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tv   Alex Wagner Tonight  MSNBC  August 24, 2022 1:00am-2:00am PDT

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district. nbc news can report that democrat pat ryan has defeated republican mark molinaro for the congressionalmo seat vacated, antonio delegate toe. both parties were watching this race closely for potential insights into pnovember's midtm elections. especially the impact the supreme courthe decision to overturn roe versus wade will be on turnout. as you were casting your ballot today, what was top of mind for you? >> for me being a woman, abortion right. >> the first thing that pops into my mind is that roe versus wade thing. that freaked me out.
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and i just thought that, you know, every election, every time there's a chance to vote and to say something, you have to go out and say it. >> we're going to discuss all that ahead. but in new york, there are four other congressional races we are watching closely. in new york's 12th congressional district, long-time democratic representatives jerry nadler and carolyn maloney were forced into the same race due to redistricting. nadler won that primary ending maloney's 30-year stint in congress. seant patrick maloney and jone were almost forced to run against each other, same way nadler and maloney were. but congressman jones is running in new s york's newly-drawn ten district. he is facing a crowded field including dan goldman, former lead counsel during donald trump's first impeachment, who spent millions of his own money in that race. goldman is currently leading the pack butnt the race still too
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close to call. tonight, congressman maloney, the current share of the dccc. the biggest race is unfolding upstate in new york's deep red 23rd congressional district which spans the states southern border with pennsylvania. republican congressman chris jacobs was effectively pushed out by his e own party after he expressed support for an assault weapons ban. republican carl a far right candidate ran to replace jacobs who is not seeking re-election. paladino previously ran for governor of new york and lost by 30 points back in 2010. perhaps best known, for scandal in which he was caught sending a video depicting bestiality to colleagues. has tonight lost again. nbc news now projecting as of
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moments ago that paladino will narrowly lose his primary tonight just about four point. meanwhile, in florida, former republican governor and current democratic congressman charlie kris defeated nikki fried to run against incumbent republican nominee desantis. desantis governed as though he has a mandate. he is a top target for democrats to unseat this november. one voter told nbc news correspondent shaq brewster he supported krist because he's a familiar face. >> i was remembering charlie crist. he was okay. i know him. so i said, you know what, that's where i'm going whagain. >> you went with crist because
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he was familiar to you. >> yes, right. he did okay when he was governor. and i'm hoping he'll be better now. >> mean while, in the senate race in florida, val demings, the former orlando chief of police who served as house impeachment manager clinched the nomination to run against marco rubio. in maflorida's 11th congression district, far right anti-muslim extremist isli a proud islamophe and handcuffed herself to the doors ofnd twitter's headquarte in new york to protest her account getting banned lost a closer than expected primary against daniel webster. we have a lot to get to tonight. let's get right to it with steve kornacki back at the big board. steve? >> yeah. well, this is the story of the night. i think really thisst could be e story of the summer politically,
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just in terms of setting the ng stage. the special election in new york's 19th district. pat ryan the democrat defeated malinaro the republican. ryan will go to the congress to fill the remainder of delgado's term. what makes this such a significant result. several things. this really is the last major special election test before november's election. and it comes after a two-month period when we have been questioning, folks have beenbe questioning, whether the political environment in this country might be changing away from the republican's favor and in the democrat's direction. there have been aem number of things happening in the last few months. i one, the generic ballot. which party would you like to see control congress, democrats or republicans. earlier this year, republicans had been winning on that
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question. now it's essentially a tie when you average theen polls togethe. so the generic ballot moved in the democrat's favor. there was a supreme court decision to overturn roe versus wade. the question of whether that would motivate, get democratic voters, democratic aligned voters off theat sidelines, motivated to vote as republicans already seem to be motivated to vote in this midterm election. there's some polling evidence, some indications in polling that might be the case. then earlier this summer, we had two other special elections. one was in minnesota. one was in nebraska. both were in republican districts. both were in districts that went for donald trump. both were won by republicans, but the democrats did better in each of those special elections than joe biden had done in those districts in 2020. so democrats looked at that and said, hey, maybe that is a sign that there is some increased enthusiasm for democrats in the wake of the overturning of roe. butin then that set up this
