district of florida and what could happen there even if their initial motivation was primarily to get the documents back, it could still eventuate in charges. but one last point. i think it will be bound up in an overall strategic donchts you have a connection to the fbi that we should all understand? >> do i, personally? >> every time you go on vacation, the fbi does something nobody expected and blows everybody away. i have to call you and figure out where in the world you are. >> i found out the search warrant in mar-a-lago from a text from you without -- i didn't even get to the american news. i was like oh, yeah. i guess things are crazy. whoa. babe, they searched mar-a-lago.

good to be back. >> it's great to you have here. do you remember the name brandan van grek? >> as i have memorable name. if not, the circumstance of which you first heard it? but if you are like me and the first time you heard the name brandon van grabbing is the first time you heard the word he is spee naj formerly associated with the presidency of donald trump. espionage as in the espionage act, not just spy movie stuff, as in u.s. law. we were only about four months in to the trump administration when "the new york times" was first to report that the then brand new trump administration

had made a very unusual hiring decision that ultimately implicated the work of a veteran espionage prosecutor at the u.s. department of justice. it was very early on. may 2017. you think about that for a second, trump was inaugurated at the end of january. this was less than four months later in may of that year, less than four months into his presidency, we learned of "the new york times" that during the trump transition a person who they had been considering for the job of national security adviser, not just somebody to be a national security adviser to the new president, but the national security adviser, a guy they had been considering for that job, we learned at the time, had notified the trump transition team that there was a big problem with him potentially being a appointed national security adviser. a very serious problem. this guy who is being considered as national security adviser, he told the trump transition, hey,

you know what? i feel like i ought to let you know. i'm under active federal investigation as a potentially an unregistered agent of a foreign power. i mean full stop right, there right? this is not like oh, i wanted to let you know i had a speeding ticket and getting points on my license. this is not like, you know, i'm in dispute with my town over my property tax bill. they say i'm short $200. i mean this is i'm under investigation for being a federal agent. excuse me, for being a foreign agent. i'm under federal investigation for potentially being the agent of a foreign power. if you're under federal investigation as a possible foreign agent, you can't work in, like, the cafeteria at the white house. you can't get a job emptying trash cans in the congress. you certainly can't be national security adviser. if the justice department is actively investigating you as a secret foreign agent.

at least you think. but this guy under consideration for that job, he came to the trump transition. he warned them about the fact he was under active federal investigation for that. and the trump transition, the incoming trump administration decided they would hire him anyway. they would hire him despite that. and that is how we got michael flynn as national security adviser for approximately five minutes while he was under investigation as potential foreign agent of the nation of turkey and before he started lying to federal investigators about his communications with the russian government. when we all read in the "new york times" in may 2017 that they had hired him anyway, even though they knew, even though they had been warned -- and we learned that the investigation into the matter is being led by veteran espionage prosecutor named brandon van grek. remember, just my stomach

flipping over the seriousness of this thing. it's one thing to feel like oh, there is some shenanigans, there is maybe not the best people. there is some incompetence, there is some cavalierness, some stuff to worry about here. but when it's the espionage prosecutor that has to be working on the case involving the new national security adviser, that's bad. right? your country is put in a bad situation. if a new president, a new administration is playing games like that. if that's how it's starting, you can be sure it's not going to end well. and it's likely not going to end for a long time. things like that have long tails. even if the, you know, veteran espionage prosecutor in question has the fan vas tick member of brandon van grack, him income the news in first four months of a new administration and it being about somebody who has the job of national security adviser, that's bad.

that's a really bad start. that was how it started 5 1/2 years ago. and now tonight, 5 1/2 years after that stomach churning reporting in "the new york times," after all those years in the thick of the intrigue and upset of that administration, brandon van grack left the justice department and pleased to say, i'm honored to say he's going to join us here live in just a moment on set. he's here tonight, of course, at a time when the espionage act is back in the news. on friday we learned from the unsealing of a justice department search warrant that it is an inquiry under the espionage act that led the fbi to execute a search warrant at former president trump's property in south florida last week. i mean it's an mazing thing. files seized from former president are part of espionage act inquiry. i mean go back in time and try to convince your grandparents and your great grandparents that this is the america that we

