tv Alex Wagner Tonight MSNBC April 9, 2024 9:00pm-10:00pm PDT
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we are all out of time. so no last thing tonight. we had an extra special one for you tomorrow. but for now, i wish you a very good night. from all of our colleagues across the networks of news news, thanks for staying up late with me. i'll see you at the end of tomorrow. are you a man above the age
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of 18? do you live in arizona? have you joined your local criminal hunting posse? because it is actually required by law that men in arizona join a local criminal hunting posse. straight from the compiled laws of the territory of arizona from 1864 to 1871. every male person above 18 years of age who will fail to join the posse, by neglecting or refusing to aid and assist in taking any person shall be fined in any sum not less than $50 or more than $1,000. so, join the posse or fork over maybe, maybe as much as a thousand dollars. here is another law from that same compendium on the sale of liquor to indigenous people. any person who has been guilty of selling or giving spiritous liquor to any indian within this territory shall be fined
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for the first offense 25- dollars. totally racist, totally outdated. but again, that is arizona law circa 1864. and here is another one. on animal theft. every person who shall brand or deface the brand or mark of any horse, sheep, goat, or pig that is not his or her own property shall be punished by imprisonment in a territorial prison for a term not less than one year nor more than five years. if you are wondering, a shoat is like a pre-teen pig. and do not deface its brand or you might find yourself in the arizona clink for up to five years. those were the laws of the land in arizona in the mid to late 1800s. at the time, arizona was not yet a state.
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it would not become one for another five decades but it was an important american territory. in 1862, the confederacy and the union fought for control of arizona and the union won at the height of the civil war. when states and territories like arizona looked something like this. dirt roads with horse drawn buggies and only white men had the right to vote. in 1864, slavery was not yet abolished and the question of whether the united states would remain united and free was being answered in a war that wouldn't end until 1865 and would result in the deaths of more than 600,000 americans, two-thirds of whom died from infectious diseases, not artillery fire. and that is because in the 1860s , doctors were still figuring out what germs were. it was not yet common practice for doctors to wash their hands before surgery.
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or when delivering a baby. 1864 was before doctors knew how reproduction worked on a cellular level with the eggs and the sperm. and it was under those conditions where basic reproduction was still a mystery, where basic medical protocols were not in place and all men had to be part of something called a posse. it was during those conditions in 1864 that legislators in the arizona territory passed a near total ban on abortion. punishing anyone who performed an abortion with up to five years in prison. today arizona east supreme court upheld that 160-year-old law. the court determined thanks to the supreme court's dobbs decision, that civil war era abortion ban is still in effect. the decision overturned arizona's already restrictive 15 week abortion ban from the
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year 2022 and it replaced it with that law from the antibellum period. after dobs, the supreme court ruling set the country back 50 years. but in reality, stating like arizona have been set back more than 160 years. to the days before women could vote and before america outlawed slavery. in the wake of the arizona court's ruling, the state's top democratic elected officials swiftly condemned this decision. >> it is a dark day in arizona. the near total civil war era ban that continues to hang over our heads only serves to create more chaos for women and doctors in our state. >> let me be completely clear. as long as i'm attorney general of the state of arizona, no
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woman or doctor will be prosecuted under this draconian law. >> this is going to criminalize doctors from doing their jobs. and it is going to have a devastating effect on the health and freedom of women in arizona. >> so what is next? depending on the outcome of the appeal, pregnant women face a harsh new reality in the south because it is not just the women of arizona here. it is women seeking abortion access in places like texas. women who were already traveling to arizona to get that abortion care. and now, an entire region of this country could be going dark. 160 years after the civil war, we are witnessing a resurgent confederacy of anti-abortion states. in arizona, choice advocates
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are already working to ensure that voters get a chance to decide this november on a ballot initiative that would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution. those advocates have already collected 500,000 signatures which is 120,000 more than they need to get abortion on the ballot. and now, that vote will be more critical than ever. republicanshave put abortion access on the line in a critical swing state in an election year. joining me now is senator mark kelly from arizona. senator thank you for joining me tonight. you know the sort of complicated dynamics around what's next better than most. we know that the attorney general says she will not prosecute women or doctors involved in an abortion. she was granted that right by the governor of the state.
