House. Okay. What we are learning about what the doj was looking for on Jeffrey Clarks phone, plus the decision from trumps judge on the Special Master as the ex president threatens against potential indictment. If it happened, i think you would have problems in this country the likes of which, perhaps, we have never seen before. What kind of problems, mister president . I think he would have big problems. And 54 days to election day, new research on just how much abortion is animating and independents, when all in starts right now good evening from new york, im chris hayes. These days, it can be tough to keep track of all the people in Donald Trumps circle who have had their personal devices searched or seized in connection with one of the multiple ongoing investigations into the ex president s wrongdoing. It feels like i follow this for a living and i am reminded or learn of a new one almost every day. Recently, we have added an exceedingly colorful characters that group. You might know who i am talking about mike lindell. He is, of course, the rightwing pillow guy, whose ads run so often on fox news. Hes basically the cohost of the hour. And while mike lindell is a ridiculous figure, he is also one of the most prominent Election Deniers in the country. What he is up to is definitely not funny after. The 2020 election, lindell toward the country spreading Donald Trumps lies and helping to foment the coup. He also presented Conspiracy Theory after Conspiracy Theory to donald trump, a week after january 6th, after the blood on the capitol, and the broken windows, and the deaths of people he was spotted at the white house, holding a paper with the phrases, Insurrection Act and martial law if necessary, branded on them. Back in january of this year, at the January 6th Committee subpoenaed lindells phone records. And this week, lindell revealed that fbi agents seized his cell phone while he was in the drivethrough of a hardees in minnesota. The fbi came after me and took my phone and surrounded me at a hardees and took my phone i went on my business, everything went, they could have what they have done is weaponized the fbi. Its disgusting. I dont have a computer. Everything i do, on my phone, everything was on there and they told me not to tell anybody. There was an order, dont tell anybody. Okay, i wont. I am. So in fact, mike lindell has done the opposite of what he said the fbi asked, speaking publicly about whatever happened on every tv program that will have him. And of course, they will all have them, because theyre all hooked on those sweet ad dollars from mustache pillow. Com. Im not sure what they are going to find on your phone but they are going to find nothing. They are going to find a lot of promo codes for a lot of at my pillow. Newsmax has been great, by the way. Promo code, newsmax. Always me closing, mike. To be fair, he has been generous with the promo codes and has apparently done some of those promo codes to his defenders in trump world, like Rudy Giuliani, who tweeted, quote, breaking news, the fbi seized Mike Lindells phone. Fight back by Shopping Rudy at my pillow to support. I have to say, we have talked about this in the editorial meeting there was some debate about whether this was real. Could that possibly be real . But you know what, it is 2022. Of course it is real. Of course Rudy Giuliani is tweeting out a My Pillow Rudy promo code mike lindell also revealed what the fbi agents asked him about at that hardees drivethrough in minnesota. He told former Trump White House strategist churned podcast podcast or Sebastian Gorka they are all podcasters. Tina peters. Did the agent ever tell you why the hell they were stopping you . They and then they asked me, what is this about . Then they asked me, when i met tina peters. I said, you are the fbi, you know i met her at the Cyber Symposium A year ago. Of course you know that. Everybody knows that. Okay, so, tina peters, who is she . She was one of the speakers at that election conspiracy Cyber Symposium As he euphemistically called it. Mike lindell put that together last august. And that was where he claimed that he would reveal this definitive, demonstrative proof that the 2020 election was stolen from donald trump. And of course, you know, like all of this, there it is all nonsense, theres no evidence. Its made up. Lies lies, lies, lies. Tina peters, though, is a really important figure. Because she is not just another one of these obsessive Coup Plotting Pro insurrection cranks. She is one of the few people in that world who had actual power overseeing actual elections. And according to court filings, she abuse that power. Quote, devising and executing a deceptive scheme which was designed to influence public servants, breached Security Protocols, exceed permissible access to Voting Equipment, and set in motion the eventual distribution of confidential information to unauthorized people. Prosecutors allege that in may of 2021, peters gave an unauthorized man access to the counties secure elections area, where Voting Equipment was stored. That man made copies of Voting Equipment servers, passwords from that equipment were later posted online by a leading figure in the qanon Conspiracy Theory. Tina peters has since said she was