inherited from them. files seized from a former president part of espionage inquiry. what it meant specifically is that search warrant that they unsealed cited a portion of the espionage act that concerns the handling of national security information that could harm the united states or help our enemies. it means to get that twoornt search the house, prosecutors had to prove to the satisfaction of a federal judge that there was probable cause to believe that at trump's home they would find evidence that that part of the espionage act had been violated. that that crime had been committed. now the first question that raised for many of us was, i mean, the really first question is like is this real? am i dead? is this my life? next question was, is that it? is this the end of it? certain specificity to the question of whether that search

warrant might itself have been the end of the matter. by which i mean were they using the search warrant to collect that material that trump was not supposed to have? but then basically once they had, once they retrieved the material from him, is basically case closed? "the new york times" put it this way last week in print. they said, it is not clear whether the search was carried out simply to ensure that the documents and other material were properly turned over to the archives. or whether it was a possible precursor to a prosecution of mr. trump for mishandling classified materials or obstructing efforts to get it back. in other words, did federal prosecutors get that search warrant because they believed that trump wasn't handing over all the sensitive material that he had to they used the warrant basically to go get the stuff back by force and now that's it. that's the end of it. that's as far as they want it to go? or did they go get the material using the search warrant as part

of an investigation? that is not over now that they got the stuff. that is pointing in the end toward possible criminal charges for whoever is responsible for this breach. which is it? the search warrant just to get the stuff or to lead to a potential criminal case? well in, a filing tonight in federal court, the justice department explains that it's the latter. that it is not over. now that they've gone and snatched back all the classified and top secret information that the former president inexplicably had stashed in his basement. tonight in a filing explaining why the justice department doesn't want to release further information about this case at this time, the justice department says in this filing that the search warrant wasn't the end of it. that it's just part of an on going investigation. they use that term repeatedly. here the government has a compelling overriding interest in preserving the integrity of an on going criminal investigation.

disclosure at this junk tour of affidavit supporting probable cause irrepairable damage to this on going criminal investigation. if disclosed, it would serve as a road map to the government's on going investigation providing specific details about its direction and likely course in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps. that's all in the justice department's court filing tonight and what we learn from that court filing is that the justice department is expecting further investigative steps. they are contemplating further investigative steps in what they repeatedly describe as an on going criminal investigation. and on going criminal investigation, "that implicates national security." so again, one of the main questions about what is going on here is now answered by the justice department's filing this evening. the point of that search warrant last week was not just to go and get the stuff and now they got it. it can be safely put back under

lock and key and case closed. no. the search warrant was to get that stuff and also part of an on going criminal investigation that could lead to criminal charges. an on going criminal investigation involving the espionage act and the former president which is astonishing. and for him, of course, that's bad. for him, it's sort of hard to merit. they know. there the is a lot that's bad right now. for example, just in today's news, the former president's lawyer, a lawyer who took the lead for him on trump's efforts to try to stay in power even after he lost re-election, that lawyer, rudy giuliani, as you know, he already had his law license suspended in one state because of the efforts on behalf of trump. today, state prosecutors in georgia notified mr. giuliani that they no longer consider him to be a material witness in their criminal investigation election interference in the state of georgia. mr. giuliani's lawyers say they

were notified today by georgia state prosecutors that their client, rudy giuliani is now officially a target of that investigation. prosecutors are warning giuliani that he may get indicted in that case under georgia state law so he should get his ducks in a row. beyond that, trump ally lindsey graham, he had argued recently in federal court he should be allowed to defy a subpoena to testify to the grand jury in that case. senator graham said he notified that he's not a target. he's just a witness but he does not want to answer a subpoena to testify in that case because he told a court in georgia he's just doing his job as a senator and he should be protected as such from it having to answer questions about him. his lawyers argued to the dhurt when senator graham called georgia officials after the presidential election, he was

