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tv   The Last Word With Lawrence O Donnell  MSNBC  May 30, 2024 10:00pm-11:00pm PDT

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just hours ago, the former president and current presumptive republican nominee was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
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those counts stem from a salacious hush money payment to an adult film star and the cover-up coordinated between trump, his former attorney michael cohen and head of the national inquirer, david pecker. this case was about a conspiracy to interfere in the 2016 election. we knew nothing about that until after the election was over thanks to some enterprising reporting from the wall street journal but prosecutors were reluctant to bring charges for some time. for years, this case against trump had effectively laid dormant. after six years of waiting and six years of trial and two years of deliberation, the jury of 12 ordinary americans found donald trump guilty on all 34 counts this afternoon. trump's fate is now in the
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hands of the judge, one mershon, who is scheduled a sentencing hearing for july 11th which is just four days before the republican national convention and while most experts agree prison time is unlikely, it's possible. trump is expected to hold a press conference later today and in all likelihood will continue to rail against the verdict is being rigged which is what he did right after the verdict today but that is not what we saw from this jury which is important. they proved that nobody, no matter how powerful, is above the law. alvin bragg, the prosecutor who brought this case forward, make that point today after the verdict. >> we have a phenomenal system of 12 everyday new yorkers who listen to the judge's directions. they follow evidence. they were careful and attentive , and so, i feel deep gratitude to work alongside of them to be a part of the system.
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>> the question now is, what comes next? what is the possibility of an appeal from the trump team and how could this impact the 2024 election? joining me right now a special correspondent for the hollywood reporter. you previously worked for the national inquirer and had a front row seat to the so-called catch and kill plot. catherine christian is the former unit chief at the manhattan district attorney's office. harry lippmann is a former u.s. attorney and christy greenberg's former deputy chief of the fdny criminal division. this all felt like it happened quite quickly. that may be how it always happens in a trial when you're getting a verdict. did anything surprise you, how the jury ruled? >> the verdict itself did not surprise me and i thought they would run the table with a couple of little exceptions, they were similar counts but we've been saying all the way through, i was, but so many people were, the prosecution
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had a story, a compelling one, and the through line from the trump tower meeting to michael: , so the defense just did not seem to be able to repair that and when it got to the very end, so yesterday, they did conscientious but quick work. when we had those teasers on the transcript they were consistent with starting chronologically and going through, they were consistent with trying to figure out whether to corroborate michael cohen but they were also most consistent with and this is what i thought at the time, especially with that audiotape really zeroing in on trump's role. they had already focused in on him, just what he did at the meeting to pecker, cohen and those sorts of things. that followed through credit -- pretty quick but also it seemed to me, methodical. i've been thinking a conviction was coming. >> i want to pause for a moment.
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i've been watching alan bragg. i've watch this clip a number of times. his tone struck me is like, exactly the right tone and what he delivered, not the tone of people who are not as self- controlled as he was would have delivered. tell me what you thought of it. you have prosecuted cases and worked in these offices. what were you thinking about when you are watching him? >> i have worked with alvin bragg and this was vintage alvin bragg. this is a man who has been really taking a tax from all sides. he was attacked for initially not charging this case. mark cormorant wrote a book criticizing alvin bragg for not being aggressive enough that
