Oversight Committee Chairman james comers Sham Impeachment Inquiry of president joe biden, was not In Washington testifying on behalf of House Republicans, that maybe would have made sense. Do you know why . He was at a hearing of his own, in Federal Court in las vegas. Because alexander stern of, the same person whos supposed to be the star witness, is charged with fabricating claims about the president and his son hunter biden. In relation to a Ukrainian Energy company. And for that, he could face up to 25 years in prison. A judge did release him on under strict conditions, including gps monitoring, and somewhat fittingly based on his shadowy reputation, i think its fair to say, we dont even seem to know what this guy looks like. We cant even show you a picture of him. Today, also a new filing, just a few hours ago released from federal prosecutors, added a pretty shocking, yet somewhat kind of predictable twist to all of this i wonder if youre ready for this. Russian spies, again. According to the government in this document, smirnov quote, claims to have contacts with multiple foreign Intelligence Agencies, and had plans to leave the United States two days after he was arrested last week for a months long, multi country foreign trip. During this trip, the defendant claims to be meeting with foreign intelligence contacts. Prosecutors go on to describe one of these supposed foreign intelligence contacts, a mysterious figure, described as russian official one. And wait for this. Quote, it says, smirnov has reported numerous contacts with russian official one, who has been described by smirnov in a number of ways, including as the son of a former high ranking russian government official, someone who purportedly controls two groups of individuals tasks with carrying out Assassination Efforts in a thirdparty country. Pause for that for a moment. A russian representative to another country, and as someone with ties to a particular russian intelligence service. If this is all starting to seem, and sound, like a well scripted episode of the americans or homeland, or a Crossover Episode if you are a fan of both, there is more. Prosecutors say, about this. They say this is not an isolated incident smirnov is still pushing new conspiracies, as part of the urgency here, as indicated in this report filed today. And because he is still seeking information from foreign sources. It says quote, the misinformation he is spreading is not confined to 2020. He is actively peddling new lies that could impact u. S. Elections after meeting with russian intelligence officials in november. In other words, the guy says he was still talking to russian intelligence officials, as recently as a few months ago, about new ways to spread lies and misinformation to hurt President Bidens reelection chances. All of this, while of sensibly serving as the star witness of the republican smear campaign, and impeachment effort. Now, this is a lot to take and, i will acknowledge that, im trying to explain it all as clearly as i can. But this report, this is public, this is all of the information, it is public. And i certainly encourage you to read it yourself. It also shouldnt be shocking, and its worth noting that russian language sources have been pushing this nonsense about President Biden for a long, long time. And im talking like long before he was president. According to a 2020 report from democrats on the House Foreign Affairs committee, russian disinformation about the president s supposed corruption in ukraine is almost a decade old, dating back to 2015. When, quote, u. S. Embassy officials in kyiv noticed articles in russian language media highlighting Hunter Bidens role at burisma, and using that to undercut Anti Corruption efforts that were being led by vice President Biden. Hunter biden had been associated with burisma for a year and a half at that point, with no indication that he had tried to influence u. S. Policy towards ukraine or burisma. So why is the story coming up now . The records provide an answer, as Embassy Officials immediately flagged the timing, that vice President Biden was traveling to ukraine that same leak to give an address to the ukrainian parliament. And in that speech, the Vice President Pledged Americas and support for ukraine in its historic battle against corruption. Hence the state run russian Propaganda Machine got winding up. So there you have it. Then vice President Biden want to take a stand against corruption in ukraine, and according to the report from Foreign Affairs democrats, the russians responded with a Whisper Campaign to discredit biden and his family. So this is important and relevant, because that same disinformation effort surfaced again, when then President Donald Trump passed Rudy Giuliani with digging up dirt about the bidens in ukraine. And its surfacing again now, as james comer and his fellow House Republicans grow, i think its fair to say, increasingly desperate to fulfill trumps demands of a biden impeachment. But its all the same nonsense its always been. The kremlin, by the way, is always going to look for potential assets. They have for decades. They are always going to look for sources to help spread disinformation. Thats all been going on for a long time, thats one of their tactics. But there is an election in just over eight months, so its still pretty alarming that they are still managing to find officials in the United States who are winningly, or