Break down all the latest news from the president ial race including the latest on the Georgia Election boards ruling on Counting Ballots but first, i want to get right into it with the Executive Producer of from russia with lev. My Colleague Rachel Maddow who gets to add a new important moniker to your resume. You are the Executive Producer of this amazing documentary that we just watched. Congratulations first of all my friend. Thank you, ali. It feels so great to have it out in the world. I have to just ask you, did you like it . Not only did i like it, i was set up not to like it and i dont mean that for any other reason than lev is a complicated character. Its a very honest documentary about the complexity of lev. His Wife Talks about the complexity of lev. Lev talks about the complexity of lev. You had i believe the first interview with him all those years ago. So i wasnt sure what i wanted to know about lev that i didnt already know. And you just stitched the whole thing together in a way that makes me wish i knew all this back then. You know, it does matter that he is a very compelling person. Yes. And you know, you can tell this story in lots of different ways. You can tell this story from the perspective of marie ivanovich, the ambassador. Or the perspective of and the way he was extorted by trump and the crime against ukraine that was at the heart of the impeachment which culminating thing here. You can tell it from the perspective of Rudy Giuliani or trump. But to tell it from the perspective of lev, you get this guy, a very flawed person. He is open about the fact he has a background as a hustler, organized crime. He came up in that environment. You know. The whole reason that the characters like Tony Andre were going after him for years because he had all these legal judgments and debts. Not a boy scout. But that is why he was amayinging that he ended up in the White House tasked to do something by the president of the united states. When you layer on top of that what i believe is his genuine repentance and the fact his phone has terabytes of evidence about what these people did, it is unlike any other story i know of. The thing that makes this so great right from the beginning is the degree to which he leans into the fact he is a mob like character. Mob like characters and in some cases actual mobsters were embedded in the Trump Administration. Who was really calling the shots during the Trump Administration during this time that you cover . That is part of the worrying thing. That is why it is a national. It is not just a character flaw. Its a national Security Problem when you have criminals involved in the u. S. Government. When the crooks take over the White House, thats not just bad for the american people. But it is really good for the crooks. Because it means that anybody who is involved with people they shouldnt be involved with, anybody who is involved in crimes also becomes susceptible to blackmail. To extortion. To doing all sorts of things that could pervert their work and what is supposed to be the Public Service so it is really bad to have crooks in charge. In this case, in ukraine, the permeability of the White House, the fact a guy who Ran A Club Called Mafia Rave in ukraine had access to the president of the united states was seen as being a fantastic piece of news for the kinds of guys who would know a guy who ran the Mafia Rave Club in kyiv. Those sorts of Characters Shouldnt have access to the american president. To be counsel to the american president. To getting an ambassador fired they wanted out of the way because she was anti corruption. That is how the Trump Administration ran. That was a moment in the documentary when lev was relating the way in which he talked to Donald Trump about Maria Ivanovich being the problem. The u. S. Ambassador to ukraine being the problem and needing to get rid of her and how literally Donald Trump looks over his shoulder and says get rid of her, shes done. Find a reason to get rid of her. You realize the power that people like lev had in the Donald Trump circle. This the a real story about a fake story and he was involved in creating the fake story. He was in the Control Room overseeing the interview with the minister of Internal Affairs and describes it as old soviet Style State Tv propaganda. You have spent so much time talking about the funnel of misinformation in america and you have done a funnel about misinformation. When lev says at one point in the film you know, i eventually realized that there wasnt anybody who fed us any piece of this story who wasnt either working for the russian government directly or working for russian intelligence. This was a foreign Influence Operation. The director of national intelligence has just said that russia is targeting our elections. Again, in 2024 to try to get trump back in the White House as part of their overall effort to try to harm and weaken the united states. Using their best weapon against the united states which they think is Donald Trump in power. So they are doing it now. That is why we have seen all the indictments from the Justice Department. We remember what they did in 2016 to get trump in power with the Troll Farms and the wiwileaks and the hacking of the democratic party. That is all 2016 and 20204. In between in 2020, what they did was lev. They did this project to create a story that would hopefully knock Joe Biden out of the running for