different standards in terms of like, i have a political problem in my hand. and everything you said about the legal standards as 100% true an important. he denies the allegations. but like a lot of times, that's not enough, for someone politically. matt gaetz is writing this out. he's in a safe district. we'll see what happens but so far he seems like he sitting tight. mark caputo, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> that is all in on this thursday night. the rachel maddow chill starts right now. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, chris. thanks very much. i appreciate it. thanks for joining us, really happy to have you here. president biden hosted the parting supreme court justice stephen breyer at the white house today. big an event to formalize the announcement of justice breyer's retirement. president biden also invited justice breyer and his wife to come to sleep over in the lincoln bedroom sometime if they want to. president biden at the white house today reiterated his pledge to appoint an african

american woman as his nominee to the supreme court for justice breyer's seat. even though other presidents including ronald reagan, donald trump have made pledges of that kind to pick a specific demographic for the court. in reagan's case he pledged in advance as a candidate that he would appoint the first women justice. president trump also pledged that he would appoint a female justice to court, nevertheless conservative media and republicans are tearing their hair out and pretending like nothing like this is ever happened before and they are so outraged that a black women is finally going to be nominated to the court lead. president biden pledged that his nominee would be announced within a month by the end of february and so now the countdown begins. we've got eyes on that story tonight as we will every night until we've got a nominee and beyond. i also have to tell you because i know you, and we've also got

ice tonight on the story i know you most want to hear on tonight's show. big about what is happening with the irate irish fishermen. the irate irish fisherman we talked about on the show couple nights ago have decided that they were going to sail their fishing boats out into the middle of the russian navy's planned war games off the irish coast next. week as russia continues the military buildup on the borders of ukraine, taunting the nato countries and menacing everyone with this threat, that they're going to start a new war any dana, the russian navy has announced are going to do a big live fire exercise right off the irish coast right near the nexus of a whole bunch of under scene communications tables. internet cables. that the russian navy has already been accused of messing with. ireland is not happy about these russian wargames plans for next week. particularly everything else that's going on with russia right now. the irish prime minister has

said that russia should call off these war games. russia says it absolutely will not. they will do as they please. but this small fleet of fishermen from county court, they say those russian were games are planned right in the middle of where they fish this time of year for cruel and prongs big and frankly, they get their new prong quota on tuesday of next week, and so whether or not we're games are going on at the time, they are going to head out there and fish big. and the russian navy better get out of their way. as i said, we covered the story a couple of nights ago on the show. we heard from or if you guys on that story than we've heard from you on almost anything else before covered in the last year. we got a huge response to that coverage from you guys. we continue to have eyes on that story. today, the irish fishermen actually went to the russian embassy in dublin to do diplomacy to tell the russian

government to stay away from their micro. where these fishermen the people the world has to put in the pitch position to go nose to nose with russian navy winter about to start another war, i'm not quite sure how this -- how we -- i'm not sure how we ended up here as a world. but we will have an update on how it's going for the irish fishermen just ahead tonight, you're gonna want to see that. all of that is coming up. but we start tonight in the summer of 2020 of the first summer with which we were dealing with the ravages of the covid epidemic. and a sort of press conference stunt, the summer of 2020, a bunch of people got up on the steps of the united states supreme court and he gave a press conference. they wore white doctors coats, the coats all had embroidered on them a little logo, america's frontline doctors. the point of that stunt that day was to tell the american people from this sort of

official looking group, or at least medical looking group, that actually, covid is no big deal. you definitely don't need to stay socially distance from anyone else, businesses don't need to school, schools don't need to close, nobody needs to make any accommodation for the lives for it. we definitely don't need to wear a mask. none of those things will keep you from getting covid. everyone is lying to you when they tell you that those things will be the risk of covid. and besides, even if you do get covid, it's no big deal because secretly, the government doesn't want you to know this, but there's a cure for covid. just take this anti malaria drug, and also maybe some zinc, and that's the cure! the government doesn't want you to know there is a cure. the whole covid thing is a hoax. don't be a sheeple, people! it's all fine. that was a weird event in the summer of 2020. one of the americas frontline doctor speakers at that event is also known for her passion to claims that if you have a very insists, that's because