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when he charges the case there is an onslaught of criticism that this was in the were the case to bring, and then you had the attacks from congress, subpoenas to his office that he had to fend off then you also had these personal attacks from donald trump not just on alvin bragg, all those those were awful. he called him an animal, he attacked his wife, they were vicious personal attacks and through all of it, you didn't get a response. he kept his head down and he did the work and what you saw today, he could have come out with a statement that was more boastful and instead, you saw him talking about gratitude, the gratitude to his team, for being part of a system that works in the way that this doesn't that is just who he is. he is a person who is dignified, shows restraint, who has respect for the people he works with them so i was not surprised to see this, but i also have to say, given everything he's been through and what we sing, which was focusing on the facts of the law, this was a strong case, proven by the fact that the jury came out as quickly as
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they did with their guilty verdict. >> no question about that and some of that is how they structured the case. david pecker was the first person to testify, more compelling, i think , then people thought it might be. you said david pecker's's testimony was the most compelling. >> yes. i thought it was after he testified i said i understand now, particularly when he called himself the eyes and ears of the campaign. i said at the time, he was eyes and ears for this jury to the conspiracy, because he and also his personality, was his authentic self. he took pride in national inquirer's leaving -- sleazy stuff but he didn't really have any baggage. he was credible. he didn't hate donald trump, so he laid the framework and when josh stein glass, the
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prosecutor, referred back to the trump tower meeting which happened, remember donald trump and his wife coming down the escalator, it was two months after that, that the trump tower meeting happened, and the phone call that pecker testified about that the jury wanted to hear, that was donald trump calling pecker. it was not: calling pecker or pecker calling trump. that conversation that pecker had was michael cohen talking about the boss, donald trump, it was almost mob like, you know, the don, nope unintended, and his lawyer who wasn't really a lawyer in the real sense, michael cohen who was the one who is doing the bidding so when the jury heard the testimony back and also the law, they went back and as we know, at the end of the day we all thought they were going home and then our phones blew
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up. it was a verdict. >> it was. again, as someone who's not been in these courtrooms in this case, everybody thought we were packing it up and all of a sudden, i mean our first conversation when you had just put out your story which was very courageous, i told you at the time, you told your version of events, you have watched the cell transpire, which must've been kind of a bit of an out of body experience at times, tell me what that has been like for you and also, do you think anything will change on his catch and kill tactics? >> it's good to be here tonight, this morning because we sat together six weeks ago. it feels like a long time ago, and i did my first interview with you and you asked me, what would i like people to know about this case and i said fundamentally, this is a case about election interference and then i spoke to you and the viewers about that meeting at trump tower about david pecker going to meet with michael cohen and donald trump is saying he will be the eyes and ears of the campaign . the company will purchase negative stories about trump stories and
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promoting donald trump really did form the basis of this case and as soon as the jury asked for that read back of david evidence i was sitting in court thinking, i reckon i've gone through the paper, they a degree about the falsification of these records and now look into the underlying crime and looking for pecker to confirm trumps involvement. your question about catch and kill, thankfully, david pecker is no longer really involved with the media organization that he turned into a criminal enterprise, ami, which is now a different organization, whether different parts of the media
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will do these types of deals again is really anyone's guess but for me, sitting there today as we were all packing up, i was getting ready, just like the rest of my colleagues in the press, to head out then we got this absolute stunner from merchan who said there's been a verdict and i was thinking well, it's going to be guilty, and for me, it is one of those ones where i've lived it and lived to tell the tale. i was a source for the wall street journal, a source for the new york times, for me, it's actually a confirmation of the work of the fourth estate, that journalism was able to propel the story forward. and show them, through a series of stories, the doorman, stormie mcdaniels, karen mcdougal, about these catch and kills, get it on the radar of prosecutors, which formed the basis of this indictment. >> it is such a good point. journalism on the wall street journal story and people like yourself who were sources in the story, that helped bring this to light.