concerned that the company that makes these Voting Machines is going to delete record from the 2020 election. She apparently believed in debunked Conspiracy Theory that the company was involved in speech stealing the election from donald trump. In march, peters was indicted by a mesa county grand jury. She faced ten counts, including seven Felony Charges of attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and identity theft. She pleaded not guilty to those charges. This video comes from february, of the grand jury investigation, when peters was arrested after refusing to allow police to carry out a Search Warrant for her ipad. Now tina peters has since been stripped of her duties overseeing elections as county clerk. And that ruling came as a result of a lawsuit brought by colorado Secretary Of State jena griswold, who i am going to speak to in just a few moments. And peters actually tried to Challenge Griswold for that position Secretary Of State running for a republican nomination for Secretary Of State. She lost that primary in june and accused state Election Officials, of course, of cheating. So, tina peters is an important figure here, right . She is the sort of overlap between, like, ludicrous my pillow election qanon, Cult Conspiracy World and actual Election Officials in america. She is one who had power that did by Donald Trumps election lies. She was willing to do elect his bidding and use her power to, allegedly, corruptly infiltrate the actual Voting Machines, to turn over that information. That is incredibly dangerous. I think it is pretty important that, if these charges are true, that tina peters is held to account, as a deterrent, if nothing else, a warning to any other Election Officials and remember there are thousands across this country who may be tempted to follow suit. That is especially true because there may soon be more of them. According to a new report, Election Deniers are on the ballot this november in 27 states, seeking positions that will oversee, defend or certify elections. They include, to name just one example, mark finchem, thats republican amani for arizona Secretary Of State, who says joe biden did not win in 2020. And just recently accused former Vice President mike pence of trying to steal the presidency in 2024. In michigan, the republican candidate for attorney general, Matthew Deperno not only denies the Election Results hes also under Criminal Investigation for potentially tampering with Voting Machines. Sounds familiar . Used in 2020. So, its not just my pillow guy and his goofy acolytes. These are people who, like tina peters, could pose a serious threat to democratic legitimacy, to the administration of our elections. And they are gunning for real power. Jena griswold is Secretary Of State in colorado. She also chairs the Democratic Association of secretaries of state. And she joins me now. Secretary griswold, it is good to have you. First, one thing that strikes me as i think about what happened in 2020 and i think about the number of people that signed up for this almost cult like obsession with the election, is that tina peter sticks out as a relatively rare example of an actual official who went along with it. I mean, in most cases, across the ideological spectrum, seeing in your state of colorado, it does seem like officialdom held that the people who were tasked with his very important duty across the ideological spectrum did truck with his nonsense and other job. Is that basically your sense as well . First, off chris, thank you for having me on. Especially for a spot that involves burgers and seizing phones and drivethroughs. I think you are right. In 2020, Civil Servants and elected officials rejected the lies coming out of the white house, to make sure that americans could both vote safely and securely during a pandemic and with a sitting president trying to seize the presidency. Tonight we saw Civil Servants stand up and reject trumps orders. We also saw republicans access. But there has been a major shift since then. We see the Big Lies Spreading and repeating over and over and over. So, you start to see elected officials like tina peters embrace it. In colorados experience, the first insider threat, but unfortunately, we have seen more of them across the United States and an additional one in the state of colorado. Yeah, we should note that we have covered here, Coffee County in georgia is another state we, are apparently, we have Video Showing Election Officials allowing outsiders to come, infiltrate those machines, and take data. There is another one in another county in colorado. So, it has not moved in the right direction. Particularly important part of this, are, of course, secretaries of state. This is interesting. This is back from february and i imagine the numbers of 2020, that more and more money is going into these races, secretaries of state races. This is all back in february of 2020. But they are three times higher than they were at this point in the 2018, cycle eight times higher than 2014. That is from two years ago. I have got to imagine more current data would show that this cycle we are seeing something similar. How important are these races and how much money is going into them . These races are incredibly important. And