relevant here, people, for sure. >> a warning from james carville, to take us off the air tonight. that is our broadcast for this friday night. thank you for being here with us. and here's the part where i would normally bring the night shift to a close and wish you goodnight from nbc headquarters in new york. tonight, though, i have the pleasure of saying, the rachel maddow show begins right know. my friend, rachel, good evening. >> it's both so nice and so weird. >> oh, tell me about it. i called rick wilson rick warren, i'm so off my game. i'm in the wrong studio, the wrong time slot. i'm so happy to turn it over to you. i'll see you tuesday in new hampshire. the evening is yours. >> thank you. and thanks to you at home on joining us this hour on what has been a remarkable day and night of news. this night, the president is apparently taking his revenge. lieutenant colonel alexander vindman who testified in the

impeachment inquiry into donald trump was marched off the white house grounds, oddly, as was his twin brother, one who had nothing to do with the impeachment inquiry. he did apparently commit the crime of being born a few seconds after alexander vinldman as his twin brother, apparently that is enough. within hours of them being marched off the white house grounds, there was word that gordon sondland was also fired. sondland gave incredibly damaging testimony about the president's behavior during the impeachment inquiry. as of tonight, he has suddenly been recalled from his post. his lawyer, robert luskin says he was not just reassigned, he was summarily fired. and we don't know if this is the

full list tonight or if there are more long knives out for people who testified in the impeachment inquiry or are related to that scandal or literally are famill lally related. what feels like a historical parallel to nixon at the heart of the of watergate crisis, i don't think it's unfair to say this is a modern day saturday night massacre e th. that was in october 1973 when nixon decided to fire the water gate counsel. it's not just because he fired archibald cox. we call it the saturday night massacre because when nixon ordered the firing of archibald cox out of anger and rage at the watergate scandal, when he ordered that firing, there were resignations at the justice

department in officials who felt they couldn't in good conscious carry out that order. elliot richardson resigned rather than carry out nixon's order to fire archibald cox. when richardson resigned then the deputy attorney general became the acting attorney general. he, too, resigned rather than carry out the president's order to fire archibald cox. so it fell to the number three, the solicitor general, robert bork. only bork was willing to do it. those officials standing up, saying i will not do that, you will have my resignation instead, that's what we remember from the watergate scandal as the saturday night massacre. that is not what is happening here. because there is, as yet, no elliot richardson in this story.

there is no bill ruckleshouse. and there have been protest resignations in the trump administration. including over the handling of the ukraine scandal. in early october, a 40-year veteran, serving at the highest levels of the say the department, michael mckinley, resigned his position in part over the pressure it that the trump administration was putting on ukraine to try to get that government to help president trump in his reelection bid but also because of how secretary of state mike pompeo and the administration more broadly had thrown to the wolves, totally abandoned career, non-partisan state department personnel who had been caught up in the impeachment inquiry because of their jobs and who were therefore bearing the wrath of the president and conservative media and the president's supporters because of it. michael mckinley resigned in early october as the impeachment inquiry was getting under way in the ukraine scandal. he later testified behind closed

doors, saying, quote, the timing of my resignation was the result of two overriding concerns. what appears to be the utilization of our ambassadors overseas to advance domestic political objectives and the failure, in my view, of the state department to offer support to foreign service employees caught up in the impeachment inquiry on ukraine. he said since i began my career in 1982, i have served my country and every president loyally. under current circumstances, however, i could no longer look the other way, as colleagues were denied the professional support and respect that they deserve from us all. and thus, michael mckinley resigned in protest of the administration and in protest of the actions of secretary of state mike pompeo, specifically, him abandoning state department employees and not lifting a finger tore prese protect them

