have to sift through and separate the wheat from the chaff, and that will be time consuming. this is a case that was meant to be lean, mean, and to move expeditiously. this will slow it down. we have the mar-a-lago case, which already seems to be slowed down because judge cannon doesn't seem to be moving in an expeditious fashion. we have the case in georgia, which is slow-moving because it's so an wielding with so many defendants. of course, the hush money case which was always, perhaps, the most minimal in terms of legal jeopardy that donald trump wasn't, and the nature of charges themselves. these are the medias cases, and the ones that are most likely to be slowed down by all of these litigation and lincoln's. >> and there is the question, as melissa artfully points, out the ways in which this could derail the actual trials. there is this meta fact of trump relitigating the big lie. once again, an election year, claire. he, in many ways, poisoned the groundwater for american democracy. it looks like he is going to take. another turn at that, if you will, on doing the same thing all over again, to use many mixed metaphors. when you hear his intention is to drum up some sort of phantom evidence that the election was stolen, once again, how concerned does that make you as far as the broader american project? >> if there was factual evidence that this election was somehow tempered with, or stolen, we would've heard about it long before now. that is why i think public trials, and public hearings, and hunter biden was smart to say let's do my testimony in public. every time they tried to trot out something that was going to be damning, whether it was the biden family, or how the election was conducted, they failed. they failed miserably. you know why? they don't have the evidence. there is no evidence. if there were, all the cases that have already been decided it would have been decided differently. he may try to talk about the big lie in these cases, but there's a big difference between talking about it, outside of court, and even referring to it in pleadings. lawyers have to be careful about what theories they put forward. if they know they're not truthful, they could get in trouble. obviously, if the guy that hangs out at mar-a-lago takes the stand, he has to be careful. so, this is not as easy as it looks for him to try to just throw out the big lie and a defense. >> let's, london winded of comments judge beryl howell made, i believe it was yesterday. she's a sitting judge, a federal judge, overseen a number of january 6th cases. she said, it was not in a judicial context, but at an event this week, she quoted heather cox richardson, the boston historian who writes and who know buff that america is at a crossroads, teetering on the brink of authoritarianism. she echoes the sentiment that big lies are springboards for authoritarians. the timing on that quote and this insight into trump's strategy here is chilling. i wonder how unusual it is for a sitting judge to make remarks like that in a moment when a number of judges, in unrelated cases are saying trump either incited insurrection, or is guilty of a federal crime. >> it wasn't coincidental that judge howell made these remarks. it was made to a group of women lawyers who's receiving an award. lisa monaco received an award, and loretta lynch presented those awards. she was very clear that the threat of authoritarianism is not an idle threat. it is one that lies between these big lies. i am sowing the seeds of distrust around elections when we know, and trump knew, and members of the trump administration said that the election of 2020 was among the most secure in american history. it was a lie to you say that the election had been stolen from donald trump. again, this is what breeds authoritarianism. again, the 2024 election is one where, i think, american democracy very much is on the table. it's not just about the united states. we are seeing the threat of rising authoritarianism all around the world, in various countries that previously had been solid democracies. this is not an idle threat, the united states leads on these questions, and other nations will take our lead and follow it as well. >> melissa murray, claire mccaskill, thank you both for joining me tonight. i appreciate it. we have some breaking news this evening. former secretary of state henry kissinger has passed away at the age of 100. he served as america's top diplomat under president richard nixon and gerald ford. our lester holt has a look back at his life. >> thank you. nice to see you all. >> reporter: he was brilliant, ambitious, controversial, and one of the most influential secretaries of state in american history. >> i think we made further progress. >> reporter: and we kissinger served richard nixon, gerald ford, and was consulted by presidents of both parties on international issues throughout his life. >> henry kissinger has been a friend of mine. >> reporter: nixon made him a national figure, and together they reimagined u.s. foreign policy. they talked with the soviet union, relationships with -- diplomacy in the middle east. kissinger helped shape nixon's policy in vietnam, and negotiated an end to the war, famously declaring success prematurely just days before the 1972 election. >> we believe that -- pieces at hand. >> he was awarded the nobel peace prize. >> nothing has happened to me, in public life has moved me more then this award. >> reporter: though his coercive beyond, north vietnam 's late october, declined the honor. four years later, president ford awarded him the medal of freedom. he was a master of pragmatic, big picture diplomacy. he had his critics