tv The Rachel Maddow Show MSNBC July 4, 2019 2:00pm-3:00pm PDT
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it's fourth eve. july 3rd. you would usually expect it to be a sleepy news day. what have we learned about the eve of things in this trump administration? like your typical friday night. holiday eve works the same way. this is another one of the day where is we had to take the show we were planning and ball it up and put it in the file that we just save for other days. these things do keep coming
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around. breaking news has blown up the show with something just sort of incredible that happened in federal court with no warning. out of the blue. just blew up something. it is coming from this remarkable and dramatic soap opera of a thing that has to do with this administration and with something that the president feels more strongly about than anything else in his presidency. you might have seen a few days ago that chuck todd from "meet the press" had an interview with president trump. there is always news when someone from outside the conservative media gets to ask the president questions that involve follow-ups and not just him screaming over helicopter noise. we knew there was going to be news in that interview and in fact one of the things that made news and chuck todd asked what his biggest mistake was.
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the biggest regret from his presidency thus far. the president's answer was that his biggest mistake, the one thing he has done wrong is jeff sessions. think about everything that has happened and gone wrong over 2.5 years, and the biggest problem is jeff sessions? as far as the president is concerned that, is his one mistake. the only thing he regrets. we know from huge chunks of the mueller report that the president's anger towards jeff sessions and his feelings towards jeff sessions are not lightly arrived at. this is not a personal thing or a passing fancy. we know from mueller's report trump expressed resentment and anger towards sessions over a long period of time and he fired sessions for a very specific reason. because the president believed that as attorney general of the united states, jeff sessions should have done much more to use the justice department and to use the legal system to serve
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donald trump. to serve the wishes and to serve the personal interests of trump. trump was mad at jeff sessions for not locking up hillary clinton and mad at jeff sessions for not firing the special counsel. he was mad at jeff sessions for not shutting down the investigation into russia attacking our elections and thought the justice department should just be ordered to do those things for him because he wanted those things. jeff sessions didn't give him those things. jeff sessions to a certain extent this watered the president express desires and he now believes jeff sessions was his biggest mistake. part of the reason robert mueller's report had so many direct quotes and direct color between trump and sessions and what he was demanding, part of the reason he had so much detail is because jeff sessions's chief of staff, a man by the name of jody hunt, he gave testimony to
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mueller's inquiry. jody hunt for the entire duration of jeff sessions' time as attorney general, he basically had a front row seat to this bizarre dynamic between the president and his attorney general. to all the wild demands that trump was making of the attorney general. jody hunt was there to see and hear and witness all of the crazy bleep that trump demanded and expected from his justice department. the chief of staff, what was chief of staff to sessions. he was there for all of it and saw it all happen when trump made the demands. when trump implore and berated sessions for not agreeing to those demands. jody hunt was there when trump fired sessions for the crime of not doing what the president wanted. now jeff sessions of course is gone as attorney general and incidentally trump said he is much happier with his new guy.
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he is getting much more of what he wants. even after jeff sessions was fired at attorney general, jody hunt stayed on and in fact had a big promotion at the justice department. jody hunt is assistant attorney general of the united states and runs the whole civil division of the justice department. it's like the big part of the justice department. in that job, jody hunt today showed what he has learned over these past couple of years from that front row seat he had to the session dynamic. he showed what he has learned over the past couple of years about how president trump expects the justice department to do what he wants and no matter how contrary it might be to the normal processes of the justice department and a basic understanding of the rule of law.
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jody hunt maybe more than anybody still in government has seen how even the highest ranking person and the most powerful person at the justice department can be not just fired, but attacked and demeaned if they do not give the president things that he wants. he saw that happen to his boss, jeff sessions. jeff sessions is gone, but jody hunt is a senior department official himself and mr. hunt showed, i think, what he learned. in what was a remarkable turn of events in a federal court today. on july 4th eve in a hastily called court conference in which the judge summoned both sides on short notice to try to figure out what the heck was going on. what had been maintained to the court was not happening in the real world and federal judges tend not to like that. what this is about is the
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supreme court case of the trump administration lost last week. they turned back the trump administration's efforts to tack something new on to the census and change the census in a way that was expected to result in an under count of latinos and overcount of white people and republicans specifically. they have been trying to change the census that way for the past couple of years and multiple federal judges in three jurisdictions ruled against the trump administration and ruled that the trump administration had made up their proposed reasons for changing the census in that way and it wasn't proper for them to change the census. last week it went to the supreme court in a 5-4 ruling. they told the trump administration that the lower courts were right. their purported reasons for why they said they wanted to change the census, those reasons were plainly not true.
