You come back to it, if they had someone who is more of an alabama democrat, he would have been fine. But on issue set after issue set, hes a democrat and thats a problem in alabama. I hate to tell everyone that. I just dont see how how big of an issue is the abortion issue . I think its a big deal and hurt him right out of the gate and hes done very little to overcome that. He hasnt looked for issues to find Common Ground with conservatives. Now, i do think one of the things ill be watching on Election Night is Shelby County in birmingham and thats where roy moore won 63 of the vote in 2012 but lost in the primary. Thats an affluent the birmingham suburbs, thats where people thats the targetrich environment for doug jones. If hes going to win, hes got to do well there. Hes got to gin up the africanamerican vote and comments that he made about slavery and harkening back to the days of slavery when we really had family values. And then, also, hes got to get white voters and those white voters are most likely going to be, if this happens, moderate american women who are offended
conservative town where roy moore lost by five points but on the other side mitt romney won that county by 15 points. But im also looking towards wednesday. In the conversation that will take place, if in fact, roy moore wins this, its a conversation of what do the democrats In The Deep South look like. The louisiana governor is the only democrat representing The Deep South on a statewide significant level and some of the interesting conversations weve had with folks on the ground here, kasie, are those that are rigid in running for a republican and believing that their partys candidate, regardless of the allegations against him, are. I want to play sound bites that weve had these conversations where ive asked people because roy moore has called this a conspiracy. Just this morning he called it a scheme behind the allegations that have come forward. Hes played himself to be a victim in this scenario and not unlike what we heard from President Trump in his own race and its been kind of roy moore of his career. When he was removed from Chief Justice twice, it was sort of us against the world, similar to what we heard two months ago in his campaign against Luther Strange. I want to talk to you about some
of that sound where some of the voters are coming to his defense. I dont believe none of them. They were probably paid to do that because why didnt they do it when he first ran . Who do you think paid them . I dont know. I dont believe that what theyre saying is true. Do you think its republicans paying these women or organizing them . I dont have who knows. Who knows. I dont know. I dont know if they are necessarily in cahoots but i would say it might be a conspiracy in that somebody might be paying them off. I think theyre out for money and theyve been pushed by the other people to say things that are not true. Who are these other people . I just i wouldnt really like to say that on tv. Sure. So you think that and i think Luther Strange is probably behind a lot of this. Theres part of you that wants to believe roy moores
denials and what he is saying about these women . I would say yes. Reporter kasie, if roy moore wins on tuesday night, hell have run by running a ghost campaign. They have little operation and far from a robust canvassing phonebanking operation. Hes running on a conspiracy and has not had a public event since tuesday. This is the last weekend before the election. Usually theres a big getouttovote effort. Roy moore is essentially riding in to tuesday banking on the fact that republicans will come out to vote him because hes a republican in alabama. Kasie . Vaughn hillyer, thank you. Lets talk about what we heard from those women talking to vaughn. I kind of wonder if there hasnt been a Pen Due Lum Swing and when these allegations came out, a lot of times if the negative information, if you get it right before election day, people
react to that negative information with their vote. It seems like were coming around to the other side of that. Timing is everything and the allegations are shocking and theyre amazing. But as you can see, the people on the ground in alabama are not buying it. The other thing that is amazing is roy moore got more votes in the gop primary than the than all democrats voted in the democrat primary. 162,000 votes for him in a contested primary and 150,000 votes cast by democrats. Roy moore is doing the right thing to win here. Hes just going to lock himself in a room and hope to god those 162,000 people turn out. This is going to be a low turnout election no matter what, right . If you go to a roy moore rally, youre going to find roy moore supporters. What about those anguished republicans that weve talked about, the people who really sincerely have in their gut a problem voting for someone who has the record that roy moore has. What are they going to do come election day . Thats really the undercover question here because, no surprise, if you go to a roy moore rally and ask someone, do you think these accusations are true, they are going to say, no, i dont, because im voting for roy moore. Joining me now is the recently elected mayor of birmingham. Mr. Mayor, thank you so mu tal where you see the residents of your city coming down on this question for doug jones instead of roy moore and Africanamerican Community turn out in bigger numbers than expected for doug jones . I think youll see numbers that are higher and doug jones has done a successful job in
