tv The Rachel Maddow Show MSNBC June 9, 2021 9:00pm-10:00pm PDT
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weakened adversaries are better for them. end of the day our parents were right, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. that is our broadcast for this wednesday night with our thanks for being with us. on behalf of all our colleagues at all the documents and materials that are handed to the president, everything the president is asked to review, everything the president does review, anything that ends up on the president's desk. everything that goes to the president or from the president, white house staff secretary is a person in charge of keeping
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all of that in order. it's a very important job. a sensitive job. you see everything that goes to and from the president. it's incredibly not only detail oriented job, and sort of a 24/7 job, but job for what you need to be an incredibly trustworthy person. in february 2018, so almost exactly a year into the trump presidency. the staff secretary of the trump white house had to resign for terrible reason. he had to resign because both of his ex wives came forward with lord and terrible domestic violence allegations against him. that young man's name was rob porter. and a scandal like that, somebody in that job, a job that sensitive having long-standing known serious domestic violence allegations against him by multiple previous wives, but
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nevertheless getting the job and holding on to it for a year, it's gonna like that would be a marquee thing in any of the presidency. it would be a defining scandal. that would be remembered forever. any other modern president. the trump administration was like, one blade of grass on a football field. how do you keep track? yeah, remember that scandal? again, it would be a massive overshadowing scandal for any other president. going back to nixon! for this president, it was like literally one in a gazillion. but that scandal ridden disgrace had to resign staff secretary. his name is rob porter and that same rob porter today had a cameo role in the long awaited testimony of the star witness against president trump for the serious allegations of potentially criminal obstruction of justice.
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that dug him even now as the former president. this is from the transcript we got today. question, going back to the meeting with rob porter, the white house staff secretary, answer, question. he told porter he would not write the letter the president had requested, correct? answer, right. did rob porter tell you about his conversation with the president earlier that day? i'll directly to page 1:15 of the report. answer, okay. question, porter is now describing his conversation with the president earlier that day. the report says, quote, the presidents that he wanted don mcgahn to write a letter to the file for our records. wanted something beyond a statement to demonstrate the reporting was inaccurate. did mr. porter convey to you the president wanted you to write a letter for records? answer, i don't know if he used the word for records, but that is consistent with what he was telling me, the president wanted.
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question, because i am not a lying bastard. >> question, what was your understanding of why the president said that then? >> you'd have to ask him. >> i was disappointed through reading the report the president called me a lying bastard because i am a lying bastard. why do you think you called you that? you'd have to ask him.
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nobody is going to ask him. it's becoming more and more clear it really seems like nobody is going to ask, him not unless he is going to potentially face criminal charges for obstruction of justice in which case prosecutors might talk to him than. and get his answer to that and many other questions. so far, he's never been questioned. that hasn't been in the cards. there is also this, again, the same transcript we got today about the kind of lawyer president trump wishes he had had when he was in the white house. question, you testified you told the president knocking robert mueller out could be a fact used to claim obstruction of justice. that's in the mueller report, we talked about that. question, was it your understanding the president trump was concerned him asking you to have the special counsel removed could be harmful to him, in their investigation? answer, certainly.
