Enforcement and on fighting domestic violent extremism, for the departments key role in enforcing the violence against women act, hes asking for a landmark 1 Billion for the office of violence against women. Republicans appeared to be horrified by his testimony, by the idea thAt The Justice Department will try to fully fund its work on civil rights and violence against women and domestic terrorism and extremism, which, of course, the fbi says is predominantly a white supremacist threat. The republicans hearing Merrick Garlands testimony today were really not into it, as you might imagine. But, you know, like i said, Under New Management elections have consequences. And under Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Justice Department has started up federal investigations into multiple local police departments around the country on their use of force. The Justice Department has indicted a local Georgia Sheriff for brutalizing prisoners in his care. The department has opened a federal civil Rights Investigation in a north Carolina Police shooting case. It will do so in the George Floyd killing case as well. Today, the Daily Beast was first to report thAt The Justice Department under Merrick Garland is going to bring lawsuits against this rash of new laws in republicancontrolled states that single out Transgender Americans for new, overt discrimination. If, in fact, the federal Justice Department joins that fight on behalf of Transgender Americans and their civil rights, thats going to put that discriminatory crusade by republicans around the country on a whole new level in terms of the kind of fight theyre going to get. So new president , new Attorney General, a Justice Department very much and very obviously Under New Management. But now, as of today, now heres a brand new decision this under new Justice Department is going to have to make. And i honestly have no idea whAt Theyre going to do about it. One of the burn marks left by the mueller investigation, one of the reasons thAt Trump Attorney General William Barr may not have been able to find himself gainful employment of any kind since leaving the Trump Administration, is because as Attorney General in the trump era Justice Department, William Barr was found by a Federal Court to have lied to the country about the mueller investigation. In a federal Court Decision that will follow Bill Barr around for the rest of his life like Toilet Paper stuck to his shoe, a Federal Judge in washington, d. C. Found last year that when Robert Mueller turned in his report on the Russia Investigation to the Justice Department, Attorney General William Barr lied to the public about what was in it. The judges ruling said, quote, Attorney General barr failed to provide a thorough representation of the findings set forth in the report causing this court to question whether Attorney Generals Barrs Intent was to create a onesided narrative about the mueller report, a narrative that is clearly, in some respects, substantially at odds with the actual report. That was last year. A federal Court Finding thAt Trumps Attorney General William Barr told the public a porky pie, told the public an untrue story about what was in the mueller report. Well, now, today, a second Federal Judge has just ruled that Bill Barr and the trump era Justice Department were also disingenuous with the court. They, in effect, lied to the court when they told her and they told the public a madeup story, a lie, about why former President Donald Trump was not put on trial, was not charged with Obstruction Of Justice on the basis of the evidence that was collected against President Trump in muellers investigation. You might remember Muellers Report started with Volume One, that was about what russia did to interfere in the election, and then volume two, you probably remember, it laid out more than ten instances in great detail of potentially criminal Obstruction Of Justice committed by then President Trump. Now, when mueller finished this report, you might remember thAt Trumps Attorney General Bill Barr told the public that he, William Barr, had consulted with Justice Department attorneys, and had decided on their advice that despite these ten plus detailed instances of alleged criminal Obstruction Of Justice by President Trump laid out in the mueller report, Bill Barr, consulting with Justice Department attorneys, had determined that despite all of that, Nothing Trump did was really a crime. And so Trump Shouldnt be prosecuted. Remember barr said thAt They didnt rely on this prohibition on a president being prosecuted while hes sitting in office. He said, actually, we decided At The Justice Department, i decided in consultation with Justice Department attorneys that none of those things described constituted a crime, thats why Trump Wont be charged. Thats the story they told the public. That apparently is not what happened. Federal judge Amy Berman Jackson Ruling Today thAt This supposed advice that William Barr got from the Justice Department that supposedly led him to conclude thAt These werent crimes and, therefore, Trump Shouldnt be criminally charged, she ruled today thAt That advice to William Barr has to be released to the public. The Justice Department under William Barr had withheld that. People filed requests for that, an Oversight Group called crew had filed a foia lawsuit, the justice demurred, said, no were not going to release that document, thats real legal advice, and we dont release those things to the