Rachel Maddow takes a look at the days top political news stories. Many months later, thats after the inauguration, after the election, when fbi director james comey went down to the hill, where he was testifying and said, yes, there was an open probe. By that time, the fbi had also initiated a separate but related investigation and that has now been broken much into public view, much more, because the break came with this very curious indictment of a woman named maria butina. Now, she was suspected as an unregistered agent of the russian government. That she was trying to mount this covert influence operation through a conservative group, a Gun Rights Group in the u. S. Tonight, the same reporter who had the Breakthrough Scoop about the Steele Dossier has a new and obviously provocative question. Did alleged russian spy, maria butina, cause a Leadership Shake up at the nra . The backstory here is an fbi dive, prior to the fact of trump becoming president , into russian attempts to influence the nra, which itself is a weird story. This is their second visit. They go to russia. Butina facilitating a meeting with a ceo of a private russian gun manufacturer, which produces a sniper rifle identified by the pentagon not for domestic use or hunting, but actually as a threat to american soldiers. The nra leader is treated to a tour of that facility and a chance to shoot some guns on site. The nra reportedly spent 30 million to Support Trump in 2016. And on the one hand, they do typically support republican nominees. But heres what you need to know. That was triple the amount they spent on behalf of mitt romney just four years prior. And then in january, you get this report in mcclatchy, the fbi investigating whether the russia used this relationship with the nra to illegally funnel foreign cash into the Gun Rights Organization as part of an effort to Support Trump. So ever since maria butina was arrested and charged with her conspiracy on behalf of russia, the nra has consistently declined to comment to all kinds of sources and all kinds of publications on this association with what is now an indicted russian spy facing those allegations. Now, journalist david corn is raising this question about whether the arrest of butina
caused a Leadership Shake up shortly after at the nra. Corn writing that on may 7th, the nra released a curious Press Release, declaring oliver north, who has his own history as a key player in the iran contra scandal, but is also a standing nra board member, was now, quote, poised to become the new president. This Changing Of The Guard and how it happened was odd, he writes. Earlier that day, Peter Brownell finishing his term announced he would not seek a Second Annual term for 15 years. The nra leadership followed a pretty specific pattern. Were getting deep into the bylines. But an officer elected by the board to serve two consecutive annual terms as second Vice President and two as executive Vice President and fweenl as president but the Brownwell Transition broke the tradition and puzzled many nra watchers. It even puzzled the incoming president of the nra himself. Colonel north, whats your reaction to being elected as president of the National Rifle association . Well, its an unexpected privilege. Im grateful for the unanimous support of the board. I did not expect that this was going to be happening at this annual meeting, but as soon as i get everything in order in my family, because this was very sudden, ill be back to take that gavel. Those kind of oncamera interviews are useful. May have sounded like a basic question, but we learned from oliver norths own mouth, this was unexpected. This was sudden. He was getting ready to adjust at the last minute. And then you have a true state secret that was unknown, at least to the public at that time. Two weeks earlier in april, fbi agents clad in their Tactical Gear were raiding butinas apartment where they arrested her. Now, we know that from these reports. And corn asks, did that fbi investigation of butina lead to nra president peter brownwells
decision in the words of oliver north to suddenly step down . He had, of course, interacted with Butina In Moscow three years earlier, and the nra could shed light on this. We would love to bring you their side of the story. Any comment, with anything vague, anything. But they are declining to comment tonight. Same for brownwell. Corn reports hes not taking calls. Im joined now by the reporter at the center of the action, david corn, Washington Bureau chief for mother jones. David, we always learn a lot from you. I appreciate you joining me this friday night. Thanks for having me on the weekend. Heading into the weekend. You have a lot on this story. As you know, rachel has been on many pieces of this story for quite some time. What has advanced through whats happened with the nra . And let me start with the biggest question. I dont need to save it. Reading between the lines of your reporting, are you saying you have reason to believe there is another indictment coming pursuant to the nra case . Im not saying that. I dont know that and i dont make any predictions on what the Mueller Investigation is going to be or the butina investigation, which is separate. We keep being surprised. And The Big Picture here, ari, is that we keep learning new things. Things that we didnt know a week ago, six months ago. So on all of these investigations involving michael cohen, trump russia, and of course the nra investigation. But it was, as you noted, it was very puzzling when the nra went through this leadership change. I remember getting the Press Release and it was weirdly put. Oliver north is poised to become nra president. Not that hes been chosen nra president , but hes poised to become nra president. And as he put it, it was news to me. And no one could really explain why this very Hierarchical Organization that had very strict rules of succession in terms of its leadership would all of a sudden pluck a guy out