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election tonight as a real test, a bell weather district. what i'm showing you here is how this 19th district voted in recent presidential elections. it wept for donald trump in 2016. it flipped and went for biden narrowly in 2020 when biden won the presidency. if you went back to 2012, this district voted for barack obama in 2012.ar it's been right there with the winner of every presidential election. and it's the kind of district in a really strong midterm environment for republicans, midterm environment that's really strong for republicans, this is the exact kind of district they have no problem flipping in a special election. if a republican wave were already -- had already been built, two-point biden district, that'swo the first thing that gs in a political wave. instead, what's happened tonight in this bell weather district is the democrats have won it. and actually pat ryan outperforms, looks like he'll
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performs, better in this distri than joe biden did. so that is a major indication, i think. that's the i clearest indicatio we have gotten that there really is something happening here in terms of the political climate away from a clear republican advantage, maybe more neutral political environment, maybe toward -- but certainly in the democrat's direction. if you couple that with i think you mentioned this one, too, reading through the results here this 23rd district special election that was also held tonight, the circumstances here were aes little bit different. the winner here sempolinski is not running fall, wasn't as much put into this race in terms of resources and efforts. buts even here, the republican win the margin is seven points right now. i this was a district that donald trump carried by 12 points. so even here in a race that a lot of money, a lot of attention, a lot of resources didn't goot to, you see democra performing better than joe biden
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did. again, this isen simply not the pattern. i'mth showing nebraska, minneso, the 23rd district, the 19th district of new york, four-straightw special electio where democrats have clearly outperformed joe biden in his numbers from 2020. so, we've been talking all year. biden's popularity isn't good. thela country's mood isn't good when it comes to the economy. typically the out of party power does well in midterm elections. we have the strongest single piece of evidence in this 19th district special election tonight, alicia, that in spite of all ofa, that i think it's worth asking questions about can the democrats hold on to the senate and even could the democrats hold on the the house this november. >> steve kornacki good to see you in your natural environment. thank you for bringing us all of that. for more on these fascinating story lines i am joined by distinguished panel made up of new yorker and two floridians. christina greer, assistant professor of political science.
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carlos car bellow, 6th congressional district as a republican in congress 2015 to 2019. and david jolly represented florida's 13th congressional district as a13 republican in congress from 2015 to 2017 and since left the republican party. it is good to see you all. christina, let's start with you and this new york 19 race. what does it tell you? >> well, don't forget that seat was open because kathy hochul chose antonio delgado as her lieutenant governor. this looks good for the democrats right now. many would argue it's too soon to tell, a but usually the part in power does lose seats during the midterm election. but it's possible the republicans have been n overplaying their hands. when it comes to roe v. wade, when it comes to their lack of motivation to think about any sort of comprehensive gun laws or gun control across all 50 states. these are serious issues that a
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lot of moderate voters, independent voters and even weak-leaning republicans feel the party is off the rail. to say nothing of the islamophobe ya, the anti-semitism, theth racism, th anti-immigrant sentiments for someig voters this is finally going to beis an election that might be a stretch too far for some republicans and either abstaining or willing to cross over. >> indavid, we know that charli crist will go up against ron desantis. it's not lost on you or carlos. it will be 30 years since hurricane andrew landed in florida. many onlookers in your state saying it will take nothing short of a political storm to unseatic ron desantis. your thoughts? >> a lot of people say florida is a redle state. i think that's wrong. it's still a politically divided state by just three or four points.
