about 50 members of the house of representatives who called for recusal from those two january 6th related cases. hank johnson said we were compelled to request recuse yourself and obstructing an official proceeding and the other cases that may arise from the events surrounding january 6th. and other justices, ginni thomas, was subpoenaed by the january 6th committee and texted with mark meadows about the election. so there is other stuff under the general politicized atmosphere. fantastic reporting. thank you very much.>> good evening. >> some other stuff is -- amazing reporting.

if any of the neighbors want to come and speak to me about what they saw on that block, you have an open invitation. a great segment. do you remember the 1980s mobsters comedy, wiseguys. >> it's part of the grand design. the mob is willing to forgive them. if he will just do one simple thing. wiseguys. >> wiseguys. a comedy about two loadable gangsters played by joe piscopo and danny devito, who work for a mafia done called castillo.

probably not the highlight of danny devito's successful career, it was the high point for joe piscopo. he had a run as a cast member on saturday night live, where he was known for playing gangster adjacent characters like his half decent frank sinatra. he played a mobster from the 1930s with michael keaton. then a more modern version of the same character in wiseguys. after that joe piscopo didn't get a lot of other leading roles until today. when he got a late career break is a different kind of lackey. today he was among the odd characters that came to the manhattan courthouse to support donald trump. the witness on the stand was robert costello, the trump affiliated lawyer who michael cohen said pressured michael

cohen to stay loyal to donald trump. you might save yourself, is it a good idea to have a criminal defendant, donald trump, sitting next to joe piscopo, a guy known for playing a mobster in the costello crime family while a trump lawyer, named costello, took the stand in real life to face questions about his own -- is a good idea? probably not a good idea. then again, this is kind of the trump world thing. yesterday robert costello was smacked down for his wiseguy attitude in court and to date susan half an took him apart and said costello was supposed to be acting like michael cohen's lawyer.

here is one of the emails about cohen that was read today. our issue is to get:on the right page without the appearance that we are following instructions from luigi ali for the president. it does not settle at all. what prosecutors were able to do with the help of joe piscopo was highlight the mop like quality of this entire trump affair. it's a theme that has been part of the story from the beginning. here's how michael cohen describe the pressure he got from trump when he testified to congress in 2019.>> mr. trump called me a rat for choosing to tell the truth much like a mobster would do when one of his men decides to cooperate with the government. >> over the years we've seen a lot of people describe trump's pressure campaigns as mop like. but the most high profile person to do so is this man.

james comey. before becoming fbi director, he made a name for himself investigating the gambino crime family. he knows mafia tactics look like up close. during the early days of the trump administration, trump put pressure on him to any investigation into his national security advisor, michael flynn. he asked them to publicly confirm that trump was not under investigation. trump said he wanted loyalty from his fbi director. when james comey did not give him that loyalty, trump fired him. this was how james comey went on to describe his interactions with president trump. >> i had a flashback to my days investigating the mafia. i felt this effort -- maybe this was not their intention, but we were all part of the messaging and part of the effort.

the boss is at the head of the table and we figure out together how to do this. >> how strange is it to sit here to compare the president to a mob boss? >> very strange. and i don't do it lightly and i'm not trying to suggest that he is out breaking legs and shaking down shopkeepers, but what i'm talking about is that leadership culture constantly comes back to me when i think about my experience with the trump administration. >> so he had a front row seat to the style of management and we were reminded of that during this trial. during a pivotal moment in testimony, david pecker said he walked in on the trump meeting between the president-elect, james comey, and several members of trump's step. he was there to update him on the hush money arrangement that his magazine orchestrated with karen mcdougal. james comey was there to brief him on the

existence of the steele dossier. david pecker said that when he introduced him to the others, trump joe, here is the owner and publisher of the national enquirer and he probably knows more than anyone else in this room. the suggestion being that a tablet publisher would know more than the director of the fbi because in trump's world, the person who knows the most is the one who is the most loyal. joining me now is james comey, former director of the fbi. and the author of two fictional crime novels. the latest details a murder at the largest hedge fund. it is great to see you. we will get your book in a minute. i have to ask you. we talked so much about the way you characterized the trump administration and over the course of the last few weeks as