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the supreme court told the trump administration late last week they couldn't go ahead with it. not under the terms they had been trying to go ahead with it under. last night on the show, we reported that the justice department had conceded basically that they lost that case. it's over. they had told the court already over the course of the litigation on this issue that they were up against a hard deadline. that they needed to start printing the census by july 1st which was monday of this week. even though they might have tried to, they might have wanted to go back to court again and come up with a new justification for adding the question in some other way, they are out of time. they notified the court that they were giving up on trying to do this for the 2020 census. they were starting to print without tacking on that extra question. they didn't just say it in a press release.
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the reason we reported it last night is they put it in writing to the court. "counsel, we can confirm that the decision has been made to print the 2020 decennial questionnaire without a citizenship question and the printer has been instructed to begin the printing process. signed u.s. department of justice civil division. civil division at the justice department is now run by jody hunt, jeff sessions' former chief of staff. as of last night, this is how the justice department had left it. they are telling the court, we're out. it's over. then today on twitter, the president expressed his displeasure with this eventuality and insisted this is not what his justice department is doing. this is not what his government is doing. you heard we are not putting on that census question. we certainly are. and jody hunt who has seen this movie before, jody hunt has been
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fried by this particular proverbial electric fence in his recent past, he rears up and basically panics today in public on a hastily called court hearing on the phone with a federal judge. we have the transcript of it. i have never seen or heard anything like this before. presumably in the mind of the head of the civil division at the justice department, presumably he was reliving president trump beating the ghost of jeff sessions all over again for sessions refusing to do what he wanted the justice department to do. this is how it all came out. just remarkable. the judge starts off and said good afternoon and asked the plaintiffs to introduce themselves. they do so. then he said for the government?
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the lawyer said for the government, your honor. josh gardner. and jody hunt, assistant attorney general for the civil division. the judge said mr. gardner, i know you are on vacation so i hated to interrupt that. that's the way they start. it's a sign that something is unusual here. josh gardner is the justice department career lawyer who has been handling the case for the justice department defending what the trump administration was trying to do with the census and he lost that case at the supreme court last week. the justice department conceded as of last night that it's over and the trump administration won't be adding the new question to the census. that it's done. the guy has been handling the case for the justice department lost the case and told the court they are conceding and it's done. now that it's done, that dude has gone on vacation. so why is he back in this hearing today phoning into this emergency hearing? apparently this is not done. if you want to know why he has to call in because it's not done is because of the other guy from the justice department who phoned in with him. the head of the civil division,
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jeff sessions's recent chief of staff and seen what happens to senior justice department officials in the trump administration when they don't give trump what he wants no matter what it is. so you have the trial attorney phoning in from vacation and the head of the civil division phoning in himself. because that guy knows what you are supposed to do. because the president yelled jump. that guy, of all people, knows that the answer when the president says jump is how high, sir? how high? the judge starts things off. i guess the reason i wanted to have this call, obviously we had our call i guess yesterday. i think it was yesterday. then this morning i saw a tweet that got my attention. i don't know how many federal judges have twitter accounts, but i am one of them and i follow the president. a tweet contradicted the position mr. gardner shared with me and i indicated yesterday and i will indicate that mr. gardner and every government attorney who appeared in this case has been nothing but professional and candid with the court. the tweet that i saw that i
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suspect we all know the tweet i'm referring to caused to think i haven't gone far enough on where things stand. we have a court reporter and i'm going to ask the same question to mr. gardner. is the going to continue efforts to place a citizenship on the 2020 census. josh gardner, your honor, this is mr. gardner. i want to back up a step and say i have been with the united states department of justice for 16 years through multiple administrations and i have always endeavored to be as candid as possible with the court. that was my best understanding of the state of affairs. the president's position on this issue like the plaintiffs -- excuse me. my best understanding of the state of affairs. i do not have a deep understanding of what that means other than what the president has tweeted. as you can imagine, i am doing my best to figure out what's
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going on. i can tell you i have confirmed that the census bureau is continuing with the process of printing the questionnaire without a citizenship question and that process has not stopped. the judge said all right. i will hear from plaintiff's counsel. the lawyer for the plaintiff speaks. >> your honor, this underscores the need for a stipulated order as we talked about yesterday that makes clear not only that the government is printing the questionnaire for the 2020 census without a citizenship question, but that there will be no further effort to inquire about citizenship status as part of the 2020 census in any manner. it suggests that we may need a further provision that makes career that the defendants won't communicate anything to the contrary, suggesting that the 2020 census is inquiring about citizenship status and further they will counter any such misinformation that comes from government officials.
