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tv   Alex Wagner Tonight  MSNBC  April 23, 2024 6:00pm-7:00pm PDT

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majority institutions? >> there's no question the push for minority rule has led for majority rule, this backlash to protect american democracy, and it's accelerated in recent years, in wisconsin and michigan where the system was really rigged activists have worked on the state level to try and change the system, and they've been successful. these instances of minority rule, but there's a happy ending where wisconsin, like michigan, people worked on a little to expand democracy. democracy itself is very popular, when the choice facing americans is do we preserve democracy or not, americans say over and over they want to preserve it. >> minority rule, it's fantastic, check it out today. ari berman, thank you. alex wagner tonight starts right now. speckled up, again, ari berman, that is essential reading in a
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moment like this. he's the best. thank you for having him on. >> you bet. in may, 2016, you could find this bombshell on news stands and at the supermarket checkout in your local grocer. it was everywhere. ted cruz's father linked to jfk assassination top u.s. spy exposes presidential race bombshell: the blood money, the mission, and the cover-up. there was blood, too. that was the cover of the national enquirer alleging the father of senator ted cruz had been handing out communist propaganda with lee harvey oswald a few months before oswald killed jfk, which could only mean ted cruz' father was involved in the jfk assassination. it was a stretch, but at the time, trump was running against cruz for the republican
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presidential nomination. trump was already well on his way to becoming the nominee, but cruz was still hanging on, and he refused to leave the race much to trump's vexation. once the inquiry came out with the conspiracy involving cruz's dad trump wasted no time promoting it. by morning of may 3rd, trump was calling into his favorite morning show. >> caller: his father was with lee harvey oswald prior to oswald being-- you know, shot. i mean, the whole thing is ridiculous. >> by the end of the day may 3rd, ted cruz had dropped from the presidential race. but not before responding to trump's allegations. >> you know, donald's source for this is the national enquirer. the national enquirer is tabloid trash. but it's run by his good friend, david who has endorsed trump.
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he uses this to smear everybody and anybody. >> the national enquirer has become a hit piece he uses to smear anybody and everybody. eight years ago, the transactional relationship between donald trump and the national enquirer was so obvious, that ted cruz was just talking about on the campaign trail. now today was the second day of witness testimony and the first criminal trial of a former president, donald trump rate and the focus of the testimony was the very same thing ted cruz highlighted in ways the national enquirer helped donald trump during the 2016 campaign. former ceo of the inquirer, david testified his story would run negative stories about opponents whenever they started to do well, stories like bumbling surgeon left sponge
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inpatient's brain. i cannot right after a poll that showed ben carson leading trump for the first time. ben carson denies that allegation about the sponge by the way. then there were shocking claims, pervy ted cruz caught with secret mistresses, after ted cruz pulled ahead of donald trump what was going on wasn't even subtle. trump was using the national enquirer to smear his opponents and undermine their candidacies, and inquirer was more than willing to oblige. in court today this is how mr. david describes the process. michael cohen would call me and say we would like to have you run an article for arguments sake on ted cruz. then he would send me information about ted cruz, ben carson, then we would embellish from there.
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prosecutor stein glass, you said michael cohen would call you periodically and say we would like you to run a negative story about this political opponent or that political opponent, is that correct? yes. michael cohen always told me he was out of the part of the campaign so i assume he was talking to mr. trump. when he said we i thought he was talking about himself and mr. trump. david and the national enquirer influencing the 2016 election at the direction of his lawyer. and there was what prosecutors allege was doing behind the scenes. prosecutors asked mr. exclusive rights to and then
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sat on so the accusations against trump would not come out before the election. a process that is now known colloquially as catch and kill. it was a story the inquirer determined untrue but bought anyway so it couldn't be sold to anyone else. then there was ken mcdougal the model and actress, who like stormy daniels, alleged she had an affair with donald trump. the inquirer also bought the rights to hurt stories so she could not go public with it. and what we learned in court today is that all this behind- the-scenes maneuvering much like those bombshell cover stories was for one express purpose, to help the trump campaign. your is prosecutor stein glass. the part of the deal where you notified them so they could buy negative information about mr. trump, that part, did that part help the national inquirer at
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all? how is that going to boost sales at the national enquirer? that part doesn't have a mutual benefit, it was to benefit the campaign, and my understanding you right? that is right. prosecution central argument in this case, the reason they were able to charge donald trump with a felony is because they say trumps hush money scheme was all about trying to cover up criminal activity related to the 2016 election. prosecutors plan to rely on section 17-152 new york criminal code which prohibits two or more persons from conspiring to promote or prevent the election of any person by unlawful means.
