Evangelicals. A fascinating piece. All your reporting in secretary. It is such a gift to have you in our stable, thank you for doing it, thank you for jn me tonight. Paula ramos, contributor of the cominbook, latino evangelicals, rise of the far right. Thank you for your time. That is our show for tonight. Now it is time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, lawrence. Alex, i just wasted an hour of my life. Dont know. What . Thats what i shouldve done. Hould have watched your show. I thought it was my job to watch the Trump Town Hall moderated by Sean Hannity. I could have told you. On another channel. So, it is the town hall, you know, harrisburg, pennsylvania, filled with people ready to ask their questions. Not a single Audience Question in the entire hour because, you know, the out of control rambling, incoherent answers went on forever, Sean Hannity he has to talk about Hannibal Lector and sharks. Sean hannity is promising the audience that the Audience Questions are coming up and they never do. Unbelievable. Any one of the Audience Questions would have been better than any of the Sean Anity qstions in the entire hour. There mightve been something to report about it if just one Audience Question got asked. Well, next time, lawrence. Stick with this channel next time. You now have my full report of the last 60 minutes. I dont need to watch any of the highlights. You have been saved that. Fhat, i thank you, sir. Thanks, alex. Have a great show. The big Campaign News of the night is a major endorsement of Kamala Harris for president. This is an endorsement that could really change voin Kamala Harriss favor because it comes from one of americas most prominent republican families. Liz cheney, the daughter of former Vice President cheney endorsed Kamala Harris for President Today and comments she made in north carolina, where a Liz Cheney endorsement could make a difnce in the outcome of the president ial election in that state, where Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are running within one point of Each Other in most polls. Liz Chas Madit clear since January 6th that she could never vote for Donald Trump for president. But, since Donald Trump secured the republican nomination, Liz Cheney has not said how she will vote in the president ial election until today. Because we are here in north carolina, i think it is, it is crucially important for the people to recognize not onlis what i have just said about the Anger Tat Trump poses something that should prevent people from voting for him but i dont believe that we have them luxury of writing in candidates names, particularly in Swing States. As conservative, as a someone who believes in and cares about the constitution, i have thought deeply about this and because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am i not voting for Donald Trump but i will be voting for Kamala Harris. Congressional committee investigating Donald Trumps attem president ial election leading up to and on January 6th. President Trump Sat in the Dining Room off the Oval Office watching the violent riots at the capitol on television. For hours, he would not issue a Pub Statement instructing his supporters to disperse and leave the capitol, despite urgent pleas from his white House Staff and dozens of others to do so. This was an utter moral failure and a clear dereliction of duty. Liz Cheneys Endorsement of Kamala Harris will be heard by republican voters. It could be a number of voters that could tip a Swing State or several Swing States in the favor of Kamala Harris in an election, now, where the candidates are separated by one or two points in the important Electoral College Swing States that will decide this election. The Liz Cheney endorsement seems possily inevitable when we look at it today. Looking back in time, it was not inevitable. Liz cheney has been very careful in her approach to this public discussion of the Trump Candidacy, sending she is opposed to the Trump Candidacy but never going that step, that next step. Okay, when you are filling out your ballot, what are you going to we now have that answer. Liz cheneys answer main become the answer for a crucial number of republicans out there who could end up deciding this election. That endorsement of Kamala Harris by Liz Cheney came on the same day that Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a new indictment of russian citizens for trying to interfere with the current, 2024 president ial election, again in support of Donald Trump. The indictment says russia today, a statecontrolled Media Outlet funded and directed by the government of ssia after russia invaded ukraine in february 2022, rt was Sanctioneroped Abydos Jupiters and ultimately forced to cease formal operations in the united states, canada, and the United Kingdom and the european union. In response, rt created , in the words of its editor in chief, an entire empire of covert projects designed to sape Public Opinion in western audiences. The indictment says rt and its employees deployed nearly 10 Billion ordered through a network of foreign shell entities to covertly fund and direct englishlanguage videos on multiple Social Media channels, including to talk, instagram, twitter and youtube. According to the indictment, those videos are designed to support the candidacy of Donald Trump. The first time Donald Trump ran for the presidency, he openly and illegally asked for russias