so trump savaged his dad and family name, his grand father, the president, his uncle the president. no big deal. at least he's got donald trump's endorsement. that is our broadcast for this thursday >> president trump's postmaster general, louis dejoy, who has been trying to dismantle and sabotage the u.s. post office for more than a year now since he has been running it, today we learned that louis is dejoy under in fbi investigation. for allegedly criminal donation scheme he ran out of his business for years. before he got the post office gig during the trump administration. we have reported on the alleged scheme extensively here on the show. in part because it is really

reminiscent of the thing that nixon's vice president, spirit new did, which got him indicted and thrown out of office as vice president of the united states. louis dejoy is still postmaster general today. but we did learn today that he is under criminal investigation. we're going to speak with the reporter who helped break that story in just a few minutes. before we get to that big news tonight though, i want to take a second to circle back to update you on a story that we first covered a few months ago. a story about the great state of missouri. it was a story centered on this republican elected official. her name is patricia derges. she went to medical school in the korean. when she came back to the united states after she graduated from that school, she was not accepted to a medical residency program. so, the consequence of that is that she is not a licensed physician in the state of missouri. she can't be. she was unqualified. because she is cousin get into

residency program. that just made it all the more surprising when she, not a doctor, publicly claimed to have made a medical discovery that could literally change the course of world history and saves tens of millions of lives. it was april of last year, this woman in missouri, patricia verges, claimed that she had discovered the cure for covid-19. again, this is april last year. we barely knew anything about covid-19. cases skyrocketing, thousands of americans dying. but she said she had the cure. and she made this announcement of this momentous world changing news on her facebook page, because sure, that makes sense. she wore role on facebook quote, this amazing treatment stands provide a potential care for covid-19 patients that is safe and natural. according to prosecutors, patricia derges marketed her fate cure for derges not only

on facebook, but also local tv shows and radio shows in missouri. she hawked it during informational seminars that she conducted. she described as a quote, stem cell shot. she said a cured not only covid-19,. she said it also basically cured everything. it could cure tissue damage, kidney disease, copd, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lyme disease. erectile dysfunction, sure why not. she said it could all be cured all at once with her magic shock. according to prosecutors, the concoction that was being marketed by this woman from a zuri not only was it not a cure for any of those diseases, it also contained zero of the magic ingredients she said did the curing. this thing she was calling a stem cell shot in fact contained zero stem cells. nevertheless, prosecutors say she got people to pay her

$200,000 all in all, four injections of her faith stem cell cure all, which didn't contain any stem cells. and did not cure anything. and i keep saying according to prosecutors, because patricia derges, of course, was indicted for selling her fake cure for covid-19. earlier this year, she was hit with 20 felony charges. not just for selling her fake cure for covid. but also for wire fraud and lying to investigators. also multiple counts of allegedly distributing opioids and other drugs without valid prescriptions. shocking. she has pled not guilty. but this is not just a medical scandal, snake oil quackery story. this is a political story as well. because patricia derges is currently right now, a sitting member of the missouri state legislature. she is a republican state representative. she was elected in november a last year. that is after she has started selling her fake covid cure.

but a before she was indicted for eight. but state representative representative patricia derges was first federally charged earlier this year. the house speaker in missouri, the republican house speaker asked her to resign her seat. patricia derges took that request into careful consideration and said, no thank you police. she emailed the house speaker to inform him that she would not be resigning. in that email she said quote, my attorney is excellent and has this handled. turns out the situation was not handled. since we last checked in on this story, federal federal prosecutors have unveiled more charges against patricia derges. this time in a superseding indictment they say she also defrauded the local government out of $300,000 in covid relief funds. prosecutors say she misled county officials into reimbursing her for given covid tests to patients in missouri. even though those patients had already paid her for those tests out of pocket.

