segregation in 2018, political tribalism. we talk about it all. this week we have nancy to talk about the past and future of roe v. wade. we'll talk about that and other things wherever you get your podcast. we've got two ways you can use the #with pod. if you're the e-mailing sort, you can e-mail us at with pod@g mail.com. we did two episodes this week. we incorporated the feedback into the show. we would love to hear what you think we should be doing with the show in terms of guests. what sort of topics we should be talking about. all of that is available. that's all in for this evening. the rachel maddow show starts right now. >> thank you. multiple times. thank you at home for joining us this hour. so it is a small enough range

what they're looking for aesthetically that i'm thinking you have to register as having acceptable hair cut a, or acceptable hair cut b. throws the two lanes that are available to you. under hair cut a, we have ben affleck. or josh brolin or mark wahlberg, or jake jillenhall, or chris hensworth or the great anderson cooper or jimmy fall honor that guy from the hurt locker who was so good. i think you would have to put in the category of hair cut a, james bond, aka daniel craig. also, bear grylls. i hesitate with these last two though. i can't totally confirm that those aren't just slightly photo shop

shopped copies of the same picture. look. they turned them into exactly the same dude. so throws xlams of hair cut a in this environment. but don't be fooled into thinking that the aesthetic range is singular. they will also occasionally accept a cover mod we will hair cut b. which you see here. so if you cannot swing hair cut a for whatever reason, you are also allowed to be el ubaldo. especially if you have some other kind of prop, a vaguively hair like prop to distract that the baldness. so the aesthetic window here is only open a slightal. a pretty tight line here. they do occasionally break out and do something a little different. for example, here's a man in a hat. here's a man on a motorcycle. here's harrison ford, i think, taking his own pulse maybe.

here is a scary-eyed man pretending to be a magician. here's a man with a slightly different photo filter than they use. they do sometimes mix it up but not much. right? you clearly know what to expect if you go looking for men's journal magazine. men's journal magazine, if it isn't clear enough. they have a theme. they have a specific look. but now, behold. we just got the brand new cover of next month's men's journal. and -- look. hey, wait a minute. that's neither hair cut a nor hair cut b. who is that? i mean, literally given what men's journal usually does for a cover, what is this person doing on the front of the journal? is her name on the cover? is she be the facebook detective? is her namestyle and design?

is her name tonic cocktail? not a terrible stage name. it turns out her name is on the cover. it is down there on the right. second to last line in the fine print right underneath master the cable pulley. it says she in red. she is karen mcdougal. with this most unusual cover, the readers of men's journal magazine are invited to, as you see there, get karen mcdougal's workout. you know what? this is kind of a departure for this magazine. can you spot which of these kids is not like the other? we did have a warning about this was coming. when i saw the warning that it was coming, i didn't totally believe it would arrive but it has arrived. a few weeks ago, the "wall street journal" gave the warning that we should look for this. when they pointed pout karen mcdougal, a former playboy

model, a woman who said she had a long running affair with president trump, the journal reported that she would be placed on of all things, men's journal for their september issue. despite what appeared to be total bewilderment by the magazine's own staff. mcdougal would be a rare solo woman on the cover of the high-end men's lifestyle magazine which typically show cases male celebrities. the male's chief ref new officer and content officer have told some employees that they unsuccess appealed to david pecker, the ceo of america magazine, who reportedly ordered the cover. they asked him to consider replacing her on the cover. the executives said they argued that would it hurt the reputation making it tougher to attract top talent for future ever coulds and potentially alienating hard-won advertisers.

nevertheless, there she is. get her workout. guys. it says it right there in the fine print. four days before the presidential election in 2016 the "wall street journal" published the first report that this company, american media, most famous for owning the "national enquirer," reported four days before the plek american media headed up by donald trump's friend david pecker, the journal reported that they had given karen mcdougal a $150,000 quote/unquote contract that included the exclusive rights to publish her story about having this alleged long-running extra-marital affair with donald trump. having obtained those exclusive rights to publish that story, american media and david pecker decided to not run the story. that was widely viewed as what is called a catch and kill deal

in which american media basically told, basically did donald trump the favor of making sure that embarrassing story about this alleged affair would never run in print. so american media paid miss mcdougal in august 2016, late in the game, right? donald trump was already the nominee for president at that. did the president have this affair? she said yes. he says no. you say stop talking about this matter. i don't want to know. i understand. but federal prosecutors are looking into whether that was an effort to influence the outcome of the election. an effort that was potentially illegally coordinated with candidate donald trump and his campaign. that is a matter of federal criminal investigation. an audio tape apparently made surreptitiously has since been released which has trump with cohen on tape discussing it.