the democratic president Ial Nomination in 2020 because Donald Trump knew that biden had the best chance of beating him. And so he wanted him out. So they ran the russians ran an Influence Operation to try to essentially spoil Joe Bidens chances at winning and went at him with what they thought was his achilles heel. His love for his son hunter. Using a fathers love for his son against him i think is morally repugnant. I think it is evil. But it also was really consequential in Hunters Life and the biden Familys Life and It Led to the first trump impeach. And levs life. And all of this. That was the origin of it. In a few minutes i will talk to lev and his wife. Central characters in the show. These documentaries dont work without central characters. When you tell it from too many perspectives you lose the effect of the story. So parnas is the central character. He frames himself as The Con Man who got conned. At the same time, he helped orchestrate this whole operation. So, i know where i stand on this but for the viewer, they should they believe him now . Thats a very good question. A totally fair question. One we had to confront and have long conversations with the director and the producer of the fill. We talked about this a lot. Because that is core to the journalistic import of the film. Can you believe what he is saying . There are two things, maybe three things that powerfully i think come down on the side of believing what he is saying. One of them was the first interview he did with me in January Of 2020 which set this whole process in motion. You know how this works ali, when somebody gets arrested, somebody gets indicted, the one thing you can be sure they are not going to do next is appear on television doing an interview with a real journalist. And yet, after he was arrested and indicted he did an interview with me at great legal peril. The Justice Department tried to remand him to custody because he did that interview with me. All of his come to jesus, let me tell you what i know, all of that stuff was not only in his own interest, it was against his interest directly. It was not selfinterested and i find that important. The other part of it is he really does have a record of all the things he is talking about. Hes got thousands and thousands and thousands of text messages. Thousands of documents. Thousands of photos. And he just gave us full access to all of that to make this film which was the most amazing Fact Checking Process i have been through for a guy with such an incredible story to tell with such important people. We watched a powerful moment at The End of the film Where Lev Parnas finally meets Hunter Biden. How did that come together . So, we had a totally different ending planned for the film. In his final interview, there was the Sere Reese of interviews with lev that made the core of the film. In his final interview, he said to the director billy corbin, i will go to my Probation Officer and ask for permission to leave the state of florida because i walled like to go to California And Apologize to Hunter BidenFace To face. Billy was like okay, sure, i want a pony. But lev made it happen. He figured out how to contact Hunter Biden. Would you consider it and if so, can i bring a camera . None of us believed. I didnt even bother putting it on my calendar. I never thought it would happen. And then it just did. And we didnt know whether hunter was going to punch him out or talk to him or accept his apology. It was just a remarkable moment given what lev was the author of in Hunters Life. Lev understands the role between what he did and where we are now with the invasion of russia and the russian invasion of ukraine and a weakened ukraine. We are still waiting to see what the outcome of that war will be. But throughout the ukraine war, lev was and maybe this was part of his penance, he was trying to be really helpful to me. Being in touch saying what do you need and trying to do things to allow us to cover it as you call. I was sitting in for you when i was doing that. What is your sense of him . Is he a changed man . I mean i think he is still the same person. I think he is very smart. I think he is charismatic. Nobody has ever forgotten meeting him. There is a certain, a sort of real charisma there that is true. But i think that he has been through a real transformation. He thinks of himself as being in a cult and coming out the other side of it. And it has been brutal for his family. Very compelling throughout the film. Shes The Star of the film in many ways, his wife. Im interested to see your interview with her. But she is amazing but when lev says now what he would like to do is help people get out of the Trump Cult to come out the other side of it the way he did, i believe him. I think this was the story of his life and he wants to try to help. And im interested to see what he does. I think he has a lot to offer. It was a marvelous film. What does it feel like to be a Film Maker . I dont even know. This is the first Feature Documentary that we have produced at surprise inside, my production company. I hope it is the first of many. But it is like giving birth to a 600pound baby. It doesnt feel like you are ever going to do it again. I was very fortunate to have them at the helm of this. It is a total privilege to work with Film Makers that talented so i dont know. I dont know if i will ever be able to do something like this again. I would love