believe there's a strategy any of this. >> and this is the no strategy. we use diplomacy first. >> there's no one in the state department. that is all in for this evening. rachel maddow show starts in with joy reid. >> congratulations on the big launch to the book. that's really terrific. you don't even need luck because you have schlt thank you so much to you for tuning in ts hour. i'm joy reed in for rachel tonight. rachel will be back tomorrow. happy almost tax day. tax day is tomorrow, the 18th. it's usually april 15th but this year the date fell on a saturday. this year the occasion was larjd with large gatherings to protest the president's refusal to release his tax returns.

the houses turned out in chicago, sacramento, atlanta, d.c. null new york, and west palm beach near mar-a-lago, as well as many other cities. they were for the most part peaceful. violence did break out in berkeley, california, where 21 people were arrested as protesters clashed with hundreds of trump is not. but on the whole they were peaceful. they were also well-attended. maybe not the largest marches ever, but a clear demonstrations that this movement has real staying power and the issue of his taxes is not going away. protesters were determined to make sure the tax issue remains part of the political conversation. saturday's showing did just that. what we saw over the weekend ensured the issue remains an issue putting the white house press secretary on the defensive. >> is the president going to release his tax returns? >> i think people understand how

successful the president has been. we're turned same audit that existed so not guilty has kpangd. >> will the president authorize the irs -- >> i think the president's view has been very clear and the american people understood it when they elected him in november. >> is it time to say the president is never going to release his tax returns? >> we'll have to get back to you on that. >> i mean, really? >> really. >> so he may? >> i said i'd have to get back to you on that. he's still under audit and the statement still stands. >>hoin all likelihood he'sever going to release them. but the political heat that the white house is facing over the issue also seems unlikely to dissipate either. the heat will keep coming as a direct result oftism on the

ground. it's the enthusiasm we've continued to see following the election. immediately after the inauguration we saw those enormous record setting crowds at women's marches all over the country. there's al constituents have showed up demanding answers from members of fwrechlts many members of congress have begun avoiding meeting constituents altogether face to face, while those who do like tom cotton in arkansas and dean heller in nevada are getting an earful. >> i'm wondering if you'll take the initiative to have him release those returns so that we can see what kind of connections he has with different countries around the world. [ cheers and applause ] and what tax proposals would

personally benefit him and his family. [ cheers and applause ] >> as far as i'm aware the president says he's still under audit and he said he's going to release -- [ booing ] >> democratic enthusiasm on the ground is giving republican members of congress heart burn. option to the president is translating into real money. the president has essentially become rocket fuel for democratic fundraising with small donors -- act blue has seen $111 million in contributions more than four times it saw in the same period last year. despite a daunting senatemap, several senators up for reelection are also posting strong fundraising numbers in the first quarter. while democratic enthusiasm is

manifested itself in many, many forms. it's largely pointed in one direction, donald trump. trump has had a hard time convincing people that he's been anything other than a failure. he's faced setback after setback. he's yet to achieve a single legislative win. a new poll finds that only 45% of americans think that he keeps his promises, down from 62% in february. a 17-point slide. meanwhile the "times" reports many trump voters in pennsylvania and a swing district are wondering with the winning is going to start. a woman voted for donald trump because she expected him to improve conditions for veterans and to overthat you will health care system. but now political bluster, she

said, wondering how bernie sanders might have fared on the job instead. in maine sanders and the new head of the committee are hoping the drum up support and unit. the tour will take them to kentucky, florida, texas, nebraska, utah, arizona, nevada, and montana. democrats clearly have the enthusiasm. they also seem to be in a better place emotionally since the election. can they turn these gains into something tangible that can translate into winning and can they pick up new supporters along the way? last week in illinois democrats picked up a whole bunch of seats in small local races. in kansas last week, democrats fell short, but they were encouraged by a huge swing nblts direction. there the democratic candidate only lost by seven points in a redder than red district that donald trump carried by 27

