we were covering the biden campaign on tiktok. we're there, too. >> ain't no regular chocolate. >> it's the good stuff. >> election night in america, that can mean only one thing. the legend at the map, steve kornacki. >> i'm a diva, honey. >> here we are trucking, this is what it looks like when we do a news show from the road. >> you'd be great, but i'd be more happy if this were our viewer. >> we're in brooklyn. >> if it's friday, it's -- >> time to fall back. find us on tiktok,@ari melber. "the reidout" starts now.

tonight on "the reidout." >> the most corroborating evidence we have is that 1023 form from this highly credible confidential human source according to u.s. attorney scott brady. >> you said this informant now charged with some of the most corroborating evidence. >> it did corroborate what i said. it doesn't change the fundamental facts. >> it does change the facts because they're no longer facts because they're not true. >> it's not just embarrassing, it's a scandal. the republicans' highly credible source now says he was, in fact, passing along russian disinformation about the bidens that formed the foundation of republicans' wayward and hapless impeachment inquiry. former rudy giuliani associate lev par nef joins me in just a

few minutes. trump continues to compare himself to slain russian opposition leader alexei navalny while making another absurd claim about his classified documents. many questions remain unanswered after a bullied non-binary high school student died during a fight in oklahoma. we begin tonight with the republican party's propensity for munn dassity which is a fancy word for lying. that's right, today we were yet again reminded of just howe committed to lying they are in order to win, facts be damned. as you know back in december house republicans voted to formalize their impeachment inquiry into president biden. despite no evidence of any wrongdoing let alone high crimes and misdemeanors. those are the facts. over in maga world we know facts are a mere inconvenience. every time republicans and their

propaganda mouthpieces at fox, news max and oan were confronted with the reality that there's actually nothing to impeach biden for, they assured us they had the goods. they frequently cited the existence of an fbi informant who we know is alexander smirnov. smirnov allegedly told the fbi in a document now known as fd 1023 that in 2015 he had a contact who claimed that vice president biden and his son hunter had each accepted a $5 million bribe. to protect bar ris ma from all the things. he also claimed to have recordings of all of it. republicans' maga media caught wind of this from a mysterious whistle-blower and, boom, they had their bombshell. >> that fd 1023 form that

documented allegations of bribery from a trusted fbi confidential human source has now finally been released. >> one of the fbi's top informants, a guy with impeccable credentials, a great track record, reported an allegation that joe biden took a $5 million bribe right under barack obama's nose from a foreign national in exchange for a policy decision. >> a veteran fbi informant alleging both the president and hunter biden each took $5 million in bribes. >> the details come from an fbi informant who is very trusted. >> now we're learning from a credible source who they don't want us to see or know about that there was five to the big guy and five to hunter paid through dozens of family members. >> if you're watching other networks, you're not going to hear this story. if you're just watching fox for the first time, we'll tell you what's happening for the first time. the media has been ignoring this. >> i guess fox's standards

departments was out to lunch when they did those stories. what they're pushing we now know is a lie. how can i be so sure? last week that so-called informant, alexander smirnov was arrested at an airport by the fbi and charged with making false statements to his fbi handler and creating a false and fictitious record he gave to the fbi. smirnov transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with burisma, in 2017 and later when biden was a private citizen with no ability to influence anything for any company into bribery allegations. he made up these allegations against the presumptive presidential nominee of one of our two major political parties after expressing bias againsted biden and his candidacy. the story doesn't end there.

