tv Politics Nation MSNBC June 9, 2014 3:00pm-4:01pm PDT
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that was our first state experime experiment. if republicans are serious about state rights, he will take president obama up on his offer. >> that's "the ed show." "politics naigs nati s nation" d al sharpton starts now. >> thanks. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, republicans crossing the line on sergeant bergdahl. day by day, the gop story on bergdahl is collapsing. as we learn new horrific details about his captivity. "the new york times" says bergal told medical officials his captors locked him in a medal cage in total darkness for weeks at a time. bowe bergdahl was beaten and tortured by his captors.
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there's still a lot we don't know. and it's why the military is investigating bergdahl's capture. 4 and captivity by the taliban. but that doesn't stop them from treating the whole thing as a big punch line. here's senator rand paul this weekend trying to make a joke out of it. >> mr. president, you love to trade people, why don't we set up a trade, but this time instead of five taliban, how about five democrats? i'm thinking john kerry, hillary clinton, nancy pelosi. couldn't we send them to mexico? >> next time, trade democrats instead of the taliban? this isn't funny, it's shameful. but governor bobby gjindhal
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didn't want to be outdone. apparently our president has adopted a catch and release policy towards terrorists. catch and release, really? does he forget that 532 detainees were released from gitmo under president bush compared to just 87 released under president obama. they certainly weren't entertaining calls for impeachment like they are now. >> should impeachment be on the table. >> well, again, that's a long way down this road. >> the correct answer is no. not a chance, no way. impeachment shouldn't be on the table. at the heart of this is a story of an american soldier who says he was beaten, tortured, abused.
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since when do we use a situation like this to play political games in washington? joining me now are jonathan capehart and joan walsh. thank you both for come on the show tonight. >> thanks, rev. >> last week, the right claimed president obama was playing jay had with his captors. now we hear he's tortured. isn't the gop story collapsing around them? >> it look like it's collapsing and it shouldn't have been a story in the first place. they had a lot of help ginning up the tals of desertion and other things. some may be true, some of them won't, but this man was a prisoner of war. and i just want to single out rand paul. because you and i both know we are going to be sold a bill of goods if that man runs for president that he's got an innovative new foreign policy. it is specifically on the issue of foreign policy, that he's
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supposed to have gravitas and be going up against his party's neo-con establishment. but he has a chance to say something about this gigantic national issue and he chooses to make a joke about trading hillary clinton. >> which is not funny at all. >> it's not funny. it should be beneath him, but it's not. is impeachment on the table? it's always on the table when you' got a democratic president. >> jonathan, let me raise this to you. i mean, we don't know what happened. clearly when we hear about him being held in a cage, clearly there's so much on all sides, clearly didn't the gop overjump their bounds here? didn't they go too far in terms of a lot that they had said before we started hearing information whether all of these
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things prove right wrong. clearly there's no conclusive things that could have led to some of the stuff they were saying that was implying that he was calling for jihad with our enemies? >> a lot of outrageous claims were made. and, you know, once the military finishes its investigation into what exactly happened with bowe bergdahl that had him leaving post, being captured, and then what happened during that entire time, all -- that's what they're doing right now. you know, talking to him and sort of reintegrating him, getting him, you know, well again so that he can come back to the states and face whatever justice or accountability that he must for getting into the trouble that he did. but, you know, the trouble that the republicans have is, and we were talking about this last week, and it's still the case this week, they were pushing very hard for his release. >> correct. >> plenty of tape -- i think we
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talked about this last week, didn't we, rev, with senator john mccain saying bowe bergdahl should be releaseded. and here we are, he's released -- >> wait a minute, jonathan. let me go to joan here. part of what really smacks at a lot of people as being curious to disingenuous to others is the fact that people like mccain had taken such a different position not that long ago. let me show you in february, which is what john is referring to. senator john mccain supported the deal. now he continues to twist himself into knots over bergdahl's release. now listen to this. >> well, first of all, i wouldn't release these men. >> ever? >> second of all, i would release people who -- not these men. i believe there are other prisoners, some of whom we have already released, that we could have released in exchange. >> i wouldn't have released these men. now, he said he would.