points. d yes part of the is in midterm off year elections are always hard on the party in the white house. no question momentum is on the democrats' side. one of the good signs for democrats if subcutaneous if they appear to be enticing new and infrequent voters to the polls. priority the kansas race, too republican strategists told mcclatchy the main problem is not the independents and moderate voters have swung en masse to democrats. the problem is the democratic second base so energize that voters who rarely pay attention to politics are suddenly engaged. one said that the gop realized there might be a problem when polling found that low propensity democratic voters were interested in the race. democrats will look to make gains in two special elections in the coming months, in south carolina and montana. the the biggest one is tomorrow in georgia's 6th congressional

district. ossoff is hoping to get a seat previously held by tom price, and before that, newt gingrich. this in a district that has not been represented by a democrat in 37 years. thanks to huge support and national interest, ossoff appears likely to finish in one of the top two spots to take the runoff. whether he can secure enough votes for a majority and win the seat outright is in question. if he fails to win tomorrow and with republicans likely uniting behind a single candidate a prediction looks like he's more like a 50/50 coin flip. can democrats win in georgia and what would it mean going forward in the dozens of districts that'll that could be easier to flip from red to blue than georgia's 6th? how can they win an election? tom perez, chair of the

democratic national dmeechlt he kicked off a tour with independent senator bernie sanders. thanks for joining me. >> great to be with you from portland, maine. >> absolutely. you are on a tour wh bernie sanders which begs a couple of questions. the first one is the fact he's out on the road with you, does that portend a shift into formally into the democratic for senator sanders? have you talked to him about that? >> we're united. you look everywhere we go, you see the unit in action where it was oppositing the affordable care act repeal, you see action out in the field. about a month ago there was a special election in delaware that had been a jump ball. this time we won it by 16 points. you saw kansas where we should have lost by 30, we lost by 7. we've got the opportunity down in congressional 6th that you just talk about in georgia. that's been in republican hands for 37 years including newt

gingrich. we've got a fighting chance so we're swinging a bat everywhere, joy. >> i get you're swinging the bat but it's with two people, you and senator sanders. whether or not you think it's important that he actually formally join the party in order to boost the party is because one of the important things joining the party would do is give you access to his valuable e-mail list. hillary clinton turned over her e-mail list to the dnc. will he turn over the list to you? >> that's a question for him. i didn't ask secretary clinton nor senator sanders about what they were going to be do with their lists because that's a decision for them to make. we do have the list from secretary clinton. what we're doing with senator sanders is we've been going around the country and today's

our first visit together. we'll be in eight states in six days. i think what's most important for us to be doing right now is translating, joy, this incredible energy out there into action. i think the three things we have going for us are unity, our energy, this grassroots energy, and our values. we're talking about health care. it's a right, not a privege. talking about howf you work a full-time job, you shouldn't have to live in poverty. talking about the affordable higher education. in the state of maine the democrats improved a bill that mris the republican platform. when we are doing this, i know there were a lot of folks tonight who were strong supports and continue to be strong supporters of senator sanders. they are also realizing that our values are aligned on just about

everything. >> the reason i'm sort of sticking on this is a party is supposed to build itself. are you and senator sanders registering democratic voters. isn't the point to create democrats or is the the point corral independents? >> sure. what we have to do is lead with our values. i don't think it's necessarily the best strategy right now, joy, to walk into a room with a clip board in hand and say i'm tom perez and before i can talk to you, sign up to be a bem. wh democrat. i was in a number of airports across the country during the muslim ban. so many issues, climate change, where our values and positions are totally aligned.

