That controversy. This is the sort of apex of the campaign, right . Labor day weekend. The fbi deciding theyre going release their confidential interview notes from that investigation. The fbi doesnt usually do that. They dont usually release their interview notes from talking to people as part of an investigation. So this was a strange thing to do at any time, let alone at the height of the political campaign. But they did. And the fbi put out a statement at the time explaining why they were doing this very unusual thing. They said it was, quote, in the interest of transparency. And in response to numerous freedom of information act requests. Hey, you know, there was a lot of interest. People really wanted to know. We, the fbi, we felt pressured to do this very unusual thing, because the public desires to see us do it. And so, i guess well do it, even though its kind of weird. If you really want us to, we will. The fbi does have their typical by the book way of doing things. But its also true that they sometimes do things that arent necessarily by the book. And they do those things in response to public pressure. And in response, in particular to political pressure. At that point in the 2016 president ial campaign, republicans and the conservative media were putting relentless pressure on the fbi and the Justice Department about that clinton investigation. Right . The Republican Convention had just wrapped up, with people standing there at the lectern, people like Chris Christie and mike flynn leading these chants, lock her up, lock her up. And that was about the clinton email investigation. There was all this pressure to be more aggressive, to tell the public what theyre doing, to disclose documents from that investigation. And the fbi responded to that pressure. In part, with the public statements made about the investigation from fbi director james comey. But also with the fbi deciding that they would take this extremely unusual step of publicly exposing their internal, confidential notes and documents from the investigation. I mean, to be clear, the fbi doesnt release stuff like this. They dont release their agents notes from investigatory notes, except when they do. In the interest of transparency. Because there was lots of political pressure for them to do it. Then, apparently, they do it. That is worth remembering tonight, as we await word on the fbi interview notes, these same kind of documents, these 302 interview forms, that this time are related to the Background Investigation of wouldbe Supreme Court Justice Brett kavanaugh. Republican senators have been telling reporters basically every five minutes for the last two and a half days that the fbi is definitely all done, their investigation is definitely completed, all those 302s, all those interview notes from the fbi agents talking to people, interviewing witnesses, those 302s, those interview notes are due to be handed over to the senate any second now. And, you know, who knows if that really is true, in terms of the timing. Lots of things reported about the supposed speed and scope of the fbi Background Investigation into Brett Kavanaugh have turned out to not be true over the course of this past week of reporting. We really dont know exactly who the fbi has talked to. We really dont know when they will be done. We really dont know what exactly theyre going to be handing over to the senate. But Senate Republicans have been hyping the fact that its almost done, and they planted a flag today on the issue of secrecy, saying that whatever is handed over from the fbi from this Background Investigation, and whenever the senate gets it, those materials will be handled with the strictest secrecy. Not a single letter of a single word of a single sentence from those materials will be made available to the public. Why are they insisting on that kind of secrecy with the kavanaugh Background Investigation . Well, they insist that thats the appropriate treatment we should all expect for fbi interview notes from an investigation. The public never gets to see those. Yeah, normally that would be the case. If the fbi always acted by the book, if the fbi wasnt susceptible as an agency to public pressure and political haranguing. Theoretically, that would be the case. Fbi interview notes, these 302s, they dont become public documents. However, we know from recent history, there are exceptions when the fbi feels like it. Ask the Hillary Clinton campaign and that nice political kick in the teeth that if fbi gave the Clinton Campaign as a gift for Labor Day Weekend right before the president ial election. There are two outstanding big problems for the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination. The one thats got everybody on the edge of their seats tonight, because we dont know when were going to find out about it, is this expanded fbi background check into the Sexual Assault allegations against kavanaugh. We really have no transparency as to what this expanded back Ground Investigation includes or what its ultimate work product will look like, or if we the public will ever be allowed to see it. From open source reporting, we know of lots of people, in fact, dozens of people who have either said themselves they want to speak to fbi ayents as part of this Background Investigation, or people who have been described to the fbi as potentially corroborating witnesses for other people who have spoken to the fbi or who have made allegations about kavanaughs past conduct. In most cases, again, open source reporting, indicates that these people havent been spoken to by the fbi. Even when they themselves have proactively