doing his "due diligence." he was just asking questions to inform his own vote as a senator on whether he was going to vote to certify the election results. they say because he was just doing his work as a senator when he made the calls. he should be immune from questioning about it. well, a federal judge in georgia today rejected that claim and did so bluntly. the judge ruled that in fact senator lindsey graham does have to answer questions from the grand jury because he was not just fact finding. he was not just asking questions and doing his due diligence to inform his vote as a senator. the judge's ruling today said multiple witnesses claim when he called georgia officials after the election he was seeking to influence their actions. he was no the just asking questions about state procedures. he was trying to get them to do things that would benefit president trump as president trump was trying to have the election results in that state overturned. and trying to influence the work of georgia state election

officials is not the lawful work of a united states senator. and so, yeah, a federal judge told him today he has to testify about that. senator graham says he will appeal the judge's ruling and so we shall see how this shakes out. he's been notified he has not a target of the investigation. he is just a witness. but he's still trying to fight the subpoena ordering him to testify. now in that georgia case, the other people that have been told to expect that they may be indicted in that criminal case, they're all people besides rudy giuliani implicated in the fake elector's plot. this plot to send in forged documents naming fake electors in trump that didn't have state lektors because biden won the states. that fake elector thing is a criminal matter in georgia and also a matter under federal criminal investigation as well.

there is one thing that is lost. remember how we leshd about the fake elector scheme? how we learned how it came together and how we leshd about it being under federal investigation? you might remember about the fake electors that -- it sort of started adds something that looked like a bunch of desperate efforts in dispratt states. some people pretending to be lektors that were not in georgia and another group trying to do the same thing in michigan. another group trying to do it sort of differently in the state of arizona. it looked different. and a bunch of different states. when that happened and when that first came to public attention. that matter, the fake elector thing, appears to have become a federal criminal investigation rather than just an investigation in individual states. when it became apparent that this thing wasn't just spontaneously happening in multiple states. it was an organized thing. the trump campaign and other people around president trump organized that effort around the

country. these weren't just desperate things happening by coincidence. it was an organized central top down effort. that is the pattern that we saw happen with the fake electors thing. today that same pattern started to become apparent in another thing they did to try to overturn the election results. specifically the effort to grab voting machines, to seize supposedly secure voting equipment and tabulateors in multiple states even though that equipment is very highly regulated and is only supposed to have -- people are only supposed to have access to it under very tightly controlled circumstances. there have you been criminal charges in colorado. same thing is under criminal investigation in multiple jurisdictions in michigan as well. but now today "the washington post" reports that in colorado, in michigan, in nevada, georgia,

and a bunch of states, these folks messing with the voting equipment apparently wornt just spontaneously acting on their own to illegally access this equipment they were not supposed to be able to touch. therapy didn't just have all the same idea all at once dpintly coincidentally. "the washington post" reports today something of a bombshell that just like with the fake electors this one, too, appears to have been a centrally coordinated effort run by people close to trump including at least one trump campaign lawyer. again, with the fake electors thick, evidence of the trump campaign's involvement. their coordination of what looked like efforts in a bunch of states. that's what lead to the now on going federal criminal investigation of the fake elector scheme. as of today, "the washington post" reports that there was a similar central organized effort running these schemes to seize an corrupt secure voting machines in multiple states and

linked to the trump campaign. so all of us have been trying to track all the things, we have to add another column to the billboard sized spread sheets we're all maintaining now trying to keep track of the various criminal investigation that's surround the last president. president biden tomorrow is going to sign what he hopes and expects will be the signature legislative achievement of his first term as president. the nation's first major legislation on climate. and the biggest and most important legislation on prescription drug costs in decades. something the democrats have been trying to do on prescription drug costs, they've been trying to do it for 30 years. biden finally got it done. the big inflation reduction act. he is going to sign that tomorrow. it is a huge deal in terms of policy. a huge deal for the democrats. a huge deal for this president. before the presidency. for the country.