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the misinformation from government officials here as described by the plaintiff's lawyer would be misinformation from the president. the president saying we are putting that on the census even though they are not and they maintained to the court they are not. so at this point they have sort of a long back and forth discussion between the plaintiff's lawyers and the judge about whether the judge can block the president from publicly saying untrue things about what the government is doing on an issue like this. at one point the judge said i assume the parties are not suggesting i can enjoin the president of the united states from tweeting things? your honor, don't assume anything at this point. but there remain this is basic question that the trump administration tried to do a thing. they lost in court. as of yesterday, they conceded that they would therefore no longer try to do that thing, but then the president went online and said i'm still going to do that thing. what's the remedy for that? what's going to happen here? queue the poor guy who was supposed to be on vacation who spent 16 years at the justice department and perhaps under the impression this was still a
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normal government and that's how he should behave. this is josh gardner. your honor, to back up, this is a very fluid situation which we are trying to get our arms around and obviously once we get more information we will communicate that immediately to the court and the parties. i want to address a preliminary issue and that is that the current status quo is that plaintiffs are fully protected, meaning the new question is not going to be tacked on to the census as far as he knows, regardless of what the president said on twitter today. i recognize this is a fluid situation and perhaps that might change, but we are just not there yet and i can't possibly predict at this juncture what possibly is going to happen. as of now the basis for the citizenship question is firmly enjoined, vacate and does not exist. i think the current fluidity of the state of play suggests the status quo is -- we need to see how these things develop. at that juncture, your honor, if you have additional questions, i
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can turn it over to the assistant attorney general, mr. hunt. now we get to find out why jody hunt is there. why jeff sessions's old chief of staff has also inserted himself into this case. mr. hunt, your honor, this is joseph hunt, assistant attorney general. we have been instructed to examine whether there is a path forward consistent with the supreme court's decision that would allow us to include the citizenship question. we think there may be a legally available path under the decision. we are looking at near term options to see whether that is viable and possible. viable and possible. both kinds. we have been instructed to. presumably from the president's twitter feed.
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we have been instructed to not do what we told the court what we would do yesterday and we have no idea what that means we should do, but here i am telling you what donald trump's twitter feed told me to do regardless of what it means for the justice department. regardless of what it means for the lawyers, including the career lawyers whose reputations in federal court depend in part on whether or not the court can believe them when they say things. here's how the judge decides to end this. just brutal. the judge said okay. here's where we are. if either side has a different view, i will hear that. but here's where we are. by friday at 2:00 p.m., i either want a stipulation as we have been discussing indicating that the citizenship question will not appear on the census or a proposed scheduling order on how we will go forward on the claim remanded to this court. i want one of those two things by 2:00 on friday. any questions? >> this is mr. gardner. the one thing i request is given that tomorrow is the fourth of july and the difficulty in
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assembling people from all over the place, is it possible we can do this on monday? the judge, no. mr. gardner and again -- oh, okay. the judge, no. timing is an issue. timing is an issue and we lost at week at this point. this is not anything against anybody on this call. i have been told different things and it's becoming increasingly frustrating. if you were facebook and an attorney for facebook told me one thing and i read a press release from mark zuckerberg telling me something else, i would be demanding mark zuckerberg appear in court with you the next time. i would be saying i don't think you speak for your client anymore. i think i'm being really reasonable here and just saying i need a final answer by friday at 2:00 p.m. or we are going forward. that is where we are.