to. Its hard to sell documentaries now. Well see. Im thankful to Msnbc Films and universal for helping that happen. There is a lot of content out there, but this was amazingly compelling. Congratulations my friend. Well deserved. It was an enjoyable watch. Ill be watching it again the next couple of days because it was one of those things you need to see again to have it all land in your brain so im grateful to you and thank you. Thank you ali. Much appreciated friend. When we come back, lev parnas and his wife. Well get their take on the film on Donald Trump, on Rudy Giuliani and the mission to Dig Up Dirt On Joe and Hunter Biden. As voting gets underway in three states, Vice President harris campaigned in the key Swing State of georgia where the State Election Board passed last Minute Rule changes that could make a mess on election night. And for days and weeks to come. The 11th hour getting underway on a friday night. On a friday night. You didnt start a business just to keep the lights on. Lucky for you, shopify built the just onetapping, ridiculously fastacting, skyhigh sales stacking champion of checkouts. Businesses that want to win, win with shopify. The moment i met him i knew he was my soulmate. Soulmates. Soulmate [giggles] why do you need me . [laughs sarcastically] but then we switched to tmobile 5g home internet. And now his attention is spent elsewhere. But im thinking of her the whole time. Thats so much worse. Why is that thing in bed with you . This is where it gets the best signal from the Cell Tower ive tried everywhere else in the house theres always a new excuse. Well if we got xfinity you wouldnt have to mess around with the connection. Therapys tough, huh . Mmm. Its like a lot about me. [laughs] a Home Router should never be a home wrecker. Oo this is a good book title. Trump inspired me for the first time in my life to vote and i did. I voted for Joe Biden in 2020. Hopefully it is not too late for other people. I betrayed ukraine. I betrayed america. Im sorry. Thats lev parnas and his wife in the new Msnbc Film from rush with lev. Both of them are joining us live tonight. Good evening to both of you. Lev, i wanted, i hadnt told a lot of people this. I said it to rachel, that on the first trip to ukraine, i wasnt even at the airport. I wasnt even at jfk yet and you were the first person to call and say what do you need when you get there. You and i have known Each Other a while. I appreciate you reached out on that very day. Sveltana, i didnt know you. But what did you think . I loved the documentary. The waybillly directed it and the way they produced it. I think it was really special. I didnt expect for the documentary to turn out the way it did. Some of i was a little surprised the Moments Billy caught with both of us but overall i think this documentary is really important for our country now. It speaks to the power of truth. The power of redemption, Reconciliation And Unity and i think if that can be taken away tonight from this documentary, i think that would be, would make us very happy. Lets talk about reconciliation. Lev, lets start at The End where we saw your meeting with Hunter Biden. What were you expecting . You and svetlana are in the carment how did that meeting go compared to what you expected it to do . I definitely didnt expect Hunter To, you know, you know, accept my apology. I never expected that. I was blessed and thankful that he would meet with me. I wanted to get the opportunity to apologize to him. I wanted to give him the opportunity to ask me questions and let me know if there was anything i could help him out with. Tell him stuff i was involved in. And when hunter embraced me and accepted my apology and said some of the strongest words i have ever heard. They hear the narratives i paint of a human being, a father, a son. And that we destroyed his life. To have him sit there and embrace me and accept my apology and tell me that he is proud of me. It was so emotional. Until this day, I Cant believe that im grateful and thankful to hunter and his wife melissa and the Biden Family. It is my mission in life to not only apologize to people. The whole country. Ukraine and everybody i have heard. Especially to the Biden Family and Hunter To make sure i can do whatever to clear his name and their name. It was clear to you he was doing things he shouldnt have been doing. Hanging out with people he shouldnt have been hanging out with. You knew things were wrong. You were being really supportive of lev and you helped pull him out of this. Ultimately, isnt that what marriage is about . To be there through thick and thin . If only for the sake of our family, i needed to be strong. We both needed to be strong and we both needed to get first in the same book. Then on the same chapter and i think we are now on the same page and so, that is kind of where we have been. It was done in such an interesting way. I kept leaning in not wanting it to stop. But there was an interesting moment when you talked about the postcard that you got from Rudy Giuliani when you were behind bars. I expected you to laugh and say it was a joke. I couldnt believe that was actually the postcard he sent you. Somebody you trusted so much. And relied on. And had relied on you, seemed real ready to just throw you to the wolves. You got to understand where i was. I was locked up under Espionage Charges in the cell. I had nothing, not a piece of paper. They had me