unwittingly, helping them. Joining me now to kick off the show is ryan reilly, a justice reporter from nbc news. So ryan, i just kind of tick through a number of components here. But let me start by asking you, what did i miss . And what are the highlights that stuck out to you, as you read through this . You know, i think you really highlighted it well. And i think that this hearing today, they sort of laid it all on the field, prosecutors here. And they really didnt hold anything back, in terms of laying out what exactly this informant had said two fbi officials, right. Because what i dont think i understood until today, really, is just how recently some of these contacts have been. This port isnt so much and former fbi informant, who was or hasnt been used for a or something. This is a really recent activity. In fact, this travel plan that he had was sort of coordinated with the fbi. So the fbi did, until recently, see this person as an authority figure, and someone who they could rely on. And they had a pretty long standing relationship with him. He is 43 now, but the relationship dates back to 2010. So put that roughly around 30, and now these Charging Documents say he has access to a boatload of money, about 6 million in liquid cash. So theres still a lot of holes, i think, in this story. And we are going to, i think, find out more as this goes on, about how the fbi had been previously using this individual. But i was surprised by how much they just sort of put forward on the record for this argument, to hold him behind bars. Because of course, putting out that information could certainly make some enemies. But we really dont know a lot about what is true, and what is just according to him, right. Because we now know that he was sort of lying about these contacts, or that is at least what is alleged in these documents, and there is no suggesting that he actually knew these burisma officials when he said he knew them. In fact, he wasnt introduced to the mental 2017. So, it seems to be a pretty clear lie there. But a lot of this is coming from him, so its tough to say whats trustworthy, and what is not here. And its a really good point, ryan. And the urgency here was also striking to me. Thank you so much, im going to let you get back to your reporting, and get some guest who is sitting here at the stable. Thank you for joining me this evening. Congressman jamie raskin is of course a democrat of maryland, and of course as we all know, the Ranking Member on the oversight house, oversight committee. So, let me just start by just reading through this today. I mean, its pretty startling that an individual, who purportedly, reportedly threw his own account, had contacts with high russian officials. He was supposed to be the star witness, to the House Oversight committee in testifying to try to impeach joe biden. I mean, how concerned are you that someone like him could have such a direct line to james comer and House Republicans . Are you concerned that the kremlin is getting to the people you are working on the committee with . Well, it seems to me like Everything Is Illuminated now. In 2016, we know that putin had a whole cyberespionage, in cyber interference campaign at the dnc, and with hillary clinton. 17 of our National Security agencies said so, the same thing happened in 2020, when Donald Trumps own Treasury Department sanctioned putin for, again, his attempts to subvert and undermined our president ial campaign. So, the same thing is going on for 2024. And, all based on the same recycled lies. They start off with, it is an amazing document here. This guy claims he only has 15, 000, he actually has 6 million. He is up to. That is a bit of a gap there. [laughter] he is up to his eyeballs in interaction with russian intelligence agents, where all of this obviously began, in terms of concocting the story that burisma had paid joe biden 5 million. And, that was the source of this whole wild goose chase that we have been on for more than a year now. It began to backpedal on and say no, its not really about that, its about something else, maybe its about china, or maybe its about the california bar, we dont know what its about. Last week, but now its very clear that theyve all been dukes to a Russian Disinformation Campaign propaganda effort. And look, when i try to put the whole thing together, what i see is this. Vladimir putin knows he cant challenge america militarily. I mean, we are the Largest Military in the world, we are 20 times larger than him, in terms of our economy, he cant challenge us economically. But he figured that the Achilles Heel was the openness of our society, on the internet, and social media. And thats why. Thats what you saw in 2016, thats continued. And its gone on, this Internet Research agency spent tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars just to try to subvert and undermined our political system, with lies and propaganda, disinformation and Conspiracy Theories. And this was a leading one, but it of course continues to this day. And my republican colleagues say oh, this is just more about the russia hoax. Really, whats the hoax . Is it the invasion of ukraine . Is the death of Alexei Navalny . Or his attempted poisoning back in 2020 . Or his death just a few days ago . I mean, when they say russia hoax, or are they talking about . They are basically echoing donald trump, who made it very clear when he was president of the United States that he would