he could do it if he wanted to. we're keeping our eye on that. it's always a pleasure, thank you. that is "all in" for this evening. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. >> hello. appreciate it. thanks to you at home for joining us as well. on january 11th, 2002, the u.s. military started accepting prisoners in a brand new prison that we had just halfway built very quickly on a u.s. military facility in cuba. there weren't even cells at the time. when the prisoners fest got there, they were outdoor holding pens. that was the first day that the u.s. government took in prisoners that would become the famous prison at guantanamo. and that is the day, that first day is when this very famous

picture was taken showing all the prisoners who had just been dropped off for day one. this now iconic image of the prisoners in the orange jump suits crouching with their eyes covered. that was the first we saw of them. that was day one, january 11th, 2002. that was the first image released publically. it was a photo distributed to the press and that was the first batch of guantanamo prisoners. now none of the prisoners who arrived there that very first day were any of the famous ones. none of the guys who were there in guantanamo on day one ever became famous. but almost ten years later in 2011, december 2011, there started to be a little flurry of news stories in the united states about three of those guys who had got on to that prison on day one when guantanamo opened. in december 2011 it started with this reuters article and then the following month in january

there was another article from the "washington post" and then a fox news article and then there was this cnn article. a flurry of coverage ten years into guantanamo of three of those guys who got to guantanamo the first day it opened and had since covered by the press. the reason there was that flurry of coverage of those three guys is somehow it leaked that the u.s. government had been in super top secret high level negotiations with the taliban that three of those guys who got there on day one at guantanamo should be released. and the leak was specific. it named these three guys who got there on day one. and also these other two taliban prisoners who got to the prison a few months later. these were not famous for anything as far as guantanamo goes. but when the u.s. started talking to the taliban about making some sort of negotiated progress with them, these five

specifically were apparently the five guys who the taliban picked. they were the ones that the taliban wanted released. the u.s. released anybody as some sort of deal. these stories at the time, december 2011, february 2012, the stories reported the names of those five guys reported that they were hand picked by the taliban. that if they were going to be released, they would be not going back to afghanistan but would be going to qatar and qatar would take responsibility for them. that was all reported between december 2011 and february 2012. now what was the united states going to trade for those five guys? that was not reported at the time. that was not reported until months later. may of 2012. the participants of american prisoner of war bowe bergdahl, the parents themselves, went public saying this has not been reported publicly before but there were those five guys maybe

being released, that was about our son. those five were maybe going to be released in exchange for our son bowe from the u.s. army. they were told essentially to never say that publicly, keep their son's name out of the press, but they had hopes that their son might be coming home and apparently then those talks stalled. they were off and so they decided to go public. and bowe's parents talked to their local newspaper and they also talked to "the new york times." and "the new york times" confirmed in their article, in their interview with bergdahl's parents that when the times got that first leak about the five named taliban prisoners potentially getting a ride home some time soon, the times said they were also told at the time of the leak that the reason those five prisoners might get out was in trade for bergdahl. but the times said they held that information back even though they knew at the time

that's the reason. sergeant bergdahl agreed to withhold the information at the request of the administration and his family over concerns about his safety. so the white house was engaged in those negotiations as early as 2011. they wanted to keep them totally secret because they thought publicizing them might be dangerous. not only dangerous to the deal, but dangerous dangerous. they specifically want ed to kep bergdahl's name out of it because they worried his name was floated it might endanger him or might increase the price being demanded by the taliban for his freedom. nevertheless, even though the white house wanted that secret, the talks were leaked. it got out to the press and once it got to the presses, those talks fell apart. and there after a few months later, the family apparently decided since the talks had