contacted the fbi by going into an Fbi Field Office or by calling fbi headquarters or even hiring lawyers to contact the fbi on their behalf, these folks, by and large, have not been able to get a call back or find somebody in the fbi to take down their information. Again, thats based on open source reporting from different sources. Among the people, who as of this evening havent spoken to the fbi as part of this Background Investigation is dr. Christine blasey ford. She did testify before the senate last week. Her lawyers have since repeatedly offered the fbi that she would give testimony to them. She would be interviewed by them. She offered supporti ining documentation for her allegations against kavanaugh. But as of this evening, the fbi has shown no interest in hearing from her at all, even as they supposedly have been assigned to investigate these latest allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, hers, of course, is the most prominent of them all. So, tonight, we are awaiting for the developments in terms of the fbi investigation and its extent and conclusions and what we will know about those conclusions. I will just say, as your pal here on cable news, i would advise you to be a little bit wary of all the breathlessly reported marginal new developments that are being described about that investigation tonight and overnight and into tomorrow. As i said, a lot of what has been reported from the last few days turned out to be contradicted by subsequent reporting. Whats going on with that fbi investigation . We really dont know. Its been very opaque. All the reporting on it is all anonymously sourced and a lot of it is selfcontradictory. As far as i can tell, and sort of the way im approaching it at this point is, that well know when we know. And we should consider that nothing about this appears to be set in stone. But in addition to that fbi investigation hurdle for kavanaugh to the Supreme Court nomination, theres also another last hurdle for kavanaugh, which is starting to emerge as maybe a real math problem for the prospects of him actually getting voted through the senate, whenever it is they finally take the vote. And that actually isnt directly related to the Sexual Assault allegations against kavanaugh, its the issue of kavanaughs behavior before the senate. During the confirmation process, and specifically when he was fielding that Sexual Assault allegation from dr. Christine blasey ford. What is emerging on that front are two areas of concern about whether or not judge kavanaugh should be on the court. His truthfulness under oath on his past drinking habits to his high school nickname, to his work in the george w. Bush administration on controversial nominations and attorney general yall issues that hes denied ever playing a role in but the documents seem to indicate otherwise. I mean, those concerns about his truthfulness under oath and whether he has misled senators during the confirmation process, those concerns started before Sexual Assault allegations were ever leveled against judge kavanaugh. But they got much worse after, because of how he handled himself under oath while denying that allegation. And in addition to those questions about his honesty under oath, there is this related problem that he now has, which is starting to look like it may be the single most difficult hurdle for judge kavanaugh if he still sees himself as on the way to the Supreme Court. To be a good judge and a good umpire, its important to have the proper demeanor, really important, i think, to walk in the others shoes, whether it be the other litigants, the it will gapts in the case, the other judges. To understand them, to keep our emotions in check. To be calm amidst the storm. On the bench, to put it in the vernacular, dont be a jerk. I think thats important. To be a good umpire and a good judge, dont be a jerk. That was judge kavanaugh speaking in 2015 at the law school of catholic university. A longer transcript of that speech was just published by reporter david corn at mother jones magazine. That speech was already a little famous, because thats the speech where judge kavanaugh veered offscript a little bit and said, what happened at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep and thats been a good thing for all of us. That got a flurry of attention last week. In that same speech, kavanaugh goes on and on about how important it is for a judge to quote keep our emotions in check, to be calm, to have the proper demeanor. All this stuff about how a judge must comport himself or herself if he or she actually wants to be part of the federal judiciary at every level. Let me run through what i think a judge as umpire means. First, and probably most obviously, not being a political partisan. You have to check those political allegiances at the door when you become a judge. You have to shed them. Its very important at the outset for a judge who wants to be an umpire to avoid any semblance of that partisanship of that political background of that background they might have had in a particular line of work. Thats the first probably most fundamental thing for a judge who wants to be an umpire. That is Brett Kavanaughs own standard for what the fundamentals are of a judicial temperament. And of course, this is judge kavanaughs own display of his would be judicial temperate before the United States senate. The behavior of several of the democratic members of this committee at my hearing a few weeks ago was an embarrassment. But at least it was just a good Old Fashioned attempt at borking. Those efforts didnt work. When i did at least okay enough at the