yesterday the justice department pleaded with a judge to keep smirnov behind bars. why? he told agents he had recent contact with foreign intelligence services including russian intelligence agencies and has had such contacts recently. some of those contacts are described as someone who purportedly controls two groups of individuals tasked with carrying out assassination efforts in a third party country. a russian representative to another country, and someone with ties to a particular russian intelligence service. all of that sounds pretty bad, but that's not even the worst part. according to the doj smirnov is actively peddling new lies that could impact present and future u.s. elections after meeting with russian intelligence officials in november. guess who helped mainstream these unverified claims at the time smirnov was making them? iowa's senior senator chuck

grassley, the president pro tem of the senate, who in 2020 had just completed his own investigation into the biden corruption claims but found no evidence of improper influence or wrongdoing by the former vice president. that little inconvenient truth didn't stop grassley from pushing the biden corruption narrative. in 2022 he cited a new supposed whistle-blower, and grassley pushed smirnov's claims to the hilt. here he is on the senate floor pushing what amounts to a literal russian lie. >> the fbi document shows a criminal bribery scheme. the criminal scheme included joe biden, hunter biden each being paid $5 million for joe biden to take a policy position in favor of foreign nationals. that policy position was

ultimately taken. joe biden even bragged about it. what have my democratic colleagues done to investigate that evidence? what has the biden justice department done? >> grassley then recruited his house maga counterparts oversight chairman james comer and judiciary chairman jim jordan who just ran with it. >> do you believe that this is now officially the joe biden bribery allegation, and do you believe that you'll be able to prove that? jim comer. >> i sure home so. i do believe that there's a lot of smoke, and where there's smoke there's fire. >> senator grassley, he's the guy who has worked with more whistle-blowers in this town than anyone else. he thinks it's credible enough to bring this. the whistle-blower brought it to him. he thinks it's credible enough to say it on the senate floor. >> we have basic information with respect to what the

informant alleged. it alleges that joe biden when he was vice president was involved in a quid pro quo with a foreign country in exchange for foreign aid. this is a very serious accusation. >> again, these men were repeating a lie. what's far more concerning was that they were repeating a russian-manufactured lie, willingly, glibly with clearly zero caution or concern. on may 31st of last year, senator grassley and chairman comer had a private conversation with fbi director christopher wray who warned the two of them the source of their claims was under investigation. they responded by threatening him with contempt for not making the document public. nevertheless, they persisted. so why does this all matter? well, republicans relied on an informant who is currently being accused of being an agent of disinformation for russia.

republicans built a case around a man that the justice department was so concerned about that they asked a judge to keep him locked up because he might take the $6 million in cash he has access to and his israeli passport because that's where he's a citizen and flee to russia. despite all that, a judge granted smirnov's release from custody on tuesday but with conditions, a decision that the doj so adamantly opposes that they asked the judge to reconsider this morning. here is the other important part of this. russia is so determined to undermine our democracy and their democracy at home that they will do whatever it takes, from killing opposition leader alexei navalny, to interfering in our elections. in 2016 both the mueller report and a bipartisan senate investigation proved that russia interfered in the presidential election in a far-ranging influence campaign approved by vladimir putin to help elect

donald trump. in 2020 they sought to do it again. this time making giuliani, rudy giuliani, the target of a russian influence operation aimed at circulating lies about joe biden, which he willingly did. when giuliani traveled to kyiv in 2019 and met with a ukrainian lawmaker whom the u.s. government later labeled an active russian agent and sanctioned on grounds that he was running an influence campaign against biden. those are the same lies that smirnov mirrored when he talked to his fbi handler and fed him made-up stories. sadly, the issue here is that republicans are repeatedly far too willing to be pawns in russia's quest to destroy this country and set our democracy on fire. but i guess when you share the same goals, you're more than willing to be russia's useful idiots. joining me is lev par nef,

former associate of rudy giuliani, he is the author of the book, shadow of diplomacy, from brooklyn to donald trump's inner circle which comes out tomorrow. and naveed jamally, former fbi double agent and host of "newsweek's" "unconventional." thank you for being here. i want to start with you, lev. welcome to the show. i walk to walk with you through your own journey, someone peddling lies like mr. smirnov was peddling. you donated a bunch of money to a trump super pac, became insiders and talk about how you got involved with rudy giuliani in trying to market a similar story to the one mr. smirnov was marketing to the trump campaign. >> absolutely. thank you for having me, joy. i'm a big fan.