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oh, that is where we are. does the justice department speak for the u.s. government? who is the client? does your client know that you speak for the u.s. government? or do you not? this is a bunch of things, all of which are astonishing. at base level, this is the trump administration trying to change the census to systematically under count latinos and democrats. a. it's them being blocked from doing that by the courts. it's the justice departments conceding they have been blocked from doing that and then the president himself saying to do it anyway because he said so. it's the trump appointee who runs that part of the justice department who is literally himself personally an important fact witness to the president's obstruction of justice and threatening the last attorney general and ordering him to do things he could not do. it's that fact witness, that guy is now in power himself with the justice department who is jumping into this case saying yes, sir, i am here for you, sir. i am jumping in with both feet and will tell the court to
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forget everything and instead of everything that has gone before us in this case, the president has tweeted and -- i know what happens if i don't obey the tweet. i have seen it happen. forget everything. the has tweeted. that's what we're going with. i mean, a policy dispute is not a constitutional crisis. a bad actor holding public office is not a constitutional crisis. a constitutional crisis would be like, for example, a president choosing to defy a lawful court order. that is what we are edging at here. all this obstruction of justice about the mueller report and how the president was ordering the justice department to do things to serve his own interest and they were moderately resisting to the extent they could. all that was is potential obstruction of justice by the president. all of that is to decide whether the president committed those crimes and to see the type of constitutional pressure the
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president was using to try to pull apart the threads that make us the country that we are. the president defies a lawful court order and informs the justice department to do so. that's no longer dispute. that's constitutional crisis territory. you can count on people at the justice department to be the people to stop it from happening? you can't say you didn't see this coming, right? more ahead. stay with us. ay with us ok everyone! our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy! whoo-hoo! great-tasting ensure. with nine grams of protein and twenty-six vitamins and minerals. ensure, for strength and energy.
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simple, easy, awesome. go to xfinity.com/moving to get started. southern california survey ing the damage after its biggest earthquake in 20 years. the 6.4 quake shook buildings and caused some homes to catch fire. several reported hurt and a hospital was evacuated over safety concerns. the tremendoors were powerful eh to cause this mess inside a walmart. also downed powerlines and gas leaks. now back to rachel. werlines ands leaks. now back to rachel first it was on and then off and now it's apparently on again, but it depends on who you ask. the justice department making a stunning reversal in a court hearing to add a citizenship question to the census despite being blocked by the supreme
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court and they conceded just last night to the court that they would no longer try to do that. joining us now is andrea who is regional council at the mexican american educational fund representing several of the plaintiffs where the justice department just started doing these remarkable black flips today. thank you very much for joining us. appreciate you being here. >> thank you for having me. >> i have seen the transcript of this call today which i found almost like science fiction. i know you were on this call with judge hazel. the way i read it as somebody just reading it and not hearing it and somebody who is not a lawyer, the two justice department lawyers on the call were contradicting each other and one was saying the census was being printed without the citizenship question and the other had been instructed to find a way to add that question back in and he was trying to do so. do you think the judge in this case has clarity as to what is logistically happening with the
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census? >> i don't. i think that's why he made the deadline that he did to force the justice department to come back on friday by 2:00 p.m. and make that clear not only to the court, but to the public. is the government going to move forward by trying to add the citizenship question back on the census or not? >> in terms of what happens here next and forgive me, this is a very elementary question. part of what seems really important to me about this in terms of the way it's going to evolve is that the courts have said that the president and the administration can't add the citizenship question to the census without coming back with a new reason for it. what happens if they try to do it anyway? what happens if they try to add that question anyway and just assert that it's their prerogative and never mind what the courts say? what would the enforcement mechanism be to stop them from doing that?
