Transcripts For MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 20240711

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And so, the transition in many ways was nonexistent. And one of the consequences of that is, in the month or so since joe biden was inaugurated as president , we have repeatedly heard from the new administration that they were surprised by things they didnt find out were going wrong inside the government until they were in position to be running things, things they didnt get briefed on during the transition because the Trump Administration blew off the transition. Like, for example, surprise, theres no National Plan for administering vaccines. We all thought they were doing that. We all assumed there was some sort of plan, whatever the Trump Administrations plans might have looked like. But since there was no transition from the trump folks to the biden folks, nobody really knew for sure until they were gone that, actually, there was no National Vaccine plan at all. The lack of a transition also became a nice backdrop for the Republicancontrolled Senate to refuse to move forward on starting the Confirmation Process for Biden Administration nominees. In past administrations, republican and democrat, no matter who controlled the senate, there was at least an effort to try to make sure that the main nominees in National Security positions were in place for the new president on day one, because, of course, the Confirmation Hearings, the vetting, the Confirmation Hearings, the preliminary votes can all happen during the transition, provided that the senate wants to work on those things. That all happens during the transition, then the actually confirmation votes, the final votes and swearingin ceremonies can start to happen on Inauguration Day. And so, particularly for National Security nominees, that was what previous senates made sure was in place for previous president s. They would at least have their National Security team, all the big ones, in place, day one. But not for biden, because, no, he was not allowed a transition. And there was, in fact, only one biden nominee who was approved on day one of his administration. The only biden nominee approved on Inauguration Day was the director of National Intelligence, avril haines. And now, one of the truly explosive things she agreed to during her Confirmation Hearing is, we think, about to happen tomorrow. During avril haines Confirmation Hearing, the woman whos now director of National Intelligence, avril haines, promised that, if she were confirmed as dni, she would release to the Public A Declassified version of the intelligence communitys findings on who murdered an american journalist named Jamal Khashoggi, who wrote for the Washington Post. Khashoggi was a vocal critic of the government of saudi arabia. In october 2018, october 2nd, he was lured to a saudi consulate in turkey. Turns out, a hit squad was waiting for him there. He was killed and then reportedly dismembered. His body has never been found. A u. N. Human rights investigation in 2019 found that the crown prince of saudi arabia was involved in that murder, that it was, quote, inconceivable that he, at the very least, didnt know about that murder plot. Since then, the evidence has only gotten stronger that the crown prince of saudi arabia, in fact, ordered the murder. The cia reportedly concluded with high confidence that the crown prince of saudi arabia ordered the murder of mr. Khashoggi. Heres the thing, only the best people in the Trump Administration, right . Jamal khashoggi was murdered, as i said, 2018, october, specifically, october 2nd, 2018. The crown prince of saudi arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman he goes by mbs is immediately implicated in that murder. Nevertheless, three weeks after the murder, still in october 2018, mbs on behalf of the saudi government, hosts a Big Convention thing in saudi arabia. Duvos in the desert. And khashoggi was just murdered. And immediately, the man on the right of your screen, mbs, the crown prince of saudi arabia, was implicated in that murder. He hosts this convention. Everybody from, you know, Jpmorgan To Blackstone to steve case, the founder of aol, all these american worthies all canceled. Nobody wants to go sit in this guys lap, especially if the bonesaw in his pocket is still leaking wet blood and body parts just three weeks after that murder. So everybody cancels. The american Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin oh, sorry, its steven. Do not call him steve. Its Steven Mnuchin. Even he bows to the public pressure, the public revulsion over this murder of a Washington Post journalist, and mnuchin cancels his plans to attend this davos in the desert compound thing. But then, as i said, klassy with a k mr. Mnuchin sneaks off to saudi arabia, anyway, ahead of the davos in the desert thing, because hes decided that, despite all of the public outcry, that forced him to publicly cancel his plan to attend that big, international expo, he really still wants to meet with the crown prince anyway. And so, mnuchin made a big, public showing of canceling his appearance at that conference thing, but he quietly maintained his plans to fly to saudi arabia. And the day before the whole davos in the Desert Conference Expo Thing starts in saudi arabia, Steven Mnuchin turns up in saudi arabia to meet with prince bonesaw one on one the u. S. Treasury department, somehow, forgot to announce that he was going. They were very happy to announce that he had canceled his plans to attend that event. They did not announce that he was still going to go to saudi arabia and still going to meet with the crown