>> she has pled not guilty to those charges as well. but like i said, patricia derges is still surfing as a republican state legislature legislator in the missouri state house. republicans did move off her from all her committee assignments. they also voted to expel her out of the house republican caucus. and i promise i'm not making this next part up. missouri republicans also took away her office. instead they assigned her to a windowless broom closet, in the state capital. i actually don't know what work she has to do since she's been stripped all of her committee assignments and any caucus related duties. but that's where her desk is now. it's in a broom closet. st. louis post dispatch called a patricia derges, i think to try to confirm that this wasn't some practical jerk joke. to confirm that a real life serving lawmaker was doing official state business we're

in a place where mops and brooms are stored. representative patricia derges confirmed the truth of that to the post dispatch. telling them quote, yes i'm in the closet. i'm okay with that. i'll make it work, because i'm here to support my district. if i have to live in a bathroom, i'm going to be here for them. i love to make lemonade out of lemons. lemonade out of lemonade lemons. also fake covid cures out of salt water or whatever. obviously the idea with a broom closet assignment as her office assignment was to try to make it uncomfortable enough for her to come to work, that she would eventually just quit. she won't quit. republicans in the state legislature could start proceedings to expel her from the missouri state legislature, apparently they are not interested in doing that. they are not doing that. so, she continues to serve. republicans did however, try one more thing. she still has a seat on the house floor, even though her office is in a broom closet.

they moved her seat on the house floor, so that when she is on the floor, she had to sit next to a another republican state representative who had also been expelled from the republican caucus. because the missouri house apparently has more than one of those folks at a time. this is the guy they put her next to on the house floor. his name is rick roper. he first ran for the missouri house as a republican last year. during the campaign, some truly heinous allegations surfaced concerning mr. roper. before the election, two of his adult children told the kansas city star that their father had abuse them when they were young kids. mr. roper son told him that his father was physically abusive towards him. his daughter said he was sexually abusive to her when she was just nine years old. kansas city star that record saying he had been investigated for sexually maltreatment on his other children as well.

-- i think too many of you will turn off the television they say that. but again, this was all coming out about him before the election. and a bipartisan group of lawmakers called on rick roeber to drop out of that election, in light of the seriousness of the allegations against him. but republican leaders in the state of missouri did not sign on to that call and he refused to drop out of the race. and he won that seat. and after he was elected to the state house in missouri, his kids wrote a letter to the republican speaker of the missouri house, basically begging him to not seek him. to not let their father take his seat in the missouri house. again, they were bringing forward multiple first-person claims that he had physically and sexually abused multiple kids. it turns out there was cooperating records of him being reported to authorities for abusing kids, multiple times, dating back to the early nineties. so the kids asked the republican house speaker,

please do not speak him as a state legislator in our state. but that did not work. instead, what they decided to do is the missouri ethics committee in the house decided they would open an investigation into the allegations. allegations that one of their newest members had physically and sexually abused his kids. and sure enough, the house ethics committee found in their investigation that those disturbing allegations against representative roeber were quote, credible. the house finally voted this april, just a few weeks ago, to finally kick him out of the legislature. so now, at least the alleged fate keurig cure lady facing dozens of federal criminal charges, at least that republican state representative in missouri doesn't have to sit next to the accused pedophile republican state representative anymore. that's very special succeeding corner for republican state

legislatures has, had a little bit of a turnover at least. but look, there is anyone from last week. this is another republican state representative from missouri. all these people serving in the same house at the same time. he too was elected last year. his name is chad perkins. before he was elected to be a republican state rep in missouri, he was a police officer in that. state and the post dispatch has gotten their hands on an iraq turn a report from his time as a police officer. which says he received a quote, sexual favor from an intoxicated teenager. and intoxicated teenage girl while he was on duty as a police officer in 2015. representative perkins responded to the allegations saying hey, that teenage girl was 19 at the time. and the relationship was consensual. he said of his relationship with the girl quote, nothing ever happened while i was on duty. but that internal police report includes text messages that were allegedly sent between chad perkins and the girl in question, after perkins appears

