tonight on "the reidout" -- >> people know i take classified documents and classified

material seriously. i also said we're cooperating fully and completely with the justice department's review. >> the other epresident of the united states, you can declassify just by saying it's declassified, even by thinking about it. >> two distinctly different approaches to two completely different situations. but why is attorney general merrick garland moving so quickly to appoint a special counsel for the biden documents when it took forever to do the same for trump? also tonight, the quote of the day coming from george santos who said with a straight face, i have lived an honest life. and now, there's new reporting on the multiple investigations into his questionable finances. and did you hear? joe biden's coming for your gas stove. no, not really, but two weeks into the new year, it's a top republican priority to talk about it along with ending so-called wokeness and crt and counting fetuses in the hov lanes. we begin tonight just a little over two months since president

biden's team discovered and immediately returned a small batch of classified documents from his time as vice president to the national archives. we further learned today that at the end of december, the president's team discovered that additional documents were found at his delaware home. those too were immediately turned over. and today, we also had this announcement from attorney general merrick garland. >> i'm here today to announce the appointment of robert herr as a special council pursuant to department of justice regulations governing such matters. this appointment underscores for the public the department's commitment to both independence and accountability and particularly sensitive matters. and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law. >> when classified documents are found outside of government confines there are always questions that need to be answered, but it sure does feel like the attorney general was quick on the draw to make that announcement or maybe it feels

that way giving the agonizing slowness of similar actions taken against donald trump. let's not forget, it took a year and a half following the negotiating, the begging, and the pleading by the national archives and the doj to try to get back all of the classified documents that trump took. when he left the white house, before garland appointed a special counsel to look into that, it started with the first request for documents by the national archives back in may of 2021. they didn't get anything until january of last year. when as we now know, classified documents were turned over but for some reason, it took until november for it to result in a special counsel. and as i said, that was after multiple attempts by the archives and doj to retrieve them. numerous subpoenas, and even a court ordered fbi search of mar-a-lago. it makes you wonder why they appear to be handling those so differently. one reason is they think they

could be heading toward a prosecution of trump and want to be careful and do their due diligence before proceeding against a former president. there is reporting from "the new york times" that some investigators on the special counsel's team believe the initial charging decisions against trump will involve his mishandling of these documents and could come as early as this summer. or is it something else? perhaps having something to do with these people. >> the leaders of one of these groups, the proud boys, are currently on trial for sudishing conspiracy. that trial began today and we'll have more on that later in the show. it's one of a number of right wing armed militia groups who have sworn allegiance to trump and demonstrated at the capitol and states like michigan and arizona they're more than willing to get violent at a moment's notice if they don't get their way or trump doesn't

get his. the doj knows this movement on the right is a violent one that according to fbi director christopher wray makes up the bulk of domestic terrorist threats. in this case, you're not just dealing with a former president. you're dealing with a violent right wing movement disguised as a political party. joining me is jen psaki, former white house secretary, and my friend and colleague. good to have you in the building as part of this network. i have to ask you because this is what is bugging me about the situation. >> a lot of things are bugging me. >> i want you to explain how this works, but with trump, it literally has been a two-year soggy of begging and pleading and begging and pleading. with biden, there's, you know, a special counsel like in a hot minute. and it does make me wonder if at some level the department of justice fears trump's base and fears the violent potential repercussions january 6th style of just investigating him for crimes. >> that may be.

but i also think that they look to history a lot. and merrick garland is very, very careful about trying to avoid even the optics of politics. right? so naming a special counsel in this case means he is treating them at least pursuing to investigate and look into these cases equally, no president above the law. right? there's lots of reasons for that, and lots of legal experts who will explain that. i don't think -- no one wants a special counsel. you don't go into a year before you run for president where you think, i want a special counsel. what you have seen from the white house's projection without getting specific on confidence that this was likely sloppy staff work during a transition, and that they feel very open to having the special counsel look into this. again, not what you want, but it may end up over the long term, even with short term pain, being to their benefit. >> let me play kevin mccarthy.

the right has been ingentlemening the both sides of it. >> watch what is happening right now with the president of the united states. not once but now we're finding in two different locations classified information just out there in the open. here's an individual who has been in office for more than 40 years. here's an individual that sat on 60 minutes and was so concerned about president trump's documents locked in behind, and now we find it just as the vice president keeping it for years out in the open in different locations. >> when he tries to sound sincere and authoritative, it makes me laugh. for those who see it on its surface and say these two things seem the same. these are different things but i'm going leave it to you to explain how. >> one, donald trump, by many reports, asked for documents that were classified to be put in boxes and removed from the white house. knowingly. there is intent right there. >> including nuclear secrets. >> then, when the archives looked for those documents, he

did not return them. the fbi issued a subpoena. he defied the subpoena. we still have no idea what those documents are. we don't know what he's done with them, who he's shared them with. that photo shows he did not take good care of those documents. on the other side, joe biden has said he didn't know the documents were there. they could have been in boxes, and we'll find this through the process. >> and even the national archives, by the way, they didn't go looking for them. >> no one was looking for them. these were in boxes. as soon as they learned, they called the national archives. the national archives referred it to the department of justice and they have been very transparent about that. very, very different circumstances. >> just explain, because you have been a part of multiple administrations. you know how this works. when a vice president in this case this was when now president biden was vice president biden under president obama. a great trigger for the right, by the way. whether it's a vice president moving out of office or president moving out of office, what's the process of getting their things and separating