and specifically they discuss trump's intention to pay american media back that $150,000 that they paid to karen mcdougal to make that story go away. so now there are two new things. number one is this. american media really has taken this somewhat hilarious step. where is my ben affleck is where's my duane the rock johnson? they've taken this step to make it look like that contract, they signed karen mcdougal up to right before the election, they're trying to make it look like that contract had nothing to do with catching and killing her story about an alleged affair with trump. they're now trying to make it seem like that was a legit publishing contract. they really did want to lock up the cover story rights to karen mcdougal's workout. for men's journal. if the "wall street journal" is

right, they went to such lengths to scrape this together at the last minute that they didn't even actually take her picture for this magazine cover or even talk to her for this magazine cover. quote, miss mcdougal has not participated in a photography shoot or interview with men's journal staff, according to american media employees and a person familiar with the matter. the editor planned to use old pictures and to recycle archived conten for a piece about her fitness routine. so that's the first new thing. putting together this magazine cover, scratching it together. all of a sudden to make it look like that 150,000 deal with karen mcdougal to cover up the president's alleged affair, trying the make it look like wasn't that at all. they were really after her for her mastery of the cable pulley. or whatever.

according to the reporting on this, according to their own employees, to take advertiser hit torsion take editorial hit to the magazine which this entailed, we know they were warned that that by their own senior employees. american media to think this was worth it. they had to be scared enough by the legal jeopardy they thought they might be in when it comes to that contract. this woman and what they can with her for trump during the campaign. they thought it was worth it and they really did go ahead and publish it. that's one new thing. the other new thing that has happened is this. federal prosecutors considering a criminal case against the president's lawyer, michael cohen, are now officially in possession of all the evidence they are going to review to decide whether to try to bring federal criminal charges against mr. cohen. now, the court appointed official, the special master who had been appointed to review all the evidence to see if any of it had to be covered by

prosecutors, that process has now come to a conclusion. we've heard that from the special master herself and had it confirmed by sdny. at the conclusion, only a tiny fraction. nearly 4 million files federal agents seized when they raided mr. cohen's office, apartment and hotel room were protected by attorney-client privilege. so only a tiny fraction were held back. the rest have been given to sdny. and those prosecutors, we believe they have convened a grand jury to consider the michael cohen matter. that is considering the michael cohen matter. those prosecutors are now in the possession of all the evidence that they need to make their own decision on whether or not to ask that federal grand jury and sdny to bring charges against cohen. in addition to bank fraud and tax fraud charges that are a little bit like what campaign

chairman paul manafort has been facing, one of the charges under considering by prosecutors is michael cohen's involvement in that alleged payment to cover up that alleged affair. i mean, to compensate karen mcdougal for how much men's journal needed and wanted to put her on the cover instead of ben affleck again. why would the president be talking about reimbursing american media for their contract to karen mcdougal? if the contract was really just to put her on fitness magazines? why would the president be talking on his lawyer about paying that money back? so it's tick tock at the u.s. attorney's office in the southern district of new york. for what it's worth, that is the same federal prosecutor's office that brought multiple charges against chris collins. chris collins was the first member of congress who endorsed trump for president. he served as a senior member of

the trump transition. he has been arrested and indicted. the same federal prosecutors. it is tick tock at sdny. southern district of new york for the president's lawyer. and apparently it is also, tick tock in virginia at the criminal child of the president's campaign chairman. and boy, did this not go the way we thought would it today. this was humbling. we really thought, i really thought with confidence heading into today that we knew what was going to happen. the judge has been keeping such a tight rein on the way this trial has been going, it seemed quite clear the way this would unfold right through the end. we thought for sure the prosecution would rest their case by the end of today. then defense would have to decide whether or not they would call any witnesses on paul manafort's behalf. then there would be closing statements and the whole thing would be done. it didn't unfold way today. the prosecution has not rested its case. and the reason that happened is

because almost the whole day in court was taken up today in a mysterious series of conferences at the judge's bench between the judge and the lawyers on both sides. also, meetings apparently in the judge's chambers where nobody could see them. at one point the judge himself left the courtroom and appeared to walk off. not in the direction. chambers but in the direction of where the jury usually comes from when they enter the court. we have no idea what happened for most of the day today at the paul manafort trial. we know that the prosecutors did file another motion asking the manafort judge to correct something to the jury that the prosecutor says he messed up. you might remember this happened earlier as well. earlier this week they file a motion informing the judge that he had improperly scolded the prosecutors in front of the jury for something the prosecutors say they didn't do wrong. they asked him to tell the jury that he had been in the wrong.

