Transcripts For MSNBCW The Rachel Maddow Show 20181207

Remembrance for former president george h. W. Bush. His body was flown from the Nations Capital back to texas last night. A large private funeral was held for the former president today at his home church in houston, Saint Martins episcopal church. Thereafter his body was moved by train, a special train to college station, texas, where he was buried at the bush family plot at the site of his Family Library at the campus of texas a m. Like yesterday, though, alongside the solemnity of these remembrances for the former president , like yesterday, today did also turnout to be a very busy news day alongside all of that news about former president bush. For example, the New York Times this afternoon published some, just incredible doubletake i cant believe they got this story reporting about two women, one of whom is now an undocumented immigrant, one of whom was an undocumented immigrant until recently. In this times story, both of the women tell the times they have worked, including one who currently works, as President Trumps house cleaner at the home that he maintains at his new jersey golf club, which is called bedminster. Both of these women say that the president s club, their employer, was fully aware of their immigration status and of the undocumented status of many other people who work at that same club for President Trump. They say the club was aware they were undocument when had they were hired. And over the course of their employment, including the time when they worked personally and directly for trump in his home. One of the women told the times today her supervisor advised her where she could get new fake immigration documents so she could keep working there. As recently as last year, since trump has been president. So far, the white house has had no comment on this incredible reporting from the New York Times. But presumably at some point the white house is going to have to say something, which is part of the reason the next 24 hours might be a little bit of a bumpy ride. It is hard to know how the president himself may respond to this story in the times. After all, there are multiple reports from multiple sources over a long period of time that when it comes to policy, antiimmigrant stuff, the demonization of immigrants, railing against illegal immigration and even legal immigration, we have multiple reports over long periods of time that that is the one policy issue that actually personally animates the president. Its the one policy issue that he thinks is most central to his brand as a politician and as president. Him repeatedly, even systematically hiring Illegal Immigrants himself, including to work in his own home. And these two women being Strong Enough and brave enough and angry enough to endanger themselves to come out about their immigration status, having worked for trump while undocumented. We have no idea how the white house and the president specifically are going to respond to Something Like this. But given the feelings about the given the president s feelings about illegal immigration and the centrality of illegal immigration to his own selfconcept in terms of whats important to his political career, this story in the times today, again, no reaction yet from the white house or the president. I think there is reason to expect this is the sort of thing that could unleash the crack a little bit. The next 24 hours, were already likely to be a little bit nuts. Sometime tomorrow were not sure when but sometime tomorrow we are expecting Robert Muellers office to release a detailed written court filing explaining how Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort has lied to investigators since he pled guilty in september and was supposed to be cooperating with them in their ongoing investigations of the president and his campaign. Remember, the president s legal team has been bragging that manafort was essentially spying on muellers investigation on behalf of trump and the white house. They have told the press that manafort was reporting back to trump and the Trump White House what the special counsels office was asking him about, what they appeared to know. That is according to the president s legal time. Sometime tomorrow were going to get the perspective of mueller and his prosecutors on that matter. Which may be fairly intense. Also tomorrow by 5 00 p. M. Eastern time, muellers prosecutors are facing a deadline to submit to federal court in new york a sentencing document laying out how exactly the president s former personal lawyer, michael cohen, has assisted them in ongoing investigations since he has started cooperating with them and since he himself has pled guilty to felonies. This document that the mueller team is expected to submit to the judge in cohens case tomorrow, this is a document that that judge will use in deciding how to sentence michael cohen. Cohen is due to be sentenced next week. But tomorrow, muellers prosecutors will submit a document to the judge in cohens case explaining how helpful he has been as a cooperator. And we expect that document, at least partially, to be publicly facing. So that should also be fairly intense. Also tomorrow, trump Foreign Policy advisor George Papadopoulos is due to get out of prison after serving his time at the Crow Bar Hotel for lying to federal investigators about his contacts with the russian government during the Trump Campaign. Now, i do not anticipate that were going to get a George Papadopoulos postrelease from prison press conference or anything, but i suppose anything is possible. There are other shoes we are expecting to drop soon, even in addition to those matters that we know are all going to happen tomorrow. The case of maria butina, for example, she is charged with being a secret agent of the russian government operating in this country to influence the 2016 election and the Republican Party, in part, through her involvement in the n. R. A. Today the judge in the butina case convened a phone conference with prosecutors and with butinas defense team. Almost