their things from our things, from the american people's things? >> exactly, i have been a part of lots of transitions. it is a very hectic time for a lot of reasons. one being staff start to depart. staff leave not on the last day, most don't leave on the last day. and you are trying to pack up eight years in the case of vice president, then vice president biden, of papers and work while also transitioning with the new team that's coming in, and unwinding all of your pursuits while you were in office. so it is a very, very hectic time. that job is typically done by staff, not the national security head, they don't have the time to do that. it's done at a staff level. they're dumping documents into boxes and moving them out of the building. >> is there a national security review of the boxes before they get moved? >> in my experience, there is no process where the boxes are then gone through with every box that leaves the building. now, because i'm a believer that

public servants of whatever party do it for the right reasons, they typically follow what you're supposed to do. you put classified documents away. you don't take documents you shouldn't take with you. but there's also a hectic nature of a transition with literally hundreds of thousands of documents that need to be filed, moved, archived. and that is what happens during that period of time. >> it's important to have that explanation and that context. jen psaki, thank you very much. always love having you on. let's bring in alberto gonzalez, u.s. attorney general in the george w. bush administration and dean of the belmont university college of law. thank you for being here. i really appreciate it. you know, you were the leader of a justice department that got accused of politicizing itself, right? so when i -- i'm asking this question -- >> every justice department gets that accusation. >> firm but fair. so in this case, i am not accusing the current attorney general of politicizing it.

it seems to me, though, that his decisions are political. in this sense. he made sure to appoint a special counsel, like immediately against the democratic president. but waited two years really to act against a president who seemed to willfully take documents and willfully take classified documents. he seemed to go over and above to try to seem to be extra fair to donald trump, but is acting extremely rapidly and aggressively against joe biden. am i reading that wrong? talk me down. >> yeah, you're reading it wrong. because the case is different. there's quite a difference in looking at a criminal prosecution for a former president as opposed to a sitting president. i think without question, when you have a situation of a possible investigation of a sitting president, that is the prime example of the reason why the special counsel statutes exist, because this is an individual who actually

nominated merrick garland to the position that he currently holds. and despite what we all think in terms of the integrity of general garland, nonetheless, it is impossible to avoid at least the appearance of a bias if in fact merrick garland is in charge of the investigation for the person that put him in that position. so it's different with respect to a former president, and i think the way that we deal with former presidents is just different in terms of historically, what do you do with someone who is accused or suspected of criminal wrongdoing? with respect to existing presidents, i think the framers looking at the constitution and the structure of our government really, i think, had in mind that if you had someone in office who is accused of committing a crime, you first impeach him and then remove the president through a trial in the senate, and then you deal with

him in the criminal justice system. you don't worry about doing that. that would not be the process with respect to a former president simply because they're no longer in office. in my mind, there's quite a difference that would justify the decisions by merrick garland and the time of the decisions. >> that's fair and i appreciate the explanation. one of the things i think is galling to some folks when they look at this is that i think about the way that people are treated when they take classified documents just in general. there is just a difference between the two, right, and you said you supported -- you were okay with the search of mar-a-lago, right? you didn't have a problem with that. >> well, the search was done according to law. there was probable cause met, a warrant issued by a magistrate judge, so no, no problems with the search. >> okay. but i think about people like reality winner, who leaked a top secret report on russia hacking

and received a five-year sentence after pleading guilty. she did that, she admitted to doing it, but she did it to try to help the united states because she believed russia, and she was right, they were attacking us, attacking our elections. general david petraeus pleaded guilty in 2015 to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified documents. he was sentenced to two years probation, reality winner got five years. sandy berger fined and sentenced to two years probation. there didn't seem to be any hesitation with regards to these people regarding what they did with classified documents. at this point, donald trump is a civilian. why is he not treated like every person who is accused of taking and holding classified documents illegally? >> let's be realistic here. there are going to be different results depending on the facts and circumstances. the other thing everyone loses sight of is that every prosecutor has a discretion to

charge the case and to prosecute the case in the manner that he or she deems appropriate. you may have a prosecutor that's extremely aggressive, and moves forward in a much more rapid pace, seeking perhaps even harsher penalties than another prosecutor. it's all a matter of discretion. that doesn't mean someone is getting unequal justice as opposed to someone else. that's just the way that our system works. because we allow our prosecutors to exercise their good judgment and exercise discretion depending on the facts and circumstances. >> but the reason that it seems disparate is you look at the average sentences for people who attacked our capitol, beat up police officers, assaulted police officers, and left five people dead, including one of their own. the average sentences here are, what, 14 months. people are getting 15 days, 48 days is the average sentence.