and i think that is a much more effective strategy because we're working together with folks in legacy organizations, in organizations that have only been around a year or less. when we work together and talk about what we're doing and coordinate activities, when folks see the democratic party is moving ball down the field, that's the best way to make sure we attract democrats for the long haul, earning that trust. >> are you guys going to win tomorrow? is ossoff going to win that race and get 50%? >> well, i tell you, one thing i learned, joy, fro 2016 is that the folks who think they the pundits who know everything and can predict everything have been proven to need a little bit of help. here's what i do know. we haven't control that seat in 37 years. and the republicans in georgia, jerry mannedered the heck out of

it. what i do know is that wave tremendous amount of energy in not just among democrats, but among independents and republicans. i noticed donald trump sent a ro bow call out and he said if you elect jon ossoff to the congress, it'll result in the destruction of health care. i found that to be rather humorous and ironic to say at least. i think we're the underdog in this. but we've got some real wind at our back. we're swinging the bat in the dnc and elsewhere and not just in federal races. but the omaha mayor's race. our job is not just to elect the president of the united states. it's to help electricity good democrats up and down the

ticket. >> good luck tomorrow. thank you so much. appreciate you being here. >> always a pleasure, joy. >> big show ahead. stay with us. allergy symptoms distracting you? us. stay with us. claritin provides powerful, non-drowsy, 24-hour relief. for fewer interruptions from the amazing things you do every day. live claritin clear. every day.

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bunny." after the president delivered remarks from the balcony, he was able to finish the story. it's the story of pj funny bunny who doesn't want to be a bunny anymore so he leaves home to be something else. he tries being a bear and a bury and all kinds of other animals but he covered he didn't like being anything gla bunny, and you can guess the moral of the story. >> so pj said, i don't want to be a bear. you don't want to be a bird or beaver or a pig, or moose, or possum, or a skunk. all i really want to be is a bunny! so pj hurried home. the funny bunnies were very happy to see him. pj was very happy to come back home to bunnyland.

>> and you know what, it is a nice story. it's a story about home and family and being happy with who you are. but jeff sessions is just back from the mexican border where he was touting the trump administration's get-tough troche to immigration. so when he reads a story about this bunny who deciduous he doesn't want to live somewhere with those that are not like him, that it's better to go back home to bunnyland. but it takes on a darker feel when it's jefferson sessions reading it. here was attorney general sessions a few days ago describing the people who arelizing home to come here. >> international criminal organizations that turn cities and suburbs into war zones that rape and kill innocent civilians and who profit by smuggling poison and other human beings across the our boarders. depravity and violence are their

calling cards including brutal machete attacks, even he headings. they threat continue integrate of our nations and our hemisphere. it is here on this sliver of land on this border where we first take our stand. >> sessions prepare remarks actually read as you know by now, quote, where we first take our stand against this filth. but he left that pungent description out of his delivery. "the washington post" reported this week that immigration arrests are up sharply in the first few weeks of the trump administration and arrests of undocumented immigrants with no criminal record. donald trump has said since the election they would not be targeted and even the homeland security secretary just said yesterday. >> just because you're in the united states illegal doesn't necessarily get you targeted. it's got to be something else. we're operating more or less at

the other end of the spectrum, and that is criminals, multiple convictions. >> so only criminals will be targeted will multiple convictions. and yet somehow more than 5,400 undocumented grins no criminal records were arrested from january through mid march. today the supreme court did he lined to hear a case brought by detained undocumented central american mothers and children who were seeking court review of their asile aluminum claims. that means the trump administration can move forward with expedited deportations hearings. however you feel about who's coming over the border or whether we should beexpediting. trujillo has lived here for 14

years. she was arrested on the street two weeks ago and she's scheduled for deportation on wednesday. she has no criminal record. mar bell trujillo has a three-year-old daughter with special needs and her family and supporters have been trying to get her daughter to her in detention so that if and when she's deported, her daughter who needs her can be with her. in colorado another mother of four is escalated for dporpgs. she also has no criminal record. but beuse she crossed the border illegally before that, isis says she's an egregious immigration violator. a lot of people who you would think are on the bottom of the priority list, unless the priorities aren't what they seem. joining us is christine hee men in the case. thank you for being here. >> great to be with you, joy. >> one of the sort of features

of all these stories of deportations of people with no criminal record, moms, people taking their cades to baseball prarks they all happen to be from latin america, from central america. even though we know that not all undocumented immigrants in this country are brown people. why do you suppose that is? >> i think the reports that you mentioned, joy, clearly show we in the immigrant communities and families like mine have been experiencing. my parents are undocumented. sboer is a daka recipient. 11 million people who are undocumented are fearful that they will be targeted because the executive orders that were signed this year makes us all threats to national security which means all of us, all immigrants, are a priority fordeportation. the administration wants us to believe that they're targeting so-called criminals. we can get caught up in that trap.

