0 >> the genuine danger from the ex presidents attempt to martyr the insurrectionists and what republicans are losing by nominating even more magana to new hampshire and beyond. when all in starts right now. >> good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. less than two months until these midterm elections. people all over the country as we've documented our mobilizing to protect abortion rights. while republican politicians across the country are pledging to ban abortion anyway they can. >> in mississippi, the republican house speaker there said that his state quote, has an opportunity to leave the nation in protecting, promoting and supporting life. >> it's a pretty remarkable statement for a number of reasons. now, it's true, mississippi has been a leader in the assault on abortion rights in this country. no question about. that it was their law, mississippi's law and its challenge to roe v. wade that ultimately overturned roe. the state had a trigger law and effect as well, which automatically banned nearly all abortions after roe was overturned. but, to say that mississippi is a leader in supporting life is just objectively not true. in fact, in many ways is the opposite. the state perfectly embodies the stark reality of what conservative governments look like on the ground, where life is cheap. this is a state that has one of the most if not the most potent legacies of racism in the history of this nation. in 1860, right before the start of the civil war, more than 430,000 slaves in mississippi. comprising 55% of the states population. even after the war, the states government under jim crow was essentially a white authoritarian single party state. arguably the most brutal in the entire south. which is saying something. and today, at the state and federal level, the state government is dominated exclusively by white republicans. with the party holding massive majorities of in both the state health set, senate governorship, both the state senators roger recurs cindy, hyde-smith are conservative republicans. the state is consistently elected republican governors for nearly two decades. most recently the current republican dave reeves. and under her new unified republican control. there is just no earthly way that mississippi can plausibly describe it as quote, promoting and supporting life. the state has the highest covid death rate per capita in the country. and in turn, it has the lowest life expectancy in the country at just about 72 years. mississippi also has the highest infant mortality rate in the entire country. mississippi has the most gun deaths per capita of any state in the entire country. mississippi is also the poorest state in the nation. and to be perfectly clear here, none of this is an indictment of the great people who live in that state. rather, the abject negligence of the republicans who have been running it for so long. case in point, much of jackson mississippi, the state's capital, does not currently have drinkable water. you may have seen the story. jackson residents have been told that they have to boil their water. this is in the united states of america. in the year 2022. they have to boil their water before it is portable since july. the problem was exacerbated last month when heavy flooding caused a water treatment plant to fail. and due to widespread issues with the water pressure meaning the water was not just not drinkable, you actually couldn't get it up to the pipes. the state was forced to install fancy porta-potties at the state capitol building in jackson, so members of the legislature dominated by republicans could use the bathroom there. i fully, water pressure has been restored, but the city still lacks clean water, with residents being told to share with their mouths closed. that is not due to some kind of unforeseen natural disaster, no, rather systematic like negligence of a problem that officials, particularly federal officials warned about years ago. you see, back in 20, 20 the environmental protection agency warned that the jackson water system quote, presented listen to this and imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of persons served by the system. meanwhile, jackson residents, local leaders, many of whom are democrats have been sounding the alarm for years. republicans at the state level, state level have not made the capital. whose population is about 83% black, much of a priority get, this last year city of jackson asked the state for $47 million to shore up its water and sewage systems. the republican legislature approved just 3 million. meanwhile, state of mississippi received billions in federal funding from the american rescue plan, signed by joe biden, passed on a party line vote from democrats. opposed of course by both of its republican senators. but six billion dollars. but for $50 million set aside by the legislature for infrastructure. but, the legislature demanded that cities match the funds, which jackson could not afford to do. democratic congressman bennie thompson of mississippi who represents part of jacqueline is the states only democrat in congress, lays the blame firmly on republicans. we have is a reluctant office of governor, who has decided that for whatever reason jackson would be treated differently, that is unfortunate that was not the intent of the legislation. >> why do you think jackson is being treated differently? , well every other elected government around jackson's republican. jackson is the only democratic city that is surrounded by republican elected suburban officials. they have been taken care of. the majority of the money that we have sent from washington at this point has gone to the suburbs. and the inner cities, the capital cities is being left out. >> okay, this is important because we are going to come back to this, this is the established theme. federal money coming to mississippi for the needs of some of mississippi's poorest, most marginalized members right of the state. then being diverted away to them to affluent white communities. okay, the biden infrastructure plan is going to send even more federal money to mississippi, but that will take a long time, there is no guarantee state republicans will use that anymore efficiently than they have in the past. >> but, what makes it, worse is that this