we had revelation upon revelation how trump and his associates operate. as you've watched this from the sidelines, give us the hypothesis, this is a form of organized crime. what he thought about this? >> it felt familiar to me. i found my own reactions were so dramatic that i tried to suppress it but kept coming back. it is back fully now. they even did the cosa nostra trick of bringing people to court to rattle the witness. michael corleone brings someone. but even dress like the mobsters do. it felt familiar.>> we read that excerpt from david testimony. your there. he enters the room. and trump says he knows more

than anyone else here. to remember that meeting? >> i don't want to comment on a witness's testimony until the jury has rendered a verdict, but i wrote down everything that happened and it doesn't mean that he's being dishonest. he just might have a different recollection than i do.>> just we have some of the checks that trump signed are also on key dates in the administration. the day that donald trump sent a $70,000 check to michael cohen reimbursing him for the hush money payments, that is the same day that he was pressuring you to end michael flynn investigation. i'm not presuming you know about the checks, but it suggests that he may have been multitasking. and i wonder as we go back to the idea that the trump organization and the trump presidency may have operated in a syndicate like

fashion, what parallels do you see in the boss being involved in all the business. >> he turned the oval office into a social club. and people just came in with the business at hand. some of it was government and apparently some of it was private. i was not there to see him. i was there to see the chief of staff who said, do you want to visit the boss? and i said, i'm sure he's busy. and he said, come on. come on.>> that sounds very much like a godfather kind of, come in and kiss the ring. and they >> he ushered me and and that was one of my encounters with the president. but it seems like there were these colorful characters that were mixing in with the normal day-to-day affairs of the white house. did it strike you as odd or is that just the way he was?>> i

had seen other presidents up close. and because of the responsibilities they exercise a certain amount of discipline and information management but this was chaotic. that was the way of this particular boss. >> we've been talking so much about the way in which the prosecution is laying out a case that suggests that the trump campaign was desperate to quell another october surprise. we did not learn about stormy daniels in the hours leading up to election day. we heard more about hillary clinton's emails. i know you played an instrumental role in that, and i wonder how you think about the information control in and around election and whether you have regrets? >> i have a deep and lasting regret that we were involved at all. i felt in the exact moment i was briefed with what happened on the 27th of october. as we were wrestling with this nightmare trying to figure out

which of our options was the least bad, all this was going on trying to suppress information. i knew nothing about it and tried not to think about the political and making that decision, but it's a strange overlap. but can i ask you about this desire to not think about the political? this particular department of justice, especially in the early days, seems very concerned about appearing to political. in the aftermath of january 6, there were people who said merrick garland and the doj were too concerned about going after trump after january 6. they started the investigation to slow and should've started from the top down. do you have an opinion?>> is someone who caught a lot of rocks, i am reluctant to throw and a, but i learned some lessons and they were too slow. and it has cost us because we got a special counsel late in

the game and we are stuck the way we are. so i would've hoped they would've moved faster. but given when they came into office with they were trying to comps, i get why they did it.>> how do you feel when you think this hush money trial is the only criminal trial that goes forward. but given where the calendar is, this is the only one that the american public will have a verdict on before the election. as a former law-enforcement guy, are you frustrated by that >> yes. but i've also found this trial to be a great civics lesson for the american people. it appears more are paying attention and they are seeing this is how it works. you might not lose ters when you shoot someone in the middle of fifth avenue, but you will be held accountable. have to sit at that table no matter who you are and shut up and the jury is what matters.