the reality here is that they are criminalizing immigrant communities and communities of color generally but what sessions is doing not only against immigrants but also black communities and other communities of color. it is showing you the strategy that this administration has which is turning department of justice and other laws against communities of color, against immigrant communities, and that is the fear that we're seeing. no one is safe in our communities and we cannot fall in the trap that they're targeting criminals. the executive orders criminalize all of us and tt makes us all vulnerable to deportation. >> it's alarming that american-born children are also getting caught up in it. is it the case that if an undocumented migrant with a toddler born in the united states is zportd does that mean the child has to also go to the

country of origin? >> right now the way that immigration officers are operating with no accountability, out of control, is that we're having millions of families that are being separated. children are staying here. we're having to do sessions across the schools in the country to talk to parents family members on how to prepare for when you're not going to be with your child. there was a story also of a father in california who dropped off his daughters in school, and then was detained. his daughters have not seen him since then. that's over a month ago. so those are the stories that we're seeing which is why a at united we dream, we are mobilizing people that are watching your show and immigrant communities to say we can't allow this to happen in addition to that, you see trump is asking for more money in his budget to build more camps, more detention camps to have more ice officers

on the streets targeting our people. this is time for us to be very clear with members of congress and our senators that we cannot allow this to happen, not a dime for the wall or detention camps or more ice officers that are executing these mass deportation machine on behalf of the trump administration. >> if people want to support you, what should people be doing? i have friends asking should we be thinking taking the idea of shelter even to the personal home level? churches? what are people doing to help you? >> thank you for asking that question, joy. very easy. you can text here to stay 877877. that is sms or text message syst we're using to mobilize all communities so that you can help us stop deportations of communities, help communities when they're facing officers at their doors or in schools or even in raids that are happening all across the country.

that is one way to get involved. there's another way in which to get involved which is right now during the recess and talking to your member of congress. we have to follow the dots here, joy. there is also money behind this. just last week it was reported that the gia group got $100 million contract to build the first detention camp under the trump administration in texas. just today i heard from american bridge it was geogroup that donated $500,000 tost campaign and the transition community. there's also profiting from the incarceration and detention of immigrants we can join the network to protect people from deportation and also holding your members of congress accountable. >> one of the things we learned in ferguson is human beings can become government signs when governments wish them too. thank you, christina jimenez.

coming up, of course we want the president to get along with world leaders. however some relationships are more creepy than comforting. that's next. so if you need anything, text me. do you play? ♪ ♪ use the chase mobile app to send money in just a tap, to friends at more banks then ever before. you got next? chase. helping you master what's now and what's next. (healthy weight becausel the first ingredient is chicken. (riley) man, this chicken is spectacular! (jessica) i feel like when he eats beneful, he turns into a puppy again. you love it, don't you? you love it so much! (vo) and now try new beneful grain free, simply made with wholesome ingredients, and no grain.

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it was the middle of the summer. most of the world's media was focused on the u.s. election. when news broke out a coup was underway in turkey. tanks roll in the capital city. the turkish government instituted a media blackout, and

then in the midst of it all, the president of turk addressed the nation via facetime. president do an told the world he did not plan on backing down, and within hours as quickly as it began, intention said it was over. people that had erdogan government use at they can twa u.s. based businessman teacher named if a to a la gu din. since then, erdogan has call for an extended state of emergency in turkey, granting him expanded powers. critics say he has used those powers to crack down on rivals and arrest political opponents, including members.