that prosecutors hadn't done anything wrong and he should correct that for the jury. the judge acquiesced that. last week, the prosecutors asked again. they asked him to clear up something as well as the jury. during proceedings yesterday the judge interjected, as he is wont to do. the judge interjected to tell prosecutors basically that they were barking up the wrong tree. they shouldn't be trying to prove something with this witness that wouldn't end up being legally relevant to the charges manafort was facing. as a matter of law, it looks like prosecutors were right and the judge was wrong. and so prosecutors asked the judge late last night to clear up that point with the jury as well. now, we have no idea if the judge did or did not clear that up with the jury as prosecutors requested. if did it happen, it wasn't in the courtroom in front of spectators and reporters today who had little idea of what was going on as well as any of the

rest of us. so an unexpected day in the case of paul manafort. prosecutors at the end of the afternoon, they finally did. they brought the jury back in and finally did start bringing on witnesses that we had expected today about this allegation that paul manafort had offered a trump administration job to a bank ceo who had arranged for manafort to get millions of dollars in loans between the election and the inauguration. we had previously seen evidence in the trial that the guy from the bank thought he would end up being secretary of the army for his troubles. today, an employee of the bank fetched the bank ceo said he thought he would be secretary of the treasury or secretary of housing and urban development. and that's apparently, those apparently were dangled.

so whether or not there was some quid pro quo with the bank ceo thought he would get something from the trump administration, we thought that would be the finale today. that tale has started to be told. they didn't start until late in the afternoon. honestly, the big question now, the big mystery now is, what happened during those hours long delays? what happened in the sealed discussions out of earshot all day long. we know it is late at the end of the case. there will be more witnesses on monday for the prosecution. we're told that closing arguments will take place only as early as tuesday. particularly if the defense doesn't call its open witnesses, which they might not. given this strange turn, is this

the kind of thing that is a normal occurrence? not too strange an occurrence? in a trial that has been running as fast as this one in this kind of a court where it seems to be run on such a tight schedule? can we tell if it had something to do with the jury? do we think hit something to do with the fact prosecutors keep trying on correct the judge? for him in their words, screwing stuff up? and when do we find out? this was the note we got today. we tried to get the formal record of what happened in this courtroom today. quote, the transcript is under seal and will not be available to the public. some day that may change. until that happens, we have to ask people who were there what happened. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> was it frustrating or fascinating or both when things sort of took off out of earshot?

if some cases, out of sight? >> it was surprising the way things screeched to a halt. as you were talking about, we've been moving at a break neck pace for prosecutors to keep it short, keep it short, and cut all the witnesses down, sometimes spending half as much time as they intended. to then see the judge consume about five hours today with procedures either being held at side bar or in secret in the judge's chambers was a pretty startling development. i would say interesting but at the same time, frustrating because we couldn't get a good idea why the trial had been put into some kind of suspended animation. >> one thing happened was this request from prosecutors for a second time they wanted the judge to correct something that

they thought that he got wrong before the jury. we saw the judge did correct himself. he agreed that they had blamed prosecutors for doing something wrong that they didn't get wrong. they asked him to correct something that was more of a matter of law in front of the jury. we know that's something, there was a motion about from the prosecution. it wasn't something they were fighting about orally and in person. is there any way to know if that might have been part of why things went so differently today? why the jury wasn't called in until so late? why the first thing happened when the doors opened was bench conferences where the lawyers were talking out of earshot of everybody else in the room? >> that i think could be part of it. i think it is highly up likely that that motion accounts for all the delay that we saw. there was enough other weird action going on with the judge moving back and forth to the jury's chamber at the side of

the courtroom. i don't think what the judge said yesterday, while significant, he said that attempted bank fraud isn't very important and is maybe something the prosecution should be trifling with. no one would expect an attempted bank robbery wouldn't be prosecuted as a crime so it is hard to see why it would be dismissed. that was the issue the prosecution got upset about and filed a motion overnight. it was confusing that there was no public ruling on that motion and no instruction to the jury. the judge didn't give any explanation on the record. there was some speculation morning maybe the defense or the prosecution was seeking a mistrial on that account and it might be difficult for the judge to fix his mistake without saying that manafort was guilty on that charge, and there could have been an argument of that