fallen apart, they would let everybody know that this had been a possible swap for their son. since the talks were off any way, i suppose they decided that talking publicly might start something. and that was where this dramatic story stood at this time two years ago in may 2012. that's when they said this is about bowe. and the u.s. had been trying to talk to the taliban about bowe bergdahl and stability in afghanistan, about a bunch of different things, about the taliban's prisoners at guantanamo. but the taliban did break the talks off in 2012. that's where things stood. as bowe bergdahl's time in cap tyty stretches into year three, year four and there was nothing. no word. until the very end of 2013. this past december the pentagon apparently obtained a 90-second video from the taliban that showed bowe bergdahl was alive

and not in very great shape. that video is part of how we knew not just that he was alive but that the taliban would still consider giving him back. apparently now we know the price they still wanted for him was still the same price it wanted for him all along. the deal for bowe bergdahl was the same deal, the same guys, the same five guys, this was not a new deal put together. this was the deal that reuters reported on including posting the taliban prisoners' names and photos. same guys, same photos, the exact same deal. those five taliban prisoners specifically for bowe bergdahl, that same deal has not only been on the table all of this time, it has been on the table for all of us to see and all of us to

consider including the actual deta details of exactly who would be traded and the fact they would go to qatar and qatar wouldn't return to the fight. exactly the deal that the white house admitted to. it has been public since late 2011. republicans are pretending that this was a complete surprise. they they had no idea this was coming. if they didn't think this was coming, they didn't think it was these five guys specifically. these ones whose names and photos were published by cnn and "washington post" years ago. they were asked to comment on at the time. in the most recent round of reporting on this in february, that's specifically the deal that senator john mccain was talking about on cnn. >> at that time the proposal was that they would release taliban, someone really hard core, particularly five hard core taliban leaders as a confidence building measure.

now this idea is for an exchange of prisoners for our american fighting man. i would be inclined to support such a thing depending on the details. >> if there was a possibility of an exchange, that's something you would support? >> i would support. obviously i would have to know the details, but i would support ways of bringing him home and if exchange was one of them, that would be something i think we should seriously consider. >> well, the exchange being proposed that john mccain was being asked about was the exact specific exchange that happened. those five named taliban guys. that was what he was being asked about that's what he said i would support ways of bringing him home. i would be inclined to support such a thing. exact deal. but now that that exact deal has actually happened, what

exchange, i didn't know this was coming, what a terrible idea. it's just amazing. this is paul demarco, one of the republicans who made it into the run-off in alabama. when the news came out that america's p.o.w. was coming home, paul tweeted this. sergeant bowe bergdahl has been released after being captive for five years in afghanistan. a grateful nation awaits your return. representative demarco got the memo that we're not supposed to be a grateful nation and not psyched about his return so he deleted the tweet as to not give an impression that an american p.o.w. is being released. jim renacci of ohio was "so glad to hear that bowe bergdahl is coming home safely. he's a true american hero." until he learned he was not supposed to be glad that an american p.o.w. was coming home.

and so representative of ohio deleted his gladness after three days. as e we mentioned last night, senator thad cochran did the same thing. a grateful america thanks you for your service. for three days. then he deletes that sentiment. no longer grateful. you are no longer welcome home. joni ernst for senate in iowa sent out her thanks and prayers. and then she deleted that sentiment resending her thoughts for the family and stopping praying for them. although i don't think you can take prayers back. same goes for the democratic congressman in stephen lynch, congressman in nevada, they have all had to unmake their gratefulness that an american prisoner of war come home because conservatives said we should not be happy about that

anymore. now they are turning that crazy spin up to fast speed with not just unhappiness that an american p.o.w. is being released. not just condemnation of the u.s. government for getting him safely out, not just professions of surprise for what the deal was, even though everybody has known what the deal was going to be for months, if not years now, the exact terms of the deal have been published including pictures. now there are new claims that the bergdahl thing is a hoax. it's made up, it's a weather weapon or a false flag or actors or whatever. republican congressman steve womack of arkansas says that this bergdahl thing causes one to be very suspicious of the timing of the whole episode. is this nothing more than an opportunity that the president took to get the public's attention away from the v.a.? the whole thing just smells bad. smells bad to him in arkansas. you wouldn't believe how it smells here.