public. The judge ruled today thAt That Document Wasnt real legal advice. She said it wasnt anything the trump era Justice Department said thAt That document was. She says they have been disingenuous about this part of the process, too. She says, in fact, William Barr decided from the outset that President Trump wouldnt be charged with any crimes, and what he had the Justice Department cook up for him was an after the Fact Rationalization of that decision that he had already made. And if you do that, thats not some protected, privileged legal Advice Thing that can be shielded from the public. Particularly if you lie to the court about it. Because, you know, if youre the u. S. Justice department, if youre the Attorney General of the United States and you lie to a Federal Judge and the judge finds out about it, particularly if this is not the first time youve done it, the Federal Judge is going to be mad. And theyre going to rule against you. And, frankly, in kind of cinematic terms. Listen to this. This is from the very top, the very start of judge jacksons Ruling Today. Quote. On friday, march 22nd, 2019, Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered his report of the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 president ial election to then Attorney General of the united States William P. Barr. But the Attorney General did not share it with anyone else. Instead, before the weekend was over, he sent a letter to congressional leaders purporting to summarize the principal conclusions set out in the report, compressing into less than four pages the approximately 200 highly detailed and painstakingly footnoted pages of Volume One which discusses russian interference in the election and the almost 200 equally detailed pages of volume two which concerns acts taken by President Trump in connection with the investigation. The Attorney Generals fourpage letter says the Attorney General did not draw a conclude whether the examined conduct constituted Obstruction Of Justice. It went on to announce Attorney General barrs own opinion thAt The evidence developed during the Special Counsels investigation is not sufficient to establish that President Trump committed an Obstruction Of Justice offense. Judge bermanjackson continues quote, the president then declares himself to be fully exonerated. The Attorney Generals characterization of what he had time to skim, much less study closely, prompted an immediate reaction as politicians and pundits took to their microphones and critics to hide the ball, an especially taciturn Special Counsel was moved to a rebuke, in part, the Summary Letter sent to congress and released to the public late in the afternoon on March 24th did not fully capture the context of the Special Counsel offices work and conclusions. Theres now public confusion about critical results about our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the department appointed the Special Counsel, to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations. The judge continues. Mueller called for the immediate release of his report but it remained under wraps for another three weeks. On april 18th, 2019, Attorney General barr appeared before congress to deliver the report. He asserted that he reached the conclusion he denounced about not prosecuting President Trump for Obstruction Of Justice, quote, in consultation with the Office Of Legal Counsel and other Justice Department lawyers. The oversight crew, Citizens Responsibility for ethics in washington, immeditely fired off a freedom of Information Request for any record related to the consultations. The Justice Department demurred, meaning rejected the request for release of documents. The judge continues, quote. What remains at Issue Today is a memo to the Attorney General dated March 24th, 2019, that specifically addresses the Subject Matter of the letter transmitted to congress, the question of whether then President Trump would be criminally prosecuted for Obstruction Of Justice. What remains at Issue Today is that memo. The judge concludes, quote, it is time for the public to see thAt Too. It was time for the puic to see the mueller report, rather than Attorney General barrs misrepresentations about what was in it. It is now time for the public to see that advice to him on whether the president would be prosecuted. That supposed advice to him on whether President Trump would be prosecuted. This is Judge Amy Bermanjackson recording the release of a Justice Department Document Weve never seen, which was the supposed justification for not bringing criminal Obstruction Of Justice charges against President Trump. In her Ruling Today, she orders the release of that never before seen document. She also just ransacks the trump era Justice Department, and Bill Barrs job running it, calling him personally disingenuous, saying the Justice Department took steps to, quote. The review of the document reveals that Attorney General barr was not then engaged in making a decision about whether President Trump should be charged with Obstruction Of Justice, the fact that he would not be prosecuted was a given. She says, quote, there was no decision actually being made as to whether the then president would be prosecuted. So surprise what we thought happened happened. Robert mueller and his team of prosecutors laid out over several hundred pages detailed evidence of all the multiple times they believed President Trump committed crimes by obstructing justice while he was in office. When