to have admitted grab bag into one of his friends about his quote, relationship with her. the girl according to this report writes to perkins quote, i'm sure you left out the part about us when you were on duty and i was drunk. he response to that quote, i'm sorry. now it's a local police chief who was asked the republican speaker of the missouri house to investigate this matter. and you know, maybe that's a nice change from the federal prosecutors bringing dozens of felony charges against one of your members. and then another viewer members having his kids come to you to tell you that he physically and sexually abuse them. maybe it's a nice change of pace for this third one to be just a police chief, asking you to please handle these allegations against yet another one of your members, in the same session. this time, in the words of the police chiefs report, quote accepting sexual favors from a

teenage girl well on duty as a police officer. he both apparently denies that happened while he was on duty. claims it is a matter, because she was 19. but text messages included in the internal report shows that he basically admits to her that yes, while she was on duty and she was wrong. underage. for drinking, at least. missouri republicans, you guys okay? because those are all republicans state representatives serving in the state legislature this year. all of them. missouri republicans. really? you guys all right? because also will look what is happening in the governor's office. i want to tell you a little bit of a story about a man name kevin strickland in missouri. he was convicted of capital murder. back in 1978. he was convicted by an all white jury. she was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 50 years. kevin strickland let's 18 years

old when he was first arrested in conjunction with that case. he's about to turn 62 years old right now. for the more than 40 years that he has been locked up in the state of missouri, kevin strickland has repeatedly and consistently insisted he did not commit a crime before he was convicted. kansas city star did an in-depth investigation into his case and found that the case against him was profoundly thin. there are two other men who admitted to be in that the scene of the crime that night. they were both criminally crime victim for their role in the shooting. they both say kevin strickland had nothing to do with that crime. they're both out of prison now. he is still in for, more than 40 years he has been in prison for this. at his trial, again when he was 18 years old, there was one key witness. the only witness to the crime. and she said kevin strickland was one of the shooters. one of the investigators who work on the trial said the whole case was her testimony. the case rules and fell on her testimony alone. in 2009, more than ten years

ago, she completely recanted her testimony. she told police that actually, kevin strickland didn't do it. she said that he did because she said that she had been pressured by police to wrongfully accuse him. she said she wanted nothing more, now than to see him released from prison. because he didn't do it. it was her testimony that put him away. she says, her testimony was wrong and it was in him. r so it's kevin strickland, is the only one left behind bars. for a crime he says he didn't commit. the star and only witness to the crime said he didn't committed. the guys who actually did participate in the crime admit that, convicted of it, they say he didn't have anything to do with a crime. and then, just last month, this is remarkable -- the prosecutors who put him behind bars, they also agreed that actually the stripe and kevin strickland didn't do it. for county prosecutors in missouri now telling the court that that prosecutors office maybe made the profound error

in this case that kevin strickland actually did not commit those murders more than 40 years ago. the prosecutors office is telling the court now that he should be immediately freed. that this was a wrongful prosecution. the prosecutors office. now telling the court that keeping mr. strickland incarcerated quote, serves no conceivably just purpose. again, the prosecutors saying that. they're telling the court they screwed up. he's been in jail for more than 40 years for something he did not do. he must be released. that statement from the prosecutors was last month, on may 10th. but still though, today, almost a month later kevin strickland is in prison, still in missouri. his lawyers, once the prosecutor said we did this wrong it's not him, his lawyers petitioned the missouri supreme court. asking to authorize his release. yesterday the missouri supreme court declined to hear the case and they did not give a reason why. okay. that's the story in itself. but there are other things that

could happen here within the missouri political system. if missouri republicans could just get it together, there's ways to fix this. the missouri legislature, despite the incredibly toxic chaos going on over there, they actually got it together enough to pass a bill that would give prosecutors a direct mechanism to ask for a conviction to be thrown out. the governor of missouri, republican bipartisan, has just left that bill sitting unsigned on his desk for weeks now. despite the kevin strickland fact case and everything else. just today, governor parson issued a whole bunch of pardons observing people of criminal charges. he issued pardons to 36 different people today, kevin strickland not one of those people. even though the witness, the people who did commit a crime, and the prosecutors all say strickland is innocent. governor mike person apparently does not feel motivated to do anything about that. as so, still tonight face kevin strickland in prison, after more than 40 years, of where