i've been watching your show from the very beginning. >> thank you. >> it was a little more than just donating. i built a relationship with a very big trump lobbyist, brian ballard at the time. a combination between the donations and the relationship with him, i was able to become a very big insider in trump's inner circle. i met giuliani in the summertime of 2018. when i say met, i had met him several times previously. that's when we got pretty close. we started spending time every day, and i could tell ukraine was always on his mind. at that time he was looking ukraine for the paul manafort stuff, the black ledger and certain stuff. one evening we were sitting in the grand havana room and giuliani got a call from art schwartz, i think it was, one of his investigators at the time that was doing research on ukraine and had some breaking information. he had a whistle-blower that was basically telling him information about hunter biden

on the board of directors and other information about the black ledger. we were sitting, me and igor with him, having drinks. rudy started talking about what he was on the phone about with us. when he started talking, he started talking that we knew a lot of the players, we heard a lot of the same information and we were eager to participate in the conversation. within a half hour -- >> let me back up for one second. you were born in ukraine back when it was part of the soviet union. >> yes. >> this whole idea, the black ledger stuff, the allegation was supposed to be that joe biden and hunter biden, when joe biden was vice president, were taking bribes to protect this company burisma that hunter biden sat on the board of. >> correct. >> is that the same story you were also peddling and do you now say that story was made up? >> absolutely. that was the same story. i've been saying it was made up

for the past four years. since my arrest i've been screaming that it was made up. not only was it made up, i've shown the world that the people doing it were russian agents, and giuliani never cared, solomon never cared, knocks news never cared, as long as it fit their narrative. that was the information that was pushed. >> who fed you that story? >> it was a bunch of people. most of them had ties to russian oligarchs or russian agents or russian government officials. some of them were actual ukrainian officials that also had ties. at the end it was all the same people pushing the same story that was coming from the some source, russia. >> and the goal of the story was to make biden look corrupt so it would negate donald trump's alleged ties to russia and make it look like biden was on the take from ukraine. is that correct? >> that was a combination, yeah. first of all, it was that, but

trump was so scared of losing to biden, he thout it would be an embarrassment and they wanted to seal it by getting biden out of the race by showing how corrupt he was and not giving him a chance. >> let me bring you in navid. you served as a double agent and you know how this works. is that how it works, that a russian agent gets to somebody like our friend lev here and say, hey, this is a story i want you to push, and then it goes into the ecosystem and that works? if he also has an fbi handler and he's telling that guy the story, that's a crime, right? >> yeah. you're right on both parts. joy, this feels like we've been here before. wikileaks, carter page and all that rolled into one. for people who maybe have lived under a rock for the last eight years, i'll say this as i've said it before, for russia the cold war never ended. the united states is vladimir putin's main enemy. he's seeking to undermine not just democracy, not necessarily about putting the thumb on the scale for biden or trump

although intelligence assessment says he prefers trump. the reality is he wants to see a weaker united states. we talked about the death of navalny. russia is trying to put a nuke into space. this is a man unlike 2016, unlike 2020, he's at war with ukraine, losing badly. he's desperate. this makes him incredibly dangerous. why wouldn't he try to interfere with the election? why wouldn't he try to undermine joe biden? it makes total sense with everything we've seen the last eight years. >> with smirnov now out, he has an israeli passport. can you understand why a judge would release him when he can just leave or be in danger? we've seen russia target people they see as a threat. >> there are some rules they play with. again, to your point, they assassinated a defector in spain just this week. insofar as why the judge did it,

you'd have to ask them. if the doj is saying this guy is a flight risk, they believe he's a flight risk. if he has other passports, it's crazy to your point, joy, working with the fbi that this person would have gotten to that point. they would have vetted him. they would have had to confirm. it's obvious his lies were easily disprovable, it seems, from reporting. i have to ask the same question you're asking is how did this come to pass. >> lev, i'm going to give you an opportunity to explain. how easy is it to launder the kinds of stories that you and rudy giuliani and mr. smirnov were laundering? how easy is it to launder them to fox or to republican members of congress? are they just like, bring 'em to me? >> usually it would be really difficult. here you have willing participants that wanted the information, looked for it and dismantled information that didn't make sense. they were eager, willing participants. basically, look, devin nun knows