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yes. why? for the same appearance reasons, among others. if it's known you are under investigation by special counsel and you seek to remove that special counsel, someone more than one person is going to suggest you did that to end the investigation. that's a pretty obvious point. question, during the meeting on february six, did the president raised the issue of why you took notes during meetings? yes, he did. he asked about why do i take notes? what was your reaction to that? answer, i said, look, i take notes because, you know, i'm a real lawyer. real lawyers take notes. as a way to keep track of things. i conveyed that was all going on in the west wing. you need to keep track of things. that's generally how government works. you take notes. the truth is, i didn't really take a lot of notes, but that didn't seem to be the place to have that sort of dispute. i responded notes create a record and it's not a bad thing, and oftentimes it can be helpful. as the report indicates, his
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response is he invoked, you know, roy cone, didn't take notes. question, so, was it your understanding he thought great lawyers like roy cohen did not take notes? answer, he said that, yes. not only did i think that, i heard him say that, yes. question, what was your reaction to that? answer, i didn't really have one. my recollection is i didn't really respond. i've made my point. this was not the first time roy cone has, the ghost of roy cohen, had come into the oval office. it didn't seem to be a point worth responding to. you know, he is the president. he gets the last word. question, what was your reaction to being compared to roy cone? my reaction? well, this wasn't the first time. you know, i didn't want to be compared to roy cone. in any way shape or form. i understand he was, you know, a brilliant lawyer. in certain ways. he had some ethical trouble
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later in his career. question, and by ethical trouble, do you mean he was ultimately disbarred for unethical conduct? answer, yes. yes. you know, i may have mentioned that at some point in some of these exchanges. i don't recall specifically. roy cohen was not really my role model anyway. saying i was know roy cone, i thought that was good! he doesn't think on that sort of lawyer. but the president was suggesting you should be more like roy cone who was a great lawyer, correct? answer, well, you know, i think he had made his point that he really had a fondness for roy cone. right cone, one of the great villains in modern american history, right? aid to underhanded duplicitous aide to joe mccarthy during the worst of the mccarthy demagoguery in washington, roy cohn famously corrupt lawyer to
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the mafia, and the trump organization, as it turns out, that testimony unsealed today from don mcgahn. from don m cgthe lawyer who served as counsel to donald trump even though he told him he wished he was more like roy cohn. mcgahn is a star witness to the more than ten instances of alleged obstruction of justice. instances of alleged obstruction of justice committed by trump while president. he was maneuvering to shut down the investigation into russia's interference in the 2016 election, when he among other things directed don mcgahn to create a false paper trail to cover-up how he had tried to derail that investigation. question, if you had put out the statement president trump was requesting disputing that he had ever ask you to have the special counsel removed, would that have been accurate? as, or that statement would not have been accurate. the statement, question, the statement the president was asking you to put out would not
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have been accurate, correct? as, or would not. it would not have been accurate, right. thank you. president told you to put out an accurate statement denying that he had ever told you to get rid of robert mueller? he told you to do that, right? yes. and that would've been a false statement? yes. he told me to cover it up! so, here it is, the firsthand testimony from the white house counsel about alleged serious acts of obstruction of justice committed by the former president while he was president. this only came out today, testimony taken last week, the transcript of the testimony was released today. it took the house judiciary committee years to get this testimony on the record from don mcgahn, that got, it the first time he's ever testified. the chairman saying today, quote, don mcgahn provided the committee with substantial new information including firsthand accounts of president trump's
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increasingly out of control behavior, and insight into concerns the former presidents conduct could expose both president trump and don mcgahn himself to criminal liability. credit, though, really? could trump really be exposed to criminal liability by any of his actions. really? only if there was a prosecutor who would be willing to prosecute him for those alleged crimes. under justice department policy. robert mueller, special counsel didn't believe he or any prosecutor had the power to charge trump with any crime while he was still serving as president. made clear when his report was released once trump was out of office he could be charged as former president. >> was there sufficient evidence to convict president trump or anyone else with
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obstruction of justice? >> we could not make that calculation. >> how could you not have? >> the opinion offers illegal counsel indicates that we cannot indict a sitting president. one of the tools that a prosecutor would use is not there. >> could you charge the present with a crime after he left office. >> yes. >> you believed you could charge the president's obstruction of justice after he left office? >> yes. >> yes. you could charge the president with obstruction of justice after he left office. yes, yes, that's the whole point. and now he's left office. and the main witness for the ten plus instances of alleged obstruction of justice in that report, that witness just testified to congress about what the president tried to get him to do confirming the allegations at their core. now, the president could be, the former president, could be prosecuted from those alleged instances of obstruction of justice. any takers?