everyone agrees was him being wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. you might think -- there is nobody on the other side of this case. you might think the republican governor and missouri could get around to doing something about that. i mean, missouri republicans, i don't know what's going on that state right now. but from the governor on down there waiting thin deep chin deep and disaster and mess of their own making. there's so much cleanup to be done in missouri right now. so much work to do. but i will tell you, republicans in the missouri house, in the legislature, to their credit, they have realized that they do have a bunch of work to do. and they have asked the governor to call the legislature back into special session, to keep working on the story's problems. well, specifically, to keep working on one thing. ally, to keewith all they've gor plate right now. with all of the scandal and moral toll meant that missouri republicans are waiting waiting

in right now, there is only one thing they want to work on right now. and that is they want a special session of the legislature, specifically so they can pass a bill to make voting harder in missouri. they want to rescind voting rights in the state. missouri republicans asked the governor to let them have a special legislation -- so they can work on an anti voting bill, like either one staffer republican control still state. with everything going on in that state right now, this is their priority. i know republicans are working on bills like this everywhere they are in control. but just looking at what is going on in the state of missouri, oh my gosh, do they have other things to worry about right now. but apparently none of that is pressing to them at all. the only thing they want to work on is making it harder to. listen, i feel like i have to get this off my chest so i'm just going to say. there's two tracks on which this republican 2020 election

fraud fantasy is playing a. and one of them is completely ridiculous. right? it's like science fiction fantasy, with all the joy and surrealism. and in the even the fantastic costume that come. without that first truck on wishes fantasy is playing out as trump land. it's the idea that trump secretly won reelection in 2020. that he's actually the real president. joe biden is a fraud who appears to be in the white house, but he really was elected. so he shouldn't be there. after trump national security adviser mike flynn and fidel powell went to a qanon conspiracy theory convention this weekend in texas, and said trump actually won the election and he's going to be reinstated as president this summer. flynn said we should have a u.s. military takeover. a military coup in this country to bring about the reinstatement of trump as president. after that happened this weekend, new york times trump whisperer maggie haberman reported earlier this week that trump believes it. that trump really is telling people that he believes he will be reinstated as president by

august, this summer. after that reporting from maggie haberman at the new york times, a pro trump columnist at a conservative magazine today confirmed that indeed, trump believes he is going to be reinstated as president. he earnestly believes it. he's telling people that. he's also telling everyone that republicans senators who lost in november, they will be reinstated, to. martha mcsally in arizona. and david perdue in georgia. they will get their senate seats back. just as soon as the whole election is thrown out and he's put back in power, and all the republicans get an ousted. the washington post now confirming this basic reporting as well. that trump insists he is going to be reinstated as president. it's insane, right? but it is also working for them right now. it is working for them among trump supporters and among republicans. most of whom do now believe that the 2020 election was a real. it was fraudulent and trump was actually reelected. even though joe biden is in the

white house. it is objectively nuts. but it is real enough to them, because they prefer that to reality. and importantly, because trump keeps seeing saying it is real. and because republicans in states from arizona to georgia, to wisconsin and beyond, they keep backing him up. saying there was something wrong with the election in those states. something wrong that needs to be audited a recounted. and as nuts as it all is, it is basically the agreed upon reality among trump supporters coast to coast, now. so we're about to enter into a particularly volatile time with this. because trump is going to give a speech to the north carolina republican party the day after tomorrow, and a fund-raising -- he is billing it as a presidential address. because he is pretending to still be president. he sent out fund-raising text today, calling that speech unofficial presidential speech. as if he is still president. next week and wisconsin, the pillow company ceo mike lindell

