tv Alex Wagner Tonight MSNBC September 23, 2022 9:00pm-10:00pm PDT
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for over a year, attorney general merrick garland faced an enormous amount of pressure to criminally investigate donald trump for -- his efforts to overturn the election, including the events of january 6th. the crescendoed bill through this summer as they were televised saying explosive revelations about what was happening in the white house in and around january six. but that committee had no ability to charge anyone with anything. only the department of justice, did. and from what everyone could tell, at least from the outside, not a whole lot seem to be happening over at the doj. by july, attorney general garland felt the need to speak out and defend his department. >> there is a lot of speculation about what the
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justice department is doing, what it's not doing, what the theories are, what the theories aren't, and there will continue to be that speculation. this is the most wide ranging investigation and the most important investigation for the justice department has ever done. and we have done so because this [inaudible] effort to upend and general election transfer of power from one administration to the other, concept of the fundamental of american democracy. we have to get this right. >> garland was not wrong, this is the most important investigation that the justice department has ever entered into. no president has ever been criminally charged in the history of the united states of america. and that means that merrick garland holds one of the most difficult jobs in the entire country. he is now not only at the helm of one, but two sweet being justice department
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investigations into a former president, donald trump. the departments investigation into january 6th, and the probe into the document, some of them classified, found at the beach club. as a guy who has to decide whether to criminally charge the 45th president, garland faces a ton of complicated questions when it comes to trump's culpability in those two schemes. and with every passing day, it seems like his department is both casting a wider net and a massive even more evidence. in the last few months, we've seen a clear ramping up the january 6th investigation. it's an expanded be on prosecuting the rioters themselves, and it includes the fake elector scheme and attempts to -- this month, the department issued nearly 40 subpoenas including some two top trump allies and seizing the phones of to trump advisers, again, as part of the january 6th investigation. yesterday, three trump lawyers responded at the d. c. federal courthouse leaving around the same time as the justice department's top january 6th prosecutor. today, cnn at the new york times report that trump's
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lawyers where they're trying to essentially stop high-profile trump administration witnesses from providing damaging testimony to the grand jury in the doj's now absolutely sprawling investigation. that investigation, according to a former federal prosecutor jim walden says it's, quote, a multi-pronged fraud and obstruction investigation. walden told the washington post it strikes me that they're going after a very, very large group of people. so the department is talking to everyone and trying to gather basically everything. but ultimately, what happens to anyone who -- with what, or if anything? that's up to attorney general, merrick garland. and there is mar-a-lago, and trump's private stash of classified documents, a doj investigation that was for a time on hold as the governor battled the trump legal team in
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march. but now it's going full steam ahead. after this week -- justice department a greenlight to continue its investigation into those roughly 100 classified documents, today we learned that the intelligence assessment, the odni investigation, that is officially back up and running as well. that is important because that intelligence assessment is looking into the potential national security risks and fall out of that classified information potentially being improperly disclosed. and a lot of people, including some very high-profile democrats, are saying that mar-a-lago, rather than january six, is the investigations where mark garland might want to use the full force of the law against donald trump. >> will he faced charges for january 6th? >> i don't know. january 6th may be harder to
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prove than maybe some of the charges that could come out of the material found at mar-a-lago. some of this stuff is really sensitive. it's about people who risked their lives to give us information about what is going on. pictures that they take. i don't know what he's doing with it, but i can't help but believe that he thought there was some financial or political gain to him having it. >> with every passing day, instead of winding down, these investigations seem to be gaining steam. new witnesses, new evidence, new leads. this week the new york attorney general letitia james not only filed a 250 million-dollar fraud lawsuit against trump and his business, but she also said trump's business fraught had likely violated federal criminal law and refer that significant case to, guess, where the justice department. it is clear that the attorney general has a whole lot to hunt down. and at least two in separate investigations and possibly
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three. and then, after all that is completed. he has to make the biggest call of his career. today, the washington post reports on the decision facing merrick garland. quote, the justice department, from attorney general merrick garland on down, has repeatedly said that no one is above the law. but legal experts say prosecutors may still feel that they need a serious, can't miss case to filed criminal charges against a former commander in chief. if authorities were to seek an indictment against trump at either the state or federal level, these experts say, there would need to be compelling evidence that a crime had been committed. but they write, in addition, the alleged crime would have to be quite serious. how serious? over to you, mister attorney general. joining us now is jim walden, a former assistant u.s. attorney for the eastern district of new york who i should note has argued several times in front of the special master judge robert dearie. >> thank. you >> if you look at the two cases set, aside and letitia