in different Jump Suit and such like that. Then in the middle of the night i get something slipped under my door. I thought i was hallucinating when i picked up up and read it. I couldnt believe it. I couldnt sleep all night. A lot of things happen with gods blessing, otherwise, i wouldnt be here to tell the story. And that morning all of a sudden, i have lawyers visit. I had no lawyers and my wife hired lawyers to be able to bail me out and they happened to come that morning and with the guard shift, they didnt strip search me as they did every time i walked in and out of the cell. And i was able to sneak it out and hand it to my attorney. When they brought me back in, they went back into Think Cell looking for it. You have to understand, this is a six by eight foot cell. No cement. There was nothing there to search. I knew they were trying to find the postcard because it was supposed to just be a message for me and they were going to get rid of it because otherwise, the plan was to make me, for my Wife And Everybody to think i was crazy. Rudy would call my wife and say lev is losing it. He might be telling you some stories. We are scared he is losing his mind. I think that kept him in solitary Confinement And Something happened to him. That was part of the thing. They knew everything that i knew when i would talk, that it couldnt be proven without the receipts which they had no idea i had until they arrested me. I always wondered what happens to families when things change this way. You had a very new circle of friends. Once Donald Trump got elected and you were deeply Emergency Repairs deeply immeshed with them and then they were gone and your husband was in jail. Yeah. Our life changed forever. Much like it did when lev first got involved with Donald Trump. After levs arrest, our life changed again. And it was a very difficult time for our family. And to be coming out of it on the other side was some healing. I think very valuable to us. Most important thing. Lev, one of the interesting Things Rachel was talking about is that this film makes it clear how it was crucial that you did document everything. And you were talking about the postcard. How you had the presence of mind to make sure you took that out and got it to your attorney. Why did you do it at the time . What were you thinking as you were documenting everything . Did you think hey, maybe because of your upbringing and the things you were involved in that something may not go my way . Are you the guy who likes to take a lot of pictures and keep a lot of documents . Actually the opposite. If i thought i was doing something wrong, i would have done the opposite. I was responsible for updating everything. And backing everything up to i cloud. We had three versions of your phone. Thats what saved us. Bill barr put everything under seal. We would not be able to have it because part of what Bill Barr did was make sure none of this ever got out. When he arrested me. As soon as i got arrested, they had all of the stuff. They took. So they knew everything that was there. That is why they filed to seal my stuff not to be able to hand it over to congress. But you know what, ali . With all of this information that i have given over to rachel and to billy, obviously all of it cant be in this one andahalf hour movie. One thing i want the public to know, a lot of people that were not mentioned in this movie that are still out there, they are still doing stuff now. For instance, one of the guys we talk about John Solomon and Fox News but what we dont talk about is our guy Ken Vogel from the New York Times that was pushing all of this stuff. You dont talk about devin archer. Hunter bidens friend. He was being paid by russia to be Hunter Bidens handler. Not to be his friend. To plant him in places where he would be taken advantage of. Bring him to kazakhstan. They went out to kazakhstan and he dragged hunter over. That is where they took his Laptop And Stuff like that. So there is so much to the story people dont know. That is why im blessed to have rachel, to be able to have the great Rachel Maddow be able to get out at such a time with the elections coming up. And i want people to know what they did in 2020. They are doing the same exact thing right now. The same russian misinformation. Ken vogel. The same people. Nothing has changed. That is why i is very important that this movie came out at the right crucial time for people to see it before they go in and vote. To see who Donald Trump is. If he could be running all of this, imagine who he would have if he is near the office again in 2024. Back then, there were certain guardrails. People in the White House and the administration, they tried. You have the general kellies. The people that would try to do it. They are all gone. There is nobody there. Even ivanka and jared have jumped ship. The only people you have around him are conspiracy theorists, crazy nuts, you have people like general flynn running your attorney general. You have people like patel running the state department. That is why it is so important to understand who surrounds Donald Trump. And im sorry ali, but it just frustrates me to see this happening the same exact, the same plan we have done in 2020. Basically, they are doing the same thing in 2024. Thats the important message. Thank you for that. Svetlana, a pleasure to have met you. And lev, good to see you old friend. I appreciate the time that you have