When Richard Nixon was being investigated by a Special Prosecutor and by congress, it was a special investigation in congress. While most republicans tried to look at the mounting evidence against president nixon as favorably as possible, none of them ever tried to say anything like this. Just remember what youre seeing and what youre reading is not whats happening. Republicans did not try to deny reality during the investigation of Richard Nixon and eventually it was a group of republican senators who went to the white house to tell president nixon to his face that he should resign immediately because the House Of Representatives would definitely vote to impeach him based on the latest evidence and the United States senate would easily reach a twothirds Majority Vote to convict and remove president nixon from office in an impeachment trial. Analysis and discussion of the days top stories and compelling issues from Lawrence ODonnell. Thats what you heard devin nunes say. If sessions wont unrecuse and mueller wont clear the president , were the only ones. So what theyre saying there is if the Attorney General of the United States abides by his oath to defend the constitution, and if the Special Prosecutor, Robert Mueller, abides by his oath to defend the constitution, then it will be up to them, the republican members of the congress, to defend donald trump against the defenders of the constitution. 44 years ago today Richard Nixon left the white house for the last time because there was no devin nunes in the House Of Representatives telling all the other republicans were the only ones who can save their president. It wasnt always this way. If the republicans who served in
what i hear him saying is if the Attorney General upholds the rule of law and if Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller uphold the rule of law, it will be up to us in the congress to obstruct this investigation from coming to an ending point. And jonathan, there is much more that was said that rachel and i played last night in that meeting. But being able to hear the way republicans talk in private is a very special opportunity, as these tapes demonstrate. Yeah. This is a situation where things that we sort of understood intuitively, things that we know just by watching the actions that theyre not taking, we get to hear them say with words what it is that they are actually doing. That as you said so eloquently at the top of this show, they are putting the livelihood of the president , the presidency, their own standing because theyre all Living In Fear of the popularity of the president
what shes doing, they know what shes doing and they dont like what shes doing. She will be fighting for her political life in november. Joyce vance, youre someone who has taken an Oath Of Office as a u. S. Attorney to serve in this government. As you know, there are tens of thousands of people in Washington Working In washington in the congress, in the agencies, in the departments who have taken an Oath Of Office. And, you know, i know it can sound naive to people out there who have either never taken that oath or dont know people who have and washington can seem like a purely political place. But every once in a while when people would ask me about how things would work in the senate, i would find myself saying when they were getting overly cynical about things and it is hard to get more cynical than i am, i would find myself saying, you know, even the most political of them every once in a while, they do come up against that oath
because the oath was, when i was there certainly, taken seriously. It still moves me to say or read the words of that oath tonight in talking about it. And so i just i just wonder if you share my stunned amazement at the way those oaths seem to be completely disregarded by devin nunes and what he had to say. It is almost as though the words have no meaning to them. You know, in my office in birmingham, lawrence, when brandnew prosecutors like me, i was a Career Prosecutor before i was the u. S. Attorney, and when you took your Oath Of Office, it was special. We all went over to the courthouse and one of the federal judges swore you in in front of all of your new colleagues. But also in front of your family, your parents and your spouse and your children would come. And we would meet each others families. It was an incredibly solemn moment. I think it sounds a little bit sappy. Doj prosecutors dont usually talk about it outside of their offices. But people take that oath