who described him as manipulative and insecure. some called him a war criminal for his role in bombing cambodia, and widening the war in vietnam. we born in germany in 1923, kissinger's jewish family fled to america as hitler rose to power. he became a u.s. citizen, served in world war ii, and earned a ph. d. at harvard where he became a professor. he caught the eye of richard nixon, who made him national security adviser, then secretary of state. the only person ever to hold both jobs simultaneously. >> there is no country in the world where it is conceivable that a man of my origins could be standing here next to the president of the united states. >> reporter: but their relationship was complicated, and white house tapes revealed that kissinger, sometimes, enabled the worst in nixon. >> it was a very curious relationship because we were not personally very close. >> reporter: the night before he resigned in disgrace, nixon asked kissinger to kneel and pray with him. >> of course it was a crushing event. i think of that evening as an experience with dignity, and it was very moving. >> reporter: kissinger was no faceless bureaucrat. he was a world renowned celebrity. >> i love your foreign accent. >> reporter: he loved the spotlight. he was even something of a pop culture icon. after leaving government, he opened his own consulting firm, remaining active and sought after for decades. at 95, eulogizing john mccain's life, kissinger sounded a wistful note about his own. >> like most people of my age, i feel a longing for what is lost, and cannot be restored. >> reporter: henry kissinger was a man of great accomplishment, and controversy. as he once told nbc's barbara walters, he had no regrets. >> if i had to do it over again, i would do it again substantially the same way, which may make me on reconstructed, maybe one reason why i'm at peace with myself. >> reporter: lester holt, nbc news, new york. henry kissinger was 100 years old. we will be right back. >> prescribed h-i-v treatment, biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in many people whether you're 18 or 80. with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to undetectable—and stay there whether you're just starting or replacing your current treatment. research shows that taking h-i-v treatment as prescribed and getting to and staying undetectable prevents transmitting h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your 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[limu emu squawks.] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ there are a quarter of a million more jobs in colorado since i've took office. that is a quarter million more people throughout this state, including in this district who could look the kids in the eye and say, honey, it is going to be okay. that was president biden speaking today at what is now the largest went tower manufacturer in the world, in public, colorado. a company that owns that plant headquartered in south korea, and used to make all of its wind towers abroad, but incentives from biden's inflation reduction act reportedly convinced this company to make it 200 million dollar investment in that plant in colorado, and creating 850 new jobs in that state. by the standard metrics, the economy under president biden, is doing great. inflation is slowing, the gdp is growing, the unemployment rate is just 3. 9%. when americans are asked about how they feel about the state of the economy, things do not seem so great. a new york times sienna poll found earlier this month that, in six key battleground states, 81% of registered voters described the state of the economy as either only fair or poor. a whopping 93% of registered voters under 30 felt the same. for this white house, that is particularly concerning because biden voters in 2020 skewed younger, and this poll was looking at younger voters in battleground states. what explains the disconnect? the odds are low that many people under 30 were watching today as biden spent 30 minutes listing the ways his administration has improved the economy. surveys shows the odds are high, young voters are getting their economic news from social media videos like these. >> heard a new term on tiktok today that made me stop in my tracks. >> we are living in the silent depression, and i'm going to explain what i mean. >> to buy a new car in 1938, would have been $860. worth about 15 grand. the average cost of a new car today is $48,000. >> new cars are on a portable, new houses are unaffordable. two new to a new place and ransom or else is unaffordable. >> how can we live through worst cost of living in wages the 1930? no politician, no media outlet, no one is talking about it. >> that's bidenomics. >> those tiktok's failed to mentioned, in the 1930s, you probably would not have had a job to pay for one of those 860 dollar cars because unemployment, literally, peaked in 1933 at almost 25%. now it is at 3. 