About this already tonight on msnbc. Presumably you have heard some buzz about this today and tonight since this broke. Since the wall street journal published this. Im already sort of against my better judgment that im talking about it at all. The reason i dont want to spend too much time on this. I feel like this is kind of mean i feel like this is kind of mean. Not mean to greenland. I feel like somebody is trying to make the president look dumb. So us talking about it, i feel like were being complicit in that other persons mean trick. We dont know who that other person is who is playing this joke on President Trump. The way the wall street journal describes it is as such. At a dinner with Associates Last spring, mr. Trump said someone had told him at a round table that denmark was having financial trouble over its assistance to greenland. That person suggested that he should consider buying the island. What do you think about that . The president asked the room . Do you think it would work . That is a mean thing to do to a gullible person. To say to them in all seriousness, hey, you know, big guy, you could buy greenland. But according to the wall street journal, the joke still doesnt quite make sense to President Trump. He may not have grasped exactly what was going on in that moment. I mean, according to people familiar with the discussions, the wall street journal says, quote, mr. Trump has repeatedly since then expressed interest. Since whoever this was first suggested to him, hey, big guy, maybe buy greenland. He has reportedly repeatedly expressed interest in actually trying to do so. Quote, in meetings, at dinners and in passing conversations, mr. Trump has asked advisers whether the u. S. Can acquire greenland. So i know. Sometimes i have a hard time with the news. And i know that this is like the number one trending topic worldwide. It is a very popular topic of conversation for the evening for all the obvious reasons. If you know the president , if you are, you go to dingers with him, roundtables. If you were in a position to play this kind of a mean joke on President Trump, understanding the contours of his mind and his ego and knowing he might not really get that it is a joke and he might really run off with it and think he can do it. Just do the country a favor and make it a more constructive joke. You could have just as easily told him, hey, don, i heard greenland is looking for a king. They want a new monarch with dictatorial powers and you get like ten planes, i heard. I heard you can totally do that if you gave up being president and you twleb and asked they will. I heard theyre pretty interested in you. Youre going to may a joke on him. Tell him there is a secret compartment in the president ial limousine that always has hot big macs in it. Or quarter pounders. A secret compartment there. It is on the back of the drivers side. All the other president s have been eating fresh hot big macs for decades. You didnt find that compartment yet . It is a touch compartment. You just touch and it open it up. Tell him that and wait for him to sneak off to play in the limousine to try to find the hot burgers. I mean, if you know how his mind works, if you were born to play a joke on a president for whom nothing is off limits and nothing is ridiculous, as long as it might provide him something he wants, then pick something that would help the country. Or that at least would be harmless or funny in the long run. Now, this guy is actually going to go try to bioover i mean, hes due to go to denmark next month. Right now it appears he actually thinks he can buy greenland. And he might try to on behalf of the United States of america in real life. That would make for an excellent plot for a simpsons episode. Ill sure someday this will be a hilarious off broadway musical. Choose your jokes carefully with this particular mind. He will believe what you tell him. The teblgs community will show up to brief him. Sir, its not actually possible for to you buy greenland. And hell dismiss them and call them the deep state and then the only hope will have for shaking this idea loose out of his head will be a fox and friends can somehow be drafted on behalf of the nation to fact check this someday on break the sad news to him. How else do we get out of this problem now . This is our life now. Anyway, lets talk about something else. Lets talk about the federal courts. Most federal court cases dont get to the Supreme Court, right . The Supreme Court gets all the attention. But they dont get that many cases. Every year the Supreme Court gets asked to take 5,000 or 10,000 cases. They only take about 100 of them. Maybe 150 of them in a particularly busy year. So if your case is in federal court, any kind of case, that will be before a Federal District court judge. If you dont like the ruling the District Court judge gives you and you want to appeal, your appeal gets kicked upstairs to the federal Appeals Court. Called the Circuit Court. There is about a dozen federal Circuit Courts around the country. The regional courts. If the Circuit Court decides that theyre going to take up your appeal in your federal case, it will be Circuit Court judges that review your case. For vast, vast, vast, vast majority of federal court cases, that is as far as you are ever likely to go. Even if you dont like the Circuit Court ruling, even if you want to take it further and you want to appeal it to the Supreme Court, you are statistically speaking, really not likely to get there. For federal cases, if