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i think there's an appetite for that in the justice department under merrick garland under the biden administration? the judiciary committee has the option, if they want it, to make a formal referral to the justice department for potential prosecution of crimes they have become aware of. that among other things would require an adjustment as to what they were doing about that referral. we know from ongoing current court battles that under the former attorney general, the trump administration the justice department never actually substantively consider the evidence against trump and whether or not he should be charged. the justice department never look at that. now, there is no reason why they can't look at it now. he's the former president, he's not protected anymore by any justice department policy that would grant him immunity. again, any takers? is this all just going to slide? why was this evidence all compiled if the justice
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department, federal prosecutors are never substantively going to look at any of that evidence? despite the fact there is no prohibition on bringing criminal charges against somebody committed crimes like this, once they are no longer serving as president. is there anyone considering a potential prosecution here? what was this evidence collected for anyway? boston globe this week has launched the kind of remarkable project. you should check this out if you can. it's not behind a pay wall or anything. it's up in the boston globe's website. access it for free. they're running a series of -- i mean, editorials, more like arguments, like essays, sort of, as a public service. it's a series of six. first was yesterday, second was today, six of them altogether that are going to run six consecutive days in the paper. all six are up on their website right now. what's the six-part series is is a six part series of recommendations for basically
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how to tyrant proof the presidency in the wake of trump. they're calling it future proofing the presidency, but the idea is if trump comes along again, or somebody else with the sort of corrupt or tyrannical mindset of a trump approach to politics comes along again, how can we make sure the presidency isn't abused? the presidency and its vast powers and its vast communities aren't used to serve a corrupt and tyrannical >> purpose? basic idea is that before we had somebody that bad and that destructive in office as president, as a country we fought that norms and rules and policies, and strong recommendations -- and firm precedent would be enough. to constrain the worth worst behavior by a potential president. we thought that stuff coming to light would bring about such shame and political opprobrium
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that a president wouldn't do the worse stuff. not if they were norms against it. we learned the hard way, over a very hard for your period that those norms didn't hold. they weren't effective. he pardoned people for their crimes after praising them for not writing on him. he installed his unqualified at family members in higher level government jobs. and then directed millions of doctors and taxpayer funds to himself and his families private business. because he didn't divest from his family's private business. he took payments even from foreign governments. privately, while he was serving as president, and making u.s. policy that served those foreign interests. even without the obstruction of justice, were not even scratching the surface here. the point of what the globe is doing here is that they are saying listen, without reforms, the modern u.s. presidency under trump was exposed as what
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they are calling a treasure map for an american tyrant. quote, donald trump exposed the weaknesses in our system of government that could now be exploited by a corrupt leader with control of the white house. so they have done the six parts the series that lays out six major reforms and actions that the u.s. government could and act now. experience shows we need before somebody else like that gets back into the presidency, in order to make sure this doesn't happen to us again, or worse. as i said, it's a six part series. the final one, step six of six -- is this one. it's titled quote, the case for prosecuting donald trump. quote, saving american democracy for the long run requires a clear condemnation of the trump presidency. that means making clear that no one else is above the law. norms in a democracy are only as good as unwillingness to enforce them. after the president busting, law breaking presidency of
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trump, congress needs to pass new laws to constrain future officeholders. that's the case the globe has made in this series. curbs on the pardon power. safeguards against nepotism. dropping the power of congress to investigate the president. protections for whistleblowers. requirements the presidents make financial disclosures to root out conflicts of interest. quote, all of that is crucial to protect americans against repeat against last four years. but an imposing stricter rules is clearly insufficient. those presidents also need a clear message. one that will echo through history, that breaking the law in the oval office will actually be punished. that ethics policies and legal requirements, both existing ones and those congress will play an act in the future, those are more than just words on paper. trump's presidency did not just expose glaring legal witnesses. it also made clear that our institutions are incapable of holding presidents accountable for breaking even our existing laws. if congress had played the role
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the founders envisioned, by removing trump from the presidency after his criminality became clear in the ukraine affair, that might have been enough of a deterrent to scare future presidents. but lawmakers didn't do that. so now, there is only one way left to restore deterrence and convey to future presidents that the rule of law applies to them. the u.s. justice department must abandon two centuries of tradition by indicted and prosecuting donald trump for his conduct in office. quote, that is not a recommendation made lightly. the long-standing reluctance to prosecute former leaders is based on legitimate concerns about the justice system being used to settle political stores. but filing charges against former leaders is not a radical step either. former -- south korea, italy, france routinely managed to prosecute crooked former leaders without starting down a slippery slope towards authorities. president nicholas sarkozy france was recently found guilty of bribery. a decade after his predecessor,
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jack chirac, let's convicted of corruption. france is democracy and its image around the world remain in top. and the case of trump, prosecutors would have plenty of potential crimes from which to choose. while trump may be prosecuted for financial crimes he potentially committed before he became president, what's most important to go after our his actions during his time in office. and it goes on from there. >> as i said, this is from the boston globe. a remarkable series they are running this week from yesterday, for the next six days. it's a plea to the country, potential map to save democracy from this kind of crisis ever happening again in the presidency. today, president biden arrived in europe for the first foreign trip of his presidency. in his first remarks upon landing, speaking to u.s. troops after he landed in the uk, he in fact talked about
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saving democracy. >> i believe we're at an inflection point in our history. the moment where it falls to us to prove that democracies not just indoor, but they will excel. as we rise to seize the enormous opportunities of the new age. we have to discredit those who believe that the age of democracy is over. as some of our fellow nations believe. we have to expose this false narrative that the crease of dictators can match the speed and scale of the 21st challenges. you know and i know they are wrong. but it doesn't mean we don't have to work harder than ever to prove that democracy can still deliver for our people. the many who think things are changing so rapidly, democracies -- like autocrats can.