sort. i know it has been long hours all week. thank you for being our eyes and ears there. >> thank you. this trial, thank you so much, chuck, for being with us. i appreciate you being here on a friday night. >> my pleasure. thank you for having me. >> as an experienced prosecutor and someone very, very experienced in the eastern district of virginia, a lot of houston are nonlawyers and not frequent observers of federal trials were totally flummoxed. how weird is this? is it going off the rails? everybody was trying to read the paul manafort body tloong suggest if this meant the trial was blowing up in some way. as someone who has been there and knows what this means, how

weird was today? have you seen stuff like the happen before? especially right toward the end of a trial? >> i've seen things like this happen before. i don't think it is going off the rails or blowing up. maybe i can explain. sometime judge has to take three or four hours to straighten out an issue. it is frequent but it is frequent enough that we can make an educated guess. it usually involves a jury issue. it may be something as benign as a juror has something at home. that doesn't seem to be the case here. i've seen it happen in my own trials once or twice over many years, a juror accidentally sees something or hears something. maybe overhears hears a conversation, a bathroom or a hallway or calf tear. i can't maybe saw something at home at night after a court recess for the day. overheard a conversation and more likory than not, reports

that to the judge. why does it take hours to straighten it out? the judge has to essentially call a time-out and question the jury. and the juror. what did you see or hear? what you saw, what you heard, did that challenge your opinion of this trial? can you put it aside? so the judge probably has to make some sort of inquiry. some sort of factual finding. that's likely. when you see a trial shut down, it is usually along these lines. >> in terms of when this will become clear, i showed the note from the court reporter in terms of this being a sealed transcript. is this the kind of thing we should expect to eventually become public? whatever happen today, will the discussions remain sealed indefinitely? >> i would imagine it will eventually become public. the courts really want to make

all their proceedings public. unless their there's a compelling reason not to. for instance grand juries are sealed. perhaps soon we'll know precisely what happened. my guess is it is a juror issue. one where the judge had to inquire and had to satisfy that this juror, whatever he or she saw or heard consideration put that aside and consider the case fairly and even handedly. >> there is something else that happened today. >> i want to ask you. can you stick around? >> yes. ow... aah! ...i would have said you were crazy. but so began the year of me. i discovered the true meaning of paperless discounts... and the indescribable rush of saving drivers an average of $620. why does fear feel so good? i fell in love three times -- once with a woman,

once with a country, and finally... with myself. -so, do you have anything to declare or not? -isn't that what i'm doing? -so, do you have anything to declare or not? come hok., babe. nasty nighttime heartburn? try new alka-seltzer pm gummies. the only fast, powerful heartburn relief plus melatonin so you can fall asleep quickly. ♪ oh, what a relief it is!

but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. guys,but you've got sto be strong.st remember janet? she got cash back shopping with ebates and hasn't been skeptical since. where'd the money come from? stores pay ebates. psh!!! psh!!! then ebates pays you. psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! psh!!! and they'll send you a check. psh!!!! oohh!! sign up for free. shop your favorite stores. get cash back. ebates. something to believe in. join today for a $10 bonus. ...to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't.

i'll take that. [cheers] 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. new ensure max protein. in two great flavors. new ensure max protein. are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app.

it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. big presidential scandals are like flood tides if you live by a river. king tides if you live by the beach. one flood tide with the spring snow belt, susan and i got a whole new hot water heater came up down the river. stuff just appears. they wash up whole new things you never knew you had to worry about. for example at this time in life, as an american citizen,

you never before had to know name andrew miller. andrew miller is an american man who apparently works now as a house painter in the suburbs of st. louis, missouri. in 2016 around the time of the republican convention, he worked for a long time friend and aide to donald trump. he worked for a man named roger stone. it is a little fuzzy exactly what did he for roger stone. but whatever it was, it was enough that he told andrew miller that he needed to testify before a grand jury. on may 18th, andrew miller was told he should appear voluntarily before the grand jury and she turn over documents. when may 18th turned around, andrew miller did not show up. then the special counsel made it mandatory. the special counsel subpoenaed andrew miller to appear on june 8th. june 8th rolled around and he did not show up. then a federal judge ordered him to comply and ruled in fact he really did have to appear before

the grand jury on june 29th. june 29th rolled around and this time andrew miller did not show up. he did file a former motion to quash the subpoena. to get rid of the speenl on the grounds that the whole rig ma role was all unkogs constitutional. the judge didn't just say no against the argument. she dismantled night 93-page ruling to andrew miller's allegation that the special counsel wields too much power with too little accountability. the judge shot back, the scope of the special counsel's power falls well within the boundaries of the constitution as the special counsel is supervised by an official who himself accountable to the elected president. that men andrew had no more wiggle room. he had to testify.