you have been having sex with the demons in your sleep. which you should really stop doing, because once you stop having sex with demons in your sleep, that will fix your variances. she also says you should not trust western medicine at all because it's all based on dna from space aliens. that said, white coat! and she says that she's a frontline doctor so she must know what she's talking about, can you disprove the sex with demons thing? can you? congress has since opened an investigation into america's frontline doctors not because of that supreme court stunt, but after that, they appear to have morphed into a hard sell online grift or outfit where they set up what appeared to be bogus telemedicine appointments during which these doctors would mark it to you and then prescribe to you another fake covid cure, the anti parasite

drug ivermectin, which has no utility against covid whatsoever. the group will take a hefty cut for the proceeds for the trouble that they made -- hard sell on ivermectin medicine appointments. for all the covid drifts and all the nonsense associated with this group, you might expect a congressional investigation, potentially of law enforcement investigation as well. you might not expect the leader of a state with one of the highest body counts from covid to look to someone from that group to become the top health official in the state. you would expect that. but behold, governor ron desantis of florida, that is exactly what he has done. a few months ago, ron desantis shows this guy, a doctor named joseph latypov, seen here at the 2020 america's frontline doctors event outside the supreme court, governor desantis chose him to be other new surgeon general of florida.

despite, like, this. what doctor a lot of poll apparently endeared himself to ron desantis with the prince is not -- appearances and conservative media and a series of op-eds where he said that covid isn't so bad and you definitely shouldn't wear a mask to avoid getting it. since becoming surgeon general of florida, doctor ladapo has done press conferences with ron desantis where he has ominously questioned the safety of the vaccines, encouraging people to not get them because they're dangerous. he also earned himself a brief moment of notoriety in the press for refusing to personally, himself, wear a mask while he was in a meeting with the state senator who had just been diagnosed with cancer. she asked him to please put on a mask because of her serious medical condition. he refused. but one of the ways dr. ladapo rose to prominence and conservative media circles and

to this top medical post in florida that ron desantis put him in, was in large part on the basis of him staking his credibility on being a frontline doctor. in his conservative media appearances and his op-eds, he presented himself as a frontline doctor who spent time as a physician treating many, many, many covid patients. and his expertise and his matter was born out of the hard work he had experienced with all of his experience treating patients with covid-19. we reported exclusive a couple of months ago with evidence that calls this into question. doctor ladapo wrote to op-eds in 2020 city that he took care of covid patients, particularly at you see l.a.'s flagship hospital. multiple people who worked at

ucla's hospital at the same time as doctor ladapo said that he was misleading the public about his experience treating covid patients there. a member of the team covid -- treating covid patients told us that doctor ladapo was not part of that team. we also obtained scheduling documents from the time doctor ladapo was working at ucla. those documents did not show dr. ladapo scheduled to take care of covid patients at all. we contacted the florida department of health seeking comment from doctor ladapo multiple times when you first air this reporting, but we never heard back. we reached out again this week, and the press secretary for the florida department of health responded by calling our request for comment, quote, cute. that was an actual quote. thanks for reaching out to ask about this unsubstantiated conspiracy theory. it's cute that you're asking for comment. this is a state government. we then heard from the communications director at the florida department of health,

he confirmed that doctor ladapo did not treat covid patients during much of 2020 when ucla was running a covid ward, but he claimed that doctor ladapo must have treated patients prior and after that period. he told us, quote, i'm sure you can find documents that prove that if you're finding other documents to promote your narrative. listen, we're not trying to find documents to promote a narrative, we're trying to figure out whether guy told the truth. and the thing is, we did try very hard to get hold of any documents that would prove that doctor ladapo treated covid patients at ucla, particularly given the word from other doctors who actually did treat patients at ucla that he was never among them and they never saw him. we have tried to find documents that would indicate that doctor ladapo treated patients at ucla. we cannot find any such documents. doctor lad ladapo, nor the florida department of health has given us any documents.