who didnt see it coming and make him president of the nra when he wasnt prepared to be. And then only recently with the butina case, did we learn about this fbi raid. And remember, her partner, romantically and politically, was a guy named paul erickson, who was an nra activist. And he had been working with her to infiltrate, penetrate, make connections with people in the nra and other conservative groups. So if she were raided, as she was, one would expect him to know about it and word to start filtering out. Which could have caused a tremendous panic within the nra and might have and might have led to anyone being connected with butina, to be scared, im not sure about an indictment, but to be scared of being caught up certainly exposure. Yes. And Pete Area Brunell was
very much involved, having gone on trips that butina organized and having been one of the nra highest officials that she had cultivated. When you look at the nra, which has a lot of seasoned political professionals, people may disagree with their views on gun rights and access to guns, but these are people who have been around washington, made it to the top of one of the most powerful organizations around. How can one benignly or positively explain the complete idiocy or ignorance that would be required to think that an authoritarian country would have a vibrant, private Gun Rights Movement . You know, theres so much puzzling about this. In the book i did with Michael Isikoff, russian roulette, we wrote about the butina case before it became a criminal case, and we noted that she had shown up at nra events and other
conservative events like cpac, the annual gettogether, and was really trying to make friends with some of the leading officials. In fact, one fellow, you know, who said, by his own admission, hes in his 60s, doesnt have a lot of hair, has a little bit of a paunch, said, im not used to young, attractive women coming up to me and saying, will you be my facebook friend . Can i snapchat with you . And he thought there was something odd and weird that butina and this russian legislator named Aleksandr Torshin kept showing up, and that the nra that he was a part of was embracing this pair of boris and natasha. So there were some people who thought this was odd. But certainly if you watch that video of david keene, if you watch the video that was made of Peter Brunell in 2015, these guys are really having a good time. Theyre getting off making these russian connections so youre saying there was
some suspicion about a snapchat honey pot . Yeah. I think i mean, i think some people saw it that way. But its clear at the time and it was clear in the 2016 campaign that whoever was masterminding this, whether it was torshin or Somebody Else, they had a pretty good insight into American Politics. If you want to work your way into, you know, influencing republicans and conservatives who are now, you know, controlling all arms of government, do it through the nra. And they tried right. What decade Warren Zivon Say . Bring lawyers, guns, and money. Yeah, the you know what has hit the fan. Family show. Family show, david but i give them credit. Youre saying it was done out in the open. Youre getting at the fact that they were quite adept at infiltrating specifically the conservative wing of American Politics in the way they did it. And that gives, of course, insight into what theyre accused of with regard to the trump campaign, with j. D. Gordon, a trump adviser who sits at the nexus of guns and trump. Its so much fascinating stuff, the final question i have for you we havent even gotten to, which is the way you continue to figure in this. Your report the people have known for a long time. Your name and reporting came up in the very controversial debates over the wiretapping of carter page and whether your material was underlying material for that law if wiretap today we see in the little parts, and i shared this with viewers at the top, the little parts that we do glean from whats come out with steele is the fbi assertion that they stopped working with him, because of what he told you and what you published. Your response, sir . Well, i think we knew that already. We certainly reported that in the book, Michael Isikoff and myself. So its not a surprise. It confirms that. And you know, the point i would make is that when i talked to
