i've just never seen anything like this. >> a frustrated scott hamilton. 1984's figure skating gold medalist, to take us off here tonight. that is our broadcast for this tuesday night, with our thanks for being with us, on behalf of all of my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, goodnight. news, goodnight. >> thanks to you at home for joining us this hour, it is hard to believe now that there was a time when being able to safely take a hammer to it was one of its biggest selling points. quote, hammer the hammer of a loaded diver johnson revolver without the fear of discharge, you take no risk. this gun is so safe, you can literally take a hammer to it, and it will not go off by mistake. and then there's this one. this ad has a gun in the hands of a little girl. papa says it will not hurt us. accidental discharge, impossible.

given the aggressive sensational culture around gun ownership in this country today, it's almost impossible to believe that ads for guns ever look this benign. here is a little boy who just wants to hunt some rabbits, this is from the early 1900s. the simplicity of the remington ensures safety and -- advertisements in this country look nothing like this anymore, these are the ads from remington, the same company that made the ad with the boy and the bunny more than 100 years ago. you see the silhouette of a soldier here using the gun being advertised. the copies says, quote, when you need to perform under pressure the bushmaster weapon delivers. implying that, you too, can do whatever this soldier can do as long as this gun is in your hands. how about this one? this weapon is tested and proven reliable in the most brutal conditions on earth.

it's the uncompromising choice when you demand a rifle as mission adaptable as you are. it is, quote, the ultimate military combat weapons system. last one. quote, consider your man card reissued. the fine print reads, if it's good enough for the professional, it's good enough for you. the gun in this ad is a military style weapons similar to an ar-15 called the bush man 223 rifle made the by the company remington. it's the exact same weapon used in the mass shooting at sandy hook elementary school in 2012. that weapon is so efficient, so easy to use, it only took the gunman 264 seconds to kill six adults and 20 more little boys and girls. in 2014, some of the sandy hook families sued remington, the

manufacture of the gun that killed their children, in a wrongful death lawsuit. that case might sound like a no-brainer, but it really was an extraordinarily legal long shot. that's because guns are unlike any other consumer product. the companies that make them are protected by federal law that essentially shields gun manufacturers from accountability after their products are used to murder people. so to get around that law, the family suing remington tried out a new legal strategy. they argue that remington was improperly marketing their weapon to civilians. the families argued that remington was telling people that a gun built for a military

style combat could, and, should be used in every day civilian life. and as evidence, they presented these ads, the ones that remington said would make you a man. the ones that were battle-tested, meant for combat, the ones that were, according to remington, good enough for professionals and good enough for you. their lawyers used an analogy in court, one that makes their argument incredibly easy to understand. >> can you imagine for motor company advertising wonder if their cars to run over people? who has -- would hesitate to hold him accountable for? that >> makes sense? you don't tell your customers to buy baseball bat because it's easy to break in people's houses. you don't tell people to buy shoes to sneak a bomb on a plane. so by the logic, you shouldn't sell a gun that was can annihilate scores of people just like the soldiers and come back to. this case has been dragging on for seven years. and today, remington agreed to a settlement. the company that made the gun that killed 26 people at sandy

hook elementary school, it agreed today to pay the families of those victims $73 million. that is believed to be the largest settlement ever between a gun manufacturer and the families of the people killed by its product. for the families of the victims though, this lawsuit was never about money. it was about accountability. it was about getting some semblance of justice after their loved ones, their little children, were gunned down. and it was also about information. as part of any legal proceeding like this one, the parties involved are expected to turn over what is called discovery. what's simply discovery, any record or document or communication that could be in any way relevant to the lawsuit. and so with this lawsuit, the sandy hook families hope to obtain through the discovery process some insight into how these gun companies operate. and how they make decisions around marketing their products. as a condition of the

settlement, the families are allowed to publicize what they learned from the thousands and thousands of documents turned over by remington over the course of this trial. these are documents that remington has fought tooth and nail to keep out of the public eye. the families that brought this belief that bringing these documents to light will help prevent the next mass shooting. one of these families is the wheeler family. their little boy benjamin was six years old when he was shot and killed at sandy hook. today, ben's dad, david wheeler, talked about how he hopes the settlement means more families don't have to do what his wife and himself how to do today. >> we are standing here because ben isn't. he would be tall, probably with just a brown hair and probably lanky, probably skinny.