lives were in some cases destroyed. they had witnessed something relevant to the inquiry, and they had responded and testified truthfully about it when called to do so and subpoenaed to do so. mckinley resigned. and mckinley is not the only one. there have been other protest resignations of other high-level trump appointees. james mattis resigned when he felt that the president made an unconscionable and irresponsible decision about syria. he was followed out the door by brett mcgirk who was leading the u.s. effort against isis in iraq and syria at the time. this past november it was the navy serk navy secretary richard spencer when the president messed with criminal cases that he wanted to turn to his political advantage. navy secretary richard spencer's resignation statement was rip

roaring. he said, quote, the rule of law is what sets us apart from our adversaries. good order and discipline is what has enabled our victory against foreign tyranny time and ti time again. i no longer share the same understanding that the commander in chief who appointed me e i cannot in good conscience obey an order that i believe violates the sacred oath i took in the presence of my family, my flag and my faith to support and defend the constitution of the united states. richard spencer resigned as secretary of the navy on november 24th. remarkably, today, he became the first trump appointee to endorse one of president trump's opponents for the november election. we'll have more on that a little later on. but there have been principled,

high-leveled resignations from the trump administration, there have been a pew. because we know the president does not like to fire anyone directly, he likes to have other people do that for him, we can surmise, based on that past practice that there are probably other people in the chain of command who were called upon today and tonight to start firing the witnesses who testified against president trump in the impeachment inquiry. so far, whoever those people are, they appear to be carrying out those orders and not resigning in protest. we haven't seen any resignations, at least that we know of. that's notable. not only because history is sort of focussed intently on our behavior as a country right now i truly believe, but also because at least within the military, when it comes to the specific case of lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, we have had some very pious assertions from the people who would be in an elliott

richardson, bill rucklehouse sort of role in this firing. but of course they would never let anything like this happen. of course they would never let anything like what happened tonight, of course they with wou would never let that happen. you might remember that the army moved in, prepared to move his it family to a secret location. they developed a special security detail for him and his family to keep them safe in the face of an incredible number of threats against him and his family. after he was demonized by not just the white house, but by the conservative media and by the president's supporters in congress and around the country. at the time, mark esper was asked about colonel vindman during a gaggle with reporters. a reporter with defense one posted online the full transcript of that exchange, and it is worth looking at tonight. tonight of all nights, it is worth getting this reupped in

the public record. you should see this. here's question. to defense secretary mark esper. question, alexander vindman is in the news. remember, this is from november. this is the time that alexander vindman is becoming national news. question, alexander vindman is in the news. a lot of service members are going to be wondering, is his career toast after testifying? answer from mark esper. the department of defense has protections for whistle-blowers. he should not have any fear of retaliation. question, he mean being vindman? answer, he and any other whistle-blower, all right? question, are you going to reenforce that message period i answer i've already spoken to the secretary ever army about that. question, what was his answer. answer. no retaliation.

there's the law, but there's also ways to screw somebody. there's no retaliation, it's that simple. mark esper personally guaranteeing that there would be no retaliation against alexander vindman for him testifying in the impeachment inquiry. but also no other way to, in the reporter's words, quote, screw him as revenge for him testifying. and there's guarantee, right? no. there's no retaliation. it's that simple. he shouldn't have any fear of retaliation. no retaliation. that's the law. so says defense secretary mark esper, november. shortly thereafter, the top democrat in the senate, chuck schumer wrote to esper asking for him in writing to confirm that colonel vindman

would be presented. took the defense department almost a full month to write him back. when they did, the letter this time didn't come from defense secretary mark esper. it came from the deputy secretary of defense, a man named david nor quist. remember grover nor quist who famously said he wanted to get government down to the size where he could drown it in a bath snub bathtub? he has a little brother. and that's who sent this letter back to cluhuck schumer when schumer inquired whether esper would protect vindman for his testimony. here's what was written. dear senator schumer. thank you for your letter regarding recent testimony by alexander vindman. i'm replying on secretary yes