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james's lawsuit for a moment, if you look at mar-a-lago, and you look at what happened on january six, do you think one of these investigations is potentially stronger and can support a criminal indictment against a former president rather than another? >> i think the january six investigation both before, during, and after the insurrection is definitely a more red meat. there is gonna be more witnesses, more aspects of criminality if you -- from washington d. c., to georgia, colorado. so i think that is going to take the most time and merrick garland is gonna have one shot at this. they cannot bring successive cases against donald trump that is never gonna fly. so i think they are working hard on everything, but they're going to put together in massive case that puts the former president with a lot of other very unseemly people in a range of crimes. >> he will have put together what is a very instructive
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graphic that i will pull up while i will ask our beautiful production team to pull up now. this is what you see as the sort of wheel and spokes of a criminal charge effectively. can you -- there is a number of charges that you outlined here. among them i think two of the most explosive and under discussed, murder conspiracy and, there you specify mike pence. can you talk a little bit about how you see trump potentially being involved in murder conspiracy? >> the way you would describe this kind of investigation is right on point. prosecutors referred to it as a hub and spoke regal conspiracy. at the center of the hub, the round wheel is all the primary people, in the graphic, there are some people named, but literally the people at the center of this were too big to fit on a graphic. that's really the nerve center of the conspiracy. but as in an organized crime case which the racketeering was designed to address, there are
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all kinds of crimes. there is murder, extortion, gambling, prostitution, and the reason why rico is so powerful is because you can bring all those crimes together under it. the pence murder conspiracy i think is very fascinating because obviously, we don't know the evidence yet. but what we do know is at the ellipse, the president was disparaging pence, pence had already communicated that he was not going to stop the election from going forward. trump tweets, you can see in the videos, the crowd surging forward, his staff tells them that there are people saying hang mike pence. the president is reported to say, essentially, he deserves. there's a lot we don't. no >> he knows they are armed, he doesn't want the security systems to be put in place. he wants to take them down. and we don't know what actually happens in the 187 minutes when he's in the white house, but it doesn't sound like he was doing anything to ensure mike pence's safety.
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there is a lot of talk about the pressure campaign on pence being a topic of future january six committee hearings. there is also pressure for vice president pence to testify. do you think there's a new world in which mike pence testifies? >> i believe mike pence is different than donald trump in many ways, and i think that while he had to tow the party line during the course of that administration, that he is more like traditional republicans than daca president trump. whether they will force him to, i hope that he does. i think jacobs's testimony was incredibly powerful. seeing the footage of what he and his family went through on that day was horrific. >> what about money laundering? i know you have fraud on there as well. there has been some talk of the investigation into the save america pack. but what specifically -- where do you see the money laundering factoring into all of this? >> this is interesting, but if you think about it, this is exactly what happened to steve bannon with the build the wall. they brought charges for steve bannon for money laundering. when you raise money for fraud,
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that's illegal proceeds, then when you use those proceeds for purportedly legitimate, that's a form of money laundering. it's not just the cartels. when you have illegal money and then you use it, that's a subject of the money laundering statute. so that's another possible thread. and based on the subpoenas i've been seeing, it really seems like that's one of the themes of the quests. >> i say this, we are talking about these charges. and as much as we have covered this topic, as much as we've exhaustively chronicled the misdeeds of donald trump to be talking about a former president and saying the words murder conspiracy, and money laundering, if we can put that graphic up again, and look at what you think is a former assistant u.s. attorney, the president could be charged with a staggering -- i don't think we should lose sight of the gravity of all this, and the people named in the center of this. one of the things that seems to be happening at the outset of the doj's investigation is it seem to be a ground up investigation. there seem to be a lot of focus on the unnamed january 6th rioters. and i know at least some legal
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minds, including andrew weizmann, said this is the wrong way to go about this. we should look at this as a top down conspiracy. you have a top down pyramid right there -- not quite a pyramid, but you know what i'm saying. you're looking at key players and the trump administration, the trump circle. do you think but that is what the doj is now doing as well? >> i think that's what the doj has been doing all along. merrick garland was under a lot of pressure right from the beginning. the insurrection was horrific, it was antidemocratic, it was one of the worst things that ever happen in our history. he needed to bring action and they were the low hanging fruit. so i believe we are seeing now the results of months and months, maybe a year of planning to get to this stage where just remember, five former folks in the white house circle went into the grandeur airy within a couple of days, 40 subpoena go out, search warrants are served, phones are seized, this was not something that was planned overnight.