hearings that it looked like i might actually get confirmed, a new tactic was needed. Some of you were lying in wait and had it ready. You have tried hard. Youve given it your all. No one can question your effort. But your coordinated and wellfunded effort to destroy my good name and destroy my family will not drive me out. What goes around comes around. This has destroyed my family and my good name. A good name built up through decades of very hard work and Public Service at the highest levels of the american government. This whole twoweek effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit. Fueled with apparent pent up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the clintons. Whether or not that display from Brett Kavanaugh at his confirmation hearing is unnerving to you or not in terms of what you expect from a Supreme Court justice, number one, it very much violates kavanaughs own explicit standards for how a judge should be behave, for what constitutes judicial temperament. And number two, the way that he behaved seems now to be bugging even some republican senators. Heres the new audio we just got in tonight. This is reporter liz ruskin from Alaska Public Media talking to alaska senator lisa mourkowski. This is media we obtained but i believe this is the first time this tape has been broadcast. Were you disturbed by the partisan statements that he made . I was surprised by the very direct, partisan statements that were made, some of which were confrontational. I was surprised to see that. Lisa murkowski speaking to Alaska Public Media. By now, you may have also seen Arizona Republican senator jeff flakes remarks on the same topic. I was very troubled. By the tone of the of the remarks. The initial defense that judge kavanaugh gave was Something Like i told my wife, i hope that i would sound that indignant if i were if i felt that i was unjustly, you know, maligned. But then it went on, and this interaction with the members was sharp and partisan and that concerns me. And i tell myself, you give a little leeway, because of what hes been through. But on the other hand, we cant have this on the court. We simply cant. So senator jeff flake and senator Lisa Murkowski both now expressing concern about whether Brett Kavanaugh is displaying the kind of temperate and demeanor that should be expected of a wouldbe Supreme Court justice. Senator Susan Collins of maine is another closely watched vote on the kavanaugh nomination. She has not weighed in personally on this particular aspect of kavanaughs behavior thus far, but this is the editorial view of her hometown paper on this subject, in maine. You see the headline there. Quote, Brett Kavanaugh has shown he doesnt belong on the Supreme Court. The man who testified thursday cant control his temper. Hes overtly partisan and he doesnt always tell the truth. Quote, regardless of what questions the investigation can answer, we already know this. Based on what he demonstrated in his own testimony, kavanaugh lacks the character and judgment to serve on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh revealed that he has an explosive temper and resorts to bullying when he feels threatened. He was understandably under stress and fighting a high stakes battle for his reputation, but his temperament was tested during the hearing and he failed the test. We have never had a Supreme Court nominee who ripped off the nonpartisan mask the way kavanaugh did thursday and identified himself as an enemy of a Political Party that represents the policy preferences of millions of americans. He blamed his predicament on bizarre conspiracy theories, claiming that his trouble stemmed from pent up anger over President Trump and revenge for the clintons. After his rant, kavanaugh will never be able to judge a case without the what he expressed. This is not the road we want to take. Again, that is coming from the hometown paper the Portland Press herald, which is read by necessity and presumably avidly by hometown senator Susan Collins of maine. Tonight, i should also tell you that just before we got in the air, the New York Times published this letter signed by over 650 u. S. Law professors, quote, and counting. Quote, judicial temperate is one of the most important qualities of a judge. A judge requires a personality that is even handed, unbiased, impartial, courteous yet firm, and dedicated to a process, not a result. At the senate hearings, judge Brett Kavanaugh displayed a lack of judicial temperament that would be disqualifying for any court. And certainly for the elevation to the highest court of this land. Quote, we have differing views about the other qualifications of judge kavanaugh, but we are united as professors of law and scholars of judicial inconstitutions in believing he did not display the judicial temperament requisite to sit on the highe esest court. That published just tonight in the New York Times. Over 650 law professors signing on to it, including a dozen from Yale Law School of which Brett Kavanaugh is a graduate. So, tonight, we await definitive word on the fbi Background Investigation. Into the Sexual Assault allegations against kavanaugh. We await inside of that fbi report, honestly, without any clarity as to what the fbi actually looked at in that investigation. At this point, if the shoe was on the other foot and the fbi was investigating a democratic president s Supreme Court nominee and the head of the fbi was that nominees law School Classmate like fbi director chris wray is to Brett Kavanaugh and the Deputy Attorney general overseeing the probe is an old coworker of the nominee, who showed up at his