9%, and wages are finally outpacing inflation. as one economic analyst put it to the new york times earlier this month, we are in a vibe session, that is the word. all of the normal economic matchups show a strong economy, but the vibes are of. what does that mean about the lived economic reality for american voters? how can president biden convince the american public that -- chris hayes joins me here next to discuss. try new robitussin lozenges with real medicine and find your voice. you know? we really need to work on your people skills. if you're looking for a medicare supplement insurance plan that's smart now... i'm 65. and really smart later i'm 70-ish. consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan from unitedhealthcare. with this type of plan, you'll know upfront about how much your care costs. which makes planning your financial future easier. so call unitedhealthcare today to learn more about the only plans of their kind with the aarp name. and set yourself and your future self up with an aarp medicare supplement plan from unitedhealthcare. ( ♪♪ ) the serrano name has always been something we're proud of. it's why we show it off on our low riders and why we wear our name on our chains. we come from people we can be proud of. from socal to our family in texas, to back home in jalisco. seeing all the places i come from, i know. if it's a serrano, it's something to be proud of. i take it all with me and i always will. today, former president give the gift of family heritage with ancestry. trump published this op-ed in newsweek. i will make america great again for young people. it is filled with a lot of amazing claims, but my favorite is trump touting his credentials by saying, under's leadership, the price of gasoline went down to $1. 80 a gallon. that is the only time the national average gas price dropped that low under president trump was in march of 2020. what else was happening in march of 2020? >> one place you can expect to find a bit of relief during this pandemic is at the pump. the coronavirus has been driving down gas prices. >> good news is, gas is incredibly cheap right now. $2. 23 at the station just outside of chicago. that news, as many americans aren't able to take advantage of it, especially in states like illinois, where shelter in place orders have been implemented. >> might be paying attention to the gas prices falling, but we wanted to know if coronavirus could spread on to the gas pumps we were touching. turns out, it sure can. >> during me now is my friend it on air neighbor and colleague, chris hayes, host of all in with chris hayes on msnbc, and host of the why is this happening with posh, who i have yet to be invited onto. we will talk about that off camera. it is one way to lower gas prices, right? he may miss manage a global pandemic -- >> provide continuity between that and the tiktok you played where she's talking about how cheap everything is a 1930s. yes, stuff was cheap in 1930s, for sure -- >> everything else was kind of falling apart. >> way cheap in 1930. this gets at the point, i think, a number of points, people don't like rising prices, and prices have been rising. it's not super rocket silence -- the level of frustration, even when you say the prices have, inflation has been coming out, inflation is the rate of growth. rate of growth is coming down. people were not noticing rates of growth, noticing levels. at the same time, when you're thinking about that question of, has this person done a good job at macroeconomic policy? the comparison set, which is every pure country, we are doing -- the reason, again, this gets back to the coronavirus point. the reason things have been hard to manage is because we had a once in a century disruption, the thing that happened in 2020, which i think is for a variety of reasons, been under appreciated. >> people are tired of hearing about it. and they're not looking at it as a causal -- >> that's right. oh, it's 2023, what do you mean houses are expensive because of coronavirus? houses are expensive because we had huge inflation, so the fed hiked rates. >> the rates are going to come down, and that will create a sellers market, and it's -- the housing -- we will talk about it in a second. i think it speaks to a larger, we are, more intractable dynamic rooting republicans and democrats, right? biden's shepherding through this economy that is actually incredibly good on its face. this has to do with the vibe session, unspoken, but very real narrative things are not good. trump is lying about his accomplishments in the pages of news rick. and has the confidence of the party -- >> we saw this in the polling where there's a huge partisan split. there were democrats are saying the economy is good under trump, where the day the biden became president, republicans -- weird waiting happening in the -- polling >> why don't democrats answer? >> they're different, there's a huge symmetry, and gets this point out, 2020 and trump, one of the weirdest dynamics that set in that's creating a vibecession, it's dumped almost president in 2020, but do people knew that? you know that, right? but because it's so traumatic, everyone is cut off 2020 from their memory and put it in a locked vault, a, box like 2019, people are pretty -- 2019. like -- >> it is a complete laguna. there's a weird effect in it, because the macro economy in 2019 was doing well. it finally dug out from a decade that had been lost. it was set on pat by barack obama, and it had gone up, donald trump did things to mess with it that didn't successfully mess with it. you've got this very weird situation which, because of the intensity of the trauma of covid, i think people had this strange, intended sense of whether it existed or not, and who was responsible for what. >> i think when you're punching at shadows, like something being called on pages of the new york times, a vibecession. it makes it incredibly difficult to combat that narrative. >> you particularly see this in the coverage, where it's this constant -- whatever the next negative thing is. you see people be like eggs, eggs, eggs, eggs are expensive, eggs and bacon is expensive, turkey will pay -- this year, turkeys were lower than their 2019 price. thanks are down in real terms. they have not gone up less, but the air down. no one does the local news story about look how cheap eggs are. we've got this one right ratchet. we