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you know better than anyone, that democracy doesn't happen by accident. we have to defend it. we have to strengthen. renew it. we are going to make it clear that the united states is back and democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges. and issues that metric matter most to our future. that we are committed to leading with strength. defending our values. and delivering for our people. this is my first overseas trip as president of the united states. and heading to the g7 and then to the nato, then to meet with mr. putin, to let him know what i want him to know. [applause] >> to let him know what i want him to know. the crowd goes wild. president biden today, speaking with u.s. troops in the uk as
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he starts this overseas trip. pledging to make the united states a world leader again. not just in our own performance domestically as a country, but as a leader of the world's democracies. to show in this moment, in his words, that essentially, democracy is the better choice for the people of the world. because democracies can act to not only affect the will of the people, but to meet the challenges of the century. in advance of that summit between biden and putin, the russian government today, prepped for that summit by declaring illegal the political organization of the main opposition figure in the country, alexei navalny, who they have locked up. they put his political organization today, in the same category of isis, calling it an extremist organization. the same category the use for isis. making a legal to be part of it. it's a political movement that is anti corruption, pro reform. it's now considered essentially,
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to be a terrorist organization in russia. and its leader is in prison. that's the message for putin and the autocracies of the world are offering. in the lead up to that summit, on the other side, the biden administration announced today that the u.s. government is purchasing a half billion 500 million doses of the pfizer vaccine against covid-19, which we will distribute abroad. not directly ourselves, the united states shipping in creates marked in made in the uss. but rather shipping them abroad to dozens of countries around the world through the international covax initiative. because that's an international initiative that we want to support. because we believe democracy of the world working together in international institutions, is good for the world. american leadership, american strength, american leadership strengthening international institutions. america leading the world's
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democracies. democracies leading the world. >> we've got a lot to take care of in our own democracy as we try to broadcast that message to the world. we've got senator chris murphy joining us tonight. we've got really big news on the keystone pipeline ahead tonight. activists fighting that for more than a decade now, getting huge news today. like a lightning bolt out of the blue. lots to come for us tonight. stay with us. stay with us nope c'mon him? oo, i like him! nooooo... noooo... quick, the quicker picker upper! bounty picks up messes quicker and each sheet is 2x more absorbent , so you can use less. he's an eight he's a nine bounty, the quicker picker upper. over four million people on medicare...
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the latest winners in that state's big money giveaway designed to encourage people to get vaccinated against covid-19. a little while ago, we learned that a guy named mark from ohio would be winning 1 million dollars because he got vaccinated in ohio, a student named sarah from sheffield lake, ohio will be receiving a for your scholarship to any university in the state. room, board, books, tuition,
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all of it. all because she got vaccinated in ohio! ohio will announce tomorrow rounds of these weekly prizes before they are done. and it is a crazy thing, but from a global must look particularly crazy, right? contrast lyn america, a strategy of spending hugely to convince americans to please go get vaccinated with so many countries around the world that are desperate to get vaccines for their citizens. others don't need to persuade reluctant people to get shots that are available and are indeed potentially expiring on the shelves. other countries need access to vaccines at all, desperately. today, as president biden left on his trip to europe, the washington post was first reporting the u.s. government is going to buy a 500 million doses of pfizer's vaccine to donate to the world. the first 200 million doses will go out this year.
