final note, you can always find us on the weekends, "the beat" at 4:00 p.m. eastern. that does it for us. "the reidout" starts now.

tonight on "the reidout" -- >> highly offensive when someone lies on you and highly offensive when they try to implicate you slept with someone. >> after that, you started dating shortly thereafter. >> a lie, one of your lies. >> a defiant d.a. fani willis on the witness stand in atlanta, pushing back hard against a series of degrading personal questions as donald trump's lawyers try to get her removed from the georgia election interference case. >> also, the stage is set for trump's first criminal trial as a judge in the hush money case sets a date for jury selection. plus, the republican party is now a wholly owned subsidiary of trump incorporated. he's in total control of the republican agenda in congress, and tonight, we're learning of a push from trump's allies to have him give the official republican

response to president biden's state of the union address. you really can't make it up. >> but we begin tonight with the dramatic scenes of fulton county district attorney fani willis sitting in the witness box. it was a surreal experience given the fact that she, that the man she is prosecuting, donald trump, and his codefendants, have yet to stand trial. she was in the witness box today because the lawyer for one of the defendants, mike roman, who worked for the trump campaign, accused willis of benefitting from prosecuting the defendant because of her personal relationship with nathan wade, the special prosecutor in the trump case. willis angrily pushed back on what she called personal attacks on her and wade. >> intrusive into people's personal lives. you think i'm on trial. these people are on trial for trying to steal an election.

i'm not on trial no matter how hard you try to put me on trial. >> lawyers for roman and the other defendants pushing to disqualify willis and wade claim willis personally benefitted from hiring wade because she would benefit from his employment as her romantic partner. it's key in determining if there was a conflict of testimony. it started with testimony from a disgruntled former employee who was let go from the prosecutor's office. she testified that willis' romantic relationship with wade began before he was hired for the prosecution of trump. willis, who wasn't supposed to testify, walked into the courtroom. it was clear she was angered by the accusations and she wanted to set the record straight. >> nobody gives me anything. i am sure that the source of the money is always the work, sweat, and tears of me. >> do you not know where that money came from? >> it came from my sweat and tears. >> and to make a finer point, when under questioning by

trump's lawyer, she made it crystal clear why she didn't need mr. wade for financial benefit. >> it's interesting that we're here about this money. mr. wade is used to women that, as he told me one time, the only thing a woman can do for him is make him a sandwich. we could have brutal arguments about the fact that i am your equal. i don't need anything from a man. a man is not a plan. a man is a companion. i don't need anybody who foot my bills. the only man who has ever foot my bills completely is my daddy. >> well, all right then. judge mcafee will have to determine if willis and wade had a financial interest in the case. it's unclear where this will end. earlier this week, he said it was possible that the facts alleged could merit disqualification. here's why all this matters. if fani willis is disqualified, her entire fulton county d.a.'s office would be removed and a state prosecutor's counsel would have to appoint a special

prosecutor, which means, drum roll, yet another delay. willis has already been disqualified by a separate judge when it comes to another defendant, georgia lieutenant governor burt jones who was a fake trump elector, because she hosted a fund-raiser for the democrat who lost to jones in the 2022 election. that jones probe still does not have a new prosecutor, 18 months later. not at issue, the accusations that trump and others tried to overturn the election. willis will be back on the stand tomorrow. and joining me now is katie phang, trial attorney and host of the katie phang show on msnbc. she is at the courthouse in atlanta, the site of today's explosive testimony. former federal prosecutor paul butler, law professor at georgetown university and msnbc legal analyst, and errin haines, editor at large of the 19th.

ka katie, those fireworks. >> legally, what came out today was evidence. before today, all that was going on was innuendo, gossip, and cruel and nasty salacious rumors about fani willis and nathan wade. today was put up or shut up time for the defense. the defense has the burden in this case to be able to prove that there was some type of personal financial benefit that has been derived by fani willis that would compromise this case. the defense also has to prove this relationship predated when nathan wade was appointed to his role. but the only thing we heard today that might come close to helping the defense was from a former employee of the fulton county d.a.'s office. also a former acquaintance and friend of fani willis. she testified first this morning. after some legal wrangling about who was going to be called first, and she said that she believed that the personal relationship between wade and willis began as early as october