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are you optimistic about women's prospects or does it not matter? >> let me start, alex, by saying this is an unmitigated disaster for women in the state of arizona. they deserve to be able to make this choice themselves, not from a politician in washington or the state supreme court and that ended today. let's be clear how this happened. this is because of donald trump. who he appointed to the supreme court, ending roe v. wade. a law that was on the booking for decades. so this is really a bad day in arizona. yeah, i heard what the attorney general has said. that's a positive thing. but abortion clinics, health clinics are going to close. doctors are going to flee the state. and that puts women at risk.
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>> do you have any amount of optimism about the appeals process? and this for anybody who is watching what is happening in the state of arizona? this is so appalling and so out of step with the modern era, one wonders how an appeals court could let it stand. the state supreme court made the decision. so i wonder. >> the supreme court has ruled they had some questions for the lower court. we will fight this all the way up to election day. certainly here in the next 14 days. this is a 160-year-old law. this was 50 years before arizona was even a state. and keep in mind, this legislation or this law that is 160 years old could send doctors to jail for just trying to help women and give them the health care they need. so, i want to be very clear
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about this. this would not be the situation in arizona if donald trump didn't essentially call for roe v. wade to be overturned. he talked about that yesterday. we will have to find a path forward here. >> yeah. it is conservative judiciary. there are republicans on the state supreme court. people appointed by republicans who are responsible for this decision. four men and one woman. what does this do to the political dynamics in an election year, given the way abortion, when ever it is litigated at the ballot box, to the benefit of people in favor of choice. what does this do for the broader dynamics going into november? >> the first thing we have to be concerned about is the health care for women in the state. it has been hard already since roe was overturned. i have spoken to doctors who provided women's healthcare who
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left the state already. they moved to nevada. they moved onto other states. so the options for women have decreased. that will get worse with what happened today. we have an opportunity here in november to codify the right for women to make this choice on their own to get the politics out of it. i hope that passes. i will be fighting for it. and we will look for other avenues to try to fix this between now and election day. >> you know, senators are frequently expect today be boosters for their own states and i wonder what you say to the residents of your state and those looking at your state. this is the most draconian, repressive reproductive health law in the country by a long shot. >> well, i'll start with that
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elections matter. the election in 2016 certainly had an impact on women's health care in the state of arizona. and across the country. we have seen that. with the election of the former president. we will make sure joe biden wins arizona and gets reelected. from somebody who served in the navy 25 years, we can right this ship. so elections do matter. there are ways to fix this. not a good day for arizona, but, we also had a good announcement yesterday with the chips and science act grant money for the semiconductor industry. but today was the opposite of that. it was a very disappointing day. >> senator mark kelly of arizona, thank you for your time, sir, really appreciate it. >> thank you. i want to turn now to white house press secretary. thank you for being here tonight. i know the president had a statement on this. he said this ruling is the result of the extreme agenda of republican elected officials
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who are committed to ripping away women's freedom. when republicans try to rip away women's freedoms, it doesn't usually go well for them. why are they so commit today this issue? >> look, it's a question for them certainly to answer. but i wanted to just lay out what the senator said. senator mark kelly who was just on right before he. he laid out what this means for me and women in arizona. what we saw today, it is wrong. it is shameful. it is dangerous what women in arizona are going to have to go through. there are 21 extreme state bans across the country. across the country. and, it is because of what extreme republicans elected officials have been able to do. this started with the dobbs decision, the overturning of roe v. wade. what we are seeing across the country is republicans' plan on
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abortion. here's the thing. they can't run away from it. they can't turn away from it or hide from it. this is theirs. they own this. the reason that we are in this situation right now is because the former president put judges along with the help of senate republicans put judges on the supreme court to make this happen. to overturn roe v. wade. what was a constitutional right for almost 50 years. now, we have these types of bans awe cross the country neighborings it very difficult for women to get health care. nay they get turned away from life saving procedures. they get turned away from emergency rooms. they are banning ivf and trying to criminalize doctors. this is their doing. so they own this now and what the president is trying to do and you heard this in his statement. you heard him say this over and over again. from the administration, is that they want to protect women's rights. right? women's right to make a choice