youre going to get anywhere, the Circuit Court is almost always the end of the line. The federal Appeals Courts, the Circuit Courts that do the vast majority of the appellate work in the federal system. So these Circuit Courts are really powerful. Theyre really important. Theyre important for individual humans, individual federal cases but also for big important policy matters that end up in the courts for one reason or another. The Circuit Courts are the highest that the vast majority of the cases will ever go. The Circuit Courts are also important because of the judges that sit on them. The Circuit Courts are the location from which president s of both parties like to pluck young promising appeal court judges when theyre lock for a Supreme Court nominee. So they have an important job. Also when theyre young and first nominated, theyre really important decisions because theyre often seen the sort of bench from which Supreme Court nominees are chosen. And one of the most consequential but also most boring political stories of the trump era, the trump everia and the mcconnell era, the Top Republican in the u. S. Senate, Mitch Mcconnell, not only held a Supreme Court seat open during the obama presidency. He also helped open dozens and dozens and dozens of other seats on federal courts across the country including dozens of seats on these very important Circuit Courts. So president obama could not fill those seats either. And Mitch Mcconnell did that specifically so the next republican president could appoint them instead. Thats how we got to the point where two something years into his time in office, President Trump is closing in already on the total number of Circuit Court judges that president obama was ever able to appoint in his whole eight years in the white house. They just didnt let obama hold judges. Trump is very quickly filling them up and they are high of time appointments. This is a huge, super consequential and often very boring story of the trump and Mitch Mcconnell era except when it not boring. Part of the way they have dealt with this power is theyve been a little punch drunk with it. And with pretty good frequency they have appointed wildly unqualified people to try to become federal judges. Including some people who are literally explicitly rated unqualified by the american bar association. I mean, they have nominated people who have never tried a case. People who have never been involved in litigation. Literally people who have never stepped foot in a courtroom. They have appointed to lifetime roles on the federal bench. At one time they tried nominate a guy with the name ghost hunter. He was married to someone in the white house. They figured that was good enough. They also gave a lifetime appointment to louisiana senator David Vitters wife. Who during the course of her nomination basically blew off her Senate Questionnaire about her background and experience, who totally bungled her confirmation hearing including memorably refusing to say where she believed brown versus board of education was a good idea. Whether we should go back to legally mandated segregation. Her nomination, particularly her confirmation hearing was such an embarrassing disaster, it looked like they were going on put her nomination on ice for good. Mitch mcconnell only took it off the trash heap and rushed it through in a hurry after the nominees husband, former senator david vitter, lobbied Mitch Mcconnell to drop sanctions on a Russian Oligarch. And vitter came back to say the oligarchs firm was going to write a 200 million check to a New Enterprise in mcconnells home state of kentucky. Right after that, Mitch Mcconnell suddenly discovered, hey, David Vitters wife judicial nomination hadnt gone through after all. He pulled it out of the circular file now and wendy vitter will be on a federal bench until the end of her working life. Thats how they have used this power. Theyve had some doozies. With great power comes responsibility. Always and ever. But this document, this is something i never expected to read as part of my day job. The law review article titled, ethho nationalism. Ethnic national i. Like we have been talking about in this country in reason weeks or objection reasons about white nationalism, the new branding that domestic terrorists are using in this country for white supremacy. This article argues that ethno nationalism remains a common and accepted feature of liberal democracy that is consistent with current state practice and international law. This is a long piece. Over 60 pages. It was published in 2010. It takes an International Tour through the ages. It ends with a war cry of how democracy cant work unless the country is defined by a unifying race. The idea that a sovereign government represents a particular community has its root in the principle of selfdetermination of peoples. He quotes the floss ferry john stewart mill and the sentiment of nationality. He said that sendiment rests upon ethnonational ties. Ethnocultural ties. Are you talking about what i think youre talking about . Oh, yes, you are. He gets right to it. Selfgovernment requires a Political Partnership in which individuals are big and able to regard one another as equal members of the political community. Democratic selfgovernment depends on National Fellow feeling. The capacity of citizens to identify with each other. Ethnic ties provide the ground work for that social trust and political solidarity. At the same time social scientists have found that greater ethnic hetrogeneity is