all of it was conducted under seal at the request of butinas lawyers. But before they locked the doors and kicked the public and the reporters out, we did learn a few more details that would seem to indicate that the butina case is heading toward some sort of resolution fairly soon. Whether it is a plea deal or some other kind of ending, we dont know. But today Maria Butinas lawyers asked the judge to basically cancel the next public hearing that was scheduled for her case. Her lawyers also said that they would they will likely abandon an earlier effort they had been pursuing to subpoena documents and records from the university shed been attending as part of her defense. But then interestingly, after that Court Hearing wrapped up today so some of it happened in public, a whole bunch of it happened under seal. And then it ended. And after it ended today, the judge in Maria Butinas case, appointed a new federal criminal defender to join Maria Butinas defense team as, quote, advisory counsel. So, i dont know what that means. Shes already got lawyers defending her in this case. I dont know why, but the judge just gave her an extra defense lawyer to help out her existing team of lawyers. I dont know what that means. And we dont know exactly whats happening with the maria butina case, but it does seem like its coming to an end. Prosecutors and her defense team had indicated to the court a few weeks ago they might be coming to some sort of resolution. Todays proceedings make it seem like that is starting to happen, and this comes, of course, at a time when the daily beast has just reported that adjacent to the maria butina case, her american, maybe, boyfriend republican activist eriksson, has received a target letter from federal prosecutors that prosecutors are also considering charging him with being an agent of a foreign power. That was reported in the daily beast yesterday. So, all of these things seem to be sort of wrapping, right, or coming to important benchmark moments. Manafort is going to have a big day tomorrow. Cohen is going to have a big day tomorrow. George papadopoulos is free tomorrow. The butina case seems to be wrapping up right now. In addition to that stuff we mentioned on last nights show, the a. P. Has reported prosecutors in the Southern District of new york appear to be moving forward quickly now with something related to the Paul Manafort case. The Paul Manafort illegal lobbying in ukraine case. And the way they are moving forward with it, it appears to be the part of the manafort case that may entangle a big d. C. Law firm and two p. R. Firms. Federal prosecutors from Southern District of new york aggressively pursuing that according to the a. P. In addition to that, the New York Times reports a different set of federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of virginia, they are also moving ahead now with a case that relates to the Michael Flynn matter. The times reports today that a senior federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of virginia has impanelled a grand jury and is looking into illegal lobbying, sosh associated with the nation of turkey. This appears to be some sort of offshoot of the Michael Flynn case. So all of this stuff is happening all at once. In a couple minutes were going to be talking about another couple of developments that arose today at the Justice Department itself. One potential candidate to be attorney general just floated by the white house. The other big Justice Department Development Today is something that is a really big surprise to me and were going to be talking about that story separately in just a couple minutes. Senator aim i klobuchar of minnesota is going to be here to talk about that and some other matters. But the first major story we want to jump into tonight comes to us from the great state of North Carolina. Hey, folks, im dan mccready. A month ago i conceded. The last week we began to learn about shameful criminal activity, bank rolled by my opponent to take away north carolinians right to vote. I didnt serve overseas in the marine corps to come back home and watch politician ands criminals attack our democracy. Thats why today i withdraw my concession to mark harris who is completely silent and i call on mark harris to tell us exactly what he knew and when he knew it. Join me in this fight for the people whose voice s were taken from them. That was today, dan mccreedy, a democrat, moderate, marine veteran, he ran for congress in North Carolina. The day after the election he conceded that he lost that c congressional race. That day it did look like dan mccreedy had lost that race. By less than a thousand votes. By rights he could have asked for a recount in that race at that time, but he didnt. Since his concession, the day after election day, dan mccreedy has been silent. Hes been publicly silent on the results of that race in North Carolinas 9th district. As you saw in the video released by his campaign, he is not only break his silence, he is unconceding the race. While nbc previously called this rate for mccreedys opponent republican mark harris, that official call has now been rescinded. According to nbc news, there is now no call in this race. Youve probably seen some of the news about this North Carolina controversy. What has emerged since Election Night in North Carolina is evidence, pretty broad daylight evidence of what appears to be a blatant criminal scheme in that district to rig the election for republican mark harris. And as dan mccreedy mentioned there in his unconcession video, it really does appear like his opponent, republican mark harris, might have paid for that criminal scheme. But heres the thing that drives me nuts about this North Carolina story. This for me has been the single hardest thing to grasp about this story from the beginning. When it first emerged there was something wrong with the result of that congressional race, when we first heard that the bipartisan election board locally was refusing to certify the results of that race and they were saying that something was wrong