christopher steele in the very end of october, 2016, he was talking to me very reluctantly. He was scared. The material that he had found, connections, allegations between the of interactions between trump and the russian government frightened him as a veteran counterintelligence officer. And he had taken his material to the fbi, had been working with them, but he felt this information needed to get out in some way before the election. That the American Public had to be told this. So, he david, had the fbi publicly confirmed that on the record before . No, not at all. So why now . In fact, they were doing everything do you know why now . Excuse me . Do you know why now . Well, the reason is, the conventional reason, that it was a Counterintelligence Operation that was ongoing and jim comey and others have explained that they dont make that information public, even when members of
congress ask. Now, steeles position was that he thought there was enough connections, enough to worry about without knowing the full picture that the fbi should have worked harder, you know, at least the u. S. Government, someone in the u. S. Government, to make more of that available to the public before they cast votes on november 8th. So thats why he talked to me. When he did that, the fbi said, okay, now too much of your own, you know, of a lone wolf doing this on your own. And we dont want to work with you anymore. But i think he knew that this would get him in trouble with the bureau. He thought it was important that the public knew something about this. Its fascinating and its a story that obviously has gotten deeper and youve been there from the start. I do appreciate your time tonight, sir. Well, always good to be with you. You know that. Thank you, david. We turn now to more news on this potential legal quandary for the president. Im going to be joined in just a moment by the pulitzer prizewinning reporter whos actually tracked Donald TrumpsBusiness Dealings as closely as just about any reporter. Now, looking at those legal questions, this reporter began this day with a scoop of his own about a notable spike in revenue at Donald Trumps new york hotel. After two years of sagging revenue, that hotel suddenly gets 13 more in the first quarter. The hotels General Manager says the spike was from, quote, a lastminute visit to new york by the crown prince of saudi arabia. Those hotel stays by the princes entourage was enough to boost revenue for the entire quarter. Its not clear from the Trump Organization or the saudis whether they paid for those rooms. The question here is whether the president is violating what is known as the emoluments clause. Last week, of course, a case got a green light for a lawsuit against the president over this very allegation. Now, after the Washington Post published this story about the spike in revenue, the Attorney General of new york announced her state also probing the same question. Is the president violating this ban . Joining me now is david fahrenthold, political reporter for the Washington Post. Whats most important here . The big picture were seeing here is that we really dont know, even 18 months into the trump presidency, we dont really know even the basics about what foreign governments are spending money at the president s properties. What foreign governments are actually using trumps businesses to pay donald trump, who then is overseeing u. S. Relationships with those countries. This letter from the gm at the trump hotel in new york indicating this big group of saudis came in and it boosted their revenue for the whole quarter. You know, thats just an indication of whats possibly out there that we dont know about. You obtained this letter, but it was sort of put out by the Trump Business Side themselves. They put themselves on blast. Was that out of you know why they did that . Um, no. This letter was meant for investors in the trump hotel in new york. So the trump hotel is owned
the individual hotel rooms are owned by outside investors. And so this letter was meant for them, to sort of reassure them. As we said in the story, it had been a couple of bad years at that hotel. 2016 and 2017, the numbers had gone down. This was the General Manager saying, hey, things are looking up again. This quarter has been good. And ill explain why. Basically saying, you know, im working for you. Im trying to make the situation better. Heres how we did it this time. Do you think we should infer something negative about the Trump Organizations refusal to provide actual accounting of what theyre donating back . I mean, i dont really know what we can infer from it. The thing you can tell from the way theyve reacted to these questions is that the Trump Organization is a private business. And it has always been a very private business. It had always kept as many details about its operation as it could secret. So even now that donald trump is in the white house, the Trump Organization, which is still owned by him, still seems to see itself in the same light, were a private business, we do what we want, to the degree that there are legal requirements for us to disclose things about our
