hamas in gaza. i can't thank you enough for making time for us. we're all thinking about you and your family. >> thank you very much. and we pray for the safe return of all of the hostages as soon as possible. this is a humanitarian issue. this is not some political issue, and people trying to make this a political issue, especially, the government trying to make this political. no, this is a humanitarian crisis. and everything should be done to get them back as soon as possible. thank you very much. >> that is all in on this wednesday night. alex wagner tonight starts right now. good evening, alex. >> 250 days, just unbelievable this is where we are. thank you, my friend, as always. so i want to start with a story that in any other universe would have absolutely nothing to do with politics or anything even approximating controversy. the kind of news we all used to read or hear and accept. but in the post-trump era, this

kind of news has become a sort of conservative litmus test with potentially disastrous consequences for the health and the well being of thousands and thousands of americans. i am talking about bird flu. i know. stay with me here. if you have been following the news recently, you may have seen that the u.s. is currently dealing with an outbreak of bird flu. bird flu has spread to at least 80 cattle herds across over five states. and because of that outbreak, the fda, the food and drug administration, has issued guidance for how to stay safe and avoid exposure, including warning americans against drinking raw milk. that's because raw milk has the potential to spread animal borne diseases from one species to another. this is pretty straight forward, noncontroversial scientific advice, don't drink raw milk. it's noncontroversial except if you are a conservative who

follows the influential, pro-trump youth organization turning points usa. >> milk is good for you, but here's what the american dairy farmers association or whatever isn't going to tell you is that that pasture rised milk crap, you might as well be drinking water. it does nothing. it's not healthy. ideally, you need to be drinking raw milk. >> that was alex clark a turning point usa host, and one of the chief proponents of drinking raw milk. miss clark is such a raw milk enthusiast she tells her followers to drink raw milk while pregnant, something that you absolutely not do under any circumstances. and in response to the fda's warning about drinking raw milk during a bird flu outbreak, alex clark told her nearly 200,000 followers on social media, f the fda, legalize raw milk. this issue so animates conservatives that turning point usa is currently selling $35

t-shirts on their website promoting raw milk. now, if this seems like an echo of the anti-vax, anti-fauci, anti-science movement embraced by a ton of conservatives and therefore put a lot of -- that put a lot of this country at risk, well that is because it is. it is precisely the kind of extreme, own the libs, reality be position that is a hall mark of turning point usa under charlie kirk. charlie kirk and turning point usa have been an influential part of maga land since donald trump was elected in 2016. in recent year, kirk and his organization have become more outspoken about their beliefs, including kirk's embrace of christian nationalism. in addition to running what appears to be a raw milk propaganda outfit, charlie kirk is also a supporter of something known as the seven mountains mandate a philosophy that calls for conservative christians to take over the government.

and kirk has started speaking openly about how he wants donald trump to be the champion of that cause. >> finally, we have a president that understands the seven mountains of cultural influence. finally we have a president that understands the significance of standing, yes, i'm going to use a term, in solidarity with the grassroots activists of our country. >> across the republican party, christian conservatives are becoming more and more emboldened about making america a christian nation under trump, even as trump himself continues to exhibit some very unchristian behavior on a near daily basis. this was donald trump a week ago at a campaign event inside a phoenix mega church. >> so they come up with this order -- i won't say it because i don't like using the word [ bleep ] in front of these beautiful children, so i won't say it. i will not say it.

but this thing allows millions of people -- bleep>> [ bleep ] >> donald trump swearing in a house of god and then getting the crowd to swear with him in front of children. we've seen the same thing from trump's allies. here was rudy giuliani speaking at the pro-trump christian reawaken tour just last week. >> i've got two prosecutors, fani the -- i'm sorry. fani willis. fani. it's not fanny, and i'm not calling her fani. i could drop the part if

she'd quit and go away. >> classy. all of this is part of trump's unspoken agreement with the christian far right. they let trump and his allies break the rules and be vulgar and be blasphemous with the expectation that they will refashion american life according to their christian values. may not be a bad bet either. here was trump just this week speaking to a conservative christian organization that believes all abortion is, quote, child sacrifice. >> you're going to make a comeback like just about no other group. i know what's happening. i know where you're coming from and where you're going. and i'll be with you side by side. >> you're going to make a comeback and i'll be with you side by side. even as donald trump refuses to give straight answers about where he stands on things like a national abortion ban or contraception, conservative