of 2019. however, she conveniently left out, joy, when she was initially called to testify that she was given the option of resigning or being fired from her job after the fulton county d.a.'s office and since she had basically resigned in 2022, she had not had any contact whatsoever with fani willis. but it really took fani willis to do the job today. we know now why a lot of defense attorneys say to go toe to toe with fani willis is a dangerous proposition for their clients. because fani willis had to come in and basically say, like you played that clip for the viewers, that she doesn't need a man to pay her bills or give her money. she also doesn't need a man in the form of nathan wade to do our defense. she took the stand, waiving any objections to the subpoena served upon her to testify in this motion to disqualify, in order to clear her name and straight out of the gate, she made clear the evidence would show that she was corroborating what nathan wade said under sworn testimony earlier. that she and nathan wade did not

begin a personal relationship until after he had been appointed special prosecutor. also importantly, that she pays her own way. that she is given cash to nathan wade to reimburse him for any type of personal trips they have taken. so under georgia law, quickly, you have to have an actual conflict of interest. it cannot be speculative or theoretical. at this point, the defense has not proven its burden that there's any conflict of interest at all. >> yeah, i think what they did prove is fani willis ain't nothing to play with, and i think donald trump's people should be shaking in their boots knowing they have to face that on the other side of their cases. let me play another piece of that, and then i have a question for paul. this is on whether or not she told her team about her personal relationship with nathan wade. take a listen. >> is there anyone else who knew about it? >> i don't know. i don't think so. i certainly didn't go out

telling my business to the world. >> so the best of your recollection, you didn't inform anyone on the prosecution team that the individual that you had chosen to lead the prosecution team had a personal relationship with you? is that correct? >> that's inaccurate. your question is inaccurate. because of the way you phrased to question, you said when i chose him, i didn't inform people of a personal relationship. we have defined personal as romantic. it is an inaccurate way to state the question. >> and she did that throughout. and i'm old, and i'm going to age myself, i'm old enough to remember the o.j. simpson case, and anybody who remembers that will note that later on, christopher darden, the african american prosecutor, if you remember him, and the other lady, marsha clark, in that photo, were having a personal relationship of a romantic nature. during the time they were prosecuting o.j. simpson. i highly doubt, you can correct me if i'm wrong, that o.j.

simpson would have had a cause of action to say throw this case out because the two of them were sleeping together. my question is so what? if after he became a prosecutor on the case they developed a personal relationship, so what? >> so what indeed, joy. i'm even older than you. i remember that case well, and i worked as a prosecutor in two different offices and both of those offices like in many other workplaces, there were romantic relationships. stuff happens -- >> we're going to hope that -- the internet has stolen paul butler. we're going to fix his audio, get back to him. but that's the so what of it. there's another piece of this, and it was to me the attitude of the people questioning fani willis toward her and her response to it. let me play this clip of fani willis speaking to the lawyers questioning her about what

they're not going to do. >> you don't have to yell at me. i'm able to understand. so i would ask you to not yell at me. and please do not yell at me. >> let's talk about fani willis as a witness and fani willis as a prosecutor, because to me, that tells me she's nothing to play with. >> yeah, i mean, joy, i think watching this, you can see fani willis was, if standing on business was a witness, that's what we saw today. what we also saw today was a clinic in black womanhood and high profile black womanhood. you don't have to be a district attorney prosecuting the former president of the united states to really understand what it means to have your integrity or professionalism questioned or the urge to defend your character or reputation. that's what you saw. yes, she was angry, but she was also insulted, offended. if somebody thinks they're being lied on, and especially fani

willis, prepare to defend yourself because that's what she came to the stand prepared to do today of her own free will. >> and the thing is, katie, you know this all too well. look, i have a book about this, about the way they did this. be pretty but not too pretty. be forceful but not too forceful. don't be loud, don't be angry. if you're questioning my integrity and accusing me of hiring somebody that i was having an affair with when i'm telling you the timeline and then asking did my kids live at my house? you want to know how much money i have? she was insulted and rightfully so. this idea that women of color have to sit there and be demure and take it, there were people on social media saying oh, she's coming in too hot. no, she wasn't. she was offended and she had a right to be offended. >> yeah, so you know, there is something to be said about decorum and professionalism, but you didn't hear anything that wasn't decorum and professionalism from fani willis. i'm glad you bring about the example of being a woman of