business, well do it. But we wont go beyond that. The idea that there might be some sort of need for transparency Above And Beyond what the law requires, to be to reassure people that the president wasnt sort of conflicted between his Business Interests and the public interests, they dont see that at all. They havent responded to that at all. So we only know about his Business Dealings with foreign governments kind of through media reports, through dribs and drabs here and there. Right, and through as often what you have been able to obtain by oldfashioned shoe leather reporting. David fahrenthold with the Washington Post, thank you so much. Thank you. We have a lot more in this show. We will be right back. A hotel can make or break a trip. And at expedia, we dont think you should be rushed into booking one. Thats why we created expedias addon advantage. Now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. Addon advantage. Discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. Only when you book with expedia. Jimmys gotten used to his whole yup, hes gone noseblind. Odors. He thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this. Luckily for all your hardtowash fabrics. Theres febreze fabric refresher. Febreze doesnt just mask, it eliminates odors youve. Gone noseblind to. And try Febreze Unstopables for fabric. With up to twice the fresh scent power, youll want to try it. Again and again and maybe just one more time. Indulge in irresistible freshness. Febreze unstopables. Breathe happy. Ensure® are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi. . A more powerful way to stay connected. It gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most Wifi Coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. One of them, Cindy Laporta, testified. She is one of Paul Manaforts accountants. And in light of what she has confessed to on the stand, its quite clear why she wanted that Immunity Deal that the judge approved. Remember, yesterdays revelation was from manaforts longtime bookkeeper testifying that he went into something of a financial turmoil in 2015. That was before he offered his Volunteer Services to trump. And today, it was manaforts longtime accountant backing up that same story, testifying manaforts income dropped conspicuously after 2014, and that despite repeatedly asking manafort if he or his family had any foreign accounts, manafort would say no. Now, this is around the time of the day when Paul Manaforts wife, kathleen, left the courtroom. Reports are that she was dabbing her eyes and she was visibly upset. And its what happened next, when Cindy Laporta, the first but theness to testify with immunity, took the stand. And this could be, if you look
back at this trial, everything that happens before the trial is speculation. When we look at whats actually going on this week, this could be the turning point. Laporta alleging that in september of 2015, this was when manafort was in financial trouble, she gave him an estimate of the taxes he owed, and she was told Manafort Couldnt Pay it. Quote, rick thats rick gates, whos also expected to testify said it was too high. Manafort didnt have the money. Manaforts solution, laporta testified, was to inflate the amount of a loan which would then reduce on paper his reported income, and thus his income tax, and in turn, what he owed the government. In other words, tax fraud, tax evasion. Which, as a professional involved in this business, Cindy Laporta did understand. So then you have mewers prosecutor ask, what was your understanding at the time of whether that was appropriate . Laporta replies, its not appropriate. And she confessed she went along with it and helped Manafort Falsify those critical documents. I could have refused to file the tax return. That would have exposed the firm laporta reported. I could have called them liars. But manafort was a longtime client of the firm. I didnt want to do that either. She added, quote, i very much regret it. And that is immunity witness number one. There are four more people who have immunity who are ready to testify, Plus The Star witness, rick gates. We turn now to our inhouse experts. Josh garcia, and joyce vance, a former federal prosecutor as well as an msnbc analyst. They both kept a close eye on the case. Josh, you were in the courtroom today. How damaging was Cindy Laportas testimony and could you glean at all from the mood of the jury or the faces that she was hurt at all by the fact that she was in on the bad things she was talking about . I didnt get a sense that she was hurt. I mean, they knew that she had immunity. But she did seem like she was someone who was along for the ride here. Unlike even gates, she didnt have any direct financial interests in these offenses that were being alleged. She was just accused of, essentially, having accepted what her clients wanted her to do, rather than resisting them. But i thought, ari, this was by far the most damaging day yet for manafort in the trial. I felt like some of the other evidence earlier in the case about the tax issues that he was spending way too much and transferring money in from overseas, its still a little murky, you know if his tax returns were off, how much were they off . By 100,000 . Is that a lot on 1 million . Does that amount to fraud . I dont know. But the stuff we heard about today seemed like very specific transactions, not only tax fraud, but a lot of very damaging evidence on bank fraud also came in through Cindy Laporta today, where she was specifically involved in apparently forged documents