what we are seeing, as you noted in arizona, nevada, michigan, minnesota, new mexico, Election Deniers are running to be chief election officers. And what we can expect from them is to destabilize elections and be more beholden tomorrow logo than the american people. And make no mistake, this is part of a larger effort. The big lie has been used to suppress the vote, threaten election workers, incentivize Insider Threats like in mesa county. And this is all to destabilize the country so that the next time a president ial candidate or frankly any candidate does not want to accept the results, it will be easier for them to hold on to power. The big challenge, it strikes me here, is that i think a lot of voters dont really know what secretaries of state to do or that it is that important or that you know, i think in a normal Secretary Of State election, its like, well, its kind of an administrative job, they are not setting a Secretary Of State is not going to set abortion policy in my state, right . So, you may think the stakes are not that high. You may not know what they do and you may not have an idea that you are choosing between someone who fundamentally believes in liberal democracy and Self Governance and someone who is, like, fundamentally on the record as bring being pro coup. How worried are you about how inform voters are as they go into chasing, in the states, that are 50 50 tossup states, like arizona . Well, one thing before answering your direct question i did to join the governor of colorado, governor polis, saying that colorado would not extradite for the criminalization of abortions in other states. Im very prochoice a very proud of that and will always stand with families, women and children. But when it comes to the general knowledge of these positions, secretaries of state were thrust in the forefront of American Media and thought in 2020, we did this heroic efforts to make sure that every eligible republican, democrat and unaffiliated could vote. And as a nation, we succeeded in safeguarding democracy. And right now, the top issue On Americans Minds is democracy. The very foundation the ideal that every day people get to choose their elected officials and then hold them accountable at the ballot box is at risk in many states in this country. So, i have total faith in the american people, and many of them will have candidates on their ballots this Election Cycle in november, who are big lie candidates. So, voters really need to Pay Attention to who they are voting for, whether it is local county clerk, to Secretary Of State, to attorney general and governor. And i have confidence that americans are going to reject to this extremism and save american democracy in november. Final question for you you mentioned another Colorado County where Something Like this has happened. Which county . What has happened there . We saw a second insider threat. So, we are county clerk breached Security Protocols in albert county. I will tell you, when i address the situation in mesa county this was the first insider election reach in the entire country i acted decisively. My job as Secretary Of State is to make sure that every eligible voter, republican, democrat, and unaffiliated, has access to safe and secure elections. So, we petitioned a judge to remove that county clerk from oversight. He did certified all the Voting Equipment in mesa county and then asked my 2018 republican opponent to step in. Chris, i also lead the nations first law on its own felony to compromise Voting Equipment in the state of colorado or publish private passwords to the Voting Equipment. And like you mentioned, these Insider Threats, they are spreading across the nation, and we really urge other states to take action as quickly as possible and make sure that their laws are ready to handle this evolving threat. Yeah. Yeah. This doesnt make me feel threat, that there has been more than one of those. Secretary of state jena griswold, thank you very much. Thank you. As the ex president makes threats about what could happen if he is indicted, the january 6th Committee Releases new video that shows how farright extremists were hanging on Donald Trumps every word as they invaded the capitol. Trump just tweeted, please support our capitol police, they are on our side. Do not harm them. Thats saying a lot, but what he didnt say he didnt say not to do anything to the congressman. [laughs] if there is such a prosecutor and they indict you, with that deter you from running for president again . I dont think the people of the United States would stand for it. And as you know, if nothing like that happened, i would have no prohibition against running. You know that . I do. Thats what i want people to understand. That would not take you out of the arena. It would not. But i think, if it happened, i think you would have problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we have never seen before. I dont think the people of the United States would stand for it. What kind of problems, mr. President . Think they would have problems, big problems. I just dont think they would stand for it. Boy, i wonder what he means they are about big problems. The same way, like, a mob stir with a bat into his hand, talks about big problems. The