and is supportive of each other. i just don't understand why singling out these four women and others as bad or to this or to that is anybody's benefit. >> i hate to wrap, but we are done. thank you very much for joining us. appreciate it and that's it for this evening. we will be back in the anchor chair tomorrow night and find me on "a.m. joy" this weekend. rachel maddow starts now. >> you are the greatest, joy. thank you very much, my friend. happy monday and thank you for joining us. it has been a remarkable day. it has been a remarkable weekend in the news, but today everything that was remarkable got worse and darker and more complex. also more revelatory. it has been an incredible news cycle that hopefully we are coming to the end of and about to start something new. if we take the broad view and want to know where this current news cycle starts, it was

actually just under two years ago. white supremacists and neonazis and other charming members of the far ride descended on charlottesville, virginia shouting yous will not replace us. at a rally the day after the torch lit chanting march in charlottesville, a rally by the neo nazis which was dwar dwarfe the counter protesters. several were later charged with traveling to charlottesville with the intention of insighting a riot. it was at that rally, the day after the torch-lit march that a neonazi drove his car deliberately into a crowd of counter protesters. a moment captured by a photojournalist that instantly became the defining image of that terrible moment.

he plowed his car and injured dozens of people and killed one young counter protester named heather heyer. immediately there after president trump said there were very fine people on both sides that day in charlottesville. he expressed sympathy with the far right marcher's support for the confed rasy and symbols and said the press treated them very unfairly. today the neonazi guy who drove his car into those counter protesters and injured dozens of people and killed heather heyer was sentenced to in prison plus 419 years. that was the sentence on state charges. on federal charges he already got an additional life sentence. but that moment when donald trump refused to condemn white supremacists in charlottesville who just killed somebody, talk about a defining image or moment. those remarks from trump after

charlottesville rang like a instructed tuning fork. a moment of tonal clarity about our new president and our country now with him as our political leader. it was only two summers before that where there was president barack obama singing amazing grace at the memorial for nine mostly elderly african-american church goers who were killed by white supremacists. two years later, he is succeeded in office by a new president who responds to the murder in charlottesville by a neonazi by praising the very fine people on the neonazi size? lamenting they got a raw deal in the press? when joe biden declared his run for the presidency this year, his announcement video centered on the moral collapse represented by trump's response to charlottesville, calling it a threat to the nation unlike any i have seen in my lifetime.

today as the life plus 419 year sentence for that murder in charlottesville was handed down, spruchl getting that same tuning fork attacking members of congress as vicious, disgusting al qaeda loving america haters. this after hitting them with the go back to your own country slur this weekend. last time around after charlottesville, some republicans expressed some disgust at what the president said. this time not so much. not as much. a handful of republicans have worked up the gumption to say something, but most made clear that whatever else you say, they are not racist, no racism here. the president of course is enjoying this. as always. the outrage in the press and among democrats, he is milking it for all its worth.

it's not like it's not on purpose. ilhan omar will be joining us in a moment as she continues to be one of these minority female congress women specifically being targeted by the president and now following his lead, she is being targeted by his supporters. there is no easy anecdote to a leader who stakes his future on racial hatred and resentment and trying to stoke as much anxiety anger as possible because it's to his political benefit. there is nothing to unwind that or stop its harm. one thing that does not easily control is the prospect of the targets of that racist speaking for themselves. speaking on their own terms about the things they care about and who they are and what they believe about our country. >> racial vilification depends on distance or perceived distance. it depends on us not knowing each other. it depends on us being willing

to fear and blame because we don't know each other. congresswoman omar is more than willing to speak for herself on her terms and will be joining us live. i think this is her first television interview since the president started this whole go back to your country attack on her. an attack it appears he will try to juice for as long as possible and he likes how it's playing and it's foundational to the way he is running for reelection. we have a guest who will help us understand what the administration did today to try to stop people from applying for asylum in america. i think everybody realizes it is no coincidence that the president is starting attacks on nonwhite members of congress and at the same time he is announcing gigantic round ups of immigrants and their families and at the same time he is upscaling the horrendous detention conditions and showing off the pens in which he is