and any existing records that we can find indicate lots of other doctors treating covid patients at ucla's hospital but not him. one other thing to know about doctor ladapo, is that he has not yet been confirmed into this post as florida's surgeon general. governor desantis put him up for the job months ago and he has essentially been functioning as florida surgeon -- but he has to be confirmed by the state senate and florida. yesterday, he appeared before the florida senate for his confirmation hearing, and it was -- it was -- it was something. >> thank you so much mister chair and thank you doctor ladapo for being with us today. do you believe vaccines work? >> you recognize for an answer. >> thank you, thank you senator. i consider vaccines in the same

way that i consider other medical therapies. what we care about clinically is whether they are safe and effective. and that is the lens through which i evaluate all medical therapies. >> do you believe that vaccines in fighting against a pandemic like covid-19 are effective? >> you are recognized. >> thank you for your question, senator. again, i would say that the question is a scientific one and it's one that is answered with data. so, the -- the question -- the question is informed by data on, you know -- on specific outcomes, and specific -- specific therapies. that's -- that's -- that's the scientific question.

>> mister chair, just a couple of more followups. just a yes or no, do vaccines work in fighting against covid-19. yes or no? >> you are recognized. >> senator, i -- just -- i -- as a scientist, i -- i am compelled to answer a scientific question. and i will be happy to answer any specific scientific question that you have related to vaccines and covid-19. >> scientifically, do vaccines -- do the vaccines work against preventing covid-19. yes or no? >> you are recognized. >> thank you again senator. yes or no questions are not that easy to find in science. >> that's the democratic leader of the florida state senate, senator lauren book, struggling

valiantly to try to get an answer out of governor ron desantis's handpicked surgeon general for the state of florida. senator book and her democratic colleagues ultimately got up and walked out of that hearing, saying that they were fed up with a doctor ladapo's refusal to offer any answers to the questions. after that, the sun-sentinel published this response. quote, joseph ladapo and his contrived evasiveness moscow. quote, doctor ladapo is an expert, all right. he's masterful at dodging questions, and salting the intelligence of floridians, and avoiding answering questions. i'm married to data, ladapo told senators. the reality is that he is married to desantis's agenda to politicize the pandemic. the doctor does not deserve to be confirmed as surgeon general, especially now that he has shown that he has so little respect for the people of florida that he wouldn't give them straight answers through senators.

i mean. they're a lot of debates around the covid-19 pandemic and our response to it and effective policies. and some of those debates are absolutely worthwhile. it is a novel coronavirus. therefore, we learn more about it scientifically as we move on in time and we live with it for longer. some of those debates are absolutely worthwhile, but some of them are ridiculous. and on the question of do the vaccines work, i don't know? i don't know? seniors who are vaxed are 50 times less likely to be hospitalized with covid than seniors who aren't. 50 times! that's not statistically significant for you? not to be weird, but even donald trump says that the vaccines work. the vaccines work. but the surgeon general of florida cannot bring himself to say that. that's apparently a bridge too far for the state's top doctor.

someone should probably check in with him to see where he thinks ovarian cysts come from. but it's possible that all of this goes some way towards explaining the latest of covid related insanity coming from florida's government. and the way that republican government is going right now, -- with governor ron desantis, have a way of spreading around the world, spreading to other republican states. so it's worth noting this controversy over his top health official. it's also worth noting and watching out for other states to emulate governor desantis on what happened there this week. this week, governor desantis released this furious tirade against the biden administration, blasting them for stopping shipments of two monoclonal antibody treatments for covid. desantis called that a sudden and reckless decision, and accuse the biden administration of basically killing people, blocking lifesaving treatments.