color. there are more women in law school than there ever was when i was in law school, but when it comes to women of color, we're so sorely underrepresented. especially when it comes to trials. when it comes to trial lawyers. for a woman to have to defend the fact that she makes her own money, the fact her daddy told her to make sure she had money stashed away. my mom told me the same damn thing. make sure that you have money stashed away to take care of yourself because you shouldn't count on someone else. and that's the thing. why should anybody have to defend this? but under the law, unfortunately, because the other side made these representations that met this threshold that forced this hearing to have to come to pass, that's the reason why fani willis and nathan wade got dragged into court. i will remind our viewers too, joy, under georgia law, you do not disqualify a prosecutor simply because there is a personal relationship. in fact, in this case, you have lawyers on the defense side that

are married to each other. you have lawyers on the defense side that are dating each other, yet nobody has made a big stink about that. it's only the defense making a stink about that about fani willis. the important thing is this, she's not on trial. it's the people that tried to steal an election in the state of georgia that are on trial. this is a sad, sorry side show that needs to end. >> amen. let me let paul butler finish his thought. go ahead, paul. >> on that point, i think i would have coached d.a. willis to be less emotional because it can come across as being defensive. she has to think about the jury pool, so i think part of this was her desire to present herself as a public official who is honest, who acts with integrity, and who the defense attorneys are dragging through the mud because they don't want to focus on their clients. and that's absolutely true. but i understand why she's angry, and i think d.a. willis

was challenging the society for black women don't get to be angry. even when that anger is righteous, so i think in the end, she came across as credible. >> yeah, and again, i will restate two of the prosecutors in o.j. were having a relationship. we're seeing this throughout not just with fani willis but with cori bush. if she was not a black woman, they would be calling her relationship with the bodyguard that she's got this handsome guy who is her security, she falls in love with him. they're trying to turn that into a scandal. fani willis, this is her ex. it is so offensive, i think, to a lot of women watching this and black women in particular to watch her go through this. >> yeah, and i think that was why you saw, she was up there trying to clarify, trying to correct the record as she saw it. black women are never going to answer a question with a simple yes or no because it's usually never that simple for black women. tokatie's point, there was a

lot of focus on her money. how much work it took to get to where she was. investing $50,000 of her own money just to win this d.a. race and now she has to defend her reputation, that certainly would explain partly why she was so upset and the clip you played, a lot of people of color, especially black women who were raised by black parents of a certain age who taught us to always keep cash and never depend on another person for anything. she was literally insulted by the insinuation that nathan wade was taking care of her or they were not equals. it sounds like that was part of the reason they broke up. to paul's point, this was fani willis taking the stand, even though she didn't want to be there, showing she was there because she was compelled to say not today. >> and happy black history month to all. up next on "the reidout," i hope you didn't miss it.

today's other major legal development, a new york judge sets the date for trump's first criminal trial, setting up the extraordinary dynamic of the republican front-runner spending weeks in a courtroom as he runs for president. you can't make it up. "the reidout" continues after this. ntues after this if you try vaping to quit smoking, it might feel like progress, but with 3x more nicotine than a pack of cigarettes - vapes increase cravings - trapping you in an endless craving loop. nicorette reduces cravings until they're gone for good.

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ongoing game of whack-a-mole, he's doing everything and

anything he can to keep them from popping up. at least until after the november election, if ever. today, the first of his criminal trial has been given the green light with jury selection set to begin on march 25th. that was the decision today in trump's hush money case. trump faces 34 felony charges in this case. it centers on accusations he falsified business records to cover up the $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star stormy daniels during the 2016 presidential election so that she would stay quiet about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with trump. trump, who did not have to be there today, was in the courtroom anyway, to hear the news. not surprisingly, he called the decision ridiculous and another example of election interference. also in the courtroom was manhattan d.a. alvin bragg. bragg has insisted this is not a case about hush money and whether trump did in fact have an extramarital affair with a porn star.