holding immigrant men who have been held for weeks. he thinks that's a good look for him. the outrage over how the trump administration is treating immigrants, even the outrage over the foul treatment and the needless deaths of little kids in detention, it hits the same sweet note. as the outrage over him singling out and attacking the minority congresswoman as him praising the neonazi fine people in charlottesville. you are mad about that? that makes you mad. how mad does it make you? what they announced in terms of changes to asylum law though, it's of a piece of all these things going on, but maybe this president's most radical effort to change laws along racial lines since the muslim ban that he tried to implement as soon as he got into office. it's part of a larger mosaic in terms of how the president is

running and using race to get himself reelected. we will get help understanding that change and that's all coming up. i do feel like there is another aspect of the landscape here that is worth seeing at the same time. i don't think it's unrelated. i don't think there is a total disconnect between how the president is running for reelection and the outrage he is stoking and who else is going on that is happening to him that he can't necessarily control. all of the stuff he's doing in terms of racist vilification and stoking the hatred and dehumanization of immigrants and basking and bathing in the outrage over it. it's unfolding amid a bunch of other stuff and story lines that are not things he can control. he's banking on being able to distract from it. for example, today was the first

day of only the second criminal trial to have resulted from the mueller investigation and the russia scandal. didn't make a lot of headlines, cite? there have been dozens of criminal indictments and dozens of indictments and lots of guilty pleas and no acquittals. before today, there was only one trial in front of a jury. paul manafort convicted of eight felonies at that trial. he is serving a seven-year federal prison sentence while he awaits the start of his trial on state charges as well. so far the campaign chair is the only person in the mueller investigation and russia investigation to go on trial. but the second criminal trial after manafort started today in the eastern district of virginia. it is a trial of this man. trump transition official named bijan keion who is the number two official on intelligence matter which means he was involved in the trump transition on things like little stuff like

picking new senior leadership with the cia. little stuff. while he was doing that work, while he was the number two official on intelligence, keion is now charged with having been an unregistered agent secretly on the payroll of a foreign country. now, the drama of this trial starting apart from the inherent drama of the trial and another man in the trump transition is working secretly for a foreign government and beyond all of that drama, there is also in this new trial that started today the ongoing drama and big unanswered questions about mike flynn, trump's national security adviser. one of the first people to be charged by mueller and one of the first guilty pleas in the russia scandal. he pled guilty to lying about secret communications with the russian government during the transition and became a cooperating witness at that time. flynn was apparently a good

cooperator for a while. the special counsel's office recommended to flynn's sentencing judge that mike flynn should get zero time in prison as recognition of how much help he was able to provide them as a cooperating witness. still even with that recommendation, something about flynn's case clearly bugged the sentencing judge. when mike flynn showed up in court in december expecting to be sentenced, probably expecting to be sentenced to zero time served because of that recommendation from prosecutors, things took a turn. the judge ended up reaming mike flynn out in the courtroom, essentially calling him a traitor and suggesting he may want to delay the sentencing until he had more time to be more cooperative and given the government more help given how serious his crimes were. he didn't get sentence and still doesn't have a sentencing date. since then, mike flynn dumped his legal team and hired a new team that are anti-robert

mueller crusaders. that's a job now in the american right. the new lead lawyer is an author of a big with the justice department being full of lawyers and they are out to get conservatives and in particular about how terrible and criminal robert mueller and his prosecutors are. the lead lawyer is a full time anti-robert mueller and anti-russia investigation pundit in the conservative media world. that's who is leading his legal team. things have gone wobbly for him in court. flynn was expecting to be the star witness in the case starting today who is expected to testify about the two of them. secretly working on behalf of a foreign government while also working on the trump campaign. flynn now will not be called as a witness. prosecutors say they consider him to be a coconspirator with keion. they said they will wait to see what happens at the trial before