associated with lower social trust. The sociologist robert has conclude that had greater Ethnic Diversity weakens social solidarity, fosters social isolation and inhibits social capital. These findings confirm that the solidarity underlying Democratic Politics rests in large part on ethnic identification. Surely it does not serve. The identification of democratic states is becoming more, if not less significant. It requires a National Community if it is to become more than an ineffectual abstraction. And yes, hes talking about everybody having the same ethnicity. I mean, this is the law review academic wordy bird argument that you cant really have a country. At least you cant have a country that works if youve got all sorts of different people in it. Surely, it does not serve the cause of liberal democracy to ignore this reality. Thats how you know it is a high brow. Surely everyone must admit this. Dont you just feel it in your gut . The author of this slightly blood occurreding very serious law review article is named Steven Menashi. Donald trump just nominated him to be a federal Appeals Court judge. He just nominate him on the second Circuit Court of appeals which covers new york state and other parts of the northeast. You might wonder how the Trump Administration finds the academic drum may know to become a federal Appeals Court nominee one level below the u. S. Supreme court. I tend to think in academia and politics, these people on this fringe of racial thinking, they tend to find each other like magnets and irish filings do. Do you remember how back in the 2016 Campaign Trump used to tell this totally made up apocryphal story about the way we used to get rid of terrorism was that we would dip the bullets in pigs blood and wrap up the muslims body in pig skins. Thats how we got rid of muslim terrorists in the past. There is a little controversy in the 2016 campaign that he used to tell that madeup story. This guy who has just been nominated to be a federal Appeals Court judge has made that same argument that trump made on the stump in 2016. Hes also told the same fake story in the course of his academic career of this was crazy enough to hear candidate trump run with this. This completely madeup story during the 2016 campaign. He took 50 terrorists and he dipped 50 bullets in pigs blood. You heard that, right . He took 50 bullets. And he dipped them in pigs blood. And he had his man load his rifles. He said you go back to your people and tell them what happened. For 25 years, there was not a problem. 25 years this was not a problem. So wed better start getting tough. Total bull. Not true at all. That story was not true when candidate donald trump pulled it out of his proverbial Fortune Cookie and riled up that crowd during that campaign. It was also not true when second Circuit Court of appeals nominee Steven Menashi argued it in a paper at the conservative think tank. Look. Same madeup story. They executed them with bullets dipped in pig fat. Oh, not pig blood. It is probably no longer in the armys Counter Terrorism repertoire but the result was the guerrilla violence ended. The response has not always been so harsh. Or as effective. Lets buy greenland. Selfserving clap trap come out of the mouth of an antimuslim candidate who then becomes president of the United States. It actually feels lying it might be worse to have the exact same clap trap, the same lets buy greenland level of thinking come from somebody who has just been nominated for a lifetime seat on the federal Appeals Court one level below the United StatesSupreme Court but hey, in case you thought that the problem in this country was that we didnt have enough out and loud opponents of ethnonationalism, you have to start somewhere. Why not with him . Today in el paso, texas, former congressman beto orourke gave a pretty eagerly anticipated speech about white nationalism, about white supremacy, about domestic terrorism in this country. This was a speech that was eagerly anticipated in part because we knew in this speech he would announce his mans for moving forward a week and a half after he left the president ial campaign trail because a young man ranning about an invasion of immigrants and ranting about wanting to kill as many hispanics as he could and trying to save america, he drove across texas and slaughtered 22 innocent people at an El Paso Walmart two weeks ago. Beto orourke has been off the campaign since then. Hes faced a lot of pressure even since the start of his campaign that maybe he should stay in texas. Maybe she stay in texas so he can run for senate again there. And he should drop out of the president ial race to do so. But orourke acknowledged the questions and the pressure he has received about that today. He said in the speech, that would not be good enough for this community. That would not be good enough for el paso. That would not be good enough for this country. We must take the fight directly to the source of this problem. That person who has caused this pain and placed this country in this moment of peril and that is donald trump. Beto orourke rejoining the campaign trail today with those remarks. In colorado, former twoterm Governor John Hickenlooper has faced the same pressure that beto orourke has. Both those men are from states that have relatively vulnerable republican incumbent u. S. Senators who are up for reelection in 2020. Hickenlooper and orourke are both seen as real potential contenders to take those seats away from republican senators and thus help get Mitch Mcconnell