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the rest will be shared during the first half of next year. the world health organization will handle distribution of these 500 million doses to low income and middle income countries around the world. all through the international covax initiative. which the biden administration has today made tremendously viable by this huge international donation. i should say these half billion doses are in addition to the 80 million vaccine doses the u.s. already plans to share with the world by the end of this month. it's one thing to pound your chest and say to the world america is back. another thing to put a half billion vaccine doses behind those words in the name of the american people. joining us now is crisper fee of connecticut. a member of the former relations committee in the senate. senator murphy, thank you for making time to be here tonight. i appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> let me get your reaction to the biden administration's plan to buy and donate half a
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billion vaccine doses to the world. >> i think this is an extraordinary announcement and it's a recognition that american power really, in the end, is not about our army, our navy, our air force. it's about our example. it's about our reputation. for 100 years, it was america that offered the big solutions to the big problems of the world, right? it was america that invented the internet. it was america that saved democracy in europe after world war ii. that light has been fading. it faded fast over the last four years. china has taken advantage of it. now, people look often to china to provide solutions to big problems. as chinese technology that's now the backbone of the internet rather than american technology. here is the opportunity for america to, once again, capture the world's imagination. it's about american boldness, and it is perfectly time does
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the president makes his first foray back to europe. it makes people just want to be part of the american experiment again. it wants them to align themselves economically and diplomatically. it also, is good for america from a purely selfish standpoint because we are in a race to try to stamp out this virus and experience as quickly as we can, so we don't end up with a variant that is immune to the vaccine. it ends up protecting us to inoculate the role as fast as possible. it was a whole lot of friends and begins to rebuild our ability to create partnerships that are good for the country. >> the idea of building partnerships and -- i listened to it interviewed by the security adviser jake sullivan. he did an interview at the bbc upon arriving in the uk for the start of this trip and he stressed a couple of points about the move. he said, as you know, the other
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two countries in the world that have been making a very big deal out of the fact they are distributing their vaccines abroad are china as you mentioned and also russia, jake sullivan making a point that this will put the u.s. in the position of far outpacing, china or russia, in terms of the number of vaccine doses that we have distributed. it's a higher quality vaccine than anything china or russia is distributing. he also went out of his way to point out it's without strings attached. this is being done through the w.h.o. to strengthen the w.h.o., being done to the covax initiative, and it's not something the united states is asking for anything in return. we aren't using this as leverage or putting any sort of strings or prerequisites on any country who is going to get any of those things. do you agree with that approach? those things. do you agree w ith that approach? >> i do, and it's of course reminiscent of the marshall plan. it's compared to that over the course of the last 24 hours, appropriately. the marshall plan was criticized by some because it didn't come with many strings
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attached. we said to europe, if you are interested in building a democracy, if you are interested in an open economy, in which american companies can compete, then we are willing to be your partner. and the bet was that level of generosity would be paid back overtime. and of course, it was. we have created millions of jobs in the united states because of our partnership with europe. it was the europeans who came to our defense after september 11th as we fought back against those who attacked us. that theory work. it's a different world today than it was in 1945. psychology hasn't changed. people are going to notice that if you want the russian vaccine, if you want chinese investment, it's going to come with all sorts of the strings we talked about. america wants to be your partner, ultimately down the line. we may come asking for something, but it's going to be, i think, the way in which we approaches vaccine distribution
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campaign that will help to sort of rebuild the reputation of the united states, which under trump became entirely transactional, which ended up pushing a lot of folks away. >> as the president sets off on this foreign trip, he's doing the g7 summit, has a lot of bilateral meetings with our most important allies. it's going to end this meeting with putin. i wanted to ask you about this hearing that happened today in your committee about belarus. this crisis in belarus including a state sponsored hijacking of a commercial passenger plane in order to arrest a young opposition journalist. putin is bringing belarus very tightly, even more tightly into their camp in the wake of these incredible abuses by the dictator there. today, your committee heard among others the main opposition figure in belarus, may very well have beaten that dictator in the last election he rigged. she said the country is becoming, belarus is becoming the north korea of europe.