say in the business, we don't cover the planes and lamb. there is a disposition towards negative news. >> i haven't covered the price of eggs, cheap eggs, ever. >> you haven't, right, because he's going to leave their set with eggs are cheap? >> you. >> i have done eggs are cheap segments. >> you are doing the work of the biden administration. this makes this campaign remarkably complicated for this president. >> it is, except for this. we saw this in the new york times reporting on this, they went and talk to voters who were biden voters, and our disapproving the economy. there is a pretty good story to tell. i say this is someone who is very vested lamest again macroeconomic policy, who has had strong views on them for more than a decade. i've been working in journalism, have watched mistakes made at the highest level novak of the great reception, with the obama administration. there is a good story to tell about navigating an impossible set of challenges, basically better than any other leadership in the world over the last three and a half years. >> that's the key, compared to everyone else. there is the republican party good at shooting itself in the foot. if they knew what was good for them in 2024, it would be all economy, all the time. instead, they have to keep going back to social issues, and abortion. >> and trump was like, hey, we're going to get rid of obamacare, which is the most incredible gift to the democratic party. >> there's always that. chris hayes, my friend, thank you for staying late this wednesday evening. i appreciate you, and your egg reporting. >> thank you. much more ahead this evening, including the exodus of lawmakers from capitol hill. what is driving them out? i have a few ideas. first, more israeli hostages and palestinian prisoners were released on what has been expected to be the last day that cease-fire. could there be more ahead? that is next. shingles could also lead to serious complications that can last for years. if you're over 50, the virus that causes shingles is likely already inside you. and as you age, your risk of developing shingles increases. don't wait. ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingles today. theo's nose was cause for alarm, so dad brought puffs plus lotion to save it from harm. puffs has 50% more lotion and brings soothing relief. don't get burned by winter nose. a nose in need deserves puffs indeed. america's #1 lotion tissue. hey everybody, w. kamau bell here. they say that america is the land of the free. but right now, people in the u.s. are seeing their freedoms taken away at an alarming rate. freedoms some of us take for granted. the right to vote. equal access to health care. book banning and other forms of censorship that threaten our right to learn and here's something truly shocking. right now in our country, hundreds of thousands of people are incarcerated simply because they couldn't afford bail. that's not free and it's not fair. but there is hope for change. it lives in people like you and in a great organization called the american civil liberties union. so please join me and other concerned americans in defending our civil liberties by joining the aclu as a guardian of liberty today. all it takes is just $19 a month. only $0.63 a day. when you're surrounded by oppressive laws. you can't just sit back and be oppressed. you get up and fight. and all of us at the aclu are fighting for you. whether it's criminal justice reform or protecting the lgbtq plus rights, abortion rights or voting rights. the aclu is in the courts fighting for your rights, and mine and i, for one, sleep better at night knowing they're working every day in all 50 states to protect our freedoms. but these freedoms are at risk. we have to fight for them tirelessly. and with your help, we will continue to do so so please go to myaclu.org and join the fight for just $19 a month. use your credit card and get this special we the people t-shirt, aclu magazine and more to show you're helping ensure justice for all. as an individual, donating to the aclu is one of the most powerful things you can do to fight for justice. but the aclu can't do it alone. they need your support now to continue defending our democracy and the freedoms we hold dear. so please join us. call or go online to myaclu.org today. thank you. >> today on the sixth and possibly final day of the extended cease-fire between israel and hamas, 14 hostages were released from gaza, four thai nationals and four israelis including american citizens. this is just the second american, the fourth was abigail idan. 50 year old elena truponov and irena tatti, seen here arm in arm in a video released by hamas. their released was outside the framework of the agreement. since the cease-fire began, 97 hostages have been exchanged for 220 palestinian prisoners in israeli prisons. the u.s., qatar, and egypt continue talks to extend the cease-fire a second time with hopes these pauses can pave the way to ending this war. but israeli prime minister netanyahu has made clear that the war will continue whenever the truce ends. in a video statement today he said there is no way we are not going back to fighting until the end. joining me now is my friend and colleague ayman mohyeldin, host of ayman on msnbc. amen, netanyahu seems pretty clear on this. is it just vain hope that this could extend and lead to an off ramp in this warm? >> no, i think there is now real hope. i think we're coming close to the deadline of the second, i should say the first extension of the second day. but it's important that there is hope because the mechanism that has been established to release hostages through diplomatic