recent weeks of communicating and getting his message out. And for those who do come out, i think they will go for doug jones as well. What do you think of the job doug jones has done . Clearly you need africanamericans on your side and hes going to need them in really large numbers. Has he done enough to speak to that constituency . As it relates to blacks and africanamericans within not just birmingham but the entire state, ive seen that message be more vibrant, louder as well as constant communication via direct mail, social media and other channels. I think to this point, tuesday, we will see a higher turnout among africanamericans for a special election than we have seen in the past special elections. What do democrats need to do in alabama and its still, at the end of the day, alabama is a republican state and what do democrats into he had to do to clean up their own house, in your view. I think weve got to find democrats not just likable but understanding the importance of listening to the voters that they want to represent if any of us take the time, its interesting that voters have a message to relate to. I dont believe that, just because youre a democrat in alabama, you cant win. Its all about how we connect with the voters to turn them out to want to vote for us and i
believe its not just for this special election but from the Gubernatorial Election in alabama in 2018, its an opportunity to set the stage in the south to win future elections. Mayor, thank you for your time tonight. Thank you. Is there any sign, do you think that what happened in virginia could be true in alabama . If doug jones wins, this is just a flash in the pan for democrats . This is just a sign of a broader cultural Warning Signal to us. I want to bring in this as a Cautionary Tale about whats happening with the disillusion in this country of faith in the free press. Why do these people not believe these women . They dont believe them because many of them havent even read the full media accounts of their stories. They dont even know the full story. The only information that they are getting is you hear woman after woman giving an account of
mailers that have come out to them from the Moore Campaign and thats because theres such hostility in this part of the country and In The Deep South towards the media. They see us as an Interest Group and i think thats a Cautionary Tale. It does seem to me, kevin, that one lesson that Mitch Mcconnell has won the hard way, it strikes me that if roy moore wins, those lessons are negated. I think it may have to do with heidis point, that the way that people consume information is different. I dont think its like a regional thing. In the Republican Party, theres incredible distrust on all levels. Like people you would say, that guys not crazy. But they really have a lot of
distrust in Mainstream Media because they believe its incredibly biased and on campaigns whenever theres an article that is bad, in the new york times, what i do is send it out to my email list and say, listen to what they are saying about us in our campaign. Its what we do. So, im sorry, that predated donald trump. And is that coming out to bite the Republican Party . Roy moore wouldnt have won if Luther Strange if people had believed things about roy moore, about his past, even before these stories came out, he was viewed as not as a credible candidate as you could have gotten if people had actually believed that. But people will tell you that Luther Strange had an uphill primary. He was a guy in washington and an uphill climb and all the money in the world might not be able to save him in this primary, as evidenced. Alabama Secretary Of State John Merrill Is Standing by. Well talk to him about his partys nominee and trying to read the tea leaves of Absentee Ballots in one key county. Kasie dc is coming back live from washington. Availabilities. I cant remember what day we are in now where roy moore is in hiding and comes out only to be seen like the groundhog and every so often to see whether or not he can see his shadow. Alabama Secretary Of State john merrill is predicting Voter Turnout to be at least 25 for tuesdays special Senate Election between roy moore and doug jones, which would be a big increase from the 14 who turned out for the republican runoff in september. That prediction is based on what merrill describes as a high number of Absentee Ballots coming in. One placing an Absentee Ballot in tuscaloosa county. There are six times as many Absentee Ballots as seen during the primary and runoff, which suggests its a pretty high turnout on tuesday. That could be good news for the democrat. In his 2012 race for state Chief Justice, roy moore lost the county to democrat bob vance even though mitt romney beat president obama there for a
17point margin. It could be a good sign for roy moore. Joining me now is john merrill. Sir, thank you for joining us this evening. Really appreciate it. I want to ask you thank you for allowing many he to be your guest. Thank you. And i want to ask you about your own vote. You say you cast an Absentee Ballot for roy moore. Do you find the accusations against him to not be credible . No. My vote has nothing to do with the allegations made by these ladies. And i think its very important to know, kasie, this election is not about me. Its about judge moore, about doug jones and, more importantly, its all about the people of the great state of alabama. And on tuesday, the people of alabama will have their voice heard but not just the people of alabama but the people who