had car i have be my handler doing interviews with ukraine. he got up and said he didn't know who i was, claiming my wife was calling him instead of me. these people are insane. they don't want the truth. all they want to do, like comer said, there's a lot of smoke. they want so much smoke where you think there's fire but you can't see. there really is no fire, it's a mirage. that's all they want to do. they want to cause chaos. they knew all along most of the information they were talking about was nonsense. think about this, joy. i was arrested in 2019. the fbi has had all my information since 2019. i've also given in 2020 all the information to the impeachment committee to the rnc and the dnc. they all had my information. they saw my communications with la chef ski from burisma where they denied where he did joe biden receive all the money, all the same questions were denied.

they know it and they had it. why would it take them so long to come up? another thing is, this is an individual that is being handled, and he can probably confirm, he had meetings with burisma supposedly in 2015 and he overheard this conversation, but he didn't report it in 2015. he only reported it in 2020 after my arrest and after i came public with all the stuff they were doing. it's very fishy what's going on in the fbi. remember when david clark was announced as special counsel. we tried to reach out to him to give him information, to tell him this information was false. he never returned our phone call. you take a look at what it is. >> i will read your book with interest, lev parnas, i appreciate you coming on the show. naveed jamally, always appreciate you. it's a strange, strange thing. i think we'll be following this a lot more.

thank you both. up next on "the reidout" trump's big mouth provides even more evidence for the prosecution in this classified documents case. he says the legal cases against him are a form of navalny, a form of navalny? that makes sense. "the reidout" cots after this. "the reidout" cots after this. (sigh) (snoring) if you struggle with cpap... you should check out inspire. honey?

inspire. sleep apnea innovation. learn more and view important safety information at inspiresleep.com if you have chronic kidney disease you can reduce the risk of kidney failure with farxiga.

because there are places you'd rather be. farxiga can cause serious side effects, including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, urinary tract, or genital yeast infections, and low blood sugar. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, an allergic reaction, or ketoacidosis. ♪ far-xi-ga ♪

when i was your age, we never had anything like this. what? wifi? wifi that works all over the house, even the basement. the basement. so i can finally throw that party... and invite shannon barnes. dream do come true. xfinity gives you reliable wifi with wall-to-wall coverage on all your devices, even when everyone is online. maybe we'll even get married one day. i wonder what i will be doing? probably still living here with mom and dad. fast reliable speeds right where you need them. that's wall-to-wall wifi on the xfinity 10g network.

donald trump has long suffered from delusions of grandeur. when it comes to his mounting legal issues, he likes to portray himself as a martyr. a few months ago he was comparing himself to a truly historic figure. >> i'll tell you what. i don't mind being nelson mandela because i'm doing it for a reason. i'm doing it for a reason. i'm doing it for a reason. we've got to save our country from these fascists, these lunatics we're dealing with. they're horrible people. >> nope, nope, nope, no, no.

i can go into the ways trump is nothing like by mandela. last night trump made just another inapt comparison. trump doubled down on his comparison of the criminal and civil prosecutions including the $355 million penalty to alexei navalny. >> even if you appeal, you've got to put up escrow money. it's a lot of dough. >> it's a form of navalny. it's a form of communism or fascism. navalny was a very sad situation. very brave. he was a very brave guy. it's a horrible thing. it's happening in our country, too. we're turning into a communist country in many ways. if you look at it, i'm the leading candidate.