prince. Once it emerged that he was still going to saudi arabia and he was still meeting with the crown prince, the Treasury Department tried to not comment on that fact. It was the saudi government that went ahead and announced that mnuchin was there and that he was meeting with the crown prince, and they posted a picture of it on twitter. Mnuchin was trying to get away with this without anybody knowing about it, but the saudi government was like, oh, no. Oh, no, were putting this out publicly, to brag, basically, right, that with this sucker u. S. Government, the Saudi Crown Prince can go ahead and, allegedly, murder and dismember a u. S. Based journalist, but dont worry, less than three weeks later, that same guy can still summon the u. S. Treasury secretary to come sit on his lap. Like i said, classy. The Trump Administration went on after the khashoggi murder to block from Public Release the intelligence communitys report on the crown princes alleged involvement in the murder, and steven, excuse me, Steven Mnuchin, then kept up his frequent and regular visits to maintain his relationship with the Saudi Crown Prince while he and the Trump Administration, as a matter of policy, gave them everything they wanted and more during the entire time the Trump Administration was in office. So, now, whats about to happen . Tomorrow, according to reporting from axios tonight, we believe the Biden Administration is going to release to us, the public, the declassified report on the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and the involvement of the Saudi Crown Prince. What i did not see coming is that in advance of that report, reportedly being prepared for release tomorrow, President Biden tonight would take a call with the saudi government, and he would have this phone call specifically with the king of saudi arabia, who you see on the right side of your screen, 85 years old. President biden today speaking with the king, not the 35yearold crown prince who has been, you know, snapping his fingers to summon Steven Mnuchin and whatsapping with jared, right . Getting u. S. Government cabinet officials to come be photographed meeting with him, even before the american blood is dry on his hands. Biden didnt call that guy in advance of this report being released to the American Public tomorrow. He called that guys dad, the king. White house spokesman jen psaki today explaining this is a leadertoleader kind of discussion, that the equivalent leader that a u. S. President speaks to in such circumstances is the king of a foreign country. She said that our defense secretary, lloyd austin, spoke with the crown prince, spoke with mbs in recent days, because thats the level at which those discussions should happen. But biden is the president , and hell speak with the king. So, that is happening now, tonight, apparently, in advance of the release tomorrow of the u. S. Intelligence report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist. And meanwhile, look at what news the Washington Post, itself, is now breaking. Look at the headline here. Trump Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expected to launch Investment Fund seeking backing of persian gulf state funds. Dude has been out of office a month. Mnuchin has been out of office as trumps Treasury Secretary a month, and he is already turning around and forming a fund in which he will reportedly ask the Persian Gulf States to give him their money. So, he spent his time in office shining up the reputation of accused murderer, the Saudi Crown Prince. Now one month later, hes going into private Business Seeking Investment from sovereign wealth funds in the persian gulf. Sovereign wealth funds are statecontrolled. In saudi arabia, its the Saudi Crown Prince who controls his countrys sovereign wealth fund. Seems legit, sure, right . As the post delicately puts it quote, mnuchins planned investment effort, soon after leaving office, raises concerns over whether Trump Administration policy was influenced by mnuchins future private pursuits. Yeah, you think . You think . Look at this. This is priceless. This is priceless as the post notes in this reporting quote, some of the largest Investment Funds in the Persian Gulf Region are controlled by uae, the United Arab Emirates and qatar and saudi arabia and kuwait. Two paragraphs later, the post notes that in the very final days of the Trump Administration, where did Steven Mnuchin take his last taxpayerfunded overseas Sglunkt Junket . He went off to visit, among other countries, the uae, United Arab Emirates, qatar, saudi arabia and kuwait. He just decided at the very last minute, while the taxpayers were still paying for his travel, he wanted to visit all of the countries with the largest sovereign wealth funds in the middle east, all the countries with the largest sovereign wealth funds in the region, with whom he is now planning on going into personal private business. In fact, when the assault on the u. S. Capitol happened on january 6th, Steven Mnuchin was in the middle of that Shopping Spree i mean, that trip. Because of the attack on the capitol, he got all Sorts Of Press for sort of nobly taking action to cut short his trip, and in fact, he didnt end up going to kuwait after all. He canceled the kuwait part of that trip. But even after the attack on the capitol on january 6th, he did keep stretching his middle east trip out just a little while longer, as long as he conceivably could, specifically so he could squeeze in at least one last trip to saudi arabia for what was expected to be one last visit with mbs, with crown prince bonesaw. And now hes opening his private Investment Fund with what he hopes and