always prefer Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Putins version of the truth over what our own Intelligence Agencies say, or what the whole world is saying. I mean, the context of this, as you just mentioned, is so important, given the backdrop of what just happened, which you just outlined. I mean, reading through it, and ryan outlined this, there are a lot of questions still. One of the things i when did comer know about this . Which im sure you dont know at this point, but you are probably wondering. Also, it struck me as, it is clearly an ongoing effort by the kremlin. This is a person we know about, but what are other questions you had reading through this, that you really hope there are answers on, or want to get answers on . Well, my big question is for the Republican Party. I mean, i want to assume the best, and give them the benefit of the doubt. Lets say they really didnt know whether or not this is true, and now it is overwhelmingly likely that it is a lie, its a Conspiracy Theory made up by russian intelligence, pumped through smoothing of, into america. And then they picked it up, and theyve been running with the football ever since. But it should be over now. They should close down the circus, its over. What will they do . Will they just move on to a new lie, a new Conspiracy Theory that someone feeds them . Or will they say hey, you know what, we gave it our best shot, but its over. And why dont we look at something thats really affecting the American People, like gun violence right now . Well, if only. I think we would. Now, we have been surprised in the past, im sure you have even been surprised. Do you think they are going to proceed at this point . Well, they have proven to be nothing, if not acrobatic, in terms of doing triple somersaults to try to land in a place where there is a whole new theory of whats going on. If they just want to talk about political influence peddling, In Washington, or they want to talk about the emoluments clause, that im all for it. We, the democrats, put out a report explaining how we have documented receipts of donald trump pocketing nearly 8 million from the chinese government, from the murderous monarch of saudi arabia, from the united arab emirates. Lets talk about that, and lets talk about developing a legislative apparatus to keep people in government from taking the American People to the cleaners by collecting all of this money from foreign states, kings and princes, which is fanned by the constitution. So we could have a real discussion about that, which would be bipartisan, or non partisan, but they dont want to do it. And they refused to look at everything that Donald Trumps soninlaw has collected, more than Two Billion Dollars that Jared Kushner brought back from the saudis, in a company he created the day after the Trump Administration ended. So, we could look at that question, if they want to be serious about it. But instead, they have decided just to follow the pay masters back in the home office in moscow. We will have to be watching all of this. There are lots of Unanswered Questions reading this. Congressman jamie raskin, its such a pleasure talking to you, thank you so much for being here in person with us tonight. You bet. And still ahead, i will talk with a russian expert, who says putin is counting on trump to regain the white house. Plus, the complicity of House Republicans, in his pro putin agenda. Or it seems certainly, we are just talking about that. And why primary voters are rejecting nikki haley by double digits, even if it doesnt intellectually make sense. As trump runs away with the nomination. That is all coming, up next. Nomination. That is all coming, up next. But now i have rinvoq. Rinvoq is a oncedaily pill that reduces the itch and helps clear the rash of eczema fast. Some rinvoq patients felt significant itch relief as early as 2 days. 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I mean, she has been giving speeches like this for weeks, delivering attack line after attack line, making the case against her opponent, donald trump. Hes gotten more unstable, and unhinged. He spends more time in courtrooms, then he does on the campaign trail. He refuses to debate, he is completely distracted. And everything is about him. He is so obsessed with his own demons from the past, he cant focus on delivering the future americas deserve. I mean, if youre watching at home, you might be thinking okay nikki haley, what else do you have up your sleeve . I mean, she called out the cowardice of her fellow republicans, who are honest only behind closed, doors she says. Of course, many of the same politicians who now publicly embraced trump, privately dread him. They know what a disaster he has, been and will continue to be for our party. They are just too afraid to say it out loud. Well, i am not afraid to say the hard truths out loud. Again, lots of people should be able to get their arms around that. I mean, she made every argument, and landed lots of hits against trump and everything he stands for. The problem is, and this is a pretty big one for nikki haley, it doesnt really matter. Just think of the primary split screen today. I mean, just six hours later at a fox news town hall, donald trump gave his usual version of A Conspiratorial grievance written, slightly outrageous performance. In any other world, or in any case study in a Political Science classroom, its obvious who people voting would