that report was completed and submitted to the Justice Department, William Barr said instantly thAt The Justice Department had carefully reviewed every little bit of that evidence and concluded that nothing the president did seemed like a crime, and thats why President Trump was never prosecuted for his actions. Well, now, this Federal Judge has actually seen what happened behind the scenes, and it turns out, their public representations about what was going on inside the Justice Department with considering this evidence were lies. It turns out they never substantively considered trumps alleged crimes. They just decided in her words, as a given, from the outset, that Trump Wouldnt be charged with anything no matter what, and then they created a pseudo legal Paper Trail to cover their tracks on that after the fact. And then, according to the judge, they lied to a Federal Judge about whAt They had done, and now she has caught them. She has their interoffice emails, describing the production of this document that purported to justify the explanation. She has the chronology of when the decision was made and when they produced the document that purportedly was the advice that led barr to make that decision, which was backasswards in terms of its chronology, and shes now ordering the Justice Department to release the Paper Trail thAt They concocted here in order to support this lie, thAt They suspected would never be shown to the public. But heres the thing, Under New Management, right, Merrick Garland is now the new Attorney General. President bidens appointed Attorney General. And he now has the choice as to whether or not to appeal the judges ruling. He can appeal it if he wants to. If you look at Judge Amy Bermanjacksons Ruling Today, i was having a little bit of deja vu, a little bit like being back to the battle days, with whole big sections of the judges ruling redacted. Thats because those redacted parts of her ruling actually show whats in this document that she just ordered the Justice Department to release. She redacted those portions of her ruling, and she didnt just go ahead and release the Document Today because shes allowing a couple of weeks to allow for the possibility thAt The Justice Department, Under New Management, may appeal her ruling and still try to keep this thing under wraps. This is a heck of a thing, right . I mean, this is an administration that is in every way looking forward and not back. Merrick garland is the Attorney General now, all new leadership At The Justice Department, all new priorities, moving forward with A Million things at once, and heres a judge saying, you know, your immediate predecessor in this job lied to me, lied to the court and lied to the american public about something as freaking serious as why the former president was not charged with crimes. You cool with the evidence of all of that being released to the public . Because its coming out in two weeks unless you want to appeal my ruling. What are you going to do . No word yet from the new Attorney General or the Justice Department as to whether they will accede to the judges ruling and not appeal it and let this thing come out, but wow, watch this space indeed. So were watching thAt Tonight. Beyond that, theres lots of other news were watching tonight as well. Last night we reported on what would seem to be good and clarifying big political news for the democrats. Republican leader in the Senate Mitch Mcconnell has announced Flat Out in advance thAt There will be zero republican votes for president bidens two big next legislative pushes, the Infrastructure Bill and the american families plan. He is just saying it Flat Out, there will be zero republican votes, and i know that doesnt sound like good news for democrats or for the administration and wanting to pass this bill, and on the face of it, of course its not, but honestly, realistically, that clarity from the republicans is very helpful. I mean, having the republicans in Advance Guarantee there will be zero votes from their side no matter whats in the bill, that frees democrats up to stop worrying about whAt The republicans think. They have taken themselves out of the game. So democrats can stop Wasting Time trying to persuade republicans to support it, since republicans have said they are not persuadable. Well stop dealing with you then. Democrats can move on now. Given they have the guarantee from republicans, they can move on knowing they only need to negotiate among themselves. Which is no small things. They need to negotiate among themselves. The democrats are a diverse group. They know they have to negotiate a bill between themselves, that can get the votes in the senate, and pass it under the senate rules that allow you to approve a bill with just 50 democratic votes. It has to fit the senate rules about what kind of legislation you can pass by those means. Very clarifying. Theres no ambiguity here as to whats going to happen or whAt Time should be wasted any further. That was Last Night, and i do believe thats a big deal and it deserves more attention than the Beltway Press. Democrats are basically cleared by Mitch Mcconnell to stop Wasting Time, go ahead, move now, pass infrastructure, pass the american families plan with just democratic votes, go. Now, today, The New York Times was first to report thAt The democratic Senate Leader Chuck schumer is planning to add a bunch of immigration Reform Stuff to the Infrastructure Bill to try to pass a limited number of