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that's what lukashenko is doing there. and that, of course, has implications not only for by the russians and the way they live, but also for how much of a threat that poses to europe and that neighborhood as putin, again, embraces that country as its dictator seems to be going off the rails. do you expect there will be new sanctions there, and this is potentially a new global flash point the president is going to have to confront on this trip? >> a remarkable leader, i was in lithuania with them last week meeting with them. and we should offer her and her democratic movement support. listen, does it matter to the u.s. in the end whether belarus is aligned with russia, or aligned with the west? probably not. that's a decision for the belarusian people to. make we should stand squarely behind their right to make it. and now with the downing of
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this plane, with a state sponsored hijacking having taken place, we need to send a message to the world and other dictators who would be dictators that if you cross this line they are going to be horrible costs. i think there will be additional sanctions and maybe that doesn't have an immediate impact in belarus, but it at least has a chilling effect on this kind of behavior, in other parts of the world. i also think we need to support other mechanisms to try to uncover what's happening in belarus. we talk now hearing about supporting independent journalists to make sure there are people inside and outside of minsk that are telling the story about the kleptocracy lukashenko presided over in the way alexander navalny did to vladimir putin. it's sometimes, we get so hung up on sanctions we forget there are ways to get under the skin of dictators, and supporting independent journalists, supporting the true story of his brutal regime. that can go a long way >> towards helping the
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pro-democracy movement there. it is a remarkable thing how putin truly independent journalism can be against authoritarianism. senator chris murphy, always great to have you on the show. thank you so much for being here, sir. >> thanks, rachel. >> all right we, have much more ahead tonight. stay with us. stay with us grabbing a hold of what matters. asking for what we want. and need. and we need more time. so, we want kisqali. living longer is possible and proven with kisqali when taken with fulvestrant or a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor in hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer. kisqali is approved for both pre- and postmenopausal women, and has extended lives in multiple clinical trials. kisqali is a pill that's significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant alone. kisqali can cause lung problems, or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. it can cause serious skin reactions, liver problems, and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections.
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large numbers in northern minnesota this week. more than 1000 people there to protest the construction of a new multi billion dollar oil pipeline. the pipeline that among other things, would cross through the delicate headquarters of the mississippi river. the protesters are trying to block that new pipeline and all the environmental hazards that it brings with it. a separate group of protesters made their way into one of the new pipelines pump stations. that's currently under construction. they piled a whole bunch of stuff, including a boat at the entrance we, so nobody could get in our. out the demonstrators and
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started locking themselves to the construction equipment, bodily. at that site. that had the effect of shutting down all work on the pipeline for the day. eventually, police showed up. they started drag and protesters through the door to arrest them. about 200 people were arrested, just at the pump station. but the response by law enforcement wasn't just a local one, in terms of local minnesota police officers. look at this. this is a helicopter belong into the federal government. u.s. customs and border port patrol. they flew this helicopter really low, dangerously low, over this pipeline protests. using the rotor wash from the chopper to blow dirt and debris all over the place. apparently to try to get those protesters to leave. customs and border portrait says they are investigating the use of that helicopter. you're not supposed to use a government helicopter like that, even if it is against protesters. especially if it is against protesters. this pipeline, which is called line three, a pipeline by a company called and bridge.
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it was approved under green them -- under president. trump protesters are calling on president biden to suspend the permit for the pipeline. about 200 protesters are also camped along the pipeline saying we won't stop pushing. they aren't state saying they won't lead. some of the protesters against line three, they've already been at this for years. we don't know if they will succeed ultimately in blocking the enbridge pipeline. but even as that battle continues in northern minnesota over that incredibly controversial project, which the biden administration has the power to block. today brings fresh and truly astonishing evidence that with enough stamina and enough strategy, protests just like that one can sometimes do succeed against incredible odds. against huge multibillion dollar projects. if you stick with it for years and years and years, and you never give up, sometimes you
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win. and as i said, astonishing news today is our next story here tonight. stay with us, you'll want to see this. see this we've got you. during expedia travel week, save 20% or more on thousands of hotels. expedia. it matters who you travel with expedia. hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this... your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee... yeah i should've just led with that... with at&t business...
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thousands of activists surrounded the white house to urge president obama to block construction of an oil pipeline called keystone xl. keystone xl out of piped canadian tar sands oil all the way across united states from canada, all the way down to the gulf of mexico. that is surrounding the white house. the culmination of a summer of protests outside the obama white house. over 1000 people were arrested in those demonstrations. the author and activist we've seen as a guest on the show was among those arrested. four days after that big november surrounding the white house protest that bill mccain helped organize, president obama announced he would at least delay a decision on approvals for that pipeline.
