And lockheed loves him. Intel building a 7 billion plant in arizona that they took off the shelf during the obama years. So, yeah, lots to talk about. Thanks to hugh and our guests. That was the scene from a town hall earlier tonight with arkansas senator tom cotton. The mood is indicative of what were seeing at town halls across the country. We have news tonight from this new administrations continued Whiplash Pattern of radical changes in course. Tonight the Justice Department, which is now led by Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that they are reversing the Obama Administration policy on the rights of transgender students in american schools. We have known that the white house intended to roll back lgbt rights. We thought they might first take aim at kids. Weve been waiting all day for the official notice. Here it is. Very high turnout election. It was an unusually long ballot in montana this year, because they had a bunch of stuff to vote on in the state, but all in all, usually the statewide cost of running a statewide election in montana is about 2 million. This past november it was about 3 million. And the counties in montana were really not happy about that extra expense. Theres no magic pile of money that comes in from the federal government or even from the State Government that pays for the cost of administering elections in montana. Its the county, local taxpayers, local budgets have to foot the bill, no matter what they cost, and this last election they just had, you know, through nobodys fault, just through a series of circumstances it was 50 more expensive than any election theyd had before and a lot of counties didnt have money in the budge tote pay for the extra expense. And that was already a real cause of financial consternation in that state before montanas one congressman, ryan zinke got nominated by the new administration to leave congress and instead go join the president s cabinet. Ryan zinke, montanas only member of congress, hes also the new nominee to be secretary of the interior. Now he hasnt been confirmed yet, democrats have managed to slow down most of the cabinet coirmation process, although were going to report later on tonight that one of the cabinet nominees republicans were able to rush through they may be having second thoughts about him, some Buyers Remorse on one they were able to get done but ryan zinke is still on ice. Theres been some concern over him getting disciplined during his navy career for Falsifying Travel Records so hed get reimbursed for travel he shouldnt have been reimbursed for, some controversy around that, aside from that though it is still broadly expected that hes going to get confirmed. He is going to get the job. Maybe it will happen sometime in march theyll confirm him . Whenever they confirm him, at that point that will start the process of Montana Holding a Special Election to replace him. Montana will need to elect a new member of congress to replace ryan zinke and in terms of how thats going to go, well, you know at first glance montana is a very red state. Trump won there in november by a lot, by like 20 points. Republicans have won every president ial election in montana all the way back to 1992. But the state is more complicated than that, even just when it comes to statewide races. Montana has a democratic u. S. Senator, john tustor. Theyve got a democratic congress, Steve Bullock, and montana is one of those places where, in political terms it sort of looks like somebody hit that state with Jumper Cables since the Election Results came this for example is what it looked like, look at this, january 30th at the State Capitol in helena, montana. Look at this, there have been more than a handful of instances since the election where the republicans in washington tried to go ahead with something, but then they had to change their mind and take it back when the public blowback was so strong they couldnt handle it. The first day of the First Congress when the republicans tried to gut the congressional ethics office, remember they had to take that one pack beuse of the blowback and remember them demanding the names of all the scientists who had ever worked on Climate Change at the energy department, but they had to reverse those things. Theyve this to face blowback and take those things back. Another big flatout reversal from the republicans in washington was a plan to sell off more than 3 Million Makers of public land, tens of thousands of the acres they wanted to sell off were in montana, and this was the reaction in montana to republicans trying to sell that land off. It was a pretty big reaction, and when republicans in the house saw this big reaction in montana, and in other states like that, they did back off. They changed their mind. They dropped that bill to sell off public lands, but for a taste what have it was like in montana when that was still pending this is montanas governor Steve Bullock speaking at the State Capitol january 30th. Watch how it goes here. Youll see why republicans didnt want to be up against this particularly in states all over the mountain west. Thank you for coming out from all corners of our state today. Thanks for what youre doing today, and every day to keep our public lands in public hands. [ cheers and applause ] i see folks from sanders county, i see sportsmen, and sportswomen, i see ranchers, i see veterans, i see big fishers and fly fishers, i see grandparents, i see the next generation, i even see some of my former High School Teachers here. [ cheers and applause ] and you know whats great . Every one of us own these public lands. [ cheers and applause ] the 30 million acres in montana, and the beauty is, we dont need permission to go on them, do we . No these lands are our heritage. These lands are our birthright. These