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there were several moments of courage throughout this process that led to this day and our judicial system doing its job because you had a jury of 12 men and women making a decision. we have a lot more to get to. we still have so much to cover. stick around. we will be back after a quick break. be back after a quick break. have heart failure with unresolved symptoms? it may be time to see the bigger picture. heart failure and seemingly unrelated symptoms like carpal tunnel syndrome,
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verdict? >> no, i was not. i've told you all along that the facts speak for themselves. the documents speak for themselves. >> it's been eight years down the road from his alleged crimes. that is justice delayed. what is justice delayed, justice denied? >> 34 cases -- count, one after the other of guilty. it is accountability. it's exactly what america needs right now. we need for accountability to be had by all those that break the law because, as we like to continuously state, no one is above the law. today's verdict demonstrates that. >> how do you think donald trump is feeling today? >> i can only go back to when
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judge polly sentenced me to 36 months. you don't feel good. sentencing is terrible. i have course, took the plea, the 48 hours that was given to me or they were filing the 80 page indictment that was going to include my wife. it never feels good. i did what i had to do to protect my family. this is very different. donald did not let it go in order to protect his family. he took it all the way. >> that was michael cohen, of course, donald trump's former attorney and self-described speaker speaking exclusively to msnbc earlier tonight. up until tonight, cohen was the only other person to be held accountable for the scheme to pay off stormy daniels. he of course was a star witness, one of them, and trumps hush money trial.
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i want to start with you and lee cowan of it all, shall we say. we have all been around michael cohen in different ways, some of us have interviewed him. he is a pretty bombastic character, typically. he was not, in that interview. more importantly, he was not in the courtroom. how much do you think his demeanor and how he approached it matter to the jury. >> i think it mattered tremendously because we were all waiting. he was the last witness. we had heard about michael cohen being the fixer, being the guy people didn't want to deal with and who was really brash. you've heard his voice on recordings before. you actually heard from him in the courtroom, so you are expecting a lot and then he came in and was calm and he was pretty even. he did not lose his cool at all and i think that was a surprise to a lot of us who were maybe waiting to see if the cross- examination would maybe poke him too much and he would react and he really didn't, and i
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think that was important for showing that he respected the process. he respected the courtroom, the judge, and the jury's time, so i think that what a long way. >> it is such an interesting part of it, the tone. harry, you were just saying the narrative of this. josh stein glass but also d.a. bragg and the whole team had to kind of construct this narrative, which includes who they have testified when, presumably. tell me about your reaction. >> props to stein glass and team. there is a prosecutors art, and this was artful. it was not flashy, but they made the story seem compelling, with a hole through line and cohen met with them 25 times. everyone has remarked how much more effective of a communicator stein glass was then blanche. there is huge preparation here
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and that is what he did. there was one point where an objection was sustained and he just knew how, let's skip the next one before even looking at it. he rehearsed that very strong closing, i'll bet 25 times, and to his colleagues and i think blanche and the whole defense team seem to be very much at odds. that was the sort of vibe. you know, 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration. they told an inspiring story but they worked it through, and everything from the sentence level for he had dynamics and pause, but the narrative level. it was natural in a sense, but he and they made it seem natural. that is a prosecutors art. >> shout out to the female
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prosecutor on the team, susan, who question stormy daniels, that was her witness and michael cohen was her witness, meaning she was the one who prepared michael cohen and she was the one who did a very effective redirect when the defense that they had that aha moment, that's a lie, and she was the one who had the redirect and brought that photo in keep schiller and trump. she also was the one who destroyed bob costello in cross- examination, so this was a very good prosecution team, and josh stein glass has been trying cases for 25 years, so having seen him and knowing him, i was not surprised that the great job he did, but it was a very cohesive team. you could not really say that about the other side, but out of fairness to them, look at their client was. i mean, that is what they had to deal with, that client, so this was a very difficult process. >> there were some moments she kind of brought things back and put them in a very good place.