press and even cartoonists who publish pieces the government doesn't like. they have crack down on journalists who face charges of propaganda and terrorism. they passed a referendum that would give the president full control over turk's government. the vote was close. opponents of the resolution are crying foul, pointing to voter fraud that was caught on camera like this one where we allegedly see a man casting multiple ballots. transfer allows the newly appointed president to issue decrees, and launch inquiries into civil servants and limits the term to only ten years, only

ten. maybe there will be tomgsz extend i if you're wondering where the white house is coming down on all of this, about an hour ago we got a readout off the call with erdogan. quote, donald trump spoke today with president erdogan of turkey to congratulate him on his recent referendum victory. he grachtd a president who has more than 100 journalists in prison and is ignoring evidence of ballot stuffing. excellent job, donald. excellently job. it's a a given turkey and the u.s. have a complicated relationship. the u.s. has a military partnership with turkey and they're both members of nato. and they're both important players in that vein in the global effort to solve the syrian refugee crisis. anything that happens in turkey affects the u.s. and we know the white house already has its share of conflicts in the region, including a tower in by what that bears the trump family

name. business partnerships he reportedly name dropped to erdogan and michael flynn who was being paid by turkey during donald trump's campaign to stump for turkey's interests who was allegedly a part of a meeting where he discussed whisking him away from the u.s. to send him back to turkey into the arms of president erdogan. and now, our as opposed to calling theirs to say con congrats on his new totalitarian tower. remember, the president and his administration are investigated turkey in every sense of the word. okay, let's go. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. that's amazing!

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(parents whisper jingle) safelite repair, safelite replace. . in 1969, the nuclear threat to the united states was seen as not just coming from the soviet union but also from communist china. both had missiles that could reach the u.s. the counter that the u.s. invested millions of dollars to protect the u.s. we developed a missile defense system called sentinel. take a look at how it worked. >> the enemy missiles do get through, the smaller sprint missiles are fired. the sprint should intercept the enemy missiles at a range of 25 miles and an altitude of between and 100,000 feet. it explodes within a half mile of the incoming missile and is supposed to be render harmless. an explosion at 50,000 feet

would not be a problem but the area immediately below would receive fire blast. if sprint made its senate just above the ground the number of cachets from blast, fire, and radiation would be great. even if this worker perfectly the pending con seeds an attack would leave many americans dead. >> so that was the missile system that the pending developed to protect the u.s. from a nuclear attack from china or the soviet union. note the old timemy amazing drawings used in that package to illustrate how the defense system work. over the years much has changed on how we do graphics on tv, the anti-ballistic missile defense system really hasn't changed all that much. america's interest in missile systems reached a peak with star wars when the reagan administration was upping the

ant ty. that fizzled out when the berlin came down. but there were other countries who had zwroind nuclear arms race. decades after signing the armistice that paused the korean war in 1953, the government in north korea began to bill its own deterrent flushed with memoes. u.s. nuclear bombing of hiroshima in japan in 1945. and the threats offize hour to do the same thing if they didn't stan down. as they started to make progress, there emerged back door arms race where we were not just worried about china and soviets, but north korea too. in 2014 the obama administration realized since the eisenhower era the u.s. has sent $300 billion on anti-ballistic missile systems.

we had not really made great strides in protecting the u.s. against including a threat from unstable and erratic north korea. in 2014, the obama administration reportedly started investing resources in stepping up the pending's cyber and electric missile program. this weekend in the middle of north korea's birthday celebrations for their founder, kim il-sung, they attempted to launch a ballistic missile. the launch failed within seconds. even though all signs pointed to north korea taking a sick stab at a nuclear test this weekend, they didn't do it. and why? well we don't know. but since president obama reportedly ordered this shift in strategy to begin investigating cyber and electronic sites, one particular north korean intermediate range missile has had a failure rate of 88% this past year, which raises the

question, did the u.s. have anything to do with this week's launch failure. did the program have anything to do with north korea's decision not to try another nuclear test? and does this new strategic shift ensure a safer united states or does it carry its own risks? joining us is david sanger, noshl rrespondent for the "new york times." thank you for being here. >> thank you, joy. >> what can you tell us about the status of the u.s. attempt to use cyber technology to scuttle north korean miflgz? is it enough to have maybe saab tajd this test that they tried? >> it may have been used to sabotage the tests. it's very hard to tell very any individual test because there's so many things that can go wrong with a test. you could have american sabotage, you could have bad welding and manufacturing. north koreas don't exactly follow osha rules and they don't have the best quality control in the world.