taken with us. Thank you ali. God bless you for all the work you do in ukraine, so important. Thank you both. Well, as lev points out, just 46 days until november 5th. Officials in key Battleground States or at least one Battleground State have just voted for a controversial new rule about Counting Ballots. Why critics are saying this is going to lead to chaos on Election Day and perhaps for days and weeks to come when The 11th Hour continues. Th Hour Co. 46 days to go in probably the most consequential election of our lifetimes. I ask georgia. Are you ready to make your voices heard . Do we trust women . Do we believe in reproductive freedom . Do we believe in the promise of america . And are we ready to fight for it . And when we fight, we win Vice PresidentKamala Harris campaigned on the issue of abortion in georgia. The Swing State has been in increased scrutiny after new reporting linked its six Week Abortion Ban to the deaths of two women. The latest move from georgias Election Board is raising red flags. Today they passed a rule that would require a Hand Count of all ballots. A measure that could lead to serious delays in election results. For more, lets bring in greg, political reporter for the journal of constitution. Emily parker and john allen. Senior Politics Reporter for nbc news. Greg, my dude. Pleads, whats going on in your state . Well theres a lot going on. And i think we can lead with the State Election Board. 32 decision. If i asked my average neighbor, average georgian, they would say sure. But it can delay the reporting of results. Even some republicans say, the rule changes that could set the stage for election challenges for Donald Trump supporters should he manage to lose georgia by a narrow margin. What the Georgia State Board of elections is going is sowing doubt. The issue is doubt. You can count ballots by hand if you want to. It is the concept there are problems with the Way Voting takes place. And seems like that is the setting of the Ground Work for the big lied to. That is exactly right. Donald trump is sowing doubt as he has been every election he has been in, he has claimed before any votes have been cast that if he loses, it must be a rigged election. And again, coming back to that word of doubt, i cannot tell you how many supporters i have talked to who said look. Trump was winning on election night. I went to bed, i woke up and he was losing. Something nefarious must have happened. It didnt. That is how elections work because of time zones. We dont know the results right away. In the moment where there is such distrust of institutions across the board, anything that injects Doubt Or Uncertainty or a lack of transparency benefits a candidate who wants to lie about the results if they dont go his way. Led to a packed room with 10,000 people. Here is what she had to say. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails. He has vowed to be a dictator on day one. He has called for quote, the termination of the Constitution Of The United States of america. And let us be very clear. Someone who suggests we should terminate the Constitution Of The United States should never again stand behind the seal of the president of the united states. Never again. Never again. John, talk to me about the evolution of Kamala Harris the candidate. We have heard those lines from her before. She has used them. But you know, out of the gate, she had this remarkably enthusiastic base. It has been a steady creep upward. The number of people registers to volunteer. Give me a sense of her as a candidate. It is something people miss. And not surprisingly because she is Vice President of the united states, but, for most of this year and some of last year, she was traveling around the country giving stump speeches effectively on abortion rites. Small businesses. On a couple of other issues. You see a ndidate who has become practiced at delivering these speeches. On a broader level, you mentioned the slow Building Momentum for her. Unify the democratic party. There was concern about Joe Biden on the leash. Some of it had to do with her in particular and she has continued that. You mentioned the polling. The polling is certainly rosier for her than it was for Joe Biden when he exited this race, but not so much so that you would say this was anything other than an incredibly close race. Just thinking how close the race was. And we will be looking at georgia and pennsylvania again. That is not going to change. Just might take us longer to count the votes. Ashley parker, one of those things in American Politics thats weird. Every group says this is the group that they need to win. To johns point, you need every group to win at this point. And you are reporting that Harris And Trump are in a straight fight for men over the age of 50. Whats that all about . This was fascinating to me, too. When i set out to record this story, we thought the groups were going to be tremendously different. On the harris side, this is some different. They have a much higher Feeling And Room for growth so there is a bunch of groups that are really going after to persuade. But the crest of it is young voters are defined as under 50. I like that because it makes me young. Its a broad range. And these skew more male for both campaigns and they over index in both campaigns which might surprise people. The harris campaign, people of color and the trump campaign. There are more black and latino