out of control in the u. S. Senate. Hickenlooper has face that had kind of pressure. He has not yet said definitively if the race is where hell end up. As of today we do get on poof John Hickenlooper out. Here we go. 3, 2, 1. Poof as governor, john hicken as he announced the end of his run and made it clear he is thinking about a senate run instead, who are not hell jump in, we can take him off our list of the democrats in contention for the president ial nomination for their party. I should note for the record that there are a bunch of other democrats who are already in that super hot race in colorado to try to unseat republican cory gardner. Should i tell that you John Hickenloopers own wife is already on record as the mafld out donor to one of the democrats in that race. She is maxed out to a former obama diplomat. A man by the name of dan baer. A new National Poll is out today that is a qualifying poll in terms of candidates trying to get into the next round of debates. As you can see there in the third column, John Hickenlooper polled in this new National Poll as an asterisk. Which means he was at. 5 of 1 . Perhaps that explains why he got out of the president ial race today. But all of these guys, all these six guys polled as asterisks in the poll out today. While hickenlooper is the only one of the six guys who was postgame as an asterisk right now. The only one getting out. The other five are saying theyre still in the fight including one of them. The massachusetts congressman and iraq war veteran on the bottom row in the senate who tonight is launching a whole new bunch of adds for his candidacy. The ads focus specifically, and somewhat surprisingly on the issue of impeachment. We are at a crucial moment. The president continues to break the law every day. If you or i do that, we go to jail. When a president goes to law, he must be impeached. I understand the politics will be hard. That the polls may not be with us. But isnt it time to just do the right thing . Leaders dont follow polls. Polls follow leaders. Massachusetts congressman seth moulton who is a very long shot candidate for the democratic nomination. He did not make the first two debates and he is not on track to make the third. But hes still in the running. This new set of ads that hes running all focused on impeachment. A somewhat surprising area of focus for him. But i think something is going on quite broadly in the race here. And i think you can see it from pretty much any angle now. Guys doing much better like beto orourke. The focus increasingly in these campaigns is not just on why these guys say they should be in the white house. Why they would be a good president. The focus now across the board from the top to the bottom is on why the guy who is currently in the white house needs to get out. Much more to compton. Stay with us. Much more to compton stay with us look limu. A civilian buying a new car. Lets go. Limus right. Liberty mutual can save you money by customizing your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Oh. Yeah, ive been a customer for years. Huh. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. 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A bill came through at the very last second that would put 15 million in taxpayer money toward some unidentified economic prong. It came with a big push from the Governors Office for whatever this project was. They were trying to find out what it was about. Lawmaker pressed for details. Little could be revealed. Just vote on it. As you can see, the house did record the vote on that maegs at 10 46 p. M. On the last day. They voted 15 million for something. Tell you later what it is. The bill passed unanimously. 380 and 900. Now it turns out we know what that was for. That money bought for kentucky. At a pairs with their own money, shares in a new aluminum mill that someone was promising to build in the eastern part of that state the entrepreneur had not lined up all the financing. All the stuff he needed to build it. For that we would require the services of Senate LeaderMitch Mcconnell. Proud son of kentucky. Who went on to very soon there after kill a popular bipartisan bill in washington that would have kept a giant russian aluminum producer under sanctions along with the oligarch who ran that company who was being investigated for his role in russia medding in the 2016 elections. There was really a ton of bipartisan support for keeping those sanctions on the oligarch and his company. Because of what happened in 2016. But Mitch Mcconnell stepped in to make sure those sanctions would be dropped. And soon there after, the company that Russian Oligarch founded put 200 million into that project, into Mitch Mcconnells home state of kentucky. And if you think about it, that men that all of a sudden, the people of kentucky, the citizens, the taxpayers, found themselves to be coowners with the russians of a planned northeast kentucky aluminum bill. One of those who was in the lastminute vote to approve the funding told the Washington Post that now she regrets that vote. She said, it is not okay that were turning to deripaska given what hes done to our democracy. Joining us now, she served on the appropriations committee. Representative, thank you for joining us. I appreciate you coming in. Let me ask if i got anything wrong. From the outside it looked like this was a very, very lastminute thing and you did not have much clarity about what kentucky. At a pairs would be investing in here. Youre accurate. Your average listener