sp esper's behalf. we're committed to taking whatever steps are necessary to ensure the security of colonel vindman and ms. cooper. we continue to monitor their security situation. again, please know we take our responsibility to protect our people very seriously. appreciate your continued support of the men and well of the defense department and will keep you apprised of any development as appropriate. let me assure you the department will not tolerate any act of retaliation or reprisal against him. we will keep you apprised of any developments as appropriate. no word as to whether or not david nord quist kept the leader apprised over the last 24 hours when reports surpassed that president trump was planning to take revenge for vindman's

testimony. bloomberg news was first to report that he might be planning to take revepg. secretary esper was asked at a press conference today, despite his earlier assurances, his earlier pious guarantee that he wouldn't allow any retaliation against vindman whatsoever, despite him saying that himself in november and the deputy saying that on his behalf in december, today mark esper was not exactly a profile in courage when he was asked about that matter in light of bloomberg news' report that vindman might be in the president's cross hairs. >> i would refer you to the army for any more detail on that, and, as i said, we protect all of our persons, service members from retribution or anything, anything like that, so. we've already addressed that in policy and other means. >> we protect all of our service

members from retribution from anything, or anything like that. so, it was less than four hours later that lieutenant colonel alexander vindman was not only fired from his white house job but marched off the white house grounds, as was his brother. what exactly did his brother do, who had no role whatsoever in the impeachment inquiry? well, he's alex vinldman's brother. and maybe that's enough. >> i am humbled to come before you today as one of many who serve in the most distinguished military in the world. for the last 20 year, it has been an honor to represent and protect this great country. next the month will mark four yea years since my family arrived as refugees. when my father was 47 years old he left behind his enit titire

to the united states so his three sons could have better and safer lives. it inspired deep gratitude in my brothers and myself and instilled a sense of duty and service. all three of us have served or are currently serving in the military. my little brother sits behind me here today. our collective military service is a special part of our family's history story in america. i also recognize that my simple act of appearing here today, just like the courage of my colleagues who have also truthplely testified before this committee would not be tolerated in many places around the world. in russia, hmy act of expressin concern to the chain of command would have severe personal, professional repercussions and offering public testimony involving the president would surely cost me my life. i'm grateful to my father, for my father's brave act of hope 40 years ago and for the privilege

of be being ing an american cit where i can live free of fear for mine and my family's safety. dad, i'm sitting here today in the u.s. capitol, talking to our elected professionals, talking to our elected professionals is proof it that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the soviet union and come here to the united states of america in search of a better life for our family. do not worry. i will be fine for telling the truth. thank you again for your consideration. i'll be happy it to answer your questions. >> colonel vindman did in fact have his life threatened for giving testimony involving the president in the impeachment inquiry. that's why the army prepared at one point to move him and his family to a secret location and provided them ongoing security in the wake of hit testimony in the face of threats. now as of tonight he and his brother have both been fired from their white house jobs as active duty military officers. in what is clear retaliation for

him having testified during the impeachment proceedings. the fate of the witnesses who testified in the impeachment inquiry and other officials who were involved and know what happened is a pretty daunting list at this point in terms of where are they now. kurt volker, he resigned right before his impeachment testimony. not only is he out of a job, but the u.s. no longer has an envoy to ukraine at all. they got rid of the whole job. fiona hill left her job as the top russia official at the national security. her successor, tim morrison quit that job literally the night before he testified in the impeachment inquiry. rick perry quit his job as a cabinet official as soon as the scandal became public. national security adviser john bolton either quit or was fired. just as the held up military aid

was released. we still don't know the full story of john bolton. but the president is reportedly trying to block his book from being published. and the president is exploring the possibility of ginning up some criminal prosecution against bolton. marie yvanovich, she retired all together. the thele veteran ambassador, bill taylor was suddenly removed from his post in ukraine in the middle of the investigation and has returned to retirement. >> even jennifer williams who worked in mike pence's office and testified about his role, she's now gone from the white house, departing in the middle of the impeachment trial and going to work at centcom