being turned over to banks. And it just sounded like the kind of conduct that is very intentional and very hard to explain away. Its fascinating, coming from you, having been there every day in court. Because, joyce, i think josh is referring to something that prosecutors know well, which is that lawyers and accountants and definitely judges love paper evidence. But normal people respond to stories. And Cindy Laporta told a story today. That she was under pressure, that this was wrong, but she went along with Paul Manaforts alleged crimes. Do you think that kind of story is critical to mueller winning this case . Its the perfect sort of complement to the documentary evidence, to all of the paper that the jury is seeing. And its not a problem if the evidence feels a little bit murky at this stage. Because the prosecutions job right now is to put facts and it in front of the jury. And then in their closing argument, theyll get to assemble all of those facts and do a cohesive story that will be
used to convince the jury of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The story, the sort of almost Human Interest that they hear today from laporta, i think is helpful in getting the jury through to that point. Josh, on the idea of hiding the foreign accounts, how damning was that . Because, taken together, it seems to go to manaforts deliberate criminal intent. Thats the way mueller is playing it forward. But again, trials have two sides and i think we can definitely expect manaforts defense counsel, when its their turn to say, after this entire probe, all of this attention is on whether he said or correctly remembered all of this foreign stuff, even if he got it wrong, how big a deal is that . Well, you know, they did say that in addition to sending the typical questionnaire that goes out to clients about whether they have Foreign Bank Accounts that the accountant said, well, we emailed them specifically and said, we want to ask you again, do you have foreign accounts . Do you have Signature Authority over them . And manafort or gates in various instances wrote back no. I think that thats problematic, but i do think it could be explained away potentially as an oversight or some confusion about what counts as Signature Authority. Thats what the defense seems to be arguing. I do think, again, that the bank fraud testimony that came in cases where at one point, there was a 1. 5 million loan outstanding, and it was a problem when getting another loan. And suddenly there was an eightmonth backdated document available saying that loan had been forgiven and it was on stationary that seemed to be kind of shady and a signature that seemed shady, that kind of testimony, i just think is very, very damaging. And as you know, ari, bank fraud, those counts carry a 30year maximum penalty on each one. The law takes that very, very seriously. And i think theres real trouble on the Bank Fraud Charges for manafort. Right. You see real risk there, as you say, this was the best day of the case. Final word to you, joyce. When you look at what theyre
going to do when the when manaforts team gets in the ring, so much of this coverage is what looks bad for him. Could you give us any wisdom on what theyll try to do to rebut what josh says has been a tough day . They dont have much of a Rebuttal Opportunity here. Their best argument, the argument that they suggested that they would use in their Opening Statement is that it wasnt manafort, it was gates. But there was testimony from witness after witness yesterday and today, indicating that manafort was the person who provided them with final details. Manafort saw and reviewed every document before it was signed and filed. It will be virtually impossible for them to make that argument. And theyll be stuck, as so many defendants are, simply with arguing that the government didnt present enough evidence to meet its burden of proof and that its not enough for the jury to think that the defendant might be guilty. That the jury should, in essence, hold the government
responsible for proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Doesnt look like the government is going to have a lot of trouble here, though. Right. And that the best they can do is say, if you have any doubt, whether maybe rick gates was actually secretly pulling the strings or any doubt whether Paul Manafort was actually confused, then maybe throw it all away. And i think that speaks to why its been such a methodical case for muellers team. My special thanks to joyce and josh. We greatly appreciate it. I will tell you, still ahead, goats can eat your trash. They can trim your grass. They can even help you exercise and nail your perfect yoga position, the downward dog. We are going to explain how goats fit into some very important developments. Look at the one on the back. That is thats some serious yoga posing there. Thats when were right back. The fact is, there are over ninetysix hundred roads named park in the u. S. Its americas most popular street name. But Allstate Agents know thats where the similarity stops. If youre on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the Washoe Zephyr could damage your siding. And thats very different than living on park ave in sheboygan, wisconsin, where ice dams could cause water damage. But no matter what park you live on, one of 10,000 local Allstate Agents knows yours. Now that you know the truth, are you in good hands . Booking a flight doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. Crisp leaves of lettuce. Freshly