might say why did you vote yes . Several reasons why. It was a unanimous decision. This is in one of the most distressed areas of our great state. The Northeast Corner of appalachian region. And this is a county that had lost up to 1,000 people over the course of several years from ak steels employment. And it was decimated locally. And when we had a prong come to us in the last hour, if you will, it was pretty common language and not uncommon for a governor to come in at the last minute with this kind of request. For that particular region we were asked to give the governor the been fist doubt that he had put together a working package that we would learn very quickly much more about. And it was one of those times when you, and several of us were opposed to doing it but we also understood that at this moment, the people of ashland needed to know that we had their back. When it was put forward to you in those sort of vague terms, when you ultimately discovered that kentucky was not just giving a tax break to the mill, which would be a more typical economic incentive, but rather, kentucky was buying shares, kentucky taxpayers were buying part of it. How did that affect your opinion of the spending, particularly when it emerged that one of the other major shareholders there would be the russians. It made me very angry. It reconfirmed what we suspected. That he had lied to us. I believe he knew exactly what was going on in terms of the project and how he intended to invest these dollars. This is not what we have done in the past. Weve offered economic incentive thats the company then pays back to the state over an extended period of time. For to us cherry pick which companies our very poor state, 15 million from our. At a pairs now going into a company we know nothing about, that later is revealed only after pressure by our local press journalists saying you must reveal your shareholders, and the attorney general upholding that decision, we then finally learn that there is not an enormous package yet put in place. So this competition that was ostensibly going on was a ruse. Instead, at the end what we got was investing at an astronomical rate and changing the whole dynamic of this project. Really, finally, your reporting showed, putting our country at risk now with a Company Formerly owned by deripaska, a known criminal for work in the world to playing it more democratic, he has not been on our side. Thanks for being with us. Im sure it indicates that everything in state dynamics. Thanks for helping us understand what youve seen there. I really pressure it. Thank you. Hank youoing to beg a lot more of him now. Im not calling him dad. Oh, nno. Look, [sighs] i get it. Some new guy comes in helping your mom bundle and save with progressive, but hey, were all in this together. Right, champ . Im getting more nuggets. How about some carrots . You dont want to ruin your dinner. Youre not my dad thats fair. Overstepped. Thats fair. [ text notification now that you have] new dr. Scholls massaging gel advanced insoles with softer, bouncier gel waves, youll move over 10 more than before. Dr. Scholls. Born to move. Its tsleep numberbiggest sale360 smart bed. N the you can adjust your comfort on both sides your sleep number setting. Can it help us fall asleep faster . Yes, by gently warming your feet. But can it help keep us asleep . 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[heartbeat] ever since we got those two stories yesterday from the Washington Post and Time Magazine about what Mitch Mcconnell did, about how kentucky senator Mitch Mcconnell killed sanctions on a Company Owned by a Russian Oligarch who was investigated for his role in the election interference in 2016, and then that oligarchs company immediately turned around and dumped 200 million into mcconnells home state, ever since weve had this new reporting about how exactly the state of kentucky came to be Business Partners with a russian Aluminum Company whose founder is under u. S. Sanctions, and we saw the evident regret of lawmakers who didnt know their state would end up being coowners with a sanctioned Russian Oligarch, we did that long piece on it last night on the show. We just followed up with one of those lawmakers who is expressing regret about her vote in kentucky to go ahead with this. But part of the reason im sticking with this is that there is a piece of the story that i feel like is stuck to me. Which is about why russia is doing this. The part of this reporting, these revelations about what Mitch Mcconnell is actually doing with his control of the u. S. Senate, it is like when youre a little kid and youre super gluing something and you stick your fingers together by accident. Thats whats happening with this story. It is in part because of this quote from the Time Magazine coverage of the story. Quote, oligarch owned companies have helped the kremlin influence politics across europe. Since putin came to power in the year 2000, russia has used economic lenk to force a change in policy or undermine governments in at least 19 european countries. Joining us now is laura rosenberger. She is the source of that bracing analysis that was quoted in Time Magazines coverage of this story. Thank you for being here. I appreciate your time. Thanks for having me. So so you have looked at the way russia has used economic intrusion, economic investment. At least to change political outcomes. Is that a fair summary of this part of your work . And the reason time is quoting you . To connect the dots with some