insteainstea instead. alexander vindman and his brother were frog walked out of the white house. anybody else want to speak up? anybody else want to testify truthfully under oath as to what they saw or what they know? on october 20th, 1973, richard nixon did succeed in firing the watergate special counsel. but the reason we remember that as the saturday night massacre is because high-ranking presidential appointees in the chain of command who were told to carry out the president's orders said no. they said they wouldn't do it, and they resigned themselves on principle instead. and so, instead of one man being killed off that night, one man who was an aggravation to the president, which was an act that nixon knew would create some

blow back but nothing he figured he couldn't handle, instead of that, instead of him skipping some little rock across the pond, with those principled res resignations, nixon set off a depth charge. this time, who will stand up and do the same? anyone? same? anyone we present limu emu & doug with this key to the city. [ applause ] it's an honor to tell you that liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. and now we need to get back to work. [ applause and band playing ] only pay for what you need.

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this courageous decision inspired a deep sense of gratitude in my brother and myself and instilled in us a sense of duty and service. all three of us have served or are currently serving in the military. my little brother sits behind me here today. our collective military service is a special part of our family's history story in america. i also recognize that my simple act of appearing here today, just like the courage of my colleagues who have also truthfully testified before this committee would not be tolerated

in many places around the world. in russia, my act of expressing concern to the chain of command in an official and private channel would have severe, personal and professional repercussions. >> yeah, in russia it certainly would. after lieutenant colonel vindman was fired and marched off the white house grounds today, his laur lawyer released a statement. it said today lieutenant colonel alexander vimdman was escorted out of the white house. there's no question in the mind of any american why this man's job is over. lieutenant colonel vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth. he came into the public eye only when subpoenaed to testify before congress and did what the law demanded. in recent months, many entrusted with power have cowered out of fear, and yet a handful of men and women equipped only with the

sense of right made different choices. they courageously chose to honor their duty. to put their faith in country ahead of fear, and they have paid a price. the truth has cost lieutenant colonel alexander vindman his job, his career and his privacy. he did what any member of our military is charged with doing every day. he followed orders. he obeyed his oath and served his country, even when doing so was fraught with danger and personal peril. if we allow truthful voices to be silenced, if we ignore their warnings, eventually, there will be no one left to warn us. congressman seth molten of massachusetts was serving as a u.s. marine in iraq in the year

2004, which is the same year that colonel vindman was there and the same year he was awarded the purple heart when he was wounded by an ied. he said, lieutenant colonel vindman is a pay the rot atriot piprofile in courage. joining us now live is congressman seth moulton of massachusetts. >> it's great to be back, rachel. >> let's get your response. i've seen a little wbit of it. i'm not sure this is a surprise. there were a lot of people who said they'd make sure this would not happen and it has nevertheless happened tonight. >> you know you pointed out that donald trump has the most powerful position in the world, but he's not a powerful person. he's a weak person, and he's

someone who can't handle the truth. and that's very clear throughout his administration. he's trying to create a cult where the only requirement to be part of his administration, now frankly part of the republican party is loyalty to donald trump. and the reason why this is dangerous is because it puts, it puts lives at risk. the reason why their is is dangs is because it was back in the george w. bush administration when people did not have the courage to question colin powell at the u.n., people did not have the power to question george tenant when he came with this supposedly perfect intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in iraq and as a result, lieutenant colonel vindman and i went to iraq. we saw our friends wounded and killed, because people weren't willing to find the truth. and if you have an administration where there is no dissent, there are no conflicting opinions, there is not any interest in finding the

truth, there's only interest in doing what the president wants, then mistakes like iraq will happen again and americans will lose their lives. that's why the stakes are so high with what's going on tonight. >> let me ask you about the role of the defense department here. defense secretary mark esper publicly committed to protecting colonel vindman from any political retaliation. in his name, the deputy defense secretary even put that assurance in writing. what do you make of the defense department being mum tonight about the firing of colonel vindman, whoever had it to occasiony out these orders from the president and drag him off the white house grounds, nobody peeped in protest. >> when mark esper was appointed he came before the arms service committee, and we had a quiet meeting with him. i said mr. secretary, you've got big shoes to fill, following