with it, from the very first moment as far as im concerned, the single craziest thing about this race and what happened in this race is that the scheme here, this criminal scheme here is apparently not a new thing. In that district, specifically in a couple counties in that district, this has been going on for a while in basically plain sight. And i will prove it. Heres the story for you. As far as im concerned, the greatest radio show in the modern history of american radio shows is called this American Life. It is hosted by ira glass. If you do not listen to it as a podcast or via your computer, you have probably heard it on your local public radio station. And two years ago at christmastime, december 23rd in 2016, this American Life did a little story about North Carolina shain which they appea to stumble upon this election rigging scheme in this specific district in this specific part of North Carolina. This wasnt about this current election weve been through where there is all this controversy now and all this National News and the unconcession. Their story on this American Life about what as going on in North Carolina, this was a couple of years ago. This American Life, ira glass. The program today, just what i wanted, we have arrived at act 2 of our program. Hes making a list, checking it nice, going to find out who voted twice. So, this file with certainly republicans thought they were discover under the tree was proof of voter fraud. So, thats ira glass, likely a familiar voice to you, the host of this American Life. You can hear there is like the christmas theme for this episode of this American Life because this was just before christmas two years ago in 2016. And this American Life sent a producer down to North Carolina in december 2016, and it wasnt about the president ial election. They sent this producer to North Carolina in the wake of the governors election in North Carolina in 2016 which was a super, super, super close race. In 2016, the incumbent republican was pat mccrory, running for reelection. In 2016 he lost his seat, the democrat named roy cooper won the governorship instead. It was super, super close. And for a long time, the republican incumbent pat mccrory wouldnt concede that he had lost the governors race. And in the aftermath of that election in 2016, the North Carolina Republican Party set out to basically try to prove that the democrats must have cheated, that incumbent Republican Governor Pat Mccrory couldnt have lost the election. If it looked like the democrats had won, it must be because they had somehow rigged it. And thats where this American Life producer zoe chase picked up the story. Because North Carolina republicans went to a specific county in the southeastern part of the state and they lodged a formal complaint, saying that the democrats in that county had rigged the election and thats why pat mccrory lost the governorship. So, this radio producer zoe chase goes to the hearing in that county where the republicans are lodging this complaint, and then shes there with tape recorders running while the whole thing completely boom ranges. Check this out. A few hours in, the complaint starts to fall apart in this kind of mortifying way. It happens when the person who actually filed the complaint takes the stand. How are you doing, sir . Doing fine, mr. Malcolm. Mcrae dallas. He takes the stand looking like hes not quite ready for this. Doesnt have a suit, got a big beard, skinny guy, wind breaker. And once hes up there being questioned by one of the democrats on the board of elections, he seems amazingly unfamiliar with his own case. You alleged there is a scheme that was taking place in blatant county, correct, thats the words you used. Blatant scheme. What did you mean by that . A scheme . You used the words resulting from a blatant scheme are you saying i used the words or the attorney that wrote that up used the words . Its got your signature at the end its got my signature on it, but as far as writing that personal writing that up, i didnt do that. The attorney did. The attorney was the one who drawed the protest up. He tries to remember who that attorney is, like what his name is. I cant think of the gentleman steve i cant remember his last name. His attorneys seem embarrassed. It is embarrassing when a client who is supposedly is lodging a complaint is not familiar with the complaint. They try to object. Doesnt work. Mcrae just ignores his lawyers and keeps talking over them. I told you, right . This is the greatest radio show in the history of radio shows. So, this is the story this American Life is following. Republicans in the wake of them losing the governship, the democrats had a scheme, were sure of it. There must be some problems. The democrats must have done something wrong. So they get this local guy in blade en county, North Carolina, to stand up on behalf of the republicans and lodge this complaint. And it falls apart. And his complaint goes nowhere and it is a really big embarrassment in that moment. But here is the boomerang. Complaint dismissed 32. Dream of the republican Christmas Gift melt away. I cant say for sure, but in talking to reporters, election Board Members, activists, it seems that no one in North Carolina was able to find a single case of true voter fraud or someone deliberately impersonates someone else, casts a ballot in their name, real fraud, except possibly one case, one, and that one comes out in a very strange twist during this same hearing. Just not where the republicans were looking. One of the Board Members starts asking mcrae, their incumbent republican supervisor, about whether his side had committed voter fraud. So, you keep saying gotv. You did pay for get out the vote. And what exactly was it that she got paid to do . Heres what tumbles out of mcrae under the boards questioning. He had some people working for him, getting out the vote, volunteers, mcrae calls them, the volunteers, though, were getting paid for each ballot they turned in. That is illegal. One of the voters who signed an affidavit said that get out the