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it is important with national enquirer and subsequent hush money payments wasn't just about helping trump the man, it was about helping trump, the candidate, win the election. joining me now, duncan levin, former attorney for eastern district of new york and jeremy solano, former assistant da in the manhattan da trial division. gentlemen, thank you for joining me here. i am definitely out of my league when i am talking codes, criminal codes, and new york law, so i defer to you here on what transpired. start with you in terms of the prosecution articulating, this is at least one of the ways in which what donald trump has done here could be seen as a felony, is that what you understood? are we getting it right here? >> this is the first time the da's case has come into focus, and it was made clear through the testimony today, but really a telling comment made by the prosecutors at a sidebar that
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this is not a case about about falsifying business records, this is a cover-up of uncharged criminal activity, and we learned what the uncharged activity that the das office is relying on, and the core of it is that new york state election law statute, but it's a conspiracy between donald trump the defendant, david of the national enquirer, to make a legal payments and suppress stories of the win the election, that's at the core of it. and we know what the felony is, why it is that it has been bumped up to a felony, because it was a falsification of business records for the-- >> it's not been fully articulated, at least, with some of these stories, or one of them, to protect his family,
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but it's being alleged here, by the prosecution is this wasn't about you, and melania, or your family, this was about you the candidate. we went over them at the beginning of the segment, not just to treat everybody to national enquirer headlines, but i think they made a good point there. there's a history there of the inquirer acting expressly in a capacity expressly political but political capacity. >> he said i had that meeting and what happened at that meeting, michael cohen, donald trump, and what can we do to help the campaign, he said i will be your eyes and your ears. why are you saying that other than to assist the president and who wasn't the potential present, in his campaign. it starts with $30,000 for the doorman for the alleged baby story, then we have mcdougal,
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and to your point words about fort machine for donald trump to promote himself. >> what did you make of davidpecker's testimony? i was not in the courtroom, and the tenor of it are somewhat limited, but from the transcripts and reporting you have seen, what, is he, how effective was he as a narrator? >> i think he is the case, and without davidpecker there is no case. he talks about how we get to donald trump, he talks about where michael cohen fits in on this, he is the conduit between trump and the national enquirer. this scheme rises through michael cohen to donald trump, and he is at the center of it, and i think in a way the testimony is almost blasi, we were acting, doing this and doing that, but the national
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enquirer was an arm of the campaign, and that comes out clearly and that comes out in the testimony. the month that trump wins the election you can see what this is all about the election, and david-pecker is the first witness, he's the most important witness, he's at the center of it all. >> the reality is david-pecker will be cross-examined. what questions would you have for him, given how thorough, and also, it's all fairly sensational, but he was so matter-of-fact in delivering the information to the courtroom, to the jurors. what would your sort of strategy be if you are trump's defense? >> a large part of this is he had immunity, and there's a reason why the have immunity, exposure. if you are exposed you lie, so that's an angle to attack .2 duncan's point, david-pecker
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is really the hub here, and he is a critical to the case. i don't know if he is the center as duncan believes, because you still need michael cohen, but the principle is accurate, that without david- pecker cohen does not have the , he doesn't have his own two feet, he needs david-pecker to stand up for him, and stormy daniels. take him down, i think you start with that immunity issue. >> do you feel, i mean, if you are donald trump, you have three people involved with this conspiracy. one of them is michael cohen, one of them is david-pecker, and very favorable to the prosecution, where does that leave donald trump, does this put rusher on him to take the stand? is this too far-fetched? >> i think it's unlikely he will testify, least of likely the cross-examination is going to be brutal, but one of the things the prosecution will have to prove is donald trump
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knew that what he was doing was wrecking the law. there's a knowledge element here that has to be done with intent to break the law, and when we he could do that is by testifying and i don't know these entries are being made, i don't know i was doing this with intent of violating the electoral campaign act. you may have heard from todd blanche in the opening statement called lawyer talk, i don't know how they will prove the not lack of knowledge on mr. trump's behalf, but one way you could do that would be to testify. >> and the list of potential witnesses, there are some high level trump organization officials who are presumably would further corroborate the idea that donald trump knew what he was doing. i mean, is there a witness that you have seen from the list of people that may be called to the stand that could be helpful to trump's case at this point? >> not necessarily.