Department Of Justice is in a legal fight about and put in his retirement home. Im going to talk about the latest ruling from trumps judge down in florida in just a few minutes, that just came out. Before we even get to the ruling, the ex president has been out there with a not so subtle threat of early violence if he gets indicted. And the thing is, we know that violent mobs hang on this guys every word. Just to listen to this newlyreleased audio from the January 6th Committee of walkie talkie broadcast between oath keepers during the insurrection. Cnn just said that they evacuated all members of congress into a safety room. There is no safe place in the United States for any of these bleep right now. Let me tell you. They understand that we are not joking around. Its Military Principal 105. Military principal 105, cave means grave. Trump just tweeted, please support our capitol police, they are on our side. Do not harm them. Thats saying a lot. But what he didnt say he didnt say not to do anything to the congressman. [laughs] well, he did not ask them to stand down. He just said, stand by the capitol police, they are on our side, they are good people. So, its getting real down there. Ive got it on tv. And it is looking pretty rigging radical to me. Cnn said that trump has egged this on, that he is egging it on, and that he is watching the country burn two weeks before he office. Hes not leaving office. I dont give a bleep what they say. We are rocking it. Throwing grenades, theyre ferc in shooting people with paint balls. But we are in there. Be safe, be safe. God bless and godspeed and keep going. Get it, just. Do your bleep. This is what we bleep for. Everything we bleep came for. Betsy Woodruff Swan has been reporting on all these investigations, is a National Correspondent for politico. Her latest piece reports on how paintings your lawyer representing him in the maralago case. Harry litman as a u. S. Attorney as a Deputy Assistant attorney general. And they both join me now. Harry litman, i want to start with you on judge cannon. The Department Of Justice said, hey, look, we are fine with the Special Master. But rescind this completely unprecedented state you have on us investigation and just goes through the hundred classified documents. Theres no dispute about whether those judge can and says no, there is its view, even though it is not clear what it is. She says, the governments position, thus presupposes the content designation, and associated interest in materials under its control. Yet, as the parties competing filings reveal, their disputes have the proper designation of the seized materials. Indeed, if the court were willing to accept the governor governments representations, the without exception government property, not subject to privileges, the court would have denied the plaintiffs Special Master request. Okay, what happens now . What do you make of the ruling . Let me start with the second. So, that is the core of it and it is an atrocity. So, its exactly as you say. We are talking about 100 documents and the department came in, as these, they are classified, he cannot possibly have a possessory interest. His very weak pushback was, well, the government says they are classified. Maybe that doesnt mean that they are. That is a spectacularly incoherent position. That the government classifies things, that mark classified, that thats what it means, and also clearly means that he has no possessory interest. And she adopted his very strange kind of, well, it could be, even though, remember, he has asked for extraordinary relief, had to make a heightened showing, but she basically says, well, it wouldnt be appropriate, because maybe they are not classified. I want to talk to a third party. That is who the Special Master s. That is wild and completely divorced from what courts do and are supposed to do. What happens now . They said they were going to appeal and oh, and one other quick thing, she does nothing about Executive Privilege. So, raymond erie, who has now been appointed, we look to a corny client, fine, but also to do with Executive Privilege, or no standards whatsoever eight is a complete bedlam. They will appeal. They said they would, they will go forward and it will be to this 100 classified documents will be part and parcel and, yes, its a very conservative court but that is where they have to go. And her opinion seems so flawed and so on judicial that i think the odds are pretty good. But in any event, that is where they have to go, the 11th circuit. Look for them to file that tomorrow. I am going to come to you in a second, betsy Woodruff Swan, because i want to talk about your reporting. But just one followup, here, harry litman. When you think about what judges do as resolving the streets there are two parties that have a dispute, you are District Court judge, you have to resolve it. So the, resolution here, right, is that theres gonna be a Special Master. But i dont even understand what matrix of evaluation this Special Master is supposed to use with a classified documents. What is he looking for . Like, what is the thing that makes it a trump dock . What could possibly be on it that would make it a not classified document that belongs to the u. S. Government . What