he said that he's gonna fight back against this decision. what is so strange about this explosion of rage from florida's governor, ron desantis, is that the reason the federal government stop sending those two particular monoclonal antibody treatments to florida and all the other states in the country is that those two monoclonal antibodies do not work against the omicron variant. those two monoclonal antibodies have been a fantastic treatment for previous variants of covid. they have saved lots, and lots, of lives. but they don't work against omicron. it has mutated in such a way that is not susceptible to those treatments. the drug makers themselves say that they have done the tests and those monoclonal antibody treatments don't work against omicron. and omicron makes up 99% of new cases of covid across the country, including florida. you don't have to be a chemist to understand this. again, this is a simple thing, antibody drugs formulated with

specificity to respond to this coronavirus. then your mutation of the virus, the one that is 99% prevalent in the united states right now, that new mutation is not susceptible to these treatments from these two companies. it is not that hard to understand. if you are four years old and listening to me right now, you probably understand what i just said. there is one monoclonal antibody from glaxosmithkline that does still work against omicron. that drug is unfortunately in very short supply right now, and they are struggling to make more of it as fast as they can. but from those other two companies, from regeneron, and and a lady, there antibody treatments, while they worked on earlier iterations of the coronavirus, they don't work on the current one. again, this is easy. this is not even like matt! this is counting on your fingers territory. but in florida, they apparently cannot get that. even before today, all this month, governor ron desantis has been on this cake about how many antibody treatment centers

he's open and how many doses of regeneron, the one that doesn't work against omicron, how many doses of regeneron he has managed to secure for floridians and how the biden administration has sent enough and he's demanding more. it's been clear for weeks that these treatments don't work against the omicron variant and the omicron variant has taken over. a week ago, the daily beast summed it up with this accurate headline. ron desantis opens antibodies centers that are useless against omicron. the and governor desantis surgeon general has timed into saying, we should not just listen to people labeled as experts on these matters, he says he will personally continue to use antibody treatments on patients with omicron even though they are proven not to work against omicron. again because, you know it works so well with ivermectin, and i don't know what's the antidote is to use sex with demons but i'm sure we've knit that in the bud now.

it's a weird fight to pick right now. under the leadership of ron desantis and joe ladapo, florida's insisting that as a state government, they are gonna do nothing to mitigate the spread of covid whatsoever. and worse than that, they're gonna continue to spread out and misinformation about both vaccines and masks. but they insist that they must be able to continue to give people monoclonal antibodies that literally do not work against the omicron variant which is covid now. we are two years into this pandemic. this is wet passes for pandemic policy in our third most populous state. and as i said, republican politics are in such a state right now that what happens in florida tends to spread to other red states as soon as it gets featured on fox news or whatever. doctor ladapo's confirmation process to officially become the surgeon general of florida,

it is still not complete in florida. he is due before the ethics committee next week. perhaps at that next round of confirmation hearing, someone will ask him about his nonsensical claims about monoclonal antibodies. perhaps somebody will ask him about his tree -- claims of treating covid patients when it appears he had not. maybe will pop the bubble here. don't hold your breath. r breath ♪ oh, oh, oh ♪ ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. and you may lose weight. adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. in adults also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. ozempic® helped me get back in my type 2 diabetes zone. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes.

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it's from the russian embassy, russia's embassy in the nation of ireland. quote, any attempts to interfere with military exercises would be, a, reckless and irresponsible act which could put in harm's way both sailors and fishermen. starting next week as russia keeps the world guessing as to whether another going to invade ukraine start another war there, next week, russia is planning big wargames style military

exercises off the coast of ireland. the russian government issued that statement this week warning that no one should get in their way while they are doing these live fire exercises in the sea off the irish coast. that statement though was not meant for, like, the nation-state of ireland overall. it was not a warning for ireland's navy. but it really was was a warning for these guys, fishermen from county cork who say they plan to disrupt russia's war game exercises next week which are scheduled to take place in the waters where the fish, where they make their living. to say these fishermen are undeterred by russia statement about the war games, that would be an understatement. listen to this. >> are you aware of that, that the russian embassy is saying, well, the russian embassy is saying your behavior is reckless. >> how is it reckless to go out and about and protest peacefully to say we -- you are not welcome in our waters. how is that reckless?