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on their own bodies. it is something they should make a choice on. so we will continue to fight and say hey, you know what? we need to legislate this issue. make sure shared home roe v. wade becomes the law of the land and you said something during your interview with the senator which was every time abortion is on the ballot, ohio, michigan, kansas, kentucky, california, vermont, every time it is on the ballot, the majority of americans vote to protect our reproductive free. dos. that is what we have seen, we are standing on the side of majority of americans and we are in lock step with them and republicans don't seem to care. they don't seem to care what the majority of americans care about. making sure our freedoms are protected. >> i do wonder, is there a part from urging americans to vote, and exercising their democratic
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rights, and criticizing republicans for their decision as the white house says rip away women's freedoms, is there anything that they can do to protect military service members in arizona? is there any sort of oasis if you will for reproductive freedom that can be established by the federal government in a moment like this? >> so look, the president on day one that when dobbs was decided and roe was overturned, he signed two executive orders to do everything that we can from hhs perspective and doj, to do what we can to protect women as they are trying to get just procedures or just health care. make decisions on their own body. but the best way to move forward is to get legislation done. we are going to continue to stand with our state partners to do everything that we can. they are the ones who are on the front lines to make sure
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that women are getting access. so obviously, we will stand with them. the way to truly deal with this, we have to get legislation done. we have to. as i stated, every time i can't speak to 2024 or an upcoming election as a federal employee, so i don't want to get into predictions here. but i could talk about what we have seen in the past. and as i mentioned, i listed out a bunch of states that have had an abortion ballot initiative in that election. in that election year. and what we have seen majority of americans stand for protecting reproductive rights. and so that is what we have seen. and so, it is shameful that now in arizona, this decision that is made, we are going back to 1964 i'm sorry. 1864. 1864. and you did such a great job laying out what was going on during that time. and that's where we are right now. in arizona, so, this is a
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really horrific day. a sad day. for the women of arizona. we have to stand with women across the country. we have to stand with our freedoms. and that is what you will see in this administration. >> they are currently blocking a bill that would protect contraception in the state. >> and they said in the dobbs decision, that is what they are going after next. it wasn't just going to stop. at overturning roe. and they kept their promise. >> i know just really quickly, the republican party likes to call itself the party of family values, the president did something i know the white house wants to talk about which is how we take care of our family as a country. as individuals. do you want to talk a little bit about the moves this administration is making on
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that front? >> we really, this biden harris administration has done transformational investment in health care and paid leave. it was the american rescue plan. all of that an investment in our child care paid leave. americans across the country shouldn't have to make a difficult decision. do they take care of their parents or do they take care of their child? we should not have to make those types of decisions. the president understands that. and what this will lead to is making tax cuts for workers. people who truly need a little breathing room. a little bit of the dignity that the president talks about. republicans is a complete
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contrast. they put forward a budget that cuts medicare, health care, paid leave. all the things that workers, every people need. they want to do dramatic cuts to those important programs. and they do it because they want to give a tax cut to billionaires. the president has always been clear. he wants to build the economy from the bottom up. >> any new. pas have to be run under the 1864 test. white house press secretary korrine jean-pierre. thanks for joining us. donald trump's efforts to delay his manhattan trial got shot down by a judge. and it was just yesterday
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that the presumptive nominee was last saying the abortion is left up to the states. we will discuss the republican plan to tackle abortion when the new york times janelle bowie joins me next. janelle bowie joins me next. it's time we listen to science. one a day is formulated with key nutrients to support whole body health. one a day. science that matters. >> tech: at safelite, we'll take care of fixing your windshield. but did you know we can take care of your insurance claim? that means less stress for you. >> woman: thanks. >> tech: my pleasure. have a good one. >> woman: you too. >> tech: schedule today at safelite.com. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ ♪ i wanna hold you forever ♪
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today, arizona's highest court. four men, two women appointed by republicans decided when given the option of a 15 week abortion ban passed two years ago and a near total abortion ban passed 160 years ago, they decided to go with the civil war era ban. that news follows the decision last week from florida's right leaning state supreme court allowing a six week ban to take effect next month in that state. and that ruling came on the heels of alabama supreme court that sent conservatives scrambling when it ruled that embryos are children which in