Immigration Reform Proposals as part of that next big piece of legislation that democrats are going to move. And again, this is about realistic politics. At a certain point, i think we do ourselves a favor by no longer going through the motions and talking about the republican party like theyre a part of the game here. Theyre not. They have overtly taken themselves out of the process. And so its not worth considering whAt They have to say about legislation thAt Theyre guaranteeing they wont participate in passing, no matter whats in it. And thats true on covid relief. They promised there would be no votes. There are no votes. It was worth democrats ignoring them. They now said it would be the same thing on infrastructure, the american families plan. Honestly, zero republicans are going to vote for democratic proposals on immigration as well. Democrats are only going to be able to pass substantial legislation with their own votes. Theyre not going to get any republican votes on anything. Not as long as Mitch Mcconnell walks this earth. But thats kind of great for democrats in terms of knowing how to proceed. Theres no use in dithering over this stuff any more. For proponents of this reform, moving into the next pass, will pass, next order of business Infrastructure Bill means finally that we might get some reform to our broken Immigration System for the first time in more than a generation. If you can stop the dumb pointless process of talking to republicans about whAt They want, given thAt They wont vote for anything, you can actually make plans to move forward on something that can pass through the senate, through the budget reconciliation process. Huge news if the democrats can make it happen. The Strategic Shift On Immigration announced today, or reported today in The New York Times suggests that democrats have figured out how to do so, and now its just a matter of watching them figure out how to make it happen. Meanwhile on the republican side, just because theyre not participating in legislation doesnt mean thAt Theyre not doing anything. On the republican side, republicans in congress remain mostly just obsessed with weird Culture War fights and with demonstrating unflinching loyalty to the twice impeached oneterm former president whose allegedly criminal behavior while president may be about to get a whole new level of expose given todays court ruling. Enjoy. But the Beltway Press is hit up today about the prospect that Liz Cheney is about to be kicked out of her Leadership Role in the republican party in congress over her ongoing criticism of the former president. That may yet happen and feels inevitable to me At This point. Why anybody should be surprised thAt The republican party is siding with former President Trump rather than siding with their supposed principles, implies that everybody has been asleep for the last five years. Were also going to talk tonight with Kara Swisher about this big decision expected early tomorrow about whether or not the former president is going to get his Facebook Account back after he used it to try to mount an armed insurrection against the u. S. Government. Former president was banned for life on twitter, facebook banned him At ThAt Time as well, but tomorrow theyre going to say whether the ban will continue or whether it was, you know, temporary, whether it was just like a little violent insurrection timeout, but now everythings cool because thats kind of what facebooks made for. If he does get back on to Social Media Tomorrow Morning, mark my words, what we will quickly find is that former President Trump is just as obsessed now as he was in january with this fantasy that he still is the rightful president , that he was actually somehow reelected but we cant see it. Joe Biden Isnt really the rightful president , but at some point, it will all be revealed and trump will be ushered back into the White House that fantasy does appear to be still the main reoccupation of the former president. The same fantasy is what is driving the ongoing, totally Bananas Recount of the Arizona President ial account, led by A Qanon promoter, using theories from a guy who writes books about Treasure Hunting to find the mysterious folds and invisible water marks on all of the arizona ballot, to prove true their fantasy thAt Trump didnt lose the election. That same fantasy is also animating the antivoting Rights Roll backs in republican controlled states around the country. We reported Last Night on how florida republicans are belatedly realizing that in their haste to pass Voter Rights Restrictions in order to bolster trumps claims about mysterious Voter Fraud the in election, they might have accidentally curtailed the exact means of voting in florida that is most popular among florida republican voters. Oops. Republicans in virginia are meeting to nominate their candidates for virginia elections. Theyre meeting to make those nominations this weekend. Virginia republicans are just now realizing thAt Their voter i. D. Rules which they passed and supported in order to bolster trumps bananas claims about Voter Fraud, theyre just now realizing themselves thAt The voter i. D. Rules thAt They have been insisting on are too much of a pain for they themselves to follow for their nominating convention this weekend. So Nbc News was first to report that virginia republicans are exempting themselves from their own voter i. D. Antivoting Rights Rules thAt They have been promoting for the state but they realized that even