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witnesses in the oval office with michael cohen, that's not helpful. if a witness says trump was meticulous in signing his checks, and wasn't a passive player that's not helpful. there's nobody the prosecution is lining up that will helpful. josh stein glass and chris conroy, they know what they are doing. so i am overwhelmingly confident donald trump is in trouble, but it is the burden of the prosecution. that's what we started off with , how important david is invalidating how important this is about otherwise why would you sign off, who cares about hush money? there needs to be some nexus, and that is what these witnesses will show. >> do you have suspicion of what they might do? >> of david-pecker? i think they are going to do everything they can to show he is a liar, that what he is saying is not only ill-
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informed, but he got a nonprosecution agreement, that his hand was forced, and he's trying to cover his basis by lying. it's really the only move they have. poke holes in the case, one witness at a time, and that's what they will be doing with david-pecker starting tomorrow or the day after. >> we shall see. i mean listen, we may know this story quite well, at least the broad contours of it, but when it comes to the trial, there is so much to dig in. jeremy, duncan, thank you. i think we have less of you in for one more block. so please stay right there. coming up, congress, aid to ukraine, but don't ask anyone in the republican party if this means the debate is settled. as we await a judge order on a gag ruling, maybe trump wants to go to prison, they suggest. more on that, next.
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the sixth day of donald trump office hush money trial began with a contempt hearing to determine whether the former president should be fined for attacking witnesses on social media in direct violation of a gag order imposed by judge juan merchan. 10 alleged violations. they also asked the judge to warn trump about the possibility of jail time. mr. chris conroy. we are not seeking an in car a try penalty. the defendant seems to be angling for that. conroy added the court should when the defendant's conduct will not be tolerated and remind him that incarceration is an option, should it be necessary. this was the response from
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trump's lawyer, todd blanche. there was absolutely no willful violation of the gag order. does comments were in direct response to comments by these witnesses, not about the criminal proceedings, your honor. when judge merchan pressed mr. blanche on what attacks mr. trump was responding to blanche struggled to answer. which led the judge to say i have asked you eight or nine times to show me the exact posts that trump was responding to, and you have been able to do that even once. blanche's response, president trump is being very careful to comply with your honor's rules. >> you, mr. blanche, you are losing all credibility. i have to tell you that right now. joining me now, former u.s. attorney with the manhattan das office, duncan, and northern district of alabama district attorney, thank you both for being here, and joyce, one of
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the invocations of losing the confidence of the judge in like, 48 hours? >> so, yeah, i mean it's never a good thing, right alex? i think we are all trying to find ways to express the fact that this is the worst development for donald trump office lawyers this early in the trial, and their client has forced it upon them. if donald trump were a normal defendant his lawyers would have taken him from the courtroom, sat him down, and had a meeting with him where they would have said to them, we cannot defend you if you cannot continue to do this. they may well have had a conversation, because trump's posts on truth social tonight have involved attacks on the judge, and alvin bragg. but he seems to have stopped talking for the moment about witnesses, but frankly it's too late. i think the judge is slow to anger. this is a very good judge, a judge who has good control in
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the courtroom. the fact he had this level of response to todd blanche's. >> what does it say about the defense's broader strategy? we knew this gag order was coming, and this was the best donald trump could come up with? >> i don't think they are arguing to the judge as much as they are putting on a show for their own client, they are making an argument that is not an argument that they know is the winning argument, and this could not have gone on any worse for them today, and they had to expect that. they would have said you know, he went past the line or went up to the line, and he is sorry, and it would have it right there. but he's making a political argument, and this notion of losing credibility, this early in the case is a serious problem, and it is costing them for example, they are not getting to see witnesses for
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the next day, and that is the preparation lawyers do when they are on trial. they prep for the next day's witness. they don't know who it is. that's what will trip them up and really harm mr. trump at the end of the day. >> i was struck as i know many were about the prosecution that donald trump is angling maybe to be incarcerated here. can you talk to that and how feasible that suggest an sounds to you? >> right? so, with donald trump, fundraisers, every time a judge rules against him, every time he's indicted i think we can't reject that notion out of hand the reality of donald trump losing more control. he is struggling to stay in a courtroom without standing up and trying to leave complaining about the temperature. i think even a brief stay in one of the holding cells in the courthouse would be very difficult for him. nonetheless there may be some political appeal to him. his basie no, there may not
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have been large rallies outside the courthouse perhaps, this would be something that he would view as rallying the base, but the reality is that for so many americans who have trump fatigue at this point, the spectacle of watching the former president go into custody might finally be that bridge too far. >> i am with joyce on the utility of you know, an hour or two in a holding cell for trump as a matter stoking political grievance, but i don't know. that just seems very difficult decision for the judge to make. >> i think what's more likely to happen is the judge to impose the find that prosecutors ask for. thousand dollars is a drop in the bucket for him obviously, but i think a $1000 fine is with the million-dollar ad what he could put undue on a advertisement, to say that he