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and so charlie crist enters this race behind but in the game. look, florida democrats chose a candidate tonight who has not won statewide in 16 years. that is a critical analysis of his candidacy. but what we are also seeing that steve pointed out is a national trend that may be beginning to favor democrats and frankly for charlie klcrist, val demings, tv national trend might be enough in the state of florida to really put them over the edge. but without that national trend in florida, democrats are certainly fighting uphill. look,ti republicans, let's flip the script a little bit, republicans tonight ande in previous elections in the last six to eight weeks are woefully off message. they want to be talking about joe biden and the economy. and they're actually talking about donald trump and roe v. wade. or at least they're having to that.about that is a losing position for republicans. the more democrats like charlie crist can focus on those issues the morese likely he could give
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ron l desantis a competitive ra in november. >> carlos, do you agree? >> i agree, alicia. i think the momentum has shifted hereas in the last couple month. democrats were against the ropes for months, really since almost thent beginning of the biden presidency. the focus was on inflation, the economy, cost of living and that has all changed now. and democrats here in florida today did something very different than what they did fourey years ago. they were pragmatic in choosing a candidate in charlie crist who can potentially build a winning coalition. back in 2018, a lot of democrats favored gwen graham. they thought she brought a repeal, thought she could beat desantis. they chose someone from a more progressive wing of the party.wi this year, democrats have gone with a safer choice, someone who
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can potentially bring and attract independents, attract disaffected republicans. having been a republican himself. and maybe even though as you point out, it would be very difficult given ron desantis structural advantage,is big cas advantage, obviously some structural head winds for democrats being that it'sur a midtermat when they control the government, but still, if anyone can build a coalition that can derail ron desantis, it would be charlie crist. >> i want to bring into your panel sahel back at the desk. we were talking about this 19 race in new york. even if it's close, even if the republican wins here, it still tells you something about what the national environment looks like. talk to me about that. and also core issues that were driving this race. >> yeah, alicia. now we know a democrat pat ryan is going to win this bell weather district up in hudson valley. it's really extraordinary to see not only him win but also him
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outpacing president biden's margin in 2020. this year won't be quite so bad for democrats. we may look at a black swan event occurring in realtime. the supreme court overturning roe versus wade, creating that miracle the democrats knew they needed to have any shot at holding the house of representatives. we're seeing pat ryan in this race, repeatedly emphasize that issue to try to galvanize democratic voters, connected to his military service, talking about in an early ad how fighting for americanad freedom means fighting for reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy as well. that is one of several issues. itof seems to be the biggest on that is motivating democrats that shifted the landscape somewhat. there are other issues as well, gas prices very high a year ago have started coming down just a few months ago democrats seemed to be stuck in legislative quick sand. they passed the inflation reduction act has things to brag about to older voters,
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negotiated medicated drug pricing. so there is reason i think for the first time in a long time for democrats to have hope. now the big question is can they replicate this performance this far. you're going to p hear republics talk about how this was a new primary day. this specialri election coincid with thele primary where democrs in this blue state tend to turn out inte bigger numbers than republicans. that is true.s now, if thatre makes a big difference between now and this fall, this may not be reflected. but democrats still based on what they justse did tonight ha good reason to hope. >> iso got to ask you about laur she is refusing to concede. i want you to take a listen to what she said. >> i'm not conceding. i'm a winner. our republican party is broken to its core. what we have done tonight has really honestly shocked the nation.
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we have further exposed the corruption within our own cowardly republican party. that is exactly the reason why, right, ias decided to run again daniel webster. do nothing daniel webster. >> we talk about these extremist candidates and talk about people who have bought into conspiracy theories, to the big lie, it's hard to understate the damage that ithe does to our democracy to not have people who are part of fair and free elections be willing to concede on the other side of them. >> i'mr sorry is that for me? >>or yes, dr. greer. >> sorry. yeah, alicia, free and fair elections are the corner stone, the foundation of american democracy. and so what donald trump is really excavated by refusing to attend the inauguration, by refusing to acknowledge joe biden as the rightful 46th president of the united states, is he is now sewed the seeds in
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his own party of people who refuse to acknowledge and respect election results. and so, we're going to see more of this, not just with republicans t refusing to recognize democratic wins but republican primary competitions where they're going to refuse to acknowledge legitimate elections. when you undermine elections, which republicans have been doing for years now, the damage is not just done to american democracy and parties, i teach young people. we need to make sure that young people understand that their vote should count and will count. you can't ever have candidates like what we just heard saying that, you know, the entire party is corrupt and the entire process is corrupt because that does not bode well for our future, not just in november of 2022 but what is quite concerning to most of us is november 2024 when we have a presidential election and possible donald trump or ron
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desantis republican candidate refusing to recognize and respect election results. >> david jolly, we have a minute left. i want to underline an element the fact that florida primaries happen very orlate. we're now very close to the general election. how does that change the contours oft these races? >> yeah. look, great question. republicans who control tallahassee seto a late primar years ago to favor incumbents because it would favor republicans. it is now a sprint. this is where the amount of money that the governor has, the amount of money that marco rubio really come into play because they can run this sprint of tv ads. look, val demings will be one of the strongest senate democrats in the country. charlie crist has proving to do on the fundraising. starts to show numbers close to desantis, you'll start to see the money come in. two very high profile races in florida prstatewide. democrats need an edge but they're in this race as of tonight.ra
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they might be there in november. >> thank you all so much for staying up with us. coming up, donald trump's legal woes continue to mount ano his own lawyers don't seem to be helping. we'll get you back to alex wagner tonight next. heback to ax wagner tonight next.