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then he's saying we would have released other prisoners that we could have release. how do you release people that are already released? >> i don't know. it's a little bit worrisome. it's a very, very strange comment. he's changing his story. and i want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he was talking about the exact same taliban detainees to anderson cooper in that february interview. we played it. there's no confusion there. the confusion seems to be now. and i understand it. you know, also, looking at these pictures and reading that kind of poignant new york times story this morning about bowe bergdahl's condition, the young man is in a fragile condition still. they don't think he's well enough to even be reunited with his family. they were diagnosing him as just
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fine based on video they had watched, not their medical degrees, not interviewing them like military personnel had. they skipped briefings about him to go on tv to talk about how he was healthy enough to survive another 30 days in captivity. >> actually go on tv while the briefing was going on that they had left. you know, the politics of this, jonathan, is a new poll that asked if the united states is responsible for securing a captive soldier's release no matter the circumstances. 75% of democrats say yes. so do 58% of independents. but just 39% of republicans. what does that poll tell you? >> that right there tells you sort of the polarized nature of our country, that a long-standing tradition of leaving no man or woman behind, no member of the armed forces behind during a time of war, that's something that this country is all about. that's something that the president has said from the very beginning, and he's not making
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anything up. this isn't anything new. this has been sort of the mantra and the motto of the military and the president of the united states as commander-in-chief for as long as there's been a united states. so the idea that republicans are against the united states bringing someone home, well, that's partisanship. that's politics right there. and the fact that 58% of independents believe that, you know, we should bring someone home no matter what, it's the independents, those folks in the middle, those folks who are independent, not on either side, who the republicans should be looking at and be worried. when most of the koun trif is ta taking a position that goes against where you're standing, especially on something like this, you're on the wrong side. >> it's chilling also, because what are we telling our military men and women? we're telling them that based on the politics of the day, if you
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serve the country and you're taken captive, god forbid, we may or may not go after the captors and try to secure your release based on the politics of the moment or the party or who might be in the white house? what will that do to the morale of those in the military, what will it do to protecting our nation? it is absolutely unthinkable that we would allow this to even be a part of the discussion. jonathan capehart and joan walsh, thank you both for your time this evening. >> thanks, rev. coming up, five dead in las vegas. police describe the buds bath as chilling new details merge on the alleged shooters. why did they wrap bodies in don't tread on me flags? what was the connection to the lawless rancher. we're live in las vegas ahead. plus governor chris christie's chief of staff under oath today in the bridgegate scandal.
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and there's new questions on what the governor knew and when he knew it. and thoughts and prayers for my friend tracy morgan, injured in a deadly car accident. tonight, an update on his condition and a call to action for congress. weekdays are for rising to the challenge. they're the days to take care of business. when possibilities become reality. with centurylink as your trusted partner, our visionary cloud infrastructure and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custom communications solutions and responsive, dedicated support, we constantly evolve to meet your needs. every day of the week. centurylink® your link to what's next.
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chris christie under pressure. today, bridgegate investigators grilled his top aide, and that testimony raised more questions than answers. that's next. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 50,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points.
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>> today, testimony from chris christie's inner circle. kevin o'dowd testified for more than seven hours. o'dowd reports directly to governor christie. he's christie's pick for attorney general. he also supervised bridget kelly who sent that infamous e-mail, time for some traffic problems in ft. lee. today, o'dowd said kelly told him she had nothing to do with the closures. but then a dramatic revelation. he said on december 13 last year, kelly shared an e-mail she
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received during the lane closings about the traffic. o'dowd said he told the governor about it. >> she does hand me a document that i believe is the september 12 e-mail. >> did you tell the governor before his press conference that bridgel k bridget kelly had a contemporaneous e-mail while the lane closings were going on. >> i did. >> you told him that one of his staff members knew about the lane closings while it was going on? >> i showed him the e-mail. >> again, that was december 13. kevin o'dowd showed the governor an e-mail indicating a staff member knew of the lane closi closings. but listen to what the governor said that day, right after getting that information. >> can you say with certainty that someone else on your staff or in your administration on
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your behalf ordered the lane closings? >> i have absolutely information to believe that. and i made it very clear to everyone on my senior staff that if anyone had any knowledge about this, they need to come forward and tell me about it and they all ensurh assure med that don't. >> according to his own chief of staff, he had just learned bridget kelly did have, at least, not knowledge. another bigamistry mystery in that's all of them. joining me now is brian murphy, assistant professor, and in houston, criminal defense attorney brian weiss. thank you both for joining me. >> thank you, rev. >> brian murphy, you were at the hearing all day today. so there was a difference between what o'dowd said today and what the governor, governor christie, being who i'm talking about, said in december.