choose to participate in the whole process. You say that these allegations have nothing to do with your vote. Why do these allegations not matter . Well, because this is not about me, not about what i choose to do or my family but its about the people of the state of alabama. What about this man who molested them or harassed them. What our people are having to do is they are having to sort through all kinds of information as being introduced from a lot of different sources all over the nation and trying to determine what they think needs to be given attention when they decide to cast their vote next tuesday. So again so its also very important wait. Are you saying that the information is not credible . Youre saying this information is not credible . No, i didnt say that. Thats not for me to judge. Why is it not for you to judge . Its not for me to judge whether or not those ladies are being sincere or accurate in
their description of what occurred because im not a judge or a member of a jury those things are not related to my job. Are they related to your vote, sir. To ensure that we have safe, secure elections, to ensure that the people of alabama, when they vote, they vote one time and their voices heard and counted the way they cast it. So youre saying that this information is not relevant to your job as Secretary Of State. Is it relevant to your vote . No. Its oem relevant to the people of alabama. Thats the most important thing to them. Not about who john merrill is for or decides to cast his ballot for. Its only about ensuring that we have safe and secure and Credible Elections for the 3,328,107 registered voters in alabama and we want all of them to participate. Let me ask you about the voter i. D. Law thats relatively recent in your state. Yes, maam. Do you have any concerns about its implementation . No, no, no. Were very excited about what weve been able to do, kasie. See, one other thing that weve done is ensure that each and every eligible u. S. Citizen as a resident of alabama is vej sistered to vote and has an i. D. We have 865,117 new voters in alabama. We want to ensure that all of them have voter i. D. S. When people cant go to the mobile units or go to the local Registrar Offices on numerous occasions, when its been presented to us that people cant get out and go to those festivals or occasions, weve gone to their homes and given them photo i. D. S because we want everybody to be able to participate at the level that they want to participate. Sir, do you think that both doug jones and roy moore are capable of honorably representing alabama in the United States senate . Yes, maam. I dont think theres any doubt about it. Ive met doug jones on a few occasions and find him to be an honorable person who is wellintentioned and has represented our state well as a u. S. Attorney when he was in that role and i applaud him for service to our state and nation in that role. I have known judge moore for several years. I found him to be an honorable person who has served our state with the high level of the character and integrity, a dedicated christian who is solidly a member of the constitution. Secretary john merrill, thank you for your time tonight. Thank you, kasie. Still to come, politico just named her one of 18 people in washington to watch this year on their power list. The congresswoman joins us next. Representative garcia denies those claims. Heidi, you have a news story out about some of this. But this is weve heard a lot of stories but this is im struck by the part of the story that said learning how to deflect advances like this is, in fact, a skill that must be developed by female lobbyists because its so pervasive and that access, in and of itself, is the key to their jobs and call upon them so much that its a job skill. Whether its congressional aides or lobbyists, long term are there going to be, and you know this so well, kasie, chose changes within congress and in the statehouses to the actual rules that make this behavior harder because, you know, at the time of anita hill and clarence thomas, a lot of women who ive talked to, many of them are mentors, said, look, it was a similar feeling at that time that we had that things were really going to change and the Media Attention went away. They did not change. So that is the challenge upon us, to make sure that the rules change so the culture starts to change, too. And in the case of this lobbyist, it can be hard to write a policy to try to deal with Something Like that so it has to be a cultural shift, youre right. Okay. Just ahead, black balled and baby sitting, were going to be talking to the attorney for one former hill staffer who got an 84,000 settlement from her former boss but now she cant find work. Plus, congresswoman pramila speaks next. Thanks for taking the time tonight. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me, kasie. First of all, i should say that farenthold has said, quote, im relieved that the Ethics Committee is going to look into this matter and confirm the decision of the Office Of Congressional Ethics which recommended that the committee on ethics dismiss the allegations concerning representative farenthold. The Office Of Congressional Ethics is separate from the Ethics Committees. They will often recommend one way or the other to look into something. In this case, they have decided to impanel a subcommittee, which is an escalation of an investigation. Are you and your client, is this a positive step and what changed to cause this escalation . Well, im not sure what caused the change in the escalation . I think its a positive step in