lands are one of our Great Equalizers the size of our checkbook doesnt matter to access our blue ribbon streams, our rivers and hunt in some of the finest places around the world, because we all own them. Montana govern Steve Bullock. That day more than 1,000 people piled into the montana State Capitol to protest the republican plan to sell off over 3 million acres of public land, including tens of thousands of acres in montana. And republicans backed off. They changed their minds about that in washington. But that footage from montana, i remember seeing that the day that that happened january 30th and being like oh, whoa, montana it turns out it wasnt just that one issue. The day after the president ial inauguration we know that was that huge womens march in washington, we know there were protests around the country, even around the world that day, sister marches, right . Even knowing that, i was still taken aback to learn that the number of people who turned out that day in montana for the montana womens march at their State Capitol the number of people who turned out was 10,000. What . There are only a million people in the whole state, 10,000 people came out and protested at their State Capitol that day. I mentioned that montana has a democratic u. S. Senator in john tester and also have a republican senator steve daines. Since the election steve daines is finding when he comes home his Airport Greetings from his constituents are not what they used to be. To we have that footage . You work for us you work for us you work for us you work for us you work for us you work for us you work for us senator Steve Dainesgreeted T used to be greeted at the airport in montana. Like many members of congress and senators around the country, senator daines has refused to do town halls and that included lots of protesters turning up at steve daines Constituents Offices at home in montana, his constituents wanting to meet with him, he is so far saying no. Yesterday he was due to speak to State Legislators at the capitol, when his constituents found out he was going to do that they turned up in great numbers, several hundred people were waiting outside the capitol to try to engage with him, when he turned up. Seeing that, steve daines canceled his appearance at the legislature. He postponed it. He did turn up at the State Capitol a day late, he turned up today. He still would not meet with any of his constituents who wanted to meet with him, would not agree to a town hall. He did speak at a Press Conference, sponsored by a conserative Interest Group but as he did so his constituents would not leave him alone. They were holding up signs, they were saying you work for us they were asking him for a meeting, this one woman over the course you see there on the right side there, one Woman Holding up a sign that quotes adele hello from the other side, i must have called a thousand times. Randomly the guy in yellow there, a guy in a chicken suit now who follows steve daines around everywhere he goes. We only have this little bit of footage. Hes not even wearing the chicken head, standing there flapping his chicken arms no matter where steve daines goes because steve daines wont meet with his constitch wepts. Montana civic life is different than what it used to be because of the outcome of this election, because of the way people are reacting around the country to this president and heres one super interesting, super practical consequence of that, that may have National Implications and it has just come to pass today in montana. One of the consequences around the country of this huge reaction were seeing to the trump potcy, reinvigoration, theres a lot of attention paid to the individual elections here lean it, that are what otherwise look like oneoffs, strays, in terms of electoral Politics Around the country. So for example this saturday, this weekend theres a State Senate Race in delaware that wouldnt usually make National News but that State Senate Race will determine which Party Controls the delaware state senate. So the democratic candidate in that race has been getting support from like former Vice President joe biden and democratic leaning groups around the country. Another republican incumbent Congressmawhis Leang the house to join the trump cabinet is tom price in georgia. His district only went for donald trump by 1. 5 points. Theres a huge amount of democratic interest nationwide in trying to make that seat a democratic pickup when theyve got that Special Election for that seat in april. We profiled the its of the liberal coast website to support a candidate named john ossoff. Theyve raised nearly 1 million on behalf of john ossoff in that race. The first polling in the georgia race puts john ossoff not just ahead of the democrats but the giant field including the multitudeness of republicans running for that seat as well. In montana, theresing if to be another one of those Special Elections. Like i said montana only has one member of congress, a Congressional District Special Election in montana is a statewide election, because thats the Congressional District. Depending on when ryan zinke gets confirmed to the cabinet, its likely that the race to replace him in congress will be, i dont know, may . June . Early june . I dont know. Heres the thing though. Across that state, the County Clerks and Elections Administrators, the people who actually Run Elections County by county across that state, those clerks have started squawking. They have started raising the alarm about the cost of that election, because remember, montana just had the most expensive statewide election they have ever had this past november. Counties hadnt budgeted extra money for it. It was 50 me expensive than they thought it would be, 50 more than any election. There wasnt