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your face. pressing the button on self destruct. you can call it whatever you like. on monday, two weeks after the fbi executed a search warrant on the former president's palm beach estate, donald trump filed a lawsuit asking for the fbi's review of documents taken from mar-a-lago, for that review to be put on hold until a third party, what's called a special master, is appointed to review the seized materials. in that lawsuit, trump argued that he has cooperated perfectly with federal investigators and the national archives throughout this whole mess that began in january of 2021. his lawsuit states, quote, all facts show that there was complete cooperation between president trump, his team and the appropriate agencies. it even includes a quote from donald trump himself. why raid my home with a platoon of federal agents when i have voluntarily cooperated with your every request? you sure about that? last night we learned from the new york times that the national
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archives recovered more than 150 classified documents from trump's florida home in january, which were squirrelled away in 15 boxes of documents. we learned that trump personally went through those documents before he turned them over. in a bid to somehow help the former president, trump right wing media ally john solomon late last night published a letter to one of trump's lawyers dated may 10th. solomon hyped this letter as evidence that somehow biden had sicked the fbi on trump. but as it turns out, solomon was shooting himself or rather donald trump in the foot. for starters, this may letter from the national archives confirms "the new york times" reporting that over 100 documents retrieved by the government in january from mar-a-lago, that they were marked classified. the national archivist details specifically it was over 700 pages of classified information just hanging out at mar-a-lago. included in some of these were
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documents with some of the very highest levels of classification, including special access program materials, which even if you have top security clearance you still need additional clearance to see that kind of document. the letter, again, the letter somehow meant to exonerate trump and implicate biden, it also confirms that trump and his crew had been dragging their feet for weeks, asserting bogus claims of executive privilege in an attempt to delay the seized documents from being handed over to the justice department. so while the archives retrieve the boxes of documents in january, the fbi and the doj didn't get access to the contents of those boxes until the month of may. donald trump clearly has a different definition of cooperation than most of us do. but that is not all. in june, when the justice department officials went to mar-a-lago to ask donald trump, hey, any more classified documents lying around, trump's
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former cross fit lawyer said trump handed over all those documents. she signed a statement affirming, yes, that is it. nothing else to see here, folks. but even after that june visit, even after trump's attorneys swore there were no more classified documents at mar-a-lago, double pinky swear, the justice department wasn't convinced. on august 8th, the fbi executed a search warrant where they found, you guessed it, more documents at mar-a-lago marked top secret. "the new york times" reported late last night that, in fact, federal agents in total have now retrieved over 300 classified documents, hundreds and hundreds of pages of classified material from mar-a-lago. that record of foot dragging and false statements is apparently donald trump's definition of complete cooperation. and we have breaking news tonight about that supposed cooperation. "the washington post" reports what happened when archives first received the documents in
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january. quote, when archives employees began opening up and sifting through the material, they noticed an immediate problem. the boxes arrived without any inventory to describe their content. they contained a hodgepodge of documents including some that didn't come from trump's time in the white house, but some of the white house records had obvious markings indicating they were classified. now, nbc news has not yet confirmed this reporting. "the washington post" report continues to chronicle how the fbi conducted its investigation and just how, just precisely how involved donald trump was personally with overseeing the documents. quote, as the fight with the archives came to an uneasy conclusion, the fbi proceeded with interviews with others in trump's orbit, including valets and former white house staffers. agents were told that trump was a pack rat who had been personally overseeing his collection of white house records since even before
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leaving washington. and had been reluctant to return anything. the fbi became increasingly convinced that the former president continued to hold classified documents in florida. they could not be determined who was involved with packing the boxes at mar-a-lago or why some white house documents were not sent to the archives. though people familiar with the episode said trump oversaw the process himself. and did so with great secrecy, declining to show some items even to his top aides. some material recovered in the search is considered extraordinarily sensitive because it could reveal carefully guarded secrets about u.s. intelligence gathering methods. one of them said the information is among the most sensitive secrets we hold. around that time, trump attorneys evan cork ran and christina bobb together provided the justice department about written assurance about trump having returned classified materials. the person did not provide the specific wording of the letter which was signed by bobb.