vote workers came by and had her family request absentee ballots. But then they never received their absentee ballots in the mail like they were supposed to. Then when the family went to vote on election day, they were told they already voted. In essence, mcrae is getting accused of paying people to obtain absentee ballots, fill them out and cast their votes on someone elses behalf. That, for sure, is illegal. Mcrae says he didnt do anything wrong. An election board member then calls for further criminal investigation. What appears to be republican voter fraud. Well be making a motion that any and all information that this board has in its possession shall be forwarded to the United States attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. This guy gets up there, gets on the microphone, supposedly to lodge a complaint against the democrats, then admits he has no idea what that complaint even is. But while hes up there, he admits into the microphone that hes been paying people to obtain other peoples absentee ballots to fill them out and cast those votes on other peoples behalf for money. What, is that wrong . That is what this public radio show, this American Life, discovered two years ago in 2016 when they went down to North Carolina to look at the aftermath of that hotly contested governors race. A guy in southeastern North Carolina, blade en county, North Carolina, blatantly confessing at a board of elections meeting that he had been criminally trying to rig the election for the republicans. What . What . He not only confessed out loud at that hearing, he confessed on National Radio that he was running an organized criminal scheme to steal votes and stuff the ballot box on behalf of republican candidates in that county. That guy who was caught on tape in that public radio, this American Life story two years ago, that is the same exact guy who was in the middle of this now National Scandal over what appears to be the exact same vote stealing and ballot stuffing criminal scheme that he ran exactly the same way in this congressional race. The one that dan mccreedy has just unconceded, because in this Congressional Election this year, that same guy, the confessed election criminal in North Carolina, he was hired by the republican congressional candidate in North Carolinas 9th district, mark harris. Harris hired him both to win the primary and then to win the general election. This guy was paid by mark harriss campaign consultants. He also appears to have been paid directly by the local county Republican Party. And this is all after that guy got up at the local elections board and confessed two years ago that, yeah, he pays people to turn in other peoples votes. He rungs a criminal scheme to rig elections in Bladen County. And harris hired him and the local county Republican Party hired him. After this guy admitted that he runs those kinds of schemes, after it aired on National Radio and after he was supposedly referred for prosecution for doing this. So this is what makes me crazy about this story. If the guy was referred for prosecution, how come he was not prosecuted before now . How come he was free to try to rig this election, too . This is the part where i mention that one of the people he has frequently worked for in previous elections is the local sheriff. Running the same scheme for the local sheriff, including this year. In terms of whether there ought to have maybe been a federal prosecution of this guy, there is a u. S. Attorney in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Drgly, the Trump Administration intervened to move him up in the line of succession at the department of justice not long ago. I dont know what that u. S. Attorney ever did with the criminal referral he supposedly got a couple years ago about this guy confessing to rigging elections in Bladen County in North Carolina. But i can tell you now one of the people who that u. S. Attorney employs in his office as an assistant u. S. Attorney is mark harriss son. The son of the republican candidate. Who until recently appeared to have won this congressional seat, in part, by putting on his payroll this guy who has been openly confessing for a couple of years now that his job, what he gets paid to do, is rigging elections in that part of the state for republicans. As of tonight, california incumbent republican congressman David Valadao has just conceded. He lost to t. J. Cox. With his concession that puts the pickups in the midterm elections at an even 40 seats. But tonight with democrat dan mccreedy rescinding his concession, and with the criminal scheme that unfolded in the middle of his election, now unraveling in plain sight, at last, its not at all clear what is going to happen in North Carolinas 9th district and whether the man who did it hasnt been prosecuted and stopped from doing it in the past despite the fact it was well exposed before this deb consolidate. Democratic candidate in North Carolinas 9th district dan mccreedy today unconceded this race. His race is now the last outstanding congressional race in this country. I dont know how its ever going to get resolved, but dan mccreedy joins us for his First National interview since the election next. The greatest wish of all. Is one that brings us together. The lincoln wish list event is here. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with 0 down, 0 due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. Only at your lincoln dealer. And a complimentary first months payment. 