and this is how it works and it's a great lesson for the american people. the rule of law has passed the stress test. slow on the federal side, but this is a great example. >> you say it past the stress test. are you concerned it may have a test unlike any other if trump is reelected? when you think about a second trump administration, what are the implications for the fbi?>> serious for the justice department and fbi because he's coming for those institutions. he has regrets he did work hard enough to corrupt them and it's a danger for all americans. he will put people in positions and he didn't have all-stars last time. he will have the bottom of the barrel this time. and that should worry every american. this election matters because people have to participate. you cannot sit on the sideline. i don't care how you it feel

about joe biden, because the consequences on the other side are too severe.>> you have written two books. and they are best sellers, which got kudos. you're billed as a new york times best-selling author. is this just another act? >> it is something that i've done that i've fallen in love with. i'm a grandfather and a full time writer and that fills my life. i am writing about the things i know, but i'm glad that other people are bearing the responsibilities that i once had. >> i'm sure that you're happy to be a footnote and not the subject itself. new york times best-selling author, james comey, the author of the novel, westport, which is on sale.

it has been a pleasure to talk to you about this. >> great to be with you. coming up, election denial is proving expensive for rudy giuliani. 's new financial lifeline is decaf rudy. and now the tricky part begins and what happens next exactly after the break.

smile! you found it. the feeling of finding psoriasis can't filter out the real you. so go ahead, live unfiltered with the one and only sotyktu, a once-daily pill for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, and the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding you're so ready for your close-up. or finding you don't have to hide your skin just your background.

once-daily sotyktu was proven better, getting more people clearer skin than the leading pill. don't take if you're allergic to sotyktu; serious reactions can occur. sotyktu can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections, cancers including lymphoma, muscle problems, and changes in certain labs have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection, liver or kidney problems, high triglycerides, or had a vaccine or plan to. sotyktu is a tyk2 inhibitor. tyk2 is part of the jak family. it's not known if sotyktu has the same risks as jak inhibitors. find what plaque psoriasis has been hiding. there's only one sotyktu, so ask for it by name. so clearly you. sotyktu. we're trying to save the planet with nuggets. so clearly you. because we need the planet. and we also need nuggets. impossible. we're solving the meat problem with more meat. choose advil liqui-gels for faster, stronger and longer-lasting relief

than tylenol rapid release gels because advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. so for faster pain relief, advil the pain away. and they're all coming? becthose who are stillpain at the swith us, yes.ammation. grandpa!

what's this? your wings. light 'em up! gentlemen, it's a beautiful... ...day to fly. with absorbine pro, pain won't hold you back from your passions. it's the only solution with two max-strength anesthetics to deliver the strongest numbing pain relief available. so, do your thing like a pro, pain-free. absorbine pro.

>> do plan to testify in court? >> probably so. i would like to. i think so. >> today the defense rested in the hush money trial were donald trump did not end up testifying. robert costello, did testify that the goal of undermining michael cohen's credibility. it did not exactly work out that way. instead handed up cooperating parts of michael cohen's testimony. i may 14th he said i did not trust him and i believed based upon all of our conversations that he would immediately run back to mr. giuliani and that would be divulged to president trump. it confirmed exactly that.

showing that robert costello is a back channel to trump and rudy giuliani as michael cohen claimed. joining me now are kristy greenberg and duncan levin. thank you for being here tonight. there is a lot of specific legal stuff i want to get to. but was it a good idea for the defense to end with robert costello? >> it was a horrible idea. it help to bolster michael cohen's credibility. anything that makes michael cohen smell like a rose, it's a bad idea for the defense. but these emails are oozing with slime. :said he wanted to be my lawyer, but i didn't trust him. i thought he was working with donald trump, and today we get emails with they are pretty explicit. we have to make it appear that we are not acting under the

instruction of rudy giuliani or the present. and the defense knows that they exist. why would you call this guy. putting aside all the antics where he was blatantly disrespectful. it is maddening. but all those things, the style and the substance was a total train neck for the defense. >> in no uncertain terms a bad idea. the stage we are at now is the judge is deliberating on decisions about the instructions that the jury will be given, which is very important. but this is where the rubber meets the road.>> not everything can be as sexy as hush money payments. but this is like the fine print of the contract. this is how the jury interacts with the evidence for.

