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tv   Hardball With Chris Matthews  MSNBC  July 30, 2014 11:00pm-12:01am PDT

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conservative groups. >> robert costa gets tonight's last word. thanks, robert. >> thank you. .let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this evening's house vote to sue the president of the united states. is this impeachment light as some are calling it, a way to brand the president as bad, without the trouble and noise of putting him on trial? or is this the first bitter assault on the man in the white house? a tar and feathering to precede the worst? is this the beating that precedes the execution. excuse me, is there any other way to see this speck tickle than by condemnation of the congress minus the due process of impeachment.
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something to chuckle about, perhaps even savor over the family camping trip. that's certainly wait the hard right back ventures see this. this absurd, travesty for television. this, as i said, impeachment on the cheap. an all this as speaker john boehner can keep the dogs from the gate, throwing a haunch of red meat hoping this will satisfy them or at least give him the time it takes for him to swallow it. good luck, mr. speaker. i hope you're aware you are paying for the time of the dignity of government in this free society. how much of that are you willing to give away before facing the enable reckoning between lincoln which you're a member of and the pack of jack els that have gotten into the tent? republican from alabama and congressman jim clyburn, democrat from south carolina and assisted democratic leader. back it breaking news tonight. united states house of representatives continue their
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assault on president obama taking an historic vote to sue the president of the united states. it is not surprising. house voted heavily with party lines with 225 republicans voting yes to sue. and 196 democrats and five republicans voting no on resolution it authorize lawsuit again the president. let me go to congressman brooks. why would you vote to sue the president? >> first, let's be clear. speaker john boehner, president barack obama, that's a little picture. the big picture, as if you look at history with richard nixon, johnson in vietnam, and any number of actions that have been sued since then and that will sue in the future is whether there is anything that can be done by the house of representatives or by the is notate it make sure that the president's obey he the law. an it do that, they compel the president to do that by court order or to clear judgment so all of us can understand what
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the law actually means. and this will be binding going forward so if you happen it have a democrat house or democrat senate or republican president, it cuts both ways. but i think is important to our constitutional process to be able to establish what the house and senate cannot do vis-a-vis the separation of powers over the president of the united states. so the bigger picture going forward is this is very much bipartisan. >> let me ask you about your picture on this. had mitt romney won in 2012 when he was in charge of bringing into action the affordable care act and he decided for reasons of efficiency to deplay implementation of the employer mandate, would you have sued him? >> if there was the opportunity to do so, to question whether a law was being properly enforced, yes. but please understand that i'm one of those that is somewhat of an independent republican. i do what i think the constitution requires of us. i obey my oath of office as best i can. and if you've got a president that is crossing the line in a
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serious way and in a clear cut way, hopefully, so that you don't have very much litigation issue, then yes. >> you said because this president delayed the implementation of the employer mandate in the affordable care act, he should be sued. are you saying that's the precedent. you said a minute ago you wanted to set a precedent here. >> the legislation that passed the house doesn't say that. >> it says-the speaker of the house is entitled to go forward and pursue civil litigation against the president of the united states on this issue. >> on the affordable care act. >> yes. >> there are any aspect of the affordable care act, seeking declaratory action from a judge or from a federal court judge. chris, there are hundreds of thousands of lawsuits that are filed annually across the united states of america as a way for people to resolve disputes in a peaceful fashion.