you can also access that particular conspiracy theory across the street at the home of our friends at the fox news channel. >> here's the bigger concern for me. and i really would like for somebody to take a look at this and answer it. was this done to take the v.a. off the front page of the newspapers? >> actually, the v.a. story was doing a pretty good job getting off the front page of its own. more on that later in the show tonight. but the conspiracy theory drive, it's like a gear that the republican party can't get out of. they got rid of the clutch and didn't notice they had a manual transition. we going to be stuck on this forever? senator lindsey graham has a theory as well. senator graham says "is it an accident that in the same week the president announces the end of hostilities the withdraw of all porss of afghanistan he also

retrieves the one captive?" senator lindsey graham thinks he's arrived at his own conspiracy here. the great thing about what he said is e he is actually right. it's just not a secret that he has uncovered, that he has to let us in on. this is happening in plain view. the end of the war being connected to getting bowe bergdahl home. this is how the president explained what happened all along including today. >> have you been surprised by the backlash that's whipped up by your decision to do a deal to free bowe bergdahl? in retrospect, do you think you could have done more to consult with congress or announce in a way that might have spared him and his family being caught up in the political cross fire? >> i'm never surprised by the trovers whip ped up in washington. that's par for the course. but i'll repeat what i said two

d days ago. we have a basic principle. we do not leave anybody wearing the american uniform behind. we had a prisoner of war whose health had deteriorated and we were deeply concerned about and we saw an opportunity and we seized it and i make no apologies for that. we had discussed with congress the possibility that something like this might occur, but because of the nature of the folks that we were dealing with and the fragile nature of these negotiations we felt it was important to go ahead and do what we do and we're now explaining o to congress the details of how we move forward. but this basic principle that we don't leave anybody behind and this it basic recognition that often means prisoner exchanges

with enemies is not unique to my administration. it dates become to the beginning of our republic. >> the president went on to say that the absolutely defended his decision to involve the family in the announcement that their son was coming home. i make no apologies for making sure we get a young man back to his parents and the american people understand this is somebody's child and we make the effort to try to get them back. what president obama said today about the idea of prisoner exchanges that that is an old idea that dates back to the founding of our republic, this is what happens in wartime, that's not a secret that senator lindsey graham has uncovered. that's the way that the white house has explained these negotiations to free this p.o.w. and what they were about, why they were talking to the taliban at all. this is how the white house has

explained why we should understand the lengths they went to to get bowe bergdahl home now. >> the united states has always had a pretty sacred rule, and that is we don't leave our men or women in uniform behind. and that dates back to the earliest days of our revolution. this is what happens at the end of wars. that was true for george washington, that was true for abraham lincoln, that was true for fdr, that's been true of every combat situation that at some point you make sure you try to get your folks back. and that's the right thing to do. >> the president speaking on his european trip this week about the release of bowe bergdahl. he's america's last prisoner of

war and one of the things that happens at the end of wars is you make sure you get your prisoners back. senator harry reid in his own quiet way, he made the same point today in the u.s. senate. watch. >> let's assume he was in vibrant health and faking all this. he's an american soldier. he's been in captivity for five years. the war is winding down. let's bring him home. >> senator reid spoke in his angry whisper today about how the republicans have been denying they knew anything about the deal that's been public for years and how the same republicans criticizing president obama for getting him home were previously beaten the administration up for not doing enough to get him back. senator reid read republicans past statements calling on the administration to get bowe bergdahl home and he called them out for their hypocrisy now that they are criticizing. in terms of what happens next

ahead of the armed services committee, carl levin says there's going to be a briefing on this issue on tuesday. i think that's going to be a classified briefing, which means we the public will not have access to it, but it means that senato senators will probably get a lot of new information and they leak like sieves. they may release the 90-second video they got from the taliban in december that e restarted the negotiations with the taliban about e getting bergdahl home. and despite fox news and the republican party trying to make this into a scandal by treating it as one, it is interesting to see the white house and the administration parrying the criticism, but not backing down on this at all. i mean the president insisting with some emotion today i make no apologies. that's a signal of where the administration stands on this.