is facing another of these trump is the real president convention things. the one he is hosting in response and started off with this promotional flyer. but then on tuesday this week, a flyer changed to reflect the fact that trump himself will be make an appearance at that event. they are billing him, as you can see there on the fire as a quote, real president. our real president. this is one of the two tracks on which the trump republican 2020 election fraud fantasy is playing. out it is in fact, absolutely ridiculous. there's no provision in our country for a former president be reinstated. joe biden won the election by kind of a lot. republican members of congress try to start to stop the certification of the votes. but that effort fail. then on that same day, armed and violent trump supporters try to force the stopping of the counting of the electoral college results in congress. on january 6th. we saw what they were willing to do to try to make it not so,

that trump lost the election. trump lost and biden won. and biden really is president. anat the same time that biden is president though, we are in this unprecedented situation where they really is a former president out there, earnestly pretending that he is still the rightful president. telling that to everyone who will listen to him. and even telling it to those who don't want to listen to him anymore. he is doing right wing radio shows now where he says about biden, how do you govern when you lost? as nuts as it seems, months after the election, the guy pretending he is still president has actually succeeded in getting republicans to cast doubt on the clear and certified election results in arizona. and soon, in multiple other states including georgia and wisconsin. he's telling people he is the rightful president. that he will be reinstated. he's about to start piece speeches to that effect. and a series of rallies to that effect as. well my question to you is this, think about this in a quiet moment.

what is the endgame of that? where does that go? what does that ultimately ultimately spark among his followers? but the way that first track of the republican election, trump republican election fraud fantasy is played out in trump land, it is as ridiculous as it is dangerous. seriously, for the foreseeable future those north so now we are now in which republican trump supporters are going to accept election results anywhere in the country, if they don't produce the results they want. that damage is done. republicans are not just against democrats now, they are and against democracy now. a significant number, if not majorities are republican voters will denounce and disbelief the results of elections. they will treat elections as crime scenes and hoaxes unless they win, for the foreseeable future. that i think is baked in already. that is a crisis for our country. beyond that though, i think it's also worth thinking about what the logical next steps are

for our fellow americans who truly, earnestly believe this nonsense. who really take it into the hearts and believe that trump is still the rightful president. that joe biden is an impostor president in the white house, who somehow stole power and taken over the u.s. government illegally. trump wants to be reinstated as president. he thinks he can be. he will tell his supporters that they must demand that. that they must fight for that. how will they try to do that? what exactly do we expect them to do? what wouldn't they do? what does this lead to? when a major political party starts indulging this kind of stuff. it isn't and in, let's have a better get out the vote effort in 2022. it is an end up with, how do we up our outreach to latino voters. this doesn't end and anything that looks like politics. not when you're telling people that there is a tyrant who lost the election, whose stolen power, who is claiming to be the president.

and he's not and the former leader must be reinstated by the people. that is something that doesn't and a political place. that is a road that ends a very bad place, and we are we down that road already. and i'm not trying to be scary about this. but i find the place that we are in here to be scary. that's track one. for the trump republican election fraud fantasy 2020. there is a second track though, on which that fantasy is also playing out. and that is the one you can see track its way through the considerable, considerable mud that is all over the floor of for example, the republican-led missouri state legislature. with all of its problems. the one thing they want to work. on is this opportunistic pretext. if trump is going to raise doubts all over the country about how elections are run out of how votes are counted, republicans can use that as an excuse to not just fantasized great excuses for their losses.