but is really about an illegal campaign contribution made in order to deceive voters and bury negative information about trump that could have hurt his electoral prospects. the judge says that he expects the trial will last about six weeks. and while this case may not seem as conconventional as the court cases against trump, the others are caught up in delays, mostly at trump's doing. regardless of that, come march 25th, trump will make history yet again becoming the first former u.s. president to stand trial on criminal charges. back with me are katie phang and paul butler. people sort of represent this as the least important case, and it got shoved to the back with all of jack smith's cases. but now it's kind of an interesting sort of delicious new york irony it will be the first case because it's the case the most about how trump behaved. what do you make about it being first? >> alvin bragg says this is also a case about election interference. the reason trump paid stormy

daniels the hush money is because he wanted to win an election and he thought if stormy daniels, if that story got out, that would hurt his chances. i think today was also a story about two different judges. we think about what happened in fulton county. i don't think judge mcafee should have even allowed the georgia hearing because whatever happened between d.a. willis and mr. wade has nothing to do with whether trump and his codefendants tried to interfere with the election. some judges are extra cautious in part because they want to insulate any guilty verdict from appeal, but the judge in manhattan did not come to play. he's on to trump's games and he's ready for them. one drop the mic moment is when todd blanch was complaining it would interfere with trump's campaigning, the judge said, well, hey, last year, march 25th, 2024 looked a long way

away. you wrote this letter that said if the trial date started on march 25th, that would be enough time for trump to effectively campaign. >> that's great. the other piece of it is how long it might take. because katie, the question of a six-week trial, you know, they have a star witness in michael cohen, who he's been right about a whole lot. i don't think he's been wrong yet. they have him. they're going to try to impeach him obviously, but given he wrote the check and has the evidence and went to jail for it, should it take six weeks? >> i think you always hedge, joy, on the longer amount of time so that you don't actually short thrift the parties. the reason why is you have to get jurors willing to sit in service for that period of time. you don't want to tell them it's shorter when it may be longer. but you know, there's a saying, first in time, first in line. who would have thought that the first of the four criminal

indictments against donald trump would be the one that went to trial? understandably, a state court case taking the back seat to a federal case would have made sense, but we heard today that judge chutkan and judge merchan spoke about whether or not there was a scheduling conflict and chutkan indicated there wasn't. the underlying theme and to paul's point of how we saw how donald trump operates is theft, stealing. 2016, trump trying to steal the election right by trying to hide these payments that he made to stormy daniels. trump trying to steal the election in georgia from the lawful votes that were done in georgia. trump trying to steal the election in 2020 from the american voters and that's why we have the d.c. 1/6 case, and trump trying to steal classified documents and national secrets in the mar-a-lago case. all he does is theft and fraud. that's his jam, and he's finally going to be called to task for it. i agree with both of you. it's so annoying to hear people poo-poo this case.

let's be frank. between all of us, if any of us was looking at multiple felony counts for a case, we would be like, okay, pump the brakes, this is serious stuff. it's the same for him. he's citizen trump. he's no longer the president of the united states and he should be held -- there should be accountability. he should be held to account for what he's done criminally wrong. >> and paul, you know, there is a delicious irony that it is the state of new york, his home state, that is holding him to account first. this is where e. jean carroll won a massive settlement, $83 million settlement on top of the $5 million before for him defaming and sexually assaulting her. this is the state where next weem tish james is probably going to win a $300 million plus settlement that could bankrupt the trump company and run it out of new york on a rail, and this is the place where the stormy daniels payoff happened. we have seen the check with his magic marker signature on it.

it is kind of poetic, poetic justice. >> it could also be legal justice. focusing on a state prosecution if trump wins re-election, he could not pardon himself in this case. so i think that's key. but i think we could also see both this trial and the washington, d.c. federal election interference trial happen before the election. if the manhattan case goes forward in late spring, then the federal trial could start in mid-summer and that would be enough time, again, for verdict in both of those cases. >> and by the way, katie, the only case where he seems to be protected from justice is the one where the florida judge seems to be trying to squash the case. and that would be the documents case. >> here's the scale, here's the thumb of aileen cannon on the scale of justice in florida.

it's frustrating. that case should have already -- it should have gone to trial this month. we know it got punted into may, and even now we don't think it's going to go to trial in may. a lot of stuff i have been covering in ft. pierce even this week from classified information procedures, act sections. so much back and forth, but all of these cases standing alone have importance. in and of themselves, and i think we also have to keep our focus on that. i think alvin bragg is going to deliver a win for the state of new york, but i also want to kind of temper expectations which we have to do. there's an appellate process that will go into play as well here. any conviction that comes state or federal is going to result in appeals. so let's hope that scotus moves fast on the presidential immunity appeal, and let's make sure these cases go to trial. >> well, and to wrap this up, paul, the case in new york, it is important. you know, michael cohen did the right thing. stepped forward, and he's testifying in this case at