choose in this race. I mean, the younger conservative former governor, who isnt crazy, who shows discipline on the stump, most the time, and in debates, over the often unhinged dictator in waiting, facing 91 criminal charges across four jurisdictions. But, all of this is a reminder that the outcomes of campaigns are not determined by academic exercises, or paper deciding on paper between peoples resumes, or Cocktail Party debates of whats been happening around the country, especially on the east coast right now. On either side of the aisle, by the way. They are about what voters think and want, which is not always predictable, and does not always make sense. For days ahead of the republican primary in South Carolina, donald trump is ahead by nearly 30 points. And, nikki haleys home state. Because the republican electorate wants donald trump. And if nothing else the complete ineffectiveness of haleys no holds Bar Campaigning of the last few weeks, tells us this was never about the message of the other candidates. It has always been about the weird, hard to explain at times or understand at times loyalty of the Republican Base for trump. David plouffe was the Campaign Manager for the 2008 campaign, and later served as Senior Adviser to president obama, is the publisher for the bulwark, and host of The Focus Group podcast, and they both join me now. So sarah, let me start with you. I mean, the haley speech was pretty solid, she has been giving a bunch of i know David Plouffe and i have talked about some of her solid speeches in the past. It doesnt seem to matter. Can we just dispel the notion that anything would have been different had she or anyone done this sooner, or how do you look at that . Well, i mean look, i think that something could have been done sooner. But im going back to the end of 2022, beginning of 2023, when there is still a contingent of move on from trump folks. I mean, it honestly has nothing to do with nikki haley. In a different world, ron desantis was a different type of candidate, meaning a good one. With a different type of strategy, also a good one, which he didnt have, right. He tried to wrestle trump for the always trump voters who love trump No Matter What. Instead of trying to consolidate the move on from trump voters that existed. Okay, so i do think there was a moment for something to be done, if passed a long time ago. Nikki haley, her big problem is that voters do not want a regular politician, gop voters, primary voters. They dont want a pretrump politician. And nikki haley is both of those things. I mean, simply by attacking donald trump, voters in focus groups in South Carolina said that she sounds like a democrat. We talked to two trump voters just last week, and they think, they cant trust her, she sounds like a. Even though she was their governor, they sort of dont remember that period of time that she was their governor. She to those voters in her home state, as somebody who was oppositional to trump. And that means they cant trust her. She has a lot of positions, that if she were actually giving him a run for his money, democrats would hate, which is so interesting about this. So, let me ask you about this fox news town hall, which i presume and hope you did not watch, it was pretty predictable. And trump knock nikki haley in. I want to ask you about this, because you and i have talked before the night of the New Hampshire primary, specifically, about how trump doesnt really have self control. He likes to punch down a lot. Why is he even bothering, in your view, given that he is 30 points ahead in the next primary . He just cant help himself, jen. I mean strategically, im sure that his team has said stop him. Everyone should think about joe biden. But he cant help himself, hes out there selling sneakers. You showed a picture of him and footage, he looks worse and worse every day. And i think thats why nikki haley is staying in. Physically, he is obviously perfume to cover up his smell. He said. Sneakers. Yeah, but at the end of the day, he is the Republican Party, and maybe the best haley could hope is that. Maybe she can do a little bit better then some Super Tuesday states. Obviously, if trump were to get any more legal trouble, it would just help him in the primary, so maybe she is hanging around and quite case there is a health issue. I will say this though, those clips you just showed, and there are more. The Biden Campaign and democrats can feed those to voters in battleground states, as a reminder, joe biden is not saying these things, nikki haleys. And, some of that will get discounted because she ran against. So i think that will be a big part of the Biden Campaign, is having republican voices out there, that you are feeding to the couple Million People that will decide this election. So i look at that, and there could be some valid content. But at the end of the day, it does strike me that donald trump, weeks ago, should have moved on from nikki haley, and he wont. And so, lets say she loses by 30 points on saturday. He will still be focused on her, heading into march, not on the general election, which is again just epic political malpractice. Advice for the trump team from David Plouffe. You heard it here. Sarah, as a listener of your podcast, im a proud owner of a mug, thank you for sending it to me, i love it and use it. I want to ask you, you talked about this the other day. We have been talking a lot about navalny. And im just having a