chuck hagel is also in europe overlapping with the president's trip this week. he did an interview with the bbc today while in romania. in that interview he made clear that not only did he support and sign off on this decision to do the prisoner trade for bergdahl, but he says it was a unanimous top tier national security decision. e he says that he as secretary of defense and the secretary of state and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and director of national intelligence and the attorney general all came to the same unanimous conclusion on this one. they all okayed the deal and stand eunited behind it. but paul demarco in alabama is having second thoughts. and john mccain apparently doesn't remember that he had okayed this deal live and on tape before he decided it was a travesty. and that balance apparently makes for a national scandal. there are some signs, however,

that the right wing intention that's bad news that an american prisoner of war has come home, there's some signs that's starting to crack and fall apart. i'm surprised it took this long. i'll tell you from a personal perspective it's my view if your contention on one side stands opposed to the centuries old military creed that we do not leave a man behind on the battlefield, if it's you versus that, visible crack runs. and i don't know if the right and fox news is still going to keep trying to ride this as a scandal for however long, but today the deeply conservative republican congressman from idaho and perhaps it's because he's from idaho where the family lives, he came out in an interview today and gave some remarkable comments. he said he was disturbed by his own side on this issue. >> i'm disturb ed by some of th

republicans o out there that keep saying this has never happened before. i would suggest that anybody who's being hyper critical that they look at the history. this has happened before. i'm delighted he's coming home. i'm so happy for his family. i was able to talk to his parents on sunday and they are very excited. but there are a lot of questions. and i think all those questions are going to need to be answered. but now is not the time for those questions. i think now is the time for us to all share in the joy of the family, of the city of hailey and the state. i think we need to leave those questions aside for a couple weeks. >> fair enough. also standing in complete and lonely decent from his own party and from the conservative media on this subject. standing alone there. at least so far. ♪ ♪ yeah ♪ don't stop now, come on mony

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in refining and perfecting the rich, never bitter taste of gevalia. and we do it all for this very experience. this very second. this exact moment. [woman] that's good. i know right? cheers to that. gevalia. 150 years of rich, never bitter coffee. we had a prisoner of war whose health had deteriorated. and we were deeply concerned about it. we saw an opportunity and we seized it and i make no apologies for that. we had discussed with congress the possibility that something like this might occur, but because of the nature of the folks that we were dealing with and the fragile nature of these

negotiations e we felt it was important to go ahead and do what we did. >> president obama today talking about what he called the fragile nature of the negotiations to bring home america's last p.o.w. from afghanistan. joining us now is somebody who has had inside access. former national security spokesperson under the obama administration. thank you for being with us. i wonder if you personally were surprised by the backlash here. you worked on this issue at the white house. you know the ins and outs of the negotiation process. has it occurred to you bringing bowe bergdahl home would be bad news in politics? >> i can't actually believe it. we worked on this for a very long time. anyone who did thought about it and thought about what he and his family must have endured for the last five years. i knew the back story.

i knew it was complicated. but under in circumstances did i think bring home a u.s. service member would be treat ed this way. >> tell me one of the things i have been going through trying to look at con tem rainous reporting and what we knew when. i was struck by looking at "the new york times" from 2012 after the bergdahl family themselves decided to come forward and say u, yeah, if you have been hearing about the five taliban prisoners in negotiation with the u.s., that's about getting our son home and they made that decision as a family to do that. at ta time, "the new york times" said we knew that but we were asked not to reveal bowe bergdahl's name. were you part of that? can you l tell us why that strategic effort was made by the white house? >> i mean, i was the guy asking them to do that and a number of other outlets as well. the reason was the taliban is not -- there are different factions. the process of trying to get