help. Russia, if you are listening, i hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Russia did exactly what Donald Trump requested that they. After Merrick Garland announced the indictments for russian interference in this Years Election Today Donald Trump omplaied on Social Media that it was somehow unfair for the Justice Department of the united states of america to criminally prosecute illegal russian interference in our elections. The russian government can successfully interfere in presi entirely to the other absurdity of the Electoral College. It was impossible for the russian Election Interference Operation in 2016 to turn enough votes in Donald Trumps favor so that Donald Trump could actually win the most votes. Donald trump lost the vote at the polls by 3 Million votes, a Merchant Election Interference couldnt possibly close but Electoral College can be won by tiny vote margins in a you states. By 7 Million votes nationally and he will surely lose to Kamala Harris by millions of votes nationally and that is why russian interference is targeted at the key Electoral College states that decide the election. There is nothing the founders feared more than foreign interference in american elections. They would be horrified to know that nothing has made foreign ferece in our president ial elections more effective than the Electoral College, true curse on american democracy. Leading of our Discussion Tonight is andrew weissman, former fbi general counsel, former chief of the criminal division in the eastern desert of new york. He is a msnbc legal Analyst And Coauthor of the The New York Times bestselling book the trump indictments. Also, rick stegall, who served as under Secretary Of State during the Obama Administration. He is a msnbc political analyst and the author of information wars, how we lost the global battle against the disinformation and what we can do about it. Andrew weissman, i know , you know, when i heard today the Justice Department, russian indictment, i really had to ask , a new one . It is happening again, we are doing this again after what you went through investigating what happened when Donald Trump publicly asked russia to help, there seems to be an awful lot of familiar notes and what they are seeing in this indictment today. Absolutely. And, No One should be surprised. This is something, if you remember watmueller testified before congress, he was asked about this, he said it is happening as we speak and it will continue to continue. Kudos to the department of justice for taking affirmative steps now. You remember in 2016, the was belated criticism that they didnt take action, even though they saw during the election that this was going on, because they didnt want to be viewed as politicizing the election and taking sides. But, that came at the expense of interference. Here, in black and white, in voluminous Papers Hat Apartment of justice has made public, it is exactly the scheme, lawrence, that you laid out, which is to get Donald Trump elected, to have the republicans win. That is Goal Number one Goal Ber T is to have the democrats lose to lose confidence in their policies and, particularly, of course, about the war in ukraine. So, it has whole numbers and it targets specifically the battleground states, it targets Spec Interest groups and voter blocks, it identifies hispanics, americans use, obviously anyone in a battleground state, as someone that should be targeted to try and make sure that they can win the war in ukraine by getting Donald Trump elected. That is the explicit target. Final points really quickly is that one the innovative things that department of justice did is they took down domains. They didnt just indict people and lay out the schema to make it clear we know what they are doing, they also took down some of the instrumentality that russia is using to foment this illegal scheme. They closed down those websites they have been using. Theres a new statement by the harriswalz campaign, Vice President harris about Liz Cheneys endorsement today. I want to read that in a moment use it does, when you consider Liz Cheney made her endorsement even before knowing about this the Justice Department indictment, which is another demonstration of the danger that Donald Trump poses in politics and in government, the intersection of these Stories Today is quite powerful. Here what the Vice President is saying tonight in a statement about Liz Cheneys endorsement that says the Vice President is proud to have earned conquers womaneys vote, she is a Patriot Country it puts our Democracy And Constitution first and she noted in her powerful remarks this election is a choice between the fundamental threat Donald Trump poses to our democracy and a leader who will stand up for our freedoms and the rule of law. Vice pResident Harris will be president for all ans regardless of political party, for any american looking to reject the Chaos And Division of Donald Trump, turn the page and pursue a new way forward that protects our freedoms in defense of the american values we all believe in. There is alace for you n the Harriswalz Coalition and people continue working to earn your support. Richard stengel, as a former Obama Administration official , your reaction to Liz Cheney endorsing the Vice President , the Vice President s Written Acceptance of it just now, and what it means for this campaign. It is an expert in everything. As you sa, lawrence, she