but, as francine said, he is six. he is six forever. under a granite stone in newtown cemetery. when you lose a kid, at an age like that, six years is not enough time to take all the photographs and videos that you need to last for the rest of your life. one of the reasons ben's not here, is because some people made a decision driven by an increased desire for profits and a fear of a shrinking market share, to focus their advertising on young man.

to sell them their product. the most intentionally lethal consumer product our species has ever devised. think about this for a second. does honda market they're incredibly powerful open wheel formula 1 race cars to young drivers, inexperienced drivers, and tell them that if they buy the product, they'll be able to dominate the public roads and highways? do they do that? do the makers of hunting knives and compound bows imply, in their advertising, to young hunters, that they can turn those weapons on other human beings, and that buying them and using them will bring them power and glory? no! but that's with the firearms industry did. they behaved irresponsibly to

make more money. and their corporate partners turned the other cheek. today is an example of our system working. an example of the process that, while lengthy, it makes it clear to the manufacturers of these products that if you want to sell them, you must do it in a reasonable and responsible way. and it makes clear to the banks that fund them, and the insurance companies that cover them, that there will be a steep price for irresponsible behavior. our son ben did not behave irresponsibly on december 14th. he went to school! and now he's gone. and we are here. because we want to make sure that another father and another mother don't have to stand here someday. thank you. >> joining us now is joshua

koskoff, he is a lawyer representing the sandy hook families. he was standing just over david wheeler's shoulder in that video we just played. thank you so much for being here. i know that it's an extraordinarily emotional day, it's been an emotional last, almost, decade. this struggle has gone on for so long. can you first tell us how the families are at the end of this a long road that began with just such unspeakable horror? >> i mean -- i think they are exhausted. i think they are just emotionally drained, i wasn't ready to watch that speech, if you notice in the background, i was a bit of a mess when he was talking. >> i think we're all a bit of a mess when we were watching him speak about his son. >> yeah.

and it's just been a very -- it's a very difficult -- it may sound odd two of you were that this is a complicated time. it is, from a straight legal perspective, it's about as pure, i think, a result as you can get in this case. there is nothing in the result, as a pure legal matter, compensations, the documents, that is insufficient. there is no more money and we got the documents. there is nothing more we can do. but when you lose a child like they have, or a loved one, and this case has sort of kept them alive, so to see it coming to an end is very difficult. it's also difficult, alex, to look at it with at the money -- it's a conflicting feeling. so i just reminded the families that this is the money -- the importance of the money is

the importance of the impact this can have on change. so, it's difficult. >> that point that -- the purpose of this lawsuit offered some solace in grief is an important caveat to all of this. i do want to talk a little bit though about the strategy. because you represent these families over several years. at one point, last july, remington offered $33 million to settle the lawsuit, and the families rejected that. what's changed since then that prompted the settlement offer to be more than doubled, and for you to accept it? >> i think that the critical thinking at the time of the offer was -- first of all, we didn't have all the documents that we wanted. and the documents where the

linchpin of the resolution. the case never would've settled no matter how much money they paid or, if we didn't get the documents, period. so that time we were doing what you pointed to your viewers as to discovery, taking depositions. so we wanted to complete that. at the same time, there were two other insurance carriers who had not come to the conclusion that the other carriers had. and we felt that the message had to be $73 million, maybe all that you have, but understand this, if remington we're still in business, we would not take this money because it's inadequate. and, again, the message not being, we want more money, the message being, you can't ensure this conduct at $73 million. so, it was really important that we got all the insurance carriers on board. but it was two boxes that had to be checked for us to accept a resolution, and that's what

happened. >> let's talk a little bit about discovery because throughout this process, you guys have placed utmost importance on these internal documents of remington, that you say prove wrongdoing. and those can be made public. can you talk a little bit about what your team found in these documents and when the rest of us can expect to see them? we know that in big tobacco, the discovery -- the documents we got about how big tobacco was lying to the american public, and the hazards that the american public had to take on, that was as explosive as anything else. >> that's true, but there is a slight difference. i mean, look at the documents you showed your audience tonight. i was just thinking, yes, there are -- we are going to be making them public. this is all coming very quickly and we have to organize everything and figure out a way to do this in a way that is helpful. because if you post thousands of documents online, it could be difficult to go through them. but i go back to what you