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It does not happen all that often when we see an election called for one candidate and then uncalled, but that is what happened tonight in a North Carolina congressional race. It is now the last uncalled race in the country. After days of Statistical Analysis and outright descriptions of what sure sounds like blatant criminal Election Fraud on behalf of the republican candidate, mark harris, nbc news tonight says it can no longer call this race for harris. Instead, nbc now says there is no call in this race at all. Too much uncertainty about what happened there. The democratic candidate who tonight took back his earlier concession in that race is dan mccready. As of tonight, dan mccready still is a candidate for u. S. Congress from North Carolinas 9th district. Mr. Mccready joins us tonight for his First National interview since the election. Mr. Mccready, thanks very much for being with us. I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me often, rachel. I wonder if it took you some psychological work to gear up for this race. You conceded the day after the election. It totally did. I was at disney world with my four little kids and my wife laura. A couple weeks ago, i was as surprised as anyone to see the North Carolina state elections board refuse to certify the Election Results in an unprecedented bipartisan 90 decision. And over the last week have just been floored as evidence and affidavits about fraud and irregularities and criminal activity have just been rolling in, not just day by day, but hour by hour. And in terms of that evidence, i tried to decide how to tell the story tonight and whether to go through it point by point in what really appears to be blatant statistical anomalies. Theres been interviews with people who said they were involved in the scheme. A lot of them saying they didnt realize it was a criminal scheme they were being put up to. You can look at it in terms of the affidavits that were filed by people who seem to have witnessed the scheme and almost had confessions from people involved in it. At the moment theres a lot of different ways to approach it. It seems to me from the outside that bottom line, what happened here is that this is a professional operator. There is a specific operator who works in bladen counsel difficult and maybe a couple counties in your congressional district, who has made it his lifes work, who has made it his work for a number of election cycles now that, for hire, hell stuff the ballot box. Hell rig the absentee Ballot System and make sure that your opponents ballots never make it into the balanlot box and a suspiciously number of high ballots get in there for you. It sounds like voter fraud for hire. That how you see it . You know, i think its even worse, rachel. Hes not just an operator. Hes a criminal. Hes a felon. And i think it is amazing that my opponent mark harris went out and hired a convicted felon who was under investigation for absentee ballot fraud to do his absentee ballot program. And apparently he got what he paid for because mark harris didnt just hire this fella. He actually recommended his services to others. In terms of mr. Harris, you before today, before you announced you were rescinding your concession, you had not been making Public Comments about the results of the race. Mr. Harris has not made any comments either including the pointed allegations like the one you just made, that this wasnt some sort of externally at this in your election, rather it was a skrim analyze scheme he knowingly bought and paid for. What do you expect from your opponent right now . What do you think that mark harris should do now that you said youre back this this race . Mark harris needs to come clean, rachel. Its unacceptable to the people in North Carolina who have had their voices taken from them. You know, your vote is your voice. It is our most sacred right as americans, is our right to vote. I started my career in the marine corps where i served overseas, and, you know, could never have imagined that i would come back home to North Carolina only to see our very democracy, our very right to vote under attack here in North Carolina by criminals, and politicians. And so its unacceptable that mark harris has been completely silent since this whole thing happened. And i call on him to end the silence. I call on him to tell the american people, to tell folks in North Carolina exactly what he knew and when he knew it. Last question for you, mr. Mccready. Do you expect that there will be a new election called in this race that you have essentially will do a rerun of this election to try to correct this result and get a true tally . Well, that will be up to the state board of elections. I think its critical that theyve taken a really courageous step. It took a lot of courage, rachel, for the republicans on that board to join the democrats and independents on that board and unanimously fail to certify this race and also in a bipartisan manner start an investigation. And that investigation is so important, its important that it be a full and thorough investigation and should this be a tainted election, we absolutely should have a new election. Dan mccready, North Carolinas 9th district who has unconceded the election. Mr. Mccready, thanks for keeping us apprised. I have a feeling this roller coaster has just started. We look forward to talking to you as this proceeds. Thank you. Thank you, rafrp he will. Ultimately at the end of the day, it is the responsibility of the house of representatives to decide whether to seat each and every member of the house of representatives. Whatever is decided in North Carolina, whether theyre going to go ahead with the new election or resolve this in some other way, it will come down to the democratic majority house of representatives who they decide to seat in this race, if anyone. And North Carolina has to know that heading forward, that they cant leave it the way it is right now. Much more ahead here tonight. Stay with us. Coaching means making tough choices. Jim youre in but when you have high Blood Pressure and need Cold Medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. Coricidin hbp is the 1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your Blood Pressure. Coricidin hbp. Why didnt you book your on a travel site . On at hilton. Com, i get the price match guarantee. And i can choose from their 14 Different Hotel brands, so i get the right hotel for every member of my family. Like a doubletree for my cousins who love their warm chocolate chip cookies. A homewood suites for my uncle who likes a long stay. A hampton for my