>> they're saying it's not your -- >> house that reckless? i'm not even going to entertain any russian embassy or any ambassador whatsoever, joe. i'll tell you -- this is directly to that gentlemen there. >> yeah but -- >> if anybody tries to impede my freedom of movement in irish waters -- >> while their international waters -- >> they're going to be in trouble. >> i come back to the statement from the russian ambassador. he -- said >> i have no relationship with the russian ambassador. i'm a free citizen of ireland. he has no authority over me, and i take his threats as an insult! >> he wouldn't -- >> that's my answer to him. okay? that's my answer to the russian ambassador of ireland. i take his threats as an insult and he should withdraw it. >> i take his threats as an insult and he should withdraw it. yesterday, the russian embassy and ireland invited the cork fishermen to come visits, to come to their embassy and dublin and meet with the

russian ambassador to try to talk it out. the fisherman agreed to take the meeting. had i been him i'm not sure i would've. but he they went. the head of the cork fisherman's organization offered this preview of what he planned to tell the ambassador when he sat down with him's face to face. >> is it a fishing ground or is it a firing range? >> okay, well why can the russian ambassador say to you in the morning that will make you call off your flotilla? >> we're not calling off our flotilla, we are going out to fish see, joe? the fisherman are going to go fish in this area! >> what are going to tell the russian investor? >> i'm going to explain to the russian ambassador, this is where we fish. this is where we -- we are hoping that if they're going to carry out an exercise, they will keep a safe distance from us, not the other way around. and if they feel that they need to come into our area where we're fishing, our processes, we're not moving. >> our protest is, we are not moving. the small group of irish fishermen, of course, they are not the only people in the

world who are upset with russia right now, as russia uses its military to menace europe. but as far as russia's military exercises are around the edges of that go, it does seem like the fishermen in ireland are the only ones who are doing anything about it. this is what's ahead of the fissures organization told the local press, he said, quote, it is a bit funny that it is up to us, but we will take the opportunity to represent our fishermen at whatever level and whatever way we can. well today, two representatives from the russian -- irish fishermen the travel from court to dublin to meet with the russian ambassador. the meeting lasted a little under an hour, and they said the meeting went well. they came outside and they felt that the ambassador took their concerns seriously. they felt understood by him. they can do a compromise, an agreement, that russia will create a sort of buffer zone between the fishing grounds and their wargames.

basically an agreement to share the waters out there next week. so everybody can do their jobs and no one will get hurt, we can all coexist. the fisherman said russia gave them a, quote, absolute guarantee that their fishing grounds would not be disrupted by russia's military exercises. the embassy even put up this photo >> the embassy put out a photo with the but the two fishermen with the ambassador. everyone's ambassador. getting along now, it's everything's fine. fine. yeah absolute an absolute guarantee. guarantee, but i mean here's these fishermen, right? why is it up to them to negotiate the terms of the russian navies military exercises? could the russian government really be dealing with these guys and good faith about this? expressing with the limits will be, with the buffers will, be the guarantee that they're giving them about not disrupting anything. i believe the fishermen when they say the ambassador gave them an absolute guarantee that the fishing grounds would not be disrupted. i believe the ambassador told them that. but then of course once the

fishermen came out of the embassy and said that publicly the russians claimed that no such thing had happened. this is the headline in the irish times. russian embassy disputes claims of absolute guarantee to irish fishermen on naval exercise impact. these fishermen are fishermen! they're not trained diplomats and russia appears to try to take advantage advantage of that, reneging on whatever promises they may have found in these guys in the room today. the ranking these guys chains. these guys are just fishermen. who cares. all week as we've been covering the story, this back and forth between one of the most powerful navies on earth and these fishermen, and one thing that's state constant, these guys are very clear they're not going to budge. >> i have no relationship with the russian ambassador! i'm a free citizen of ireland. he has no authority over me and i take his threat as an insult. >> if they feel that they need

to come into our area where we're fishing, our processes, we're not moving. >> our protest is, we're not moving. russia's military exercise are supposed to start on thursday next week. the fisherman's say, the prong quota opens up on tuesday, so we're gonna be out there on the water doing our job starting on tuesday and we are not planning on moving, not for you. we shall see. more ahead tonight. stay with us. ay with us