that it hopefully brings this thing to a conclusion. Miss green has agreed to cooperate with the investigators. Shell be giving an interview hopefully before the end of the year and doing whatever she can do to help the Ethics Committee and its staff to come to a decision in the case. And so thats it can only be a good thing. What has happened to your client in the aftermath of reaching this settlement . Shes the rare person who put her name to this kind of along the way here in a lawsuit and she has said in interviews that shes been essentially blackballed from jobs. What was her experience in the aftermath of all of this . Everybody has to remember, she did this in 2012, 2013. She came forward before me, too, before there was this environment of support and empowerment and essentially she was out there alone doing this. It was a very, very tough decision for her to come forward. She knew, based on things she had heard from friends on the hill, that it was probably going to be very damaging to her career on the hill but she had the bravery and tenacity to go forward with it even though she knew that there was going to be a media circus around it and that media circus then did happen. Her name was all over the papers and she was giving interview requests all the time and shes just a very private person and didnt want that. It just kind of came along with filing a lawsuit. And the result was exactly as
she had been warned. She couldnt find another job here in d. C. And then, you know, has been out looking for her next career move for a little while now and facing some serious difficulty largely, i believe, as a result of the Media Attention that she received. You know, nowadays, your next employer is going to google you before they hire you and when they see that you filed a lawsuit against a prominent congressperson, they are going to have second thoughts, unfortunately, and thats what has happened, i believe. The House Speaker paul ryan has yet to call for farenthold to recall his seat although the allegations in miss greenes case and the settlement are not dissimilar circumstances from what we learned about john conyers who nancy pelosi, democratic leadership, eventually called on to step down and who has now resigned, retired, i should say, from congress. Do you and your client believe that representative farenthold should step down . Weve never confirmed nor denied that that Settlement Payment thats been reported went to my client. Theres a Confidentiality Agreement in the case and we just cant comment on that. But to the bigger question, i think is, should all of these Congress People who are being
accused of Sexual Harassment, should they have to resign . For me, you know, a one size fits all policy, it works just as well with due process as it does with clothes. A lot of time youre going to get a bad fit. I think you have to let Due Process Work and let the committee on ethics actually go through its process, talk to the witnesses and make findings and then recommend the punishment after considering all of that and actually after considering what their recommendations have been in similar instances in the past so were not having kneejerk reactions and what they are going to do is create a backlash thats going to harm the movement so i think we need to take a breath and make sure were doing this the right way
even if it takes more time and i think everybody will be better off. The victims, the accused and the American Public because were going to have decisions that we can more faith in because theyll be done at the end of the process that hopefully gives everybody a right to be heard thats my own opinion. Thank you very much for your time, sir. Appreciate your thoughts on this. Thanks so much, kasie. This farenthold news comes as trent franks and john conyers have all resigned amid Sexual Harassment allegations. Congressman Pramila Jayapal is a cosponsor of a bill ending forced Sexual Harassment. She joins me now. Congressman, thank you for joining me. I appreciate it. I would pick up where mr. Alderman left off. How should this conversation
proceed and how should people be punished when theres bad behavior that has been uncovered . Is this an equalizing of the scales . I think its an equalizing of the scales. We have for decades, maybe more than decades, a lot of these incidents happening all over. Women were not able to come forward at that time. Finally, were at a place where women are coming forward and the pen due lum is swinging. I think ultimately were going to have to have processes within congress, within the private sector that really look at all of these allegations, quickly, transparently and with accountability. But right now the process that we have is not there. The committees that are empowered to look at these things within congress simply do
not have what they need to really be able to take care of these things quickly and so there are efforts to try and change that and at this point we have to hold ourselves to a higher moral standard and when you have its true that not one size fits everything but when you have multiple allegations, youve got outside confirmation, i do think its incumbent on those lawmakers to step aside and, you know, allow us to continue to allow the American People have faith in their elected officials. Do you see a distinction with whats gone on with john conyers and senator franken . Do you think what he did was any less bad, should have had a different punishment or do you agree with those calls . I think the hard thing is, if youre having a conversation about did he grope a breast or how many times did he grope and what circumstances, its the wrong conversation to have. I think that we are at a place where women need to have the ability to come forward which they havent had before and this could be a watershe had moment and it depends on how we deal with it. If it swings too much to the