showed, and that's the kind of things that are publicly available. and you kind of get the idea that there is wrongdoing right off the top anyway. you look at the ads, you look at the efforts -- remington was very boastful at the time about the marketing of the younger demographic and how they love their weapons. so there's really a lot hiding in plain sight. i'm not trying to duck the question, but -- because we are working on that part of it. but let's just put it this way, those documents are like -- what you see as outside of the puzzle, that's the real color. and it's pretty chilling. -- we look forward to the public becoming better and better versed with the tactics, gun manufacturers and their insurance agencies have been adopting to get product into the hands of people, who then use them to kill. this feels like a turning point, joshua koskoff.

congratulations on the work you've done this far, you have been on a remarkable journey. this is one of the attorneys representing the sandy hook families, it's the end of the road, but perhaps the beginning of another. thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you, alex. appreciate it. >> appeared next here tonight, we have exclusive new reporting about one of the people involved in the fake elector scheme, the one that aimed to get mike pence to use fake electoral certificates on january 6th to declare that donald trump had won the election. that exclusive reporting is next. inhibitor or fulvestrant in postmenopausal women with hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer. kisqali is a pill that's significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant alone. kisqali can cause lung problems,

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facing investigators on the january six committee is the question of who was responsible for the multi state fake elector scheme. if you've been watching the show, you have seen rachel's extensive coverage of this issue. our constitution, -- via the electoral college. and so, after each presidential election, every state convenes

a group of electors to sign an official document casting their votes for whichever candidate won the election in that state. after the 2020 election, trump supporters in seven states, states that biden won, convened their own slates of alternate unofficial electors. and five of those states, those fake trump electors met and signed official looking, official looking, electric certificates. ones that falsely claimed they were the duly elected and qualified electors. those documents all had the same conspicuously similar formatting. the idea was to get vice president pence to use those fake certificates to could declare trump the winner on january six, when it came time to certify the results. for months now, reporters across the country have been trying to get answers from those fake trump electors about who told them to carry out this multi state scheme. here's what it looked like when an arizona reporter put the

question to one of that states fake trump electors. >> would you have direction from anybody and doing this? was it you 11 yourself doing this, or did someone give you advice on the manner in which you can do it? >> so, i'm simply -- i was one of the electors, right? i'm not charge of the electors, you would need to ask the party about it. >> how did you hear about the plan? were you just told to be some more? you >> will need to ask the party. >> you are the person who received the call, you showed up, right? how did you know of to show that up today? >> so as i said, you can go ahead and ask the party chair, the logistics of it. >> ask her how you got the phone call -- did you not know how you arrived at a place? >> thank you, i appreciate your question. thanks so much. have a great one. >> that was arizona state representative jay kaufman trying desperately to seem like he really does not know how he ended up becoming one of those fraudulent electors for donald trump.

well today, we have unearth what we believe to be some exclusive, never seen before documents. one showing just how involved in this scheme state representative jay kaufman really was. on january 5th, 2021, just one day before the attack on the capitol, hough men sent in email to three white house staffers. in that email, he attached to what he described as a quote, urgent letter for the vice president. and asked that a copy of it be shared with then president trump as well. here is what that letter said. quote, dear mr. vice president, i wrote to you on the eve of january 6th joint session of the united states congress to approve the certification of the 2020 presidential election to request that you, in your capacity as the president of the senate and presiding officer over the aforementioned joint session of congress, delay the certification of the election results and instead seek clarification from the arizona legislator as to which

slate of presidential electors are proper and accurate. again, this is the same jake offman who responded to questions about his role in this game by essentially saying, who may? i don't know anything about it, as someone else. one white house staffer who received that email, road back, thanks jake, i have shamed shared a letter with a key member of the presidents team. which is something that might be adventurous to january six investigators. i should note, we have reached out for comment to arizona state representatives state jay kaufman and the white house staffer responded to this email, we have not yet heard back. but how did hough men and all the other fake electors, and up together in this big fraudulent multi state scheme? how did it get started? and who in trump's orbit knew about it, or was involved in planning it? last month, cnn and the washington post both reported that rudy giuliani and several