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and this is way for a very important issue you no to be resolved in a peaceful action. >> let me go to jim clyburn. congressman clyburn, thank you for joining us. give me a sense of what you think motive is. i find this very narrow. when you good after the president's way of implementing a law, whether it is his law or a predecessor's law, it is executive management. the iron year here is this is pro business. republicans never liked the employer mandate. here is the president's charge, sued in civil court, basically, for doing what the republicans would loved to have done which is put off the employer mandate. i this i this is done in a partisan mandate. your view? >> thank you, chris. you are exactly right. you may recall the republicans voted more than 50 times at trying to eliminate certain thoughts of the affordable care act. and one of the things we wanted to do was to delay the employer mandate. and as soon as the president moves to delay it, now they are
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suing him for doing exactly what they suggested that he should do in order to give the businesses of the country an opportunity to prepare for the implementation of the act. look, this is all about using the discovery process to get the peg upon which they can hang an impeachment resolution. that's what this is about. we all know that. members are saying it. couple of the five members voting against it say it. they all go straight to an impeachment resolution. so that's what's going on here. the american people are fed up with this. they want to see a fixed immigration system. do something about the current infrastructure. do something about our children being able to attend schools of their choice. here we are, gamesmanship, of
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the side i've never seen since i've been here in congress. >> let me go back to congressman brooks on this. it seems the members who voted on your side, basically expressed the view, this isn't strong enough, what do you say to them? they want impeachment apparently. no surprise there from texas. do you think they are extremist or ahead in schedule? what do you think if the president failed to respond it a court order in this case? >> first, i agree with you, chris, and congressman clyburn on the paradox on the employer mandate. i would have much preferred and contrary to federal law give work permits which in turn cost american citizens jobs. that's where i would have preferred litigation to be.
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but unfortunately, that was not what the house leadership decided to do. so i think there is some merit to the paradox position of the house now suing the president if that is in fact what the speak does, on the employer mandate issue. when i think the president is doing the economy good by delaying that. once it is implemented, it will have an adverse effect on jobs and the economy. that's my view and i think you agree with that and congressman clyburn agrees with that. >> as a commentator, i think that makes more sense. though i wouldn't agree with it. you have legislative power. what, does he issue it under the office of the president stationery? anyway, let's look at what congressman john lewis had to say today on the floor during vote. >> from his first day in office, republicans in the house, in this house, have never supported the president. every other branch here was broken.
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but today, we have reached a low. a very low point. this revolution to sue the president just goes a little too far. it is a shame and disgrace that we are here debating the suing of the president. the american people deserve better. we can do better. we can do much better. >> congressman brooks, last thought. you just admitted something that you must would have preferred to vote on something much more controversial, like the president issue work permits. certainly not an executive function, a legislative issue. but you voted for it. is there not a willingness from the part of your caucus to hit the president whenever they can. whenever they can. as congressman lewis just said. >> no, an administration bill by way of example. bipartisan bill went through the house addressing a very serious issue and i think the president
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will be on board and sign that bill. i don't think it is across the board. but there are policy disagreements between this white house and house of representatives and united states senate. and you've seen this in perpetuity through out history of the united states of america. when you have these policy disagreements, you have these vigorous debates. ultimately, the people decide in the election process every two years. but until then we have to work our way through our disagreements and do what we can where we agree and try to work our way through disagreement. >> mr. clyburn, how much of this do you think is at the aca and how is it is implemented? >> i think most of it is directed at the president. i agree with my colleagues. that is the way we resolve issues at the ballot box. what has gone on here is the failure to defat this program at the ballot box is now being substituted with the lawsuit.
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this is just an attempt, as john lewis said, to once again to destroy the effectiveness of this president because they did not get their way in the pile discussions. we do that every two years. we don't go to the courts and ask the courts to carry on our political battles for us. i remember very well, right after 2000, when there are a lot of people in our caucus saying, let's impeach president bush. nancy pelosi said very forcefully, impeachment is off the table. now let's go forward. i would love to see speaker boehner speak up and let everybody know that impeachment is off the table so that we can have the kind of powerful discussions that my colleague thinks we aught to be having. not what gone on all year and i thank the american people straight up.