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person familiar with the matter said the document is of interest to the fbi which is investigating the veracity of its claims. joining us now is washington post national reporter carol leonnig bylined on the story tonight. carol, thank you so much for being here. it is breaking. it is explosive. i think the first thing that at least grabbed me in reading this article is just how deeply the former president appears to have been in selecting these documents. what more can you tell us about that? >> well, what's clear in the -- both the interviews we have done with sources and also as revealed in a lot of new records and letters that are coming out is that the president was very involved, the former president, was very involved in at the last minute hastily and chaotically packing up his documents that he thought were, quote unquote, his and arranging for them to be taken to mar-a-lago, private club and part-time residence.
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and also importantly, alex, despite the former president's claim that all he's done has been cooperative, what we found is that week after week he was the person resisting providing records. he was the person along with his lawyers asking for delayed in allowing the fbi, for example, to look over the classified records that they found to their horror, to their shock, in a group of 15 boxes of records that they retrieved from mar-a-lago. so the president is really -- the former president is very, very much at the center of this drama. and now his own advisers, legal and otherwise, are growing increasingly concerned and have been since june that this is a criminal investigation in which the former president is in legal jeopardy ultimately of his own
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making. that if perhaps he had turned over the records willingly and forthrightly right away in january or december or in the fall of 2021, all of these times that it was asked for, that it might not have morphed into a criminal investigation looking at the willful retention of some of the highest and most sensitive secrets our government holds. >> yeah. i think we should focus on that a little bit because this isn't like a former president sitting at his kitchen table leaving through memorabilia he mistakenly brought home. you specifically say in this story he was going through these documents with great secrecy, declining to show items to top aides. what are we talking about, carol? some of the most sensitive secrets we hold. can you talk more about that and just the amount of -- i mean, not only the recognition of that, among the people reporting on this story, but within
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trump's circle it sounds like nobody really wanted to touch this case with a 10 foot pole. >> oh, such a good point. and i promise we will circle back to that, alex, about the 10 foot pole that a lot of people were avoiding taking hold of. so, your first question about the sensitivity of this material. as described in the inventory, some of this material is top secret, secure, compartmented information. that means that people have to, as you described earlier so well, people who are in government, have to have absolute reason to know and access this information as part of their job. it has to be somebody who is incredibly trustworthy and has this very high security clearance. and usually secure compartmented information involves intelligence gathering methods. the records that were seized on august 8th, just as the fbi and the department of justice feared, were some of those
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holiest of holy kinds of records, that if shared indiscriminately or handled carelessly in a private restaurant, club, if ever disclosed would cause immediate, grave danger to national security because it would reveal how the u.s. gathers the intelligence that it has. that includes, for example, you know how -- which allies provide us special intelligence that they don't share with others. that includes, for example, covert programs that we have that gather intelligence. and if those details were revealed to a foreign adversary, our chances of protecting national security would be greatly diminished. grave threats. now, you asked that good question about people who during this period who worked for donald trump or were in the trump orbit, trying to avoid being involved in this case.