he's got competing headlines. because it turns out there are years and years and years of ramifications of electing somebody who from the very start was keeping espionage prosecutors busy here at home. i mean 5 1/2 years down the line from those first blood curdling headlines about what's going on with this president and national security. 5 1/2 years after they hired him a national security adviser even though they knew he was under federal investigation as a potential foreign agent. 5 1/2 years down the line. that trump national security adviser michael flynn has been pardoned by trump after he plead guilty to lying to investigators with his contact about w. a different hostile government and they're going to try to recoup tens of thousands of dollars that the russian government played to michael flynn that he never declared. the 5 1/2 years down the line from the stomach churning start

of that plot in the spring of 2017, that veteran espionage prosecutor that led the flynn investigation who we just learned about in the spring of 2017, brandon van grack, he has left the justice department. he left government service. he started his justice department career as a trial attorney in the national security division and prosecuted cases on cyber attacks and money laundering and theft of trade secrets and, yes, espionage. a spy for china out of michigan. a guy who was rubbing the high-tech sanctions on iran. a hacker from kosovo. he gave isis personal information on more than 1300 u.s. government and military personnel. he gave isis that kill list effectively of u.s. government and military personnel. brandon van grack helped

prosecutor him. after robert mueller appointed him to investigate around the 2016 investigation, he spent three years investigating michael flynn and paul man afor the. interestingly mr. van grack ultimately resigned from the flynn case after a william barr appointee took over in the u.s. attorneys office in d.c. and moved to withdraw the government's case against flynn even though flynn by then had already plead guilty to twice. resund from the flynn investigation. but he stayed at the justice department. he continued to lead the office that prosecutes unregistered foreign agents. and that role he became the first official to oversee all foreign influence operations across the u.s. justice department. brandon van grack left the justice department but boy there nobody who i'd rather talk to tonight about what's going on in our country with these remarkable and unprecedented

charges and investigations involving our former president. brandon van grack joins us here live in studio next. grack joins live istn udio next. my grandma never mentioned this, but her first job was working at a five and dime, when she was only 16 years old. it's all right there in the census. see where a few details can lead with the 1950 census on ancestry. lily! welcome to our third bark-ery. oh, i can tell business is going through the “woof”. but seriously we need a reliable way to help keep everyone connected from wherever we go. well at at&t we'll help you find the right wireless plan for you. so, you can stay connected to all your drivers and stores on america's most reliable 5g network. that sounds just paw-fect. terrier-iffic i labra-dore you round of a-paws at&t 5g is fast, reliable and secure for your business.

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van grack. joining us now for his first u.s. television interview is veteran former espionage prosecutor and former member of robert mueller's team, his name is grand brandon van grack. real pleasure to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> thank you for doing.

this i know you don't do this. i'm grateful you decided to be here. i want to talk to you about a lot of things in your career. i want to start with the national discourse right now around this investigation involving search warrant at the president's home in south florida. the headlines that say this is an inquiry under the espionage act. continuing to blow everybody's minds. i still find it to be almost impossible to look at those headlines and not see this is a movie and see this is real life. but as somebody that worked in the nitty-gritty around this part of the law, what should we understand about the seriousness here and do you feel like any of the national discourse around it is wrong or overblown? >> so it's a really important point. right now there is a focus on what is the end game? is there -- is someone going to be charged? you don't need to get to that point to appreciate the fact that there is serious national security implications from the conduct in the information just

before us. i mean, look, it's just from the receipt of the search warrant. there are multiple series of documents that are classified, that are labelled top secret. that were in unsecured locations for 19 months. we know the fact that they were classified documents of the archives seven month before that. >> the intelligence community is sorting through that information and doing damage assessment, trying to assess what sources and methods are compromised. that is separate from whether, in fact, you know, anyone is charged. it's important we don't get too far ahead of what is in front of us. >> one thing described by reporters, i'm not quite sure i totally understand. i get it in my head but not my gut, the justice department's reference to the statutes that are implicated here, i keep hearing it described it doesn't necessarily matter that the way

they are citing statutory law doesn't matter if trump believes he declassified the documents. it wouldn't necessarily impact whether or not the charges could be brought on those statutes. do you agree with that assessment looking at what we've seen in the search warrant? and can you explain it? >> i think that might be technically true. but in reality, i think ultimately if in fact this material is declassified, i think it would have the material impact on whether charges are brought. so the charge referenced and it concerns the mishandling of classified information. 18 united states and code 793. the and the language in the statute says the resengs of national defense information and that's defined through years of case law. i doesn't say classified information. but for all intents and purposes, the justice department considers that to be classified information. this is only one case in the history where information that was not classified information was charged and that was a plea