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is being silenced, and fined, and they are suppressing his right to speak, and they don't want him to be president. whether it's a few hours in a cell or a few thousand dollars fine i think he will use this for all it's worth. i think that's why you were seeing posts that he is angling for a fight, he's not shying away, and he's putting the judge in a corner where there's nothing else he can do. >> the other piece from this aside from the political utility and what it means for the justice system is what it does to the jurors. some of the stuff trump has been saying, the reposting of jesse waters about liberal activists who are lying, one of these jurors came in, the second one, with real trepidation about serving on the jury here. if you are a lawyer in this, are you thinking okay, we will need to go to alternate jurors
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at a certain point? >> there is that risk. that is why judge merchan took the unusual step of putting six alternate jurors on this case, and in a normal case expected to last a couple weeks you might have two or three alternate jurors. this is a problem here, and it points to a larger problem, which is the jurors shouldn't be exposed to any of this, the jurors are supposed to not see the news, they are supposed to tell folks around them don't talk to me about the news. in a perfect world they would have no understanding about what donald trump is doing and whether a host on another network is talking about them in outing their identity. but, we live in a real world where that seems to be happening. that could have some located impacts in this case, if there are convictions, and if there is an appeal. for now the judge will do his best to reassure jurors, and he
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will do his best to make sure they understand he must strictly avoid any external news, that they are obligated at this point by virtue of the oath they took to serve to hear only the evidence presented to them. in the courtroom. >> it's such a stress test for the system and the people involved. i keep going back to judge merchan as well. he is really the most vulnerable person in this, given that trump can continue to say what he wants about the judge on social media, he's not out of the gag order, he has to make these monumental decisions, in terms of history. if he is pushed to put trump in a holding cell even for an hour becomes a line that's been crossed. we've never seen that before in american history. >> it is the job he signed up for. the jurors are in a different spot. even under the most normal of conditions it is hard to send someone to jail and look them
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in the eye. but these jurors have such a difficult task knowing that the actual philosophical, actual physical violence is against them. and it's got to be very scary being on the jury and frankly being the judge and being around all that. >> yeah, the judge engoron , no, in the e. jean carroll case, suggested that jurors not be revealed, to this day we have no idea who they were. joyce vance, duncan levin, thank you for your time. still ahead tonight, pro- life. arizona wants to, want-to be senator, kari lake, republicans cannot seem to figure out what they want. more on that next.
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i support trent to save as any babies as possible. >> i want to save as many babies as possible. >> our first priority is to save as many babies as possible. >> senator kari lake was very clear about being pro-life and anti-choice. a year earlier she had made it
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abundantly clear the civil war era zombie law that went banning nearly all abortions in the state of arizona, that love is a great one. again, according to kari lake. >> caller: i am incredibly thrilled that we are going to have a great law that's already on the books so it will prohibit abortion in arizona. >> but, then, two weeks ago, that zombie law became actual law thanks to a ruling from the state supreme court, and kari lake had second thoughts. >> i want to make sure that everyone, every woman who finds herself pregnant has more choices. if you look at where the population is on this, a full ban on abortion is not where the people are. >> i am very pro-life, the near- complete than is a great wall than. law here new opinion on the
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subject again. here she is on saturday. >> when this law passed that arizona supreme court said this is the law of arizona, but unfortunately the people running our state has said we are not going to enforce it, so it's really political theater. we don't have that law as many of us wish we did. >> we don't have that law as many of us wish we did. it's unfortunate democrats aren't enforcing it. except, it's not a good law, because most people aren't for it. except, it's a great law. what? this is the modern-day republican party, a party that cannot figure out what it once. speaker of the house, mike johnson, in 2022, was firmly against providing more usa aid to ukraine come he voted against ukrainian eight on four separate occasions, but once elected speaker last year according to reporting from the washington post he began
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sitting in on a high level intelligence briefings and speaker johnson changed his mind. but, when johnson tried to get his own party on board with ukraine aid barely half of them agreed. in fact, the only reason the house was able to approve $95 billion for ukraine, israel, and usi lies in the indo-pacific was because democrats came to the rescue. that does not mean the republican in-fighting is over. we are far from it. trump ally, marjorie taylor greene, is still threatening to oust speaker johnson for daring to cross the aisle. that is even the trump, himself, publicly defended johnson on monday, saying, i think he's trying very hard. but, if you thought trump would be the final word on this, think again. trump whisperer, steve benning, announced trump is actually livid about what speaker johnson did on ukraine. >> he does not support johnson 100% trust me, he is furious about what happened. >> according to republicans,