is not even the only high-profile controversy in golfing mississippi's government. because there is another one, you might have heard of this one, because it involves very famous man, it retired football player named brett favre, born and raised in mississippi, played football at southern miss. became a star quarterback, spent nearly two decades in the nfl, including 15 years of the green bay packers, won a super bowl, footed mpp three times, he is an enormous deal. i mean you probably knows watching, but if you don't watch football, trust me. his time in the nfl made him extremely wealthy. think about it. 14, 15 years in the nfl. including hundred and 40 million dollar contracts, money just from his contacts alone. that does not count untold millions more in sponsorship deals of which he had many. favre's also an outspoken conservative and ally of former president donald trump. there they are on the golf course to get. thumbs up. favre is currently embroiled in a controversy involving the use of federal welfare funds set aside for the state of mississippi's most vulnerable residents. which reportedly diverted to favre and others. because you see, mississippi, not unlike what happened with the water money does this very republican thing where flexible welfare funds that come from the federal government are funneled to nonprofit organizations, because the private sector can figure it out, communities can figure where the money is most needed right. and those poor revive it organizations pay at the money as they see fit with very little oversight. now, the woman who ran, one of those nonprofits in mississippi, that oversaw this money, named nancy new, claims that she was directed by states then governor republican phil bryant to wreck my too far and others. she has since pleaded guilty to charges of welfare fraud. you see, favre coordinated with that woman. this is the woman running this nonprofit, overseeing vast amounts of supposedly welfare money. coordinated with nancy new. to get funding for a new volleyball stadium at his alma mater southern mess. where his daughter went to school and played volleyball. again, this is federal money for welfare for poor mississippians going to a volleyball facility that brett favre's daughter is going to play in. favre also met with then-governor phil bryant, who reportedly texted new quote, just left brett favre can we help him with his project, we should meet soon to see how we can make sure we keep a verdict on course. again, he is talking to the woman who oversees welfare money from the federal government. now, phil brian denies any involvement. the plan to use welfare funds to construct the i have to say very nice volleyball facility. he is not responded to our request to comment on the story, that we would love to hear from him. the woman who ran the nonprofit, nancy knew, reportedly coughed up $4 million in misused welfare money and when that was not enough, she then allegedly paid favre. brett favre, millionaire brett favre. and additional one point $1 million personally to him supposedly for radio ads paid for out of the fund for welfare recipients. favre has since been asked by the state we pay that money, with interest. he repaid the money, but not the interest. now, we should note, far has not been charged with a crime, though our own reporting indicates the fbi is looking into the case. his lawyer insists he was quote, totally honorable in everything. favre had no idea the money was coming from a program for again, needy families in mississippi, the poor state in the union. one text exchange does appear to highlight that five might have had some concerns of what was going on, here it is, quote, if you were to pay me, is there any way the media can find out where it came from and how much question mark? >> well, since we are telling you the story on national television, it turns out the answer is yes. there is a way for the media to find a. i mean, even by the standards of a state that i think is very poorly governed by the ruling republican party, this is an almost cartoonish scandal. if it were not so devastating. a multi millionaire football star, a guy who does not -- who i don't, know could give his daughter's school check, this guy brett favre, republican governor, appeared to be involved in the scandal with the misuse of federal dollars. federal dollars for the poorest members of the poorest state. diverted to a volleyball facility. even as dan governor for brian, of course, of course preach the gospel. of so-called fiscal responsibility when he was in office. >> i wanted to give mississippians ahead not gained success, had not lived the american dream, wanted to give them hope that they could do. that to break that generational cycle of poverty. and the dependency the government actually lead in two. so, we had families that had for three generations never seen a father or mother come home from work, and so we said we are going to give you hope. we said, if you are going to receive benefits from our government, food stamps. the snap program. you must be in a workforce training program. >> you hear that? >> if you want to feed you, can you better get to work. if you want a vulnerable facility. my next guest is the reporter broke the story, who got a hold of those texts and one image that demonstrates the state of contemporary mississippi where she lives and. works tweeting out this photo. with this jug of water next to a keyboard, caption reads quote. when you are writing about how mississippi officials miss spent tens of millions of federal welfare funds, you are also on month free of having no clean drinking water. and a wolf's investigative reporter, waiting economic justice. as i mentioned, she is the one who broke open this story for mississippi today. and it's great to have you, great reporting. i want to start, because i think it is a little confusing to those of us following this from outside. i have to admit, myself, as i've been following the story of just first start with nancy new, this individual. how it was that she appeared to have like unlimited veto proof authority of how to spend tens of millions of dollars from the federal government for poor people in mississippi? >> sure, thank you for having the first of all and thank you for caring about this story and