hard time understanding how trump comparing himself to navalny, how does that play in the republican electorate . Does it work, is it going to work . Whats your take on that . Yeah, this is something that is deep in the republican psyche, which is the idea that both trump, and many of his voters are victims. I mean, to understand why the navalny comparison gets made, is to understand that trump is both a martyr in the eyes of these voters, but also somebody, it isnt about the Republican Party now being defined in many ways by grievance. They are the grieve party, they are the victims. And so, that is why you see, but theres a bunch of things going on here. It is also about trying to undermine the fact that the Republican Party now has a very, substantial pro putin wing. And so, in order to try to offset that, they are trying to kind of this reverse psychology thing, where its not that trump is against navalny, trump is like navalny. And so, it is really a rhetorical mind trick that they are trying to play on people. That is absolutely absurd. Its a little putinesque, thats how i hear it, David Plouffe and sarah , thank you very much for joining me this evening. And i will talk about with sarah was just talking about, so much later in the show. 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We fought against the taliban and their crimes against women. And in Hillary Clintons state department. We took on genderbased violence in the congo. Now extremists are banning abortion and contraception right here at home. So, im running for congress to help stop them. For your family. And mine. I approved this message because this is who we are. When i came to tell you was, i told you will be announcing sanctions on russia. Well have a major package announced on friday. So that was President Biden earlier today, promising well, what you kind of expect from any u. S. President , from either party, sanctions in response to the killing of Alexei Navalny. The strange thing is, the kind of strong talk you just heard from him, and youve heard from others, used to be kind of the standard among politicians, in the Republican Party. But theres nothing that provokes Vladimir Putin more than weakness. We have to understand that Vladimir Putins ambitions are the restoration of the old russian empire. Russia does continue to battle us in the u. N. Time and time again. I have clear eyes on this, im not going to wear rose colored glasses, when it comes to russia, or mr. Putin. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall [applause] mitt romney and barack obama have a lot more gray hair now, but john mccain and mitt romney were the standard bearers of their party not that long ago. Now, fast forward to modern day, when the parties likely president ial nominee refuses to condemn Vladimir Putin for his role in the death of navalny, says russia can do, quote, whatever the hell it wants, and keeps on pushing back on aid to ukraine. When trump of course posted this on social media this week, this was what he had to say about Alexei Navalny, after seeing nothing for days. The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has maybe more and more aware of what is happening in our country. It is a slow, steady progression, with crooked, radical left politicians, prosecutors, and judges leading us down a path to destruction. So yeah, just a quick translation of all of that, instead of condemning the death of the chief political opponent of an authoritarian dictator, which by the way that dictator caused, trump made it about himself, in his own legal issues. In his telling, he is the victim, just like navalny. Now, never mind the fact that the true, accurate comparison is actually the opposite. I mean, trumps putinesque efforts to silence his opponents to go after his own political enemies, and his claim that he would be immune from consequence. Thats just like putin. But no matter how absurd trumps claim is, the strategy is also concerning, in part because its not necessarily affective. I mean, look at congress, were the republican majority, led by freshman speaker mike johnson, is refusing to consider an aid package for ukraine. And its now twoyearlong battle against russian aggression. As ukrainian supplies run dangerously low, and as russia continues to take more territory. Why . Because trump opposes it. And the prudent ring of the Republican Party is still lining up to carry trumps russian baggage. Just look at the former House Speaker newt gingrich, and what he had to say. He posted, quote, watch the Biden Administration speak out against putin and his jailing of his leading political opponent, while democrats in four different jurisdictions try to turn President Trump into an american navalny. I mean, what . I know we have not seen new gingrich out there in a while, but thats a lot of crazy talk. The thing is, this effort to confuse, to muddy the waters, to paint joe biden as putin asked, it in and of itself is putinesque. I mean, the guy they are defending clearly is putins number one fan. He is, it is all just confusing enough, and brazen enough, that some people will believe it. Meanwhile, the person who is most grateful for all of this is, well, putin himself. Just imagine, for a moment, what Ronald Reagan and john mccain would think of all of this. Off of this. Off i bought the team kevin. . I put it on my Chase Freedom Unlimited card. And im gonna cashback on a few other things too starting with the sound system. Thats caaaaaaaaash. Cashback like a pro with Chase Freedom Unlimited. How do you cashback . For moderate to severe Crohns Disease skyrizi is the first il23 inhibitor that can deliver remission and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. Serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. Liver problems may occur in Crohns Disease. Control of crohns means everything to me. Ask your gastroenterologist about skyrizi. 