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>> we are busy. maybe clyburn didn't see it. but the president said impeachment is off the table. there is zero effort of infutility, there is no way in the world you would get 67 senators and a democrat senate to impeach barack obama no matter what the charges are. there is zero chance of that being brought forward to the house of representatives. >> bill clinton was impeached, just not -- >> not effective -- >> yeah. >> the majority votes of the house, drawn on you -- >> thank you for the technical correction. >> and there is no -- >> i respect you both for coming on tonight. congressman clyburn and congressman brooks, thank you. sounding like harry truman
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sounding like harry truman after going after the version of do-nothing congress. also, soap opera corruption trial. involving former virginia governor bob mcdonald and his wife. they are sacrificing the reputation of their marriage to get out of jail. or prevent from going to jail. plus, uncovering e-mails where it concerns conservatives. crazy. and words i can't even use here. a smoking gun, hardly. but the right might like to think it is. some over the left and right have finally found something to agree on that had enough of sarah palin. good argument. and this is "hardball," a place for politics. mr. clean's grandmother was stronger than people twice her size. and that strength inspired his liquid muscle cleaner. it lifts tough dirt so you do less scrubbing. and its nozzle stops by itself... ...so less is wasted sure made grandma proud. mr. clean liquid muscle. and cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment is right. cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved
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you can even choose 48 months interest-free financing on the new tempur-choice, with head-to-toe customization. the triple choice sale ends soon at sleep train. ♪ sleep train ♪ ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ welcome back to "hardball." more now on the politics of tonight's historic house vote to sue president obama. what shattering day this has been. just hours before that, president obama launched an offensive against the republican party. mocking them for not doing anything. that's his phrase. they don't do anything. and rallying up crowds of supporters with that taunt. here is the president today in kansas city. >> a main vote that they've scheduled for today is whether or not they decide to sue me for doing my job. they're mad because i'm doing my job.
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and by the way, i've told them, i said, i would be happy to do it with you. so the only reason i'm doing it on my own is because you don't do anything. but if you want, let's work together. you don't have time to be cynical. hope is a better choice. that's what i need you for. thank you very much, everybody. god bless you. >> this is getting political. i love that line, they don't do anything. what a slam. anyway, slamming the opposition party for not doing anything could be a political golden ticket. back in 1948, that attack helped turn the race around for harry truman's reelection campaign. truman slammed the opposition party that night at the convention for being a do-nothing congress. back then, facing obstruction on issues resonating today. like the minimum wage. whether we have health care. and of course the economy after world war ii. here is truman in the 1948 democratic convention.
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the middle of the night, no air conditioning, 100 degrees, and here he is turning a campaign for president around. >> i sat out, set out a ten-point program for the benefit of this country, among other things, stand by price control. i got nothing. congress has still done nothing. my duty as president, requires that i use every means within my power to get the laws of people need on matters of such importance of urgency. i am therefore calling this congress back into session on the 6th of july. was wild, howard. he thought he lost. everybody thought, this guy's finish. so error is truman. congress is home knocking the hell out of me. i'm calling them back it washington. i will make them a pass
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everything in their platform and the place went nuts. he won. >> ironically enough, president obama was in kansas city today. so if you wanted to draw the truman connection there. >> hence my thought of truman. >> he is doing the best the president can do now by way of political argument. which is that i want to do things for you. and he ticks them off in that speech. talks about education, student loans. all of the things that are appealing to his voters and to swing voters and says, i want to do them. these guys want to do nothing except play politics. i thought his best line is hope is better than cynicism. i think the republicans may have overshot the mark here. >> freezing the ball. >> yeah. >> they have plenty of things to motivate their base. but this argument to go after them illegally, an illegally ridiculous case. congressman from alabama, i'll
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save you the research and tell you those had nothing to do with what they are doing. >> this isn't the right place to hit him anyway. >> right. the republican base is already mote invited by hatred of obama. >> government, whatever it is. they move to the polls, they can vote against democrats. they can't do much to rev that up as much as it is. >> maybe a jimmy fallon issue now. something that will become a joke that enough people will see. a lot of people don't pay attention -- >> are you talking about doing nothing or suing him? >> suing him. the fact that they are suing him becomes a great punch line and people, the few independent voters out there, people may not pay attention, they will get that. they will sound silly. >> i say they are already absurd. when you go into the department of motor vehicles and you wait