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>> the supreme court was very clear. you can't lie to the court about why you are taking the action you are taking. you can't lie about why you want to add the question to the 2020 census. the fact is we know why they wanted to add the question to the 2020 census. they wanted to discriminate against latino communities and communities of color. if the government is not willing to come back on friday and say that it's going to abandon the effort, this unwise illegal effort, we will move forward in court to prove that the additional of the question was intentionally discriminatory. >> if you are able to prove it is discriminatory and the courtsides with you on that, the reason i'm pressing this and this is an elementary school level question, forgive me, i'm concerned that the president is showing small c contempt for the idea that he's bound by the court in terms of what he is able to do with this policy. if the courts continue to try to intervene and he directs the justice department and the census department to not follow the court's direction, what are additional remedies, i guess?
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>> so, the government deciding to defy a court order certainly would be a constitutional crisis. however at least even on the record today and you see it in the transcript, the government while it said it was reviewing the supreme court's decision and whether or not there was a path forward, it did make clear that at least at present the census bureau is moving forward with the process to print the forms and to conduct the 2020 census without the citizenship question. at least at present we haven't had an indication there is going to be an attempt to violate court orders here. >> this is remarkable. as a matter of substance, this
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is a remarkably dramatic thing they are trying to do, but the way it's playing out in the courts is head snapping. unbelievable. andrea is regional council for the educational fund, i appreciate you helping us to understand. this hearing will be very important. keep us apprised. we would love to have you back. this unexpectedly busy july 4th eve. stay with us. can you feel your heart race, while totally relaxed? can you feel the pull of gravity, as you easily climb upward? can you feel like you don't have a care in the world, while your entire world is taken care of? you can, when you're free. the 2019 jeep grand cherokee. hurry in to the 4th of july sales event and get $500 additional bonus cash on select models. visit jeep.com stand up to chronic migraine with botox®.
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like i said. we have a whole show planned for tonight, but best laid plans steam rollered. they upended something everybody thought was settled. this is the dynamic from the very, very beginning. from swearing in day. from the trump inauguration. there was a lot of strange things about the trump inauguration. the inauguration of president trump managed to be one of the smallest and least ambitious inaugurals ever while simultaneously costing more than both of the obama inaugurations combined, blowing the record for most moan spent on an inaugural out of the water. there was the not totally top flight entertainment that cost millions and millions and millions of dollars. there were the empty bleachers along the parade route. there was the weird fight over the factually much smaller crowd
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size of trump's inaugural versus president obama's inaugural and the president ordering various people within the federal government that they should tell lies about that. it was weird from day one. the finances of the committee continued to be clouded in a lot of mystery. how did they spend over $100 million on that? there are reportedly not one or two, but three attorneys investigating elements of the inaugural and subpoenas that went to the committee from the southern district of new york. plus attorneys general in at least two states looking at other aspects of the inaugural. we had the president's campaign chair say in court it's possible maybe he syphoned inaugural funds off for himself, maybe. he's not sure. another guy admitted that he illegally funneled foreign money from a pro russian oligarch into the trump inaugural. all of this stuff is still out
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there, presumably more to know. we will eventually find out from the depths of the strange trump inaugural in january of 2017. one live wire is sparking anew for this fourth of july we are about to have in 2019. the night before trump's inauguration, there was an interesting report in the "huffington post." they spoke with sources described as involved in the trump inaugural preparations. the trump administration started making inquiries at the pentagon about having military equipment at trump's inaugural. about rolling tanks into washington, d.c. as part of the inaugural parade. they required tanks, missile launchers and who else do you got? during the transfer the power, a member of trump's transition
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team floated the idea of including tanks and missile launchers in the parade. the source said they were legit thinking red square-north korea-style parade. that quote from a trump transition source. this is a source involved in the inaugural planning. sounding the alarm. you have to know this is happening. they want freaking missile launchers and tanks, you guys. they are seriously trying to do that. when the "huffington post" asked about these plans to use military equipment in trump's inaugural, a trump aide refused to address the matter on the record, but offered a vehement offer the record denial. we were never considering that. the reporter stuck with that story. she filed a freedom of information act request, smartly, not with the white house because you can't foil the white house, but filed the request with the military because her reporting had been that the requests had been floated to the military. the military is susceptible to