i never heard of being indicted before -- >> what in the gobbledygook. navalny's death in a russian prison was announced last week. he had been imprisoned since his return to russia in january 2021 after surviving a near fatal poisoning months earlier. joining me is jill wine-banks former watergate assistant prosecutor. do you understand? >> no. he missed the comparison. the comparison is him to putin, his threat he would use s.e.a.l. team 6 to kill his opponent. that's what putin does, he kills his opponents. >> the comparison to mandela, i won't go there because it will give me angina. let me play you another sound bite. part of what he's trying to do with his audience, and they love it, saying he committed no crimes because everything he did he was allowed to do, had total immunity to do.

here he is one of the most obvious crimes, taking the classified documents. here he is talking about that. >> why weren't they handed over when they requested them? you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble. >> first of all, i didn't have to hand them over. second of all, i would have done that. we were talking and then all of a sudden they raided mar-a-lago. they said could you put an extra lock on the door. we showed them where they were. we showed them. >> no. >> no, no and no. he said three things there, all of which are false. they put a new lock in, they hid things, they moved things. then they tried to destroy the videotape of them moving things. he did not have a right to move them. he had no right to retain them. he makes a comparison to bill clinton who kept diaries. so did richard nixon. those are things that are personal and a president can keep. but all other presidential documents are not to be kept by the former occupant. they aren't intended for that.

it's such clear law. the presidential records act was a result of richard nixon. it makes it very clear that they are government documents and must be left in the care of the national archives, not taken as personal possessions. >> let's talk more about tish james. she's the one saying not only did she beat trump in the civil fraud case, but she says give me your properties. you're either going to pay or give me your properties. what do you make of that? >> she's absolutely right. he has to come up with the money. he's been ajudged to have been a fraud. the judgment is a huge judgment. he cannot appeal unless he posts cash in about $500 million almost because of interest accruing daily or put up his own money. he has to pay a bond which means extra interest or put up his own

money. if he tails to do that, the judgment becomes judgment proof. he has to pay it. she's prepared to seize his property. she will be able to do that. she can put leans on it to collect it. she has more power than just you and i as citizens. she can actually seize the buildings and remove the words trump. the volume goes up as soon as you remove those words. it's an offense every time you walk past. >> let me play you donald trump's typical defense for everything he does, he says is perfect. here it is. >> you borrow a small amount of money by comparison. you pay it back. the bank is in love with you. this was a perfect loan. >> i got impeached and it was a perfect call to the president of ukraine. >> we made perhaps an even more

perfect call to the secretary of state of georgia which is my right. >> let me tell you about the travel ban. we had a very smooth rollout of the travel ban. the rollout was perfect. >> our border was perfect. >> i'm back because i'm a perfect physical specimen and i'm extremely young. >> it's a silly defense, but i guess it works with his audience. >> it is a political defense. it's not going to work in any courtroom. nothing he said in any of those clips has any resemblance to fact or law or truth. it just doesn't. so it's not going to help him as a defense. everything he says is just a lie. >> it's perfectly stupid. i have to ask you what your opinion is -- seeing you in person for a long time. what is your pin? >> it's a chicago hot dog because i love chicago hot dogs, and the sisters in law actually have a fight. kimberly says d.c. hot dogs are

the best and barbara says detroit hot dogs are the best. for our live shows we're each serving hot dogs. what can i say? >> i'm willing to try them all just as a neutral observer. i'll volunteer myself as tribute. >> jill wine-banks, so good to be in your city. republican congressman andy owing als was confronted by pro-palestinians. what he said that has caused outrage. that's next. clear cooler er

voices of people with cidp: cidp disrupts. cidp derails. let's be honest... all: cidp sucks! voices of people with cidp: but living with cidp doesn't have to. when you sign up at shiningthroughcidp.com, you'll find inspiration in real patient stories, helpful tips, reliable information, and more. cidp can be tough. but finding hope just got a little easier. sign up at shiningthroughcidp.com. all: be heard. be hopeful. be you.