unnamed trump campaign officials had a role in overseeing the fact electors prod in several states. in the wake of that reporting, january six investigators had subpoenas to 14 of these so-called fake electors. now today, the january six investigators -- investigation, has issued a noose batch of six subpoenas, again focused on the fake elector scheme. the six include two elected state officials in pennsylvania and arizona, as well as the chair of the arizona republican party. but two of the subpoenas were also sent to the director and deputy director of election day operations for trump's 2020 campaign. and their subpoena to michael roman, who served the director of election day operations. the investigators wrote, quote, the select committee is in possession of communications reflecting her involvement in a coordinated strategy to conduct republican members of state legislators, in certain states that former president trump had lost, and urge them to reclaim their authority by sending an

alternate slate of electors, one that would support former president trump. it appears that you helped direct the trump campaign staffers participating in this effort. joining us now is california congressman and member of the january six investigation, pete aguilar. congressman, thank you for joining us, i know you've been busy. >> thanks for having me, alex. >> we have seen public reporting in the last couple days and today that rudy giuliani oversaw this fake electors scheme. and today, your investigation revealed it has the evidence that the director and deputy director of election day operations for the trump campaign were heavily involved in this game. do you expect those individuals to testify and provide documents to the committee? >> well, it's a two-pronged sword there. we want both the production of documents as well as their testimony. that's what we've sought out of each individual who's received a subpoena. that's our expectation.

and so, we'll work with them to achieve that. but ultimately, this is about getting to the truth. and we feel that the six individuals, and those two who have who played a role in coordinating this effort with the states directly, have something to share. and so, we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to seek the truth there. and that means talking to these two individuals and asking them for documents. >> so you're optimistic that the cooperate? >> well, it's our hope that anyone who receives a lawful subpoena cooperates. although some clearly, and the former presidents orbit, have chosen to take a different path with consequences. it's always our expectation and will continue to work in good faith to make sure that we seek these documents and get this testimony. >> do you feel at this point, that you have a firm sense of who is ultimately responsible for this fake elector scheme? >> we feel that we're making significant progress.

but ultimately, what's your reporting shows is just the depths to which this is gone. and the silencing of millions of votes that this campaign official was asking the states, by silencing these votes and flipping a lawful election. that's exactly what they were doing. and so to the extent that they were using the government machinery around them to execute the strategy, that's what we want to see to get to. how high did this go? who was involved? those are the things that we feel are important to seek at this point. and we feel that these two individuals, specifically within the trump campaign, will shed some light on those details for us. >> certainly, the behavior of someone like jake kaufman, who again we reach out to comment from and has not gotten back to us, that video will leave you and aghast at the fraudulence right? but on the same hand, one of

the people that the committee subpoenaed today is in fact a fake elector who is currently running to be a secretary of state in arizona. another one attended the january 6th riot at the capitol and is now running for the governorship of pennsylvania. you are in congress, what does all this say about the state of the country and where we are as a democracy? >> well, it's important to note that we're asking these individuals to produce documents and provide testimony based on their actions in 2020. we feel that that is an important place there, role in this conspiracy, it is important to us. and so, that's what we're seeking to do. we don't have an opinion on them seeking public office in 2022, that's not with this is about. but clearly, folks within the former presidents orbit, and folks who worked on this scheme, were not based in any type of reality. and anyone who is seeking

public office should be grounded in reality. and they don't meet that threshold. but this isn't about what their feelings are in 2022, this is about what they knew in 2020 and how they try to execute a plan to silence millions of votes. and to flip a lawful election. >> yes, being tethered to reality i think that's probably job one for any elected official. i do wonder, we're about to enter more public faith in this investigation, do you expect that the fake electors scheme is going to be a big part of the public hearings? >> well, all of this is putting together a puzzle. and so, we do think that it's a component to this because these efforts help to stoke individuals to actually believe that this was true to the election, that the election was stolen. and so to the extent that the trump campaign was directly involved or that straight state parties were directly involved, what they did was gin up public support and to motivate folks

to go to their state capitals and to come to the u. s. capitol, on january 5th and january six, and join these rallies. and they fanned all of this at the highest levels. and so, we want to do is continue to run on our investigative efforts, piece together this puzzle. and until that whole narrative. but this will be a component of that discussion. >> just because you tell yourself you're an elector, does not mean you are actually one. california congressman and member of the january six investigation, pete aguilar, thanks as always for your time. >> thanks alex. >> coming up, as ukraine deals with the aftermath of a cyberattack, officials here are worried about what could happen to the u.s.'s cyber defense systems should russia invade ukraine. that is next. is next