extra money to pay for that, they are way in the hole in terms of what they spent on elections and unexpectedly they have to run another statewide Special Election to fill this congressional seat. Where is the money coming from to do that . The counties have to cough up that money. They dont have that money. The County Clerks have an idea, theyve been lobbying for it statewide and writing opeds and testifying is at the legislature. Their idea is this in montana when there are school board elections, local elections, theyre run without the expense of opening up the polling places, run instead by mail, montana is a huge state with not that many people in it. Running an election by mail just makes economic sense in a state where the people are that spread out. And montana Elections Administrators have a lot of experience of Running Elections by mail because of it. Why not do the Congressional Election as well, just mail everybody a ballot . Heres the tea time county clerk and recorder making the case, as Representative Zinkes Pending Appointment looms over montana, Election Administrators across the state see mounting costs for an unbudgeted election. Election administrators have a solution to save the taxpayers money, we are proposing a bill to conduct the Congressional Special Election by mail. Conducting the election by mail would conservatively save taxpayers statewide between half a million and threequarters of a million dollars. Another county clerk making the case in her local paper Mail Ballot Elections are safe and Cost Effective in an effort to minimize costs for ryan zinkes Condwregsal Seat Election Administrators across the state see holding a mail bat lot election as a solution. This is a technocratic thing. This is a practical noncontroversial thing, a solution only designed to save money. Its being put forward as a Good Government option by the people who actually have to run that part of the government. Trying to save taxpayers money. Until today, because of that, this proposal had bipartisan support, and then that Bipartisan Support Clamscollapse today because the chair of the Republican Party in montana sent out this. The Emergency Chairmans report on the negative impact on republican candidates due to Mail Ballot Elections. Even though this was a republican bill that was sponsored by a republican in the house and a republican in the senate, the Republican Party chairman has now come out in an emergency action come out against it and told Montana Republicans they have to stand against this, because if montana votes by mail, too many people might vote. All mail ballots give the democrats an inherent advantage. Votebymail is designed to increase participation rates of lower propensity voters. Democrats in montana perform better than republican candidates among lower propensity voters. I know my position will not be popular with many fiscally conservative republicans or the sponsors of this bill. They may be well intended but this bill could be the death of our effort to make montana a reliably republican state. If its too easy to vote the democrats might win. There are not that many of these Special Election, these oneoff elections this year, but each one ofhem is going to be interesting, both in terms of their consequences as, you know, consequences clock consequences but theyre also going to be interesting, each of them as a potential sort of check of the countrys temperature. Were going through these very strong changes in washington, and in response to whats going on in washington. Theres a very Strong Movement in this country that is responding negatively to this new president , and montana is one of those states in the country right now where, if we take the temperature we might find it is at a fever pitch, at least it looks like the temperature may have changed a lot in response to what happened in the president ial election. You know after donald trump won the presidency in montana by 20 points, republicans in that state shouldnt have to worry about the exact logistics of how the next Congressional Election would be administered in their state. They shouldnt be lobbying to purposely waste hundreds of thousands of dollars in Taxpayer Money to try to tilt the Playing Field against democrats and make it harder to vote. Even the initial republican sponsor of the votebymail bill shes a republican. She says she doesnt get it. Personally id rather get beat in an election with a good turnout than win in an election with low turnout. But apparently her party is not with her on that, even in red state montana her party appears to be scared about holding onto ryan zinkes congressional seat, scared to the point theyre trying to make it harder to vote on purpose when it comes time for that next election. No one knows your ford better than ford. And ford service. 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How much money Erin Saved By switching to geico. Everybody comfortable with the air temp . I could go a little cooler. Ok. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Was greeted by a whole lot of his constituents who would really like him to meet with them, would really like him to hold a town hall meeting with the constituents. They intercepted him at the airport, he wouldnt answer their questions. They held their own town hall outside the state house yesterday when senator daines was originally scheduled to visit the state house, when he heard about his constituents waiting for him there at the last minute he canceled his visit. They held a town hall meeting without him. His constituents did find him at this conservative Press Conference including the listless guy in the yellow chicken suit. This is the climate in montana right now, as a brand new strange controversy has sprung up around the election theyre going to need to hold in that state to fill the seat of montanas lone member of congre, ryan zin is expected to soon jo Donald Trumps cabinet, two republicans in the State Legislature sponsored a bill to make the Special Election to replace ryan zinke a mail in your ballot election. Its much cheaper that way. The Elections Administrators in the state were begging to do it that way and republicans put forward a bill to do the election that way, everybody vote by mail. Now today, rrr, uturn. The chair of the montana Republican Party has put out an emergency report saying that bill must be blocked. The election cant be by mail because if the election is run by mailin ballot, too many people will vote, and then republicans will lose that seat, and now that bill, even though its sponsored by republicans now it is in jeopardy. Whats going to happen here . And what does this mean about montana and what does this mean about the country . Joining us now is montanas democratic governor Steve Bullock. Governor, thank you very much for being here. Its really nice to have you here. Its great To Be With You tonight, rachel, for sure. Have i summarized whats going on right with this bill . Am i right that this was a republican sponsored bill in the house and the senate but right now we dont know whats going to happen . Well thats whats fairly shocking, to have the Republican Party chair, who is also a sitting legislator, brazenly acknowledge that he wants to spend more taxpayer dollars with the hope of getting fewer voters . I mean thats not only wrong for montana, its wrong for the country. We need to be figuring out ways to encourage people to vote, certainly not take away their voting franchise. I was trying to follow the history of this proposal and i read all these oneds and looked at the testimony from the County Clerks and administrators, people who run these elections around the state, and it doesnt seem like it was offered as a partisan thing. It doesnt seem like it was offered as even a propos to try to increase Voter Turnout in the ate. Seems like the county, like were out ofonday, the november election was really expensive. Wed like to do this, its cheaper, and weve got experience with it. It feels like it became partisan when it just started as a technocratic fiscally conservative thing. Well, and thats right, because at the end of the day, its republicans carrying it, clerks and recorders who are on the front lines each and every day are saying we ought to do it this way, our County Organizations are saying lets save 750,000, and lets try to do everything we can to get more people voting. From the perspective of, you know, my job as a governor is to represent democrats, republicans, all montanans and i dont care where your stay is on that as long as we can get more people voting its good for democracy, good for our elections and it will save taxpayers dollars. Governor, obviously if ryan zinke is confirmed to the senate that will be a landmark moment for montana, the first montanan in a Cabinet Position at least as far as i know. It will create a statewide opening because hes the lone congressional representative for your state. Yes. When you take the temperature of where people are at in your state, i saw that tape of you speaking before more than 1,000 montanans in the State Capitol to save public lands. The footage of 10,000 people turning out for the womens march at the State Capitol. Ive seen the way people are hounding senator steve daines and trying to get him to talk to them. What is your assessment where the state is right now and how montana is reacting to this president . Obviously donald trump did very well on november 8th in montana. Yes, recognizing what donald trump took montana by about 20 points even though there are more Television Ads run in the state of montana than any other state for a governors race, i won by 4 1 2 so i think montanans look at where are the values of foekds and who is going to take our state and represent our state the best in washington, d. C. You played that clip. I truly believe public lands are one of our Great Equalizers. I think Public Education is one of our Great Equalizers and the neat thing on election day every montanan is exactly equal so the right to vote and access to the polls is one of those Great Equalizers, too, and we sure shouldnt be spending more money to try to get fewer people voting. Montana governor Steve Bullock, you have a way with a turn of phrase, governor. Its good to have you here. Keep us apprised on how this goes. Its taken some weird, sharp turns in the last couple of days. Well be interested to see how this turns out, sir. Sure will do so, rachel. Weve got much more ahead tonight. Please stay with us. Is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. The microsoft cloud helps the pga tour turn countless points of data into insights that transform their business and will enhance the game for players and fans. The microsoft cloud turns information into insight. Some people who took otezla saw 75 clearer skin after 4 months. And otezlas Prescribing Information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. Otezla may increase the risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. 