and the judge has not ruled formally on most of the requests, but it looks like it was a mixed bag for the prosecution. the prosecution had big victory -- eight meaningful victory in some of the small print. two of the elements of the offense are the falsification of business records was done with the intent to defraud and conceal the commission of another offense. >> that is the felony charge. >> and the prosecution had two victories. they are not two separate things. the intent to defraud and conceal the commission of another crime are the same thing. but the more interesting thing is it looks like judge merchan is rolling that not all the teachers need to be unanimous. in the way in which he covered up this conspiracy to promote

an election by unlawful means meaning that one sure could decide that the stormy daniel did it. another could say it was a tax payment that did it and they don't need to agree. it gives the prosecution a lot of flexibility. >> that seems like something that alvin bragg foresaw. all along it was like we understand what the misdemeanor is. to make it a felony there needs to be the secondary stepped-up charge and it could be a number of things. and what are those things? and he never outlined clearly one thing and it sounds like the judge said it's fine. jurors can come to different conclusions.>> the one caveat that is still an open question as to whether those unlawful means must be criminal whether it can just be unlawful. maybe can also be civil. the defense was key on wanting

to have this willfully language put in meaning you know you are acting intentionally and what you are doing will result in a violation of the law. so the judge is not quite decided on that, but this is a win for the prosecution and give some flexibility. >> there was a moment where it sounds like the judge is giving the defense a meaningful -- are calling it a victory? >> the way the jurors interact with the evidence and it deals with the definition of the word cause. the first element is that he caused false records to be falsified. now, the statute itself does not define that in the prosecution is asking for an expansive definition that his actions led to this foreseeable event and a reasonably foreseeable.

>> he's suggesting to allen weisselberg to come up with this scheme to pay off stormy daniels. he was the chicken that laid the egg in the rube goldberg machine of payments. >> one thing started the ball rolling and he set in motion the events that were foreseeable that would've caused these false records. the judge is unlikely to give that instruction and the reason that's important is there's no evidence that trump pick up the phone and called michael cohen or allen weisselberg and said you have to falsify records. so puts more emphasis on michael cohen's direct testimony where he said he ordered it authorized. before, even without michael cohen, there's a strong circumstantial case. and you could say that these instructions, it might be that there are two lawyers on the street that are paying

attention to it and it changes the way that the jury will look at the evidence and think about a. >> and to think about donald trump's role in this. all along the defense has tried to cast doubt on the degree to which she was engaged in the prosecution sanka he knew where every dollar went. he then wanted paid $650 for tiffany picture frame. and now it sounds like there's a higher standard of truth.>> but he signed nine of the checks. there were 34 counts but nine are the checks he personally signed. so and attached to that is the invoice that says it is for a retainer for legal services, which is false. it's hard to see how even with an instruction like this we could not get to a guilty birdie a guilty verdicts. >> should is the operative word.

on ask about the strategy. we end on robert castella. and the judge is can you give instructions later this week and the jury will get them next week. this is a delay. there are several days during which the jury will marinate on things and i wonder if you have a thought about who is at an advantage?>> it's an unforeseeable scheduling issue. the judge decided he didn't want too much time elapsed and the rescheduling issues with some of the jurors. there was going to be dead time later this week and then he had memorial day and he wanted to have a break now rather than muddle through more this week and have a break for memorial day and get started on tuesday. i don't know that it benefits one side or the other. the lawyers will be feverishly

working until tuesday morning when they make these closing statements. and they will work on both sides to hone their arguments they will be practicing and i think for both sides it's something that benefits everyone and i don't know that one side has an advantage. >> it is great to have you on here to help us decipher what's happening. still ahead, a booming economy, a closed border and a unified reich. (avo) kate made progress with her mental health... ...but her medication caused unintentional movements in her

face, hands, and feet called tardive dyskinesia, or td. so her doctor prescribed austedo xr— a once-daily td treatment for adults. ♪ as you go with austedo ♪ austedo xr significantly reduced kate's td movements. some people saw a response as early as 2 weeks. with austedo xr, kate can stay on her mental health meds— (kate) oh, hi buddy! (avo) austedo xr can cause depression, suicidal thoughts, or actions in patients with huntington's disease. pay close attention to and call your doctor if you become depressed, have sudden changes in mood, or have suicidal thoughts. don't take if you have liver problems, are taking reserpine, tetrabenazine, or valbenazine. austedo xr may cause irregular or fast heartbeat, or abnormal movements. seek help for fever, stiff muscles, problems thinking, or sweating. common side effects include inflammation of the nose and throat, insomnia and sleepiness. ♪ as you go with austedo ♪ ask your doctor for austedo xr. ♪ austedo xr ♪ [music playing] tiffany: my daughter is mila.