hearing to support his nomination as Rod Rosenstein did for Brett Kavanaugh, if the shoe was on the other foot, you could imagine how nuts republicans would be going over the character of the fbi investigation at this point in the consideration of that nominee. But democrats dont pressure the fbi the way that republicans do. Matt miller is a former department of justice spokesman, and has a very powerful oped just posted today at politico. Com, lamenting this difference in the dynamic. Do we have that . Thank you. Lamenting that difference in the way departments and republicans handle these matters. So, democrats dont pressure the fbi the way that republicans do. Were all waiting for the fbi investigation. Republicans would be crowing about it like you cant believe. Democrats appear to just be waiting for it. Who knows if we will ever see, for example, those 302s from the fbi investigation. Who knows if the fbi at this point feels any political pressure in terms of what theyre doing or what they might report, other than the pressure theyre certainly feeling from the Republicancontrolled Congress and the aggressively out of its lane republicancontrolled white house. But tonight, we are waiting to hear about the outcome of that process. And while we are waiting that word, which could come at any moment, one of the senators from the Judiciary Committee will join us next. Stay with us. Opportunity is everywhere. Its gonna be fine. Its a door. Its doing a lot of kicking down there. Waiting to be opened. Whatever your ambition. Whatever your drive. Whatever youre chasing. Driver, are we almost there . Were gonna have a baby daddy daddy opportunity is everywhere. All you have to do to find it is get out. Here. Janice, mom told me you bought a house. Okay. [ buttons clicking ] [ camera shutter clicks ] so, now that you have a house, you can use homequote explorer. Quiet. Im blasting my quads. Janice, look. Im in a meeting. Janice, look. [ chuckles ] look, look. Im looking. Its easy. You just answer some simple questions online, and you get Coverage Options to choose from. Youre ruining my workout. Cycling is my passion. Because republicans control congress, that means they also control all the committees in congress. And that has granular, everyday consequences. Including the very small and usually unimportant fact that the official twitter account for the senate Judiciary Committee is controlled by republican senators and their republican staff. Well, yesterday, that official twitter account posted this statement about previous fbi Background Investigations into Brett Kavanaugh before he became a Supreme Court nominee. Quote, nowhere in any of these six fbi reports was there ever a whiff of any issue at all related in any way to inappropriate sexual behavior or alcohol abuse. Never a whiff of any issue related in any way, inappropriate sexual behavior of alcohol abuse. Tonight, democrats on that committee, on the senate Judiciary Committee, are disputing that account. They just sent off this little rocket, quote, dear chairman grassley. Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary twitter account posted information about judge kavanaugh that is not accurate and that must be immediately correct corrected. Each of us reviewed the confidential Background Investigation of judge kavanaugh before the hearing. While we are limited in what we can say, we are compelled to state for the record that there is information in the that twitter post that is not accurate. Quote, we urge you to ensure that these twitter posts are corrected. The tweet they are saying contains inaccurate information is this, this is the text of that one. Nowhere in any of these six fbi reports was there ever a whiff of any issue at all related in any way to inappropriate sexual behavior of alcohol abuse. That letter to chairman grassley is signed by eight Democratic Senators on the Judiciary Committee. Including our next guest, joining us now is democratic senator mazie hir rono from hawaii. Thank you very much for being here. Good evening. Aloha. Can you tell us what this is about . You are one of the senators that signed onto this letter, to chairman grassley, asserting that there is something in that statement about the previous fbi Background Investigations of judge kavanaugh which is inaccurate. One thing that twitter feed should never have even gotten out from the republican staff, and that particular item wasnt accurate, and that is all i can say about it. So the confidentiality of these fbi reports is understood and respected by both sides at this point. And certainly it wasnt respected by the republicans who let it out. So youre saying that the tweet was inappropriate in this case, because it was a characterization of those fbi reports, and theyre not supposed to be publicly characterized. Thats right. Now that democrats have responded and said, as long as you are going to improperly characterize it, you better be accurate about it, are you prepared to go the next step and say what is inaccurate, if there was something about either alcohol abuse or inappropriate sexual behavior from those earlier fbi investigations . That was what i was hoping that the new fbi investigation would enable us to review. The interviews that they conducted, the inconsistencies between judge kavanaughs testimony and the interviews that the fbi, i hope, would conduct with various people who contradicted judge kavanaughs own characterization of himself. So that is what i was hoping. With that letter, i think it really was to the republicans, dont do this. And by the way, we also said in this letter that for the new fbi