christian groups understand what trump will do for them. it's not that much of a mystery. and part of their confidence here that an extreme christian nationalist agenda is within their grasp, part of their confidence is because these groups don't have to rely on just trump alone. they can count on trump's most powerful ally in the fight for christian dominion, the conservative majority of on the united states supreme court. just this week we heard supreme court justice samuel alito tell a progressive activist that he believes we need to return america to a place of godliness. as elizabeth and lisa write in a new analysis for the new york time, while justice alito is hardly openly championing these views, he is embracing language and symbolism that line up with a much broader movement pushing back against the declining power of christianity as a majority religion in america. the movement's rise has been evident across the country since mr. trump lost re-election in 2020. justice alito and his fellow

conservative justices have already delivered for christian right with their dobbs decision, striking down roe v. wade, and soon they will have a chance to do so again. the supreme court is about to rule on two major cases of considerable significance to the christian right. one will determine whether access to the most common form of abortion in this country is significantly restricted or not and another will determine whether doctors in emergency rooms can deny pregnant women medically necessary abortions. how the court rules on these issues could tell us just how much power the christian nationalist movement has gained in this country and how close they are to victory. joining me now are lisa, the national political correspondent for "the new york times", she is also the author of the fall of roe: the rise of new america, and with me is mark joseph stern, senior writer who covers the courts and law at slater mag sooeven. thank you both for joining me. lisa, let me start with the

piece you have out today in the times. an array of conservative, including anti-abortion activists, church leader, and conservative state legislators has openly embraced the idea that american democracy needs to be grounded in christian values and guarded against the rise of secular culture. i don't think it's an exaggeration to suggest that strain of conservatism now seems to dominate the supreme court as well. do you think that's far off? >> look, part of what we document in our book, the fall of roe and the rise of a new america, is that latter part of the title, the rise of a new america. what that is about is the radicalization of conservative christians. and we've seen some of that cooling out of these tapes from the court, but you know, i wanted to draw your viewers' attention to another story today, which was that the southern baptist convention, which represents the largest protestant denomination in the country, 13 million church goer, came out and said they oppose ivf. this is a fairly radical

statement for that group, and we're seeing this return to these christian conservative cultural values from the churches all the way up to alito's statements at the court. so i do think what we're watching is this shift in american power. we don't know where it's going to go, but we have a template for success for this movement, and that, of course, is the fall of roe. and how that network of conservative christian activists and lawyers were able to take down that legal precedent may be a way that they can then move on to tackle these other things they are opposed to like, as we learned today, ivf. >> yeah, i mean, i do -- when we talk about shifting the window, moving the goal post on the field, it feels like the activists on the far right are signalling to the alitos of the world, this is where we're at, see if you get here. mark, i want to talk about alito's evolution here, because he wasn't always either this explicit or radicalized when he

joined the court. can you talk about his progression to where he is now? >> yeah, i think a crude but accurate term to describe alito is maga pilled. during donald trump's rise and presidency, alito really let his christian nationalist flag fly and xan to embrace not only the rhetoric but also the substance of this far right christian supremacy and this idea that christianity is rooted in the constitution, that we are a christian nation, and that courts have some kind of obligation to protect and, indeed, elevate christianity above not just other religions but above secular society. and he went on a little bit of a talking tour earlier this decade where he decried the new moral code of secularism that promoted reproductive freedom and lgbtq equality and said that it was an existential threat to christianity. and all of this is reflected very much in his decisions,

decisions like one a few years ago where he tried to let pharmacists deny plan b to patients to whom it was prescribed. not, you know, any kind of actual abortion drug but just plan b. and decisions like hobby lobby where he's allowed corporations to restrict employee's access to birth control. and these abortion cases, most notably dobbs as lisa documented, sam alito was always going to be the man to write that opinion overruling roe v. wade. in the coming days and weeks, we're going to get these decisions on abortion, especially involving the abortion pill. and i think alito is quite likely to stick his neck out in that decision and write about how he believes medication abortion is unlawful under existing federal law, under the comstock act of 1873. this is a radicalized justice, very much maximizing his impact by staking out the positions that activists in the grassroots want him to take, legitimizing them and shifting the window and