these talks going split the taliban in a number of ways. we were talking to more moderate forces within the taliban that wanted to see the reconciliation process go forward. we were worried that if hard liners learned about it, they might decide to up the cost and try to get more prisoners out or worse they could kill bowe in an effort to scuttle any chance of starting peace talks between the afghans and talibans. it was an unbelievably sensitive piece of diplomacy that was happening. >> obviously, the fact that negotiations were underway, the names of the specific taliban prisoners being considered a long time ago who ended up being the ones sent to it qatar and through the bergdahl family, bowe's name specifically, that did trickle out to the press despite your efforts. obviously, he was able to make it back safely into u.s. custody. how does that make you feel about the secrecy strategy and

the way this was navigated? >> there were a series of talks under way with the taliban, with karzai, with the united states. and the talks ultimately blue up because the taliban walked away. what we did at the time was the right strategy. bowe's family wanted to go public and that's their right. >> in terms of the taliban's decision to hand pick these five guys, critics of the exchange are worried that must mean they are very, very important and that they will be very dangerous to americans now that they have been released. what's your response to that? >> these guys are undoubtedly bad people. they were in jail for a reason. but republicans treat these people like they are ten feet tall. they make them into something greater than they are and buy into the taliban propaganda. they are going to qatar. we have asked them to keep them there with a travel ban for at

least a year while we wind down the war. we have learned about the intelligence community, those powers will be brought to bare to monitor and mitigate these individuals. if they go back to the fight, even worse. i think it is absurd to treat five individuals going from guantanamo to qatar like it's some seminole event. it's not and we shouldn't play into the propaganda effort to make it bigger than it is. >> former national spokesman for the national security council involved in this story for a long time, tommy, thanks for ep hps us understand it lop. lots still ahead. in the nation, it's not always pretty.

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switch to comcast business internet and get two wifi networks included. comcast business built for business. since the return of prisoner of war bowe bergdahl returned, it's been disorienting and alarming. as a separate matter we reported on the significance of the story for one group of parents because their kids are still being held apparently in afghanistan by the taliban. katie kohlman is american from pennsylvania. her husband is canadian. they were abducted in afghanistan in october 2012 when she was six months pregnant. they have now been in taliban custody for one year, seven months and 29 days. if she did give birth on schedule, their child is now

about one and a half years old and was born in taliban custody. for the time that they have been held, their families have remained relatively quiet hoping that under the radar negotiations would keep them both safe and also get them home, but the associated press reported yesterday that the release of bowe bergdahl and the prisoner swap this weekend both renewed the effort to get their kids home, but it's caused them to change strategy. they are hoping by talking publicly that will shake loose further information or new angle on how to get them home. >> i am a prisoner of the taliban. my husband and i here. >> my name is joshua boyle from canada. >> the families released portions of the videos they received from the taliban to prove their kids are alive. today the families agreed to talk publicly about what they are going through.

watch. >> last time that we saw them was july of 2012. early july of 2012. the last time we heard from them was josh sent me an e-mail on october 8th saying that he was in a big city and in afghanistan, was very uncomfortable, didn't feel safe there and didn't want katie out with him. they crossed into afghanistan, did it lawfully on foot, got a tourist visa from the afghan government at the border crossing and they must have believed that there was a safe part of afghanistan for them and the people they traveled with it worked out okay. it didn't work out well for them and it was a costly mistake on their part. >> they had a return ticket for december. even though they were adventure

sm, katie was due the beginning of february. she was coming home two months early and they were looking forward to having the safe birth here. unfortunately, that never happened. >> we don't know anything more than what was in the video. and we were hoping that e we would be able to appeal to get at least information about our grandchild. to bring them back, but also we need to know that they are okay and to see them. >> we haven't heard anything about their health or condition in months. i would like to appeal to the fathers and grandfathers of the world everywhere, but particularly in the middle east, in afghanistan, pakistan, you fathers, grandfathers, i have never seen my grandchild. i don't know his or her condition. i haven't seen my daughter for almost two years.