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how significant is that in your view? >> you know, it came at the end of a day when we had already learned there was a lot going on. on the day of that press conference that you mentioned, that's on the 13th of december. the day before that, we learned about a lot of activity that's going on in the governor's mansion in trenton relating to this story. so i think, you know, this mastro report paid for by taxpayer dollars that exonerated the governor is dieing a death of 1,000 cuts. after a whole day of testimony, we get this issue with o'dowd saying that, you know, he gave this e-mail to christie and it was right before christie went out and did that press conference. >> a press conference where the governor said he didn't know of anything on the staff, yet
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o'dowd is fou testifying under oath that he had just given him this document that said at least that bridget kelly did have a telegram and was told about the traffic. now, brian weiss, from a point of view from a prosecutor, prosecutors are looking into this case, when you have this kind of glaring inconsistency, what does that mean to a prosecutor? where does it go? >> well, i mean, i think, reverend, what it finally means is we've got some drama. this legislative investigation has shown all the drama and suspension of the final season of "gilligan's island." it's about time they called an a-lister. but as a prosecutor, i'm looking at this problem, this conflict, this gap, if you will, between what governor christie has said and now not just one, but two senior staffers. first bill stepien and now kevin o'dowd.
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i think brian is right. this is death by a thousand duts. remember wh goldfinger said to james bond, once is happensta e happenstance, twice coincidence, the third time is enemy action. as this drama finally begins to unfold, paul fishman and his federal grand jury have finally perked up their ears. >> now moments ago, brian weiss, under questioning, kevin o'dowd acknowledged that governor's statement at the press conference was inconsistent. listen to this. >> at the point in time that the governor makes his statement, there is an e-mail that a member of his senior staff, bridget kelly is aware of that discusses the lane closures and that she received it contemporaneous with the lane closures. >> that's correct. >> does that contradict his statement? >> a plain read of this, it seems to be inconsistent. the governor is aware, as i testified to earlier, i handed him that document prior to that press conference.. >> how important is that, brian
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weiss? >> well, reverend, i think it's obviously important. kevin o'dowd is a straight shooter. this is a guy who worked under governor christie in the fraud division of the u.s. attorney's office. he was at one point a nominee for attorney general. this is a kid from central casting who is not going to lie or bend the truth merely because it may ultimately suit his boss. now, i think governor christie's take is well, i had a lot going on. perhaps there's multiple ways of looking at what the substance of that e-mail was. but as long as you don't parse that e-mail like a fifth grade grammar schoolteacher, kevin o'dowd is right, there is a conflict and it is a big deal. >> how big a deal do you think it is? i see you nodding. . >> you know, there's -- what's interesting is that a lot of the action in the building behind me with these hearings, it just hasn't been there. it's been boring because they haven't been able to get their a-list witnesses because all the a-list witnesses are testifying
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in north jersey at the courthouse where there's a grand jury and now we learn a special grand jury. i think it's important. and one of the things the committee is investigating here isn't just the events around the lane closure itself, but the cover-up. and how this was handled and how it was possibly manipulated. i think we're going to see a lot of attention fixating on the 12th and 13th of december. it's important also as you note, kevin o'dowd had been the attorney general nominee and one of the reasons he's testifying here today is because governor christie would like to renominate him for that job and when this was going on, at least until about 4:45 in the afternoon, people would say, absurd as it may sound, this guy is a lock for confirmation. because, you know, for a variety of reason, but also because jersey is the way that jersey is. >> now, let me go back to you, brian weiss. o'dowd said that at one point when bridget kelly was searching for e-mails about the lane closing, she said sometimes she deletes e-mails. listen to this.
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>> she referenced the fact that sometimes she deletes e-mails. >> and it didn't pique your curiosity as her boss while your employee might be in the context of her asking her for e-mails on this topic says to you oh, and i sometimes delete e-mails? >> i'm trying to focus on the particulars of the transaction. she provided this e-mail and indicated to me that she does not believe there are any other e-mails on the topic. >> i mean, brian weiss, is this credible to you? she deletes e-mails? this seemed like a big deal to me. >> well, i think her defense is going to be when i used to say when i would beat up on my little brother and i would say i hit him, but it was accidentally on purpose. if she deleted those e-mails with the intent to harm or otherwise preclude the truth from coming out, she's going to have some explaining to do down the road, which is probably why she's taking the fifth, as she absolutely has the right to do.
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but i certainly think anytime you start hitting the delete button, reverend, i've seen this movie, it generally ends badly. >> all right, well, we may be seeing some cracks in these as of today. we will see. and we certainly will be following this up. thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you, rev. still ahead, chilling new details about the anti-government couple accused in those horrific las vegas shootings. is there a connection to extremist views on the right? also, we'll introduce you to the lawmaker stepping down as part of a gop scheme to deny health care to nearly 500,000 people. stay with us.