eventually, he hope, transforming them into the law of the land. >> yeah, i mean, it's quite obvious that the dna of the christian conservative warrior class has imprinted itself upon the supreme court, but lisa, when we talk about the relationship in politics between, for example, donald trump and his pro-maga coalition and the conservative christian warrior class, i wond every if trumpism hasn't imprinted on them. i'm thinking about those two pieces of sound where donald trump is in a church, a big church, and the call and response is the word bs. it's a family program, so i'm not going to say the actual word. and rudy giuliani is calling taney willis, the d.a. the fulton county, one of the most vulgar things you can call a woman, with distinct racist undertones. this seems to be a new brand of, i guess, christianity, if you want to call it that, in the age of trump. >> yeah, look, the church has changed politics. but politics has changed the

church too. and church, especially conservative evangelical and catholic church, have grown so much more political. as we show in our book the fall of roe, they made this deal with president trump. he promised them in 2016 in iowa christianity will have power, and conservative christians jumped on the trump train, and it ended up being a bullet train for them. they got three justices on the supreme court, and the deal was set. and now they've been with him for eight years, and it doesn't -- for conservative christians, they're with him. he can moderate his tone on abortion, say he wouldn't sign a 15-week federal ban, and they're still probably going to stick with him. they are fully bought in and part of this maga movement, and the two are operating together. now, you know, donald trump is in a different position, because the politics of abortion have changed so radically. he senses the toxicity there, which is why you've seen him come out and say it should be returned to the state, that he supports exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother, so that dance has gotten more

complicated for him politically, but there's not a sense that he's worried about losing this group that's really become a central core of his movement and his base of support. >> well, yeah, and i -- i mean, one wonder where is the guardrails are in any of it. i mean, the republican party has effectively pledged fealty to everything trump represents, christian warrior class and all, and then on the supreme court, mark, how much of a counterweight is someone like john roberts of brett kavanaugh, does the attempt at counterweighing happen on the supreme court? >> they are a very feeble counterweight when they choose to be one at all. all three of trump's appointees generally vote in lock step with what the republican party wants. trump has, of course, taken over the party, so it is very much his court. and i think it's really disturbing, especially, to look at some of these decisions that do involve extreme circumstances

of tragic medical mishaps where wrim in dire of need of abortion, right, this is one of the big cases this term. states are saying these women cannot get abortions that they have to get sepsis, they have to begin hemorrhaging, they have to be dying before they can get abortions. well, republican politicians lined up to agree with those laws and to support those laws of the supreme court you had a ton of republican state attorneys general and republican governors lining up to say we do think woman should be forced to the brink of death before they can get emergency abortions. i think the supreme court will likely agree with them and continue to force these women into these horrible circumstances. and trump is savvy enough not to say anything at it, because he knows he's got his foot soldiers in the judiciary doing the work for him. he's got his guys on the bench who are ready to uphold the most draconian abortion bans imaginable, and he doesn't have to say anything. and just by remaining silent and not speaking out and condemning these ban, he knows he can keep the christian right very much on his side. and that is the whole genius of

the strategy behind capturing the courts. you get these justices and judges on the bench for decades, they will do your bidding, they will uphold your extreme law, they will uphold your draconian policies, and most voter, unfortunately, don't draw those lines between the judges and the presidents that appointed them and the parties those presidents belong to, so they get away with this stuff. that's the story of trumpism in the judiciary. >> a story where there's no accountability. lisa and mark joseph stern, thank you for your time tonight. coming up, the gaslighting continues as republicans vote to hold attorney general merrick garland in contempt of congress. but first, new secret recordings have given us insight into the real thoughts of samuel alito and his wife ma that are ann. i'm going to speak to the neighbor at the center of a verbal altercations with the alitos outside her home and made the story about her flags a national scandal. that's next. t her flags national scandal that's next.