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start in the fall of 2021, donald trump was resisting turning over records he believed were, quote unquote, mine. meaning his. and the archives knew he had a lot of records, that things were missing, that they needed them. eventually donald trump's team turned over 15 box of records. the shocker for people who had previously worked in president trump's white house counsel's office was that those records included highly classified materials. when they were notified in particular deputy white house counsel patrick philbin, notified in april that the national archives found there were classified information in these documents, he was stunned. he was being asked at that time to help team trump review the records, to go up to the national archives and review what had been turned over and figure out what's -- what are in these boxes, which you would
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have think they would have looked before. but patrick philbin and others backed away from this request from team trump. pretty soon the fbi was knocking on their doors asking the deputy white house counsels, we need to interview you. you're now a subject witness. you may be a witness for us about what's going on in this with holding of what appear to be incredibly sensitive documents. >> at this point, can you really blame any lawyer who doesn't want to work for donald trump? carol leonnig, washington post national reporter, thank you so much for joining us this evening and with that breaking news to boot. up next a federal judge that donald trump appointed calls into question the lawsuit he filed against the doj. former prosecutor rebecca roifi joins us next. we'll be right back. joins us next. we'll be right back. (woman) oh. oh! hi there. you're jonathan, right? the 995 plan! yes, from colonial penn. your 995 plan fits my budget just right.
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this new reporting in the washington post tonight chronicling former president trump's reluctance to hand over classified documents to the proper authorities. also tonight in the latest legal setback for the former president, the federal judge overseeing trump's lawsuit and judge appointed by donald trump, is asking trump to clarify the exact purpose of the lawsuit that he filed yesterday.
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the one asking for a special master to review the documents seized by the fbi in august. joining us now is a former prosecutor in the manhattan district attorney's office and current professor at new york law school, new york university law school, rebecca. a lot to talk about here. >> thank you. >> first let me get your reaction to "the washington post" reporting how centrally trump was involved in the selection of the documents that it was shrouded in secrecy, the documents themselves were highly sensitive. what do you see as potential legal implication of all of that? >> well, in order to prove any kind of crime, especially there's been a lot of discussion about the espionage act since we saw the search warrant, you need to show two things, the act actually happened and that the person possessed the state of mind that's require in order to have criminal liability. this is relevant for both of those things. he was in possession of thee documents that were highly
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classified and highly sensitive. we should use the term sensitive because the criminal statutes don't refer to classification level. they just refer to something that implicates the national security. and so, he had those documents. the next question is, did he willingly retain them? and that -- this reporting is so critical for that because what it essentially says is that he was personally involved in this. he can't blame somebody else. it was him. and also that there were all of these repeated requests to cooperate. that looks like it wasn't any accident. he was really doing this on purpose. >> the fact that trump ally released one critical piece of paper in a paper trail that shows donald trump was not willing and was not cooperative really does -- it fits under the dictionary definition of shooting one self in one's foot. do you think there was any credence to implicating biden in any of this?