about mississippi. nancy knew was nonprofit founder who was actually really good friends with phil bryant's wife. and phil bryant was overseeing the department of human services, that is the welfare agency that vests this morning. he told his director that he wanted welfare grants and these are grants that go to organizations to provide services to people in poverty. like workforce development, the stuff that brian was just talking about in that earlier interview. and, he wanted the director to consolidate those grants to essentially giving them to one or two organizations instead of many organizations across the state. and the departments elected nancy news organization to be in one of those, that would facilitate to the statewide program that they were calling families first mississippi. that is the program through which all of this spending and theft of the volleyball stadium. that is the program through which this occurred. you, know there is such a conversation right now, just to bring back but why the state is stepping in for this water crisis right now, we've been drinking bottled water and crying out for a long time about this. i think really just speaks to the states record for people who are suffering. people who are vulnerable and marginalized. jackson is an 80% black city like you said. city with a high poverty. wait i think that just makes it easier to ignore and the welfare story just fits right into that. i've always thought it was astonishing that in the most poverty stricken stay in the country, we were not using the funds that we get to solve poverty in any kind of way that would make a meaningful impact for families that i ariana regular basis. this program was a particular interest because as you said, the rules are so lax around how states can spend the money. i knew that i could look at this program to determine or as an indicator for how the state addresses poverty. are they using the money on evidence based practices to and generational poverty as ryan said in that interview? if not, what does that say about how the state feels about the poor. and i don't even have to answer that question, because i think the facts speak for themselves. >> yeah, just to sort of reiterate here. you can imagine a version of this that was not corrupt. and not a liable to misuse, with lots of small, grants lots of organization saying hey, we run this workforce development program in jackson. we are in the delta doing this. we do summer jobs, give us these grants. but, instead it all gets consolidated under nancy new, who is a friend of the governor's wife. i want to read this, this is now the largest fraud case in state history. reading your reporting here. new, a friend of ryan's player and a nonprofit in charge of spending tens of millions of federal flexible welfare dollars outside of public view. what followed was the biggest public fraud case in state history. according to the states of auditors office, nonprofit leaders had misspent at least $77 million in funds. that was supposed to help the needy. . the second question here is, how on earth does brett favre. end up in the middle of this? . in mississippi, brett favre is mississippi's favorite son. try leaders are in particular pretty starstruck individuals. these are people who wanted to use their position to get close to athletes and famous people and people that made them feel important and powerful. and so, i think when favre started trying to get money and support for programs that he was interested in, you volleyball stadium, there was a pharmaceutical start-up company that he was investing in. he wanted the state to open on. that company also ended up receiving 2 million instill and welfare funds. he went to the governor and the governor was more than willing to help his friend out and the governor was the one in charge of telling what to do with the welfare program and i think the text. messages reveal and really illustrate how those people were communicating ways to get around federal regulations so that they could use this money all the ways that brett favre wanted it to be used. >> this is one text and it's brett favre going back on nancy new trying to find a way to move this money towards the projects he wants. this is another text uncovered here. i think the heat is there just talks the government. brett favre said, he said to me just a second ago that he is seen it but hinted that you need to reword it to get it accepted. we word i want to what he means, are making a call now to get a lot more information from someone on the inside i'll get back to. huge we submitting what, is this for the money he gets personally to promote mississippi or for the volleyball stadium? >> this is for the volleyball stadium. they needed more money as because as they were going through construction, the project ended up being more expensive, so they needed more money. and they knew they couldn't just embezzler and give it to the university. they weren't trying to do that. they had to come up with a creative a grant in order to get around restrictions on spending. there is a strict restriction, you can't spend it on brick and mortar projects. so the governor actually asked him help write the grants would pass muster at the appropriate agency. knowing all along that the volleyball stadium did not satisfy tenant purposes. they did say that the building was going to be used by the nonprofit to provide programming to people in poverty, which anyone looking at that proposal can probably see how thin it is. but the texts show this coordinated effort to perpetuate this scheme to do that. >> well, anna, i know you're sitting there in jackson, you don't have great drinking water, is not portable. but i have to say, the southern mississippi volleyball facility is state-of-the-art, top-notch, color coordinated, well-designed. there's that, not really helping you or the residents of mississippi. and wolf, at mississippi today which i can't say enough about the work you've done on the story, that's fantastic work, thank you for sharing it with. us >> thanks so much. >> coming up. donald trump's handpicked judge could name a special master at anytime. or watching for that. chuck rosenberg joins me for what the ruling would mean for the 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