agreement. it wasn't sort of tested. and so for all intents and purposes, if the department of justice believes this information was declassified, and we don't know that, then it is very unlikely that that was called a retention case or charge would occur. now with respect to the other two charges that were mentioned in the search warrant, there is one concerning obstruction and another concerning the removal of ultimately presidential records. that also doesn't have a connection to classified information. it doesn't technically matter. but ultimately, the motive and intent behind the removal and the information or the obstruction does matter. and so if people involved in the process did believe they were declassified, that matters. now that doesn't mean therefore it precludes a criminal prosecution on those two statutes. but the point is it's matter and it is relevant and so i don't think simply saying it's immaterial is the right way to view the charges. >> if the person in question here, one of the people in question here is potentially in

trouble because of the way these documents are handled, is the former president -- is there a way to devine his intent for the purposes of deciding whether charges are warranted without interviewing him? >> so the reality is if he is the target an investigation, there isn't going to be an interview. and we do know from the information that you discussed in the top of the hour that there is discussion in the government's recent filing in terms of the decision not to unseal the affidavit that there are witnesses who are cooperating the investigation. specifically say that's a basis for not unsealing the affidavit. so there are certainly people in the orbit that would have information that would be relevant to understanding the intent and motive. >> one things that arose today in the news is a claim by former president trump that his passports went walky during the search warrant, during the

execution of the search warrant. he described them as being stolen by the fbi. later reporting suggesting that these were perhaps that his passports were taken as part of the search, execution of the search warrant and then returned to him. what should we understand about that? >> so a couple pieces. first, there is a lot of noise that happens in these investigations. and it's really important that we're not distracted by the noise and get to the point. just based on what we know, there are significant national security implications. but with respect to the passport, if they were tl were multiple passports of the former president taken, there not much to read into that. it is unlikely that the department of justice is signalling that the former president is a flight risk. it is unlikely that department of justice is signalling that criminal charges are imminent. more likely, again, if it is in fact true, it is simply responsive to the search warrant. the search warrant specifically said it can seize presidential

records. and so perhaps the fbi believed, i don't know rightly or wrongly that, the passports were presidential records. there is also in the search warrant it says information that is co-mingled with the classified information should be seized. so for all we know, the passports were co-mingled. talking about something that i don't think is significant, for any reason the denial of the passports impaired the president's ability to travel, i'm certain that a simple call from the president's lawyers to their department of justice would resolve that. ultimately, i think it's a distraction. it's important because there are serious issues here. >> it's one of the things where you see, you know, the government has the passport and you go to the issue of law an order where the guy gets arrested and passports are seized. there is nothing to indicate the connection? >> there are instances where they do get seized. that is when someone is about to be charge order has been

charged. >> president trump tried to reach out to the attorney general after the search warrant was executed, obviously. and after the attorney general around the time they're making the decision to spoej speak public lane ask for the search warrant to be unsealed. just from perspective somebody in the justice department at the levels you worked at, is that wrong? is that weird? is that appropriate? is that normal? how do you view that? >> i guess i view it as irrelevant. the reality is that there are probably outreach that's occur to senior levels of the government, department of justice, all the time. this is something where i cannot see or think of a situation where an outreach like that will have any impact on the investigation. so appropriate or not, again, i don't think it will have any impact on the investigation. again, really, i would consider it to be noise or distraction

when the fact is, again, there are real national security issues at play and that should be the focus. >> let me ask you about another thing that may be a distraction. we have seen three trump white house lawyers, white house counsel, his deputy and now today we learned another white house lawyer working for the president all having received supboenas from the justice department. we don't know the topic or grand jury. this are lots of different investigations. we've also seen a member of congress have his phone seized as part of an investigation in which he reportedly has been told he's a witness and not a target. when you're talking about white house lawyers and serving members of congress and these sorts of people who aren't typically caught up in the work of the justice department, how does than fluns your investigations an an investigator or prosecute your knowing people with a lot of political power aand people working with sensitive jobs are in your sights? >> i think one of the signals