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turn up ended ivf treatment across that state. donald trump attempted to neutralize a campaign issue for him saying he would leave abortion up to the states. but today, we saw yet again, what happens when abortion is left up to the states. particularly conservative states with conservative judiciaries. the outcomes are extreme and for most republicans, they are politically disastrous. joining me now is jamel bowie. thank you for being here. trump is sort of what we call it middle line. is a good piece of strategy. today, we see what happens in arizona and i wonder if we still think leaving it up to the states is a good strategy. >> it is the only strategy for him to pursue, a national ban is just so toxic with most voters but it is also clear
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that leaving it up to the states is really leaving it up to the whims of in this case, a packed republican supreme court in arizona, gerrymandered state legislatures. the majority of voters may well support abortion rights. but the state legislatures are so gerrymandered against the popular will, it is impossible to get that preference passed into law. that is leaving it to the states, that's what it means. i think voters i think most people are kind of aware of that. they can see that happening. but as far as trump is concerned, there is not really any place for him to go other than oh, we have to leave it to the states. >> it also seems like it is kind of the harvest of the multidecade project of the far right to inject conservative christian principles into the judiciary. they have been radicalized and are on very influential benches
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or smaller areas in texas. but get to make these just giant decisions with statewide import. and it sort of feels like the dog that cut the car. that is part of the long project to reverse liberal jurisprudence. and this is what you get. >> conservatives, they are going to capture the judiciary and impose our preferred social order. preferred moral order on the rest of the country. that will require winning elections. they never ran on this promise to do this. it is a bait and switch. the thing republicans and conservatives are running into, it is one thing to win elections. it is one thing to be able to appoint the judges but you still actually do need some degree of popular buy in to
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your project. and that just doesn't exist. they don't know how to deal with it whatsoever. and are risking a situation in which all of these games they made are reversed by the force of the backlash against them. >> i do wonder as a piece of political theater, because you note that trump doesn't really have any other space to play in but to suggest this be returned to the states. do you think, i mean do you think that convinces the people it needs to convince? because he certainly has the lever to end abortion nationally without passing the abortion ban. they can go back to the come stock act of the 1820s and no abortion medication can be mailed in the u.s. post. you know, do you think it is suddenly a sort of nod to different way of outlawing abortion? is this going to convince the people that trump does not want
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to end reproductive freedom? >> i think that if trump gets another term in office, he is going to try to end abortion nationally. through any means he has. there is no evidence he will push back against that. i am not going to ban abortion. it is one thing for us to recognize this in terms of politics but for the public to believe trump is not going to. cointo it, there is one thing going in his favor. and that is people generally don't believe that donald trump has any particular position on abortion. that donald trump is a guy who has probably paid for an abortion. that is how people perceive him and that really helps in terms of him trying to distance himself from republicans like mike pence or ron desantis. the thing working against him is every day, we get new
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stories of the horrors that happen. those stories resonate with people across the country. many people have their own stories. and trump can't escape that. democrats are clearly going to work very hard to remind voters and tell voters again and again and again with trump's help, that trump is responsible for the state of affairs. he has been a loyal supporter for this cause of banning abortion. >> all roads end at dobbs and we know who is responsible for the justices that made the dobbs decision. thank you for joining me tonight. i appreciate your time, my friend. >> thank you. coming up, 99% of the $3 billion of money flowing into jared kushner's investment fund is coming from foreign sources but that fact should not alarm
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anyone according to jared kushner. we talk to ben rhodes about that. it took a new york judge all of 12 minutes to throw out donald trump's latest legal request. what happened in that criminal trial is coming up next. trial is coming up next. that's why he switched to dovato. dovato is a complete hiv treatment for some adults. no other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato. detect this: leo learned that most hiv pills contain 3 or 4 medicines. dovato is as effective with just 2. if you have hepatitis b, don't stop dovato without talking to your doctor. don't take dovato if you're allergic to its ingredients or taking dofetilide. this can cause serious or life-threatening side effects. if you have a rash or allergic reaction symptoms, stop dovato and get medical help right away. serious or life-threatening lactic acid buildup and liver problems can occur. tell your doctor if you have kidney or liver problems, or if you are pregnant, breastfeeding,