put country over party. She put the constitution above all. Conservatives and she described herself as cnservative, that she sees Donald Trump a such an accidental threat to the country to, to the constitution that shes going to vote for a democratic Party Candidate for the first time. I think it is extraordinary. Lisning. Lot of folks are i hope conservatives who cant tolerate trump will use her as an example and a vote for Kamala Harris as well. A andrewissman as we go forward , one of the things the Attorney General said today, the investigation is ongoing. And, because of the effort is ongoing by the russians. Absolutely. So, two things, one, just to relate these stories that youve been doing, one of them sad things when you look at the issue of russian interference in our elections, or any foreign government or foreign Persons Interference in our elections, that should be an apolitical subject. That is something that democrats and republicans should both be getting behind. It shouldnt be i am for it as long as tforein government is helping me. So, that is really Liz Cheneys point. It is an apolitical thing that is fundamental to being an american. To your point of a continuing investigation, one thing that is fascinating to me having looked at these documents is, wetwo employees, relatively low level, were charged today. The indictments spell out Chapter And Verse two founders of the russian Front Company and how complicit, illegally complicit they are. My reading of this, and it is sort of what i call educated speculation is those two founders, i suspect, are cooperating. It makes no sense for them to not be charged given the y this read to. So, i strongly suspect that what We E seeing, as detailed as it is, it is the tip of the iceberg. Richard stengel, at the state department, one of your jobs was battling this kind of interference , which has become all the more sophisticated, apparently overtime. Yes. The evolved, the russians, they are leng. In 2016, they created the internet research agency, which was a tall farm with russians who didnt speak english imitating americans. In 2020 they used the disinformation that was in our system to try O Help Trump to get elected. Now, they are doing this thing that modern Media Companies are doing, which is they are hiring influencers who are often unwitting and they are hired by the russian government. Theyve created a covert influence campaign. I would make one point about having watched the russians do this for a long time. It is not that they are so sophisticated, it is that we are so credulous. Even when you look at what they wrote in their memos about the Swing States, about hispanics, this, these are not sophisticated political analysts, these are people who are not very sophisticated. The point is that we believe things because we want to believe them. And, it is incumbent upon us to understand what they are doing and try to look. One of the Domain Names they got with something called Washington Post. Pm pretending to be the Washington Post. Any sophisticated reader, someone who is aware of Media Literacy will realize this isnt Washington Post im saying to everybody out there, we have to be aware, we have to be vigilant. Andrew weissman, of course, apearance in these legal filings in the documentation of what was going on, there was a medm that Tucker Carlson made, there he is, his happiness at shopping in a supermarket in russia, claiming that it is better than anything we have in this country, which of courses a line that Tucker Carlson was trying to sell to us. One of theoperators of this Propaganda Effort in the united states, one of the russian operators has a message in there, Text Message saying we Cant Use this, this looks too ridiculous. Someone else said no, the boss wants us to use it. Well, look, this is a classic, as rick said, not terribly sophisticated campaign to get people to do very much but Donald Trump has been Proselytizinhich Ito become pro russian and anti ukraine. So, this is a very much a redo of 2016. Hillary clinton was, had a very hawkish view that was joined by traditional republicans which is proukraine and the republican party has really split on that because the republican party that we know from eight years ago doesnt exist anymore and is now pro russian party, which is why you see, in these papers, such an enormous alignment of pro Russia Stance and proDonald Trump stance. So, that is the entire scheme here is to get people to change their view of russia to think that ukraine should actually resolve the war and to give up territory to russia and for americans to be dissatisfied with the current proukraine, profreedom, pronato stance. Its very overt policy that being promulgated here. I really encourage people to read the papers. They are really clear and it Chapter And Verse in black and white. You dont have to take Anyones Word for it. You can see it in blackand white. Andrew weissman, richard stengel, thank you both very much for starting off our coverage tonight. One of the things that is at stake in this eion is that Kamala Harris wants to stop Mass Murderers in this country. Donald trump and republicans in congress want to guarantee that american Mass Murderers remain the best equipped Mass Murderers in the world. That is next. When i was diagnosed with hiv, i didnt know who i would be. But here i am. Being me. Keep being you. 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