sister and her kids. Thats a lot of syrup and the waldorf astoria Beverly Hills for me. But i thought your Family Vacation was in miami . It is. I hear theyre having a great time. Book at hilton. Com and get the hilton price match guarantee. If you find a lower rate, we match it and give you 25 off that stay. So we dont want you to pay yone cent more than you need to for health care. At covered california, you can get Health Insurance at a lower cost. In fact, enrollees pay an average of 5 per day. See how little it costs to get covered. Visit coveredca. Com today. Connecting people. Uniting the world. On halloween 2016, a week before the election, Franklin Ford published this piece at slate. Com about mysterious contacts that happened during the president ial campaign between a computer server at the Trump Organization in new york and servers at a russian bank called alpha bank. Some mysterious piece. No real indication about what those communications meant. Then after the election, that same russian bank, alpha bank, they hired a new lawyer to represent them in the ongoing controversy about that server thing. They specifically hired the guy who had led the Trump Transition Team at the Justice Department. They hired him to oversee a new internal report that cleared them of any wrongdoing when it came to those mysterious contacts between their bank and the Trump Organization during the campaign. When that lawyer, brian benchkowsky was finished overseeing that transaction with alpha bank, President Trump hired him to be the head of the criminal department at the Justice Department. Senator Amy Klobuchar asked him about that work at alpha bank. Do you think they were aware of your work with the Trump Transition Team, alpha bank . I dont know. Its a matter of Public Record that i was the head of the d. O. J. Transition in december and january, but i dont know what they knew. And were you given any indication that your work with the Transition Team was one of the reasons you were asked to represent them . Not from my partner. My partner asked me to represent them, to the best of my knowledge, because i established an expertise in conducting and turning overseeing internal investigations on behalf of corporate clients. He was confirmed narrowly by the senate. He does now run the Criminal Division at the Justice Department. Now today, fascinating new revelation about him. At his confirmation hearings, he got asked about this stuff a lot. He committed that he would recuse himself on anything related to alpha bank specifically since they had been his client. But even though he was asked repeatedly by democratic senators, he would not commit that he would recuse himself on the Robert Mueller investigation more broadly. On the russia investigation more broadly. Well, now as of today, a watch dog group called american oversight has just released a bunch of documents it they got through a freedom of information request. Those documents turned up something quite unexpected. It turns out that brian benchowsky has recused himself from the whole russia investigation, from everything related to Robert Mueller. He would not tell senators that thats what he was going to do, but now that hes in there, hes recused. Everything related to mueller. Now, is that because the Mueller Investigation turns out to have a lot of alpha bank in it and he cant be anywhere near anything with alpha bank . Or maybe its just because he had a change of heart and decided, even though he wouldnt commit to this kind of recusal at his confirmation hearing once he got to the Justice Department, he realized, oh, maybe i ought to. This news today, this is a surprise. It also comes as a number of Top Democrats in congress are increasing the pressure to find out whats going on with the new acting attorney general Matt Whitaker who was just installed in that job by President Trump. Is he, too, recused from overseeing the Mueller Investigation after he repeatedly questioned it as a tv pundit . Now as of today, we know that the Justice Department is willing to spell out whats going on with the head of the Criminal Division and his recusal on this matter. Brian bench kowsky. Why are they not spelling it out with regard to Matt Whitaker . It comes as the white house floated william barr as a new potential appointee to be attorney general. William barr served as a. G. Under george bush just under a year in the early 90s. You can sort of look at him that way, sort of you can look at him as sort of establishment republican pick. Another way to look at william barr is that he was the guy in the iran contra scandal at the time who basically pushed for blanket pardons for everyone in the george h. W. Bush administration who was involved in that scandal. So take your pick how you want to see that pick. Senator Amy Klobuchar joins us live next. [speaking in italian]. I just got my ancestrydna results 74 italian. And i found out that im from the big toe of that sexy italian boot calabria. It even shows the migration path from south italia all the way to exotico new jersey so this Holiday Season its ancestrydna per tutti order your kit now at ancestry. Com after a scratch so small rocket you could fix it with a pen. How about using that pen to sign up for new insurance instead . For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise their rates because of their first accident. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Oprah 1 out of 8 americans struggles with hunger. This season you can help. Now through december 29th for every o, thats good ™ pizza, soup or side you purchase well donate a meal to feeding america®. Because o, thats good ™ but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. Fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. Some only call when they have something to sell. Fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. And while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. Fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. Maybe thats why most of our clients come from other money managers. Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. Joining us now for the interview is senator Amy Klobuchar of minnesota. Shes a key democratic member of the Senate Judiciary committee and somebody who lots of people want to run for president in 2020. There, i put it out there. There you go. Senator, thank you for being here. Thank you, rachel. Let me ask you about some of the Justice Department stuff weve just been learning about. A new name has been floated as potential attorney general nominee william barr who served in that role as a. G. A short time during the george bush administration. We also have some interesting administration out of the Justice Department today about recusal in the Mueller Investigation. I want to squu aboask you about too. Whats your reaction to the william barr trial balloon . First we dont know who he is going to put in place. I havent worked with him. I do think he is worthy of consideration. I am concerned he has said some negative things about the special counsels office and some of the prosecutors he had in place. But thats all i know right now. Again, what we want to see is a nominee so we want them to put someone forward so we can quickly start interviewing them, get their documents, figure out whats going on because right now we have someone who is a walking conflict of interest in mr. Whitaker who shouldnt be there to begin with. With whitaker, obviously there is controversy over the fact that hes serving as the acting attorney general of the United States in an indefinite capacity without ever having come before the senate. Yes. Thats one problem. Thats one problem. Lets keep going. There is also his conflicts of interest. 1. 2 million in which he spent a lot of the time going on tv going after hillary clinton. Yes. Also, he appears to be part of a fraudulent busted by the ftc scam that is currently reportedly currently being investigated by the fbi including his personal role in intimidating people who might have otherwise complained about him. Okay, thats another one. Then you have, which is very relevant to this, the fact that he said that he thought the investigation was crossing a red line, the fact that he said, you could starve the investigation so it would have no money, and then the final thing at one point he said publicly that he didnt see connections at all, that the special counsel had developed between the Trump Campaign and russia. Yet tomorrow, as you so well pointed out, we are going to have kind of a lollapalooza day where we have got the special counsels office explaining to us about manafort and what we think should happen there and why they didnt think they should accept the plea. Youve got papadopoulos coming out of jail. Youve got flynn, that situation where they have issued a report explaining why they thought he shouldnt go to jail, because of the fact that he has come forward with information. And all of this is going on at the same time both flynn and cohen are going to be sentenced next week. Exactly. All these pieces of puzzle coming together. But if they take out the corners of the puzzle, you dont have a puzzle. And that means keeping mueller going, making sure the investigation gets completed, allowing for a report if there is going to be a report, and then, of course, allowing for oversight from someone who is not conflicted out, and that would be rosenstein. So weve been talking about the problem with whitaker and the Mueller Investigation ever since whitaker was first named to this job. The thing that has not evolved at all since he was installed in the job, has zero transparency into whether or not he is overseeing the Mueller Investigation or not. There is some public source reporting which suggests that hes been back channeling information to the white house, or that he has had some advance notice of things before they became public knowledge. But the Justice Department itself has not told us whether he is recused, whether hes met with ethics investigators or ethics officials at the Justice Department, or what his role is in overseeing this. Is that just the secrecy of the investigative process . Is there something thats proper about that secrecy . No, i dont think so at all, because hes supposed to be giving us information. We have asked, members of the judiciary committee, have very specifically asked the Justice Department to give us information about these conflicts, about if hes recusing himself, what the extent of that recusal is, and we are also asking for a briefing directly from them if theyre not going to give us the documents. And, of course, we have been asking the same thing about benchkowsky. Thanks to our freedom of information act thanks for great reporting. I just show off what other people dig up. But in this case, we now actually do have an overt statement from the Justice Department that benchkowsky there were concerns about his own involvement in the russia investigation, he is recused from everything having to do with mueller. Thats very interesting news. If the Justice Department felt compelled to make that kind of declaration about benchkowsky, does that mean they will have to tell us the same kind of information about whitaker . Of course. This guy is serving as the acting attorney general, and may for the foreseeable future here, even though we know we have some, i think lawsuits with merit about the fact that we didnt have any ability to confirm him oops, problem under the constitution. Number two, they used the wrong statute in putting him in. They should have used the succession statute that would have meant, in fact, rosenstein should have taken over as the next in line after sessions was asked to resign or you might say fired. Senator Amy Klobuchar of minnesota, will you stay . Will i stay on your show in yes, i will stay on your show. I thought you meant stay through this investigation, which i am committed to do as a member of the judiciary committee. We have a lot going on there. I will ask you to stay in much more esoteric ways as r if you want. I meant through commercial. Well be back with Amy Klobuchar of minnesota. The new Capital One Savor card. Earn 4 cash back on dining and 4 on entertainment. Now when you go out, you cash in. Whats in your wallet . Now when you go out, you cash in. 