expects will be lots and lots of money from the people he has loyally served as u. S. Treasury secretary in the Persian Gulf States, people he has loyally served as u. S. Treasury secretary, by which he does not mean, you know, us. So, joe biden is president now. He is not sitting in the lap of the bonesaw guy, nor sending members of his cabinet to do that. President biden isnt even speaking to the bonesaw guy. We believe, if this Axios Reporting is correct, that President Biden and the director of National Intelligence he appointed, avril haines, will tomorrow publicly release the u. S. Intelligence communitys evidence related to the murder of this u. S. Journalist, in which the crown prince is reportedly implicated. But i mean, think about the context in which President Biden is making these sorts of changes. I mean, he is doing this, hes releasing this report, he is making a big change with the way we deal with saudi arabia, he is calling out the crown prince of that country. We expect in this report, in terms of his implication in the murder of a u. S. Journalist, hes doing all of that as president while this is the background noise, while literally, a Cabinet Secretary from the Previous Administration is going into personal business with these guys in the gulf, a month after leaving office, having spent four years as Treasury Secretary, giving away the store to those countries in terms of u. S. Policy, particularly to saudi arabia. Incidentally, we spent a good amount of time today talking to people trying to figure out if what mnuchin is doing here is illegal. Can you sell your actions as Treasury Secretary while you were in office for future personal financial reward . Is that can you do that . I mean, literally in his last hours in office, the night before the inauguration, former President Trump rescinded the ethics rules that might have banned something this corrupt outright from officials who served in the Trump Administration, so i guess that was seen as mnuchins free pass to do it . But if Steven Mnuchin did sell out u. S. Policy in a quid pro quo, so the countries he sold out to would then pay him personally as soon as he was out of office, that is something that trump Killing The Ethics Rules might not save him from. So, theres that. Incidentally incidentally, as far as illegal goes we are still watching to see whats going to happen with the enforcement of the subpoena from New York State prosecutors for President Trumps financial records. The former president s Accounting Firm is set, we think sometime this week, to hand over to State Prosecutors in new york literally millions of pages, Terabytes Worth of financial and tax records from former President Trump. Those State Prosecutors are looking at former President Trump, reportedly, for potential tax fraud, bank fraud, and insurance fraud, watching to see if there will be any public indication about when those documents are handed over. Today this is interesting cnn is reporting that those same prosecutors in New York State have also now issued subpoenas to Financial Firms linked to steve bannon, former Trump White House senior adviser, Trump Campaign chief. Steve bannon was charged by federal prosecutors in a Multicount Felony Fraud Scheme before trump gave him a lastminute pardon right before he left office. State prosecutors are now reportedly looking at that same scheme, an alleged grift in which Trump Supporters were told to send their own money to a gofundme page in order to build a wall between the u. S. And mexico, themselves, with their own private money. Bannon and his codefendants are said by prosecutors to have pocketed a significant share of that money, hence the fraud and theft charges. Bannons codefendants are still facing federal felony charges in that alleged scheme. Bannon isnt facing those federal charges anymore because of the trump pardon, but fraud and theft are the kinds of crimes that are very easy to charge, either at the state level or the federal level. And so, he may not be facing federal charges anymore because of the pardon, but theres no reason why he cant face State Charges that look almost exactly the same. With subpoenas reportedly going out now to gofundme and to another bank that was allegedly used in this scheme, it looks like mr. Bannon might be looking at potential State Charges in new york for that we fund the wall fraud scheme. And that, of course, would mean state prison time, if he is convicted. In addition, the president s eldest son, donald trump jr. , was reportedly deposed today by the office of d. C. s attorney general. Thats part of the Corruption Probe of the 2016 trump inaugural, where prosecutors allege the inaugural committee, which operates as a nonprofit the allegation is that they dramatically overpaid the trump organization, the president s family business, for inaugurationrelated frills. If true, that, of course, would have the effect of the president and his family effectively stealing from a nonprofit to funnel money to themselves and their family business. The president s eldest daughter, ivanka trump, has already been deposed in that case. Now donald trump jr. Has as well. The trump hangover continues, as well, at the u. S. Post office, where delays weve never really seen before have persisted, and in some cases, gotten even worse since the election under the Wrecking Ball Leadership of trump postmaster general louis dejoy. Dejoy appeared quite truculently before the House Oversight committee today. He basically promised that, yeah, even now, even now, he has plans to make the mail even slower than it is right now and to make it more expensive as well. Louis dejoy, basically, reveled, kind