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in line maybe three hours, are you really happy with the guy in the back all the time? the guy that never comes out? and there's one guy working there. you get a little ticked at do-nothing political or do-nothing officials. in philly, these were the drones. the ones that work in city hall but never do anything. >> by the way, chris, in this year, when everybody is so disgusted with washington, the president has the clans to hang that emotion on the republican for polling this coined of thing. and republicans are incumbents too. and there are people who will be -- >> why do they all -- even the fine gentleman we just had on, mr. brooks from missouri, he didn't seem happy with the letter of the law from alabama. why did he do it. >> i think in alabama and the tea party or the people are going to be out there. >> he is a liberal. they would primary him if he didn't. >> anything that's posed against
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barack obama, they can't vote against republicans. he can't even have a debate on this. you know, only ones who can are the ones who sigh, this isn't strong enough. >> if they goat impeachment, that's what i'm questioning. he is implying they will go. because they didn't hold back. >> that is a very interesting question. i have to believe in john boehner doesn't want to reach that point. >> he doesn't. >> but if he can't hold back floodwaters, what happened -- >> oh, he won't stand in the way. they think they are being smart by putting predicate out here of this lawsuit. and then they are going to -- >> that's an alternative. >> wait a minute. then they will dare the president to do what everyone thinks he will do on immigration. that's take executive action on immigration. then they put the two together and turn it into an impeach the on immigration which, for them, and their people -- >> that's what they want. i don't think you can issue work permits on the white house. >> 20-year mistake tore them
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politically. >> in to 2016 -- >> they shouldn't take the bait. next, jimmy fallon's pros and cons for joe biden's presidency. kelley blue book... it's the trusted resource. and now, kbb.com has a whole new way to help you decide on your next new car by showing you what really matters. use 5-year cost to own to compare the long term cost
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welcome back to "hardball." will presidential side show candidate sarah palin said she is launching a prescription based news service on-line. one where she says she will talk directly to you on her own terms. that's strange. i thought we had already been getting a hundred proof palin all along. but she found one new subscribers. that's stephen colbert. takes a listen. >> this is all part of sarah's continuing mission to protect our freedoms at any cost.
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specifically 9.95 a month. sure, that's more than netflix. but it's just as good as house of cards with even more threatening monologues in the camera. >> it's a safe space where like-minded folks can hear things from someone they already agree with from someone they already know, where we palin heads can ask the important questions. among most popular is, what is your cancellation policy. because we palin fans want to be just like her and quit half way through our commitment. >> well, senator john mccain's daughter, meghan, had a different reaction yesterday, quote, i'm not going to subscribe. i got all my sarah palin i need for one lifetime. not me, i want to hear the loudest voice always in the clown car. next up, members of congress and their staff have been temporarily banned for editing wikipedia.
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changes were made anonymously the last several weeks. they were traced back it to several computers here in washington one was a page for former secretary of defense donald rumsfeld. defining him as an alien lizard. alien lizard. here is the quote. as it appeared on the wikipedia page. rumsfeld refused to answer directly as to whether or not he is an alien lizard who eats mexican babies. jimmy fallon on the pros and cons of a joe biden presidency. should biden run in 2016? here is what he said. >> he hasn't announced anything yet but there is speculation he might run for president in 2016. let's look at the pros and cons of a joe biden presidency. pro, he will no longer be number
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two. con, he will still giggle when you say number two. pro, for secretary of state he will pick someone fluent in several languages and well traveled. con, dora the explorer. pro, biden spent hours in the oval office. con, mostly spinning around in president obama's chair. get up. >> and one more thing, if you're near new york city, try dishonorable at the theater in tribeca. including those for our son, thomas. up next, bob mcdonald an his wife on trial for corruption. their defense, that she took the gifts so she could spend time with the kid who gave them. the latest on the soap opera strategy next. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics, next.