they cant live by those rules for their own election to nominate their Oat Candidates for the ballot this year. Oops and now in texas, texas republicans appear to have stepped on a rake with their new draconian voting Rights Rollback, which is rocketing through the Texas Legislature. Today, a huge group of major texas businesses stepped to the floor to say thAt They are against what republicans are trying to do to rescind and radically roll back Voting Rights in the lone star state. Texas republicans may, in theory, i guess, decide thAt They dont care about this, i guess. But have you seen whos on this list of Big Texas Companies that just came out to criticize them . I sort of think theyre going to have to care. I think they might have screwed this up. That story in detail is next. Stay with us. vo right now at verizon, buy iphone 12 pro with 5g, and get another on us to give. Because the only thing better than getting a new iphone 12 is giving one. Get the 5g Network you deserve with the 5g Iphone you want. The network is just the beginning. The Ups And Downs of frequent Mood Swings can take you to deep, depressive lows. Or, give you unusually high energy, even when depressed. Overwhelmed by Bipolar I . Ask about vraylar. Some medicines only treAt The lows or highs. Vraylar effectively treats depression, acute manic and mixed episodes of Bipolar I in adults. Fullspectrum relief for all Bipolar I symptoms, with just one pill, once a day. Elderly patients with dementiarelated psychosis have an increased risk of death or stroke. Call your doctor about unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. Report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a lifethreatening reaction, or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. Side effects may not appear for several weeks. High Cholesterol And Weight gain, high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, may occur. Movement dysfunction, sleepiness, and stomach issues are common side effects. When Bipolar I overwhelms, vraylar helps smooth the Ups And Downs. It worked once before. In 2017, texas republicans tried to pass what was called a bathroom bill, targeting Transgender Americans. The republican Sponsored Law would have had the State Step in to mandate which bathrooms transgender texans would be forced to use in public schools and government buildings. The Effort Drew criticism from the lgbtq community, from democrats, from activists, some republicans, but perhaps most importantly, it drew criticism from the Business Community. Big fortune 500 companies spoke out about how that bill would hurt not just transgender people in texas but it would also hurt the state. Big corporations like ibm based in austin, Oil And Gas companies like Shell And Chevron and exxon in houston, southwest and American Airlines, At T in dallas. The Dallas Morning News reported that more than 720 businesses and their leaders spoke up both in letters and in person to make their position clear and that sustained pressure worked. The Texas Legislature didnt pass that bathroom bill, not that year, at least. Now, businesses in texas are ramping up the pressure again. This time against two bills that are making their way through the State Legislature that would dramatically roll back Voting Rights. Coalition of big businesses and Business Groups in texas under the name fair elections Texas Today released a letter making clear where they stand on the voting Rights Rollback thAt Texas republicans are pursuing. Look At The signatories, its got American Airlines, hewlettpackard, microsoft, sales force, unilever, Big Companies. It says, quote. We believe the right to vote is sacred. When more people participate in the democratic process, we all prosper. We stand together in a nonpartisan coalition to support reforms that make democracy more successful and oppose any changes that restrict eligible Voters Access to the ballot. We urge business and civic leaders to join us as we look for our democratic principle, equality. In addition to the Big Companies represented, the letter was also signed by the first name you see on the list, ron kirk, who helped spearhead this effort to speak out against these restrictive voting bills. Joining us now live is ron kirk, the former mayor of dallas, texas, and he is the former u. S. Trade representative during the obama administration. Mr. Ambassador, thank you so much for making time to be here tonight. Its nice to see you. Rachel, thank you so much for having me, and in your introduction, you basically exposed this effort for what it is. You know, in a state like texas, when republicans like georgia won every office, they hold every office, you would think they would be pretty satisfied with the process as it is, but this is not about elections. It is not about the integrity of the ballot box. This is simply to further the lie that President Trump will not let go of that somehow the 2020 election was taken. And the Business Community, the leaders that have signed on to this effort through our Fair Elections Texas are making a simple point and a recognition, one, giving people more access to our democracy, empowering more people to vote. Its not only the right thing to do, but its also good for our economy. So were hopeful as more leaders recognize this and speak out, perhaps we can have the same Effect And Result as we did in protecting the rights of our transgender youth in the last session. One of the things that The New York Times highlighted today