of chortled at todays hearing at the fact that President Biden cant directly fire him, based on the rules of the way the Postal Service is governed. He can only be fired by the Postal Service board of governors. Basically, to call that question, basically, right as that hearing was ending, President Biden announced, okay, then, three new nominees to the Postal Service board of governors here they are. The Postal Service board of governors will absolutely be able to Fire Louis Dejoy as soon as they are in the majority, which wont be long now, now that biden has announced these nominees. In Breaking News late tonight, msnbcs Julia Ainsley and jacob Jacob Soboroff are reporting that of the more than 600 kids still separated from their parents at the end of the Trump Administration, of those 611 kids, julia and jacob report tonight that the Biden Administration has already been able to find the parents of 105 of those children. Now, it is you know, thats less than 20 , but it is something. The parents of 105 separated kids have been found since january, in the month that the Biden Administration has been in office. That means the parents of 506 separated migrant kids still havent been found, but they are working on it, at least, and they have found they have located members of more than 100 of these families. Youll remember that one of the early biden Executive Orders was to set up a task force, including the secretary of homeland security, the Secretary Of State and other cabinet officials, to try to find those Family Members and get those kids reunited. While President Biden still tries to get his cabinet confirmed, including nominee neera tanden at the office of management and budget, whose nomination is effectively being blocked now by democratic senator joe manchin, who has decided that he doesnt like her tone, even though he was happy to vote for many Trump Nominees who all had much worse tone and much worse records on the form of partisan statements and civility than neera tanden ever got near with joe manchin blocking Neera Tandens nomination at this point, were now, nevertheless, getting into the nitty gritty on the Biden Administrations first big legislative leap, which looks like it may start to move and pass the house. It may even get close to passing the senate before the full Biden Cabinet is confirmed. The first big legislative effort, of course, is the covid relief bill. It is steaming ahead. Its looking more and more like its going to get zero republican support, despite the bills wide support by the republic excuse me, by the public, by republicans and independents and democrats who support this bill by a large margin. It is republicans on capitol hill who appear uniform in their opposition to it. That means that it will likely have to pass with only democratic votes. That is possible, as long as democrats are able to pass it through a process in the senate thats called reconciliation. Well, that process has some limits. There are rules within the senate as to what type of policy is allowed to be passed under that process. And tonight, we are still waiting on word as to whether or not the covid relief bill will be allowed to incorporate a rise in the minimum wage. President biden and democrats have called for a 15anhour minimum wage. That would give 27 million American Workers a raise. The Congressional Progressive Caucus, including its chair, congresswoman pramila jayapal, have prioritized this. They have led the fight to keep that minimum wage hike in the relief bill, to keep that at 15 an hour. We are waiting we thought we would know by now. Were literally waiting tonight, expecting at any moment to find out the ruling of the Senate Parliamentarian as to whether or not that minimum wage rise is going to be in this bill, which the democrats can pass alone without republican support. Its a procedural thing in d. C. And its origins are both baroque and stupid, but it has incredible Material Consequence for americans. If you think about what kind of Economic Relief might make the broadest impact on americans who need it the most, how about americans at the lowest end of the wage scale, 27 million of whom would get a not just sustained, but permanent Wage Increase by this hike in the minimum wage . We are waiting tonight to find out if that is possible. Meanwhile, weve got congressman jayapal from the Congressional Progressive Caucus standing by. Weve got Richard Engel standing by with his incredible and super scary scoop that he broke tonight on Nbc Nightly News. A lot to come tonight. Stay with us. Nbc nightly news a lot to come tonight. Stay with us a lot of people think dealing with copd is a walk in the park. If i have something to help me breathe better, everything will be fun and nice. But i still have bad days flareups coughs , which can permanently damage my lungs. My lungs need protection against flareups. So its time to get real. Because in the real world our lungs deserves the real protection of breztri. Breztri gives you better breathing symptom improvement, and flareup protection. Its the first and only copd medicine proven to reduce flareups by 52 breztri wont replace a Rescue Inhaler for sudden breathing problems. It is not for asthma. Tell your doctor if you have a Heart Condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Dont take breztri more than prescribed. Breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. Call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. For real protection so, tonight, were still waiting on a decision that sounds like a little thing that could have a huge impact on tens of millions of americans and how much money they make. Its a decision