investigation that we need to come to a bipartisan agreement as to what parts of that report we can make public. That is how its supposed to happen. What do you think is going to happen in terms of the timing of the new fbi report, what sort of work product is going to be handed over to the senate, and whether there will be any public facing part of it. Ive said that i hope we can be as transparent as possible, and thats why we requested that there be a bipartisan agreement as to what parts of the report we can make public. At the same time, were already hearing from outside sources that the investigation was limited. It was under the control of the white house. In spite of the fact that the president said that it should be open and they should interview judge kavanaugh, as well as dr. Ford. But i dont think those things happened, nor were various leads followed up. We know of so many people, which i think you reported yourself, that a lot of people would like to have been interviewed by the fbi, but have not been contacted. In terms of how this is all going to resolve, i feel very unsure in terms of the timing here. Weve had a lot of reporting that suggested very specific expectations in terms of when something was going to be handed over, when the senate was going to have access to it, what exactly were the constraints that fbi agents doing this investigation were operating under. It feels like theres been all of this specific reporting, a lot of which contradicts very specific other reporting. I feel like i have very little visibility into what is actually happening here. The only thing i feel like i have clarity on is that there was an initial time constraint put on this investigation, which was friday, that has to be done by friday. I feel like at that point, thats the only real bottom line that i feel like i can count on. Any other element here in terms of timing or scope or, again, what we may eventually see the senate doing with this information, that you feel like you have a firm grasp of and you can tell our viewers with confidence . As it turns out, not very much. Because even with a short time frame, i was under the expectation, i certainly had the expectation, that the fbi would provide the kind of resources necessary to do a complete job, so that its not some kind of a farce investigation. But i want to go back to, in addition to whatever may be gleaned from the what seems like a limited investigation by the fbi, that we do need to look at how judge kavanaugh testified in his initial hearing, and there were so many, in my view, inconsistencies and the pattern of not being supportive of reproductive rights and his very expansive views of executive powers and protections for the president. There were enough concerns there that i was already against judge kavanaughs nomination before all of these other reports came out. At the same time, im really glad that you focused on his temperament. The speech that he gave was reprinted as a law review article from which i quoted on a floor speech that i gave on monday on the floor of the senate, because i believe that he did not, of course, its not even a belief, he did not follow his own advice in his law review article, which is that a judge should not be partisan, and he went on to talk about his demeanor and his temperament. Well, clearly, he was so partisan, because he accused the democrats of some kind of a left wing conspiracy to do him in. Fortunately, he did not include dr. Ford in that conspiracy, but it but bizarre that he would hold these kind of Conspiracy Theory views. I expect a Supreme Court justice to think clearly. A conspiracy theorist is not somebody who is thinking clearly. Not to mention, his temperament. He wrote that a judge should be calm in the middle of a storm. He exhibited little of that. And i would say that any woman, if dr. Ford, who also has been under a lot of pressure and death threats, having to move her family, she was under a lot of pressure, but she comported herself with dignity and in a very, very believable way. And that certainly wasnt the case with judge kavanaugh. Senator, i just have to ask you about one piece of news that has broken while weve been talking live here on television. Kasie hunt is the lead reporter from nbc with the report on this. Theyre reporting on a specific schedule by which you and other senators are now going to be allowed access to the fbis new report. Senators will be reviewing the supplemental Background Investigation on a schedule tomorrow morning starting at 8 00 a. M. Chairman grassley will go first at 8 00 a. M. Senator feinstein will go second at 9 00 a. M. Then Senate Judiciary republicans, all the rest of them will be allowed in at 10 00 a. M. And then Committee Democrats will be allowed to see the report at 11 00 a. M. Thats been reported by nbc news. Had you heard that before i just said it right here . Yes. There is definitely a schedule. And one of the things that i hope that we can disclose would be the parameters of the fbi investigation as put out by the white house. I dont see why that should be something confidential. Okay. We will find out more tomorrow, at least as best we can. Mazie hirono, thank you for joining us. Thank you. Much more ahead tonight. Stay with us. With us no matter how much you clean, does your house still smell stuffy . Thats because your home is filled with soft surfaces that trap odors and release them back into the room. So, try febreze fabric refresher. Febreze finds odors trapped in fabrics and cleans them away as it dries. Use febreze every time you tidy up to keep your whole house smelling fresh air