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requests and thanks to her foyer requests, we learned that in fact yes, the trump folks, the trump inaugural planners had been seriously considering adding military vehicles to the inaugural parade. the conversation started as can't you send us some pictures of military vehicles we could add to the parade? the official said to his or her colleague that i explained that it would be out of guidelines and i'm reluctant to produce a list of military vehicles that we might be held to. so the trump inaugural's attempt to roll freaking tanks and missile launchers down pennsylvania avenue behind the piano guys and baton twirlers, they denied they asked for those things, but they did. we know from open source reporting that that caused a pentagon freak out that explains why in fact that never happened for the trump inauguration. the president really liked this idea of trading big military equipment in his honor. they tried again last year. the president last year ordered the pentagon to start planning a
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grand military trade, a show of military might for the fourth of july or maybe memorial day or veteran's day. just get me tanks. ultimately that 2018 plan fell through when the pentagon estimated it would cost $92 million to do this for the president. they decided that was too expensive. now they learned their lesson and their lesson is the president still wants it. based on how it didn't work out the last couple of years, this time there shouldn't be cost estimates at all. this time, third time's a charm president trump is going to get his military fly over and display tanks and the strategy is not say what it's going cost
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other than the $2.5 million that the park service had to admit it is diverting from taking care of the national parks to do this from the president. they are keeping the cost secret by not answering questions. partly they kept it secret by waiting until the last minute to plan the event. they started this too late. even trump officials and allies anxious about july 4 fest. they call the pentagon less than a month ago to start drawing up a plan to get the president his tanks. no time to draw up an estimate. just do it. yes, this military display the president ordered up for tomorrow, it is causing anxiety for lots of americans for reasons beyond the cost to the taxpayers. cnn had this headline. military chiefs have concerns about poitization. leave tanks for red square. the july 4th celebration unsettles military. retired and military officers
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and defense personnel said the participation of the military and president trump's salute to america appears to politicize on a day when the nation toasts independence in a nonpartisan environment. put troops out there to thank them. leave tanks for red square said a retired four-star marine general and head of u.s. central command. it is inarguably true that taking over the july 4th celebration and making himself the centerpiece for the big speech and ordering tanks to roll into the capitol for him at his insistence. that's a nice pencil sketch of the president's affinities and tendencies. he loves how much anxiety and
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outrage this is causing. he lives for this. there is also this very basic and fundamental question about the money. it was the money. the cost to taxpayers that stufled the plan last time. the thing this time is to keep it quiet and not say anything about it. one key member of the senate trying to make sure that part is not kept quiet and he joins us next. stay with us.
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the national mall is not the place to hold a de facto political rally. joining us is senator udahl of new mexico from the appropriations committee. appreciate the time. >> thank you. thank you, rachel. great to be with you this evening. >> the president talked about having military equipment be part of his parade last year. he wanted a big extravaganza with military equipment and lots of troops for the fourth of july or veterans or memorial day celebration. when he was told it came with an
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estimated price tag of over $90 million. as he is getting the estimates of how much it will cost. has your committee have the view of how many taxpayer dollars this will entail. >> we haven't at all. actually what happened here, the top democrat on the appropriations committee, senator leahy, myself and the top democrat on the interior of appropriations. several weeks ago, they asked for all the details. a very extensive letter on where the money was coming from and how much was going to be spent. very detailed letter. we have been stonewalled. the department of defense from
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the white house. it's really a disturbing and extraordinary situation really. >> presumably the numbers will come out. i can understand why the white house may be interested in keeping the numbers from you and the public ahead of this event happening. i can even understand them pressuring the military or pressuring other elements of the administration to slow down any of those responses. utimately given the responsibilities of your committee, you will in the end get those numbers. >> yes, we will be able to get the numbers. we have a good idea of roughly what was in the budget to be spent. so when the final numbers come in, we will have an idea as to where they have got that money from. as you suggested earlier, they are going to take money from the national parks infrastructure in order to put on what looks like a political rally. we will have to see how that turns out.