from the Senate Parliamentarian. Could come any time now. What were waiting on is her determination as to whether or not the Big Covid Relief Bill thats going to pass the house and the senate, is going to be signed into law by President Biden, whether it can include an increase in the minimum wage. Democrats are trying to use something called the Budget Reconciliation Process to pass their bill so they can pass it with 51 votes, instead of needing 60 votes, because republican senators arent going to support this bill at all. But what that process means is that only items related to the budget get to be in the bill. The person who gets to decide what is and isnt related to the budget is the Senate Parliamentarian, and we are waiting on her ruling. And its sort of an almost legallike process. Last night and early this morning, Senate Staffers presented arguments before the parliamentarian, like they were lawyers going before a judge. Democratic senate staff argued that the minimum wage could be kept in the bill. Republican senate staff argued that it had to be stripped out, that it has nothing to do with the budget. We dont know what shes going to rule. Even if democrats do manage to get approval from the parliamentarian, though, that they can increase the minimum wage, its still not a done deal. Theyve still got to get approval of their caucus, and that is, you know, never easy with democrats herding cats, et cetera. But so far, the forces within the Democratic Party that support a 15anhour minimum wage have really been a force to be reckoned with. I think they have been underestimated as a political force, especially given the public popularity of this position. Pramila jayapal of washington is chair of the progressive caucus in the house. Representative jayapal, thank you for being here tonight. Its nice of you to come back. Its so great to see you, rachel. So, whats your expectation . Do you know when were going to hear this ruling . Do you have expectations about what the rulings going to be . Well, i dont know exactly when. Were all waiting with bated breath. But i will tell you that this reconciliation process was used to kick tens of millions of people off of health care by the republicans and the parliamentarian did allow that to happen. Now, it was done in kind of a wonky way, but when republicans have used reconciliation to kick people off of health care, to pass a 2 trillion tax cut where 85 of that went to the wealthiest, i think we feel good that it should also then be allowed for democrats to use reconciliation to pass minimum Wage Increase for 27 million workers across this country and lift 1 million Minimum Wage Workers out of poverty. So, this is really, really important. I did want to make a clarification, though. The parliamentar advisory opinion. Once the parliamentarian issues that advisory opinion, it is up to the chair of the senate to decide whether or not to incorporate that opinion. Its a small technicality, but i do think that weve got to use every tool in our toolbox here, whether it is reconciliation, whether it is, you know, ultimately, reforming the filibuster. Were going to need to deliver on our promise to raise the wage for 27 million americans. And do you make that clarification about the parliamentarians opinion being an advisory matter because you think that democrats in the senate should use their 50 votes, and potentially, the tiebreaking vote of Vice President harris, i guess, to overrule the parliamentarian, if she says no, this cant be in reconciliation . Do you think they should go that far . I personally do. And ill tell you, its because either i mean, democrats made a promise to people across this country that we were going to raise the minimum wage, that we were going to put money in peoples pockets. Its been 12 years since weve raised the minimum wage. And if were going to make those promises, we have to be able to deliver on them, because ill tell you what, in two years, rachel, when people vote in the midterms, youre not going to be able to say, well, im sorry, we couldnt raise the minimum wage because the parliamentarian ruled that we couldnt do it. Thats not going to fly. So, whether its overruling the parliamentarian or whether it is reforming the filibuster so we can actually pass a minimum wage bill, i think it is important that we use every tool in the toolbox. One thing, though, the house is going to pass this Reconciliation Bill with a 15 minimum wage raise in it, so we want to be very clear, the house is going to do our job. Now the senate needs to do its job. One of the reasons that i think that your power and the power of people who agree with you on this is being underestimated is that i feel like what never gets factored into the Beltway Press treatment of these issues is how the public feels about it. The idea of raising the minimum wage, particularly, as you say, since it hasnt been raised in 12 years, and because places everywhere that puts it on the ballot, even the reddest states that put it on the ballot, it wins as a ballot measure. Raising the minimum wage wins by huge margins everywhere people have a chance to have a say in it. I feel like the Beltway Press calculation about politics in these things never factors in what the American People actually have as Policy Preferences on this subject. But i feel like you and your colleagues have been pretty rigorous, trying to keep that back in the center of the frame, to try to make a Public Appeal and make sure that the public preference on this issue is factored into the capitol Hill Politics that would otherwise, i think, prefer to ignore that. Thats totally right. This is not a radical idea. Maybe