personal risk. all of the people who are going to testify are taking physical risk because donald trump threatens his people threaten them as soon as their names come up. it's an important case because all legal cases are important. >> all legal cases are important. and 34 felony charges with the manhattan jury, a manhattan jury, isn't going to be unfair to the former president, but you're not going to give him any credit because he's the former president. the president will be tried by a jury of his peers and for the former president, i think that's quite frightening. >> i'm sure he's scared. >> and joy, quickly -- >> i'm out of time. allen weisselberg, he's in negotiations for the perjury, so keep that in mind for the upcoming case. >> coming up, trump looks to tighten his grip on the

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growing up, my parents wanted me to become sign up at shiningthroughcidp.com. a doctor or an engineer. those are good careers! but i chose a different path. first, as mayor and then in the legislature. i enshrined abortion rights in our california constitution. in the face of trump, i strengthened hate crime laws and lowered the costs for the middle class. now i'm running to bring the fight to congress. you were always stubborn.

and on that note, i'm evan low, and i approve this message. democrats agree. conservative republican steve garvey is the wrong choice for the senate. ...our republican opponent here on this stage has voted for donald trump twice. mr. garvey, you voted for him twice... as your own man, what is your decision? garvey is wrong for california. but garvey's surging in the polls. fox news says garvey would be a boost to republican control of the senate. stop garvey. adam schiff for senate. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message. as donald trump faces a growing reality that he actually has to go to trial for at least one of his criminal indictments before the november election, one thing is becoming more and more clear.

he's scared. and in his panic, he realizes that the only way to stay out of prison is to be president again. trump's game plan to do that is the same as ever. grab as much media attention as possible to re-create the conditions of his election in 2016. but since most tv networks won't breathlessly cover his rallies the way they did in 2016, his nonsensical lies that he spews on a daily basis, they reach just a fraction of the people that they used to. basically just his ardent cult member. in a desperate attempt to get the cameras back on him, he's doing the most, as the kids say, things like showing up to court for hearings and trials even though he doesn't even have to be there. yet complaining that showing up at trial takes him off the campaign trail. when he's really just there to get on tv and spew his talking points to a wider audience. and new reporting today from nbc news says trump's aides and allies are even considering having him give the republican response to president biden's state of the union address next

month. so that he can can get some prime time coverage. he's also tightening his death grip on the republican party, pushing them to kill conservative border deals they previously supported just to deny biden a win and endorsing an election denying and his own daughter-in-law to head the rnc so they can use all of the party's diminishing assets to pay trump's legal bills. joining me is jason johnson. this is blatant. it's sad. even this network played all his rallies and a lot of people blamed the media for electing him. media is not doing that again, so showing up at trials. >> we can't play all the old hits. at some point you have to get on stage and give us something new. he doesn't have anything new. there's not a major financial crisis he can run off of. not a major crisis that trump hasn't manufactured on his own he can run on. he really was a media creation

in 2016. it was coming off the apprentice, calling in and saying i'm this person, i'm that person. none of those things are the case anymore. if the only way you can make people vote for you is showing up to your trial on time, i don't know that's good. >> the other thing, they're using the age thing, which is ironic. because trump is not sure if e. jean carroll is his ex-wife. he doesn't know the difference between these two women under oath. >> what was it, book, computer, bullet? whatever it was, i have a very smart brain. none of that makes sense. i'm very, very adamant about this because we all watch john stewart when he debuted and talked about old age. there's a difference between being old and incompetent and crazy. joe biden is old. he's going to be old tomorrow, he's going to be old in nine months, but he's not incompetent. that's the issue with donald trump. he's incompetent and corrupt. that's way more damaging to me. >> we know -- i'm like, hur, why is she involved, but we're

talking mr. hur, who did the independent counsel report about biden's retention of documents. he's going to testify on march 12th. he's a conservative, he comes from a conservative legal background. now he gets a chance to get in front of a friendly congressional panel and talk about how incompetent and mentally sort of damaged joe biden is. my question, though, is this an opportunity really because democrats are going to be there, too. it's not like they're going to have a hearing with no democrats. and democrats are good at picking their smart ones. and republicans are really picking their cookky ones. it's going to be an interesting one. >> you can only go so far with this. we saw this with nikki haley. you start playing with age and you get really close to offending people. because guess what, there are a lot of men and women in their late 70s and early 80s. >> guess who votes the most,