she is 19 months old. she is a little ray of sunshine. one of the happiest babies you'll probably ever meet. [giggles] children with down syndrome typically have a higher risk for developing acute myeloid leukemia, or just leukemia in general. and here we are. marlo thomas: st. jude children's research hospital works day after day to find cures and save the lives of children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. tiffany: she was referred to st. jude at 11 months. they knew what to do as soon as they got her diagnosis. they already had her treatment plan drawn out. and they were like, this is what we're going to do. this is how long it's going to take. this is how long in between. this place is like a family to us now. like, i can't say enough how grateful we are to be here. medical bills are always a big thing to everybody because everybody knows that anything medical is going to be expensive.

we have received no bills since being at st. jude. we have paid for nothing. marlo thomas: thanks to generous donors like you, families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food so they can focus on helping their child live. for just $19 a month, you'll help us continue the lifesaving research and treatment that these kids need now and in the future. join with your credit or debit card right now, and we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt that you can proudly wear to show your support. tiffany: anybody and everybody that contributes anything to this place, no matter if it's a big business or just the grandmother that donates once a month, they are changing people's lives. and that's a big deal. [music playing]

headlines that read american prosperity is back. but then there is this one. industrial-strength significantly increase driven by the creation of a unified reich. that would be a reference to hitler's genocidal regime. these headlines in the video that was reposted to the social

media account of the republican front runner. the trump campaign city came from a random account that a staffer reposted and also on his instagram while trump was in court yesterday. this is how the biden campaign has responded. this is the type of unhinged behavior you get from a guy who knows that democracy continues to reject his extreme vision of chaos, division, and violence. thank you for being here. your colic points out there's a stock template that could be part of a possible explanation as to how these headlines made their way to this video. but the fact of the matter is, antisemitic language is getting

into conservative circles with more frequency. can you talk about the way that this is part of the larger radicalization of the right? >> i think that is well said. this is part of a pattern. people see stuff like this and it's easy to jump to the conclusion that trump is a crypto hitler fan. but what is happening is it's more nuanced but more alarming and that is that throughout republican politics and the conservative movement at the activist level, the rising generation of people who are going into conservative media and republican politics have been raised on a steady diet of triggering the lips style of politics which is to say a parent fascist and racist rhetoric in a quasi-on the way but it's meant to gin up

support among unseemly people and to frighten people on the left and they think it's funny. the problem is that the longer people lived in that digital universe where they pretend to be fascists or neo-nazis, the more the line between the performance and reality begins to blur. and you see this with people who are found out to be producers on tucker carlson's new show or writers -- speechwriters in the white house. they have spent so much time trying to upset the left by parroting not see or fascist rhetoric that they adopt those views on ironically. , and that is why, just to make

this point quickly why repeatedly when trump is caught or the campaign is caught using fascist rhetoric or he's caught dining with a blatantly kind of antisemitic white nationalist, the defenses always, it was bad staff for. he had bad advice from a staff and they didn't that the post or the person he's having dinner with. at some point you have to ask why is the staff willing to make these mistakes over and over again. >> i thought immediately of your stephen miller piece that suggests he so intent on owning the lives that he starts to embrace a radical right vision and then once he's in the white house with the child separation policy that he embraced and is the actual architect of. i understand the stephen miller part of it. i wonder how you think josh hawley and ted cruz, there not coming from such a