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>> i have to ask you. about mar-a-lago. you get conflicting opinions on this. it's a tighter case, it's more seemingly easily prove-able. but you don't think the gravity of that kind of obstruction will support effectively historic indictment of a sitting former president. is that fair to say? >> i think that's completely fair to say. a documents case where you have someone that has been known to be sloppy, was probably getting council from lawyers. even those some of the information had no business anywhere near the president was keeping it, i think that's a case if you think the president, the former president, on that charge, it is going to be -- the dependable seen as political as opposed to this multi-pronged regrow conspiracy where there could be even street crimes involved. even though the former president is not named a, several people were convicted of sedition. when you commit -- when there's a murder or a death in the context of a felony, that's felony murder. so putting pence aside, there's
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a valid case for them to put together this mess of conspiracy with all these prongs. >> this is something that response, one of our msnbc legal analysts has echoed. i just want to say, as far as lives lost. the assessment is not yet complete. if human intelligence sources have been compromised, or even extinguished, that will probably ratchet mar-a-lago up to another level, both of them. just, we're talking about a former president. >> i know. >> i think everybody needs to remind themselves we are not talking about just anyone. this is someone who is running the country and look at the bevy of charges that are on the table. staggering. jim walden is a former assistant u.s. attorney for the eastern district of new york. jim, thank you for coming on and talking to us about some very compelling things. much more ahead this hour. house republicans are out with their new legislative agenda today.
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much to the delight of democrats running against them. jennifer palmieri joins us next. and so-called voting started today, occupied parts of ukraine. regarding whether to formally join russia. a move that has been decried by a sham by kyiv and its western allies. we will discuss this. stay with us. ♪♪ energy demands are rising. and the effects are being felt everywhere. that's why at chevron, we're increasing production in the permian basin by 15%. and we're projected to reach 1 million barrels of oil per day by 2025. all while staying on track to reduce our carbon emissions intensity in the area.
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voting in the 2022 midterms. voters in minnesota, south dakota, virginia, and wyoming began casting early ballots this morning, and with less than 50 days until election day, republicans have found themselves on the defensive after a summer from favorites to take back the house. looking to regain some of their loss political mentor, today the top republican house republicans, steve -- to unveil the new gop agenda. they are calling it their, quote, commitment to america. a nod to new gingrich's earlier contract to america from the 1990s. this is pretty scant on details. one awkward feature of today's launch, the slick video purportedly showing scenes of the american heartland, house republicans aim to run that actually showed images of mother russia that is correct, the new commitment to america used a stock image of a drilling rig and a little boy playing in russia. at any, right in their one-page
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commitment to america, the house republicans know they plan to, quote, protect the lives of unborn children and their mothers. but when kevin mccarthy and other republican leaders spoke about the plan today, they steered clear of any mention of abortion. probably because after the supreme court's decision to overturn roe, abortion bans have proliferated across the country, and in turn, energized democrats. one area where there was no hesitation or uncertainty was around culture war issues. for example, the republicans promised to, quote, secure the border and combat illegal immigration, fully fund effective border enforcement strategies, infrastructure, and advanced technology to prevent illegal crossings and trafficking by cartels. please let us note the fact that governor ron desantis had to go searching for migrants in texas to fill a charter flight since there weren't enough in his own state of florida. mccarthy also promised to make, quote, parents rights a centerpiece of american --
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education. the kind of anti crt legislation that per heads of full account of american history embeds books by 20 morrison and margaret atwood. other great highlights included getting i rid of irs agents making sure that, quote, women stick to women's sports, and sticking it to china and the pandemic. immigration bans, irs attacks, parental rights laws that send your inclusive turkey, also abortion, but also not really abortion. on that topic, president biden today made sure the gop's position remained top of mind. >> in 46 days, america is going to choose, republicans when control of the congress, abortion will be banned. but if you give me two more democratic senators in the united states senate, i promise you -- i promise you, we are going to codify roe. >> [applause] >> 46 days till midterms.