in writing about this effort that youve been leading down in texas is thAt This seems to mark a sort of shift in terms of the Business Communitys willingness to stand on this issue. Before this, we had seen American Airlines and Dell Computer that had spoken out about the restrictive voting in texas, and see them get excoriated by officials in texas and around the country thAt They shouldnt Stand Up, they shouldnt speak on this issue. It effectively feels like companies like American Airlines and dell have back up by having all of these other firms Stand Up and say, yeah, weve got trouble with these bills too. It does feel like sort of Closing Ranks and letting republicans know they cant single out a company here or there to bully for their perspective on this issue. Is that a fair analysis . I think thats a fair analysis, but i also want to point out thAt This began with the broader coalition many of us were involved in and the effort last month to oppose the legislation in georgia in which we engaged Business Leadership to speak out with us, but i will be honest, rachel, and tell you many of us, many particular africanamerican Business Leaders went to many of the companies on whose board we sit, and we engaged and said if you meant it when you spoke out after those horrific events on January The 6th in which we all witnessed something that we thought would be unfathomable, in which americans largely fueled by a lie told by the former president attacked our own country and a threAt To our democracy, and you heard a number of Business Leaders from the Business Round Table to the u. S. Chamber say thAt They would no longer support those individuals that refused to recognize the validity of that election, and engage in efforts to destroy our democracy. I dont think its an overstatement to say this is just as much a threat, the effort were seeing that you highlighted in texas, in georgia, in florida, in states around the country to further attack our democracy by building in institutional disadvantages against primarily poor and voters of color, and thAt The Business Community should just should be just as unequivocal in speaking out against this as they did those effort that is we witnessed in our Nations Capital on January The 6th. Recognizing the Key And Sort of unparalleled power of the Business Community to speak in a way that can be heard by the lawmakers who most need to hear it on this issue. Ron kirk, former mayor of dallas, former u. S. Trade representative, mr. Ambassador, it is a real honor to have you with us here tonight. I know we had to scramble to get you here on short notice. I appreciate you taking the time, sir. Thanks. Its an honor to be here, and thanks for highlighting this important issue. Of course. We have much more to get to tonight. Stay with us. Stay with us [sfx kids laughing] [sfx bikes passing] [sfx fire truck siren] onstar, we see them. Okay. Mother and child in vehicle. Mother is unable to exit the vehicle. Injuries are unknown. Thank you, onstar. My son, is he okay . Your sons fine. Thank you. There was something in the road. Its okay. Youre safe now. Just a month after the 2015 election, a bunch of executives at facebook got together to make a very important decision. This is how the Washington Post described what went down. Again, this is a month after the 2016 election. Quote, facebook created Project P for propaganda in the hectic weeks after the 2016 president ial election and quickly found dozens of pages that has peddled false News Reports ahead of trumps surprise victory. Nearly all were based overseas, had financial motives and displayed a clear rightward bent. In a world of perfect neutrality, which facebook espouses as its goal, the political tilt to the Pages Shouldnt have mattered but in a Video Conference between facebooks d. C. Office and Silicon Valley Headquarters in december 2016, the companys most senior republican voiced concerns that would become familiar to those within the company. He said, quote, we cant remove all of it because it will disproportionately affect conservatives. When a Facebook Staff Member pushed for the entire list, the entire Propaganda List to be taken down on the grounds that fueled the fake news that roiled the election, the same republican executive warned of the backlash from conservatives saying, quote, they dont believe it to be fake news. And so many of those pages producing false disinformation, they stayed. A year later, it happened again, the company was going to try to change its News Feed Algorithm to limit the amount of misinformation flowing out of that particular fire hose. But when they realized the new algorithm would hurt right wing publishers more than others because right wing outlets were pushing more misinformation than others, the company once again pulled back. They kept Pumping Misinformation knowingly into Peoples News feeds because limiting it would mean limiting more right wing sites. Funny how that works. Why is that . Eventually, the company announced that politicians writ large would simply be exempt from Facebooks Fact Checking and its Community Guidelines on banned speech, and yes, that rule applied to all politicians but it was obvious that at least in the United States, it was tailored to one politician in particular. This decision by facebook thAt The most important thing was thAt They not appear to be targeting Donald Trump and conservatives, even though they were the ones spreading all the Misinformation And Conspiracy