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ukraine aid is very bad unless it is urgently necessary. if you think it is urgency it is catastrophically about idea and don't mention the word abortion. we will talk more about the republican party, rudderless, and what they should do about it next. it next. lakesha: childhood cancer is-- it's a long road. it's hard. but st. jude has gotten us through it. st. jude is hope that you have a chance at life. and it goes such a long way for every child diagnosed with cancer because the research is being shared all over the world. it's awesome. [music playing]
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s. res. 661, s. res. 662, s. res. 663. the presiding officer: is the just moments ago the tisenan passed a package of four bills
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to provide billions in foreign aid to ukraine from israel, and taiwan. those bills are headed to president joe biden's desk for signature. they received bipartisan support tonight, but this final passage only happened, because house democrats bailed out house speaker mike johnson last weekend. former u.s. senator from the great state of missouri, claire, thank you for joining me. there have been conflicting headlines about who deserves credit here. quite obviously democrats do for bailing out the republican speaker of the house and numbers of his own party, getting it through and out of the house, but do you think mike johnson deserves credit? does he get a gold star for bucking the hardliners in the republican conference? >> you may chuckle a little when i say this, but yeah,
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probably. he got the high level he listened to the commanders. i think he spent time talking with people in europe, who he knows are our allies, and i think he figured out that he didn't want to be with putin at this moment. he didn't want to be the american who allowed putin to rollover our democracy. and that it was very dangerous for our country. it would have cost our country even more, not just in money, but maybe even and lives sacrificed in a much bigger and broader conflict. so he gets a gold star, but there are gold stars in the other places. mitch mcconnell, he didn't give up, he actually got more republicans to vote for the ukraine aid tonight than he did back in february. he got the majority of his caucus tonight, he did not get them back in february.
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and frankly, chuck schumer is not getting enough credit for, he has the same margin, alex, as the republicans have in house. >> yes. >> he only has 50 young my 51. >> that is how a part of g party manages ac to 51. >> and we have a lot of opinions in our party when it comes to the conflict, the horrific war in gaza right now. so, you know, i think the leaders at large in congress get gold stars tonight commit even though i grudgingly give it out to mitch mcconnell and mike johnson. >> listen, i don't think you're wrong to be begrudging in your distribution of gold stars just because it feels like johnson's desire to pass this ukraine aid bill was based on intelligence and a real feeling about the preservation of democracy.
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and yet it's hard to imagine he's really making that case to his party as the war in ukraine goes on, or as he talks about this general foreign-policy position of the republican party. it does not feel like he will use this as a moment and to bring his party back from isolationism when quite clearly he believes that's what's necessary for the betterment of the mobile order. >> yeah, to contrast him, i think he needs a dunce hat in the corner. put this in your pipe and smoke it, marco rubio voted no today. nobody has more intelligence than marco rubio. but he hasn't had the intelligence to go with it, or the backbone. so it is really interesting that he is siding with trump in this even though he knows better and so did another 16 or
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17 republicans in the senate, and a whole boatload of them in the house. so this is are you with trump and putin, or are you with really national security and protecting democracies and freedom across the country? >> are you drawing a larger inference of what this means in terms of house leadership? is mike johnson ready to do deals with moderate democrats and move things forward? is this a one-time thing? >> well i don't know, i don't think much will move now. you still have to keep the government funded, so that might be another power move he's going to have to try to make. i know he knows he's on very thin ice right now, because the far-right crazy caucus is so angry, but you know, it could be worse. he could be running for the senate in arizona and not know how he feels about an issue that i think doesn't lend itself to flip-flopping easily,
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and that is our start out in arizona, kari lake, who can't decide who she is, or why she's running. >> her inability to take a position on this is so exemplary of a party that is better but, they are not listening to their brains nor better angels, nor the information. >> they are listening to the loudest voices. she flipped again, because the loud voices are screaming at her. you cannot be against this bill from the 1800s. you must be for this bill. and, you know, the bill isn't even in effect yet, it will be, come summer. and local prosecutors still have the ability to bring cases, so she's not even accurate when she says it can't be enforced or won't be enforced. but, she is somebody who thinks , she is so flawless with her makeup, and she gets the soft
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shots, and she says also clearly pg actually believes that people will buy whatever she is selling. and they see that she has no principal on this. she loses votes from both sides. >> i will say i think i love your shot, and i can see a cake in the background which takes me love-- scones. even better. >> i would get you a cup of hot tea, and we could have us going. >> claire mccaskill, thank you for joining me for some talk tonight. coming up, protests at campuses across america led to a surge in heated rhetoric as well is unsupported accusation and conflicting narratives on all sides. we speak to the head of columbia university student newspaper about what has and has not been happening on that campus coming up next.