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after "the new york times" reported that two flags associated with the january 6th insurrection had flown at the homes of supreme court justice samuel alito, the justice defended himself in a letter by putting the blame squarely on his wife, martha-ann alito. i was not familiar with the

appeal to heaven flag when my wife flew it. i was not aware of any connection between the historic flag and the stop the steal movement and neither was my wife. she did not fly it to associate herself with that or any other group. but audio of martha-ann alito released this week by undercover progressive activist lauren windsor paints a decidedly different picture of mrs. alito's flag collection and why she flew them. >> you know what i want. >> i want a sacred heart of jesus flag, because i have to look across the lagoon at the pride flag for the next month. >> exactly. >> and he's like, oh, please don't put up flag. i said, i won't do it, because i'm deferring to you. but when you are free of this nonsense, i'm putting it up, and i'm going to send them a message every day. maybe every week i'll be changing the flags. they'll be all kinds. i made a flag in my head. this is how i satisfy myself. i made a flag. it's white and has yellow and orange flames around it.

and in the mid sl the word vergagna. in italian it means shame. >> joining me now is emily, the former neighbor of supreme court justice samuel alito. emily, thank you for joining us tonight. i'm eager to hear your reaction to this audio that was released. and we played that specific clip there because it really sounds like mrs. alito is intentional when she flies these flags and that there is absolutely a political point of view she is trying to communicate. what did you make of that audio? >> absolutely. well, fist of all, thank you so much for having me tonight. it's a pleasure to be here. and to hear her talk about the flags in that way just solidifies what we all know is that they're meant to display a particular message. she mentions the being upset by the pride flag and wanting to fly a sacred heart of jesus

flag. well, that flag specifically means anti-lgbtq, anti-pride, so it's very clear what she's doing with the flag. and that just proves us all right that in his statement he's lying where he says we didn't have any reasoning behind it. we don't know what it mean, et cetera. >> yeah, well, she wasn't trying to be part of a movement or group. i think that that's definitely questionable given fact that she's absolutely flying these flags in response to certain groups. >> yes, yes. >> emily, i got to ask you, because she's so animated when she talks about this flag she'd like to make that says vergogna, which means shame in italian, it brought back to mind your account of the alitos, according to "the new york times", when mrs. alito confronted you, you said something like how dare you behave this way. you've been harassing us over signs. you represent the highest court in the land. shame on you. the concept of shame really seems to animate her, and i wonder if you could talk more

about your interaction with her when the word shame and the concept of shame was discussed. >> yes. well, that -- so that interaction, the one that happened on february 15th, the one that they're using as an excuse for why they flew the upside down american flag, which we know doesn't make sense because the flag was up weeks before that. what do i make of it? it's just -- it was such an intense interaction, and it was about the third time that this has happened, each time escalating more and more. and yeah, i meant it, shame on you for behaving this way. because you do represent the highest court in the land. and that was more intended towards him who was there as well and did not step in. >> can you talk a little bit about the relationship between the alitos, as you saw it. i mean, he was present for some of these interactions, if you want to call that, and i was -- there's part of the undercover

interview -- or the undercover audio that we heard where martha-ann alito talks about her plan for gaining -- seeking justice for all that has befallen her and her husband. let's take a listen to that sound. >> it's okay because if they come back to me, i'll get them. i'm going to be liberated, and i'm going to get them. >> what do you mean by get them? >> there's a five-year defamation statute of limitations. >> i don't know who you mean. >> the media. >> so martha-ann alito has a plan here. she's mapped it out, five-year statute of limitations for defamation. the question is, is that justice alito's plan? and that begs the question, what is the relationship between these two people, to you think what she says is tacitly endorsed by him, or is that overestimating, you know, her import in terms of a family strategy? >> yes. you know, i don't think it's for me or anybody else to say that or to pass any judgement on

their relationship. all i witnessed was her, you know, behaving in that way and him not stepping in. and what i really just want to point out is that there's no way that he didn't know those flags were flying at his house. and in those same recordings, in his own words he is unable to be impartial. he says that there are two sides and one side must win and he's basically saying that he sits on one side and he says that he can't negotiate with the other side. he can't split the difference, as he put it. and that is a giant red flag. and at this point, we've moved past the idea of him just recusing and we've reached the point in the general consensus that it must be removal at this point. >> i think we're a ways from that, but i do, i mean, i have to ask you, because this is a woman who verbally -- there were verbal confrontations, i believe she spat at your car at one

point. >> yeah. >> there's a point in this audio where she says i'm german from germany, my heritage is german, you come after me, i'm going to give it back to you. in the context of these interactions with her, how did you hear that part of the audio? >> i think as most people who heard it it was absolutely chilling. and terrifying that people in such a high position of power are saying such threatening and scary things. now, i can't presume to know what she meant by that, but i think a lot of people are assuming kind of the same things. and none of it is good. and we really need to do something to hold this court accountable. this is mostly about his inability to be impartial, and that is his bare minimum job description, and he has said on tape that he can't do that. >> emily baden, at the center of