james mattis. and you have to be willing to tell the truth. you have to be willing to stand up to this president when you disagree. that's the most important thing that general mattis did, and he assured me, esper did, that he would. but he's not doing that tonight. and he had to know what he was getting into. rachel, i have a few friends who served on the nsc. one of them left a great job in the army to come to the white house, because he said it was such an honor to be appointed to work in the white house even under this president who he had many disagreements with. when he got there, he said what v struck him most is everybody spent a lot of time talking about when they would resign. it was the most popular point of conversation, what is your red line. two weeks after he wasser that he called his father and said this feels like germany, 1939. >> wow. >> that's revealing here. and esper knows that.

i want to know what his red line is. when he's going to resign, when he's going to stand up for what's right over what's convenient for this president. >> congressman seth moulton of massachusetts. thanks for taking time to be with us, appreciate it, sir. >> we've got much more ahead. big night. much more ahead big night. makes things easy. traveling lighter. taking a shortcut. woooo! taking a breather. rewarded! learn more at the explorer card dot com.

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while the middle-class continues to struggle. that's what happens when billionaires are able to control the political system. our campaign is funded by the working people of this country, and those are the people that i will represent. no more tax breaks for billionaires. we are going to guarantee health care to all people and create up to 20 million good paying jobs to save this planet. i'm bernie sanders and i approve this message because we need an economy that works for all of us, not just wealthy campaign contributors. there is a document that sat in the u.s. senate throughout

the impeachment trial that we the public were never allowed to see. it was a piece of testimony submitted by jennifer williams who worked until this week in vice president mike pence's office. she submitted that testimony because she said it was pertinent to the impeachment investigation into what the house was asking her about. house impeachment managers agreed that that part of her testimony was pertinent to what they were investigating. but the white house decided to call that bit of her testimony classified. so senators were allowed to look at it, but they could only go look at it in a secure room, and the public couldn't know about it at all. turns out, a lot of senators who did go and look at that piece of testimony came out saying, why on earth is this classified? why can't we share this with the public? for example chris murphy of connecticut said there was absolutely nothing in that document that should have been classified. quote, it was only classified because it was politically hurtful to the president in the middle of the impeachment hearing. are you not allowed as president

of the united states to keep information from the public simply because it's going to hurt you publicly. so today, senator murphy asked the government accountability office to review whether the classification process is abused. so we'll see what the gao does with that. he's made a formal request to gao to look at it. but this worry that the white house may be misusing the power of classification to serve the president's personal interests, this is part of something that is becoming an increasingly apparent pattern right now. for one, it comes alongside increasingly urgent expressions of concern about something that appears to be going on at the nsa. the intelligence chairman, adam schiff told us this week on this show that as far as he can tell, there's something going wrong at nsa and potentially at the cia as well. in his words he said there were

bodies of intelligence that the nsa collected about ukraine and the ukraine scandal that his committee requested, because they believed it might be pertinent information to the president's impeachment trial, but the nsa withheld that material. he says, on orders from above. the intelligence committees have the right to see anything the intelligence community collects. that is material that the nsa is required to hand over to congress when they request it. but they are withholding it. and chairman schiff says it's on orders from the white house. that's a very big deal. senate democratic leader chuck schumer last night, expressing grave concerns about that in an interview on this show. the grave concerns and increasingly, sort of dire warnings about what this might mean in terms of the nsa, i think that's, i mean, they can't tell us what the information is, right, it's classified. in some cases in the first maple

they can't describe what it is. they can't be specific about what it is that's being withheld, but there's this freakout about the fact that the nsa may be withholding this stuchlt i thi stuff. the nsa is seen as an agency that has not been totally captured by president trump. and, you know, recently refurbished over these past three years to, instead, just promote the president's personal interests instead of doing what they're supposed to do as an agency. the nsa is still broadly viewed as an agency that is doing what it's supposed to do and not serving the president instead. if that changes, if the nsa, the national security administration of all agencies, becomes that, i mean, that's a particularly scary agency to be put to that kind of use. if the president is able to use the powers of the nsa just to serve himself, that's a whole different kind of country. now that's what's going on with