clean. Fabric refresher even works for clothes you want to wear another day. Make febreze part of your clean routine for whole home freshness. Minutes can mean the difference between life and death. Proposition 11 saves lives by ensuring medical care is not delayed in an emergency. Proposition 11 establishes into law the longstanding industry practice of paying emts and paramedics to remain oncall during breaks and requires they receive fema level training in active shooters and natural disasters. Vote yes on 11 to ensure 911 Emergency Care is there when you or your love one need it. I do not know how or why this made the news in 1983, when i was 10 years old. But looking at it now, i have to tell you, im not mad about it. Who says you have to be a pretty face to be a delicacy . Consider the catfish. Not one of mother natures better moments. Yet, a platter full of catfish finishes far ahead of anything julia child could whip up using all the fancy sauces in the south of france. In this report tonight, catfish farmers are working hard to spread the joy. Behold the catfish. Found throughout the south. Until now, one of the few areas of the country where the ugly creature has been considered fit to eat. Once they eat it one time, they always want it the second time, because it tastes so good. We love catfish here. We eat it baked, we eat it fried, we eat it broiled, we eat it baked with cheese on it, we eat it just about any way that you can think of eating catfish. Pull in the net. As an added incentive for yankees to try it, he says that if any of them stop by his place for a mess of catfish, hell let them pet the hush puppies. Let them pet the hush puppies. Why was that on tv . Since that nightly news story from 35 years ago, there has not been much else by way of that kind of National Catfish news. But there is a story tonight that is catfish news of a totally different kind. Im fascinating by this story. I cannot figure out the bottom line of the story, but im determined to get there. That story is next. Stay with us. Makes me hungry when they come around like that. They look so good flopping. Im ken jacobus, im the owner of good start packaging. We distribute environmentallyfriendly packaging for restaurants. And weve grown substantially. So i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. I earn unlimited 2 cash back on everything i buy. And last year, i earned 36,000 in cash back. Thats right, 36,000. Which i used to offer Health Insurance to my employees. My unlimited 2 cash back is more than just a perk, its our healthcare. Can i say it . Whats in your wallet . Thats confident. But its not kayak confident. Kayak searches hundreds of travel and Airline Sites to find the best flights for us. So im more than confident. Kayak. Search one and done. Megan lynn caster was supposedly an American Lawyer who was living in england in 2015 and 2016. She was interested in politics. She represented several wealthy republicaninclined political donors. Some of whom she said had given money to support Carly Fiorinas president ial campaign. She also said one of her clients was a british billionaire who was interested in donating a lot of money to american political causes through his americanborn wife. In late 2015 and early 2016, so, right at the height of the republican primary for president , this Megan Lancaster got in touch with members of a never trump super pac, a group of republicans who were against trump and who were working to stop him from getting the republican nomination, to stop him from getting elected. She got in touch with those republicans, she was very nice, she was very friendly, very helpful. And she offered these never trump people access to her rich donors and their money. To help fund their never trump republican super pac and all their other efforts to stop trump. That said, in the end, Megan Lancaster never wound up arranging any actual donations to the Never Trump Movement because, it turns out, megan lancaste lancaster was not real. Fake persona. This is such a good story. And now it is a great story with a big surprise ending. Okay. August 2016, so late during the president ial election. Once trump had the nomination and is running against clinton, politico. Com had this scoop about how antitrump activists in the Republican Party were being targeted by a catfishing campaign. Catfishing is kind of an annoying term. But in this case, what it means is these antitrump republicans got a bunch of very friendly and very inquisitive emails and phone calls from appealing fake personas like the lovely and talented and wellconnected and totally fake Megan Lancaster. The point of the fake scam was to get those antitrump republicans to item the person who made up that fake persona all their secrets. To tell all about their antitrump activism, including all their plans for their ant antitrump super pac. So, its already sort of a spy story. A fake persona, an effort to get information that would be helpful to opponents in that campaign. But then it got more dramatic. Because after the whole fake email buddy scam, one of the antitrump republicans who had been targeted in that scam, also discovered that her email had been hacked. Her name is sherry jacobis. She may be a recognizable face to you. But after this catfishing campaign, targeting her and other antitrump republicans, after that campaign ran through late 2015 and through the primaries into early 2016, she ended up reporting that catfishing effort to authorities. This fraud that seemed like an effort to get valuable political information from her and other people she knew under false pretenses. She reported it to federal authorities that spring, in the spring of 2016. Federal prosecutors in new york actually responded by locking a guy up for doing that. The guy who they believe did it was a convicted con man out on bail already, awaiting the start of a four and a halfyear federal prison sentence. Part of his bail conditions were that he wasnt allowed to use a computer at all. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of new york found out that they believed that this guy was not only using a computer, he was using a computer to carry out this catfishing Fraud Campaign against these republican political activists. And they immediately revoked his bail and ordered him to start serving his prison sentence immediately. So spy story, gets dramatic, guy gets locked up. And then it gets even weirder, because a few months after that, after the guy who catfished has already been in prison for months, a few months later, in august 2016, this is when somebody hacked the email account and deleted thousands of her emails. Theres already a guy in prison because of his apparent effort to trick antitrump republicans to giving up information about their efforts against trump during the campaign. While that guy is in prison, one of those antitrump activists gets hacked, as well . Unless the guy had unsupervised federal prison time with a computer, that timing implies that somebody else besides that imprisoned convicted con man might have been in on this concerted effort to hack and attack antitrump activists within the Republican Party. Now, publicly at the time, sherry jacobis said she believed allies of trump and his campaign were behind that hack. Not publicly at the time, she reached out to the fbi. The fbi Cyber Division, to ask them to please investigate this hacking of her inbox in the middle of a president ial campaign. That was two years ago. And since then, we hadnt heard much from this really interesting case, until now. I said this has a surprise ending. This is the surprise ending. Now politico. Com reports that this case, that this catfishing effort against these never trump republican activists and then the hacking of one of them thereafter, this case has now become part of the Robert Mueller investigation. Why is that . The fbi Cyber Division, prosecutors from the Southern District of new york, have apparently referred this case to the special counsels office, thats according to sherry jacobis herself, who says thats what the fbi told her. Federal Law Enforcement officials have referred a 2yearold email hacking investigation to special counsel Robert Mueller according to. The operative and trump critic told politico that fbi agents in the bureaus Cyber Division informed her in september that they had forwarded her case to mueller. Yeah, not clear indeed. Muellers mandate is to investigate russias attack on the election to help trump win and the related question of whether the Trump Campaign was aware of and helped in that russian attack. And now the fbi has apparently concluded that this investigation should expand too include the hack of a never trump republican activist during the campaign. What is it about this case, and what dont we know about what the special counsel is working on that made the fbi look at this and say, hey, you know what, this one actually belongs to the special counsel, give it to him. Im desperate to know the answer to that question. Joining us now is ben shrekinger, the politico reporter who broke the story and he broke the news about the catfishing scheme in the first place. Thank you very much for being here. Thanks for having me. Let me ask you first, if i got any of that wrong. Its a little bit of a winding pass, but tell me if i missed any of it. That was an excellent summary of what is a bizarre years long saga. Theres all sorts of other aspects to this story. But you nailed the core of it right there. Do you have any, i mean, youve been reporting on this from the beginning. Do you have an answer, or do you have any informed suspicion as to why this might have gone to be part of the special counsels Office Investigation . I have a number of informed suspicions and theories, none of which im ready to air on national television. The reality is is that its very unclear what exactly triggered this referral, well keep looking into this, because it is really, at this point, a mystery. You wrote back in 2016 that while you were reporting out that the catfishing part of this story, before you published your piece, that is when the emails got hacked. One of the things that i noticed was interesting about the timing is that when she got hacked, that appears to be when the guy who was catfishing her was in prison, so, that would seem to rule him out. It would seem to suggest there was more than one party involved in this effort. Is it fair to look at the timing that way . I think its absolutely fair. And this scheme involved multiple personas, phone calls from multiple personas, so, unless weszle is an expert at faking multiple voices, it suggests, as well, that he was not alone in doing this. Is there anything in your reporting on this, both from 2016 and from 2018 now that suggests that there may have been russian involvement in this attack on these never trump activists . Either russian involvement directly or that people who were sort of in cahoots with the russian attack in this country, might have been involved in this effort . There is nothing direct that i know that suggests that. The closest thing is some of the similarity in tactics, in terms of what jacobis was hit with. Email hacking is something we know the russians engaged in during