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reported today that some units left their positions in ukraine. that would be good, but we have not yet verified that. we have not yet verified the russian military units are returning to their home bases. indeed, our analysts indicate that they remain very much in the threatening position. and the fact remains, right, now russia has more than 150,000 troops encircling ukraine and belarus, and along ukraine's border. an invasion remains distinctly possible. >> that was president biden speaking to the american people today on the situation in ukraine. he emphasized that a diplomatic path is still open, even as a russian invasion remains possible any day. he also warned that if vladimir putin does invade, there could be ramifications here at home. particularly, the potential for higher energy prices. there are worries on another front as well. a series of cyberattacks today knocked at least ten ukrainian

websites off line, including those of the ukrainian army, the defense ministry, and two major banks. the attacks could not be immediately tied to russia, but it is a timely reminder that any russian invasion of ukraine is almost certain to include a cyber front. a senior biden administration official tells the washington post today that u.s. intelligence suggests, quote, russian government hackers have likely broadly penetrated ukrainian military, energy, and other critical computer networks, to position themselves potentially two disrupt those systems, should russia launch a military assault on ukraine. moscow could seek to disrupt ukrainian entities that provide critical services such as electricity, transportation, finance, and telecommunications. either to support military operations or to sow panic in an attempt to destabilize the country. the report makes clear the concern about these kinds of attacks goes far beyond ukraine. quote, should the conflict with ukraine escalate, officials fear there could be broader

cyberattacks in retaliation for western sanctions or other moves to support ukraine. the concern is so great that on friday, the white house's deputy national security adviser for cyber, ran a table top exercise to ensure the federal agencies were prepared for russian cyber assaults that might take place in an escalating conflict with moscow. just a few days ago, america's own cyber defense agency cesa put out a shields up advisory, warning critical industries in the u.s. to make sure their systems are as hardened as possible against cyberattacks. if russia invades ukraine and the u.s. administers crippling sanctions russia could seek retaliation by disrupting electricity grids or gas systems in the u.s.. president biden even acknowledge the possibility of russian cyber attacks in his remarks today. joining us now is nikole parole roth, former cybersecurity reporter at the new york times, and now an adviser to cesa.

thank you for joining us. you are also the author of the book, this is how they told me the world ends, the cyberweapons arms race. so, nicole, let's first just talk about today's cyberattack in ukraine. what do you make of it? is it a harbinger of things to come? how concerned were you? >> i think a number of things happened today. we saw the washington post report on the fact that russia is embedded in a lot of critical ukrainian systems. we also saw denial of service attacks on some of their largest banks that made it impossible for people to get cash out at the atms. and then we saw this very disturbing sms text propaganda campaign where ukrainian soldiers were getting texts that said, they will find your bodies when the snow melts. it was clear here that anything further that happened here is going to involve some kind of hybrid cyber offensive. and that could either be a

preface to a physical invasion, or, for, now it could just be russia's way of keeping its foot on ukrainian throats as a dangles a troop withdrawal. but the reason we have to pay close attention to this in the united states is because there is history here. russia has turned off the lights, not once, but twice in ukraine. 2015, 2016. they have launched ransomware attacks that weren't really ransomware attacks, they just paralyzed ukrainian agencies and systems. and those attacks came and boomer act back on american companies. in 2017, they froze up merk, they put companies like merck and mers, a fedex subsidiary, and a existential crisis. so we have to be prepared here for some kind of blow back,