they decide if they will change that recommendation that mike flynn shouldn't get jail time. and prosecutors are now saying they are going to call mike flynn's son, mike flynn, jr. as a witness in the trial even though they are not calling mike flynn, sr. because they consider him a coconspirator. the keion trial, the second jury trial of the mueller investigation started today and nobody knows where it's going to go. the question of the resolution of the case, the key figure in the campaign, mike flynn, is suddenly absolutely wide open and we expect revelations in court. jury selection was today and opening arguments were today. this is going to be a drama over the next week. and now on top of that tonight, cnn just broke a remarkable new story that appears to fill in a key part of the plot that we had not previously had about what happened in the elections and it has to do with --

>> wikileaks. >> wikileaks. >> wikileaks. >> wikileaks. >> this just came out. this just came out. wikileaks. i love wikileaks. >> the hillary clinton documents released today by wikileaks. >> exposed by wikileaks. >> we all talk about wikileaks. >> they're got it all down, folks. wikileaks. >> the president promoted wikileaks and their release of stolen democratic and clinton documents more than 150 times on the campaign trail in the run up to his election. it became clear that those materials that wikileaks was releasing is stuff that was hacked by russia. but wikileaks denied he had anything to do with russia. they are basically one in the same. according to him, he just plucked the stolen documents out of the ether and there have been clear assertions from the

intelligence agencies and robert mueller's report and definitive denials from wikileaks that they had anything to do with russia. we never had a clear narrative detail about how russia and wikileaks did it. how russia funneled all this stuff to wikileaks to be released in the campaign to such important effect. tonight cnn obtained surveillance that appear to show how wikileaks got that stolen material from russian intelligence in the 2016 campaign and it is a fascinating story. julian assange is currently in jail in the uk and fighting extradition to face unrelated charges, but starting in 2012 and through the 2016 campaign, julian assange was held up in ecuador's embassy in london trying to evade various criminal charges and extradition claims. the government of ecuador was

happy enough, sort of, to keep hosting him in that embassy as the years dragged on while he was staying there. they did hire three separate security firms to do intensive surveillance on their embassy while he was there. it is the logs for a security firm they published tonight that appeared to show how they transferred to wikileaks the reams of stolen material that trump celebrated. that wikileaks released in the campaign to cause maximum dodge clinton and donald trump. that's the stuff that donald trump promoted in his campaign. we had known that the intelligence community said that wikileaks was operating as a cut out for russian intelligence. we never had any narrative about how exactly they did it. we had wikileaks denials. look at the timeline here. june 14th when the democratic party announces it has been hack and had material stolen. they blame the government for

the crime. june 19th, five days later, julian assange asked the embassy to beef up his internet connection and asked them for technical support for data transmission. and for helping install new equipment. assange has a big spike in the number of people coming to visit him at the embassy. about 75 people came to visit him that month alone. he also has at least seven in person meetings at the embassy he is living at with russian nationals. at least seven with people connected to the kremlin and fake personas set up by russia. on july 6th, julian assange tells he's online personas who have the hacked material that he wants them to send him anything hillary-related because the

democratic national convention is approaching and she will solidify bernie supporters behind her after. days later, july 14th when the rnc is starting and the convention has not yet started. on july 14th, julian assange meets for more than four hours at the ecuadorian embassy with high end german hackers. one is described in the mueller report as someone who may have assisted with the transfer of the stolen documents to wikileaks. he meets for four hours with these high end german hackers and the russians send assange encrypted files that are labeled big archive. four days after that, july 18th, a security guard abandoned his post to receive a package outside the embassy from a man in disguise. the man covered his face with a mask and sunglasses. according to cnn, the security company saw this unfold on