the campaign. The social media trolling and harassment that she was subjected to, thats been covered by a number of Media Outlets at this point. But all of that is quite circumstantial, and if there is a smoking gun direct link to russia here, it has yet to emerge. Ben, youve been on this story from the beginning and youve absolutely got me sort of on the edge of my seat about this, i cant wait to figure out what lies under this latest reporting on this case. Really appreciate you being here tonight. Call us as soon as you figure it out, okay . Absolutely, will do. Thank you, ben. Well be right back. Well be right back. He d in hard to reach places. In hard to reach places. Unwanted odors lingering too long in your car . Try febreze car vent clips just snap the clip and insert in the vent to eliminate lingering odors for up to 30 days. Try febreze car vent clips, available in a range of light to bold scents. [ horn honking ] [ engine revving ] whats that, girl . [ engine revving ] flo needs help . [ engine revving ] take me to her coming, flo why arent we taking roads . flo. [ horn honking ] oh. You made it. Do you have change for a dollar . This was the emergency . [ engine revving ] yes, i was busy 24hour roadside assistance. From americas numberone motorcycle insurer. You know, i think youre my best friend. You dont have to say im your best friend. Thats okay. 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. I mentioned right at the top of the show to be wary about new reporting about the fbi Background Investigation into Brett Kavanaugh, when its coming out, what its scope is. Im saying, like, listen, we dont have any transparency into that at all. Just be wary. Since then, since the top of the show, weve naturally had a whole bunch of that new reporting, so, i mentioned just a moment ago, nbc news now reporting that senators will get that fbi Investigation Report on kavanaugh tomorrow morning. As i just reported, were expecting that to begin at 8 00 a. M. Tomorrow with a strict pecking order. The chairman of the Committee Chuck grassly was reported going first at 8 00 a. M. , hell have access to the report. Then diane feinstein, she gets her turn at 9 00 a. M. , and then all the rest of the republicans on the committee get their turn with the report at 10 00 a. M. And then all the democrats get to go last at 11 00 a. M. , and then there after, everybody else in the senate who is not in the committee can come in. So, that was the news tonight from one part of the process. As soon as we reported that and verified it live with senator hirono, senator Mitch Mcconnell just got on the floor of the senate and said thats not true either. He announced that the senate is getting the fbi report tonight. Maybe. You should also know while were watching this chaos in the senate and on capitol hill, that there are stop kavanaugh individual ms across the country tonight, from brooklyn, new york, to clayton, missouri, outside senator roy blunts office, from west virginia, home of red state democrat joe manchin, to the Supreme Court in washington, d. C. , people have been on the streets tonight, all over the country, trying to sway senators against this nomination, but again, senator mcconnell Just Announced from the floor that the white house is getting the fbi Background Investigation on kavanaugh to the senate as of tonight, so, big night tonight, big day tomorrow. Tomorrow e of the year. Gentlemen, neil armstrong. The best pilot weve got. Were going to the moon. Wed like you to command. That is a big mother. Its gonna be a hell of a ride. The vehicles not safe. Lets go again. [ dramatic music playing ] the damn thing could have killed you. We need to fail down here, so we dont fail up there. Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Rated pg13. Back pain cant win. Now introducing aleve back and muscle pain. Only aleve targets tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Aleve back muscle. All day strong. All day long. Yes. Its a targeted medicine proven to help prevent severe asthma attacks, and lower oral steroid use. About 50 of people with severe asthma have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs. Fasenra™ is designed to work with the body to target and remove eosinophils. Fasenra™ is an addon injection for people 12 and up with severe eosinophilic asthma. Dont use fasenra™ for sudden breathing problems or other problems caused by eosinophils. Fasenra™ may cause headache, sore throat, and allergic reactions. Get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth, and tongue, or trouble breathing. Dont stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. Tell your doctor if your asthma worsens or if you have a parasitic infection. Fasenra™ is a targeted treatment for eosinophilic asthma. Thats important. Ask an asthma specialist about fasenra™. That does it for us tonight. We will see you again tomorrow. Now its time for last word with ali velshi in for lawrence tonight. Good evening. Nice to see you. Rachel, nice to see you. Rachel, nice to see you. And youve just reported that the white house has the investigation. Will be submitting to the senate tonight, and i think the response from anyone on the receiving end of that would be from Mitch Mcconnell is great, weve got a report, lets read it. But hes already announced he plans to hold the first procedural vote friday before which he says the Senate Members will have plenty of time to review and be briefed on the supplemental investigation. Why cant we read it first, why cant they read it first . If theres anything in the
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.