is he sifting for . No kidding. So, it is not possible. We know this from the supreme court, by the way. Even if all he said is, he could have reclassified when he was president. But he did intend there is no proof of it and it is really an important blunder on her part because there is no law about Executive Privilege and a former president. And here we know already, from the trump, case and the nixon case, that even if there were, it would certainly yield to the interests of the United States right there is no law out. Theyre so, poor judge dearie, he will say something, and trump will dispute, and now it will go to cannon. So, it is a recipe for a really great delay and its a really great recipe for sort of undermining the whole idea of the Criminal Investigation. Because if he maybe had some might to classified documents, well, then its hard to say it was a crime to have taken and conceal them and lied about them. Betsy Woodruff Swan, of course, the lawyer for this is being paid out of the small dollar donations that flow into trump world. You broke the story today. What did you learn about how the legal bills are being paid . Thats right. The Save America Legal Pack was set up by trump and his allies just two days after election day 2020. And one of the things that this pac did right out of the bat was cash in on the claims that trump and his allies were with the entire election had been stolen, and that it was a big hoax. This sort of shamelessness with which this pac push to the claims that trump and his allies were at this time was incredibly lucrative. They brought in more than 100 million since that process happened, since they were stood up in november of 2020. And now much of that money is going to be used to pay to cover trumps legal bills, which are the direct result of him spreading lies about the elections outcomes. So, what we know is, save america, which is this leadership pac, has made a 3 Million Dollar payment to cover chris cases legal work on 3 million, is that easily a lot of money, but that may not cover all the work that case is going to have to do for trump. Because he is working on a former president both on the maralago matter and then the january 6th matter. And he has had to set up his own law firm to take trump as a client. Because presumably, the major white shoe from that he was at previously, didnt want to take on a guy who is famous for not paying his lawyers. Right. And thats what we are seeing now, what was supposedly a political fundraising arm, is helping trump deal with the legal fallout of january 6th and the result in chaos. And one final perfect the tail, right its the Save America Pac that appears to be one of the things we investigated by that grand jury in washington d. C. And some the subject of some of the subpoenas, right . Because the january 6th. So, there is some legal exposure in the fund itself which is now paying legal bills, life a self licking ice cream cone, betsy Woodruff Swan and harry litman, thank you both. Thanks. Thank you. Still ahead, Jeffrey Clark was a key player in all trumps attempt to seize power. Then Law Enforcement searched his home, made him wait outside without his pants. What we are learning about the charges he could be facing next. I was injured in a car crash. I had no idea how much my case was worth. I called the barnes firm. Can you step outside with me . When a truck hit my son, i had so many questions about his case. I called the barnes firm. It was the best call i couldve made. Your case is often worth more than insuran call the barnes firm to find out i couldve made. What your case could be worth. We will help get you the best result possible. The barnes firm, Injury Attorneys call one eight hundred,est resul Eight Million weve got a Search Warrant and we need to speak to you can you step outside for me . Can i call my lawyer. Come outside. Can i put pants on first . Sir, weve got to clear the house. Weve got a clean house. As soon as you according to Jeffrey Clark, Law Enforcement took all the electronics from his home on the morning of june 22nd. That was the day you saw there where federal investigators apparently will clark up with a knock on his door and asked him to stand outside in his underpants while they searched his home for potential evidence. Clark, you may recall, was the environmental lawyer at the Department Of Justice who trump wanted to install as attorney general to help him further heres goal of ending democracy as we know it by using the Department Of Justice as unemployment for the coup. And thanks to a new court filing, we learned that the doj was looking for evidence related to three potential crimes 18 usc 1001, which relates to fall statements, 18 usc 371, which relates to conspiracy, and 18 usc 1512, which relates to is katie benner a justice correspondent who has been following up the twist in terms of the justice investigation. Katie what does all this tell us about where this investigation is a wet may or may not be related Jeffrey Clark. A still in a very developmental phase. As we know, last week, they issued more than 40 subpoenas to various Trump Associates to find various information. And well take quite a bit of time to call through the information and find to its investigation. So, we