to not just spoke stokes suspicions of democracy and elections among their supporters. but they can use that as pretext to pass real loss to make voting hard. to make it as hard as possible. to take away voting rights. to make sure democratically inclined voters in their states have as many hurdles as possible thrown into their path on their way to voting. and it does not look like there is gonna be federal cavalry writing to the rescue on this. not unless conservative democratic senator joe manchin changes his mind on voting rock rights. and maybe not even. that but in the absence of something like that for the people act passing into law, the for the people at would protect voting rights in every state nationwide. in the absence of that passing, senator manchin, the fight to protect the right to vote for, comes from this crazy place that has also led trump to pretend to be a shadow president. but has led to concrete action

and state after state. and the fight to preserve the right to vote in the absence of any federal help, it's happening right now state to state. law by law. one after the. other democrats fighting republicans over this stuff in the state legislatures. and if they can stop it in the state legislatures, those things passed into law. those things move into courts. state by state, one after the other, all over the country. that's all we've got right now for voting rights. track one of the trump republican election fraud fantasy, brings the country to the brink of madness. but track to, in the states, brings us to what is now a fully joint, full time, urgent, state by state fight for democratic rights. it's just as insane. that story is next. signed up as a nursing cadet for world war ii. she was only 17. bring your family history to life like never before.

get started for free at ancestry.com >> after the 2020 election, the

first republican control state to pass a big voter suppression law was iowa. they did theirs on march 8th. the next day, march 9th, a lawsuit was filed against that anti-voting rights bill in iowa, with the help of democratic voting rights lawyer marc elias. and his organization democracy -- after that was georgia, march 25th. georgia's governor signed there's in a room with six other white men standing by, while they all stood underneath a painting of a sleeve

plantation. it was very subtle. that same day, georgia got is self sued over that new law. again, with the help of democratic lawyer marc elias. then after that, it was florida. florida's republican governor signed his states anti voting rights bill, live on fox news. also very subtle. florida soon found itself sued over that law, also again with the help of democratic lawyer marc elias. over and over again, and all of those states, montana, arkansas, now most recently in kansas, republicans have expeditiously passed new laws to make it harder to vote. and democratic voting rights lawyer marc elias, has just as expeditiously sued them for it. marc elias clearly is on it. but he's also sounding a public alarm that in his words, lawyers alone, and these lawsuits alone are not going to solve this problem. joining us now to explain why is marc elias, democratic voting rights attorney. founder of democracy docket.

marc, nice to see you. thanks for being. here >> thanks for having me, rachel. >> i think a lot of people look at your track record over the course of a career, but your track record particularly in the past year, and they feel confident knowing that you are fighting these laws. and that you are bringing these lawsuits. and they have a lot of faith in your ability to back down some of the worst of this stuff. why are you trying to signal to people that actually, these lawsuits and other good lawyers like herself, it's not enough? >> really, for two reasons, rachel. the first is that it is not realistic to assume that every provision of every bad law is going to get struck down by a court. we won more they'd we lost in 2019 and 2020. we did better than that in the post election. but you can't assume that went state after state after state throws the kitchen sink at voters and makes restricting voting rights of a top priority, that the courts are going to be there to back them all back. but the second reason goes

frankly, to the point you made in your introduction. and it is so important. which is, we have a culture problem in the republican party, which is that right now rather than solving the problems of their citizenry. rather than solving the problems of covid, a reemerging economy, they are using their precious time and state legislature after state legislature, to pass voting restriction laws targeting black, brown and young voters. and if that culture does a shift, then we win lawsuits and they passed new laws. and then we win lawsuits and, they will pass new laws. at some point, this is only going to change if the republican party is able to change. and right now, that doesn't look likely. >> what do you think is both doable and the best sake case scenario for trying to turn that ship around? obviously, there's things that we wish you could turn peoples hearts. you wish you could make people see the world in a different way. it's hard to do that in short

order. i know that you have been a very vocal, very impassioned supporter four of the for the people act in the senate. we don't know if democrats are going to find a way to get that bill to joe biden's desk. what is the best hope that you think is out there in terms of trying to turn this around? >> look, i view my role to buy time for democracy. we have -- if we can buy time by fighting off the worst of these provisions and give the political process an opportunity to rationalize itself. have congress passed the for the people act, that's great. if we can buy time for our democracy and maybe have some shift within the republican party, that is stops viewing people voting as as an exhibition shull threat to the party. rather, they starts to do view space for all americans as a goal we should expire to. but maybe we succeed. but look, i'm not overly optimistic. all i can do is every day, wake up and try to protect democracy