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Actually in the segment i called him both tom and tim, because i miss, like typoed it in my testament and anthraxx and slayer, and on Inauguration Day when i told the history of the American Carnage tour and how weird it was of so that metal tour echoed in a president ial Inaugural Address at one point i called the bass player and lead singer of slayer tim arraya. His name is tom araya. Actually in the segment i called him both tom and tim, because i miss, like typoed it in my notes. Nothing less metal an slipping and falling on a typo and thereby inventing a new diminutive timmy nickname for a metal god like tom arraya. I felt so bad, i have felt bad for more than a month but tonight, perhaps an opportunity for a reprieve, because tonight right after the show at 10 00 p. M. Eastern we are going back to American Carnage. Tonight is our special on trump the first month. Im cohosting with Brian Williams and Chris Matthews and all the other members from msnbc, right after our show here but tonight im going to get American Carnage right. Ive got my American Carnage tour tshirt. Ive got slayer lyrics tattooed on the inside of my eyeballs. Tonight i get a Second Chance to get at least the metal part of this right. Stay with us. Im seriously going to wear this shirt during the coverage. Liberty mutual stood with me when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. Liberty did what . Yeah, with Liberty Mutual all i needed to do to get an estimate was snap a photo of the damage and voila voila sigh i wish my Insurance Company had that. Wait hold it. Hold it boys. Theres supposed to be three of you. Wheres your brother . Wheres your brother . Hey, wheres charlie . Charlie . you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you. Liberty stands with you™ Liberty Mutual insurance you wont see these folks they have businesses to run. They have passions to pursue. How do they avoid trips to the post office . Stamps. Com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. Get a 4 week trial, plus 100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. Go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. Deartheres no other way to say this. Its over. Ive found a permanent escape from monotony. Together, we are perfectly balanced, our senses awake, our hearts racing as one. I know this is sudden, but they say if you love something. Set it free. See you around, giulia tell ron hickman that 287g tears families apart. Ron hick mapp was the sheriff of Harris County, houston, its 4. 5 million people. Were talking about montana earlier in the show. Harris county alone has four times the population of all of montana. The decision facing Sheriff Hickman Last june with the protests in the streets was whether his department would renew or end an agreement that he had made with the federal government, under that oddly named 287g. The idea behind 287g is that counties can sign a contract with the feds that allows the federal government to basically deputize local Law Enforcement to turn local police, local sheriffs into federal Immigration Enforcement officers. The policy has evolved over time, but the lasting criticism of it is that it hurts local Law Enforcement efforts. It makes immigrant communities afraid to call the police, even when they need help. If youre the victim of a crime, you need to be able to call police, even if you are undocumented. If the police are going to deport you for calling up and reporting that you got mugged, thats a problem for your local community. Its great for muggers, but its bad for everybody else. And so a thousand people came out from across the county to show support at that march in houston to be part of that call for reform to tell Sheriff Hickman in Harris County that they didnt want him to renew that program that had local cops deputized to be immigration agents. In part because of that 287g company Harris County is responsible for more deportations than any other county in the entire country. Now about a week after those protests last june, Sheriff Hickman made his decision. He decided he was going to renew that agreement with the federal government, his local officers would keep doing that federal Immigration Enforcement work. But then you know, as it happens, Sheriff Hickman came up for reelection in november, and in addition to organizing those street protests, those same activists behind those protests had been very busy working on, among other things, registering latino voters in Harris County. Conveniently for those efforts there was a nice stark Dividing Line between the incumbent Sheriff Hickman and his opponent, a man named ed gonzalez. Sheriff hickman was for that federal agreement that turned local cops into immigration enforcers. Ed gonzalez said if he was elected he would end it. There are 254 counties in the great state of texas, out of those 254 only 27 went blue on election night, but Harris County, the big one, Harris County was one of those blue counties and Harris County didnt just vote top of the ticket for Hillary Clinton they elected a new sheriff, ousted the incumbent. Our decision 2016 coverage with some surprising results in the race for Harris County sheriff, as we showed you right before the break the latest numbers have democratic Challenger Ed Gonzalez ahead of ron hickman with 52 , with 53 of the vote now. Bill spencer joins us live in the heights. Bill . Reporter yes, bill, and the candidate just took the stage a few minutes ago along with his lovely wife melissa and he did accept winning the sheriffs race, he acknowledged himself as the new sheriff. The new sheriff in town. In fact a new sheriff in town, in fact. That thing we always say applies literally here. Elections do have consequences. Sheriff hickman lost and Harris County ed gonzalez became the new sheriff in town. Interestingly that didnt stop the local activists. They continued to rally and march and organize even after ed gonzalez was elected. Every week people would march to the city council and jail to put pressure on the new sheriff to get rid of 287g and today he kept his promise. Today Sheriff Gonzalez in Harris County announced he would scrap that program. I decided to opt out of the voluntary 287g, the department will no longer be serving as front line Immigration Officers as theyve been deputized to do under this