are still in the pretty early stages on january 6th. But we know that Jeffrey Clark has been under investigation, basically, since january of 2021, right after came out about his role in the attempts to overturn the election. So, that is much more developed. And what we see in this filing is that he has been being investigated, as you said, for potential accusations of making false statements, Obstructing Justice Obstruction Of Justice and its conspiracy. The conspiracy details are unclear. We also know that clark has had been investigated, that people were interested in whether not he was involved in the effort to obstruct congresss ability to certify joe biden as president. So, its actually not quite clear to me from this whether or not he is also under investigation for trying to obstruct the Justice Department s investigation into him. But that is one possibility. And it also does say to me that the Justice Department is, again, very, very developed in its a look at Jeffrey Clark. Yeah. So, that is what i have sort of taken away and i keep having to remind myself all of that flurry of activity you mentioned off of the top, for the january 6th stuff, and all of the subpoenas and mike lindell, who we mentioned earlier, the testimony we know is happened in front of that grand jury, it is not clear i mean, its related at some level because the activities are all related by the clark investigation, specifically of him, seems to have started way before that and its probably further down the road, is what you are saying absolutely. And what is so interesting about this filing is that it does not come from the Justice Department. It comes in the washington d. C. Bar. They are thinking about disciplining him for what he did around the election. And that discipline could include it is barring him. So, they made a motion about this in the summer. And they gave clark a chance to respond. And in his response, he said, you should not go forward with this investigation of potential disciplining of me because there are all these other parallel investigations into my behavior. And once they are resolved, it could actually resolve the questions you have about what i did. Just the fact that he would say that this Criminal Investigation of him could go his way and show the d. C. Bar that he did nothing wrong, does say to me that he believes he did nothing wrong. But also, the bar, they read his argument, and it will apply, which is where they got this information, they disagree with him. And say, listen, just because you might be under Criminal Investigation does not mean that is going to resolve anything for us. We are still able to examine your behavior on its own. There is one other lawyer who seems to be th is fairly advanced, w john eastman. Because it was not working for the government. He essentially called himself a counsel to the president. We know he was intimately involved in the highest echelons of coup potting, of pressure on pence. He as well, right, has been subjected to searches we believe, subpoenas and i wonder if youre reporting indicates that that investigation is as developed as the clock one. Some of the reporting indicates that part of the reason that they obtained information from john eastman was related to this investigation of Jeffrey Clark. So, i do think that there are a lot of pieces that overlap. But clark is certainly somebody who they have been scrutinizing for longer. They have obtained more information about and it is going to be interesting to see what happens to him. It is also interesting to see what happens because when you take a big step back, and look at the January 6th Investigation in its totality, there are a lot of people who are talking about the fact that they think that donald trump could be indicted any day now, which is contrary to any reporting that i have. Yeah. But keep in mind there are not yet really firmly links between a lot of the activity and donald trump. And especially for Something Like the plan to endorse fake slates of electors, what you would kind of need as a prosecutor, in general, just in cases like this in general, is a prosecutor, you want somebody who is involved, to say, that somebody else involved directed them. So, its not clear that they have even gotten close enough to prosecute anybody that they could try to put pressure to try to flip and implicate donald trump. So, i think that what we would need to see actual indictments of other people before we ever saw against donald trump. Yeah. Its a really good point. And you wrote a piece yesterday or the day before, which we quoted on air here, about the timeline here, which is almost certainly that things kind of go quiet in the run up to the election. And it will be a little while as this all works to, particularly given the scope, from what we have seen revealed in just the sheer amount of subpoenas and Search Warrants that have been served. Katie benner, its always a pleasure, thank you. Thank you. Still to come, despite pessimism in some circles, it turns out people like when you cancel a bunch of their debt. Who knew . How president bidens student loan gamble could pay off for democrats in the midterms away suitcases come in many colors. So you can find your color. Colors. Choices. Happiness. Away. If