by showing up in the courtrooms around america. and telling judges that it is not right, it is not fair, it is not legal, and it is not constitutional to target black, brown and young voters. and disenfranchise them. >> marc, let me ask you about another piece of this. which i think has moved in the public consciousness from something that was an object of interest and in some cases an object of fun, because it is so ridiculous. these postelection audits, or recounts. these third-party interventions where partisan groups and inexperience, uncertified groups are being given access to voting machines and dallas, in order for, plainly to cast doubt on election results. and to make partisans feel like the results that they wanted could have been the real results of the election. if not for some magic pixie dust that had been sprinkle their. i am starting to see those efforts in a dark or light, then i think i initially did.

because i do think they are having their desired affect. is there a legal case to be made there, that there are violations of federal law potentially of state law, in terms of the handling of voting machinery and ballots in the way those audits and regions being handled? >> yeah, first of all, i think you're entirely right. i've been trying to scream about this as best i can. the top of my lungs. alexander -- the former soviet dissident rule in 1971, that in the former soviet union, the lie had become not just the moral category, but a pillar of the state. and the big lie has moved from a political category, something that trump and his allies were saying for political purposes, and it is now turning into a pillar of the state. it is becoming a part of state policy. and that is really dangerous. and one of the ways it is doing it is through these audits. because it is giving the veneer of a official official-ness.

it's been done through state legislators, state officials. and it is allowing the big lie to have the veneer of the state. and what happens is, when they do these processes -- and by the way these are not audits, these are recounts. i've been involved in more statewide audits and recounts probably than any other person alive or dead. and i can tell you, these are not genuine audits or recounts. what is happening is they are spoiling the ballots. they are ruining a, literally the state of arizona is going to have to throw away voting machines based on this. so yes, do i think it violates federal law, yeah i do? because federal law requires that the ballots and the election be capped for 22 months after the election. and these ballots have essentially been taking. do i think it violate state law in some of these states? yeah, i think it does. and i think wish the judges would view this with the seriousness of democracy being a throw at threat. rather than feeling like if they humor these crazy people, they'll go away. because we know when you humor

these crazy people, they don't go away. they just keep repeating and making worse. >> marc elias, democratic voting rights attorney. mark, i know your credibly busy. thanks for taking time to be with us tonight. >> thank you, rachel. >> all right, much more to come here tonight. stay with us. with us after having a kid, everything that you used to do for yourself goes out the window. the lines that i was seeing in my forehead were getting deeper than i was used to them being. and i realized, you know, what i can focus again on myself. so, what do you see when you look at yourself? i see someone who is growing and changing, who loves and is loved. botox® cosmetic is fda approved to temporarily make frown lines, crow's feet and forehead lines look better. the effects of botox® cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition. do not receive botox® cosmetic

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>> the answer is no. >> you did not bonus a reward any of your executives -- >> never. >> anyone who solicited for contribution of the trump campaign? >> i'm fully aware of illegal campaign contributions. i resent the assertion.

what are you accusing me of? >> i resent the assertion. what are you accusing me of? that man is louis dejoy since the trump administration he's been in charge of the united states post office. that job as best as anyone can tell he's been working as hard as he can to sabotage and mess up the beloved u.s. post office. what he was indignant about with that testimony was an allegation he had run an illegal campaign donations game where his employees made political donations in their own name but dejoy basically reimbursed them with bonuses paid through his company. if that happened, that's illegal. really illegal. ceos have gone to prison for schemes like that. last year the washington post reported that for more than a decade over 100 individuals at louis dejoy's company contributed over 1 million dollars to republican candidates on his behalf. many of the same employees had never previously donated and didn't donate again after leaving his company. employees reported feeling

pressured to donate, in order to please the boss. his longtime director of human resources told the paper, quote, he asked employees for money. we gave him the money and he reciprocated by giving us big bonuses. former lawyer told the post it appeared to be a run-of-the-mill but very illegal corporate straw donor scheme. another added, quote, it's rare to see it that blatant. louis dejoy has denied doing anything improper but fast forward to today the washington post now reporting his political fund-raising and a remarkable number of his employees who seemed to help with that, that is now the subject of an fbi investigation. according to the post, fbi agents in recent weeks have interviewed current and former employees of dejoy and the business asking questions about political contributions and company activities. prosecutors issued a subpoena to dejoy himself for information. spokesman for list dry confirmed the existence of the investigation but insists he did nothing wrong, again still