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>> her rhythm. their rhythm, but hers in particular were a big part of this. >> i was in the overflow room for the closing arguments and i was so struck by judge merchan's voice, which, because there are no cameras in the courtroom and people don't hear the audio, unfortunately, the american public doesn't get to hear but he has such a calming voice, under such stressful circumstances and i want to ask you. we've covered this extensively. you know the story extensively. talk to me about the role of the judge and what struck you about it? >> i think it's been such an incredibly fair proceeding and i wish the american people were able to watch, as well, because when we hear this cry that this is a witchhunt and the judge is biased and his daughter is making money out of all of this and then i sat there and see how fair he is, particularly to the defense, what really struck me today is when the jury was being discharged he said to them, you know, i wanted to thank you and then he said to
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them i want to thank you privately and i want to ask you after this, how we can do this better, and it struck me, what a lovely way to finish these proceedings, that this jury that not only just sacrificed time but have also put their reputations, their lives on the line, people are going to be chasing them in the next several days to get interviews, there is the risk that their names come out and trump supporters circulate them if not trump himself, and that he wanted to take that time, you know, to go into a room and say thank you for what you have done and how could we do this better. when you juxtapose michael cohen, who we all thought defense was going to the prosecution and the defense are going to be under the needle, he was going to have an outburst, it was the defense's big witness who was the one that blew a gasket. so much so, the courtroom had to be cleared. i was there that day for judge merchan actually sort of lost his cool and said everyone out of the courtroom, but it was bob costello who was behaving in a manner that was totally disrespectful to that courtroom,
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muttering under his breath, saying things like jesus and being totally out of hand and that was the one key defense witness the jury saw, was bob costello acting in a way that we thought maybe michael cohen could've behaved but he was cool and calm under pressure and it was bob costello who is behaving like a brat in there. >> really have like a few seconds left but catherine, everyone thinks it's over now but there's a lot more that's going to happen here. sentencing, potential appeal. >> d.a. bragg is very circumspect. this is not over. there has to be sentencing and there is also going to be an appeal, so he will be very, you know, not saying a lot of things. you can anticipate mr. blanche said he's filing a motion. that could only be a motion to set aside the verdict. it will be denied and then there will be sentencing
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mammals. donald trump will be sentenced and then he will file an appeal. it depends how fast he perfects that appeal whether or not it will be heard. >> i mean, what you are telling me is there is a lot to come. >> and he's got to sit down with a probation officer and show he is contrite. that won't happen. >> that is a key moment to watch, which i suspect you're going to still need to be caffeinated to be informing our audience for many weeks to come. i am so grateful. this is full circle for us. thank you all so much for being here. coming up next, trump's first criminal trial had a big moment today but now the question becomes, how does his conviction play and what happens in november? that conversation is coming up after a quick break.
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's tractable terms conviction in the hush money trial comes at the start of what promises to be an unusually busy stretch of the campaign season. at the end of june less than a month from now he will face
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president biden in the first presidential debate of the cycle then on july 11th trump will report back to court for his sentencing hearing. he faces the possibility of being penalized with a monetary fine, probation or even jail time. when sentenced, the conviction will be final and he will officially be considered an convicted felon in the eyes of the law. four days after that, trump will head to milwaukee for the start of the republican national conviction -- convention where he will become the gop nominee. it's unclear how this conviction will change the presidential race, if it changes it. trump's campaign doesn't seem to be bothered by it at this point but that may be how they are playing things publicly. there are already fundraising on this conviction. meanwhile, democratic
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strategist tell nbc news the conviction won't be a central message of the campaign in the long term. there is no precedent for this, but many voters say they've already made up their minds about both candidates. about 10% of republicans and 11% of independents say a guilty verdict will make them less likely to vote for trumpet now, terms conviction is no longer hypothetical. it is reality. voters now have to reckon whether or not they can vote for a convicted felon for president. believe it or not, election day is 158 days away. joining me now to dig deeper into the political implications are jennifer, host of the nbc podcast, how to win 2024. tim miller hosts a podcast, and anthony, former director of public affairs from the public -- department of justice. i'm going to start with anthony. you have spent a number of years on the justice department working there as a spokesperson.