made dressing. Clean food that looks this good. Delivered to your desk. Now delivering to home or office. Panera. Food as it should be. Monitor their Blood Glucose every day. Which means they have to stop. And stick their fingers. Repeatedly. Today, lifechanging technology from abbott makes it possible to track glucose levels. Without drawing a drop of blood, again and again. The most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life. Life. To the fullest. Them out to eat up weeds. That company had to send out a truck to go get all of these goats. Then they sent two trucks. Ultimately, there was some flag work to try to corral those goats, you see, and get them all back into their goat transportation systems. Which does suggest why that organic solution to overgrown weeds can seem like more work than it might be worth. Why not just have electric weedwhackers around. It takes perseverance to chase down your moving goat system. It takes patience, it clearly takes diligence and energy. And some ask, is it worth it . Is this the best we can do . Its hard to track down all these goats. I know what you may be thinking as you watch the news, what are we even talking about . But perhaps these goats are an allegory for vigilance about facts in our trump era and how some people are using energy and diligence to fight assault on the facts and their slow progress could even put them in
the running for, yes, goat of Fact Checking. The greatest of all time, my apologies, but we wanted to at least show you the goat videos. And that story is worthwhile and its coming up. From the very beginning. It was always our singular focus. To do whatever it takes, use every possible resource. To fight cancer. And never lose sight of the patients were fighting for. Our Cancer Treatment specialists share the same vision. Experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. And these are the specialists were proud to call our own. Expert medicine works here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com Appointments Available now. Well, esurance makes it simple and affordable. In fact, drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved an average of 412. Thats auto and Home Insurance for the modern world. Esurance. An allstate company. Click or call. Paying too much for insurance that isnt the right fit . Well, esurance makes finding the right coverage easy. In fact, drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved an average of 412. Thats auto and Home Insurance for the modern world. Esurance. An allstate company. Click or call. You can barely feel. Flonase sensimist helps block six key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. And six is greater than one. Flonase sensimist. For weeks, aclu lawyers have been pushing the Trump Administration to hand over basic Contact Information for the families of the migrant kids who have been separated throughout this process, specifically trying to help parents find their kids. Last night, they told the government, instead of addresses from moms and dads, what they have received from the Trump Administration is just vagaries about the parents whereabouts, which could be anywhere from a Detention Facility to being abroad. Of the 572 children in custody, 410 have parents who are not in the u. S. , likely because they were deported by trump. The Trump Administration is now saying this, the aclu should use their resources and network of law firms and volunteers to make contact with those parents abroad. The Trump Administration, of course, are the ones who deported or separated all of these people. Now they want someone else, i guess, the aclu, to clean it up. Hows that playing in court . Not well. This is the new story. The judge tonight overseeing those courtordered reunifications says this new trump effort is unacceptable. Quote, many of these parents were removed from the country without their child. All of this is a result of the governments, the Trump Administration separation and inability and failure to track, excuse me and reunite. The reality is for every parent who is not located, there will be a permanently orphaned child and that is 100 the responsibility of the Trump Administration. Im joined by msnbc correspondent, jacob soboroff, who has reported extensively on this story for years now, before the separation policy kicked in, and before this period of litigation ensued. Number one, your view of what was a smackdown of this idea that the aclu should clean up trumps mess. Thats exactly what it was. It was a smackdown, a clap back from the judge. And i was in court a week ago tonight, down in san diego, when
the judge said he was going to order both of these parties to come up with a plan to reunite the remaining kids. 2,551 was the overall number. 572 is the number of kids that still, months later, havent been reunited with their parents, ari. And the judge was flabbergasted. He just said, there is no plan. Nobody came up with a plan. I ordered you last week to come up with a plan. The administration submitted, in this paperwork, this court filing last night, thursday night, a plan that basically said, you know what, if the aclu really wants to do it that badly, you guys should take the lead and well be the supporting role here. Right, its remarkably cynical. You would expect it from other parts of the administration in rhetoric, to go to a judge and say it is pretty wild. Its as if somebody complained that, say, inmates are not being fed meals in prison and the response of the government is, fine, you feed them. You come to the jails and feed them. It doesnt even make sense. Just logically, youre the Trump Administration. You are the ones that put into place this systemic policy to separate all these kids, that