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part of the state. otero county. it's the largest one in terms of size but it's got a relatively small population. about 70,000 residents. you may know the name alum accord oh because it's located near the side of the 1945 trinity test which is where the u.s. army conducted the world's first ever nuclear explosion. hello. in the 2020 presidential election new mexico overall

went for joe biden by a pretty good margin. by about 11 points, but in otero county, trump carried a terrell county by our nearly 2 to 1 margin, won by more than 25 points there. apparently that 25 point margin was not a big enough margin for trump -- in otero county. earlier this month the commissioners their decided they would authorize and after the fact audit of the county's 2020 election results. this is the same kind of thing the republicans of done in arizona, wisconsin, pennsylvania, i should note that one of the county commissioners who voted for the audit has himself been indicted for breaching the capitol on january 6th and all three otero county commissions shows a company to run this audit that is led by an election conspiracy theorist who claims to have invented email and who claims that the way the election was stolen was that in every single state in 2020, trump's share of the vote was reduced by exactly 4.2%. he knows this is how they did it, because he learned this

from a close contextual reading of the 1970s sci-fi comedy classic, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. that had the secret to stealing the election. the otero county commissioner -- over the objections of the county attorney, they decided it was definitely worth spending nearly $15,000 and taxpayer funds to have that guy and his company conduct an audit of the election results in the county and trump carried over by 25 points. well, this week we learned from daily news, alam accord oh that the state auditor of new mexico has opened a new investigation into how the county awarded that contract -- confirmed it opened a special examination over an agreement between otero county and affirmed to audit the results of the 2020 election asserting the contract could violate stave proof human loss. joining us now is new mexico state auditor, brian cologne

looking into the contract in otero county. mr. cologne, thank you for joining us tonight. >> great to be with you, rachel. thank you for having me. >> did i get any of that wrong or is that any part of this that's important to the story that i left out? >> no, i think you gotta just exactly right. i didn't know much about the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy from the story, but i think it's excellent framing. >> would prompted you and your office to open an inquiry over this contract? what sort of responsibility do you have for this type of county level expenditure? >> you know, the beauty and new mexico is we have the office of the state auditor that oversees and audits government transactions and the expenditures of the taxpayers resources in our state. the important evasions we have at the office of the state of the resort special investigation divisions. that's really driven by engagement with the public when they have concerns about waste -- abuse. waste fraud and abuse.

-- a whistle blower anonymously provided a complaint to our office about this expenditure. when we did do a review we determined it was appropriate to open up an investigation exam on this particular transaction where gathering data now, but we -- my job is to restore peoples faith and government. i'm not sure that's what's going on in otero county right now. >> we've seen a number of these investigations, including a number of them that involved this conspiracy theorists company appears to -- the company that's going to be awarded this contract in the county, we've seen this in a number of other states and we've seen people all over the country and elected officials such as yourself and the states lament that these audits are unscientific, not keeping with u.s. practices, designed to essentially make people have doubts about the election and that they should not have doubts about. is that part of what is motivating this investigation, or are those concerns by the potential impact of an audit

like this? separate and apart from the type of investigation your office is doing into what kind of expenditure this is? >> for us, every dollar in new mexico is important to the taxpayers. we've got to make sure that there is not any waste, fraud or abuse. we have elected officials who are abusing power potentially, we hold them accountable with these investigations and in our founding's. we've had experience in otero county where the county commissioner was overreaching. we were doing an investigation and we found that there were inappropriate expenditures. that kind of commissioner had to give money back to the taxpayers of terrell county, and now we have this concern advanced by the county commissioner in otero county. now for me would i always have to look at is is this transaction in the best interest of taxpayers? in this particular concern, you've got to wonder whether this has to do with the personal agenda and that's