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you've also spent years on political campaigns. how does the message of this all tie together for the biden campaign, if you are the biden campaign and trying to appeal to those voters you're trying to win over, maybe their independence, or also the voters you are trying to bring back home who are unexcited democrats right now. >> first i notice jen and tim have a podcast. i think i need to have a podcast. >> maybe you need one. yeah. >> i will start with this. what we have, i think democrats need to play this straight. i was really glad to hear what you just said from a biden campaign official, that they don't intend to make donald trump's conviction a central part of their campaign but there are two things i hope to see. number one, as you noted in your lead-in, donald trump is now a convicted felon and democrats should say that every time they speak is name from
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here until the election and secondly on a macro level, bill clinton once told us to not stop thinking about tomorrow, and that is what joe biden and his campaign should continue to do to keep this campaign focused on the future, and how he plans to improve their lives and you contrast that with all of the chaos that surrounds donald trump and his campaign of retribution and vengeance of it gets back to the white house. if democrats can do that i think they have a good shot at not just communicating their priorities, but convincing the public that joe biden and kamala harris deserve another four years. >> we also have a surprise guest now joining us. i think he's with us. david, are you with us? thank you for joining us. you have been part of so many campaigns out there, and one of the big moments president biden is going to have in the next couple of weeks is this debate. obviously, is going to have to
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speak to this in some capacity but that is sort of a big moment for them to decide how he's going to play it, how should he play this in that moment? >> well, i think that debate generally is the biggest one left in the campaign and i think this adds to it so i think the key thing here is whether you are worried about prices rising, you are worried about healthcare, you're worried about washington doing everything -- even before this further, donald trump was only going to be focused on himself. that's going to be even more the case now so i think that is the important message for the rest of the campaign. i, joe biden, i'm going to be focused on you. here are all the things i've done. here are all the things i can do. trump is going to be focused even more now not to do anything to help you and your family but to settle scores so i think you're right. this is a critical moment.
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after tonight, even more so but that is the key thing. this has to be about the american people's future, what is going to happen to them. this is a guy who is now a convicted felon. he has three more cases. he's not going to change his behavior, so past is prologue. what you are going to get is a president who is not focused on you. he is focused on himself and that is even more the case after tonight. >> one of the questions i feel like there's been a discussion about throughout the night are things like, should he call him a convicted felon? should he call him a convicted felon? >> i agree. what david laid out as a good way to think about it. i think if i -- tactically, you are thinking okay, we have from may 30th to july 15th to define
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this thing, this conviction, in the way that -- >> as in between now and the republican convention. >> i think you're going to have to see and try out some different things and see how it goes. probably the president is going to have to say something. he has this foreign trip, the debate, the sentencing than july 15th, so i don't think i would necessarily judge at this moment who needs to be the messenger. i mean, david is right about what the president like the overall campaign message but you may need surrogates or someone driving this harder in that time period because you can't let this get to july 15th with everybody thinking it's not a big deal. >> the surrogates, people who are not the president, people who are members of congress or
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other prominent people, who are the best -- >> you do that. written communications plans, probably more than we care to remember. who are the right people to be delivering that message? we've been discussing this. who are the right people to be delivering that message? >> of course, i would say the former republicans wouldn't hurt. liz cheney, adam kensing there, chris christy , people from the trump administration, having them out there. a paid ad from some of them might really go a long way in addition to his surrogates. i think for the vice president, this is a traditional role of the vice president to be more of an attack person. this vice president has been a prosecutor in the past so i think she has something to speak to about this. one other thing i should mention while we are doing this late night, they are going to
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have to have a plan for what to do at the convention if donald trump can't go. his sentencing day is literally four days before the convention and if they put him on a travel restriction or there is a brief period of imprisonment, those are all possibilities now. the rnc convention planners say there is all this questioning about what should biden say. the question of what exactly to say about your opponent is a smaller challenge than the republican challenge of determining, what we do if a candidate can't go to milwaukee because he has an ankle bracelet on? >> there are also other questions for the white house like classified briefing start happening for donald trump after the republican convention. is he a convicted felon who is then getting classified briefings? when we are right back, we will discuss more about the impact after a quick break. mpact after a quick break. hmm. it must be delicious. delectables lickable treat.