theories, that decision had enormous consequences. President trump, of course, was free to use that platform to lie about, say, the coronavirus, and to promote Dangerous Fake Covid cures and lie about bogus Election Fraud claims and claim ultimately thAt The 2020 election was stolen. It took a freaking violent attack on the u. S. Capitol for facebook to finally change its mind, to finally recalibrate its concerns. After President Trump used facebook and other Social Media to incite the January 6th attack, facebook finally banned from its site saying it was too dangerous to allow him to continue to post there. But although Twitters Ban on trump after the insurrection was permanent, for life, facebooks wasnt. Facebook executives basically punted on deciding Whether Trumps Facebook Account should ever be reinstated. They punted that decision to something called the facebook Oversight Board, which is 20 renowned experts from around the world, funded by facebook but operating independently, that is the group thats going to announce their decision on Whether Trump will be allowed back on facebook Tomorrow Morning at 9 00 a. M. Eastern. And ill be honest, Tech Companies and how they make their decisions i feel like, what do i know . But for obvious reasons, this decision Tomorrow Morning is going to be a very big deal with big implications for tech and Social Media, but also for politics and for democracy, and because, what do i know, i wanted to talk about it with somebody who really does understand this stuff and deeply. Joining us is Kara Swisher, new york times opinion contributing writer, host of the podcast sway, ms. Switcher, its nice to have you here tonight. Thanks for making time. Nice to be here. Thanks for inviting me. This isnt my Wheel House at all. And i feel like i have come to learn over the past five years how the misuse of Social Media to undermine democracy plays out in real life, but i have yet to understand whAt The Tech Companies can do about it. Well, they can follow their rules, and kick people off that violate their rules, which Donald Trump did numerous times, over and over and over again, and they let him do it. Its sort of like you dont want to you cant even compare it to anything. He just was allowed to violate the rules without any repercussions until January 6th when he crossed what is a very bright Red Line which was to insight violence, and because many of these companies didnt want to become Hand Maidens of violence in this fashion, they moved him off the platforms very quickly. In the case of twitter, it was a permanent ban because Jack Dorsey did what it took and made the difficult decision to take him off. It took a long time and a lot of violations. Facebook did remove him, and punted. Youre right. Thats exactly whAt They did, they said they didnt know whAt To do, they didnt want to be the arbiter of truth, which begs the question, why build a platform that requires them, and now they have sent it over to this facebook Oversight Board, which is going to make this decision, which many people think probably will return Donald Trump to facebook. Thats actually sort of the over and under in Silicon Valley right now that he will be returning to the Platform And Facebook will be compelled to do it and not have the responsibility of making the decision or not. Is the Oversight Board making this decision about trump based on an assessment of whether or not he has held to facebooks rules or are they making a decision on the basis of some sort of understanding of some greater good . Well, theyre trying to do a greater good thing. They couldnt make a decision based on how hes behaved on the platforms, because he has violated the rules all the time. Honestly, its not his fault. Why wouldnt he if it was good for him, why wouldnt he try to increase fundraising, he uses facebook a lot for fundraising, why wouldnt he use twitter as a megaphone . Hes good at it. I hate to say this, the tools are available to him, and they do nothing about it, and they give warnings, as you know, twitter slapped warnings on it, which was, i dont mean to be rude, but it was laughable, he continued to do it, and his base continued to retweet it. And in the case of twitter, they finally said thats enough, and other sites like reddit did the same thing. The ceo told me, theres a thing, you know, malignantly cooperative that a lot of these trolls are, and so he decided thAt They werent cooperative and tossed them off when they were violating the rules. In facebooks case, i think it should boil down to that. Heres someone who breaks the rules incessantly. He shouldnt be given a pass because hes the president or the former president , especially when he moves into dangerous territory like this. But he had been flirting with it for a long, long time. If they so decide to allow him back on to the platform tomorrow, do you think that means that hes both back on the platform in the shortterm but also essentially indemnified from being kicked off again for the kinds of things that hes been shown to do thAt They have decided to look away from by putting him back . No. No, i think theres going to be strings attached. If they do allow him back on the platform, if he does things like the big lie. If he starts doing it again, which, of course, he is going to to it again. Why not . Why shouldnt he . He never has repercussions for what he does, thats precisely what you would want to do if you had influence, and you had a malignant idea of influence. So