reactionary trolling the lips style of self radicalization, how they fit into the context that you laid out. >> it's a great point because ted cruz is a prime example of someone who was raised in a republican party were being a young conservative and being a young william f. buckley, he was probably a nerd and went to harvard and he had blazers with flag pins. he was coming up through the republican party of reagan and bush and he's in the senate now and i can think of few senators who are better at adopting that kind of lid triggering snowflake melting attitude and ted cruz. and would he approve of a campaign ad that uses rhetoric? probably not, but is it

possible that he's chuckling about it in private? i think it's possible. there's a generational thing where republicans who are in office have had to adapt to this new ethos that donald trump has championed. and you see at every level of the gop. >> this will be a very tight race between the figurehead of this movement and the one who stands in opposition to it, joe biden. does that argument, does the shadow of the right, whether intentional or unintentional move voters in the republican party? are they along for the ride with trump and stephen miller? is the roller coaster -- has the train left the station?>>

you know, i think certainly some of trump's supporters are along for the ride and they cheer stuff like this or think it is funny. i think -- the thing is there is negative partisanship is such a strong force in politics at this point that republican voters who would not approve of stuff like this or be scandalized by it, when they lived in their algorithmically tailored information bubble, they don't come across this or if they do, it's framed in a what about fashion where the pivot is to look at this terrible thing that democrats are doing. i don't know if these sentiments are widely held in the republican party, but joe biden has staked his campaign on de- normalizing donald trump with this kind of rhetoric. there's something admiral about it. i'm not sure as a campaign

tactic it will be successful and i guess we will find out in november.>> we will find out what our countries about. thank you for being here. i appreciate your time. when we come back, rudy giuliani is order to post bond in arizona. but don't worry, he has new way to earn cash. more on that is ahead. ed gutter.

call leaffilter today. and never clean out clogged gutters again. leaffilter's technology keeps debris out of your gutters for good. guaranteed. call 833.leaf.filter today, or visit leaffilter.com. nice to meet ya. my name is david. i've been a pharmacist for 44 years. when i have customers come in

and ask for something for memory, i recommend prevagen. number one, because it's effective. does not require a prescription. and i've been taking it quite a while myself and i know it works. and i love it when the customers come back in and tell me, "david, that really works so good for me." makes my day. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription.

the virus that causes shingles is sleeping... in 99% of people over 50. and it could strike at any time.

think you're not at risk? wake up. because shingles could wake up in you. if you're over 50, talk to your doctor or pharmacist about shingles prevention.

if i put my name on something, i truly believe in it. but that was rudy giuliani. this time he's putting his name on and claiming is the truth is not an election lie and not a conspiracy theory. it is this. >> today i am thrilled to introduce you to something i am incredibly proud of. my own brand of organics specialty coffee. best coffee you should try. it is smooth, chocolatey, and gentle on your . >> chocolatey. on sunday he launched this. $30 direct to consumer coffee. we knew that he was desperate for cash because the nearly

$150 million defamation judgment and the million dollars he owes lawyers and loss of income after he got fired from the radio gig. and bankruptcy proceedings. he owes more than $153 million to 49 different creditors. today we have one more reason why he might be desperate for followers to purchase his coffee. today he was arraigned in arizona for his role in the fake electors scheme. not in person. tell where giuliani was because he was constantly live streaming video of himself at identifiable locations. whenever authorities tried to serve giuliani at those

locations they were turned away and told he was not there. giuliani even taunted authorities sing of arizona authorities can't find me by tomorrow morning, they must dismiss the indictment. sort of a weird dare. he is not waldo. less than two hours after that week, arizona authorities did indeed find giuliani outside of his 80th birthday party and served him the papers. he claimed it was all a misunderstanding. the judge did not buy it and hit rudy giuliani with a $10,000 bond to secure his next appearance in person. giuliani has 30 days to get to arizona and get booked into the system or forfeit $10,000 he likely can't afford to lose. if that doesn't wake rudy giuliani up to the fact he is to comply with law enforcement, well, maybe his coffee will.

we will be right back. >> tech: need to get your windshield fixed? safelite makes it easy. you can schedule in just a few clicks. and we'll come to you with a replacement you can trust. >> vo: schedule free mobile service now at safelite.com. ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep... ...so he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand. and wakes up feeling like himself. get the rest to be your best with non-habit forming zzzquil. ♪ ♪ a slow network is no network for business.