should things escalate and should the u.s. get more involved. >> let's talk a little bit more about what potentially could happen here. how concerned is cesa about an attack on the u.s., and how beyond are we -- how vulnerable is the u.s. at this moment, how concerned is cesa? >> i don't speak for cesa, but i will say, just look at the recent history. just in my time at the new york times, i reported that russian hackers were probing nuclear plants, they breached energy companies, they had solarwinds attack, which is still fairly recent, where russian hackers used an american company as a trojan horse to break into major u.s. federal agencies and more than 400 of the 500 as well as some of our electrical utilities. we still have no indication that those hackers are out of those systems. so, just with that recent

history, we have to assume that russia might have access to our critical systems. and we know that they have the capabilities to disrupt and destroy their systems because we've seen the series of attacks they pulled out on ukraine over the previous few years. the attack that keeps me up at night was an attack by russian hackers that dismantled the safety locks at a petrochemical plant in saudi arabia. it's clear that they have the capabilities, in some cases, they might have the access, what we have not had so far is a geopolitical trigger for russia to basically use these things in tandem in some kind of coordinated way. but putin has said, should the u.s. get involved in its business --

"its business", in ukraine, it would cross putin's red line. and the most likely way for that to play out here is with a series of coordinated cyberattacks. >> we hope that we do not see that geopolitical trigger pulled anytime soon. nicole is an adviser to cesa, nicole, thank you so much for your time tonight. >> thank you so much, alex. >> still to come, election conspiracy theorists across the country are running for office and some are specifically running for positions that would put them in charge of elections. one organization is trying to do something about it. that is next. ...$0 copays on primary care visits... ...and lab tests. - wow. - uh-huh. plus, $0 copays on tier 1 & tier 2 prescription drugs. - wow. - uh-huh. unitedhealthcare medicare advantage plans. including the only plans with the aarp name. most plans have a $0 premium. take advantage now. wow!

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♪ red roses too ♪ ♪ i see them bloom for me and you ♪ (music) ♪ so i think to myself ♪ ♪ oh what a wonderful world ♪ >> colorado's best known election rating conspiracy theorist says she's going to run for secretary of state. the job that oversees colorado elections. basically on a keurig tina peters joined the primary six days after she was arrested for scuffling with police officers, executing a search warrants and felony investigation about whether she lied to a judge. peters is smiling mugshot is so good in may just make it into her campaign materials.

she is currently knee-deep in a couple of different investigations, more than she has. the misdemeanor charges for mixing it up with police officers. there is the felony investigation involving lying to the judge. then there are local in federal investigations into the breach of her security system and her voting systems, where information was and given to conspiracy theorists. >> you heard that right, the mason county colorado clerk, who rachel has talked about before on this show, is now running for secretary of state while she is at the very same time under local and state investigation for allegedly orchestrating a break-in in order to access critical election equipment. authorities say the alleged culprits copied hard drives and election data from voting machines, with some of that information eventually being published on lines by the conservative website, gateway pundit. and tina peters candidacy is not really a one-off. vice news reports that a die hard qanon believer and election conspiracist hubble

claims she can time travel is running for secretary of state in the great state of ohio. she apparently claim this week on telegram that as secretary of state she would, in all caps, quote, get rid of every single election voting machine. humans will be paid to count the votes live on camera. to be clear, not lizard people, humans. the new york times reports that nearly two dozen republican election deniers are now running for secretary of state across the country to oversee elections. in order to counter this, one group is doing something about it. if you watch the show over the years, you've heard of the grassroots organization run for something. the group launched five years ago at the start of the trump administration works to recruit and help elect first-time candidates to state and local races across the country. and since their launch, they have recruited thousands of

people to consider running an elected nearly 650 candidates to local offices across the country. and this year, they are going after election deniers, the ones who want to take control of elections across the country. but they're not just focused on the big name secretary of state races, there are also recruiting and supporting candidates for local election administration rolls. so as to box out extreme it's looking to secure those positions. and here is why. this is from the group's 2020 plan, quote, these are the positions that will determine whether or not democracy survives passed 2024. practically locally at mid -- quite literally determine how elections are run. we're planning for both wide and targeted recruitments, staffing up to run a court program specifically for these candidates and investing in support for folks both before and after election day to ensure they're ready to do the job and handle the pushback they might experience. these positions have the bully