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the epson ecotank. just fill and chill. >> the washington post first to break the news the postmaster general of the united states is under fbi and mastication. louis dejoy is the man who took a wrecking ball to the u.s. post office in the run up to last fall's presidential election. he's working now to slow down the mail further. the fbi is investigating what the post described last year as a fairly blatant alleged scheme by dejoy to funnel illegal donations republican politicians. joining us now, the reporter who broke this news today. thank you so much for being here. congratulations on the scoop. >> thanks for having me. >> investigation began? >> we don't know exactly when. i sort of suspect it began after my colleagues back in september reported on this

possible scheme louis dejoy was involved in. essentially reimbursing his employees for political donations. that's what a couple of them alleged to us. what happens in cases like this is the fbi and justice department sees public recording of a possible donor scheme, seeing this and many other cases and say we want to look at this but we do now in the last couple of weeks, the fbi decided to do what they would call taking this thing over. they went out and talked to witnesses in the world who could possibly tell their friend or reporters what happened. that led to dejoy finding out, themself subpoenaed, and led to us reporting on this. >> do we know if he is cooperating with the investigation? >> he says he is. we know he was served with a subpoena and would have time to turn over documents or not. he insists he didn't knowingly do anything wrong. some of this conduct an issue

is from the time period of 2000 to 2014 which might be passed the statute of limitations, which is five years. there's other conduct that runs more recent. the fbi would investigate if they didn't think there was any way it could bring charges. to answer your question, louis dejoy signaled he intends to do that. he's also signaled he's done nothing wrong. he believes he's done nothing wrong. >> interesting point about the statute of limitations and how long he did this, if he did carry out a scheme like, this how long it was going for. one of the things the post does reported extensively is how much money he was able to funnel to donald trump. in terms of donations. there is donations to trump might be -- the might be solution to any

statute of limitation problems for earlier donations. >> the campaign legal center has done some of their own investigation on this. they found the same patterns that occurred between 2000 and 2014 which we identified which are employees donating to the same person, the same amount of the same day. those patterns continued when trump running for office era when dejoy was on the board of his company. that he'd run and served on the board. the campaign legal center found that sometimes employees donations would matchup in amount and recipient made by his family members. there's threads in the trump era that the fbi is likely to pull on. it remains to be seen what his role in all of that is. when we had in september was

former employees saying, hey, this is how it happened. we were reimbursed for donations and that's clear as day for the fbi. we don't have that strong evidence, yet coming into the trump era, but we do according to the campaign legal center at the same kind of suspicious patterns that are there. >> thank you for your time tonight. congratulations on breaking this story. it's a remarkable thing. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. stay with us. ontact with 3x the cleaning power to break down tough messes in seconds so, it's perfect for stovetops, tough bathroom soap scum, and even stainless steel. mr. clean clean freak

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do it for us tonight. happy to have you here this friday eve. i will see you again tomorrow when it is actually friday. now it is time for the for the last word with lawrence and all know. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. i have a little quiz before you. a play along with me on this. let's say you are in charge of locating nuclear power plants. like it's your job, you have to do it. you have to pick a spot, okay? you have to pick a spot in the united states of america. let's say you've got two locations. okay? one of them is a place called the middle of nowhere. the other one is a place called earthquake bay. and that's all you are allowed to. no you're not allowed to know where that is, that's the only in for you get is the name of the place. okay? the name of the police. which place