other side again, its going to be very discouraging for women. I think its an empower thing that women are coming forward. I know a couple of the women named in that article in the Washington State senate when i was there. Ive heard these statements from lobbyists and certainly every single one of us as women in vary yous businesses has dealt with these on different levels. Everyone has a me, too, story. Everyone has a me, too, story of some kind. With all of the emails and letters that ive gotten, 95 are saying thank you, thank you for continuing to speak out on these issues and for making sure that we address them as a country and thank you for believing in us. Women. Somebody who was here earlier on the show, i think it was jeremy peters, mentioned that including Newt Gingrich that this was a linchpin. Nikki haley was asked about it in the context of the president. Take a look. How do you think people should assess the accusers of the president . Well, i mean, you know, the same thing, women who accuse anyone should be heard. They should be heard and they should be dealt with and i think we heard from them prior to the election and i think any woman who has felt violated or felt mistreated in any way, they have every right to speak up. And does the election mean thats a settled issue . You know, thats for the people to decide. Women should always feel comfortable coming forward and we should all be willing to listen to them. Just strikes me that the tone is much different. Its very different. I think i wrote a piece for Huffington Post and said to all the guys out there who call themselves feminists, who are proud because they have daughters in the workplace or sisters or whatever, this is the time for you to speak up. In order to make the Culture Shift were going to have to make, we need men to be standing up as well and we need to
fundamentally change how we respond to these allegations because for too long we just havent believed these women. And it seems like the other piece of this is more women actually being in positions of power. That makes a big difference. We have that conversation all the time in my office. Its hard to imagine some of the things being said and done and there was a Lieutenant Governor candidate in michigan who has an ad based around this interesting strategy. I think it gets to the point that it was women who have broke the story and women continue to cover the story in a big way and i think it has been women in the senate, for example, who really called on al franken to step aside so i think it matters that we have power and were in these halls. Congresswoman, thank you. We will do quick final thoughts. Kevin, what are you watching for this week in alabama . Im watching for africanamerican turnout in kind of the mid section of the state, counties like montgomerie and jefferson. If you see high turnout for africanamericans throughout election day, i think doug jones is in for a big upset and thank Charles Barkley for his help in the campaign. Thats what i say. Heidi, what are you watching for in alabama . Not just the africanamerican turnout, but also what i referred to as the seething soccer mom, whether we will see any crossover in any meaningful number among moderate republican women because, of course, this is the demographic We Saw Shifts in for example in georgia six. This is the demographic that the democrats already think they have an in with. If you see the dccc is sending out mailers, targeting Something Like 90 house members for failing to come out and condemn roy moore. And i think thats what im watching for in the kind of broader perspective pushing ahead to 2018, is will we see alabama is obvious very different from virginia which is basically a blue state, only you
would probably argue it is already a blue state if not purple, and we saw that so much in their Gubernatorial Election, women essentially standing up. We have seen it across the map, too. Virginia. With Women Candidates stepping up across the board. Yeah, and i think the fallout wednesday which vaughn talked about in his piece, like how does the senate react. Does it freeze the senate more so throughout the Election Year in which you have a compressed calendar. Regardless, can they get anything done or is it going drain all of the issues and all of the time for people campaigning . And what does Mitch Mcconnell do if he has senator roy moore . I feel that the early part of the year he has to stick to the promise he made, which we asked as early as this week, will you change your position. No, there will be an ethics investigation. How much oxygen is that going to get and take away from other agenda items theyre trying to push. Every time theres a new revelation that confirms everything that the Washington Post has already reported how much air time does it get. Quite a bit. That has to do it tonight here on case kasie dc. Thank you for tuning in and thank you to all of the dogs out there, especially tonight our featured canine, eric colesons dog seen here. Tell us your dogs name. We love it. Join us from 7 00 to 9 00 eastern. Good night from washington. Jes
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