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an alternative to pills, voltaren is a clinically proven arthritis pain relief gel, which penetrates deep to target the source of pain with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source. voltaren, the joy of movement. the former president has just been found guilty on 34 felony counts. it is a historic story but if you watch fox news, the big story sounds very different. >> i guess we all need what, to shop at banana republic and because that is what it feels
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like, a banana republic. today can't be the end of the line for american exceptionalism but it will be if we sit on our hands. >> i think america went over a cliff today. >> they are cheering the end of what would be let's see, equal justice under the law, equal application of our laws. when we bear no doubt here, this is a sad day for our country. >> just a reminder, it is a jury of 12 americans. 12 individuals who were selected and actually, trumps team only objected to one of them during the process. okay, tim. you posted on twitter, x, and you also told me of been watching some fox. they have been covering this all a little differently, nothing surprising, but what does that tell you about what people are consuming? >> a lot of coping over there
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which is really funny. i enjoy watching them suffer, but there is a dangerous part of it right, like that was just one little clip. even jd vance, who was a senator, is on there talking about how the republicans need tua tagovailoa, you know, and the democrats need to be thrown out. they need to go after these prosecutors. they need to go after the deep state. after january 6, you worry about stuff like that but you also just worry about like, our system cannot exist if you have half of the people in the country that don't believe in it and don't trust it, and if you have a network hour after hour telling them the can't trust the system. newt gingrich was on when we were watching. he said that this is the most corrupt system in the history of america. it should probably meet a black person if he's going to make that statement, i would think
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because jim crow, there have been a lot of other more corrupted systems but that mind- set, i think, is very scary. it's not scary when newt says it because you know it's bluster but scary that some people are going to take that seriously. >> anthony, i want to bring you into this because one of the scariest parts of this is that some of it is so ludicrous it's funny but there have been an increasing number of threats against elected officials, judges, judge david rothkopf 9 starter has been threatened throughout this process, and the scary part is, we don't know who may act on that and i wanted to point this out to you because you spent so many years of the justice department. you have seen the impact of these threats on the system. talk to me a little bit about the impact and why it is so dangerous. >> yeah, i was at the justice department when the court authorized the fbi search on mar-a-lago and what we saw during that period of time is just a market increase in threats and agents and judges in that process, but it goes back even further than that, you know. i always think about how ruby
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freeman and shamus, the election workers in georgia, how their lives were upended because of donald trump's big lie and big conspiracy, and we continue to see a pattern. even this week, donald trump going after judge david rothkopf nine saying i can't get a fair trial from the sky, look at him, is what donald trump says. now, judge david rothkopf nine is a u.s. citizen of colombian heritage right, but look at him. it is that type of language, to tim's point, that really is not just an attack on these individuals. it is an attack on the entire rule of law. it is an attack on our institutions, and it is incredibly dangerous, and i want to say one other thing here, and this is that there is a saying in legal circles, that when you don't have the law on your side, you argue the facts and when you don't have the facts on your side, you argue the law when you don't have
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anything else you just pound the table and that is what republicans are doing right now. they are ignoring the facts and the evidence, and trying to take away attention from all of those things. >> one of the many challenges here for the biden team that we are going to solve in the next minute is that you know, the institutions are so under attack. the judicial system is under attack. part of what president biden is doing is defending that. these institutions are also unpopular among some bases of the democratic party because of the two-tiered system of justice that does not impact donald trump. it backs others. >> it makess no yourt trump. it head spin. halfave the country getting their news from fox. they are hearing that they are now living in a banana republic, which is, of course, our argument against trump, becauset that's what we feel fear will happen. so it is, you know -- and the one terrible thing that kind of cuts the one terrible fact that cuts through to open minded
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voters about the situation is that the president's son is -- that's there's a trial starting next week about him. >> about hunter. >> about hunter. so it's like for people who are, you know, thoughtful in the country that are questioning like, well, is biden really rigging all of this, you know, i think that kind of, like does cut against it. but the -- how you deal with base voters that don't trust the system as well, that's like what you got to -- that's what's got to be education on things outside of this trial that they care about. >> we're going to have to convene you all back to discuss it. jen palmieri, tim miller, i'm thankful for you staying up past your bedtime, or my bedtime, thank you very much. it's congressman ro khanna of california, a member of the house oversight committee,
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always tells us what he thinks. i just want to start, congressman, this was a big, historic day. not because of the outcome necessarily but because of our judicial system working. give me your reaction to the events of today and what you saw take place. >> first i want to thank the jurors for doing their civic duty under extraordinary pressure. these are ordinary americans. these are our fellow citizens, and they found overwhelmingly and so quickly that the government's case was overwhelming that president, former president trump trump, committed election interference in 2016 and -- for donald trump and that obviously will be a consideration for many people in this country. >> no question about it. the jurors deserve a lot of gratitude, i think. they took this seriously. they did -- they studied their notes. they asked follow-up questions.