a national controversy, really appreciate you taking the time to join us tonight. thank you. >> thank you so much. thank you. still to come this evening, a response to the story we did last night about an apparently coordinated effort to spin a negative story about president biden across a vast network of local tv stations. stick around to hear what the network has to say for itself on that. plus, former obama advisor dan pfeiffer has thoughts on how to take on republicans like house speak mike johnson when they try to rewrite reality. that's next. they try to rewrite reality. that's next. you know, these kids grow so fast, cherish every little moment you get with them. tyler, he's ten, and little dayrl, he's 12. being a single dad, it is hard. really hard. i've been there since day one. i know how it is, you know, not to have nothing. i don't really get paid much. there's been times i've went hungry, made sure they ate.

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it's a weird week for republicans to claim that the justice system has been weaponized against them, given the fact that president biden's own son was convicted yesterday of three gun felony charges brought by the federal government in a case that was heard by a trump-appointed judge and decided upon by a jury of biden's peers, but that didn't stop them. this afternoon house republicans fanned the flame of a weaponized government conspiracy by voting to hold attorney general merrick garland in contempt of congress. the alleged reason for the contempt vote was the justice department's refusal to comply with a congressional subpoena to hand over audio tapes of an interview president biden did with special counsel robert hur. now, to be clear, the justice

department has already released a full transcript of that interview, and officials argue that releasing the audio could endanger future investigations. but refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena, hmm, republicans managed to be outraged about that despite the fact that multiple republicans, including congressman jim jordan, who is leading the fight here against merrick garland, multiple republicans have literally defied congressional subpoenas themselves. when speaker of the house mike johnson was asked about that hypocrisy today, this was his response. >> you talk about apples to oranges, there couldn't be a more clear contrast between that and what we're talking about here. >> hmm, joining me now is dan pfeiffer, former senior advisor to president obama and cohost of pod save america. thank you for being here. i don't know, is it an apples to oranges comparison or an apples to apples comparison. >> it seems pretty apples to

apples to me. you have members of congress, someone refusing to comply with a subpoena from congress, so yeah, it's apples to apples. >> the reality is that the headline merrick garland held in contempt of congress is a big, juicy headline for republicans to make hay over. and i wonder how you think democrats and people interested in preserving, i don't know, some shred of democracy, can answer that with a fairly nuanced discussion about subpoenas and why the hur audio would not make sense for future prosecutions. >> i don't think we have to get into the details of that. that's the conversation they want us to have. the conversation they don't want to have is why republican plans would do nothing to lower prices or higher wages. what they are planning on doing is how they can pass a tax cut for corporations and the wealthy. it will add $3 trillion to the deficit. they're trying to distract from the things that matter to people and their own popular agenda. we sdroebt to play that game as

democrats. >> let me follow up on that, that gets to the central question of this entire campaign as it concerns joe biden, which is how much should he be talking about the sort of institutional threats posed by donald trump, institutional threats to our system of justice, to our democracy, to the voting system, and how much should he talk about, what you say, the bread and butter issue, the economy, inflation, et cetera, you seem to be landing quite clearly in camp b, don't focus on the institutional threats, is that fair? >> there's no such thing as a single-issue campaign for president. >> right. >> it's about a lot. now, it is very clear that most voters by pretty large margins say the economy and inflation are the single most important issue that's going to decide their vote. it's also true that three quarters of voters say that the they are unhappy with the economy and that donald trump has a big advantage on the economy. we have to narrow that gap. that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about abortion and freedom and the threats that donald trump has. because what ties together donald trump's positions where

he wants to cut social security, medicare, cut taxes for the wealthy, repeal the affordable care act, repeal abortion, is maga extremism. that's how i think we should frame it. >> i do wonder where you think the most movable voters are, right? because the economic stuff is plain to see. it's not a mystery, right? inflation is coming down. the joblessness rate, all of it, and it hasn't sunk in. whereas, i'm not necessarily arguing for this, but the polling that we got, i think it was this week, an ap/norc poll, approval of donald trump's conviction nationwide, 15% of republicans approve of his conviction. those seem like the ghost of nikki haley's supporters. and i wonder if you think, you know, given freshness of this story and the fact that people are responding to it, whether there's -- to blunt about it, gold in them there hills for the