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Tell your doctor about all medical conditions including immune or nervous system problems, if youve had or plan to have an organ or stem cell transplant, or received chest radiation. Your search for 2 immunotherapies starts here. Ask your doctor about Opdivo Plus Yervoy. A chance to live longer. Alexei navalny spent more than a decade as an activist against Vladimir Putins control of russia. And for years, putin tried to silence navalny, from imprisonment repeatedly, to poison, into torture, to starvation. And last friday, on the very day that navalny died in a putin seemed almost giddy, frequently. Chatting away at an Industrial Site in the euro mountains. Now of all says she has taken up his mantles, with a message to all russians. [speaking in a global language] [speaking in a global language] [speaking in a global language] [speaking in a global language] [speaking in a global language] so, where does this leave putin . Where does it leave navalnys movement . New yorker staff writer puts it this way. Quote, putin appears to be feeling optimistic about his future. As he sees it, donald trump is poised to become the next president of the United States, and give putin free reign in ukraine and beyond. And joins me now. Masha, thank you so much for taking the time. I just wanted to start, because you have so much expertise, and have been covering this for so long. By asking you just about Alexei Navalnys legacy, and whether its possible as and has been such a powerful person, in out there but as yulia said, is it possible to continue this movement . Or is his death more than a blow than the movement can . Handle , thats an impossible question to answer. And, the movement has been struggling with a lot of things, first of all, navalny had been imprisoned for three years. Second, many top activists in the movement were also in prison, and the rest of them were forced into exile. So, what they have been trying to figure out for the last three years, is whether its possible to continue organizing, and continue communicating with people inside of russia, when most of the movement is and when its leader was in prison. Now, its leader is dead, its new leader is a broad. So, i think the question is much bigger than weather can succeed. But what i think we do have to consider is first of all, that the speech she gave you played a small clip of a fiveminute speech that she put on youtube, on navalnys channel. I mean, that was a political speech for the ages. And if thats any indication of what its going to be, like to have you leah speaking to people in russia, she certainly has an incredible potential. And the other thing that we have to keep in mind is that there is a constituency that she is addressing. And that constituency is widows, widows are people man, who have been dying in this absurd, unwarranted war in ukraine. And widows of men who have been dying in russian prisons. That is a lot of women the. Its such an yorker where you said, a lot of things, that stuck out to me. Firstly, that its tempting to see navalnys emapparent murder as some american analysts have, as a sign of weakness on the part of putin. A dictators ability to annihilate what he fears is a measure of his hold on power, as well as his ability to choose the time to strike. What, if anything, with some sanctions announced nythis morning, obviously limited, but what, if anything, is a threat to putin iat this point . The only, possible, threat to putin, is ukraine, and arming ukraine. Ra he welcomes sanctions. He thinks that sanctions makess economy more independent, hes been able to weaponize sanctions ein his favor, it consolidates the elites around him, and misery its ordinary russians. That, actually, is great for totalitarianism. There is this fantasy that people will rise up because they are struggling, but it is ridiculous. When people are struggling, they are busy struggling. They dont have political agency. Ru sanctions are great for his regime. What is bad for his regime is if he fowas threatened with w Military Defeat in ukraine. This is where the west, and the a United States, in particular, are failing, failing ukraine, rather. Failing, because there is no path, currently, for funding to ukraine . Additional funding, and support for ukraine, from the United States. I wanted to ask you about russia has jailed several americans, notably, former marine paul whelan, And A Dual American Russian Citizen from los angeles who is accused of treason afor, supposedly, raising funds to support ukraine. Is there any way to take away the incentive to jail foreign citizens, particularly, americans . Or does putin feel like there is not a check on that at this point in time . I think he feels, absolutely, he has free reign within russia. He is right. What will the United States do about it . I think it is no accident that the murdaugh murder of navalny, and i have no doubt, it was murder. The murder of navalny came days after