today. and again he didn't show up so today judge held andrew miller in contempt of court for refusing to show up. refusing to testify before the robert mueller grand jury. i am to lawyer but to me this seems like kamikaze mission. why do this? what is the strategy here? where does this end? does he potentially end up going to jail now? joining me, chuck rosenberg, senior fbi official. thank you for sticking around to help me with this. >> my pleasure. >> i understand contempt of court meaning you have been told to do something by the court and you're not doing it and you don't have an option. in this case, the court ruling that mr. miller is in contempt for defying the subpoena, what is the consequence? does this mean that he will go to jail? >> conceivably. i'm going to get a little nerdy on you. >> yay!

>> there's civil contempt in which case the judge, judge howell, simply wants miller to comply. as soon as he complies, as soon as he testifies, as soon as he follows her order, the contempt is lift. there's criminal contempt designed to punish. not to enforce compliance. it seems the to me she held him if civil contempt. all you need to do is comply with my order and we're square. so he has an easy out. if he doesn't comply, she can continue to hold him in contempt means putting him in jail or fining him or something else to try to coerce his compliance. >> we can't see the ruling in this case. if she is now holding anymore civil contempt and he continues to defy court's order and to testify, would you say she would

then have the option to increase the leverage on him, including jail, does that mean she is turning it to criminal contempt? >> she could even appoint a special prosecutor to bring criminal charges. my guess is that it will likely remain civil contempt. that means as long as the grand jury is sitting, and grand juries sit for 12 to 18 months, he could spend all of that time in jail. by the way, the special counsel, bob mueller's team could subpoena him again after that first grand jury expires. if he chooses to disobey again, he could be held in contempt again. it is really on him to simply comply. when you get subpoenaed, you have two lawful options. you go plead the fifth amendment if you have a legitimate fifth amendment privilege if it would incriminate you or you can go to

the grand jury and answer truthfully. he didn't choose the lawful path. he chose the contempt path. >> thank you. clarifying as always. appreciate it. you have to wonder why this particular guy is fighting this far. it may be a matter of principle. it may be desperation. if chuck is right, we'll find out when he finally gets in there. much more to come. and i don't add up the years. but what i do count on... is staying happy and healthy. so, i add protein, vitamins and minerals to my diet with boost®. new boost® high protein nutritional drink now has 33% more high-quality protein, along with 26 essential and minerals your body needs. all with guaranteed great taste. the upside- i'm just getting started. boost® high protein be up for life they won't hike your ratest foover one mistake. see, liberty mutual doesn't hold grudges.

for drivers with accident forgiveness liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty ♪

the new united explorer card makes things easy. traveling lighter. taking a shortcut. (woooo) taking a breather. rewarded! learn more at theexplorercard.com

one thing that has been remarkable and sort of weird and chilling to learn in reading all the special counsel indictments is the specificity with which robert mueller's team has been able to lay out in great detail all the varied ways in which russian military intelligence officers worked to mess with the presidential next 2016 right down to them duping unsuspecting u.s. citizens. people here in the u.s. getting them to make things happen on u.s. soil but secretly on russia's behalf. it has been creole creepy to let they could influence americans all across the country. the place where russia really went all in on stuff like that was the great state of florida. they organized and promoted florida goes trump rallies held in nearly 20 cities across the state of florida. they made one-on-one contact with local activists.