incredibly seriously. And you will find that people when theyre confronting difficult issues will use that as a touch stone to think whats the right thing to do because tomorrow ill stand up in court and i say i represent the United States of america. Same thing for people in the house elected officials on the hill. They stand up every day to represent the people of the United States of america. Some of them dont seem to take that very seriously. Yeah. And i have to say, i didnt know when i started working in the senate that i had to take an oath, the same oath that the senators take. Everybody working there does, the receptionists, everyone. So i was thrown into it without any real preparation that it was suddenly happening. My right hand was raised and it was instantly an emotional moment. You never forget. New nbc news Wall Street Journal poll. More likely 48 . Less likely 23 . That is just an enormous gap in favor of what obviously is the democrats in the way that question is asked. Right. That gets to what i was saying, i guess preemptively about Cathy Mcmorris rodgers. Shes not providing a check on the president. And, so, she barely made the top spot. In Washington State they had the socalled jungle primaries. The top two vote getters go on to november. Shes the number four person in the republican conference. So now she might not be there. If that holds out, if that poll number holds out to be true, she could be out. You know, back during watergate, back during the clinton era when congress viewed itself as an equal to the executive, an equal to the president. The president was one branch, they, the members of congress, viewed themselves as someone who was supposed to, no matter the party, keep the executive in
check because the framers of the constitution set this government up so that the people, through their representatives, could ensure that the executive would not run over the people and over the constitution. And the republicans have shown time and time again, particularly when it comes to donald trump, that they couldnt care less about their Oath Of Office. That oath, i have never had to take that oath, lawrence, but i have friends who have. And the thing that makes it so emotional for you and for joyce and for my friends who have taken that oath is that they suddenly realize that they are making an oath to something that is much bigger than themselves. They are taking an oath to protect, not just the constitution, but their country, but their families and the fact that you have a whole branch of government that has just seeded that authority, that moral authority to a president who has shown time and again that he couldnt care less about the rule of law, its galling. Through that number that you just showed, 48 of the American People think its galling as well. Jonathan, joyce, thank you for starting us off tonight. Thank you. Thanks, lawrence. And now that republican congressman Chris Collins and his son have been charged with federal crimes, which one of them might get a plea deal to escape prison time in exchange for testifying against the other . And what is it like for donald trump and donald trump jr. Watching the collins and son being dragged into Federal Court yesterday . And New York Times columnist tom freedman who can be very persuasive will try to change my mind about Televising Trump rallies from start to finish. Your hair is so soft did you use head and shoulders two in one . I did mom. Wanna try it . Yes. It intensely moisturizes your hair and scalp and keeps you flake free. Manolo . Look at my soft hair. I should be in the shot now too. Try head and shoulders two in one. indistthat was awful. Tering why are you so good at this . Had a coach in high school. Really helped me up my game. I had a coach. Math. Ooh. So, Why Dont Traders have coaches . Who says they dont . Coach mcadoo you know, at td ameritrade,
we offer free access to coaches and a full education curriculum just to help you improve your skills. Boom mad skills. Education to take your trading to the next level. Only with td ameritrade. Can actually shake my firmly held opinions. In his latest column he says that televising Donald Trumps rallies is the right thing for the news media to do professionally and, quote, it is the right thing to do politically if you want to see a check on Donald Trumps power. It appears that its the toxic lying, bullying and unpresident ial behaviors that trump exhibits most in his rallies and tweets which we in the media cover that is turning off the very moderate best educated republicans and suburban women that trump will need to hold the gop majority in the house, let alone get reelected. So bring on the coverage. Tom makes the point that even with a strong economy, Donald Trumps approval has not increased since he was elected. He has not converted any of the voters that did not vote for him. Tom freedman writes, the very applause writes in abusive and divisive behaviors that appeal to his base turn off more
moderate and educated suburban republicans and do nothing to attract independents or conservative democrats. Toms conclusion for the news media is, quote, i want wall to wall coverage of trumps every speech, rally, tweet and utterance because they most reveal his character and trumps character is the sealing on trumps presidency. Joining us now is tom freedman. And, tom, i believe you began this segment with this audience with approximately zero agreement to your position. But maybe some of what i quoted is pulling people in your way. Your column really moved me. You make a very strong case. Well, i appreciate it, lawrence. It was a surprise to me. Because i watched the Senate Election in alabama where the democrat won coming out of nowhere. You watch the election in pennsylvania. You watch the one in ohio. And the one in ohio was most striking because this was a strict that had not sent a democrat to congress in over three decades. It is a district that trump won by 11 Percentage Points and the republican candidate seems to be winning by at the most one. So something clearly is going on here that has eroded trumps base. I often start, lawrence, by interviewing myself and what do i feel. What i feel is when i watch these rallies, when i see these tweets, i feel appalled. I feel appalled as an american by the toxicity. I feel ashamed to see a president attacking such a high