the nsa. i said this is part of an emerging pattern. i am less scared about the powers of the general service administration than i am about the powers of the nsa, but it does still fit the pattern. the general services is a landlord for federal properties across the usa. it is not quite as scary at world's largest surveillance system. but it does seem like with the gsa, there's another government agency that's being remade to serve president trump's personal interests. for example it didn't get a lot of attention this week because of the high drama in washington. but the head of the nsa testified about mr. trump's d.c. hotel, this is the property owned by the federal government and the president's company leases it. so the gsa is his landlord, which is awkward, because he's the head ever the federal government. but now that the trump organization is in the market to

sell their lease on that building, they want to sell it for like a half billion dollars. well, the landlord for the building, the actual loner owne the building, the gsa, is going to have to approve that sale. lawmakers asked the head of the gsa if she would rule out allowing president trump to sell that lease to a foreign entity, since that would clearly violate the constitution's prohibition on the president receiving payments from a foreign government. so they were asked, you would rule out him selling it to a foreign government. she would not rule it out. she would not rule out some foreign government around the world to give the president a half billion dollars. i don't see it as my role. she said she had no idea how much money the president has taken from foreign governments at his hotel right now. she says she has never asked. so of course she doesn't have that information.

so the president turning the powers of the presidency and the powers of the u.s. government to instead benefit himself, to benefit himself politically, to benefit his business, to put money in his own pocket, we are used to the president wanting to do that. that's no longer a threat in the abstract. that's called the news now. but the agencies of government, whether it's the gsa or the nsa or any of the other agencies who are being sort of implicated in stopping doing their real work for the american people and instead serving the president, agencies allowing themselves to be used in that way, that is starting to feel like the story of this part of the trump presidency. and importantly, the united states secret service putting itself in that role, that is the new scoop from the "washington post's" david fahrenthold who joins us next. stay with us. o joins us next. stay with us when i get my teeth cleaned, my hygienist doesn't use

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president trump takes lots and lots of days off, and he golfs a lot, and he goes to his own properties all the time. he spent a third of his presidency at one of his own private or for-profit properties. and we know there's public money expended at his own properties whenever he does that. so when david fahrenthold dropped this scoop today, that president trump charges his own secret service agents as much as $650 a night per room at his own properties, that he's charged the secret service $17,000 a month for a cot atage on one of his properties, that the trump administration has lied about these charges, saying publicly that they're actually charging the secret service nothing or almost nothing to stay on their properties when they're in fact charging them what appears to be the rack rate. all that reporting, i mean that is quite a scoop. but it's the kind of scoop that isn't necessarily surprising, given how we know the president

likes to better his own cup at taxpayer expense. here's the part of david fahrenthold's latest scoop that knocks me back a little bit. quote, trump's company says it charges only minimal fees. but secret service records do not show that. the secret service is required to tell congress twice a year about what it spends to protect trump at his properties, but since 2016 it has only filed two of the such reports. even in those two reports, the lines for bedminster and mar-a-lago were blank. donald trump sticking his hand in the public till this way, right? donald trump trying to get taxpayer money for himself this way, monetizing the presidency. got it. we're kind of used to that by now. trump's company lying about that? got it! it's a day that ends in y. but the secret service helping cover that up, that feels like something about us, not them. that feels unsettling.