of the things youve talked about. Since the 2016 election weve had so much conversation about russia interference and democracies, russian efforts to undermine democracies. We know that the russian government and its proxies use as range of tools. Weve talked about social media, weve talked about cyber attacks. One of the things i think in the u. S. , we havent been talking enough about is russias use of economic coercion and maligned financial influence which are two other really key parts of the tool kit that we have seen the russian government using across the Transatlantic Community using for nearly two decades. And it is something we need to be much more aware of as we look at the broader strategy that russia is imposing. Can you give us an example . What is economic coercion . And how does russia use to it get the things that it wants from other countries . Absolutely. We think of company as theyre private and deals as if theyre purely commercial. In the kremlin ecosystem, a lot of the Russian Companies basically have to, and the oligarchs that back them, they need to keep the kremlin, putin, the russian government happy. So they do that to secure deals that will be in its interest. So it is often things that they think putin will be pleased with. Also by investing in things that will gain leverage with particular elite. So one of the most frequently cited cases is actually in germany where one of the former chance lors of germany has joined the board of a russian state owned energy company. They basically capture an elite. It has its own term. Schroederization. Bring them into the political circuit. So at that point they begin to advocate for the interests of not germany but the kremlin. In terms of what is happening in kentucky right now, obviously this is still an evolving situation there. But we are already seeing right now that because of deripaskas concern in northeastern kentucky, that is already sort of being leveraged in washington regardless of the circumstances of how that investment got there. Now that rusal is a big investor, theyve already signals to the u. S. Senate. If this is going to be reviewed. If the sanctions will be reviewed, that might be reason for them to pull out of kentucky. Thus costing hundreds if not thousands of potential jobs in that region that really needs the jobs. That to me already sort of feels like russian lenk over american decision making. Thats exactly part of it. So you get a foot hold in. You then influence policy decisions and political congratulations from within by taking what appears to the surface to be a commercial interest. But then obviously political interests get wrapped up in all of that. Thats exactly what a lot of people are raising concerns that in this particular case. And i think it is against the back drop of understanding the tactics that russia has used in other countries and seeing many similarities and needing to be very mindful of that. I think it is important that we understand the ways in which these different kinds of deals often operate in this kind of gray zone. I know you talked about this last night, rachel. That a lot of these tactics that the kremlin uses are not necessarily illegal. They look for places they see vulnerabilities, where we dont respond with forceful i dont mean military force but in terms of a forcible pushback. They look for places where they see soft edges. When they see that, they push harder and thats one of the thing that concerns me right now. When we see these kinds of deals going forward, when we see concerns like this being raised and we dont see pushback from political leadership, thats only going to further embolden russia, Russian Companies, and their proxies, to take more steps like this to seek out more political leverage. The Russian Company has already put out requests to a number of other states seeking these same deals. I think thats exactly the kind of thing that frankly i would expect if i were using the russian play book. When we see this happening in other countries, there is interesting work by my colleagues looking at thresholds. You can get to where they call it state capture. A certain threshold to the economy becomes so dependen on russian investment that the state actually becomes captured. In the u. S. We are far, far from those thresholds but i think that it is that kind of slippery slope that we need to be extraordinarily careful of. And mindful about what is actually behind these deals. There is a strategic aspect to this. It is about weakening the response to russian tactics, trying to influence policy decisions from within. Creating leverage and bringing elites to their side. This is why i wanted to talk to you about this tonight. Super clarifying. Thank you. Thank you. More news ahead. Stay with us. News ahead stay with us own little world. Especially these days. dad i think its here. mom vo especially at this age. big sister where are we going . mom vo its a big, beautiful world out there. little sister woah. big sister wow. See that . mom vo sometimes you just need a little help seeing it. avo the threerow subaru ascent. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Get zero percent during the subaru a lot to love event. Applebees handcrafted burgers now starting at 7. 99 now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Now starting at 7. 