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welcome back to "hardball." what do you do when you're a lawyer and your client, an elected official with a businessman. pictures like this have been introduced into evidence. the man behind the wheel of the
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said businessman's convertible. what do you do? come out with a totally different narrative. that's what bob mcdonnell and his wife have done. this blaring headline says it all. >> a broke al marriage, first lady's crush, on wealthy ben factor described. have you heard of the twinkie defense. this will be the soap opera defense. stunning political reporters in the courtroom. humiliating trial for mcdonnell. let's face it, they brought it on themselves. there are reports that maureen mcdonnel's attorney, the former first lady's favorite playmate, robert mcdonnell's attorney, saying that she hated him. and that mcdonnel who read out loud an e-mail where he pleaded
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to his wife to save the marriage. this is johnny williams, the prosecution witness, took the stand. reporter from richmond affiliate tweets johnny williams on why he hoped virginia polls he plain. in let me ask you, what did you think when you were sitting in the courtroom reporting on this. and all of a sudden you come out with, my wife and i aren't getting along. she has this thing for a fat cat. all she want to do is spend time with the guy. that's why she takes all the of the gifts, designer shopping trips. >> stunning. we had sort of heard some rumors that this might be coming. this might be their defense and she had sort of romantic
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inclinations for johnny williams senior. but to have it be such a central part of the defense, basically, the marriage was broken. so how could they have conspired to subvert virginia and federal law. how could they have communicated to do that if they weren't talking to each other. this would become a payton place. nobody expected that. >> clarence, this doesn't help the image of politicians. we have stanford in south carolina. nobody really cares what they do. but they aren't supposed to care about people's marital situations. here they come out with the fact that marriage isn't happy. something is missing there and she is finding it in the person of this guy feeding him all the gift. now the guy rats him out. >> that's right. a trial is a competition between dueling narratives. two stories. have you a prosecution story which everyone knows. hearing all about the gifts et cetera, et cetera. now the mcdonnell's come up with the opposite narrative saying basic facts but that bob insisted he didn't know his wife was getting all of these gifts
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funded by johnny william or that it was strictly business. it is hard for me to get my mind wrapped around the idea that his wife got a $6500 rolex. >> what is he doing riding around in his ferrari and having golf chips. he is not holding back, washington post reporter tweeting out, johnny williams on his april 2011 nyc, new york city, $20,000 shopping trip with maureen mcdonnell. it went on for hours. she was happy. >> this is a gushing story. to play defense is to sacrifice reputation. >> mcdonnell is willing to sacrifice his personal reputation, and that of his wife, basically, in order to save his political and professional reputation. i think is very important to him that he be found innocent on this.
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he could have had a deal and he turned it down that would have -- >> what did they offer? >> well, reports are, which i believe, that they offered he would not have to plead guilty to corruption but plead guilty to making a false statement to a bank. so one felony. a felony, but just one. >> would they have time? >> i'm not sure if there would have been jail time. could have been. but she would have walked. he turned that down. reports are that he turned that down. >> what is he facing right now? >> decades, if convicted on all count. 14 felonies. >> i have distance from this. have you distance. i thought he was clean as a whistle. conservative, family values. roman catholic background. i've seen him at mount vernon one time. and involved with some big event my wife was involved in. >> he is a former politician,
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former attorney general. a lawyer. he has that impulse that i can talk my way out of anything. can i get on the stand and persuade that jury that i'm clean as a whistle and that johnny william is the dirty rat here. will the jury buy it? that's the question. we will have to wait and see on that. >> the couple's problems, they are not exactly exculpatory. he explains he was not benefitting from the guy that gave all these gifts to his wife. but the governor himself, seen riding around in the ferrari. what does he need a ferrari? his wife is in the car, maybe a gift to her or a loan to her and she was driving it. >> he got to drive the ferrari home from a vacation home owned by johnny williams.
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it was fun that he got to drive it. and then they tried to claim that he was doing a favor to williams by returning it to richmond for him. but that turns out to be wrong. but the real -- the ferrari is, you know, only a small part of this. >> what is the big thing? >> the big thing that he took is $120,000 in sweetheart loans to basically bail them out for beach front property. i don't know if it was beach front. but beach property under water. they bought it at the height of the market, it dropped in value and he couldn't cover the loan. he gave them $120,000 in loans to make up for that. >> they make a moderate income. an bad income but a moderate income. then they want it all. >> yeah. that explains so many of them. a strange hubris that happens. mcdonnell seems to be more disciplined and focus than that. but he is now in this mess.