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we need to be crystal clear about what is on the ballot because there is a heck of a lot of stake that's on the ballot. >> joining us now is jennifer palmieri, i called her to. and former white house communications director in the obama white house former communications director for hillary clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, and now co-host of the circus. which is back this sunday with a new episode featuring jen's interview with michigan governor gretchen whitmer. my friend, it is such a pleasure to have you. on the show which is a different show than the one we used to be on together. >> as you said, it's like when we were friends from home came to visit you at summer camp. >> this is like summer camp, only fewer horses. okay, abortion. biden does not -- would like to have the democrats march to the polls under an abortion ban.
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i wonder strategically if you think this is the issue that can hold the senate and the house for them. because we've been talking about a lot of issues over the course of the last two years. this certainly seems to be animating and energizing, but is it enough? >> i know what the white house things. i think they think that abortion helps a great deal. i think that when the decision happened, the dobbs decision had been, on june 24th, i was pretty devastated -- >> many of us. where >> i think many of us wear. but yet a sense that this has got to be worth a kuempel of percentage points. and a couple of percentage points, and tough races is going to mean a lot. but i think what has happened is it doesn't stay isolated in the -- you know what i mean? they are taking this right away from women and you see how the candidates fight back from on the issue. and if they do it well, it may accrue leadership points elsewhere. that is -- and i want to go back to what biden thinks, but i -- on the question of abortion, i spent time with governor whitmer, wearing the same
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outfit in the clip you showed. as you know, i haven't been home in eight days. >> girl, i know how it is. it's a good outfit. >> i bought it in detroit, at the h&m in detroit. what she did was, in april, before dobbs, before -- you file, you remember, this she filed the lawsuit to challenge the 1941 law that bans abortion. >> the zombie law. >> and what you tell me an interview is that she started working on that the night ruth bader ginsburg died. >> by the way a lot of democrats, some in the white house, we're thinking as strategically as the governor was. >> so she was like, what can we, do what are our options, and that's why in 2022, early 2022 she pursued the challenges. people criticize by the time they said it's alarmist remember gonna trigger the law, but she did that.
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then she -- i know nbc has covered this too, she does a lot of round tables, women doctors, moms, how they feel about abortion, and that has seemed to create a sense of community and obligation that women get to share their stories. like hey, i had an abortion, i was raped in college -- >> you think it's creating a movement independent of the legislative issue? >> yes. and i know that nbc showed a poll this morning that i saw that had abortion break number three in terms of what people care about. on issues. but it's definitely creating a different kind of energy. so whitmer, and of course he's running against two digits. and very pro-life, things that a girl who was -- a 14 year old impregnated by rape, she -- >> forced to carry the child to term. that's a meaningful data point. >> it's like she's changed --
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-- change the structural dynamics of that race. she was kind of tied, and now she's in double digits. it's like, it just turned everything. so if you are -- and it's a principled fight for her. she's a very good messenger on it. that's not going to work on everyone. >> she's a skilled politician and we are talking about senate races that are complicated. there are men running in them. they are at a disadvantage in many cases talking about reproductive freedom and having the vocabulary to talk about it. but i have to ask you since we spent so much time on, it the republican commitment to america, does this work? who is this? for who is this -- >> my favorite thing about it is that you can download a pdf pocket card -- >> yes, for your friends. >> so, this is a maxim you have been politics, you know when you're in a losing campaign when the box of message pocket tires arrives from heche q. i don't think --
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out not to say that everyone is going to lose, but it does show that they are totally bankrupt of any kind of agenda they can coalesce around. that has been true [interpreter] -- that was true for speaker boehner, under president obama. that was true for speaker ryan. this is not a new thing that the only thing they can call us around is guilty to trump, abortion, culture issues. >> then putting together a document for what your four is proving to be difficult. i have questions i would like to ask, but unfortunately, i don't can't do them on this television program. jennifer palmieri, former white house communications di rector at the white house, and now co-host of the surface, thank you for your friendship and your time. still ahead on this channel tonight, donald trump cannot seem to stop promoting qanon conspiracy theories. what's the endgame? but first an exodus from russia as military age men attempt to flee putin's draft for the war in ukraine. julio feast joins me for the
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prevent fires. cut emissions. and cleaner air. >> if you turn on russian tv yes on 30. news today, he might have seen this, the massive 50,000 person rallies slash concert in moscow supporting the war in ukraine. specifically, it was an event to support the multiple referendums that started today to make the parts of ukraine under russian control officially part of russia. the russia rally was also in
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support of, quote, the mobilization of russian men in the military as russia ramps up the war that they did not expect to lose. if you watch this, you would think russians are happy, but if you went to the finish russian border, you would see this, lines of cars filled with people leaving russia to avoid the draft. this man who described himself to the ap only as uri from moscow underscored his reason for leaving saying, i, think no one, a sane person, wants to go to war. this line was of cars that was between russia and kazakhstan today. where a russian will not need a visa. before the announcement of the drop, the average plane ticket cost was about 300 bucks. now, the cheapest ticket, the cheapest take, it is more than $8,000. people are leaving in droves. and those who aren't are very quickly facing a tough reality. forgive the weird shark like water mark on this video. it is a symbol of a russian