we're travelling all across america, talking to people about their hearts. ooh, take this exit. -how's the heart? -i feel like it's good. -you feel like it's good? how do you know when it's time to check in on your heart? how do you know? let me show you something. it looks like a credit card, but it is the kardiamobile card. -that is a medical-grade ekg. want to see how it works? -yeah. -put both thumbs on there. that is your heart coming from the kardiamobile card. -wow! with kardiamobile card, you can take a medical-grade ekg in just 30 seconds, from anywhere. kardiamobile card is proven to detect atrial fibrillation, one of the leading causes of stroke. and it's the only personal ekg that's fda-cleared to detect normal heart rhythm, bradycardia and tachycardia. -how much do you think that costs? -probably $500. -$99. -oh, really? -you could carry that in your wallet. -of course you could carry it in your wallet, right? -yes, yes. kardiamobile card is just $79

during heart health month. don't wait. get kardiamobile card at kardia.com or amazon.

the economy is simply not working for don't wait. millions of hard working families. they're working harder than ever and they still can't make enough to get by to afford food and medicine to even keep a roof over their heads. we need to build more housing that's truly affordable. we need to address this terrible epidemic of homelessness. we need to invest in good paying jobs, union jobs and investments in our future. this, this is why i'm running for the us senate. i'm adam schiff and i approve this message.

. the united states has been widely criticized for vetoing a united nations resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in gaza. even as israel's assault in gaza has killed more than 29,000 people since october 7th. that figure from the palestinian health ministry marks another grim milestone in one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history. meanwhile a republican congressman is facing criticism after saying he thinks we should, quote, kill them all after a woman confronted him about the deaths in gaza. the clip is circulating on social media, an activist is seen walking alongside andy ogles of tennessee as she has a back and forth with the congressman about mounting civilian deaths in gaza. >> i've seen footage of

children's bodies. that's my taxpayer dollars, going to bomb those kids. >> i think we should kill them all if that makes you feel better. >> you may not have caught the last thing ogles said. it was not included in the subtitles. he said everybody in hamas. we reached out to the congressman's office for comment but did not receive a reply. his office did tell the "tennesseean" that the congressman was clearly referring to the hamas terrorist group. joining me now is congressman steve cohen of tennessee. congressman, thank you so much for being here. what's going on in tennessee and with your republican colleagues really in and out of tennessee, but tennessee in particular? nashville is such a nice city, such nice people. there's a lot of coldness and cruelty to that kind of comment.

your thoughts. >> well, andy has not been in politics very long. he was a mayor of a town outside nashville. this is his first term in congress. i think he just didn't handle that interview very well. he obviously is supportive of israel and hamas is an awful terrorist group that did horrors on october 7th and continues to do horror, shoot missiles into israel and having 130 or 100 hostages may still be alive. he didn't handle it well, but i understand where he was coming from. >> what -- >> i'm happy to hear it was just hamas. when i first saw it, i thought he meant all the palestinians. that took me aback. >> sure. what do you think should happen right now in gaza? do you think there should be a cease-fire.

>> i've joined with representative goldman, raskin and maybe ten others. we'll issue a letter tomorrow to let the president know we support a temporary cease-fire or the opportunity to have the hostages released and a large amount of humanitarian aid to go into gaza for the citizens there who are deprived of food, medicine, water and other necessities. we think that's the best way to deal with the situation now and to eventually solve the problem totally. the hostages have to be freed or there's not going to be an ending. i know hamas values those hostages and they value some of them, i think the women, more than they value the others which is rather horrific. they need to release the hostages. it's been almost four months that they haven't seen the light of day. who knows what they've put up with the lack of food and

medicine. >> we know what palestinian children and civilians are putting up with, we've seen the bleak pictures. what do you think this ongoing conflict is doing to israel's reputation in the world and the united states reputation as we veto these resolutions calling for a cease-fire? >> probably not good, particularly in the middle east where there's a lot of support for a two-state solution as there's a lot of jewish people in america. i've been a j. street person. i've supported the two state solution when i've had that as an issue on my platter. israel has got hamas saying they'll take them out. they come out during this war and said we'll have more october 7ths, we will not stop and we'll have from the river to the sea, which there might be different interpretations of it. a lot of people feel like it's removing the israeli government. >> let me ask you this question.