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criminaling detail on a murderous rampage from a coup that will allegedly killed two officers and another man. before the wife killed her husband and then herself. police revealed what happened after they shot the officers. >> immediately upon the shooting finishing, the suspects pulled the officers out of the booth and on to the grund where they placed a gasden flag, don't tread on me flag on officer beck and threw a swastika on top of his body. at that point, mr. jared miller then pinned a note to officer saldo that basically stated that this is the beginning of the revolution. >> is there any link between this violence and extremist rhetoric from the far right? and what was this couple doing at the cliven bundy ranch? to find out, we'll go live to
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>> just how low will republicans go to deny people health inshurps. turns out, pretty low. meet phillip puckett . until today, he was a democratic state senator in virginia. but "the washington post" reported late last night that virginia republicans persuaded puckett to resign. that gave the gop control of the state senate, putting them in position to possibly block new attempts to expand medicaid. refusing the medicaid expansion denies coverage to 400,000 people in virginia, including more than 20,000 in the former state senator's district. so why on earth would he help the gop? the post said the move paved the
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way for puckett's daughter to be appointed to a judgeship and for puckett to become deputy director of the state tobacco commission. and his old part-time job as state senator, puckett earned $18,000 a year. the last deputy director of the tobacco commission earned nearly $150,000. democrats called out their old colleague for what looked like a shady deal. and this afternoon, the "post" reported, he won't take the tobacco commission job after all. so once everything was out in the open, the senator backed away from the deal. but you know who really gets a raw deal? those 400,000 virginians who still can't get health insurance. joining me now are virginia delegate delegates and msnbc's krystal
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ball. >> thanks for having us, rev. >> what did you think when you heard about senator puckett's resignation. did he make a deal with the republicans? >> well, rev, i was shocked when i found out last night around 7:00 reading the paper. it's been pretty well known that senator puckett has been getting -- he's been wanting his daughter to get a full appointment on the juvenile domestic relations court down there and senator republicans have been telling him it isn't going to happen as long as he's been serving on the state senate. that's been happening for a while. this state tobacco commission came out of the blue. they scheduled a meeting to consider employment on friday. within 24 hours of that, the resignation letter had been delivered to the clerk of the senate. you know, as of today, the senator is now saying he doesn't want the job and the meeting has been canceled that was scheduled for wednesday to consider employment matters. so it looks like everybody is backtracking from this, but there's a lot of smoke out
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there, and there's some dots out there. and i don't think they're very hard to connect. but the whole thing to me is just shocking. the extent that republicans will go to to deny health insurance to working virginians, 400,000 hard-working virginians. >> that's the point, 400,000 hard-working virginians. a deal? i mean, my understanding is that as long as he was in the senate, they could say you can't confirm a member of his family as a judge, but if he left, they could confirm him and give him a nice job if, in fact, this was part of a deal. it helps to even cushion that even more. but his daughter gets the job because he's no longer a senator. but then the majority, with him leaving, they get a majority of one vote that puts them in a position to block medicaid expansion. >> that's right. and to be clear, you know, it wasn't certain that democrats were going to be able to expand medicaid. they don't have control of the house. but this was going to put them in a position to essentially jam
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the house, to force them to deal with it and make them responsible for a governor shutdown if they didn't ultimately go forward with the medicaid expansion. so democrats had a very clear, a very strong strategy here, and obviously republicans felt threatened by it. as the delegate is saying here, we've got a lot of dots, a lot of smoke. we don't have that, you know, direct connection. but the timing is very suspicious. and the fact that he wanted his daughter to get this post in particular i think, you know, i'm glad he's looking out for his daughter, but what about the families of the 400,000 people who aren't going to get health insurance? i don't understand how you sleep at night honestly with that on your back. >> let me go back to you, delegate. you're in the middle of the tough budget fight including the medicaid expansion. we're talking about real people that need to have services, that
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need to have coverage. and other things. here's what your republican colleagues say about it. >> i believe virginia would -- should chart a course that provides health care to the neediest among us without growing government or becoming entangled in washington's health care mess. >> just like every obama care expansion scheme we've seen so far, it's built on the false premise of free money from washington. '. >> obama scheme? obama care scheme? >> these arguments are specious, rev and they have been in the beginning. i think what really happened here is the republicans realized the democrats were standing strong, standing together, and we were willing to cause the government to shut down to get health care for these folks.