from the attorney general and justice department which is really important to distress is that ultimately the considerations really are not having an impact. and that is in multiple investigations. there is reporting today indicating the search warrant with respect to mar-a-lago was sitting with the attorney general for a period of time and that he was wrestling with it. and i think what we can say, even though i think it's common for there to be disagreement in some of the actions of the department of justice. all the action weerz talking about are not influenced by the considerations and there is really no appearance of political influence in these decisions. and i think that is such a critical issue for the department of justice. i mean really, if you take a step back and appreciate and talk about the department of justice, it is foundational to the legitimacy of the government to exercise the authority. it is a department that has the ability to deprive an individual of their liberty and so the legitimacy of that department is paramount. i think the attorney general not

only appreciates that but you can see through his words an deeds that is a constant theme in how he acts. >> brandon van grack, veteran prosecutor from the u.s. justice department, member of special counsel robert mueller's team, again, yurt first u.s. tv interview. i hope it will not be your last. i hope you come back. thank you. thank you for your service. we'll be right back. stay with us. r your service we'll be right back. stayit wh us new astepro allergy. now available without a prescription. astepro is the first and only 24-hour steroid free spray. while other allergy sprays take hours astepro starts working in 30 minutes. so you can... astepro and go. vo: as families struggle with inflation- congress and president biden are doing something about it. congress just passed the inflation reduction act, reducing costs for millions of families. it lowers the cost of drugs and ramps up production of american-made clean energy. that means lower energy bills for families jobs for our communities

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america cannot remain free if we abandon the truth. the lie that 2020 presidential election was stole sen insidious. this is donald trump's legacy. it cannot be the future of our nation. history has shown us over and over again how these types of poisonous lies destroy free nations. we are stronger, more dedicated, and more determined than those trying to destroy our republic. this is our great task. and we will prevail. >> that was republican congresswoman liz cheney's closing message heading into her republican primary election in wyoming tomorrow. congresswoman cheney is facing a trump backed election denying challenger named harriet hagerman. if you want a sneak peek into why that election is going the way it's expected to go, you can just look at this. this is the latest poll from the university of wyoming in the race. it shows that voters who support

hageman overwhelmingly think that joe biden secretly isn't the president. of voters who support harriet hageman, the percentage that accept joe biden really is the president, legitimately, is only 16%. meanwhile, if you look at liz cheney voters, voters likely to vote for liz cheney, they believe joe biden's election is legitimate at a rate of 93%. 93% versus 16%. what makes those results even more stunning is that same poll shows cheney losing to hageman by nearly 30 points. it looks like republicans from wyoming are set to oust chain ji because she accepts the reality that trump didn't win the 2020 election and the way she stood up against had his efforts to stay in power anyway. elections are elections.

anything is possible. since that poll was taken, it's been revealed the person that hageman supporters believe is still the rightful president, donald trump, has been revealed he's under investigation by the fbi and the justice department for potential violations of the espionage act. maybe that will effect how they feel. the results of that election are going to be a stunning development either way. polls will close in that race at 9:00 p.m. eastern time tomorrow. 9:00 p.m. eastern -- 9:00 p.m. eastern because tomorrow also happens to be the opening bell for the very first broadcast of a brand new show here on msnbc called alex wagner tonight. the host of that show joins us here now. it's happening. >> i'm talking to you from another dimension. i'm talking to you from the future. >> how do you feel? >> thrilled. excited. terrified. in a. you know? like, i will say, rachael, i'm not saying that because you're

in front of me, but i mean it really is, you've done an incredible thing with television and with the 9:00 hour and i feel very deeply honored to be shepherding through the west rest of the week. i hope we're able to conduct ourselves with the integrity and rigor and just the deep thought that you have established in this hour. and such a privilege to share the week with you. that's all i'll say without making myself cry. anyway -- we will never speak of -- a, thank you, b, we will never speak of this again. you are working, of course, as specially in the early days starting with the best staff in the business. our staef is epic. so do not break them. but i mean, it's -- take me over at this time, i feel like we are in this explosive moment in the news right now. right? where, you know, everybody -- we're all under the microscope. all sorts of scrutiny and we also have this incredible privilege and responsibility to