going to be part of the question. woodrow this transaction. was it appropriate, legal, compliant with all our coats, regulations and procurement process? and was it in the best interest of the taxpayers or was this the situation where we really had wasted government, of this audit, there's already been an audit on this election bipartisan panel. the question is is it appropriate to spend another $50,000 to audit the election or is the personal agenda driving the decision? you got an attorney for the county that advised against it, and then the commission certainly can act against attorneys guidance, but in this case we are going to do a full and complete investigation and make sure that dollar was -- that's my job. i do it every day. we do it for all 33 counties of new mexico. >> you mexico state auditor brian cologne, thank you for helping us understand this. this is a situation a different reiteration of in a number of

different states. your investigation at the county level is something unique we've never seen in other places. we can't wait to see the progress on your investigation. >> we look forward to staying intentional. but -- no one's above the law in new mexico and we will hold everyone accountable. thank you. >> thank, you sir. we will be right back. stay with us. thank, you sir. thank, you sir. we will be stay with us ♪ limu emu and doug.♪ rig. stay with us ze your insurance at libertymutual.com so you only pay for what you need. isn't that right limu? limu? limu? sorry, one sec. doug blows several different whistles. doug blows several different whistles. [a vulture squawks.] there he is. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪

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excess stomach acid can cause heartburn. prilosec otc works differently by preventing excess acid production. so don't fight heartburn, block it. prilosec otc. one pill in the morning blocks heartburn, all day and all night. thanks to the greatness and goodness of americas public records laws, we just obtained documents that illuminate a we are dead and in the ongoing scandal about these fake election documents republicans created multiple states to try to cast faked electoral college votes for donald trump. one of the odd quirks in the story is that in the state of arizona, republicans there created not one, but two different sets of forged elector paperwork, one of them looks identical to the fake documents that were also sign and submitted from five other states. that one arizona forgery looks like the forged documents from

georgia, nevada, michigan, wisconsin. but the second state of forged documents sent in by arizona republicans look different. it was phrased differently, the font was different. they had a notary officially -- it had the arizona state seal all over it, trying to make it look like an official state document which it was not. it was just different from the other ones. well now look at this, we know the arizona republicans didn't just create that document for themselves to fantasize about the real electors. they mailed in that forgery to the national archives in washington. we actually have the envelope that they sense it in. they sent it in priority -- it cost him $26.35, it was a good deal. then we also know that they mailed it into the national archives because we know at the national archives did when they receive this envelope containing the forged document. we have an email from the national archives to doug doocy's office, quote, shame

for your awareness that we receive this moment an unofficial arizona certificate of ascertainment from an arizona sovereign citizens group. governor doocy's office wrote back to the national archives that day, hi, thank you for sharing. quote, i presume you will not accept or oppose this an official certificate because, among under things, it does not meet the requirements under federal law. can you please confirm? arizona governor doug doocy said that he had no idea that this fake electors thing had been going on as -- we know that his office at the time was directly in touch with the national archives about these fake documents and telling the national archives not to accept them. so that's kind of strange. we but regardless, a week after that exchange between the governor's office in the national archives, we can have after that exchange, that special agent in charge of the investigations office at the national archives rollback to

the arizona governor's office, a week and a half later, hello, i am ready from the national archives office of infestations. we are aware that the federal -- receive to unofficial win -- they were in fact notified of it. quote, we are looking into this matter to determine if any violations or election fraud were committed. and wanted to know if your office was looking into this further or otherwise refer to it to other local or federal law enforcement agencies. in other words, that's the federal investigators on the beat at the national archives saying, we are starting a federal investigation of this matter, we need to know if there is a state investigation to so we can deconflict. so we don't step on each other's toes. governor doocy's office responded to that saying, it is our understanding that the secretary of state's office has notified the appropriate authorities. then, the secretary of state's office time to, yes, we are referring it to the arizona attorney generals office for potential prosecution,, quote