if he does certain things from what i understand, he will, again, be subject to sanctions, but this is going to be like whacamole with him. Instead of just considering him like a lot of people who misbehave on the platforms, a bad Actor And Kick him off. Thats whAt They have done with lots of people, including conservatives, some liberals, some all over the place, and they have done that before, and they just dont want to apply it to this particular man. I see him as an outlier, and theres not going to be a lot of them. What i worry about is someone someday whos a little smarter than he is who doesnt make unforced errors the way he has so many times, which i think he Cant Help himself in a lot of ways. Kara swisher, new york times opinion contributing writer, the host of the podcast sway, thank you for helping me understand this. As i said, this is not my Wheel House. Im aware of the sort of stakes here but not the nuance, you have helped with that a lot. Thank you. More ahead tonight. Stay with us. Here is the thing you are going to want to see. Last night on our show, the top of the show, we brought you an interview that Nbc Jacob had done in california with a remarkable young man on a remarkable occasion. This a young man who has been put through a particular kind of hell by the u. S. Government under the previous president. His name is brian. He was 15 years old and was with his mother when he was forcibly separated from his mom by the Trump Administration. She says they told her say goodbye, you will never see your son again. And then they took him. He was 15 years old. Now, 3 1 2 years later, after the biden administration set up a Task Force to reunite families thAt The Trump Administration forcibly separated, brian is one of the first four kids to be reunited with his family. And when we met him Last Night through jacob, brian said he knew he was likely to see his mom again sometime this week. Well, we can now report thAt The reunion happened today just south of san diego, california. Here are brian and his mother enjoying one of their first hugs after nearly four years apart, after the Trump Administration separated them. Brian then spoke to some assembled reporters about whAt This moment means to him after all this time. Theres no words to describe the happiness that im feeling right now, and im grateful with all the people thAt They did this amazing work to allow my mom to come back. I just hope thAt They can all the people that participate and make this possible, they keep doing this amazing work and they help more people reunify with their families just like they did with my mom. Perhaps even more eloquent than those words is the sight of this young man, now 18 years old, who cant stop hugging his mom, right . Playing with her hair. Theres still more than A Thousand kids that were separated from their families. More than A Thousand families that were separated. Lots of hard work ahead to get them back together. But the reunions have started. Many more of these reunions to come. Visibly diminish wrinkled skin in. Crepe corrector lotion. Only from gold bond. The only thing better than a new 5g Phone is another one for free. Right now, buy one of our best 5g Phones, get another one on us. With verizon, get the 5g Network you deserve, with the 5g Phones you want. Because the network is just the beginning. Like you, my hands are everything to me. But i was diagnosed with dupuytrens contracture. And it got to the point where things i took for granted got tougher to do. Thought surgery was my only option. Turns out i was wrong. So when a Hand Specialist told me about nonsurgical treatments, it was a total game changer. Like you, my hands have a lot more to do. Learn more at factsonhand. Com today. All americans Wang Watch at home, especially the young people. I want you to know your president has your back. The president has your back. That was Joe Biden at his state of the Union Address last week. Were not supposed to call it the state of the union, but it was the state of the union, pledging his support for Transgender Americans. Now as i mentioned At The top of the show, the Daily Beast was first to report today thAt The u. S. Justice department is expected to start fighting in court against whAt The beast calls the rash of antilbgtq and antitransbills proliferating in State Legislatures. The Justice Department, interestingly, confirming that in a statement saying the department willfully enforce our civil rights statutes to protect transgender individuals. Again, that reporting today from the Daily Beast. But as more than 120 different antitrans laws continue to move in republicancontrolled legislators around the country, watch this space indeed, for the federal government to enter the fight, which could be not just game changing, but it could absolutely change both the profile, the tenor and the prospects for that new discriminatory crusade by the republican party in State Legislators around the country. Thats going to do it for us for tonight. Ill see you tomorrow. Way too early with Kasie Hunt is up next. As the special Special Counsels report acknowledges there is substantial evidence to show thAt The president was frustrated and angered by his sincere belief thAt The investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks. Then u. S. Attorney general Bill Barr back in 2019. A Federal Judge now slamming barr as disingenuous for his spin on the mueller probe. The question is what more will we learn about barrs