surveillance and recommended that the guard be replaced, but the ecuadorian government kept him on the job. that same day, wikileaks gets back in touch with the russians and tells them thanks, we got the files. thank you very much. four days after that, wikileaks releases more than 20,000 internal files from the democratic party which of course were timed and designed to cause maximum disruption to clinton's nomination and supporterings and people who supported bernie sanders and upended that convention with the first release in july. september 15th, the russians reached back out to julian assange and wikileaks to say hey, we got more stuff. we got more material that might hurt clinton. they told julian assange, you won't be disappointed, i promise. four days after that, the same high end german hacker named in the mueller report comes back to the embassy to meet with julian

assange that day and the security firm said they observed julian assange installing new computer cables in his room. that date, september 19th is singled out in the mueller report as the day the russians sent the e-mails they hacked from clinton's campaign chairman, john podesta. october 7th, julian assange and wikileaks start releasing the e-mails on the day of the "access hollywood" tape which threatened to end the trump campaign and the day the u.s. government named russia for the hack of the dnc and messing with the election. within a week of that, the government told ecuador whatever is going on with julian assange and your embassy, it's time to stop. in response, this is october, 2016, right before the election. ecuador cuts off assange's internet access. days later on october 18th, they

clear everything out by 1:00 a.m. two personnel arrived and started removing and a large box containing about 100 hard drives. we know this because cnn got the surveillance footage from one of the three security firms. ecuador hired to surveil their embassy while julian assange was living there, apparently running this prorussia campaign to elect trump. >> it's remarkable stuff. it's not clear if robert mueller and his team had access to this exact footage and the security logs from julian assange's time at the embassy and the stuff cnn is reporting on tonight. in the wikileaks section, there is a fair number of redactions. a lot of these redactions are described as there because they would otherwise give away investigative methods. on a day when the president is

posting up his reelection campaign to run on the fuel of maximum racial division, it is just a remarkable thing to take the wide lens. to have these be the other ambient things you need to know right now about his presidency on this day. on this day. yet another criminal trial starting for someone on the transition campaign allegedly a secret foreign agent working with the national security adviser at the time who pled guilty to lying to the fbi about secret communications with the russians. and on the same day, this new open source reporting puts in the missing pieces of not just that russia trying to help elect trump and why russia tried to elect trump, but the nuts and bolts of how they did it from the clandestine meetings and data disguises and the footage.

in general in life, it's a good idea to keep things in perspective as much as you can. how do you keep this all in perspective? how high up do you need to get in elevation before you can look down at this news cycle alone and say yeah, this is fine. we can handle this. just a remarkable day in the news. congresswoman ilhan omar is here with us next. n omar is here with us next on a full line of vehicles. now, at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. lease the 2019 es 350 for $379 a month, for 36 months, and we'll make your first month's payment. experience amazing. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, hmm. exactly. so you only pay for what you need. nice. but, uh... what's up with your... partner? not again. limu that's your reflection. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ prpharmacist recommendedne memory support brand.

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he is if nothing else, predictable. we what we are focused on are the hateful policies. >> we're cannot allow these hateful actions by the president to distract us from the critical work to hold this administration accountable. >> weak minds and leaders challenge loyalty to our country in order to avoid challenging and debating the policy. >> it is time for us to stop allowing this president to make a mockery out of our constitution. it's time for us to impeach this

president. >> there is no playbook for how you are supposed to respond to a serving american president launching an explicitly racist go back to where you came from campaign of vitriol for his own political gain. how do you look up what do do in case of this. there is no right way to respond. four young members of congress are writing that playbook. today they held a joint four-way press conference to respond to the president's attacks over the weekend and today's follow-up performance on the white house south lawn which was an extended by the president in which he accused these members of hai s the united states and loving al qaeda. that would be al qaeda spelled alcaida because who does not need a phonetic reminder of how

to say that organization? despite the president calling on the four members to return to their broken crime infested countries, all four of the members targeted by the president's racist attacks are of course americans. they are all u.s. citizens. only one of the four was not born in this country. ilhan omar fled from war-torn somalia and became a citizen as a teenager and now a duly elected member of congress from minnesota. she responded to the president on twitter calling him the most corrupt and inept president we have ever seen and accused him of sfoek white nationalism because he is angxietgry to peo like us a. the very diversity in the heritage of religious freedom has inspired. this afternoon congresswoman omar added to her critique.