they even hired someone to emperson ate. they were a soft target. russians were able to find people there they could dupe into participating in their operations. but there's another specific way they went after florida that we don't yet understand the consequences of. we don't understand the danger of it but it is back in the news. the details turned up a few days ago in the last big indictment. the indictment against a whole bunch of intelligence officers. in that dirmt, the month before the election, gru officers started checking out the websites of various counties in georgia and iowa and florida. they just started visiting the websites. the indictment says it was part of the gru targeting state and county offices responsible for

administering the 2016 elections. but then there is this paragraph in the indictment. by november 2016, but still before the election. the election was november 8th. this means this happened in the first seven days of november. literally the final week before the election. these gru agents sent over 100 spear phishing e-mails to organizations and personnel involved in administering elections. it contained malware that they embedded in their e-mails. the last week of the election? so this isn't like, this is a very specific thing. this sm like hijacking american political causes to make them more extreme and divisive. this isn't targeting facebook. it was supposed to make people hate hillary clinton or hate muslims or -- make you think

that bernie sanders and donald trump were somehow the same thing. this was expect. the last seven days before the election. the first week of targeted blitz. blasting hacking tools, malware influencing individual elections in individual florida counties. what did they think they could do in the final week of the election? this was not a planning expedition to see how vulnerable those websites were. this was voting time. this was go time. and russia at that moment was trying to gain access to those elections. that was 2016. that was all spelled out in the last mueller indictment west don't know what happened with that. the specific part of the attack actually did. now come a new warning that there isn't just some generic

threat out there related to the elections this fall all over the country. now comes a new specific warning that there's specifically a russian hacking operation live and underway right now inside local florida election systems. we don't know if it is the payoff from what they did in 2016. they inserted malware for the next election. maybe this is a whole new effort. apparently it's live and underway now. the way we've learned about it is weird and controversial and that's next. fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely.

but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands? sharper vision, without limits. days that go from sun up to sun down. a whole world in all its beauty. three innovative technologies for our ultimate in vision, clarity, and protection. together in a single lens. essilor ultimate lens package.

purchase the essilor ultimate lens package and get a second pair of qualifying lenses free. essilor. better sight. better life. if yor crohn's symptoms are holding you back, and your current treatment hasn't worked well enough, it may be time for a change. ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's. entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both symptom relief and remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal

brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. this condition has not been reported with entyvio. tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flu-like symptoms or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio. if your uc or crohn's treatment isn't working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. entyvio. relief and remission within reach. 3 toddlers won't stop him.. and neither will lower back pain. because at a dr. scholl's kiosk he got a recommendation for our custom fit orthotic to relieve his foot, knee, or lower back pain, from being on his feet. dr. scholl's. born to move. can you elaborate what you told my colleague yesterday about russians being in election records? do you mean right now or in 2016? >> right now. >> what do you mean by that? >> exactly what i said.

they have already penetrated certain counties in the state, and they now have free reign to move about. >> they have free reign to move about. bill nelson this week announcing there's something going on. the county administered election systems in his state right now. not 2016 but now. russian hackers have penetrated certain counties and they have free rein to move about. his point is the state's republican governor rick scott. his administration responded to the state from nelson this week by ensissing they had no idea what he was talking about. basically saying, as far as we know, it's fine. he accused him of, quote, making things up but senator nelson is standing by his statement and offering some important detail.

also notably the state's other senator, republican member of the senate intelligence committee, marco rubio, is not disputing the account. today he released a statement saying that the election stlems remain a potentially attractive target for attacks by foreign actors. two county official said they heard a similar warning at a private meeting with rubio earlier this year in may. senator nelson says both he and senator rubio warned florida election officials about this current russian intrusion in a letter last month. he said he sent that letter to florida election officials specific will you at the request of the republican chairman is that the democratic vice chairman of the intelligence committee. >> we were requested by the chairman and vice chairman of

the intelligence committee to let the supervisors of the election in florida know that the russians are in their records. this is no fooling time. that is why two senators, bipartisan, reached out to the election apparatus of florida to let them know the russians are in the records. and all they have to do, if those election records are not protect protected, is to go in and start eliminating registered voters and you can imagine the chaos that would occur on election day. >> bill nelson is not backing down from saying that. they charged that russian military intelligence for some reason bombarded county election official in florida in the final seven days before the presidential election in 2016.

the indictment describing a huge late attack mounted against local systems in florida, that was designed to install russian malware as the republican of the governor of the state is treating this like a joke or a gaffe by senator nelson. but if what senator is warning about is true, if this is happening, what do we do about the fact that the state government really doesn't seem to care? if this kind of attack is real and it is underway right now and it is russian military intelligence doing it again, are we supposed to count on random local officials to figure out if and how they want to try to defend against it? i mean, i get that localities run election systems, but if those election systems are actually hit with an international targeted attack by

a hostile nation state, isn't this somebody else who should come in and help with that. we're just having random senators warn each other and hope someone figures out a home grown defense? that's the plan really? hold that thought. that's next. when it comes to strong bones, are you on the right path? we have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture, so with our doctors we chose prolia® to help make our bones stronger. only prolia® helps strengthen bones by stopping cells that damage them with 1 shot every 6 months.