quality american sport star as lebron james after hes opened a school for 400 impoverished kids. It turns out, lawrence, that there are moderate republicans out there. There are independents and suburban women that are deeply turned off by this. They voted with their feet. They voted by pulling levers, showing up in the polls. They kept the lid on trumps support. If we deny them this access to the president , the full trump, i think were not doing our jobs professional but someone who believes that it is essential that there be a check on trumps power for the last two years of his presidency. At a minimum democratic control of the house. I think it would be a mistake politically. You make the point in your column something that i have heard mike murphy say last week
i think possibly in a tweet that the way to cover the rally is to just set up one camera for all the networks to get the feed for that one camera. Do not send reporters into that pen, that cage that the Trump Campaign and now the Trump Presidency sets up, a cage for reporters where theyre not allowed to even talk to any of the members of the audience. So there is no Reporting Function for them to do there. Set up the camera. We all get the video. My version of that is set up the camera. We all get the video, and i will show you if the president says Anything Worth showing to you, which might be something grotesque or it might be something newsworthy. Your argument is, no, let it run. Let people see every bit of it. I think trump is a disturbed person. I think there is something deeply disturbing about these rallies. I find it appalling, people showing up in a tshirt saying i prefer russians over democrats. These are deeply abhorrent behaviors. I think there are many thinking republicans who are telling us
by how they voted. I interviewed in that column stanley greenberg, the veteran pollster who has been Running Focus Groups with republicans. This is exactly what hes found that moderate republicans are turned off by it. Some more die hard ones about half of them are and even evangelicals, it all reminds them of the bargain they made in supporting donald trump. While they are not abandoning him, this is not resounding to his favor. You know, there is the sasha bar remember cohens new show that he opens with these clips of former president s of the United States saying some of their most famous lines. Then he includes this moment, which i will show now, of donald trump mimicking steve. This is Donald Trumps entry in that line of president ials comment. I dont know what i said. I dont remember. And, tom, it is absolutely
repulsive every time. It is shocking when it comes up at the end of the flow that includes jfk and fdr. Your point is the more the public sees of that the worse it is for donald trump. Im a big believer that the biggest lid on President Donald Trump is the character of donald trump. We have talked about this a little before, lawrence. You have to remember with trump, too, we havent had a crisis yet. There has been no, thank god, 2011. But crises can come. When a crisis comes, he blames others. He doesnt take responsibility. And, so, all of this is part of the mans character. I think we have been exposed to it now in isolation from hillary clinton. You know, in the election two years ago people said, well, i am going to plug my nose and vote for the guy with bad character because i cant vote for hillary clinton. But now we have had two years of
the full trump. And i think a lot of people understand that this is a personality and this is a person who needs to be checked. I dont know if it will be enough. It depends on the democratic candidate in every district in every state. You cant be something with nothing. And that will have to come down the road. But i think character matters. And this is another thing i believe. And maybe it is just the minnesota nice Midwestern Boy in me, but i think americans really want to be pulled together. I dont think they like being divided. And im not saying all of them. But i think there is a constituency there. When you think about how narrowly trump won some of these states, it doesnt take a lot of republicans to stay home. Just to stay home, let alone vote for a democrat to tip the election in some of these districts. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it. Pleasure, lawrence. Thank you. Coming up, today is the fourth anniversary of the killing of Michael Brown, the unarmed 18yearold who was shot and killed in ferguson, missouri. One of the people who was protesting that killing at that time has just won the election for District Attorney in ferguson. We will also have more on the Insider Trading case of Congressman Collins and his son. I tried to quit smoking for years on my own. I couldnt do it. I needed help. For me, chantix worked. It did. Chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. Chantix, without a doubt, reduced my urge to smoke. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking,
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