had never been done before, to take them away from their parents, to do this as a Deterrence Policy that nobody else would come into this country illegally. A strategy we know doesnt make sense. And then when the thing doesnt work out, just lake there was no plan in the beginning to put it into place and thats why it was such a disaster, they just decided, you know what, were not really going to come up with a plan anyways to undo this and well ask Somebody Else to do it. Right. So theres a lot of mess there. I do want to hit one positive part that im curious about your view, because youve been covering this so closely. You mentioned the filings, right, we have this. This is a government filing. The 572 number is what the Trump Administration coughed up under pressure. And so while much of this was a complete unforced humanitarian crisis because of trumps orders, what do you think of the fact that over these weeks, we see the court system working, we see the accountability and the pressure on, we see the majority of the families reunited under the combination of public advocacy, public scrutiny, and judges and courts forcing their hand. Its an extraordinary thing,
and an inspiring thing, quite frankly, for me, making the journey down there, being inside these Detention Centers and seeing the children in cages, knowing that talking about this stuff, the public pressure not only to get the president of the United States to sign that Executive Order and stop the policy, but to go into the court, without this judge. Said to chris hayes in the last hour, probably 5,000 children that were separated instead of 2,551. In the first day, over 1800 kids are placed with the family or a sponsor and the remaining 572, he is forcing the government to go out there, put a point person in place and reunite the rest of these folks. Youve been so close to it, i think thats important. Its not to say this is making things better. Its making them less terrible for people but for the people affected less terrible is something the court system is achieving and thats important. Jacob, thank i for all your contributions to the story. Still ahead tonight, a lot of paper but not a lot of time. Well explain ahead. [upbeat music]
got his answer and it is no. The answer officially, quote, we currently expect to be able to complete this review by the end of october 2018, which is, golly, pretty close to the midterms. The National Archives says it potentially over 900,000 pages of documents to produce just from the republicans request. This is a key space to watch. Ooh, heaven is a place on earth uhp. I didnt believe it. Again. Ooh, baby, do you know what thats worth . I want to believe it. [ claps hands ] ooh im not hearing the confidence. Okay, hold the name your price tool. Power of options based on your budget and well make heaven a place on earth yeah oh, my angels ooh, heaven is a place on earth [ sobs quietly ] ooh, heaven is a place on earth ito take care of anyct messy situations. And put irritation in its place. And if i can get comfortable keeping this tookus safe and protected. You can get comfortable doing the same with yours. Preparation h. Get comfortable with it. In his first speech to congress. According to data provided by the department of justice, the vast majority of individuals convicts of terrorism and terrorism related offenses since 9 11 came here from outside of our country. Sounds important, if true. Well, the editor of law fair ben wittes, noticed it didnt sound like something the doj would have produced. So his team debunked the core of that claim. It appeared they distorted separate data from the National Security division of the justice division. But he kept pressing for the data he claimed was his source. Finally this week he got an answer. There are no such records in Justice Department files. In fact, he notes not a single email, not a report, nothing. No responsive records located
the doj said. Wittes says that means the president stood up and made a representation to congress about immigrants that wasnt true and attribute beautied it to the Justice Department data which doesnt exist. This is a governing problem. Democrats in congress pressing the administration on the issue of how this happened and who was involved so they can prevent it. The wider context is this forced Fact Checking comes as the president calls the press the enemy of the people and is in a fight with the New York Times editorinchief this week and the United Nations over his attacks in the free press. The doj data reveals a separate prong of Donald Trumps strategy that should be exposed. Undercut the factual press a. If this all sounds exhausting, it may be supposed to be exhausting. He used federal transparency laws to expose the lie and make trumps own Justice Department confirm it. Just like the Washington Post continues to check the