negotiations has so far worked. this is been the largest amount of hostages that have been released since the war began on october 7th. so there is hope that israel will stay committed to this, that hamas will stay committed to this to release the remaining hostages. here's the tricky part, because we've been speaking to sources throughout the day, and it's going to come down to once both sides are done with the release of civilians that are women and children, and you start getting to the next group of people, what the parameters of those are going to be, for example. we ultimately get to the issue of soldiers and reservists and women who are soldiers or perhaps those who could have served or have served, then it becomes, i think, a bit trickier because hamas's demands are going to go up and it will be interesting to see if israel meets those demands are makes its own demands. >> it's clear that prime minister netanyahu has the external pressures from beyond, including the united states, to not go back or to go back surgically into gaza and the internal pressures from right-wing hard-liners that surround him to keep the war going. when he says we are going to keep doing this until the end, do any of us have a clear picture of what that actually means? >> i don't think we do. i think there's a growing concern among u.s. officials who are talking to their israeli counterparts about this, and certainly starting to now appear in the public discourse in american media, the president today with a very interesting tweet that i think a lot of people interpreted to suggest that perhaps this means there is a shift in the, at least the public language that the administration is going to use about israel's conduct because the president was very clear about this. i don't know if we have the tweet. >> we do. hamas only to terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than israelis and palestinians living side by side in peace. to continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give hamas what they seek. we can't do that. >> that second part of that tweet, the purpose is going down the terror, the killing, the violence, and the war is giving hamas what it seeks. so in some ways what he is suggesting is that giving this war more life is exactly what hamas wants and you're playing into hamas's hands. it could just now be the opening of a public shift in the way the administration talks about israel's conduct in the way it has been executing this war. the concern has been, this war, over the first eight weeks or so, or 55 days, now has been focused on the northern part of the gaza strip, 15,000 people, more than 70% women and children, that's just the northern part. they've told two million people to squeeze themselves iton the southern part of gaza. now the israeli made media reporting that the idf is shifting their focus on attention to begin operations in the southern part of gaza. what happens to two million people who are trapped in the south part of gaza that are not able to return to the north whose homes have been destroyed and are now trapped because the border with egypt is not opened? >> i'm sure egypt has thoughts about attacking the southern border. let me ask you, as the biden administration appears to be sort of shifting its public stance on this, how much do you think there is a calculation at hand, given the new numbers that are out among rapidly declining support for the president among arab americans? these numbers are fairly staggering. michigan, arizona, georgia, all states that have sizeable arab populations, michigan, biden won by hundred 54,000 votes, the arab population 278,000. arizona he won by 200,000 votes, their population 60,000 folks. and these are in exact numbers. georgia, 11,000 votes with biden's margin of victory, there are 57,000 people in the arab population. these are numbers that, if they flip, or if these folks do not come out, his approval numbers among arab americans have cratered because of the situation in gaza, this is the kind of thing that could actually affect the election in a meaningful way. >> this is a very ominous sign for the president. the president is a politician, he wants to get reelected. if you are a political adviser to the president you are seeing this and you see alarm bells going off. the other part of that is that the arab american population that can vote in this country and the muslim population that can vote in this country have been extremely disappointed with the president in terms of how this administration has been executing or supporting the war, executing the war and supporting it publicly, i should say. the consequence of that is for the administration is twofold. one, there is still a year out, so they could change that. they could perhaps try to put together some kind of peace conference, peace summit to try to mobilize international community for palestinian statehood. is that likely to happen? no, but it could be an opening for something that could allow for these numbers to recover. but the second part of that is really that arabs and muslim americans, they know what the alternative is, and the alternative is donald trump. so they find themselves in a situation where they're not going to vote for donald trump. obviously i'm speaking in generalities. they know that donald trump is dangerous to not just america but specifically muslims. he wants to ban muslims. he probably would be worse on gaza than president biden has, in the eyes of him or arab and muslim americans. but that is not to negate how they feel in this moment. because the sentiment in the polling suggests that if they don't go to joe biden, they're