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the question is, can he get out of it? >> how many times you deal with politicians that take gifts from friends. these guys are discovered when they are governor and they can't say no. no, i can't take the baseball tickets. i can't take the final four tickets. i can't take the loan of the house for the weekend. especially when your spouse says, when are we going to have some fun. >> and he was so busy with his job that he couldn't give his wife enough attention and that's why she began to roam off to this relationship with this buddy on the side. who happens to be funding or financing. >> once again, i have a difficult view of criminal lawyers. what he their willing to say to get somebody off. doesn't really operating like an officer of the court. that's my view. thank you. >> we will see if it works. >> that's a cold view. thank you.
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>> this is a big trial in washington here. big story. washington really is northern virginia. up next, e-mails from lois lerner show her talking trash about the right wing. this will be a problem for the liberals. is it a smoking gun? republicans are certainly looking for that. this is "hardball," place for politics. flight 294 is now boarding... looks like we're about to board. mm-hmm. i'm just comparing car insurance rates at progressive.com. is that where they show the other guys' rates, too? mm-hmm. cool. yeah. hi. final boarding call for flight 294. [ bells ring on sign ] [ vehicle beeping ] who's ready for the garlic festival? this guy! bringing our competitors' rates to you -- now, that's progressive.
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one more note on the corruption trial of bob mcdonnell and his wife. at the end of court today, the
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key prosecution witness, businessman johnny williams, testified that the governor must have been aware of his lavish gifts to the first lady. reporter ryan noble of our nbc station tweets he knew of the money to maureen. he is the breadwinner and i'm not writing his wife any checks without him knowing it. johnny williams will be back on the stand tomorrow. and we'll be right back.
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we're back, republicans hope they have found a game-changer in the investigation into whether the irs unlawfully targeted groups. dave camp today released an e-mail exchange between lois lerner and unnamed acquaintance
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in which lerner engages in what you might call trash talk about some of those on the right wing. the exchange took place in november of 2012 when lerner was apparently traveling in great britain. she writes about women she overheard talking about the national debt. the person e-mailing with respond to some on the right are saying the same thing. quote, well, you should hear the wacko wing of the gop. the right wing radio shows are scary to listen to. lerner writes back, quote, great, maybe we are through if there are that many, you can see the bad word there. then the other e-mailer says i'm talking about host of the shows. callers are rabid. and lerner responds so we don't need to worry about alien terrorists. it's our own crazies that will take us down. in a letter to eric holder requesting the appointment of a special council, congressman camp writes the e-mail exchange demonstrates lerner's dinanimous towards conservatives and the
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treatment toward concerted groups is her hostility towards conservatives. it shows this scandal isn't going away any time soon. i think is gas on the fire. sam, i want to start with you about the depth of this whole thing. if you put this together with other things, first of all, the fact that a lot of these e-mails are missing, that they just went missing like the thing, that rosemary woods back in water gate days, all of a sudden something is missing that everybody is looking for. put it together with the conversation exposed in april which talks about her talking about having a desire to get a job with this pro obama group organizing for action, their d.c. office, it does expose, nothing with the white house but it does compose her politics which are against the hard right. and i think, you work in washington, casey works in washington, it isn't a big shock that a liberal works for the
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government. who may have no contact whatever with the politicians in the white house. >> the e-mail exchange demonstrates miss lerner's deep annan mouse. this was driven by her personal hostility toward conservatives, at the very least it shows this scandal isn't going away any time soon. connection. you have to keep these two things separate. this revelation is really embarrassing for lerner and her lawyers. >> what if you are going to make the skeptical argument.
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she had ambitions to become active, change employment and go work for some pro obama group, maybe they have a washington office in this e-mail, could you say her ambition was to join publicly -- >> you could make that jump. i don't think it would be criminal per say. the question is, from all the evidence we found, from these be on the lookout lists. was there a concerted effort driven by the white house, to target conservatives looking for tax exempt status? at this juncture, all we know is that conservative groups were targeted more frequently. a lot of them got denied as opposed to progressive groups. but we haven't put two and two together. the white house was behind us. >> casey, i know you're a straight reporter, i'm going to ask you to do an analysis here. could it be they don't have to hit a home run here? they could hit a triple by proving there was thinking, it was politically motivated. they don't have to prove any connection necessarily to have scored here.