do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®. serious allergic reactions, like low blood pressure; trouble breathing; throat tightness; face, lip or tongue swelling, rash, itching or hives have happened. tell your doctor about dental problems, as severe jaw bone problems may happen or new or unusual pain in your hip, groin, or thigh, as unusual thigh bone fractures have occurred. speak to your doctor before stopping prolia®, as spine and other bone fractures have occurred. prolia® can cause serious side effects, like low blood calcium; serious infections, which could need hospitalization; skin problems; and severe bone, joint, or muscle pain. if your bones aren't getting stronger isn't it time for a new direction? why wait? ask your doctor about prolia.

your digestive system has billions of bacteria but life can throw them off balance. re-align yourself with align probiotic. and try new align gummies with prebiotics and probiotics to help support digestive health.

are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. in 2014, the u.s. attorney in the western district of pennsylvania announced what was at that time the first ever criminal indictment against foreign state actors for

hacking. he brought criminal charges against five members of the chinese military for economic cyber espionage against the united states. that made david hickton a pioneer by using the criminal justice system. joining us now is david hickton. thanks very much for joining us. it is nice to have you here. >> thank you, rachel. >> we have an unusual situation in florida that is unfolding over the last few days. the senator from florida, bill nelson, who is facing re-election this year. he is being challenged by the serving republican governor of the state, senator nelson says that there is a cyber attack underway that is targeting florida local election systems and in his words, the russians are in there now and have free reign to move about at will. the state through governor scott appears to be dismissing this and calling him all but crazy

for bringing this up. from a law enforcement, cyber security perspective, what is your overall reaction to that? >> my reaction is that on the one hand it points to the natural defensive reaction we get from state officials, which is understandable and we need to account for it. nobody likes to admit they have been hacked. but the fact is that we know that in 2016 florida was one of the seven states identified by dhs where the russians not only f were circling, but they were in their system. the other thing i think it points to is i made the point on your show a couple weeks ago that we shouldn't look at hacking as a single event. it is really a series of events. and we shouldn't look at elections as a thing. elections are many things. it's an architecture. we represent the world's greatest democracy, and we register people to vote. we educate voters on the issues

through the media and other resources and the candidates, and then we have election day and then we tally the votes and in some places we do audits. so it is really a broader concept. so this campaign over here is really attacking an election system over here and the thing is that there is just multiple on-ramps for our nation state adversaries. it's been demonstrated time and time again going all the way back to 2008. i believe it is time to get our heads out of the sand about this. we need to really address it. and i think that men and women of good will who are patriotic could come together and solve this. >> founder and director of the institute for cyber law policy and security at the university of pittsburgh, sir, i would like to ask you to come back and talk to us about this again next week. this is becoming a political fight in florida but also a national security fight in terms of defending these systems. i hope you will come back and

join us again. >> happy to, rachel. thanks for the invite. >> stay with us. and at expedia, we don't think you should be rushed into booking one. that's why we created expedia's add-on advantage. now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. ♪ add-on advantage. discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. only when you book with expedia.

i have no idea how we're going to get through this. follow me. unitedhealthcare has the people and tools to help guide you through the confusion. well that wasn't so bad at all. that's how we like it. unitedhealthcare. sharper vision, without limits. days that go from sun up to sun down. a whole world in all its beauty. three innovative technologies for our ultimate in vision, clarity, and protection. together in a single lens. essilor ultimate lens package. purchase the essilor ultimate lens package and get a second pair of qualifying lenses free. essilor. better sight. better life.

i have a date with a canoe that i need to make. that does it for us tonight. i wish you a good friday and a good weekend. we will see you again on monday. now it is the time for "the last word". >> good evening. have a great weekend. >> thank you, my friend. >> tonight the legal pressure on donald trump, his family and his network of aids, former aids and former fixers looks to be at an all-time high. bob mueller's prosecutors are ten days into their first tile of paul manafort who watched his case get harder this week as another trump aid who worked on the campaign, rick gates, was confessing to crimes on the stand. for all the indictments and evidence and the general ranker of the trump presidency, this week did mark the first time a former trump aid ever did confess publically to a crime. gates telling jurors he committed felonies with