>> this is the agenda of white nationalists. whether it is happening in chat rooms or it's happening on national tv and now it's reached the white house garden. he would love nothing more than to divide our country based on race, religion, gender, orientation, or immigration status. because this is the only way he knows he can prevent the solidarity of us working together across all of our differences. >> the president's comments and most recent attacks are an attempt to distract from his policies or just provide a spine in which all the bones of the rest of his reelection campaign are due to hang. democratic leaders in the house announced they will vote on a resolution condemning the racist attacks and that vote could come

as soon as tomorrow. congresswoman omar and her colleagues are bearing the brunt and trying to show the country the proper response. what do you when the leader of your country starts an explicitly racist attack against you? what do you show in terms of your own leadership as an elected leader in response to help the country not be as hurt as it could be. they are working this out right now. speaking for themselves on their own terms and not seating an inch. no congresswoman, i know there are a lot of demands on your time. thanks for being here. >> great to be here with you, rachel. thank you for having me. >> there is obviously no playbook for how to respond to racist attacks from a sitting president. how have you gone about formulating your response, figuring out the rye wight way

absorb the attacks from the president and to talk to the country in the way you have since this started? >> look, many of us as i said today when we are brown and black in this country have been subjected to the old racist trope of go back to where you came from. whether it happens at a school playground or inside the hallway or someone shouting at you in the street. many of us have had our responses. and now today and yesterday we had to figure out how to respond to it coming from the president of the united states. we were reminded, something that my 7-year-old says, does he know he is the president of the united states? we had to make sure to let him know that here in this country, we see everyone, we welcome everyone, and we remind everyone

that they are valued. we are not going to allow him to continue his throwing of the pile of garbage that comes out of his mouth that allows for the media to be distracted truly from delivering the kind of inside investigation into the lawlessness that is of his administration. the constant human rights violations and the policies that are detrimental to our existence in this country and the harm that he is causing on a daily basis to our constitution and the existence of our country. >> as the president has singled out you and your colleagues in the house, obviously that's put an incredibly hot spotlight on you. as you are saying, that critique that this is an effort to distract by the president and for him to create a narrative that he likes. he's doing this obviously on purpose and he knows how people

will respond to the sores of attacks. i wonder how you think that in terms of balance. obviously you have a platform because you are looked to for a response to the attacks from the president that is of his making, but also you get to speak on your own terms once you get that. how do you avoid helping him do his work as distracting from the kinds of things you just described? >> we get an opportunity to call him out and we get an opportunity to really talk about what the direction for this country should look like. this is a president who believes it is okay for him to think that people who say something that will move this country forward should be deported. he's called on us to go back and fight corruption and fight these

countries that have worse leaders and inept leaders. we are living in one. he is that president. he is corrupt. he is the worst president we have had. we is inept and we are going to call him out for it. we are going to hold him accountab accountable. we are going to talk about the policies that he is creating that we think are setting our country back and we are going to make sure that not only do we resist him, but insist on furthering policies that are going to guarantee health care for people and provide the proper education they need that is going to make sure they are not forever shackled with student debt and provide the kind of housing that is proper and take care of our veterans and disabled and most vulnerable and our children and elderly and make sure that we are moving the agenda we were sent to move here

in congress. >> today in your remarks with your colleagues, you and congresswoman tlaib called for impeachment to start against the president. is that for the conduct laid out in the mueller report or other scandal ridden behavior or are you suggesting that he ought to be impeached for the attacks he levied against you and your colleagues. >> we are suggesting he committed high crimes and misdemeanors and it's about time we start the process and impeach this president. as ayanna said, he is an do you want and does not rise to the level of what we expect our president to and it's time for us to make sure that the united states has a president they can be proud of, someone who understands the responsibility of a president and someone who carries it out. look, we have a president that truly believes that if you say something that he doesn't agree with that you should no longer have the opportunity to exercise