ten years ago, when fastfood workers first went on Strike Calling for 15 in 2012, maybe it was considered radical back then. It is mainstream today. You know, florida voted for donald trump, and yet, passed with a twothirds majority a minimum wage hike to 15. So, across the country, this is the policy that independents, republicans, and democrats are calling for. And it is also what we promised, rachel. If we are going to say that democrats can make a difference when we have the house, the senate, and the white house, then we are going to have to deliver. It is not going to be sufficient for us to just say, well, we tried, sorry. Weve got to go to the mat with every tool in the toolbox. We are going to have to deliver. I am putting in the order for the Bumper Sticker right now. Democratic congresswoman pramila jayapal, the chair of the house progressive caucus. Again, were still waiting for that i ruling tonight and theres a lot of politicking and work to happen after that ruling comes in, but thank you so much for helping us understand it tonight. Its good to see you. Thank you, rachel. Great to see you, too. All right. As i mentioned, nbcs Richard Engel is here tonight. He had a scoop tonight on Nbc Nightly News that has skeeved me out in a way that has made me worry about my ability to sleep tonight. But it is worth seeing, worth understanding and absolutely defies an emerging revisionist history on the right on capitol hill right now. Its important truthtelling journalism. Richard engel joins us with that next. Stay with us. Gel joins us with t next stay with us this is 22yearold Riley Williams from pennsylvania, in the capitol on january 6th, according to the fbi. Go up the stairs go reporter upstairs is speaker Nancy Pelosis office. Inside, a female voice the fbi believes to be williams seems excited. Im in nancy reporter on the desk is pelosis hp laptop. The same voice tells others to treat it carefully. Dude, put on gloves. Reporter according to the fbi, a Witness Claims Williams stole the laptop and intended to send the Computer Device to a friend in russia to be passed to russian intelligence. Williams turned herself in to authorities shortly after the capitol assault. Nbc news Richard Engel reporting tonight on the case of Riley Williams, one of the most confounding cases coming from the january 6th attack on the u. S. Capitol. Well, tonight, richard brings us brandnew, Exclusive Reporting that adds a whole new layer to our understanding of this strange part of the Capitol Attack on january 6th, including the laptop stolen from Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosis office. Richard has teamed up with the online Investigative Group bellingcat, probably best known for Tracking Down and unmasking russian intelligence agents involved in Assassination Attempts overseas. Belgcat turned their investigative skills into the Capitol Attack, into the specific case of Riley Williams and the stolen laptop from pelosis office. After someone sent them a video that they believed showed Riley Williams pledging allegiance to adolf hitler. Im going to show you this video. Again, this has not been seen on television before tonight. It is very short. It is not graphic in any literal sense, but i will warn you that it is disturbing. It would stick with you. And it is definitely, definitely creepy. Hitler was right all along, there is no political solution. All that is left is acceleration. Heil hitler. And then the video just continues for a while like this, with this Flashing Image and the negative color filter and the music. Like i said, very creepy. But you can see the obvious obstacles to definitively identifying the woman in this heil hitler video as the same woman who stormed the capitol on january 6th, then allegedly helped steal pelosis laptop. Was bellingcat was able to do with this video is twofold. First, they sort of decoded it. For those of us not familiar with the neonazi iconography and the dark corners of the internet where this stuff thrives. For instance, when the voice in the video says there is no political solution, all that is left is acceleration, bellingcat writes that is with neoNazi Ideology that calls for accelerating the collapse of society as a pathway towards establishing a genocidal White Supremacist state. When she references the hammer, well, that appears to be a Social Media Channel that promotes that same ideology. The skull mask shes wearing on the Mirrored Sunglasses shes wearing as well as the icon thats on the hat that shes wearing, those are all symbols adopted explicitly by adherence of that Social Media Channel and other nazi groups. Even that negative color filter used at the end of the video echoes an aesthetic that is popular in White Supremacist propaganda right now. And theres other clues, too. Shes got a book about the waffenss thats visible in the profile at her feet in the hail hitler video and other things you can see. But beyond just those things you might recognize if youre familiar with this stuff, the other thing bellingcat does is go about gathering evidence that the woman in this video is, indeed, Riley Williams, whos been charged in the Capitol Attack. They discovered several of her social media accounts on which she has posted racist, antisemitic screeds along with neoNazi Ideology and the symbolism seen in that video. They painstakingly matched photos and items of clothing and pieces of furniture that you can see across multiple social media postings in order to place Riley Williams in that same room, in fact, in that same dress as the woman in the heil hitler video. Her lawyer tells Richard Engel tonight that the heil hitler video was meant as