voters than the general pop youulation. Both campaigns are laser focused now. Abortion is what harris is talking about in georgia. There are so many issues in georgia, the elections, voting access have typically been the biggest issues right now. Talk to me about abortion as a motivating issue in georgia. Different from any other state where it is a motivating issue . They released a poll a couple of days ago that showed abortion is the top issue for one in ten voters and i think if we polled a little deeper it would be a top five issue for many voters. Democrats feel like they can bank on abortion in a way they couldnt in 2022 when republicans won every statewide office but one. The u. S. Senate race. That walker lost. This is not your typical campaign speech. It was an impassioned outline from the Vice President of what she says is the bleak future for Abortion Rights ShouldDonald Trump prevail in georgia and beyond. And it was using personal stories, personal tales of those two women who died after taking abortion pills shortly after the law took effect. It hit home to a lot of people in the audience. The invitation only audience of some of the most prominent Women Activists in georgia who will go out and spread that message throughout georgia. Our poll showed a Tightening Race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in one of the most important Battleground States in the nation. Thank you to all three of you. Greg, ashley, john, we appreciate it. When we come back, less than two weeks away from a Government Shutdown Deadline and Donald Trump is causing headaches for republicans. We have the latest with the top Capitol Hill Reporter when The 11th Hour continues. En The 11th Hour continues. The trump backed legislation requiring people show proof of citizenship in order to register the vote. A save act. House Speaker Johnson says he spoke with trump yesterday. And he quote understands the situation. For more, the Hills Congressional Reporter Michael joins me. Thank you for being with us. Whats the plan for the gop right now . It would be weird to end up with a Government Shutdown that has nothing to do with the underlying reasons for why the government typically shuts down. Thats right. This one, well, it is important to note. There is not going to be a shutdown. Right . The overall sentiment on the House And Senate side and on the House Side is shutdown would not be helpful for anybody. It would be harmful for republicans at this junction of the year. That doesnt mean there will not be a fight about it. And former President Trump is a key player in this. He has timed and time again urged republicans to reject any Funding Package that doesnt include that legislation. It would prior proof of citizenship to vote. Something that democrats have noted is already illegal. So that was never going to make it into the final government Funding Package. It has been taken out of whats plan b. So essentially, there is not going to be a shut down. President trump likely to be frustrated with the republicans on capitol hill. Johnson has been in touch with trump on Government Funding. They did speak in Washington Yesterday and they met in mara lago over the weekend last weekend. But still, trump being very clear about what he wants but johnson and the republicans not going ahead with that. The question is this, when you say you dont think there will be a Government Shutdown, that would actually mean johnson, not just trying, doing what he is doing following trump around having meetings with him to convince him, sounds like johnson still thinking trump has to sign off on it and get permission for republicans to vote for it. You really think if Donald Trump does not sign onto passing this thing, that republicans will defy him . Well, there will be some republicans who do defy him. A number of moderate republicans. Folks who are part of the right flank who want to get in with this clean Stopgap Bill and go home and continue campaigning but it is not just about the Government Funding fight. Theres a lot of politics in this. Particularly internal House Gop politics. Mike johnson has expressed very clearly that he wants to remain speaker in the next congress if republicans keep the majority in the house. That will be much easer with the support of former President Trump. So johnson is towing the line between protecting his moderates and avoiding a Government Shutdown which would be harmful for republicans. Placating the concerns of former President Trump. He will be a key alley when Speaker Johnson vies for reelection. Not to mention, members on the right flank who are very aligned with former President Trump. Those Hard Line Conservatives will be key to johnson keeping his Leadership Position so he has a lot of different factors. Not just averting a shutdown, but he wants to save his leadership prospects for the near future. Michael, thanks for joining us, well be back after a quick break. A quick break. That does it for us, i am ali velshi. You can watch my show at 10 00 p. M. Eastern. This week, i explored two additions to the american literary academy by jamie alvarez. You can scan the Qr Code on your screen to listen to the third episode for free. On that note, i wish you good night. From all of our colleagues across the networks at msnbc news, thanks for staying up late. Ill see you this weekend. S we. Re. Youre lucky if you forget. N im craig melvin, and thi is dateline