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news outlet. the young man here, his name is dimitri, he's a student, in this video, he's telling the reporter how he got his draft notice that morning. they told him to come to the military office at 3 pm. he didn't think he'd qualify for the draft because he's a student. so he thought he would just clear that mistake up and be on his way, but once he got to the military office, he was told that he would be leaving for training immediately, with no notice. at the time of that interview, dimitri had called his mother in the hopes of saying goodbye, but she was stuck at work. it all happened so fast, he wasn't sure if he would get to see her. this bizarre dance routine in military uniform was part of another pro russia rally today. it was held in crimea, the part of ukraine that russia already
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annexed by a stage referendum back in 2014. this rally was also in support of the referendum being held today in the four other ukrainian regions that russia has captured in this war. again, if you watch russian tv today, you would see plenty of footage portraying residents of these regions happily voting to become a part of russia. meanwhile, we are already getting reports that armed russian soldiers are collecting votes door to door. one reason -- one resident told the bbc that you have to answer verbally and the soldier marks the answer on the sheets and keeps it. i'm not sure that would be considered free and fair. it is not news that there is a massive gap between russia media and russian reality, but i want to know, as we all do, what does the average russian citizen actually think is happening right now? joining us now is julia yaffe, he found a partner of the washington correspondent for pop. julia, it is great to see you. you are the person with all the answers here. and i am thrilled that you're joining me. can you answer that question? what does the average -- rural russian who watches state
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media, think is happening right now? >> the thing, as we don't know what they think. it's very difficult to measure public opinion in a atmosphere of such thorough brainwashing and fear. it's been months since the russian government implemented a law that says people to prison for criticizing the army, for spreading what it calls fake news which is basically anything that contradicts the ministry of defense or the kremlin, and people already afraid. and people's support the war, and between the two extremes, there are obviously a lot of people that are quite silent these days. i think a lot of people, as you saw, are voting with their feet. there are people crossing into mongolia today. and what is also interesting about this draft is we're getting reports out of russia that they are purposely avoiding drafting too many people from moscow, from st. petersburg, and from other urban centers. they are focusing on rural areas, where they point out in -- the sources say there's no independent media there. people watch tv, there is no
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opposition there. and they are also focusing heavily on places where ethnic minorities live, which is incredibly problematic. >> yes. let me ask you, as we talk about all these things that putin is doing and instituting, the referendum. i read that you have a slightly different assessment about why putin is conducting these referenda. can you talk a little bit about what his motivation here is? >> i think the motivation is, i think we hear in the west think of putin as this bloodthirsty monster, and no doubt he is. but inside the kremlin and inside russia and russian government, he has become a sort of moderating force. when the war started, it created the so-called party of war. these hard-liners who went so far as to publicly criticize
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him, and to publicly criticize his prosecution of the war, they were in fact the only people who were allowed to publicly criticize how the war was going. they were saying, you're not fighting hard enough, you're fighting with one high and tied behind your back. they were calling for mobilization, they were calling for the annexation of these areas. these are people with a very imperialist mindset who think that basically if russia called a fall it's man, it could've crushed ukraine months ago, which is still not true. but i think this is very much concession to the party of war, and it's a way to annex whatever slots of territory has not lost -- russia has not lost yet to the ukrainian counter offensive. and to say, we've added territory and the seven months of pointless fighting. >> if he is making concessions to the party of war and has been thus far moderating forwards, what do you make of the suggestion that the nuclear
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arsenal is a potential -- is something he would potentially tap into and all of this? is that a bluff? is that -- what is that? >> whenever somebody says, i'm not bluffing, what's your first thought? , right? i'm lucky? in general, the worst russia does on the battlefield, the more likely they are going to use a strategic nuclear weapon, or some kind of nuclear weapon. the question is how will they use that, where will they use that, if they use it. the chances are still small, i think. but, they are not zero. and that's really scary. >> that's absolutely terrifying. you do make the point that putin often does what he says he's going to do. that is all pray that this is
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not one of those cases. julia ioffe founding partner and corresponded for the washington post media company, thank you for your expertise tonight. always good to see you. >> thanks alex. >> still ahead tonight, trump can still not stop amplifying qanon and it's raising concerns. what would it mean if his followers embrace the conspiracy theories as well? stay with us. 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. what's it going to take for the world to reach net-zero emissions? it's going to take investing in some things you've heard of and some you'd never expect. it's going to take funding innovation in renewable energy, helping reduce carbon footprints, and big bets on environmentally conscious construction. citi has committed 1 trillion dollars in sustainable financing to help build a better future.