a joke. I dont think its that funny. I dont know, maybe thats just me. Interestingly, her lawyer would not confirm or deny that that was, in fact, his client in the heil hitler video. But you know, in addition to this being a very interesting piece of investigative work, this report from bellingcat and nbc news is a jarring reminder of how much we still dont know about what went down on january 6th, particularly as the Conservative Media and some elected republicans in congress claim that the people who took place in that attack on the capitol werent that bad and it really wasnt that many extremists, and there certainly werent White Supremacists. It tells you how much we have yet to have exposed about what organizations and affiliations brought folks to that attack and to what degree they were coordinated. Congress held its very first hearing on the Capitol Attack yesterday. Theyre holding a second one two days from now. Theres just a ton of pressing, outstanding questions we still dont know the answers to. I mean, how do we still not know how Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died . Basic facts about what caused his death. How about the allegation that members of congress were giving Reconnaissance Tours to people who came back as rioters . That allegation was leveled by other members of congress. Where are we on that . Why did the pentagon slowwalk the deployment of the National Guard that day . The chief of the d. C. Police testified to that today. Why did the pentagon slowwalk the National Guard deployment . Did President Trump have any role in personally delaying the National Guard response . What was disgraced trump National Security adviser mike flynns brother doing at the pentagon taking part in that Decision Just days after flynn had called for trump to use martial law to overturn the election . Why did the army lie about mike flynns brothers involvement in the meetings and the decisions as to whether and when to deploy the National Guard . Why were six Capitol Police officers suspended from duty for their actions during the attack . Whats the status of the more than two dozen other officers who are reportedly under investigation for somehow having behaved inappropriately in relation to that attack . How many guns and other weapons were found among rioters that day . Who placed the pipe bombs that were defused outside of the dnc and the rnc the day of the attack . Was that were those pipe bombs, those operational pipe bombs, definitively connected to the capitol assault . The former Capitol Police chief testified yesterday he thinks the pipe bombs were connected with the attack, but we dont know for certain, nor do we know who did that, which means somebody capable of creating operational pipe bombs and placing them, concealing them in d. C. , is still on the loose. Why are we not getting any briefings on the cases the government is bringing against the Capitol Rioters . We have not heard squat from any Senior Justice Department figures on the investigation in weeks. The only guy we have heard from, the acting u. S. Attorney in d. C. , hasnt given a briefing on Capitol Rioter arrests in nearly a month. And, by the way, wheres Nancy Pelosis laptop . Riley williams has been arrested in connection with her alleged actions at the capitol on january 6th. Part of the allegations against her that led to her arrest was that she took part in stealing it. She apparently claims to not have it now, but it still has not been found. An fbi affidavit filed in conjunction to the case suggests she was going to give it to someone who was going to provide it to russian intelligence. Where is it . We dont have answers yet to any of these questions. Almost all of which we had the day after the attack. We still dont have them answered. Fortunately, though, we are getting new information about the people who stormed the capitol that day and their affiliations, including with explicit neonazi groups. Thats thanks to investigations like tonights from bellingcat and Richard Engel. Richard joins us live here next. T and Richard Engel. Richard joins us live here next. They have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps. Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the services of the Post Office Plus ups only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. Joining us now is nbc news chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel who along with the Investigative Group bellingcat broke the story tonight that one of the women arrested for the Capitol Attack, in her case for helping to steal, allegedly, Nancy Pelosis laptop out of her office, is the same woman seen in this video saying hitler was right, espousing Nazi Ideology and giving a heil hitler nazi salute. Richard, thank you for making time to be here tonight. I will tell you, i feel like you have definitely already robbed me of at least one nights sleep. I find this to be incredibly unnerving stuff. Reporter it is a very disturbing video, and i think thats part of the idea behind making videos like this. Theyre meant to be intimidating but also fun for their own community. If you look at these altright websites or neonazi websites or chat rooms, theyre full of stuff like this, where theyre talking to each other, theyre wearing the costume, theyre play acting. But what we saw at the capitol wasnt play acting, so these people brought their Fantasy Nazi Worlds and brought them to the capitol, and you had this explosion of a very dark mentality. And now were trying to put the pieces together to figure out who was in the capitol, how did it get organized, and, basically, what is their back story, what brought them there . Because, still, even though we all saw this happen and even though they were clearly wearing things like, you know, Camp Auschwitz tshirts or posting videos doing heil hitler, there is still this narrative out there that this was a bunch of innocent people who got swept up in the moment or that this was antifa or that it wasnt what we all think it was. So, unfortunately, we have to keep digging and digging and digging and trying to prove this as definitively as we can and piece together what happened, because were not getting the answers. Were not getting the answers about the laptop. Were not getting the answers about why there was a tremendous breakdown of security that day, why when everybody saw this coming, the cavalry wasnt there and didnt come for a long time. And richard, we are getting a sort of revisionist history already from elements of the Conservative Media, unfortunately, from some of our prime time colleagues at fox news, advancing this idea that, you know, nothing too bad and no one too bad was at that attack. Were hearing that from some elected republicans in congress as well, like senator ron johnson at the hearing yesterday. Do you think there was more stuff like this down the road that is going to disabuse people of those revisionist histories over time . Are you doing further reporting, with bellingcat and in other ways looking at some of this stuff that may make more of this emerge . Reporter yes, we are. This was the first of our cooperations that we brought out today, and it takes a lot of time. I mean, we had to piece together a puzzle, putting together sort of a collage of images. And a lot of these activists, which, this would, for journalists sake, left a lot of breadcrumbs. They were very active on social media, some of it encrypted, some not encrypted, sometimes using their real name, often using false names. But when you line up all the videos together and you use the metadata to figure out their chronology, then you can start to see parallels and similarities and clues. In this case, for example, riley wore the same glasses often in many of the videos. She wore the same clothing. She has distinctive tattoos. And once we were able to identify these tattoos and identify the clothing and identify the glasses, then you can start placing her in different locations. Then, ultimately, it was a light in the room that we were able to use to pinpoint this particular video of the heil hitler. So, yes, were going to be doing more of this. It takes time because you have to lay out all the videos and do a tremendous amount of comparing and contrasting to try and nail it down, but i think its important because this false narrative is continuing to be pushed out there. Nbc news chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel, congratulations on this and thanks for helping us understand it tonight. It is deeply unsettling and important stuff. Reporter sorry if im going to leave that image in your mind for the night, but aside from that well also be watching khashoggi tomorrow. Fascinating stuff. Yeah, indeed, indeed, indeed. All right, thank you, my friend. Well be right back. Stay with us. Thank you, my fri. Well be right back. Stay with us hey, i just got a text from my sister. You remember rick, her neighbor . Sure, hes the 76yearold guy who still runs marathons, right . Sadly, not anymore. Wow. So sudden. Um, were not about to have the we need Life Insurance conversation again, are we . No, were having the were getting coverage so we dont have to worry about it conversation. So youre calling about the 9. 95 a month plan from Colonial Penn . I am. We put it off long enough. We are getting that 9. 95 plan, today. jonathan is it time for you to call about the 9. 95 plan . Im jonathan from Colonial Penn Life Insurance company. Sometimes we just need a reminder not to take today for granted. If youre age 50 to 85, you can get guaranteed acceptance whole Life Insurance starting at just 9. 95 a month. There are no Health Questions so you cant be turned down for any health reason. The 9. 95 plan is Colonial Penns number one most popular whole life plan. Options start at just 9. 95 a month. Thats less than 35 cents a day. Your rate can never go up. Its locked in for life. Call today for free information. And youll also get this free beneficiary planner, so call now. soft music hello, Colonial Penn . Its time for the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. Can it help with snoring . Ive never heard snoring. Exactly. No problem. And. Done. Dont miss the final days to save 50 on the sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus, 0 interest for 36 months. Ends monday. I feel like so much of todays busy news day was an onramp toward later tonight and tomorrow. We are expecting that important ruling on the minimum wage. We are expecting, potentially, the intelligence communitys declassified report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Theres a lot going on tonight and still ahead, too. But that does it for me for now. See you again tomorrow night. Way too early with kasie hunt is up next. Am i making this up, as mr. Jordan apparently would have you believe, that the president of the United States last summer, donald j. Trump, publicly said, voting by mail would lead to massive fraud . Did he say that or am i imagining that . Things get heated during a hearing into the u. S. Postal service as lawmakers relitigate the agencys political issues that came up during the 2020 election. With the Postal Service still in crisis, the question is, does President Biden have a plan to fix it . Plus, more testimony today into

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