putin was speaking to Tucker Carlson, and the only meaningful question that Tucker Carlson asked putin was about evan gershkovich. Putin did something strange. He said, basically, confessed, to an assassination that the russian stated carried out in germany, in 2018. Now, we do know this happened, but he had never acknowledged it. This is, to my knowledge, the only russian assess and who has been caught, and jailed. This is why he is in german prison. Germany is demanding, the west, and he imagines the entire west as one thing, acting as a monolith, and germany being a puppet state of the United States, and will do whatever the u. S. Tells it. So, he is demanding that the west to return krasik of, the convicted russian assassin, to russia. He will keep it jailing people, possibly, murdering people, in jail, in order to show just how far he is willing to go. I do not think that there is a limit. Er thank you, always, for Sharing Honesty with us, and fou your excellent reporting as well. I appreciate you taking the time to join me this evening. Coming up, Tennessee State rep, justin jones, on what he witnessed in his own hometown this weekend. It is not the 1960s, it is 2024. Not cities, marching in Downtown Nashville. That is coming up next. Ng up n and more ontime deliveries. The United States Postal Service built for how you business. Meet the jennifers. Jen x. Jen y. And jen z. Each planning their future through the chase mobile app. Jen x is planning a summer in portugal with some help from j. P. Morgan wealth plan. Lets go whiskers. Jen y is working with a banker to budget for her birthday. You only turn 30 once. And jen z . Her credits golden. Hello new apartment. Three jens getting ahead with chase. Solutions that grow with you. One bank for now. For later. For life. Chase. Make more of whats yours. Theres news, and theres good news. Like thousands of patients receiving free life changing surgeries, from volunteer doctors and nurses on hospital ships. All made possible by donations. We love good news. Disrupts my skin, night and day. Despite treatment, its still not under control. But now i have rinvoq. Rinvoq is a oncedaily pill that reduces the itch and helps clear the rash of eczema fast. Some rinvoq patients felt significant itch relief as early as 2 days. Some achieved dramatic Skin Clearance as early as 2 weeks. And many taking rinvoq saw clear or almostclear skin. Rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. Serious infections and blood clots, some fatal, cancers, including lymphoma and skin; heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred. People 50 and older with a Heart Disease risk factor have an increased risk of death. 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When they overturned roe, i secured abortion rights in our state constitution. When trump attacked our lgbtq and asian neighbors, i strengthened our hate crime laws. I fought for all of us struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living. Im evan low, and i approve this message for all of our shared values. Chance of hail hitler were emanated across nashville saturday, having a lasting impact, days later. Roughly 50 members of a group called blood tribe, identifying as a White Supremacist organization, stopped at the capitol, and along broadway street, where obscenities could be heard coming from them. This is not footage from decades ago, it is from last weekend, as you saw in that news report. As disturbing as it is, it is important to watch it, and to talk about it. It depicts a mob of masked, neo nazis, marching through Downtown Nashville on saturday. Apparently, chanting, heil hitler, and waving flags emblazoned with the swastika. It is scenes echoing the 2017 deadly farright rally in charlottesville, virginia. Tennessee democrats, demanding lawmakers do more to push back against the threat of extremist groups in the state. Some lawmakers, accusing State Republicans of fostering an environment where extremist groups feel emboldened, clearly. The legislators Democratic Party caucus chair reported that his resolution condemning the rise of neonazi extremism in tennessee went nowhere, amid the states republican super majority. Notably, when a local news outlet asked the state republican Majority Leader if he would support such a resolution now, after saturdays reprehensible display of hatred, he condemned the march, but refused to commit to any legislative action. As my next guest notes, such an action from the republicans who, overwhelmingly, control tennessee politics, only continues to foster an environment where hatred, and farright extremism can thrive. State representative, justin jones, represents nashville on the tennessee legislature. He is one of the socalled Tennessee Three lawmakers, who was expelled from the body last year. I remember that well, after they protested gun violence on the house floor, following a mass shooting. The Nashville Metro Council than, unanimously, voted to return him to the state house, where he continues to serve to this day. State rep, justin jones, joining me now. I am so grateful you had the time to speak to me this evening. You have such a thoughtful approach to this. I wanted to raise with you youve invoked the racist terror of the kkk as an analog before. How some on the right to operate in your state. It is difficult to ignore the parallels, when you watch that footage, of masked men, White Supremacists, marching through