that's why more choose comcast business. and now we're introducing ultimate speed for business, our fastest plans yet. we're up to 12 times faster than verizon, at&t, and t-mobile. and existing customers could even get up to triple the speeds at no additional cost. from the company with 99.9% network reliability and advanced cyber security, it's ultimate speed for ultimate business. and it's all from comcast business.

today, senate majority leader chuck schumer told reporters he is in discussion with mike johnson about whether to invite israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu to appear before a joint session of congress. this comes two months after schumer issued a scathing rebuke of the handling of the war in gaza on the floor of the senate, going so far as to call for new elections in israel and it comes a day after the international criminal court announced it would be seeking arrest warrants for netanyahu and senior hamas leaders, alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity. joining me now is ben rhodes, former deputy national security advisor under president barack obama. thank you for being here. we talked about the icc under different circumstances and i wonder what you think of

biden's reaction that these arrest warrants are, quote, outrageous. >> it felt a little over-the- top to me, alex, to tell you the truth. i don't think anyone expected the u.s. to support icc warrants. the u.s. is not a signatory to the icc. the u.s. has generally not supported jurisdiction over israel or palestine and the icc believes that its jurisdiction is based on the recognition of palestine. that said there are real problems for the u.s. one, the u.s. does recognize icc jurisdiction over russian war crimes, even though russia is not a signatory, so the kind of hypocrisy in u.s. foreign policy is glaring in this case. the argument we make about israel is literally directly in contrast with the argument about why they should be able

to make those investigations as it relates to russia and also the u.s. itself as said that israel has restricted the flow of aid into gaza. officials including samantha powers said there is a famine in gaza and the icc determination around the request of warrant was tied to things that u.s. officials themselves have said. so it kind of puts the u.s. in this position where we seem to be applying a different standard in this case than what we would apply in other cases, so i am not surprised the u.s. is refusing to support the icc, but the level of the response and, frankly, the indulgence of some republicans who want to sanction an international institution like the icc feels like they are a bit over their skis on this one. >> and speaking of indulgent republicans i wonder what you

make of the strange choreography between chuck schumer and mike johnson given schumer's public position he took two months ago, effectively saying netanyahu has to go and the way republicans seem to be successfully splitting the democratic coalition and even the democrat himself who is leading the senate. >> look, here is the reality of the situation. netanyahu is leading the most far right coalition in the history of israel. netanyahu has been a thorn in the side of democratic presidents. he last came to congress at the invitation of the republican speaker of the house to give a speech arguing against barack obama's foreign policy and president biden has criticized netanyahu's conduct of the war in gaza and yet there is a reluctance to kind of follow that all the way to the logic of saying the democratic party, we don't want to continue to

provide offensive military weapons to israel, we believe there should be a cease-fire. i think the republicans can sense and ambivalence in the democratic party. there are democratic constituencies that are appalled by the crisis in gaza and don't understand why we would give support to a far right government in israel that is ignoring, repeatedly, the president of the united states. there are also people in the democratic party were deeply uncomfortable being out of step with the israeli government and the republicans smelling that will do everything they can, whether it is trying to sanction the icc, inviting netanyahu, to take advantage of that. in those circumstances i think the best you can do is stand behind your principles and that would be my advice to democratic leaders. >> i do wonder. you talk about the hard right government in israel that does not want president biden to win reelection. israeli officials, sorry,

netanyahu is meeting with former trump officials including former high-level trump aids. do you read anything into that? >> this is not subtle, alex. in 2012 netanyahu supported mitt romney. he was very close to donald trump. they named streets and settlements in israel after donald trump. there is every reason to believe that netanyahu has a preference for trump in this election and again that is not a new dynamic. part of what is so frustrating to me is that we continue to be kind of surprised that netanyahu would completely ignore the u.s. president. would undermine the u.s. president. well, he has been doing this to democrats as long as i have been around. the eight years that barack obama is president and now the four years that joe biden is president. democrats have to get their