cover this moment. >> yeah. i think it's not an overstatement to say it's an open question whether the experiment works. he would have taken for granted this form of government this democracy will always exist because that's all we have known. but there is a threat and to be in the news as we are drinking from not just a fire hose but grappling with the craziest, most significant urgent issues is overwhelming and also terribly exciting. i feel almost guilty saying that, right? but as a journalist, i mean, to have to navigate the choppy waters and to do it in this place with the team that we have is an extraordinary gift. >> i'm psyched, too, i know you just come back from reporting trup in florida. you're going to be doing a lot in the field. talk to me about that idea of sort of national -- i mean, it's

kind of like a reading kprens exercise. matching that with on the ground reporting and the work you do. >> i hope to do as much of it as time allows. but i think it's really important to get out of the studio. for me i learned so much in my time on show time talking to people and understanding the issues in a very human way. we talk in the abstract about things like critical race theory or originalism and then when you see how that translates into actual school curriculum, like in florida or whether how it affects people's daily lives, how they internalize some strange argument that's are untethered to fact or whether they're big advocates for pushing for the truth and, you know, having a positive effect on american democracy. i think you learn those lessons. you understand the issues in a really powerful way when talking with people themselves. and people at the center of the

issues. the plaintiffs in the lawsuits, the attorneys, the last abortion doctors in texas, whoever they are. it gives me, i think, a ton more perspective on the news and i hope that it gives the audience better understanding of what is happening in america. so much feels like this side versus that side and more we can, i i'm not saying make people feel better about each other, but understand the sort of humanity involved in all of this. >> oh, yeah. >> i think the better job we're doing as journalists and perhaps somewhere along the way the more we can stay tied together in one democracy. >> less heat, more light. >> i mean, that's right. >> alex wagner, congratulations. >> thank you. i'll be here mondays to help. >> you're invited any time tuesday through friday, my sister. >> alex wagner, the new host of "alex wagner tonight" premiers tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. go with god. we'll be right back. stay with us. go with god. we'll be right back. ayst with us

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girls trip. ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ get fast relief of your worst allergy symptoms. including nasal congestion. with powerful claritin-d. so you can breathe better. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. claritin - d. in april we were following the historic nomination he made, first ever african american woman confirmed to the united states supreme court. in june, president biden signed the biggest gun reform bill into law in decades. breaking a multidecade gridlock on that issue. two weeks ago, an counter-terrorism success, the u.s. finally got al qaeda leader

al zawahiri. last tuesday, president biden tind the membership protocols to add sweden and finland to nato, expanding the strengthening that alliance in the face of war in rush yachlt he also signed the chip's law into act. it's a piece of legislation that will kick start the production of semiconductor chips in the united states. it's a big deal in terms of competition with china. economically and on national security grounds. that was all on tuesday. then on wednesday, he signed another huge bill to provide health coverage for up to 3 1/2 million veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in iraq and afghanistan. also, gas prices dropped for 62 straight die days. tomorrow, president biden will add the inflation reduction act which is something that democrats have been trying for a generation. this is a bill that empowers the

administration to negotiate drug prices using the medicare program. this is the first time they'll be able to do. that they've been trying to get that into law for 30 years. biden finally got it done. the bill also caps out of pocket medication costs for seniors who are on medicare f you're on medicare, your drug costs, the out of pocket amount you pay per year will no longer exceed $2,000 a year no matter what your drugs cost. there is never been a cap like that before. it also closes tax loopholes and establishes a 15% minimum tax for corporations that make over a billion dollars a year. perhaps most significantly of all, the big is the biggest climate investment in the history of the country. and somehow all of that is managed to pass in a 50/50 senate that includes folks like these. they get up and say no in the morning before they do anything else just because it makes them feel good.

tomorrow the president is expected to return home from south carolina where he's been on vacation. he's going to sign the inflation reduction act. the new bill at the white house. he believes it will be the signature legislative achievement. and in the coming weeks, president biden and members of the cabinet are expected to hit the road to promote this thing. they're planning 35 different trips planned to 23 different states. and in a technical sense this is ld called being on a roll. watch this space.

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tomorrow is the premiere of alex wagner tonight. alex's show is every tuesday through friday, at 9 pm eastern. i'm not going anywhere. i will continue to see you every monday, and another big night going forward. but tomorrow, really is the start of something new and exciting. alex wagner tonight beginning tomorrow, 9 pm eastern,