older people. people over 60 are the highest percentage voters. they're going to be like, you're doing too much. >> we're not talking about an individual here who is incapable of speaking. i mean, look, i'm old enough to remember learning as a kid about ronald reagan falling asleep in meetings. we haven't heard that. the republicans as per usual are going to overplay their hand because they're playing for an audience of one. you're going to try to convince people to not vote for a president for being something god willing all of us will be, in our late 70s. >> and trump is old too. this is an issue that is real for biden. it is the gaza issue. slate has a piece that talks about the thousand pastors who signed this letter calling for a cease-fire, and there is now i think growing reality, this is not just arab americans and muslim americans. it's black folks that cannot justify this dual image of joe biden as this compassionate man who cares about people and is

super compassionate when people die, and this guy who seems so hard hearted toward the palestinians. it's a real problem at this point, right? >> i think there is -- there are multiple ways this is playing out amongst black voters and we don't know how it's going to look yet. there's still a lot of people who don't care. objectively speaking, there are lots of people who don't care. lots of people who say the 14-year-old boy or girl who got shot by the cops downtown in my city is way more important than anything that happens outside of this country. >> is that still true when the three americans from georgia died. i herd a lot of people saying we serve disproportionately and if we go in the war, that's a lot of black bodies. >> that's if people think we're going to war. the same thing with ukraine. nobody thought we were actually putting troops on the ground. when you have this african american thought leaders saying wait a minute, this is a problem. if you have black church people marching from philadelphia to the white house to talk about this issue, and let me be clear,

church pastors are not liberals. this isn't some loud teenager talking on tiktok. >> the pastors are saying to the white house, my parishioners, particularly my parishioners under 40, are not down with this. they see themselves in the palestinians and they don't understand why joe biden is this way with this group of people. >> i think from a purely strategic standpoint, there president has to do better than simply talking to people. there's a point in which i think people want to see a policy change. what policy change he's going to make and whether that makes a huge difference down the road, we don't know when that's going to be. i do think we're reaching this point now where it's not just an obscure idea. the people who do care, it's going to matter to them. i loathe the sort of generic things of in the barber shop. there are other places black people go, but i did meet my first barber shop person and had a whole discussion a week ago in

maryland where someone said this is a problem for me. i had never heard anyone who cared until this point. it's beginning to seep down. >> it's good to have a political scientist friend. we appreciate you. coming up, the putin party. tucker carlson and marjorie taylor greene blur the lines between the party of trump and the party of putin, as the love affair between republicans and autocrats heats up. before we go to the break, check out "the reidout" blog for a new special series that is launching this week. the reconstruction series celebrates how the black community is reclaiming its own narrative, as right wingers continue to attack it. over the next several weeks you can find interviews featuring civil rights icons, bishop william barber, michael twitty, emmett till's cousin, and much more. check it out on msnbc.com/reidoutblog. i've ever done, and-

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with the backing of cia, of course, the organization you wanted to join back in the day, as i understand. we should thank god they didn't let you in, although it is a serious organization. i understand. >> that was part of russian president vladimir putin's two-hour lecture to confused face journalist tucker carlson. journalist being in square

quotes, and one of the few things he said that wasn't propaganda or a lie. for his part, journalistic enterprise, the former fox host, conspiracy host and avowed critic of ukraine traveled all the way to russia where he barely got a word in edge wise and let putin filibuster about everything. on wednesday, putin leaned harder into mocking tucker than just making fun of his failed cia dreams to his face. he told russian media he was surprised by how soft the interview was. quote, i honestly thought it would be aggressive and asked so-called sharp questions and i wasn't just ready for that. i wanted it because it would have given me the opportunity to respond sharply in kind. but he chose a different tactic. it's worth noting that tucker's sitdown was released last week on thursday. days before donald trump said he

would let russia do whatever the hell they want to nato countries that didn't pay enough for their own defense. trump doubled down on that last night. >> one of the heads of the country stood up and said does that mean if we don't pay the bills that you're not going to protect us. i said that's exactly what it means. exactly. i'm not going to protect you. >> meanwhile, trump's sycophants in the house republican caucus continue to prove that they too are owned by trump, and too petrified of him to do their job and provide aid to ukraine, which is still very much at war with russia. republican house speaker mike johnson refused to bring up the foreign aid package passed by the senate earlier this week can the houses go on recess today, so no urgency, even as one senior republican >> so no urgency. even as one senior republican ignited to freak out over russia's military capabilities on wednesday. house intel chair mike turner released a cryptic statement