going to sit the election out. if they sit the election out, the consequences will be dire for president biden. part of that motivation is because they want to be taken seriously and they want to be heard. that is one of the main reasons they feel this administration has not heard them, up until this point, on this issue of the gaza war. >> if you can believe, it less than a year away from another presidential election. my friend ayman mohyeldin, right here on msnbc weekend nights. always good to hear from you. still ahead, another member of congress is leaving capitol hill for good. it's not george santos. today. we're gonna talk to congresswoman anna eshoo about why she is retiring now. that's next. may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. i chose arexvy. rsv? make it arexvy. i got this $1,000 camera for only $41 on dealdash. dealdash.com, online auctions since 2009. this playstation 5 sold for only 50 cents. this ipad pro sold for less than $34. and this nintendo switch, sold for less than $20. i got this kitchenaid stand mixer for only $56. i got this bbq smoker for 26 bucks. and shipping is always free. go to dealdash.com right now and see how much you can save. >> after a panoply of extensive and unusual lies amid federal indictments charging conspiracy, wire fraud, and false statements to the fec, among other crimes, if seems finally congressman george santos will be leaving the u. s. house of representatives. he's expected to be formally expelled from the lower chamber on friday in a vote that is likely to have significant bipartisan support. mr. santos is not alone in his departure. no one else has lied about volleyball careers or broadway credentials or chinese kidnapping plots. no one else other than senator bob menendez is under federal indictment. and no one else is getting expelled. but a whole lot of congress people are leaving. a surge of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are leaving washington, precisely at the same time as republican dysfunction becomes a way of life on capitol hill. connection? maybe. one of them is congresswoman anna eshoo, democrat of california, leaving after more than 30 years in the house. joining me now is the congresswoman herself, anna eshoo of california. congresswoman, thank you for being here. first, let me ask you, why leave now? >> well, i think it's time. and contrary to the mess in washington and people fleeing, i'm really not running away from the congress. i think it's time. at the end of this term, i will have represented my constituents for 32 years in the house of representatives. i have experienced a great deal. it is really the highest honor and privilege of my life. my constituents have been, i mean for them to place their trust in me over three decades, i'm enormously grateful. but i just felt something inside this time, a tug, that i haven't felt before. so it's time. >> you've served your country so loyally, and i certainly don't mean to diminish that at all, and i think most of us, if not all of, us can understand why 32 years is sufficient. but there have been a lot of departures announced this year. i believe we're up to thirty house seats that are opening up. i wonder if you could tell us how you see the congress has changed, and the work changed, since the start of your career until now. >> it has changed, and it has changed dramatically. there has always been heated, robust debate, in the house of representatives is a rough-and-tumble place, which i love, but at the end of those debates consensus would be developed and we don't have that now. this is not just a messy story out of washington d. c.. i have really seen the near collapse of what i understood to be the republican party. the republican party, and i am a devout democrat, but the republican party has produced great leaders for our country. it was a great party. so to see a great party really just more than chipped away at is very sad. and it's dangerous as well. our system depends on two functioning parties. when one party is in the majority or the other, they have to be devoted to governing. but that's not the case now. >> i wonder if, for folks that are out there and don't understand why people still run for office and why democrats still feel the work is worth doing, even when the other party is non functional, tell us what it has meant to you to serve in congress last 30 odd years. >> i think there is something deeply embedded in us that we want to serve, that we want to do something for our country. i guess my mother and father would say it's patriotism. but the public service is a calling. i believe that it is a calling, and so it's something that runs very deep. they are very tough jobs, as well. you have an enormous amount of responsibility. and the job is really 24/7. so many constituents have asked me over the years, how do you balance your public life with your personal life? and i said, there isn't a balance. this job and its responsibilities have to come first. but it is, i think, a great blessing. >> well, we are all lucky as a country to have had you in that seat for this long. thank you. >> it's so nice. thank you. >> thank you, congresswoman anna eshoo, thank you for your time, and thank you for your time these last few decades. that is it for this evening. now it is time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening. alex. i alerted you the other night that i was gonna do something i haven't done for years, which is stand and walk. i did it successfully, to my surprise. tonight i feel i should warn you, because this is the kind of thing you're going to care about. you might notice it at some point when you are