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what that metropolitan was you're going to start seeing people who couldn't get their driver's license, you're going to see where schools and rural areas would have to talk about whether they would open or not. and once virginians started focusing on who was to blame and the reason we didn't have a budget, they start to realize that these guys want people to choose between a mortgage payment and health care? the voters were going to blame republicans. they figured that out. instead of debating us on policy, they changed the rules of the game and pressured one of the most vulnerable senators we had out there to leave his seat. to me it's reprehensible. >> you know, you're from virginia. you ran for congress in virginia. and 400,000 people would be eligible if virginia expanded medicaid. here's what real people have to stay on the ground. >> she cannot be put on a list for a liver transplant.
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>> if i don't get some type of insurance, then the state of virginia sign my death certificate. >> you worry so much about getting your bills paid, getting food on the table, how am i going to get this medication? >> meanwhile, richmonders like lily are no better off than they were before the new health care law passed, still uninsured. >> in the meantime, you have to exist. >> i mean, do republicans just want to pretend these people just don't exist>> it's absolutely heartbreaking. i don't know how they can sustain it. this is not hyperbole, people have and people will literally die for lack of this coverage. all the none that would be saved if they could get that preventive care that would keep them healthy. the state would ultimately save money from being able to do that. it's heart breaking those same people if they lived right across the border in west virginia would have an entirely different outcome. >> this is the next big fight in
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health care, expanding medicaid, and medicaid expansion deals with 5 million people being denied in this country right now. this is the next big fight. thank you both for your time tonight. >> thanks, rev. >> and be sure to watch krystal on "the cycle" weekdays at 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. coming up, tracy more gone is mo -- responsive today after a car accident over the weekend. my thoughts and prayers for the friend of mine and what needs to change in response to this tragedy. but first, the bloodbath in las vegas. what fuelled a couple's anti-government hate? is there any connection to extremist rhetoric on the right? we're live in las vegas next. all stations come over to mission a for a final go.
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now to that shocking murder suicide in las vegas. it began at a pete salve restaurant just before noon on sunday. a man and a woman ambushed two veteran police officers having lunch. both officers were shot at point blank range. next seasonses say the suspects took the officers guns and ammunition and walked across the
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street just inside the front door of a walmart. they killed another man. witnesses say the couple were yelling about revolution. >> they were screaming the revolution has begun and, you know, get out the store. >> at first, a heard like a firecracker type of sound. so we all ducked down behind machinery. next thing i know right behind me, the shooter was -- had i guess a gun and kept shooting and shooting and shooting and hollering about freedom. >> as officers rushed in, there was a brief gun battle gbefore according to police the woman shot the man then turned the gun on herself. and today, we're learning more on the background of the alleged shooters. the couple are husband and wife, jared and amanda miller. they draped the gadson flag on
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the body of the officers, a symbol of tea party movement that says don't tread on me. and also taped a swastika on the top of one police officer's body. and they support the lawless agenda of cliven bundy. the video you see here is jared at the ranch back in april. the couple was also known to dress up as batman characters. the joker and harley quinn. in his last facebook post before sunday's fatal shooting, jared wrote, the dawn of a new day, may all of our coming sacrifices be worth it. joining me now is nbc's jay gray who's in front of that walmart in las vegas and heidi birich of the southern policy group who tracks hate groups.
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what can you tell us about this couple. what did police say? >> let's talk about what you're talking about initially. it started in a pizza restaurant just around the corner tr from where we're standing right now, ended up in the walmart behind me, five people dead, including the young couple, the millers. and police saying today they have little question this killing spree was motivated by their, quote, anti-government and racist beliefs. this is something that they had talked about since moving here to las vegas in january. the apartment they were living in at the time of the shooting, they would been there since february, and neighbors there said they were quiet, rather reserved. but when they did speak, they spoke about hating the government, wanting to kill ple police officers and they routinely walked around with guns drawn out in the open here. we know that jared did have some problems with the law before. convicted felon, one of those
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crimes auto theft in washington state. you talked about his time on the bundy ranch. i can tell you this, he was kicked out by the militia there because they had problems with his beliefs and criminal background. so he didn't even fit in there. >> let me follow up with that. jared went to the clooichb bundy ranch and was interviewed by a local nbc reporter. watch this. >> i feel sorry for any federal agents that want to come in here and try to push us around or anything like that. i really don't want violence toward them, but if they're going to come bring violence to us, well, if that's the language they want to speak, we'll learn it. >> now heidi, obviously you can't say everybody at the bundy ranch is going to be an alleged murderer, but it's interesting to see jared there. what does this tell you about this movement? >> well, look, this movement's rhetoric is so -- >> go ahead, heidi.