for any individual test, it's very hard to know. but as we spent the eight months investigating that led up to that story that you showed up on the screen which ran last month in the narcotics, we did find these highly increased failure rates after president obama ordered this increase in attacks. the statistics are hard to come by in part because the program itself is so classified. but there's an unclassified part of the effort because the whole program is andrew fairly public pentagon effort called left of launch. if you consider anything that happens right up to the launch and those wonderful old pictures that you showed and drawings, boy, those are real classics. those are classic right of launch, after it's launched you

go and incept it and we've spent $300 billion since the eisenhower era. it just doesn't work very well which is why the president ordered this effort for left of launch trying to sabotage the missiles prior to their liftoff. >> in the piece we showed that you wrote about, you cited it could be simple incompetence. doe put too much stock in the polish for them to attack california and not enough focus on what they can do right on the korean peninsula, specifically that they could attack seoul. >> they can attack seoul with both nuclear and nonnuclear assets. and this is the reason this problem hasn't been solved in the past 20 years. the distance between the northern and the demilitarized zone where you saw mike pence

visiting earlier today, and downtown seoul, one of the most prosperous cities in asia, is about the distance between baltimore and washington. so it wouldn't take much for the north koreans just with conventional artillery to completely destroy seoul. it's gotten worse because seoul like every other major city that you know, has had urban sprawl, and when you land in seoul these days, notice there's suburban houses being built right up near the north korean border which still made it even easier for the north koreans to hit them. >> how smart is it in your view. it seems the trump administration is outsourcing the solving of this problem to china. is that going to work? >> i suspect it probably won't. they're not first administration that believes that the chinese are the key to it. it depends on whether the chinese are truly willing to cut

off the two things that keep north korea alive, one is the financial transfers, and the second and more important is an oil pipeline that runs from china into north korea that provides so much of their energy. so the chinese interest here is in maintaining the status quo. they don't want to collapse north korea in which south korea and its forces and maybe our forces go right up to the boarde they are not interested in seeing the united states right up on the chinese border. and they are not interested in seeing north korean refugees pour into the country. and that's what would happen. >> the unsolvable problem much north korea. david sanger, national security correspondent for the "new york times." thank you for your time tonight, sir. more to come tonight. stay with us. more to come tonight. stay with us. > more to come tonight. stay with us. more to come tonight. stay with us. t more to come tonight. stay with us. h

more to come tonight. stay with us. an more to come tonight. stay with us. k more to come tonight. stay with us. more to come tonight. stay with us. o more to come tonight. stay with us. more to come tonig. stay with us. y more to come tonight. stay with us. o more to come tonight. stay with us. iu more to come tonight. stay with us. . more to come tonight.more tmoreu more to co. more to come tonight. stay with us. >more to come toni. stay with us. >more to more ng o.

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say hello to internet speeds up to 250 mbps. and add phone and tv for only $34.90 more a month. call today. comcast business. built for business. this is prudhoe bay, alaska. it's about 650 miles north of anchorage, right on the northern edge of the state. they've got a pretty big oil field up there, about 25 million gallons. it's a big hub for oil and gas exploration. and this is a government in box in washington, d.c. where you can find 170 public comments. the comments come from industry, oil and gas companies, steel manufacturer, chemical corporations and the like, and they're all writing the federal government to tell them about

regulations that they do not like. that they say makes their job harder. they're doing this at the invitation of the president of the united states. right at the start of his term, donald trump asked tell what's you don't like about the federal government. specifically, what rules don't you like? and we -- maybe we'll change them. the president opened up that suggestion box. and this weekend "the washington post" cracked the lid open. and what is sitting in that box right now is interesting and potentially really revealing what the trump administration has planned. "the washington post" oreports that the administration got a flood of recommendations on what federal rules should be tossed into the shredder, everything from mixing paint, sick leave for government contractors, to getting rid of electronic injury and illness records. most of the friendly tips target epa regulations. they make up almost half of what is sitting in that comment box right now. "the washington post" flagged one comment in particular from oil and gas giant bp. bp, they of the infamous