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he has been denied again. two efforts by former president trump to delay his upcoming hush money trial in new york have been shot down in the last 24 hours. team trump asked for a delay so the trial venue could be moved out of manhattan. that appeal was denied in just two hours. and today, trump asked for a stay in order to challenge a partial gag order imposed last week by judge juan. an appeals court judge took all of 12 minute to reject that one. joining me now is kristi greenberg. thank you for joining me. you know this might be an obvious observation, but how has this trial stayed on track? what has the judge done that could be i don't know, useful to other judges in handling their own cases or what sets this case apart in so far as it
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is full steam ahead? >> in one circumstance, it is a very discreet set of facts. every motion that coming up. every attempt that donald trump's team tries to throw a motion his way, he rules on them very, very quickly. he disposes of them quickly. he doesn't just sit on his hands like we have seen in florida. in new york, he is moving things along. it is easy because so many of these motions are frivolous. when you have a frivolous motion, it should be easy to dispose of it. >> there seems to be a uniform new york judicial stance that trump's attempts here are bogus. and it is widely accepted that they are bogus. >> right. and i mean this should take 12 minutes right? this is oh, he has a first amendment right to attack the family. >> there are some legitimate
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areas of tension between the prosecution and the defense. one of them is around a subpoena that the defense, trump's team would like to serve to mark pomeranz. the da's office wants to squash the subpoena. can you talk to me about why and how he might be useful to the trump side of things? >> i don't think he will be as useful as they would like him to be. so a few days ago, trump's team served a subpoena without notifying alvin bragg's team or asks for authorization from the court. to serve a subpoena on a third party. and served it just a few days ago and is asking for a number of things and ultimately, mark pomeranz, when he was running this before, he was the special district attorney running this investigation. presumably, he has a lot of information, a lot of emails. a lot of memos he wrote in view
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of this prosecution, but all of that was turned over to the da when he resigned. quite some time ago. as the da points out in their papers, look, we have talked to him. do you have anything on the personal devices? and, they lay out, look, here are all the efforts we get to get things from him. there is nothing that he has that you don't already have. >> pomeranz sort of stands as a figure for those who don't believe that the bragg investigation is as credible. pomeranz left it, like, there is a long. there is documented tension
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between him and da bragg's office over this case in particular. it feels like trump is trying to use him as a weapon to get under da bragg's skin a little bit here. there were motions about what arguments could be made. what evidence should be shown to the jury. and mark pomeranz's views. none of that is coming before the jury. judges ruled all of that evidence is not permissible evidence that gets before the jury. and mark pomeranz's issue was that he was not being aggressive enough. charge the case. personal issues probably, it seems like in just reading mark pomeranz's book, he has a lot of digs at alvin bragg along the way. but none of that is relevant evidence for the trial. i don't think any of that would
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be coming in. what are they looking for? >> you talked about the jury. jury questionnaires went out today. there are no questions about, you know, who people voted for in the 2020 election, but there are questions about news media consumption. msnbc is on the questionnaire. and, whether or not they consider themselves supporters of or have belonged to the qanon movement or antifa. how unusual are these things and do you feel like it is sufficient evidence to find out what channel someone watches and whether or not that gives an accurate window into their political leanings? >> so those questions about where you consume your news media are pretty standard in any criminal trial. any trial i had, we asked those kinds of questions. these were interesting. to also follow truth social. have you read michael cohen's book? or mark pomeranz's book? given how much is out there, about these facts already, it
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does make it somewhat unique and different from other criminal cases. whether you have donated, those are questions that don't bear on whether or not you have a clear bias. you can remain a republican. it is a possibility. he is allowing for that in his questionnaire. >> there is evidence, they left their maga hats in their car and returned a verdict that was not beneficial to donald trump. >> one of the jurors in the e. jean carroll case listened to more right wing media consumption. and, that was unanimous jury verdict in her favor. so it is possible. >> it is possible. and we will find out what
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happens in just a few days. thank you for joining me onset tonight. coming up, what is jared kushner have to do with burger king? a lot. as it turns out. that's next. as it turns out. that's next. shop etsy until may 12th for up to 30% off special mother's day gifts that go beyond the usual suspects. save on personalized jewelry, original decor - and other things moms actually love. when you need a gift as unique as she is... etsy has it. ♪3, 4♪ ♪ ♪hey♪ ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪
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poutine made with imitation cheese. and jared kushner. he is now a major investor in burger king in brazil. now, this deal does not just complicate his relationship with the country of brazil because his fund didn't actually invest in brazilian burger kings directly. what it did was teammate up with the subsidy of the sovereign wealth fund of the united arab emirates to buy the stock. it thanks to great reporting in the times, we have gotten example after example of how trump's son-in-law's investment group isn't just problematic on the fund raising side, but also raising ethical questions about whether it is investing. for instance, one might take issue with how kushner is
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working to complete a government backed deal in serbia where according to a draft agreement reviewed by the times, kushner's fund would get a 99 year lease at no charge so it could build a luxury complex on the site of a former nato bombing or negotiating the lease of a government owned island in albania to build this luxury hotel. even if you think how much does the u.s. government interact with a place like albania anyway? even if you think that kind of entanglement is not problematic for a second trump administration, what about this one? kushner's fund also invested with a car leasing company in israel. and kushner's partner at that car leasing firm is part owner of the israeli navy's only domestic building of warships. because the u.s. provides
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israel with billions of dollars of military aid each year, the donald trump retakes office, he would be in a position to directly help or hurt his son- in-law's business partner. it is all not a great look. we are going to talk about what his foreign ties mean for trump and american foreign policy with ben rhodes after the break. th ben rhodes after the break. at. i know, i've bee telling everyone. baby: liberty. oh! baby: liberty. how many people did you tell? only pay for what you need. jingle: ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ baby: ♪ liberty. ♪
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the director of national intelligence released a report that the saudi prince ordered the brutal murder of jamal kaskhhogi. and they went against the objections of its own panel of risk advisers and invested an eye popping $2 billion into jared kushner's investment firm. an investment that the new york times reports makes up a large percent of the 99% in foreign
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funding kushner received to launch his group. joining me to discuss this, is adviser under president obama, ben rhodes. thank you for being here with me. if you look at it from a foreign policy perspective, how does kushner's entanglement compromise potentially i don't know, the foreign policy platform of his father-in-law who is running to be the next president of the united states? >> well, in a word, entirely, alex. i mean look, this is not subtle corruption. that we are looking at. this is a guy who had no expertise to be in the white house. he made it his account. he basically helped lead the cover-up, get him in from the cold after the murder of jamal
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kushoggi. is there anybody in the world who would believe jared kushner is who you want to give your money to, to make a return? no. they are making an investment of what they think he can do for them if there is a second trump term. and what we can take from that investment is in a second trump term, u.s. foreign policy in the middle east and around the world will be made with the interest of bin salman in mind. there is a different role to play in the middle eastern conflict. do you think that complicates this in a way that neutralizes
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the issue or how do you see that? that they are equally invested? >> it just means it is all for sale. it is an auction, essentially. this is how other countries work. essentially, what you have is, whoever is the highest bidder gets whatever they want. except in this case, it is the global superpower of the united states of america. so i think what you can take from what saudi arabia and qatar and others are doing is they believe based on their own experience of the first trump term is that american foreign policy is essentially for sale. and whoever comes in with the highest price gets what they want. >> what is so clear is these relationships kushner cashed out on post presidency were
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forged during the trump administration. as a former administration official yourself, can you talk to me about how out of the ordinary that kind of relationship building is, inside the white house? >> you could tell at the time what he was doing. he made it a point to work on these accounts right? and look, what is very clear here is that jared kushner chose certain issues to work on when he was in the white house. he chose to work with the gulf arab states knowing the pay-out would be on the back end. and what is so grotesque is there is an impeachment inquiry that hunter biden used a connection to his father to profit when his father was vice president and they can't find any evidence. and they have the president's son-in-law who worked in the white house who collected two billion dollars on the back end
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of his service. now he has his father-in-law running for president of the united states. this is not only unusual, it is unprecedented. this is putting a price tag on american foreign policy. a level of corruption we have never seen. and hiding in plain sight. 99% of his investors come from out of the united states. that is just saying that i'm set up an entire investment fund designed to get me and my family rich based on the fact that people will be purchasen influence in a second trump term rewarding jared kushner for services well rendered when he ran influence after he murdered someone. an american, a u.s. person, a washington post journalist in the consulate in turkey. >> we will leave it there to be continued. ben rhodes, thank you my friend for your time. that is our show for tonight. now it is time for the last
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