my grandchild, my understanding is the only toddler being held in captivity. and please just find it in your hearts to let my kids go. >> the two families what they are going through, they have not seen their kids in more than two years. because of the release of bergdahl, they released the videos and to talk publicly about their kids being held by the taliban. the government will not comment on the matter. they are sticking with the strategy of trying to keep this below the radar. the families say they are hoping that maybe someone outside the government somewhere might have another angle so they are going public. what a difficult decision it must be for those families. we'll let you know as we learn more. stay with us.

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last week before republicans

decided that an american prisoner of war coming home was a scandal, last week the scandal was the terrible combination of bad waiting times for veterans at the medical centers and widespread evidence the v.a. staff were messing with waiting list records in order basically to obscure the problem. and try to make the wait times look not so bad. president obama announced last friday that eric shinseki was resigning because of the scandal. a new director has taken over. a few days ago we noted that this thursday, today, was going to be a big day for this issue and for this scandal in terms of figuring out whether people wanted to make political hay about the problem or whether we were going to try to fix it. because in february, bernie sanders produced a bill that would have expanded access to

health care for veterans. they filibustered that bill. we warned at the beginning of this week that senator sanders was going to be bringing back up his bill again, today, on thursday. so senators who have been yelling so much about v.a. health care and bad access to health care, they would finally have a chance to put their money where their mouth is and not filibustering the thing and fix the problem. it then there was some weirdness. the committee wasn't going to be meeting on thursday at all. that their u meeting to discuss this bill had been moved, delayed. why, right? what funny business is going on. today was supposed to be the day that bernie sanders brought up the bill. turns out there was something fascinating going on behind the scenes. >> thank you. and i'd like to say the to senator from vermont that i respect a great deal the work

that he has done on this legislation. i respect his commitment and his leadership of the veterans affairs committee. i respect the fact that bernie sanders is known as a fighter and it's been a pleasure to do combat with him. >> apparently the reason for the delay when we thought we were going to see senator sapders drop his bill rs the reason for the delay was good news because apparently behind the scenes senator sanders was working out some sort of compromise deal with a republican senator one named john mccain and because they were able to come to an agreement, that should mean that it won't just be senator sanders bringing up the bill and the republicans standing up against it. it could mean that the republicans might vote for the bill. pinch yourself. go ahead, i'm quite sure you're actually awake.

joining us is bernie sanders, senator, it's a pleasure to see you. good to have you hire. you me about -- how satisfied you are with the deal you and senator mccain struck and substantively and whether you think this means you can move ahead? >> i think with senator mccain on board, with a number of republicans on board, i think we stand a very good chance of getting something significant passed. to be very honest with you, this bill does not go anywhere near as far as i would like to go in addressing the very serious problems within the veterans' community. and within the va. but it does a lot of very good things. i think as you know, rachel, the issue that we are mostly concerned about now, the waiting times that exist in various facilities around the country. and we deal with that reasonably aggressively. what we say to veterans, if there is a long waiting period,

you can go to a private doctor, you can go to a community health center, department of defense facility, you can get the care you need in a timely manner outside of the va. if you are 40 miles away from a va facility you can go to a private doctor. importantly, rachel, what we also did was put $5 million into the hiring of new doctors and nurses and other personnel. because at the end of the day, it's my view, that in many parts of the country, the va hospitals and clinics are simply understaffed. they don't have the capability of providing care in a timely manner well. address that. we also in this bill -- provide funding for 26 new major medical facilities around the country which have kind of been held on the shelf for a number of years. we are going to got out and build them. that should help a lot of communities around the country in terms of providing good care to the veterans.