99 whats going on . Its the 3pm slump. Should have had a p3. Oh yeah. Should have had a p3. Need energy . Get p3. With a mix of meat, cheese and nuts. When crabe stronger. Strong, with new nicorette coated ice mint. Layered with flavor. Its the first and only coated nicotine lozenge. For an amazing taste. That outlasts your craving. New nicorette ice mint. In a federal court in washington, d. C. Today the trial of a very, very famous lawyer got under way. Gregory craig has the distinction of being the only member of a Democratic Administration to be indicted in any case that is derived from Robert Muellers russia investigation. He was obamas First White House counsel. Hes an trial now for allegedly lying to the Justice Department about work he did later in private practice on work with ukraine. Specifically Paul Manafort whos now prisoner in federal custody for roughly the next seven years. The trial for greg craig finally got under way today in federal court in d. C. And it turns out when you are a very, very famous d. C. Lawyer, sometimes things go hilariously awry when you turn up in a very familiar federal courthouse except youre there as a defendant. That story of what happened in the greg craig trial is next. Its totally unbelievable. Stay with us. The great Josh Gerstein put Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Nice but uh, whats up with your partner . Oh we just spend all day telling everyone how we customize Car Insurance because no two people are alike, so. Limu gets a little confused when he sees another bird that looks exactly like him. Ya. Hell figure it out. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. [ text notification now that you have] new dr. Scholls massaging gel advanced insoles with softer, bouncier gel waves, youll move over 10 more than before. Dr. Scholls. Born to move. 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Talk to your doctor or pharmacist today hey i live on my own now ive got xfinity, because i like to live life in the fast lane. Unlike my parents. You rambling about xfinity again . Youre so cute when you get excited. Anyways. Ive got their app right here, i can troubleshoot. I can schedule a time for them to call me back, its great you have our number programmed in . Ya i dont even know your phone anymore. Excuse me . what . I dont know your phone number. Aw well. He doesnt know our phone number you have our fax number, obviously. Todays xfinity service. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Ill pass. As the great Josh Gerstein put it, the jury selection in this case gave a whole new meaning to the phrase jury of ones peers. In the trial of greg craig obamas form white House Counsel who was caught in the manafort scandal in ukraine, of the 100 potential jurors for the Gregory Craig trial there were at least two former white house officials in the jury pool. Also a d. C. Policy expert, also a d. C. Speechwriter. Also a data guru, also an accountant with the defense department, and also someone who said her boyfriend was covering the Mueller Report for the New York Times and also someone who described herself as a cia analyst whose expertise is ukraine, which is what greg craig was working on in the case that got him into trouble here and these criminal charges. Quote, few potential jurors seem to know much about ukraine or the political rivalry that led to the work Gregory Craig did that resulted in this criminal case. But as josh says, one potential juror was concerned she might know too much. A cia analyst who covers ukraine. The cia analyst says to the judge, quote, i know large amounts of classified information about ukraine. The judge says back to her, would you be able to turn your cia analyst brain off and focus on just what you hear in the courtroom . The analyst responds, well, what if somebody says something about someone and i know something about it . Obviously i cant say anything because obviously she cant share the highly classified information she has in her brain about this topic as a cia analyst. Right, you might think this would be like the best possible reason to get bounced out of the jury pool, right . But you would be wrong. Quote, to the judges apparent surprise neither the prosecution nor the defense objected to the seating of that juror. So the cia analyst remained in the jury pool. And then today that cia analyst was chosen as one of the actual jurors. So the cia analyst whos an expert on the nuances of this country that produced the Gregory Craig trial was not only in the jury pool but volunteered what her job was to the judge and she still got picked and shes still on the jury. Now, this is totally normal. We started off our show frustrated that everyday activities cause wrinkles and theres nothing you can do about it . Downy wrinkleguard is a fabric conditioner that helps protect you from wrinkles all day. Pants washed with downy wrinkleguard and detergent are virtually wrinkle free. Try downy wrinkleguard. Why accept it frompt an incompyour allergy pills . E else. Flonase sensimist. Nothing stronger. Nothing gentler. Nothing lasts longer. Flonase sensimist. 24 hour nondrowsy allergy relief we started off our show tonight in part with reporting on that highly anticipated speech today from president ial candidate beto orourke. You dont have to take my word for it. Beto orourke himself is about to be live with Lawrence Odonnell right here right now on the last word. So do not change that dial. Good evening, lawrence. Good evening, rachel. And we also have two president ial candidates today. Senator amy klobuchar. Excellent. And because i know you are all tucked in and sound asleep by the end of my show, i want to tell you what happened here last