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there are now more than a dozen encampment-style protests on colleges. along with these protests our claims the protests are contributing to climate of anti-semitism on campus and the debate about where to draw the line between freedom of speech and safety on campus. that debate is happening not only in schools, but also in the national press and in the halls of congress. and it's led to the arrest and suspension of hundreds of students across multiple campuses. at the epicenter of all this is the encampment style protest currently on day six at columbia university. since the very first protest in clips of anti-semitic incidents following last october's attack
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no paper has covered the protests, the backlash and transformation of columbia's campus is extensively with as much detail or with as much access to all of the subjects involved as the columbia spectator. all these headlines you see on screen right now are just from today. for a better understanding of what's actually happening there joining me now is elizabeth ramirez, editor in chief of the columbia spectator. thank you for being here, i appreciate the reporting you have done what the paper is doing, and fort being on set tonight. this has been a storm front, if you will. what's the latest as the administration addresses the crisis? >> minutes prior, columbia students received an email from the president outlining there have been ongoing conversations between the administration and organizers between the encampments and these protests, and the president has recently outlined a deadline for when those conversations must come to reconciliation, or as she
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said in a pretty explicit way, they will seek "alternative options for querying the clearing of west lawn. there was not a direct mention not only at what happened on campus on thursday but what now has spread to new york university in several universities across the nation, we can't help but especially at the columbia spectator be on edge and be ready for the potential that we could relive what occurred on thursday. >> it's been hard for people who are not on campus to expand upon and understand the environment. to the best of your abilities, give me a sense of how contentious it is, how dangerous it feels, and what the general tenor is between a
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pro-palestinian group of students and the pro-israel students. >> yeah, it's an incredibly uncomplicated thing to describe, i think the best way is as a student who is currently there and getting the space there are different characterizations to the extent at which people feel safe. and i think we've tried to navigate that particularly by yes, there have been anti- semitic incidences, a lot of them, however, have been attached specifically to off- campus protests. a lot of them have been attached to non-affiliates who have been you know, protesting outside our campus sometimes in solidarity or in solidarity with those encampments-- >> not actually at the encampment itself? >> not to say there haven't been incidences as well on our campus, there were some particular incidences that happened over this past saturday what we call at the sun dial, and there were a few violent remarks that were made
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and a specific sign that was held by one singular protester away from the encampment, not on the lawns, but very close by that did refer to hamas' military wing. so, people of have course pointed to those incidences, and that is something we should contend with as a campus body, but also, there's this very interesting element, that if you weren't really deeply involved in the campus and seeing the encampment for yourself and walking onto it of this micro community that is being formed on this lawn, and what i mean by that is they have regular programming, which is to say they have movie nights and dance performances, and they have a list of community guidelines, and one of the first on the list is do not engage with counter protesters. try to de-escalate, don't try to engage with agitators, and in fact when some of the anti- semitic incidences happened on our campus and off campus on
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saturday, columbia university, the big coalition behind this encampment did to end extent denounce those incidences and say remember guys, this is what we are here for, we are here in support of palestinians, and we are here to demand from the university to potentially divest from its ties to israel. and, so understanding all those moving pieces it is a lot more nuanced, or how media has been able to portray it. it is more visible to us. on monday yesterday for the commencement of passover there was at the encampment, and that was an incredible display of why it's important not to display this as monolithic or even two-cited. certainly multi-faceted. there are people on so many different dimensions an

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