the streets of nashville. I dont want this question to sound naive, but how does this still happen in 2024 . Yes, well, it is good to see you. Unfortunately, under these circumstances, jim. I was leaving an event honoring a black sorority, myself, and my chief of staff, were confronted by a neonazi march, marching down the streets of nashville, blocks from the capital, chanting, save the white man, deport all mexicans, with swastikas. This is happening because that same rhetoric is being perpetuated, by my republican colleagues. The same anti immigrant rhetoric, that same ideology that seeks to dehumanize jewish people, black people, muslims, lgbtq communities, this is the same rhetoric we see. They have developed a call and response. Just a couple of weeks ago, our governor was at the border weeks ago, espousing the same hate. Now we see neonazis chanting the same loud, asinine rhetoric in Downtown Nashville, In Broad Daylight. Up its important to note, and i know youre speaking on this today, is broad. Their hatred is broad. Anyone who basically does not look like them. I cannot believe i am asking this, but it seems to be a ridiculous narrative forming among some on the conspiratorial right that the march was, secretly, a plant by democrats to make the right look bad. Clearly, this is absurd, but we need to call out the absurdity. You witnessed this. Tell us, you witnessed it, you took footage, you put footage online. We witnessed it with our own eyes, and i know republicans love to ban history, and ban reality. I know they love to traffic Conspiracy Theories, because what theyve failed to acknowledge, as they failed to look in the mirror. This is who they are. This is the monster theyve created. What they fed, with the red meat of racism, when they attacked migrants, muslim communities, marginalized communities, this is what they have made. Rather than acknowledge it, or take action to address it, they create Conspiracy Theories because they rely on the politics of deflection, deception, and distraction. Thats what they rely on what these Conspiracy Theories. Those Conspiracy Theories are absurd, but also dangerous, because their attempt to deflect from the responsibility of their own leadership, republican leadership. People like donald trump, who have fostered these hate groups, elevated them, and amplified them, but giving them a megaphone of political power. Conspiracies can also be dangerous. I think that is a theme for this evening, in many ways. Their questions about what to do about this. Tennessee democrats are calling for a legislative response to this. What, exactly, are you proposing . What could be done . Is there any chance that there is a supermajority, of course, super republican majority . I mean, what we need is reflective action. We need intentional action. Words are nice. A resolution would be nice. We cannot just condemn this by saying we condemn. We need to look at the policies that perpetuate in the tennessee house. We have the same state house that have banned books about black history, and banned books about Lgbtq Community members. This is the same state house saying that Adoption Agencies could discriminate against jewish couples because they are religiously based. This is the same state house that says that one and five black men in tennessee cant vote. The same state house that is perpetuated hate, and vitriol, against immigrants. Just this week, having members stand on the floor, and say there is an invasion at the southern border. This is the hate, that leads to hateful actions. Hateful word, hateful actions. I want my republican colleagues to reflect. Let us see how they are complicit in amplifying this behavior. Let them or a pin, and change course, as well. There is still time. This is not the fringe, im sad to say. This is what they have centered in their party, the voices theyve centered. This is the voices that their policies align with. The state groups, if you look at their agendas, it is the same agenda, this great replacement theory, this fear of america changing. I want to say to White Supremacist groups, we are not afraid of you. We represent a new south, that is multiracial, multi generational, multi faith. As the youngest black lawmaker in our state, and most diverse district in our state, im proud to represent their community representing a new sniff. Not like the division of the kkk founded in 1966, but the people during the Civil Rights Movement that said, there can be a different type of tennessee, and a different type of america. Tennessee state representative, justin jones, you have such a powerful voice. You never back down, you always speak out, No Matter What the issue is. Whether its gun violence, or you speak out, obviously, about what you saw on the streets, we are just trying to enjoy your weekend. I am so appreciative of your voice, thank you for coming on tonight, and for always calling out what you see out there. Really, i appreciate it. That does it for me tonight, i will be here, tomorrow night, at eight pm eastern. Do not worry, chris hayes will be back next week. He is on vacation, taking a well deserved, well needed, break. Certainly, he has earned it, but i am happy to be in for him tonight, and tomorrow night. For now, it is time for alex wagner tonight. A minimal mohyeldin is in for alex as well. Hey man, how are you . Man, how great, youve been burning the candle on both ends. Enjoy the rest of your evening, if you get