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. honking when your craving strikes, you need your wing nut. no one can totally satisfy a craving, quite like your wing nut. No one can totally satisfy a craving, ibeen building them fora 115 years,hats get a ford. If you want a car with driverassist technology, get a ford. If you want waze and amazon alexa compatibility, get a ford. If you want a car that doesnt have any of that, get anything. But a ford. Otherwise, youre gonna want a ford. Joining us once again for the interview is senator Amy Klobuchar of minnesota. Senator, thank you for coming in and talking to me in person. Im happy to have you here. Yes. I also find you to be one of the people i most enjoy talking to about politics and that has been true since i first met you. Thank you. I was on your show early on. I would go on halloween when no one else maybe did. Yes. I think in part because im biased because i enjoy you as a person, but also as a political analyst, i feel like you have exactly the right profile of somebody who ought to run for president with an expectation that you would do very well, both in the primary and in the general election. And i know youve been asked a lot about this lately, but how are you approaching this decision . How are you thinking about whether or not you should run for president . Well, first of all, i just got off an election and i led a ticket where we, as you know, had two u. S. Senate seats, one governors race, state house, and a bunch muof congressional races in a state donald trump almost won. I was a little over a point difference. So that was my first obligation, so i had to get that done. You won by 24 points . I did. But i had a ticket that i had to get through. Someone said it wasnt just on my shoulders, it was on my back and it was really important to win those races so we did that. I helped some of my colleagues around the country. So now i am looking at this, but i think things you have to consider when you look at this daunting decision is, first of all, do you want to be president . You have to think about who can win. Theres a lot of good people that are going to be running. And then you have to think about this geographic fact that in the last election, the midwest got left behind on our side. We did not do well. Im talking not about 2018 where we picked up a number of great governorships in wisconsin, kansas, with laura kelly and different places. But it is about what happened in the last president ial. So i think it is important to have voiced from the midwest. I think its important to have people that can win in counties and areas that donald trump did well in. I will say that i won i think 42 counties in minnesota that he had won. And i think a lot of this is going not just where it is comfortable, but also where its uncomfortable. And then, of course, there is this singular focus on getting our own optimistic economic agenda across in a time when you have tweets every morning and new rabbit holes to go down. I think its really important that whatever candidates are running focus on an optimistic economic agenda for this country. At the same time, we protect our democracy. And the last time i check, democrats can do two things at once. And it sounds like you want democrats to do that. I dont hear you saying, im the best democrat to do that. But from the way youre talking about it, i mean, if thats going to be the agenda, if thats the way to win both geographically and in terms of the message, why shouldnt it be you . Im considering it. I learned the hard way in my u. S. Senate race when mark day ton decided not to run at the last moment. He was an incumbent senator. And i immediately was asked about it and unfortunately, my husband found out on tv that i was considering doing it, or on the radio and im trying to spare my family. Thats why i think id have to have a discussion with them as well as a number of people ive been working with over the years. Okay. If you want me to talk to them, ill do so. Okay. This is great, thanks. Senator, i have one last question i want to ask you about, that is on a policy matter. Okay. I want to ask you as a former prosecutor and on the judiciary committee. It concerns an issue that is really its a crime issue, but it now relates to a trump cabinet secretary as well. Its the Jeffrey Epstein case. Oh, in florida, yes. This florida case involving Jeffrey Epstein. The current labor secretarialy alex accosta. They did an incredible expo say. He gave him a plea deal that result ed in federal immunity after a threepage federal indictment had been drawn up on child rape, child molestation and all those things, gave him immunity, his coconspirators immunity as well. He ended up pleading guilty, he got to go home 12 hours a day for six days a week. Senator ben sass is the one republican senator who has said, this is an issue the Justice Department should explain that deal, especially given that the u. S. Attorney who did it is now a cabinet secretary. How is this an appropriate avenue of inquiry for the senate . Should the Justice Department have to explain itself . And why is ben sass the only republican who seems to care about it . Im glad that he cares and, of course, i care very much as someone who has worked on these kinds of cases and done a lot in the area of Human Trafficking and sex trafficking. From what i have learned with the miami herald reporting and other so that was strange. The other thing that was strange is the victims were not even told about the sentence. In my state you have all kinds of requirements. You dont seal an agreement like this in nearly any case because you want to consult with the victims because you put the sentence out there. Its law in most cases. So i think there is a very good reason to figure out what went on here and why the u. S. Attorney at the time, and this was back during the last bush