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i'm going to ask for a gao investigation into if there were laws broken. we will find out how much money will be spent. believe me, officials that appear before the appropriations committee of the house and the senate will be asked about these numbers and we will get the numbers. >> you mentioned there are appearances of what should be planned makes the cross over to political rally territory. it's illegal for public funds for taxpayer money to be spent on the president's reelection and any partisan political activity whatsoever. we have seen report that is the white house has given tickets to this event to the republican national committee to distribute to their donors. we have seen the president's campaign hype this event and talk about it essentially as a campaign event. how does that sort of thing get police ed. if taxpayer money is being spent
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to boost the president. >> well, after you have a gao investigation and there has been a determination that there is a violation of the law and money should not be spent, then it will have to come from the political sector of his campaign or the republican committee which have basically been merged together at this point, but they'll have to pay that money back. as you know, there is a real tradition on presidential trips. if it's an official trip and he's doing something political on the trip, there is an allocation as to what the taxpayers pay and there's an allocation as to what you pay politically. that's the tradition and the way it has been followed. we expect the law to be followed here. >> senator tom udall of new mexico, thanks for joining us. thank you for being here. more to come, stay with us. thank you for being here more to come, stay with us
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as we head into the holiday, there is something to keep an eye on. the trump white house is now promising right after the 4th, right after tomorrow's holiday, so sometime this holloway weekend, they say they are going to launch nationwide dragnet-style raids targeting immigrant families in large numbers across the country. if that rings a bell it's because massive predawn raids targeting immigrant families, something that was originally announced and promised by the president a couple of weeks ago,
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he then announced he would delay them for a little while, but now they are saying after july 4th. who knows if they mean it any more this time than they meant it the last time, but of course these are real people's lives. the daily beast reporting that over these past two weeks, advocates have been frantically coaching immigrant families around the country about how to brace themselves and prepare for the possibility of these raids i.c.e. they describe it as being like natural disaster planning except disaster is a round up by armed federal agents and your disaster plan is that you need to know who might be able to look after your kids when i.c.e. takes you away. last night on this program we reported on a new creative trump administration plan to inflict pain and suffering on immigrant families. they floated the prospect of deporting the family members of active duty serving u.s. troops. we got a big reaction to our
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mentioning that proposal from the white house on our show here last night. i need to tell you that this is just one in a series. they seem to be rolling these out seeing what kind of outrage they can stoke. the trump administration floated another little shop of horrors plan to stoke the maximum outrage and fear starting within the next couple of weeks, starting mid-july, the trump administration says they plan to do away with interpreters for immigrants at their court hearings. when the judge is explaining their rights and when the next hearing is and what steps they need to take in the interim and generally making sure the immigrants understand what's happening and do you have any questions, the trump administration is saying there will be no interpreters for the hearings. instead of an interpreter, all of that life and death stuff will be explained in a video recorded in multiple languages that plays before the hearing that explains basic rights. if the immigrant family has any
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questions or the judge just wants to make sure everybody understands, no interpreters. everybody is out of luck. the back up plan for when this inevitably causes disaster in multiple courtrooms across the country is for the judge to rely on any interpreter who happens to be in the building for other purposes or to call a telephone service for on demand translation. judges should start calling 1-800-translator on demand and see if there's somebody there might be able to help with their hearing. otherwise there won't be translators anymore for immigrant hearings. that's the new plan from the trump administration and the family members of active duty service members and the punctuation of the fourth of july fireworks with nationwide roundups of families. none of this is happening by accident. this is what they want him to run for reelection on. we'll be right back.
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it's like when your car ticks over to like 10,000 miles. i love all the zeros. right? i like 1-1. i like susan's birthday because in our family, susan's birthday lasts a month. that's awesome. and i love the fourth of july. i love everything about it and there is nothing that we can do as a country that would make me not love our birthday. because our birthday is one of the single best things we ever did, celebrating independence, celebrating the declaration of independence is something that's for absolutely everybody. i hope you have an excellent fourth. now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. i knew you would be doing transcript night about what happened in court. i have so many favorite moments, but if i have to reduce it to one, my very favorite moment is when the government lawyers in the census case says to the judge, is it possible that we can do this on monday? no! the judge just flat no. one word.
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