for the record, the secret service tells us in a statement, it balances operational security with judicious allegation ocati resources. good to know. the president's business is not just lying about this. they have tried to turn that lie into a political asset. they are publicly telling the country that they are charging the secret service nothing or next to nothing to stay at all these properties. that is a lie, and frankly, i'm not surprised by them lying. but according to this new reporting from david fahrenthold e t fahrenthold, the secret service is helping perpetuate that lie. it's another thing for you to be a government agency that is allowing yourself to be used for a corrupt purpose and helping cover it up. joining us now is david fahrenthold with the "washington post." he and his colleagues broke this

story today. thank you for being here. really appreciate it. >> great to be here. >> so this, i basically tweeted your entire story line by lane today, just getting more and more upset as i work through all the patieragraphs. i apologize for that. but let me ask about the reporting process. how you were able to put the pieces of the puzzle together, given that the secret service hasn't been reporting this information in public databases. >> it began last year with doral, when president trump said he was going to put the entire g-7 summit at doral and put all that money into his pocket. it made us realize, he's willing to do that. that doesn't bother him at all. what's he been doing all along that we haven't noticed. what is there about the secret service? they go to his properties all the time. what's he charging them. and the only thing we could find was the first six months of 2017

and it showed two things. one, a lot of money, $250,000 in spending in six months, but almost no details. the details they released made it impossible to know whether these are reasonable rates or not. you look at that and go, this is something we ought to know. this is the president's business getting money from the government. how do we know so little. so we started to dig in and go looking for other information about the same topic. >> when you asked the secret service about skipping these mandated updates that they're supposed to file, i guess, twice yearly, explaining the type of spending they do at these facilities, what was their explanation for why they haven't opinion fili been filing these mandated reports. >> their explanation was sometime in 2016, the people who knew about these reports or how to do them left and they forgot and didn't realize they weren't doing it until the beginning of

2019 until the government accountability office did a report on mar-a-lago. the lines are blank. they tell you how much they spent on don jr.'s hunting cabin, eric trump's weekend house. they say they don't spend a dollar on bedminster and mar-a-lago, which is not credible. we haven't figured out why they're leafi they're leaving those lines blank. >> their is is a big picture, t president appearing to monetize the presidency to put public taxpayer money in his own pocket. the records don't exist. but it is also the story of a government agency allowing itself to be used for this purpose and not telling the public what's going on. in terms of oversight of the secret service are they subject to foia requests? are they subject to congressional oversight in a way that should make them have to

answer for what they've done here and also fill in the blanks? >> they are subject to foia requests. that's the little we know has come from foia requests. more specifically, people putting in foia requests, being denied and suing the secret service to get records they should have got anyway. so the little we know comes from these non-profit groups suing the secret service to get public records. congress has asked for more detail, but fthey really haven' gotten it. we wrote a story about how they've asked for more detail and the secret service says, yeah, we'll give it to you after the 2020 election. >> congratulations on this reporting, you and your colleagues, david, thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> all right, we'll be right back. >> thank you >> all right, we'll be right back cut. liberty mu... line? cut. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance

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i menlsed at the of the show that we have a first today, something weigh ha have yet to . richard spencer who quit his job in protest in november. today he became the first trump political appointee to endorse one of the president's political opponents in the election. he announced support for former new york city mayor mike bloomberg. he explained his logic. >> when i took this job, i came in as a grown-up. every morning i put my resignation paper in my pocket so you could speak truth. and to be frank with you, what

happened happened. i took my stand, the president took his. this decision here is for the good of the country. >> does this decision mean? >> to endorse mike bloomberg. >> not endorsing the incumbent is one thing, but he is the first trump appointee to explicitly endorse somebody from the other party whom he wants to beat trump. he resigned from the navy in protest. now this. richard spencer, writing his name in history. more ahead, stay with us. n hist. more ahead, stay with us (vo) parents have a way of imagining the worst...

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sorry! he's a baby! a normal week takes a long time to get to a friday. this week took 47 it. that does it for us. i'll see you on monday. ♪ good evening from manchester, new hampshire. i'm chris hayes. we just saw the final democratic debate before this state hosts the first primary of the 2020 presidential election. we've already heard from our audience of undecided new hampshire voters. we're going to hear from candidates from the spin room. if you're just joining us, the other democrats came out against the south bend mayor. >> i think going after every single thing do because