for enforcement of the unearth arise do use of the state steel and other potential violations of state law. and indeed, they made that formal referral. here's the letter. arizona secretary of state writing to the person who sent in the fake electors documents saying, number one, stop using the state seal, it's illegal. and number two, we're referring you to the attorney generals office for potential prosecution. the following day, on december 23rd, we've got the secretary of state making that formal criminal referral to the a.g.'s office. and it's a very straightforward thing. we received these documents from the arizona residents, purporting to the official state documents using the official state seal. these were not real official documents, use of the state sealed by anybody not authorized to use it is a crime in arizona. here's all the material, this is a crime, please proceed mister attorney general. that formal criminal referral was made to the other zone attorney generals office december 23rd, 2020.

more than a year ago. him since then, nothing. so there's two questions here. one of them is about the federal cops on the beat here. why did federal investigations at the national archives only open an investigation into one of the two fake slates of electors they received from arizona? sure, that came first, but a few days later, when a second set of fake elector documents came from arizona and a bunch of other states, why wasn't a federal investigation launched into those as well? or was it? we are trying to find out. we will let you know as soon as we have figured it out. but also, in this situation in arizona, i mean, again, they had to fake electors slates from two different sets of republicans in arizona. and this one but the states seal on it was sort of a special case. kind of an open and shut case, using a states seal on a foreshock human. and here's the secretary of

state's office saying, hey attorney general, crime here, please prosecute. that was over a year ago, so far, nothing. what happened but this at the attorney generals office in arizona? why this dead-end there? well, let's turn to local journalists in arizona to see what they think. i! laurie roberts writing this week for the arizona republic. quote, anyone waiting breathlessly for attorney general mark run of itch to launch an investigation into the fake trump electors who participated in the scheme to overturn arizona's vote should wait no longer. brnovich is a latest fund raising plea makes it abundantly clear that he has no intention of actually doing his job. and then she shows this recent fundraising gambit from the attorney general. are you really going to ignore president trump? we thought he could count on you, brnovich says in this fund-raiser making the rounds to republicans on facebook. quote, this is your last chance to help flip arizona and take back the senate! don't miss your chance to be on trump's team!

lori roberts continues, quote, set aside for a second that this fundraising plea is a blatant misrepresentation of the truth. trump has an interest brnovich and arizona, and in fact, through a fund-raiser for one of brnovich's opponents. brnovich is in a crowded republican race for the senate, a race in which every candidate is competing to be annoyed by trump for the job. but trump has not endorsed anyone in the senate race. brnovich should be investigating the phony trump electors who on december 2020 signed a document of vowing that they represented the true electoral votes from arizona. they sent it by registered mail to the u.s. senate in the national archives. fortunately, federal investigators are looking into it, but shunned the states prosecutor have at least a passing interest in such a blatant scheme carried out right under his nose? roberts continues, quote, it seems painfully clear that you can't be both the attorney general of arizona, in charge of investigating all aspects of the 2020 election, and a senate candidate who was chasing trump's endorsement.

at least, you shouldn't be. the conflict of interest is oh so clearly evidence in brnovich's latest fund raising plea. brnovich's heart may lie with trump, but his obligation remains to the people of arizona. he should resign. that's from the arizona republic today. calls for the arizona attorney general to resign if, among other things, he's not gonna prosecute the states fake electors. and i'm -- i'm not close enough to arizona politics of the likelihood of any resignation here, i'm guessing it's not gonna happen. but if you're wondering why there is a need for a federal investigation if you're wondering why the u.s. justice department now says they are investigating, well, this kind of michigan in the states might help explain why that's needed. in this case, no action for more than a year, even in the most clear cut imaginable case where state law was definitely, for sure, no doubt about it, broken. it, broken

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tonight. amen will be in here for me tomorrow night. and i'll see you again on monday i promise. now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. st wor >> good evening, lawrence. i watched tentatively your report on the irish fishermen who are now telling the russian navy, vladimir putin's