program. The new sheriff reviewed the program and decided to opt out a day after the Trump Administration released new Homeland Security memos outlining plans for aggressively implementing antiimmigrant policies in the trump era, including plans to revive that 287g program. Sheriff gonzalezs decision may not have been a political one but it definitely sends a message around the country at a time when the Trump Administration is saying they want to put Rocket Boosters on 287g, the top laenforcement agent in one of the most populous counties america, a county responsible for more deportations than any other county in the country they say no, were out, were not going to do it. Joining us is Harris County sheriff ed gonzalez. Sheriff, thank you very much for joining us tonight. I appreciate your time, sir. Hi, rachel, honor To Be With You. I was expressing a moment ago there that some of the concerns about this program making local Law Enforcement into federal Immigration Enforcement authorities, effectively it is a problem for local Law Enforcement. It made people in immigrant communities reluctant understandably to call 911, to call when they needed help. Was that, in fact, happening in harris count why i . Was that part of your decisionmaking process . It was part of the decisionmaking process. Over the course of last year, through the election and here in my first month and a half, ive noticed that theres been a lot of fear and concern in the community. I could feel that. I could see that and obviously with everything thats going on at the national level, it really concerns me to see that kind of fear happening in communities. To me it leads to more mistrust of police at a time when we need to be growing more trust, more collaboration with communities to solve local crimes. Ive read the way you addressed this in the past. I hear the way youre speaking about it now. Its clear you dont see this as a political crusade of any kind. This is a question of resources and priorities and practicalities. It does have political resonance though nationwide. Are you worried about losing funding as a result . Are you worried about texas state governnt coming after you in some way . Are you worried about the federal government coming afte you in some way and trying to reduce your resources or make life hard for you in other ways because of this decision . Im not worried about that. In my mind, this has been the correct decision to do at the end of the day. Im going to focus on whats best for the men and women of the Harris County Sheriffs Office as well as what i can do each day to make sure the resident of Harris County are safe. Its under my purview considering this say voluntary program and up until recently weve been an outlier, the only county Sheriffs Office to be under this program for many, many years and even now out of 254 counties, 251 have been able to operate out it. I think it was time to end this program. Sheriff, since you made this announcement today obviously this was part of your campaign in november and people may have known this is coming. Whats the reaction today, now that youve made the announcement . I think overall weve received very positive comments and i think people understand the need for us to focus on local priorities. I basically run whats considered the largest mental state hospital, if you will, by the number of inmates that i have. I have a huge jailover crowding issue, our jail is understaffed. We need more patrol cars for our deputies. These are issues that we need to be focusing on to make sure were keeping our local communities safe and thats my priority each and every day. To me this say common sense approach making sure we can redirect the costs we were investing into this program, this voluntary Program Spending over 675,000 staffing it. We can now redeploy those resources to fight local Public Safety issues. Harris County Sheriff ed gonzalez of texas, thank you very much for your time tonight, sir. Keep us apprised, Stay In Touch with us as this change happens in your county and in your state. Wed be interested to see how this works out for you sir, thank you. Sure will, thank you. Well be right back. Stay with us. And knowhow to help keep your ford running strong. 35,000 specialists all across america. No one knows your ford better than ford. And ford service. Right now, get the works a Synthetic Blend Oil change, tire rotation, brake ipection and more for 29. 95 or less. Or visit my24info. Com. We have news tonight from this new administrations continued Whiplash Pattern of radical changes in course. Tonight the Justice Department, which is now led by Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that they are reversing the Obama Administration policy on the rights of transgender students in american schools. We have known that the white house intended to roll back lgbt rights. We thought they might first take aim at kids. Weve been waiting all day for the official notice. Here it is. The Justice Department tonight notifying the u. S. Supreme court that theyre withdrawing the transgender protections that had been issued by president obama. But theyre also telling schools, quote, this withdrawal of these guidance documents does noleave students without protections from discrimination, bullying or harassment. The department of educations office for civil rights will continue its duty under law to hear claims of discrimination and will explore every appropriate opportunity to protect all students to encourage civility in our classrooms. How exactly the new administration intends to secure safety and a stability by uprooting the policy that protects transgender kids rights, thats for history to say. But as of tonight, everybody who told you that the Trump Administration wouldnt be terrible on lgbt issues, at