you have diabetes, then getting on the dexcom g6 away. Is the single most important thing you can do. It eliminates painful fingersticks, helps lower a1c, and its covered by medicare. Before dexcom g6, i was frustrated. All of that fingerpricking and all of that pain, my a1c was still stuck. My diabetes was out of control. I was tired. female announcer dexcom g6 sends your Glucose Numbers to your phone or receiver without painful fingersticks. The arrow shows the direction your glucose is heading up, down, or steady, so you can make better decisions about food and activity in the moment. After using dexcom g6, my a1c has never been lower. I lead line dancing three times a week, i exercise, and im just living a great life now. Its so easy to use. Dexcom g6 has given me confidence and control that everything i need is right there on my phone. female announcer dexcom g6 is the 1 recommended cgm system by doctors and patients. Call now to get started. bright music during the summer, as the Biden Administration wrestled with what to do about student loan debt, there was a really big debate among democrats and progressives and everyone on the center left about loan cancellation. And a whole bunch of people argued that, whatever you thought of the substance, that it was bad politics for democrats in general and President Joe Biden in particular. You saw this in a lot of places. A forbes calling for back in the spring when, quote, the political fallout from Student Loan Forgiveness may not turn out the way democrats hope. A u. S. Today usa today oped mostly hurts the democrats in the near term. The atlantic said, quote, the issue offers little political benefit to biden. And honestly, politics is strange. I was not positive about how the politics would play out. I could have imagined whipping up a backlash that was actually hurt the democrats. Now that stopped President Joe Biden last month when he walked into the Roosevelt Room with the white house and made this announcement. Using the Authority Congress granted to the department of education, we will forgive 10,000 in outstanding federal student loans. In addition, students who come from low income families, which allow them to qualify to receive a pell grant, will have their debt reduced 20,000. Both of these targeted actions are for families who need it the most, working and middle class people, hit especially hard during the pandemic, making under 125,000 a year. That was the announcement. Thats where they ended up after a lot of back and forth half about how much money much money it would be, and for whom. And now that it has been announced we can check in and see who was right. How is it actually playing with voters . Well, according to a new fox news poll, 50 ports 54 approve of the policy. Biden is also seen a surge in his approvals in the aftermath of the announcement. Immediately after the announcement, his approval among adults under 30 shot up ten points, from 49 to 59 . But it is not just young people. The American Public at large appears to have taken a shine. An Associated Press poll had him at 36 back in july. The number jumped to 45 this month. Quinnipiac poll showed a similar pattern. 31 in july, at 40 approval after the announcement. There are a lot of factors that go into a president ial Approval Ratings. Gas prices have come down. But what you can say, i think definitively, is that this was not some big disaster. It was not some huge blow back here. It seems pretty clear that this is actually popular policy, does real good, and yields a tangible political benefit. Your projects done right. With angi, you can connect with and see ratings and reviews. And when you book and pay throug youre covered by our happiness check out angi. Com today. Angi. And done. Snoring . Because quality sleep is vital, the sleep number 360 smart bed can gently raise your partners head to help. Ah. Thats better. And when you book and pay throug youre covered by our happiness our smart sleepers get 28 minutes more restful sleep per night. Right now there is an save 30 on the sleep number 360 special Edition Smart bed. Only for a limited time. Interesting pulling anomaly that might be helping Democratic Candidates mammograms. So, usually when a party holds the whales like democrats to, president ial Approval Rating is the key indicator in predictor of how the election is going to. As we mentioned, president bidens Approval Rating has improved recently. But it is still averaging just 42 . Democrats are over performing midterm expectations in both head to head senate matchups. See those blue dots where the democrats. In generically, people are asked, would you rather vote for the republican or democratic candidate, thats the generic ballot. We also see this in special elections when theyve been overperform. And right now democrats are theyre leading slightly or funding to a near draw even though the democratic president is polling in the low 40s. So, if the midterms turn on bidens Approval Rating, dont get could be in real trouble come november. Theres a bunch of reasons to thank this remember. Different Sarah Longwell is the Executive Director of the republican accountability project. Publisher of the bulwark, most of the focus Group Broadcast