deepwater horizon oil spill disaster of 2010 is politely asking the federal government on shiny letterhead to make it easier for them to drill for oil and gas in the gulf of mexico. they want their drilling leases to be long sorry they don't have to review them as frequently and fill as much paperwork. please and thank you. meanwhile, up in alaska, bp, the same company that wants government assistance to make it easier to drill for oil spent the weekend frantically tryin to plug a leak that had been spewing crude oil and natural at their prudhoe bay drilling site since friday. how is that for timing? it took them for than two days to plug up the leak. we still don't know how much spilled out or what caused the leak. bp has not said. nevertheless, with one of their wells going haywire in alaska, here is bp asking the government to make it easier for them to drill, baby, drill. these industries, these for-profit outside stakeholders,

they have the president's ear by way of these public comments. the question is will the president give them what they want? if you've tried every pill on the shelf

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what's the best way to get v8 or a fancy juice store?s? ready, go! hi, juice universe? one large rutabaga, with eggplant... done! that's not fair. glad i had a v8. the original way to fuel your day. okay. fair warning. we wore out our bleep bleep bleep ty bleep machine making this next clip for you. it is close to family friendly, but it still does have what your mother might call language. and it has so many bleeps. >> i want to tell congressman schiff and the rest of them,

hey, listen [ bleep ], quit saying roger and i -- and i'll never use cussing in 22 yea 2 y but the gloves are off. listen you [ bleep ], what's your [ bleep ] problem? you want to sit here and say i'm a [ bleep ] [ bleep ] russian? you piece of [ bleep ], you [ bleep ] [ bleep ] [ bleep ]. listen, kid, you [ bleep ] crossed the line. get that through your [ bleep ] [ bleep ] head. >> so when alex jones unleashed that tirade of bleep ty bleep bleep bleep, the first challenge was how to make it playable on basic cable there was some talk at the time that jones might have broken the law with threatening members of congress with that rant. while it can be a challenge to take jones seriously, in the trump era you have almost have to. he does have some access to the white house. the same loud who said the sandy hook massacre was staged with

actors playing the victims, the same bomb thrower who pushed the phony pizzagate story that led to a real gunman shooting up pizza place in washington, that alex jones scored a coveted interview with the president-elect back in december. and while it's still hard to take him seriously, we at least have to take serious the fact that someone who is basically an internet troll has access to the white house. and now there is this. jury selection began today in travis county, texas to decide a child custody suit being brought by the ex-wife of alex jones. she says, quote, i'm concerned that he is engaged in felonious behavior, threatening a member of congress. he broadcasts from home. the children are there watching him broadcast. the defense put up by alex jones' attorneys, the same one jones himself has made on air. quote, he is a playing a character. he is a performance artist. and maybe it is just the political equivalent of pro wrestling where performers put on the leotards, ramp up the over the top characters and pretend to break each other's bones. but is that really what

americans want from their president? really? the alex jones trial is expected to last a couple of weeks in austin, texas. i wonder if the president will weigh in. watch his twitter. that does it for us tonight. rachel will be back tomorrow. and i will see you next weekend on my show "a.m. joy." and now it is time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." good evening, lawrence. >> hey, joy. speaking of performance artists, that is actually my excuse for everything that's gone wrong on this show. and there have been many moments over the last whatever it, six or seven years. i calk it up to performance art. performance art gone wrong. >> we love you just the way you are. >> and don't make me say that phrase again because with a boston access it is wicked hard to say performance art. don't make me say it again. >> excellent point. >> thanks, joy. >> well, the verdict is in. and republicans on the house intelligence committee agree that susan rice did nothing wrong. and the president now says he is not going