you've also had prime minister netanyahu say from the river to the sea, and you've had a lot of leaders in israel saying we're cutting off the food, cutting off the water and make some pretty outrageous comments. do you think the seeming rejection of president biden's priorities, despite the fact that we're funding a lot of this, do you think that's been positive or helpful? >> it's not been helpful at all. i've never been a fan of netanyahu as a leader for israel. when he came to congress a few years ago, i refused to attend. john lewis and i were the first two and then others. he's similar to trump. he's trying to avoid to being in prison for crimes he's been charged with, and he's trying to hold on to that. the hostages are his first concern, hamas the second concern and the general welfare of israel third, and he should be i think seventh. i think he's first. he's made statements that have

been harmful. some of the members of his cabinet who have been really harsh and awful. as a member of the jewish democrats and the congress, we have approached and talked to the israeli folks who visited as government officials and told them that the comments the secretary made were horrific and they needed to stop and it was going to make it difficult for us to continue to support them. it's difficult to support them with some of the things the secretary has said. hamas is still shooting rockets into israel. they're not trying to tamp things down either. i'd like to see a cease-fire. i'd like to see hams crippled to where they can't be a threat to israel and threaten another october 7th. >> we would like to continue this conversation. please come back congressman steve cohen, thank you. >> thank you. coming up, lgbtq rights activists are demanding answers after a non-binary student in

one of the most conservative states in america dies one day after a fight in the school bathroom. bathroom

- "best thing i've ever done." that's what freddie told me. - it was the best thing i've ever done, and- - really? - yes, without a doubt! - i don't have any anxiety about money anymore. - great people. different people, that's for sure, and all of them had different reasons for getting a reverse mortgage, but you know what, they all felt the same about two things: they all loved their home, and they all wanted to stay in that home. and they all wanted to stay in that home. - [announcer] if you're 62 or older and own your home, you could access your equity to improve your lifestyle. a reverse mortgage loan eliminates your monthly mortgage payments and puts tax-free cash in your pocket. call the number on your screen. - why don't you call aag...

and find out what a reverse mortgage can mean for you? - [announcer] call right now to receive your free no-obligation info kit. call the number on your screen.

there are still a lot of questions about what happened to an oklahoma teenager. nex benedict, two weeks ago. here is what we do know. according to family members the 16-year-old who identified as non-binary received straight as, loved to cook and was devoted to

their choctaw roots and their cat soousz. we also know that nex deserved the chance to grow up. tragically that's not going to happen. instead nex died a day after a fight in a school bathroom at owasso high school, a suburb of tulsa. the mother of a friend of nex told the nbc affiliate that nex was beaten in the bathroom on february 7th. the owasso school district said the fight lasted two minutes and was broken up by other students and a staff member. the school didn't call an ambulance or police. one parent was child to take their child to a medical facility. nex was taken to a hospital and sent home but collapsed the next day and returned to the hospital and was pronounced dead on february 8th. no cause of death has been released. today the owasso police department says preliminary autopsy results show that nex

benedict did not die due to trauma. nex's mother said nex was bullied starting in earnest at the beginning of the 2023 school year not long after oklahoma's republican governor signed a bill banning -- while it's officially unclear if bullying over gender identity was the taos of nex's death, what's crystal clear is lawmakers in oklahoma have gone above and beyond to make the state dangerously hostile to labt plus oak home mans. the state and legislature is considering nearly 50 anti lgbtq joining me now is kelly robinson, president of the human rights campaign. kelly, good to see you. while we don't have a

definitive cause of death in this case, the idea of a fight in a bathroom probably sparks fear in the hearts of most parents of lgbt or nonconforming kids, i assume. >> yeah. this is terrifying and horrific. i am a parent first and foremost. when you send your kid off to school, you are praying that they come home safe, healthy, and alive. there is a family grieving here because the state and the superintendent and the school did not live up to their responsibility to create a safe environment for that child. nex's family is grieving in a way that no one should have to right now, and it is not by accident. we have time to about the state of emergency that the human rights campaign declared a year ago. this is a chilling effect of it. we are losing our kids. we are losing it because of so many politically motivated attacks. they're putting laws in place and creating a culture of violence that is not just a risk to lgbtq kids, it's a risk to anyone's kids.