warning of a, quote, serious national security threat, without any more detail. nbc news has learned the unspecified throughout that set off speculation is a russian nuclear powered space asset that could be weaponized. joining me now, congressman eric swalwell of california, a member of the house homeland security committee. congressman, good to have you on. i guess the question would be, if russia were to weaponize that space asset, that unspecified with space asset, which side would mike johnson and his caucus be on? >> [laughter] these guys are soft on russia and they are soft on terrorism. they are soft on dictators. and if you are taiwan, you should also wonder if all of this bluster and all of this talk that they have put out there that they are going to be tough on china will amount to anything. they have not proven that that is the case. i was briefed on a concerning

threat. i can't go into the threat. but i get briefed on concerning threats all the time and the most concerning threat the republicans should be focused on is walking away from ukraine and what it would mean for the ukrainians, our nato allies, and then us here in the united states. because it costs no american blood right now for what we are doing to defend ukraine. but it's going to be a hell of a lot more expensive in wattage winds to cost us in lives if we walk away from ukraine as republicans are allowing to happen. >> what is going on? i understand they love russia or at least donald trump loves russia. they love what he loves, hate what he hates. they hate ukraine because he hates ukraine. i get that. but the republican party used to be pretty squarely anti soviet when russia was part of the soviet union. i'm old enough to remember ronald reagan with his tear

down this wall about the eastern bloc and against the russian block. i don't understand how they more from this party that was reagan's party that stood strongly against the ussr to this. is it just because they're scared of him? >> i was raised by reagan republicans. my parents, they wanted their taxes to be low, they wanted their government to be small, and they wanted us to be strong in the world and to stand up to russia. they don't recognize this party today. when you talk to many of my colleagues, what it is is, they have gone all in for donald trump. they're in this position, and they have told me this privately, where they can't go against him. one of them said, if i come out against trump, i will have my head lopped off. just imagine how small they see themselves and how helpless they feel when they look at

him? so we can't count on republicans to save us one bit. they are not going to save us. they are all in for him. the republican party that my parents were a part of it is gone today. it is never coming back as long as donald trump is the leader of the party. that's why democrats are the ones who are tough on russia. that's why democrats are the ones, especially joe biden, who wants to close the border while republicans and donald trump are focused on closing abortion clinics. this is never a place we thought we would be, but we are the ones, i think, who are standing up for security interests everywhere, of americans. >> but i think the pragmatic question, then, is if donald trump becomes president and he does, as he's threatening to do, stops defending nato and russia invades a nato country, do these republicans stand with putin? it seems that donald trump would. are they now going to stand

with putin if he invades a nato ally? >> this is a pro putin block party right now. so yes, joy, there is no question in my mind as to who they would stand with. it's a simple calculation. donald trump lights putin because putin likes donald trump so we in congress have to like putin and they're never going to break away from that. we just have to be him. we have beaten them since november 2016. that was donald trump's best day, when he we continue to beat them. we don't have to draw up a new playbook for what's going to come at us this coming november, and so i'm confident that the american people are going to reject somebody who would dismantle all of our freedoms and allow us to side with a ruthless detail dictator like vladimir putin. >> very quickly, my father lean in the same direction is them, how many of those voters do you think are in the republican party willing to not vote

republican? it is a habit. people just vote by habit. a lot of people who feel the way your parents do are still voting for republicans. >> they are. i still believe, though, that the republican party and donald trump have a ceiling. it's a loud group. it's a loud base. it should not be confused as a growing movement. again, for americans, i think this election, we don't make it about one candidate versus another. it's about an idea. that idea is freedom. and we win when freedom is on the ballot. freedom for women to make choices about their bodies, freedom for our democracy and other democracies across the world. that's a winning message. >> congressman eric swalwell, always a pleasure. thank you very much. much appreciated. we'll be right back. be right b. . ♪knew just what to say.♪ ♪i asked for cologuard and did it my way.♪ cologuard is a one-of-a kind way to screen for colon cancer

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>> and that tonight reidout. all in with chris hayes starts