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your shipping manager left to “find themself.” leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire >> foreign born members of congress are a rarity. and this past june, she became the first mexican born congress woman elected to the house when she won a special election in texas. most immigrants and the
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house are democrats, but unlike most latino members of congress, she is a republican. and she flipped texas's 34th district for the gop, a district long held by democrats. it went to obama by 22 points and 2012, to hillary clinton by a similar margin in 2016, and then it went to joe biden by just four points in 2020. she is an example of a new trend in republican politics, flipping a voters recently rejecting the democratic party and embracing the gop. in 2016, 28% of latino voters voted for trump. but in 2020, that number went up to 32%. it is a trend that elated republicans, and left democrats very worried. this journalist went down to the 34th district in south texas since book to former democratic voters to understand why they were no voting for the gop. >> if anyone in this room -- had anyone been a former democrat at some point? had anyone ever voted for a democrat, raise your hand? okay,
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several of you. why are we suddenly seeing a republican having so much momentum, what do you all think? >> we were already conservative. we have conservative values. it is just not nobody noticed. they took us for granted. the party, the democratic party, left me. i did not leave the party. >> we are not to be taken advantage of. we are not to be assumed that because we are hispanic, we are naturally going to vote democratic. >> what does the congresswoman represent for you all? >> she is that latina, or hispanic women thought is saying enough is enough, that our values matter. >> here in the valley, we are forgotten. family, for hard work. she does not only verbalize those things, but she actually lives those things. and let the chips fall where they may. >> she has been following across the country ahead of the midterms talking to latino voters to understand this apparent rightward shift. the latest episode afield report
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with paul aroma, which -- will air shortly. stay tuned right here on msnbc at 10 pm. joining me now is paula ramos. it is great to see you. we love what you are doing here. what do they mean, the democratic party has left me, what does that practically mean? >> it means that they believe that they no longer align with their values. when you think of someone like flores, the reason she won was because of her message. it was clear. god, family, country. she bet on this idea that conservatives have bet on for many reads. it is what reagan believed in, it is what trump believed in, it is what bush believed in. yes, at work, or latinos are more conservative. for decades, no conservative movement was truly able to fracture the democratic coalition until someone like flores comes around. and she sounds like them. she looks
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like them. she to, was an immigrant. and she to, brew up in a working class neighborhood. and she bet on that idea, and it started working. >> okay, so, god, country, what was the other one? >> family. >> family. >> at the same time that they feel like the democratic party has abandoned those values as they see them., the republican party is doing something that one would think would alienate latino voters. today, the national republican senate committee sent out an email asking supporters where republican governor should ship migrants next. it is hard for me to understand how anybody in this country, and especially immigrants, and the children of immigrants, i am one of them, can look at that and say that is my party, they care about me. >> right. i think no matter how you look at that, it is cruel, it is hypocritical, it is political, because it is --
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remember, these are two governors, desantis and abbott, that have catered to latinos through one message. and that is a fear of communism. here they are, punishing asylum seekers for leaving communism. so, i think you are right. i think it will backfire. i think for those latino moderates, it will backfire. because there is no way that you see that, and you do not see the help of crusty at the same time in a place like this valley, there is what you talked, about this underlying trend of assimilation. when you look at migrants, you look at asylum seekers, and you look at brown people that look just like you, you want to look the other way. because you want to assimilate. because you feel like success, and what it means to be american is not that. and that is also happening there. >> i would assume that being able to identify a congresswoman who looks like you but has reached success, like flores, that is really meaningful. >> we are not just talking about her, there are at least two other ones. there is monica, and there is casey garcia who is in laredo, with what they have in common, they are
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republican, they are trump supporters, they are the daughter of immigrants, they are bilingual, they could speak in spanish, they'll have right-wing policies about immigration, abortion, the economy. but you are right, they look like them. it is very different when a white man tells you vote for a republican, versus suddenly, these brown latinas that are changing that. >> in spanish. >> in spanish, that is right. >> one thing, there are many fascinating aspects about all of this, you speak to a political latino outreach group that is advocating for the preservation of conservative values. and they say one of the forums in which outreach has taken place is the church. and i will read the quote. if republicans do not start strategizing with latino pastors in churches like the democrats have done for years with the black church, it will be no victory for conservative candidates across the country.