and she actually just a. Focused in the Battleground State of nevada on this gap. Between biden end other Democratic Candidates. She joins me now. Sarah, set up for us what you are looking to get into in this focus group. Look, i want to understand this spread. This idea that biden. Nobody is a state where bidens even polling lower than most of the states. This is the state republicans are really keen to pick up that senate seat. From cortez masto. The problem though is that when it comes to the candidates that is republicans are running, even though the environment is so good for them. When you talk to these voters, we are talking to sort of democratic leaning independents and this offending democrats. Democrats who specifically said that they did not like the job that joe biden is doing. So, even though they are really down on him, when you ask them head to head. They say theyre open to voting republican. You say well, what about adam wax all, the Republican Senate candidate. They loath him. They dislike him intensely. A lot of is wrapped up in his position on abortion. So, even though when you ask an openended question like, well what are you concerned about in the election right now, they will say inflation, they will say crime, they will say the economy. All things that should sort of generally be benefiting republicans, it is the candidates, the candidates was a combination of the extremism on abortion that is really creating this environment where even though they are open to and they are frustrated with democrats, they just cant get there. And just before this i was watching one in arizona with the swing voters. It was the exact game dynamic. Super frustrated with joe biden, with the democrats but when it came to mark kelly they were. For him, they just absolutely were not going to vote for the republican blake masters. In fact, they were aware that he had sort of spoken positively about the unabomber and once you had been voters were aware of that, then you are in for a tougher. So its this extremism, thats what keeps coming up in the voters. Is to some degree abortion, but it is also people who participated in january six, people who are Election Deniers. All kind of levels up and accumulates into candidates that people just arent that enthusiastic about and a lot of swing voters cannot get there on. You, know it is funny, as you are saying this, im remembering somebody onetime aide. This was years ago, i was talking to somebody who was a pretty like, sort of labor liberal lefty person. So to me Something Like, it is not like being moderate isnt necessarily that your spreadsheet of positions. A lot of what someone being water is like, how you sound, how approachable usain. You can have positions that you think taxes should be raised a lot on wealthy people, and if you come off as moderate, youve got a shot with voters to get a hearing. And what im hearing from you interestingly is, it seems to me like a lot of republicans of come through primaries where what they have to performers the opposite moderation and the obverse of ability. They are performing extremism, it becomes hard to turn that right around. Like, the new Senate Candidate bullet, the day after he gets the nomination, comes out to be like, actually, after doing some, thinking joe biden was fairly elected president. Its, like its going to take more than that for those New Hampshire voters for them to see you as some sort of centrist. Yeah, its a really tough pivot. Another place where that is in effect is someplace like michigan. Where you had a republican candidate in dickson who was taking these extreme positions on abortion, saying that if a 12yearold was raped, they should have to carry. That the young girl should have to carry the baby to term. Even though democratic voters and swing voters in michigan are still frustrated over things related to covid and ease of come up a lot of focus groups, they look at dixon and say, no thanks. That is too extreme, that sounds crazy, that does not sound like somebody i could vote for. So, you are right, it is very difficult. Trump and the forces that he has unleashed, has forced these candidates to go so far, so intensely right in the primaries that they cannot pivot back to the middle in the general. Although i will say on abortion, it is not trump that has unleashed that. That is a longstanding dog that caught the car for a movement that has been overturning roe for multiple decades. This is what we actually walk, finding a lot of people does not like that. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. That is all in on this thursday night. Alex wagner tonight starts right now. Ne good evening, alex. Good evening, chris. It is funny what happens when republicans have to articulate policies. Isnt it . Yes,te well particularly whe you know, youre asked like should the survivor of sexual assault, a minor have to carry a pregnancy to term, you know, it is one to say in the abstract as a hypotheticalin and another to sayth like that actual individu in dearborn actually is going to have to do that. It is quite different. Yes,it it actually makes you see theit humanity behind polic making. Thats problematic sometimes fol the republican party. Chris,ic great to see you as always. Ea