democrats and the biden campaign. >> oh, sure. this is the anti-donald trump coalition is the biggest political coalition in america. but it's very diverse, right? you have voters who are biden voters who are upset about the economy. you have people who are biden voters who are upset about what's happening in gaza. you have trump voter who is may be upset -- former trump voters. so you have a lot of messages to a lot of people. what we know is there is a sufficient group of people who are deeply concerned about the idea -- i know this sounds crazy -- but deeply concerned idea that we should not have a convicted felon as president of the united states. i hope the president takes advantage of this during the debate in two weeks and brings it up. we have to make a full throated, proud, unafraid case against donald trump. that's going to talk about raising prices and cutting taxes for rich people, the threat he poses to freedoms like abortion, contraception, and the threat he poses to all of our freedoms because of the way he wants to

govern what he did to try to pull the wool over voter's eyes in 2016 whshgs he got caught for and convicted for, tells a story about the kind of president donald trump would be and we shouldn't shy away from that. >> given the things we talk about, you know donald trump's going to bring up, well, we think he would bring up hunter biden. there's another trial in california, i believe, in september. should biden be talking about that? playbook suggests this is an opportunity to show empathy and connect with people who have faced hardship that in their own lives and families. what do you think about that? >> well, this is obviously deeply personal and deeply painful situation for the president, right? he had -- this is -- it's obvious every time he's ever been forced to talk about it. in all of the reporting you read, this is something that's very hard for him, of course it is. all this tragedy in his family, dealing with addiction, having to witness that. there's no question donald trump's going to bring it up in the debate. he did it in 2020 to try to rattle biden's case. i think if he can talk about

this from the perspective of a father who loves his son, much like the statement that he and the first lady put out after the conviction, that hug he gave his son afterwards that he returned home to give, to show that side of joe biden, i think that is powerful. because the essential truth of joe biden is that he is a deeply empathetic person who is running for president because he cares about everyone else. and he can show that in that moment if that comes. and i think that's the way to do it and the way i think he would do it. >> i mean, his empathy, i think, does distinguish him from the other person who's going to be across the stage from him. dan pfeiffer, my friend, thank you for making the time tonight, buddy. >> thank you. coming up, some really good news this week. violent crime is way, way down across the country, but you couldn't be faulted for believing the very opposite, especially if you like watching certain local news stations. we're going to have more on that right after the break. on that right after the break. whoa! how'd you get your teeth so white? you gotta use the right toothpaste! dr. c?!

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so the president wraps his remarks on crime without a single mention of the growing immigrant crime crisis happening in this country right now. >> you're seeing since joe biden took office crime skyrocket. >> wouldn't we love to have a statistic where crime is down 67%? ours is only going in one direction. >> if you listen to donald trump or conservative politicians and conservative media like fox news, you probably think we are

in the middle of a massive crime wave. we are not. this week we got new fbi crime statistics showing that in the fist quarter of this year, crime is yet again down across the board. overall violent crime down 15% from last year. murders down 26%. by every national metric, crime is down. regardless of the facts here, fox is still going big on crime. the organization media matters counted 304 reports about crime on fox in just the first two months of this year alone. the last time the fbi released crime data, back in march, crime data that again showed another drop in crime across the board, fox gave that data approximately two minutes of air time in the first two weeks after the data came out. fox only mentioned the declining crime rate seven times in those two week, and one of those mentions was this one. >> new data from the fbi claims

that the u.s. crime rate is dropping. let's look at this graph while i stab you. >> given how much elected republicans and national conservative media are pushing the narrative of a staggering crime wave despite the facts, it sort of makes sense that republicans believe there is a rise in crime when really there isn't. but the thing is, it's not just republicans who believe that. recent polling from gallup shows that 77% of all americans believe there is more crime in the u.s. today than there was a year ago. despite, again, the opposite being true. crime went down this year and crime went down the year before. we are in the opposite of a crime wave. so what gives? why do so many americans think that crime is up? well, there are probably a lot of reasons, but there is one reason that does not get enough attention, local news. in 2019, one of seattle's local tv news stations, komo news, put