your first amendment rights. this is a president who himself said our country and its leaders are dumb. this is a president who said the state of new hampshire is a drug infested den. this is a president who speaks about how dirty our streets are and how inept we are as a nation. doesn't really offer any solution in dealing with that. he abdicates his responsibility in trying to set the course on what makes our country live up to its ideals. here we are as members of congress doing the work that will get us the country we all deserve, one that is truly functioning for all of us, that sees and values every single person in it and one that is making sure that our shiny and wonderful constitution is fully

intact and the protections offered is enjoyed by all of us. >> congresswoman ilhan omar from minnesota, thank you for your time. i'm sure the last few days have been incredibly stressful. you taking time to talk us to is an honor. >> thank you. >> much more ahead. stay with us. >> thank you >> much more ahead stay with us ♪ that a speaker is just a speaker. ♪ or - that the journey can't be the destination. most people haven't driven a lincoln. discover the lincoln approach to craftsmanship at the lincoln summer invitation. right now, get 0% apr on all 2019 lincoln vehicles plus no payments for up to 90 days. only at your lincoln dealer. [ text notification fnow that you have] new dr. scholl's massaging gel advanced insoles with softer, bouncier gel waves, you'll move over 10% more than before.

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>> i don't want to rip families apart. i don't want to be sending parents away from children. i don't want to see the

deportation force that donald has talked about in action in our country. he said as recently as a few weeks ago in phoenix that every undocumented person would be subject to deportation. here's what that means. you would have to have a massive law enforcement presence where law enforcement officers would be going school to school, home to home, business to business, rounding up people who are undocumented. >> don't say you weren't warned. when donald trump started talking about unleashing some sort of deportation force, his opponent, hillary clinton spelled out what that would look like. he is trying to do the very thing hillary clinton warned us about that would tear apart the country. he said he has already done this. trump talks up success of raids despite little evidence of deportation. like saying the wall is already

built and almost done. who is going to check them and why believe the fact checkers anyway? fake news. amid the smoke and mirrors to stoke the president politically. amid all of that, the trump administration attempted something real and there is a reason why one of the most accomplished opponents in the courts said this one is going to backfire badly on trump. that very interesting story is next. stay with us. that very interests next stay with us -their béarnaise sauce here is the best in town. [ soft piano music playing ] mm, uh, what do you do for fun? -not this. ♪ -oh, what am i into? mostly progressive's name your price tool.

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it's one of the things that gets asked all the time in presidential politics. what would you do on day one in the oval office. this answer felt novel. >> i made an announcement yesterday and that is, did anyone out there who is working in this system understand, you abuse immigrants, you physically abuse immigrants,y sexually abuse immigrants and you fail to get the medical care that they need, you break the law of the united states of america and

donald trump may be willing to look the other way, but president elizabeth warren will not! [ applause ] on my first day, i will empower a commission in the department of justice to investigate crimes committed by the united states against immigrants. puz plauz know this now. >> know this now. democratic candidate elizabeth warren this weekend in net roots nation promising to prosecute government official who is abused or denied medical care to immigrants in their custody. you can hear from that clip the wave of applause in the room when she said it. reporters who were there for that speech said she got a

standing ovation for making that day one promise, although we don't have a shot of it. the president of course is running for reelection on his hard line immigration policies, the same policies that are creating the conditions senator warren is responding to. immigrants being held indefinitely with noerp to nowhere to sleep or bathe and being taken away from their parents and a 15-year-old girl was sexually assaulted and reported it and the administration did nothing until we inquired about it. they are essentially cancelling asylum law in this country. blocking people from requesting asylum in the united states. the policy was announced and slated to go into effect tomorrow. immigrant rights groups are promising there is no way this will ever make it out of a courtroom. joining us to help us understand, the deputy director