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>> this movement's rhetoric is so extreme in terms of hatred of police, federal officials, the entire government apparatus, the obama administration, et cetera, it's not surprising to see somebody like that, like miller, making these basic threats towards law enforcement. this is where this rhetoric leads. to hatred of all those kinds of officials and often violence. >> now, nbc news caught up with miller's nan today. listen to what he had to say. >> after the bundy thing going on over there, they went over there for a couple of days. then they come back. and i guess after that, jared became anti-government, anti-police. he was talking about killing cops. he didn't want nothing to do with the government. he had his wife quit her job that she's had for a while. and hell, he wouldn't even let her collect unemployment or food stamps or anything. >> so this was the picture you're painting for us that the
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neighbors and others were saying they were really anti-government when they would speak, even to the point he had his wife quit her job? >> yeah. and reverend sharpton, i think it's important to point out here, police today said they are looking into the idea that the only reason this couple was here is because they didn't fit in at the bundy ranch and they were looking for a place to land. they also say they're studying the idea that people of the same bent, of the same mindset are move into this area, leighing the bundy ranch and pop lating this area. it's something they're taking very seriously. >> wow. let me ask you this, heidi. jared miller's facebook posts are chilling. he wrote, i will willingly die for liberty. he talked about ways to die for liberty. quote, most notably is the suicide by cop routine. later that month, he said about
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time to start killing cops. this is on his facebook page. and just days before the shooting he posted, quote, to stop this oppression, i fear can only be accomplished with bloodshed. i mean, did police talk about this further? is there any concern that there was flags here? if these are things posted on a facebook page. >> i have some real concerns about the amount of attention being paid to people in this movement, and to that kind of openly hostile rhetoric. because he was to some extent sort of advertising what he wanted to do. that's also true according to neighbors. >> do you think authorities are not taking these kinds of things seriously enough, these hate groups seriously enough? i mean, to have these kinds of postings, several of them on a facebook page, read flags should have gone off somewhere. >> i would say basically --
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>> it's cleared that his neighborhood wasn't paying attention. and police say that's a big problem here. the whole see it say it campaign. this is something that these -- this couple had been talking about for a long time. and neighbors today, a day after the shooting are saying we heard it, we didn't take it seriously. we thought he was just talking. he had been talking like this and carrying guns for a long time. >> but heidi, i think that the government also, my question to you is, is the government taking a lot of these groups seriously by monitoring something as simple as facebook pages. it's clear what he was posting. >> in 2009, the department of homeland security warned we're going to see more right wing terrorist attacks. and they put out a report that was roundly criticized by conservative media and pulled. they shut down their intel division at that time. until recently, no. the government has spent most of its time worried about islamic
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extremism and very little on militia extremist like millers. the government needs to take it seriously. these types of people have killed more american domestically than islamic extremists in the last several years. it's a serious threat and they have to be looking at these things. >> we're going to keep watching this and keep following this, i promise that. jim gray and heidi beirich, thank you for being on the show tonight. still ahead, the latest on tracy morgan's condition after the horrific car accident this weekend. but first, emotional words from the first lady. her very personal speech at the maya angelou memorial. replace your laptop? start with the best writing experience. make it incredibly thin.
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two others were injured. morgan is expected to stay in the hospital a few weeks. the truck driver kevin robe ez wur charged one count of death by auto and four counts of assault by auto. and today we learned he was driving for over 24 hours. sadly it takes a tragedy like this to shine light on the issue of truck driver safety. just last week the senate appropriations committee passed an amendment that would suspend a requirement that truck drivers rest for at least 34 consecutive hours. it was pushed by senator susan collins and passed with 21 votes. i pray for everyone involved in this tragedy. i've been a tracy morgan fan for years. i first met him hosting "saturday night live." he would impersonate me and i always got a kick out of it. at last year's white house correspondent dinner, we took a
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selfie together. and tonight, i'm praying for his recovery and that all the others involved in this terrible crash recover as well. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. prime time attack. let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. a right wing group has produced a television ad to air tonight during former secretary of state hillary clinton's first prime time book interview. it's a particularly vicious ad charging the possible 2016 hopeful with joining in the slander of israel. that's the word, slander. it attacks hillary clinton for
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