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we've been talking a little bit tonight, congressman, about some of your republican colleagues disparaging the jury, the verdict, saying a range of things that are threatening, contrary to the rule of law, does any of that surprise you? is there anything that can be done to kind of change what we're hearing in terms of that type of escalatory rhetoric from many of the republicans that are your colleagues? >> i grew up reading about lincoln's speech, the republican speech. republicans used to talk about t when lincoln writes about a reverence for the rule of law, a reverence for the constitution. and that used to be the debate. the republicans used to say, we need to be true to the constitution. and now to see that party having no reverence for the rule of law, i mean, that's the exact opposite of american exceptionalism. you know, it's become cliched to say the democrats need to talk about the economy and the price
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of gas and the price of food and we need to talk about theab future. we shouldn't be talking about this. of course, that's true. but you know what, that's not whatha made america exceptional. we just didn't have leaders who talked about the economy. what made america exceptional is we had leaders of character. we had leaders of values. we had leader who is had a reverence for the constitution. of course the democrats shoulde talk about this and talk about what it means to be an exceptional nation and whether we really want a convicted felon in the white house. that's not what made us great as a country. >> you know, to your point, you're clearly on message of your own message today because you posted earlier today the 2024 election now comes down to this, do you want a convicted felon in the white house or do you want scranton joe who fights and delivers for working families every day. one of the things we've been talking about this evening is just like how much democrats should talk about trump as a convicted felon, about these legal cases, about the baggage. what would you like to see the
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president doing, say, at the debate coming up in just a couple of weeks in terms of how he approaches, what is a significant moment in history? >> i think president should forget about the poll, forget about strategy, and speak from his heart. and he ran for president because he cared about the soul of america. and he should look the american people inhe the eye and he said, look, a president is more thanis just economic issues, a president is more than national security, a president embodies everything america stands for. a president is -- voting for a president is a sacred vote. when you vote far congress member a senator, you look at the issues is someone pro-reproductive rights, pro-ga- rights. when you vote for president, you're saying this is the person i want to represent the 250 -year history of america and be the symbol to the world. and he should say do you believe that person is donald trump? is that the person you want your kids to say he is my leader.
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and he should say i'm not perfect, but i believe in this country. that's i what's going to break through. it's not listening to someto strategist, oh, you've got to talk about the price of milk, the price of gashgs he's got to show why he's at the age of 80 but he's been senator, when he's been vice president, when he's been president, when he can retire. why is he still running? why is he doing this? and if he does that, he's going to win this election. >> congressman ro khanna, lots of energy for us this evening, this morning, thank you so much for joining us and staying up with us. and thank you to everyone at home efor hanging out with us. that does it for this jam-packed hours, hours of breaking news on a historic night. stay where you are, because there's much more news coming up on msnbc. much more news coming up on msnbc (♪♪) i'm getting vaccinated with pfizer's pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine. so am i. because i'm at risk for pneumococcal pneumonia.
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