if this can happen to nex, police believe this could happen to any of our children. we owe them better. >> i want to go through some of the laws that they have done. they're gonna don't say gay law that similar to what they have in florida. they prohibit the use of nonbinary gender markers armbrester tickets specifically defining sex to allow discrimination against transgender people. i could go on and on. is it your contention that this kind of political climate could go on to contribute to kids acting out against kids like nex? >> oklahoma ranks five in terms of anti lgbtq legislation. they're leading the pack in the worst possible way. not only is that these bad bills that they are moving into law, but you have also got bad actors and the state that are using every opportunity they can to spew hateful wreck rhetoric towards our community. governor stitt has said horrific things about trans people eroding the foundation

of society. you've got one of the founders of tiktok, appointed to an advisory board in the state. she doesn't even live in the state but was appointed to an advisory board. kids at this age need trust in adults. in the state of oklahoma they've done everything they can to pass laws restricting the access that kids need and to remove the trusted adults that computer environment conducive for learning and the safety of our children. this is egregious. it is something that every parent, every person watching, should be fearful of. >> and for those who don't know what libs of tiktok's, it's a tiktok group of people who go after lgbtq+ people. that's just one. headline a teacher was targeted by lives of dick talk was sent death trap threats, lost his job, was accused of grooming. again entirely when we featured in a libs of tiktok's post, telling them if your parents will accept you, f them.

apparently nex's told the independent that nex was angry about that post. what do we do in places like oklahoma that are not protective of lgbtq youth or adult? >> it's important for every person watching to see this as a threat, do not some of us, but all of us. if this can happen to nex, and non-binary canyon oklahoma, it can happen to any of our kids. there is something we can do. every one of us needs to be standing up just a not in my state to the rash of hate we are seeing targeted to the lgbtq+ community, especially trans and non-binary youth. we can stop these bad laws from going into place and hold these officials accountable for the hateful rhetoric that they are spewing. we are also calling to make sure that nex's life receive some semblance of justice. we're calling on the white house in the department of education, the department of justice to use every level of the federal federal government to ensure the justice is served. finally, i think the biggest thing is that there are kids watching right now who need to know that they are loved, that

they are valued, and that they are safe. every one of us have a role to make sure that that is true. we do not need to let this be the story for another child that is going to take every one of us. >> kelly robinson, thank you very much. i think everyone agrees. up next, i was honored to be joined by murray evers williams at a book event recently. stay tuned for her powerful remarks. powerful remarks.

if you have chronic kidney disease you can reduce the risk of kidney failure with farxiga. because there are places you'd rather be. farxiga can cause serious side effects, including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, urinary tract, or genital yeast infections, and low blood sugar. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, an allergic reaction, or ketoacidosis. ♪ far-xi-ga ♪

>> before we go tonight, i want to thank everyone who has come out to support me on my medgar and myrlie book tour. i have loved sharing this book with you and meeting all of you in taking selfies. last week i was at couplers in menlo park. the crowd was amazing. as also incredibly honored to have much of the evers family including the living legend, ms. myrlie, joining me at her alma mater, pomona college, and the evening was punctuated by ms. myrlie herself addressing the crowd. >> for give me if i'm getting a

little personal here, but i feel motivated to do so. because my late husband medgar evers always taught us and our family, learn everything you can, then come together, share, build, go forth, do not forget who you are and what you must do. ask god for guidance. in may we all people last. good night. [applause] . >> what a memorable night. plenty of opportunities to see me, i'll be in new orleans, washington d.c., and chicago right here again very soon. be sure to go