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>> here is the thing, you know, is that when trump's legal avenues start to close, when there start to be fewer and fewer legal claims he can make, he retreats to one thing that worked for him repeatedly which is the witch hunt. this is the democrats. they're out to get me. this is a politically motivated they think. it has worked for him politically, not legally but politically. so in that regard, i suppose there are little crumbs in here that you might, if you twist around, make it look like, oh, biden, who keeps saying that he's leaving this all to his department of justice, was involved. but if you look at it a little bit more closely, that disappears because he actually -- he was only involved in a sort of nominal way because he is the president. these documents belong to the presidency. >> right. >> so how can you approve their transfer to the department of justice without him signing off on it. but he specifically said, look, i'm deferring to the department of justice in terms of the legal determination of whether or not
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these are privileged. all i'm doing is saying, okay, if this is a determination, that's been made. i give my okay. and so he's not meddling in some kind of improper way in the investigation or if it turns into an ultimate prosecution. but through smoke and mirrors i suppose they were trying to make it look that way. >> well, there's more to get to in future hours ahead, rebecca including the special appointment of master. thank you for your time and your wisdom. i appreciate it. up next, two men were convicted today for their role in one of the highest profile domestic terrorism cases we have seen in this country in decades. stay with us. decades. stay with us
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first, there was the unlock michigan protest. more than 1,000 cars draped in trump flags surrounded the michigan state capitol in april of 2020, demanding not just an end to the state's covid restrictions but also to get rid of michigan governor gretchen whitmer. they called her a tyrant for imposing those restrictions and compared her to hitler. president trump supported their cause. two days tweeting liberate michigan. conservatives in conservative media took up the cause, calling whitmer authoritarian and tyrant. >> michigan governor gretchen whitmer, not impressive, has
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imposed what might be the most authoritarian restrictions on daily life in the history of this country. >> sort of like an out of control tyrant. >> i'm saying hello from the policed state of michigan where i live under the martial law of gretchen whitmer. >> then two weeks later things just escalated. hundreds of protesters, many of them heavily armed, rushed the michigan state capitol. they chanted let us in. and demanded to be let on to the house floor. they were trying to put pressure on michigan state lawmakers who were voting to let governor whitmer's emergency declaration expire. this is a photo a michigan state senator took of armed protesters yelling down at them during the vote from the balcony. these were against covid restrictions and whitmer herself. president trump responded by calling the protesters, quote, very good people. then a few months after that, the fbi foiled an alleged plot
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by two conservative michigan militia groups to kidnap and possibly kid michigan governor gretchen whitmer. starting in june the groups began tactical training, combat drills and firearms training, used how to use improvised explosive devices and ultimately meticulously planned to kidnap governor whitmer at her vacation home. they thought they would avoid local law enforcement by blowing up the bridge near her home and potentially escaping by boat. they called governor whitmer a tyrant. they wanted to hog tie her and take pictures like it was a drug bust. again, the fbi detailed that whole plot in public in october of 2020. here was president trump talking about it earlier this month. >> as another example, the sting that they did involving gretchen whitmer was fake. just like those who instigated january 6th. it was a fake deal, fake.
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it was a fake deal. gretchen whitmer was in less danger than the people sitting in this room right now. >> today, two of the menstrual to that very real plot to kidnap michigan governor whitmer were convicted for their crimes. they face up to life in prison for them. actions do, in fact, have consequences. but if this whole thing, the storming of the state capitol, the extremist plans for violence, president trump claiming it was all fake, if that all feels familiar to you, you aren't crazy. storming of the michigan state capitol and the plot against the governor there were in many ways the ideologic precursors to january 6th. the first real manifestation of the idea a civil servant doesn't do what you want, you should physically threaten or harm them. we saw that on january 6th with the chants of hang mike pence. we saw that again earlier this month when an armed man tried to attack the cincinnati fbi field office after the fbi raided president trump's florida home.
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everyone from the judge who signed the search warrant in that case to the fbi agents involved, all of them are facing threats of violence from the right. even county level election officials across the country are facing consistent, physical threats these days for the crime of trying to fairly administer our elections. and then tonight, we just got the news that the irs is launching a full security review of all of its facilities nationwide because of just how many threats that the irs is getting. it is all concerning. it is worth remembering that donald trump is continuing to fan all of the flames. but it is also worth remembering that america is still a country of laws. y of laws. turns out, some wishes do come true. they'll never know. and it turns out the general is a quality insurance company that's been saving people money for nearly 60 years. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage- go with the general.
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continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities. one last primary result to
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get to tonight. breaking news here. new york's 17th congressional district, nbc news now projects that sean patrick maloney defeated alessander. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is coming up next. ♪♪ this district does not belong to me or to my opponents for that matter. it belongs only to the voters of this district. the new yorkers who get up everyday and busy themselves with building a better, fairer city. those new yorkers get to choose who best represents the people and values of this city. and you know what, i think the voters made themselves clear tonight. a lob sided win in a race that had two prominent democrats going head to head. much more on this primary and the other big races in new york

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