pulpit. the people who take a can use it for good, and to restore faith and trust in the system, and build and bring transparency to the electoral process. war, they can use that same bully pulpit to undermine democracy itself. joining us now is amanda litman, cofounder and co-executive director of run for something. miss litman, thank you for being here tonight, great to have you. >> thanks for having me. >> so, let's just talk first about how these election conspiracy candidates, qanon, time travelers, and so forth, the ones who are running for a election administration posts, how they shifted your focus. do you feel like you need to offer your potential candidates extra support or resourcing, or training, to combat the misinformation that is out there as part of those campaigns? >> we do. these candidates running for local at administration positions need every possible resource. they're going to be door to door, talking to voters, who

are hearing from an opposition that is admittedly in places absolutely crazy. so they need to be armed with every possible tool that they can access, whether that's good data, good skills to run strong campaigns, money, support. these races are usually very low and very under the radar. we're gonna need to bring them up to the level and make sure they have every possible resource. >> have you seen greater interest in running in the wake of folks that believe in time travel and lizard people -- have you seen greater interest in progressives, in terms of running and making sure these folks aren't elected to positions at the school board level to the secretary of state level? or are people scared of having to combat that kind of, in your words, crazy? >> so, in 2021, we had about 25,000 people to sign up to tell us they want to run. so we sat that as a goal for 2022. we have already had nearly 20,000 people sign up at run --

to tell us they want to run for up this. and we're barely six weeks into the year. people are fired up about this, especially seeing federal legislation about voting rights fail. they understand that is safe democracy you need to fight for it and win for it on a local level. >> we know that you guys, your group is prioritizing school board elections. can you talk to us a little bit about why you made that choice. >> well, we have seen just as crazy people who are running for a local idlib election administration rolls, run for school boards. this is been the priority for the republican party and the conservatives for decades. -- 25 or 30 years ago, i'd rather have 1000 school board members, then one president. they understand that if you control what kids learn, they you determine the kind of citizens they grow up to be. we've seen that over the last two years with protesters and fights over preventing, and equity, and masks in the schools. so we're gonna make sure that the more than 20,000 school bore races on the ballot this year, half of which are in november, half of which occur at other points in the, year we are doing everything we can to recruit and support incredible

candidates for these races. >> is there anything that makes it a different carpet candidates than previous years? >> for us, these folks are brave. they see the threats that people are getting, they see how dangerous it could be. and they see with the opposition's and they are willing to put their names on the ballot anyway. i find it incredibly inspiring to see folks who are going from people person who cares, to a candidate, to elected official, two public servant, who is really doing something meaningful for people. they're inspiring. >> inspiration in the darkness. amanda litman, cofounder and co-executive director of run for something. thank you so much for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> it's rare that the pentagon has to call for back out, but it turns out they don't have their own animal control team. that's next. next.

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most secure locations on earth, even just a tour of the building you have to make a reservation at least 14 days in advance, then you have to arrive at least an hour in advance to get through all of the security. and the tour itself is led by

active duty military personnel who never leave your side. but arlington now news is reporting that somehow, yesterday, this bunny infiltrated the pentagon. the rabbit somehow got all the way to the courtyard at the very center of the building which is a crazy feat. pentagon is the largest low rise office building in the world, so it's not exactly like the bunny could just hop over the side of the building. and even though super care tourist that usually run through the pentagon, those have been shut down because of covid, so it is not like someone's not the bunny in the building. two weeks ago, a chicken with scott sneaking around security checkpoint area at the pentagon. now the chicken didn't get nearly as faller as the bunny. at the moment, we do not know if it was planning a kook or a white cross the road. the chicken was apparently winging it. as for how exactly the bunny hopped over the largest low rise office building in the world to a senate courtyard,

the prevailing theory is that it was dropped by a hawk. a president, there is no reason to believe this is foul play. but we will of course follow this story down to whatever rabbit hole it may lead. that does it for us tonight, we will see you again tomorrow. now it's time for the last word with my friend, lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, alex. and i was wondering how far you could go with that. >> i apologize. >> no, it kept going and i thought okay, that was -- and then there was another, and another one. >> we couldn't stop ourselves. we had to cut a few of them. it was pun mania. >> you did? >> oh, you should've given me the ones you got and i could've just added on to it. >> tomorrow, tomorrow, lawrence. >> okay. and we are going to use the breaking news that you revealed in this last hour about this arizona stat