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>> this is a scandal of drip drip drip, one little thing at a time. you're seeing committees up here do that, prosecute this sort of day by day by day, and considering all of these piles of evidence that we're starting to see come out, the things that make this a little bit fishy as sam was talking about, all of this contributes to this idea that there is something not right here, and the point at which this weighs and means committee request is jumping off from, is the idea that she denied congress servetive groups due process under the law. that's what they're suggesting she is responsible for doing. these e-mails contribute directly to that body of evidence. they have the bonus of being very easily written into headlines to have them say lois lerner's calls gop crazy and uses a word i won't repeat here. that's a straightforward and direct way to get at the root of this scandal which has otherwise been pretty diffuse and hard to
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grapple with. >> the fact is, she took the fifth. it's not incriminating. it does suggest she has things she would rather not talk about under oath. you get to the fact she was willing to talk on e-mail about her political views. even as i pointed out this april, she was eyeballing a job with a pro obama group, i don't know, and the fact that this rosemary woods thing, that was a famous tag on what nixon's secretary did when she reached 18 feet across the room to put her foot on the pedal to kill that stuff. it was physically impossible to accidentally erase all this stuff. but do we know anything further about what casey called the melted down e-mail? hard drive information? >> what we know is that there were several irs staffers who experienced this. it could be coincidental.
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it could be a conspiracy. each side alleges the opposite. i would guess organer that lois lerner would do herself good to reverse her decision to not testify by the willingness to evoke the fifth amendment that at this juncture in terms of public relations, i think it would do some good to sit before the congressional investigators and explain exactly what she knows. >> yeah, unfortunately she will be sitting before people who will focus on what we're talking about. and they wouldn't exactly create a forum for her to explain herself. they would ask her to basically accept the words. >> it would be a bipartisan forum? >> this is the weighs and means committee, we've seen competing investigations going on up here in capitol hill. darrell issa with the oversight committee. i would say that the weighs and means committee has been a measure calmer in its approach.
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>> that's certainly the image i have of david camp, the chairman, i don't think of him as any kind of wing nut at all. >> that's not a derogatory comment. i think he's a straight republican. thank you, casey, and thank you sam stein. we'll be right back. kitchen. need to hire fast? go to ziprecruiter.com and post your job to over 30 of the web's leading job boards with a single click; then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. you put up one post and the next day you have all these candidates. makes my job a lot easier. over 100,000 businesses have already used zip recruiter and now you can use zip recruiter for free at a special site for tv viewers; go to ziprecruiter.com/offer99.
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that's why i always choose the fastest intern.r slow. the fastest printer. the fastest lunch. turkey club. the fastest pencil sharpener. the fastest elevator. the fastest speed dial. the fastest office plant. so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business internet and get the fastest wifi included. comcast business. built for business. let me finish tonight with a positive and impressive push by rand paul and cory booker. two senators. one a republican, one a democrat. who are not stuck in the old
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partisan positions, but are out there trying to do something, which means freedom and opportunity in the hearts of people that really need a second chance. you want to put a statute of limitations on how long you endure punishment for nonviolent crimes. many of which were permitted in a person's youth. treated by laws that they never incurred, if they meet certain requirements. this would remove a powerful stumbling block to getting a job and changing their life. it would give hope that bad conduct does not have to carry a lifelong stigma. a lifelong inability to return to work in our society. people can't get a job because they have to check off a box saying they're felons. i want people to work. well, sometimes it takes a cold warrior like richard nixon to open the door to china, it may take a libertarian to do the same with congress. i would like to congratulate my colleague ari for doing a great job on this issue.
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tonight we are all in. > defiant, dangerous, and desperate. they are suspects who won't go down without a fight. whether riding down the road in a fiery truck -- >> don't even think about it. >> -- or jumping off a bridge. each in their own way, defied the rules, clashed with police, and paid the price. >> shots fired. "caught on camera: they