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it is fascinating to me that the church -- the church is so mind politically. white evangelicals, it bedrock contingent of the republican party. black churchgoing democrats. i mean, souls to the polls is an invention of the black church and a largely democratic activity. and yet, the latino church has not been, i guess, seized upon in the way that one would expect it to be as an organizing tool. >> that was their exact decision-making process. they saw the way that democrats are going into black churches, are mobilizing their base, and they said wait a second, they have been doing this for decades. why don't we do the same thing? so, that is one of the ways that flores won, through her posture. her campaign started in her church, in her evangelical church. her pastor mobilized the congregation, he mobilized other past, risky mobilized evangelical latinos in the area, and not only did it work in this value, but it worked to nationalize on model.
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is it fair to compare these latino evangelical models to black churches? are you having the same conversations about social justice and racial equality, or are they becoming these hubs of political indoctrination? >> that is an open question. all of this research, this journalism, is so critical and so upends are preconceived ideas about latinos, voters, this country in general. paula, it is a great series. thank you for being here. the newest episode of field report with polak ramos will debut in just a few minutes, at 10 pm eastern on msnbc, it will also be available to stream on peacock. coming, up former president donald trump's promotion of the qanon conspiracy theory appears to grow by the day. will his followers take the bait? that is next. jaycee tried gain flings for the first time the other day. the scent made quite an impression. ♪♪ ♪♪ it was like that towel and jaycee were the only two left on earth.
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>> i know nothing about qanon. i know very little -- you told me about what you tell me doesn't necessarily make it fact. i know nothing about it. >> for years, donald trump has been claiming he knows absolutely nothing about qanon. the fringe white right wing conspiracy movements. that they are satan worshipping pedophiles that during the plot of innocent children, i wish i was kidding. the former president has been making more explicit entry news to followers of the conspiracy. over the past few weeks, trump has increasingly posted qanon related content to his account on his social media website, truth social. just last night, he promoted several qanon posts, including a video sideshow that included an image of him monday giant q superimposed over the capitol. a giant q over the abbreviation for the qanon slogan. and they voted shocked image of himself holding a
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single playing card with the letter q. he also posted this terrifying rendering of himself holding an infant that says pain is coming, you should have stayed away from the children, hashtag save our children. but it goes beyond social media, trump has also been embracing a song that is identical to a qanon anthem that is well known among followers of the conspiracy theory. at a rally last saturday, just as the song started to play, trump's followers seemed to respond to it by lifting their arms and holding up one finger in the air, it appears to echo the slogan where we go one, we go all. and tonight, just moments ago, they did it again. at a rally in wilmington, north carolina, just as we were coming on the air, trump once again played that qanon song and the crowd once again gave that single fingered salute. donald trump has already convinced about a third of the country that the 2020 election
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was stolen and was able to use that conspiracy to stop violent attack on the seat of our government. just think of what might happen if trump openly tells his legions of followers at the same democrats who claims stole the election are also involved in an insidious plot to drink the blood of children. that does it for us tonight, rachel will be here on monday, and i will see you on tuesday. now it is time for a field report with paula ramos. america. conservative. sally values. >> she is that latina woman that is saying enough is enough. that our values matter. >> the government doesn't know us. my pastor knows me. >> we're gonna kick you out of our cities. said take you out of our states. and out of the white hoe.
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