out this documentary entitled seattle is dying. it depicts seattle as a city in decline because of rampant crime and homelessness. "the seattle times" newspaper was quick to refute the documentary's assertion that seattle was dying, pointing out that both property crime and violent crime have been dropping in seattle for decades, and komo news isn't some independent, whacky outlet, it is part of the sinclair broadcast network, a network of nearly 200 local tv stations. as "the washington post" put it, sinclair's recipe for tv news is crime, homelessness, and illegal drugs. journalist anne nelson told "the washington post", sinclair plays up crime stories in a way that is disproportionate to their statistical presence. or as david told the post, it's a fox news wannabe. that's their model a political tool rather than a journalistic platform. but unlike what people hear from fox news or donald trump, viewers may not necessarily have

their radars up when it comes to information they are getting from the local news stations that give them the weather. s stations that give them the weather sinclair broadcast group. a story about how dozens of their anchors from across the country all read the exact same script and this one was pt questioning president biden's mental fitness. sinclair has since given us their response. we are going to get to that, coming up next. .

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we have some new developments in a story we covered last night. the newsletters public notice and popular information first brought to attention anchors at dozens of local tv news stations who have been reading the same controversial script about president joe biden based on a widely criticized wall street journal article. have a listen. >> the wall street journal calling into question the mental fitness of president joe biden.

>> as national correspondent matt galka tells us, the issue could be an election decider. >> the issue could be an election decider. >> the stations have one thing in common. they are owned by the conservative leading sinclair broadcast group and tonight we have a statement from sinclair denying wrongdoing or bias. here is a quote. the allegation sinclair is deceiving its audience are spreading misinformation is outrageous. our goal is to buy the accurate and timely coverage. any insinuation otherwise is unfounded and undermines the integrity and hard work of our teams. joining me now is the founder and author of the popular information newsletter. he is one of two reporters who broke the story. thank you for joining me. let me first get your response to sinclair's response. >> well, i think it was interesting that they ignored really the key issue, which is

that they are amplifying and requiring dozens of local, trusted local news broadcasts, to amplify this very shoddy story by the wall street journal questioning biden's mental fitness based on really kevin mccarthy, the only on the record source. so they did not really address that. i think they are unhappy with the fact their tactics are being exposed. this is a problem they have had in the past of sending these very biased scripts to all of their affiliates and having them read them verbatim. >> can you talk about when you say they were forced to read these. sinclair as part of its defense says giving out scripts is common practice to affiliates and basically there is nothing to see here. from your reporting, what you understand about the pressure, if any, these local anchors are given to read this stuff

verbatim? >> this is been well-established that sinclair, which has 186 affiliates it owns or controls, sends must runs segments that are produced out of their national office. actually after trump was elected in 2016 they hired one of his spokespeople, boris epshteyn as their national correspondent and then would have him do commentary which they required all of these stations to run. so it is true, there are affiliates that have relationships with different services. cnn operates one. there are a bunch of different ones. they will send along scripts, but that is something optional for them to do. this is the corporate parent requiring these affiliates which have all sorts of branding, abc, nbc, everybody, locks, and really pushing very hard right content in a way that is not transparent.

>> the owner of sinclair broadcasting is a gentleman named david smith. he also purchased the baltimore sun not that long ago and i want to read for viewers who are unfamiliar with what has happened. the union representing the newspaper sternal essay monday that the articles do not meet standards. including a one-sided story about immigration policies and an op-ed by the co-owner likening the transgender movement to a cancer. in addition journalists say stories under their names have been changed without their permission and they have been reusing reporting from one of the 185 local tv stations owned by the sinclair broadcast group. this is a feedback loop, it sounds like. what do you know if the editorial practices under david smith? >> i think he has established himself as a right-wing operative.

he has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to right- wing groups and famously he met with donald trump in 2016. jared kushner helped cut a deal where they would get access in exchange for not fact checking. david smith himself said we are here to deliver your message, so it is a very partisan operator, but he is really pulling the strings behind local affiliate neck works -- affiliate networks that unfortunately viewers may not know what is going on. >> over 185 tv stations, plus the baltimore sun. judd legum, thanks for your time. that is our show for tonight. now it is time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell.". >> good evening, alex. sheldon whitehouse is joining us to talk about the supreme court. alex, i was fascinated to hear your interview with the alito

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