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he would delay consideration for over a year. after that, the boston globe published a profile of bill nick even with this title, the man who crushed the keystone xl pipeline. and, you know, as flattering as that might have, been that was a bit premature. the fight would go on for another decade as the oil industry and there are many allies in congress pulled out all the stops they could to get the thing approved. it wasn't until late 2015, the very end of his presidency, president obama finally announced he would in fact blocked the pipeline. and of course the following year, he was elected a very different president who made a very big show of reviving the pipeline in his first week in office. in fact construction on keystone xl started last year in 2020. what else happened in 2020? joe biden won the presidency and ousted donald trump! on biden's very first day in office, he canceled the permit for that pipeline. and while that sounds like a definitive thing, honestly it's
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set off whatever but expected to just be a whole other round of years of wrangling and fighting over this thing. today, this lightning bolt finally arrived. a decade in the making. the keystone xl pipeline is officially dead. dead. the company that was building the pipeline said today is pulling the plug, it's not going to try anymore. they said they will work with government agencies, quote, to ensure a safe termination of an exit from the project. bill mackinnon said this online, he said, quote, a reminder that ten years ago this summer, when mass arrests began in the keystone fight, 93% of insiders said the project would be approved. today, pc energy, through in the towel for good. he closed by never give up. joining us now, climate expert, one of the founders of the grassroots climate campaign, mr. mccabe in, thank you for being with us tonight. >> what a pleasure.
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let me begin by saying i did not crush the keystone pipeline. this fight began with indigenous groups across the midwest, and it has involved millions of people, as far as any environmental fight in american history. what it really does is show now there is possibility of meeting these other things like that pipeline fight we are talking about a minute ago. >> let me ask you aside from persistence. you correctly noted today this was ten years plus of work by all the people you are describing, and so many of them, other than persistence, what was the secret to success here? >> there are many. part of it was the huge coalition of people that came together. as they said, indigenous groups from communities, farmers and ranchers. climate scientists very early on, our greatest climate
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scientist said if we pump the tar sands dry, then it's game understand we are going to have to leave fossil fuel on the ground. this keystone fight was one of our first moments of keeping it in the ground message, and now it's at the heart of so many battles on the way. what was so special here, and the reason correctly i think all the experts had to lose was big will never lost a fight like this. remember, 2013, xl was the biggest company on planet earth, you know. big oil was still powerful. yet, people were willing to take it on, willing to believe we had a chance. and because of that great organizer that so many groups and vantage points came together, the emergence. we were talking tonight about
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the fact a trillion -- the last time he got arrested for his death was outside the white house, protesting the pipeline. every kind of community became a big fight that brought the environmental justice movement today, and in a way we haven't seen before. away it's continued now. i was out in minnesota earlier this week, backing up the indigenous leaders that were occupying that land along the waters of mississippi. if obama's climate test was keystone, biden's will be one in three. be here's the thing, obama saie wouldn't have the keystone pipeline because it couldn't pass a climate test. line three is exactly the same size, 800,000 girls a day, and it carries the same stuff, part
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sense through. if keystone couldn't pass the climate test, there is no way six years later after we've had the hottest temperature ever recorded, the biggest forest fires recorded, the biggest hurricanes ever reported, after we've had the paris climate accords, there is no way anybody with a straight face can say line three is somehow passing a climate test for keystone. >> bill mckibben, one of the founders of the grassroots clement campaign, bill, thank you for joining. as i know it's a landmark moment but one that was a long time coming. thank you for being here. >> thank you so much, rachel. >> we will be right back. stay with us. stay with us the lexus es. every curve, every innovation, every feeling.
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do it for us tonight. thank you very much for being here. i'll see you again tomorrow. what's tomorrow? friday eve. now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. two years in the making, i've got mine here. the judiciary committee transcript of the don mcgahn testimony. only took me two years to get that testimony. we're going to be joined tonight by judiciary committee member eric swalwell. and andrew weisman. because as you know, and as you are describing in your hour, so much of this testimony was about the mueller investigation and donald trump's attempts to
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