of the aclu immigrants right projects. you can explain in basic terms, what it is they are trying to do and how to stop it. >> you nailed it. they are cancelling asylum and it would end asylum at the southern border. if you have come through any other country, any other country, you can't apply for asylum. only mexicans will be allowed to apply and i'm sure he will do something to stop mexicans for applying. we will go to court and stop it. what everyone should be clear about, this is not just a fight between immigrants or the courts of the administration. this is a fight between congress and the administration. congress made it absolutely clear that it doesn't matter thaw came through another country. you have the right to receive asylum. the administration is not happy about it, but congress has not changed the law and they are unilaterally rewriting the laws and we will be in court the same

way we got the blocked. this was more extreme and we hope to get it blocked as well. >> is this the thing where conservatives and activists on the right have been trying to exploit bwiggle room or this isa desire to shut down asylum or is this novel? >> there have been people who tried to tweak asylum, but not in this way. this would end asylum. people need to understand it's so incompatible with the values. after world war ii, the nations of the world said never again are we not going to provide protection for those fleeing persecution. they want to enact laws to comply. right now it's central american who is are desperate for a safe haven, but other groups in the past. it's important that people not say we don't care about asylum. if they ask their grandparents

or great grandparents, they will see that other groups needed asylum. if we eliminate it for central americans, it's eliminated for everyone. >> i know you were back in court on the family separation issue on friday. were you and your colleagues attesting to the fact that the trump administration is still taking kids away from their parents now. >> uh-huh. >> obviously there is national concern about this and this is an open moral wound in the country. i think that there is a lot of ambiguity or people don't have a clear sense of whether or not the policy exists. >> you are absolutely right and people assume well, this is over. that was a year ago. it's not. the challenge for us is to make it clear it's not over and tell people what's going on so we have the moral outrage like last summer. we have found out there have been hundreds and hundreds of separations since the injunction on the pretext that the parent

is a dshlg to the child. when we found out the reasons, we are looking at the lists. sometimes not even convictions. little babies and toddlers being taken away that your parent may be a danger because of the traffic violation that occurred. we will talk to the government one more time and we got nowhere with them on this and we are going back to court and telling the judge what's going on and they are doing an end run around the injunction and we need the outcry to say enough is enough again. >> i feel like that outcry is there. i feel like at this point the concern over the conditions in particular is driving it, but the fact that kids are being taken away, the outrage is palpable. >> the immigrants rights project. stay with us. ris ghts project. stay with us beep goes off ]

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for the last few weeks we have been covering the trump administration's efforts to dismantle the science for usda's agriculture department. it's part of the government with the most consequential and practical research is done. we have been covering the assault for weeks, but right now tonight is coming to a head. by midnight tonight, they have to inform bosses whether they will accept a forced transfer 1,000 miles away in d.c. or if

they don't want to do that, they can take door number two. be fired. up to 80, 90, or 100% of the scientists up for division are expected to quit instead of going through the transfer, meeting the trump administration really is about to decimate the ranks of one of the premier taxpayer funded institutions. the crime the scientists committed is research produced findings that the administration doesn't like. like analysis showing that the republican tax law doesn't help average farmers and the trade policies are killing them. ahead of tonight's deadline, the administration responded to the demands of usda employees saying they are not moving an inch. the scientists asked, for example, that employees with hardship exemptions including disabilities and certain family circumstances asked that those employees in particular be allowed to plead their case as to why it's necessary that they

stay in d.c. this was the agent's response. the union's proposal is an infringement on management rights to assign work. so no. you have a disability, you have a family member and something, we don't want to hear it. we have been told by one employee that the administration has not yet set a date to start bargaining or start talking about this stuff. that likely means that tonight at midnight, the trump administration is prepared to fire hundreds of the nation's most gifted scientists. all in one fell swoop. ts all in one fell swoop.

>> that's going do it for us. thanks for being with us. time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. >> a poll comes out showing the president is behind the top four democratic presidential candidates. it looks like donald trump really wants to talk about anything other than that or defending any of the policies that have left him running behind the leaders in the democratic race. that might have something to do with what we saw today. >> any of the