>> when the house republicans passed their own piece of veterans legislation, one of the thing that they really foregrounded and, and pushed to the top of their priorities list, was essentially making it easier to fire va personnel now. you had raised the concern that while bad people ought to be able to be kicked out. you had to protect whistle blowers and make sure making it easier to fire people meant that you couldn't fire people for a political reason for to get rid of them. did you come to any sort of agreement or compromise on tha? >> yes. senator mccain accepted the language that i offer. you have dishonest supervisors we can get rid of them immediately. they have right to appeal. the reason i put the due process language in there. i worry very much if you have a new president and new secretary, they could fire hundreds and

hundreds of high-level supervisors for political reasons. and i don't want to see the v.a. become a flpolitically oriented agency. major health care facility. we need good people. politics should not be involved. also in terms of whistle blowers. also in terms if you have racism, sexism, somebody gets fired not for right reasons but wrong reasons i want that person to have an expedited -- ability to, to appeal. >> what's the time frame here? when do you expect there to be a binding vote here? >> the leadership wants to move this very quickly. my staff and senator mccain's staff are writing the language, dotting the is, crossing the ts right now. i would hope very much we can get this on the floor next week. >> they said it couldn't be done. senator bernie sanders, of vermont, not there yet. but an amazing development to be able to report tonight. congratulations on making it this far, sir. good luck. keep us posted. >> thank you. big deal. a really big deal. we'll be right back.

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this is the story of an old-fashioned. never quit, newshound. not an old dinosaur from the good old days of journalism, a young guy stamped out of an old mold. he's from kentucky. started with "barefoot and progressive" and a kentucky paper "leo weekly." later he has been covering the senate race in kentucky. he sent this back from a tea party candidate's rally. if a handful of people and couple protest chickens add up to a rally. he sent this video of mitch mcconnell not taking questions after endorsed by the nra. a couple times mcconnell flat out band him from going to the press conferences. but that kind of thing can't stop a guy like joe. you might remember that the

mcconnell campaign had trouble this year with one of their ads. in march. senatorsymbols, kentucky derby, kentucky basketball team. instead of showing the basketball team, the ad showed duke from north carolina celebrating their national championship. oh, god. oh, no, quick, some one hit delete. kentucky sports radio reported at the time, fortunately, leo weekly's joe sonka was able to preserve it. it was news and he had it. and then this happened. look. this video is no long eer available due to a copy right -- >> the mcconnell campaign blocked the clip, got youtube to turn out the lights on the hometown senator praising the other guy's hated team. so far as we can tell, the youtube clip the only freely

available out in public record of mitch mcconnell's beg embarrassing mistake. if joe could not show that ad you weren't going to see it. and mitch mcconnell would have basically won. but joe sonka, he did not quit. last night he got a note from youtube saying that he, joe sonka had successfully defended his right to that clip. this content has been restored. unless you have deleted the video. which joe sonka most certainly had not! because here is the ad. mitch mcconnell wanted to hide. now preserved for all to see on joe sonka's youtube account. the basketball mistake is so short it takes up less than a second. watch. watch fast. >> this is our team to get it right. this is the moment. let's go out there and do it. >> ooh. put that back up. see the blink of a mistake. just a blink. but it is a great big victory for free speech and political accountability in kentucky. might does not make copy right.

should put that on the bumper sticker. senator vs. blogger, this time, blogger wins. love that story. congratulations, mr. sonka. that does it for us tonight. see you again tomorrow night. now time for "the last word." thank you for joining us. malcolm x said "i'm for truth no matter who tells it. i'm for justice no matter who it is for or against." tonight, a republican mayor from north carolina who told his own party the hard truth about health care joins me for a last word exclusive. >> 18 republican governors still refused to expand medicaid in their states. >> solid as a rock. solid as a rock. rooted as a tree. >> in north carolina, expanneding medicaid has been a major part of state's protest thousands. >> at least 1,800 gathered at the state house to demand the end to radical agenda.