least theyll be okay on that. As of tonight now you know those people were all full of it. Are your allergies holding you back or is it your Allergy Pills . Break through your allergies. Introducing Flonase Sensimist. More complete allergy relief in a gentle mist you may not even notice. Using unique mistpro technology, new Flonase Sensimist delivers a gentle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. Most Allergy Pills only block one. And six is greater than one. Break through your allergies. New Flonase Sensimist. This was the line at senator tom cottons town hall tonight in arkansas. People still lining up to ask a question an hour and 15 minutes after he started. And thats after he moved the venue of this thing i think five separate times. Obviously people were still able to find him at the end of the day. We also just got in this video tonight from branchburg, new jersey. Hundreds of people apparently not able to get inside a packed town hall meeting with leonard lance. This week for congress presents kind of a devils choice for lawmakers. Do you show up and face your constituents who are lining up with really hard questions and unfriendly feedback, or do you run . Republican senator deb fisher of nebraska, do you run . Here she comes. Deb, when are you going to hold a town hall . Hey, deb, meet with us hey, deb, meet with us hey, deb, meet with us hey, deb, meet with us hey, deb, meet with us hey, deb, meet with us hey, deb, meet with us senator deb fisher of nebraska doing her best to slip out of a closed door meeting that she held with a local Business Group in her district last night. I like how the Security Guard is no, not that car. This car over here, turn around. Smile and wave. Do not meet with your kintz, whatever you do. People have been trying every which way to track down their member of congress and their senators. This is like a lost puppy ad that ran today in the palm beach post newspaper. Quote, lost, United States senator. He may respond to the title senator marco rubio, though his constituents have been unable to verify whether this is still the case as they have been unable to contact him in recent weeks. In huntington beach, california, republican congressman Dana Rohrabachers constituents say theyve been trying for weeks to get ahold of him or anyone at his office. They have tried lobbying his staff through tint come outside his office. They have tried Pushg Letters under the door that they will not open. One lone Vietnam War Veteran tried to walk into the office alone to please schedule a meeting. He was run out of the place by two Uniformed Police officers who kicked him out. Yesterday, Dana Rohrabachers constituents tried again to get his attention. Theyre sort of down to the bottom of the barrel in tactics. This time they spelled out his name on the beach with their bodies. Wheres dana . Maybe that one will work. In pennsylvania, senator pat toomeys constituents decided to hold a town hall without him since he wouldnt agree to meet with them. They did hold a place for him, though. They asked their questions to an empty suit they put on stage just hanging from a hanger. Here is another interesting one out of new jersey, though. One that may have just made some news. In new jersey, constituents of congressman rodney freedlinghighsen. Every friday his constituents have been showing up at his District Offices to please meet with them. His answer consistently has been no, no, no, i wont meet with you. Thats why it was surprising to see the congressman tweet this. Great questions and comments during my telephone town hall meeting last night. Thousands of constituents on the line. Im listening. People were what telephone town hall . As far as we can tell there was no warning, no advanced notice that the congressman would be holding a town hall by telephone or otherwise. Apparently it was an invitation only event. The whole thing was so lowkey it didnt even register in the local new jersey press except for one reporter who found out about it at the last minute and managed to listen, in and good thing too. Because when Congress Members do have to listen to people in their district, even under duress, even then sometimes they Say Something important. I think actually the congressman made have made some news with some of the things he said in his response to constituents. Like what . Like that he that any funding for a wall on the Mexican Border would be stopped by his committee. He has no intention of funding that. House appropriations coittee chairm reportedly telling constituents last night at his telephone town hall that he has no intention of funding a wall on the Mexican Border. Thats one thing if youre an average schmoe. Thats National News if youre head of the National Appropriations committee. If the head of the Appropriations Committee wont fund the wall, that means the wall wont be funded, not unless you believe that bullpucky about mexico paying for it. Nobody fell for that, right . We reached out to the congressmans Office Tonight for clarification on this point. Also to see if we can get audio or transcript of the town hall. We havent yet gotten our hands on audio or a transcript, but we did get a Statement Interest the congressman denying that reporting and saying any request for funds by the president will be reviewed in due course by his committee. Okay. But wed still like to know what you said to your constituents last night. If anybody else was on the line for the lastminute town hall with the congressman, anybody has the audio, or hey, no matter where you are, if you have shareable stuff from town halls in your town, please send to it me. Www. Sendittorachel. Com. Email it to me rachel nbc. Com. Lets find out who is making news. Im about to run to another studio and join Brian Williams