it does seem like this justice department is either concerned about the backlash of treating people who support donald trump too harshly or that they fear the repercussions of dealing with donald trump the way they would deal with, let's say, a democratic president accused of the same thing. >> oh, i don't get that at all. i don't believe this justice department is in any way cowed by the repercussions of being strict in terms of seeking harsher sentences. i think that, listen, i agree. i wish that the sentences were harsher, but i'm not prosecuting the case. i don't know what evidence we can be presented to a jury successfully. so you know, but the notion that the decisions with respect to accepting the sentences in these cases, january 6th rioters, is because they're somehow afraid or cowed by the repercussions from donald trump and maga, i

don't agree with that at all. >> well, i appreciate that. you see, sometimes you have to have somebody try to talk you down. i appreciate you doing that. former u.s. attorney general alberto gonzalez, thank you for being here. >> up next, republican congressman george santos says that he has lived an honest life. okay, but which one? "the reidout" continues after this. is it's time for our lowest prices of the season on the sleep number 360 smart bed. science proves quality sleep is vital to your mental, emotional, and physical health. the sleep number 360 smart bed. it's temperature balancing, so you stay cool. it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to help keep you both comfortable all night. our smart sleepers get 28 minutes more restful sleep per night. the queen sleep number 360 c2 smart bed is only $899 save $200. plus 0% interest for 24 months, and free home delivery when you add a base. ends monday

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the talented mr. santos finally decided it was his time to share his story, and guess how he addressed his constituents? on steve bannon's podcast, of course, which was guest hosted by none other than matt gaetz, and here what he said. >> came here to serve the people, not politicians and party leaders and i'm going to do that. i was elected by 142,000 people. until those same people tell me they don't want me, we'll find out in two years. >> yeah, i mean, who cares if those folks already called on him to resign. in the same interview, he told gaetz he didn't have any preconceived notions on what committees he wanted to serve. back in november, he broadcast to millions of new yorkers he hoped to serve on the house financial services or foreign affairs committees based on his fake 14-year background in capital markets and his multicultural background. he also refused to tell gaetz hoe was able to loan his campaign $700,000. >> i have worked my entire life, i have lived an honest life.

i have never been accused of any bad doings. >> really? despite his claims, we continue to get disturbing new information about his tangled web of lies. mother jones has new reporting on one person who may be key to unraveling santos' supersketchy campaign finances. that person, his campaign treasurer, is named in a recent complaint filed with the federal election commission. alleging santos illegally hid the source of the money that he loaned to his campaign through a straw donor scheme. late this afternoon, "the new york times" reported that additional questions are emerging about a state political action committee run by that campaign treasurer and by the congressman's sister. according to the times, the pac called rise new york, was apparently paying for wages and professional services for santos' campaign staff, including his press secretary. the pac also seemed to pay for expenditures that just so happened to take place at many of santos' favorite restaurants

and gas stations. now, pacs are allowed under state law to give directly to candidates or to authorize committees. but they can't spend it just any old way they want and in any other way. i'm joined by david corn, washington bureau chief for mother jones and author of american psychosis, how the republican party went crazy. a subtle title for a subtle man. david, explain to me because i am fascinated, the lies are kooky and weird, but the money, where did he get it? >> we don't know. i have to say, having covers politics for a couple decades, i have never seen a single congressional campaign that has led to so much investigative journalism. in the last few days, "the new york times," "the washington post," daily beast, talking points memo, and mother jones and probably others have all had very different breakthrough investigative pieces including the one we put out today with my colleague, noah leonard. and the money is flowing in a couple different ways.

there's the $700,000 that comes into his campaign. the times talks about hundreds of thousands of dollars coming in possibly through an illegal outfit he set up. there's money coming in personally into the campaign. there are disbursements going out that are not identified where the money is going. and what we focused on in particular was that he at the same time, all this is going on, he's also trying to make money in politics. he and a bunch of people he worked with at a company in florida that closed down after it was alleged to have run a ponzi scheme, he was not implicated in this, but the company was, he and several colleagues there with his treasurer from long island, they got together, formed a company that then tried to make money off a woman raising a lot of money to run against aoc. in a district next to him. he's running for congress, he has a campaign treasurer, and he's still now trying to work with these people to bring in

money into his own pocket. this company called red strategies usa is hitting up other republicans in the new york area to get money. and it makes some, and then it suddenly stops and doesn't do anything. we don't know why. like a lot of his enterprises, they come and they go. he's claiming on his financial disclosure forms in a period of one to two years he made $3.5 million and $11.5 million in income. >> this is after not being able to pay his rent. >> after he a $55,000 a year job. it is against the law to lie on these disclosure statements. and even matt gaetz, even with a friendly interview today with matt gaetz, gaetz asked him about the $700,000 that he says came from the company that paid him millions. he could not identify the source. he made a joke that it wasn't from burisma or china.

he is hiding the source of this income. his campaign finance filings look really dodgy, with money coming in, money going out. at the same time, he's creating this, i don't want to -- i don't know if we can call it grifting, but this other source of revenue using his political connections to raise money in other campaigns. >> right. >> it is a definition of a tangled web here. >> absolutely, and why is florida always involved in everything? >> i'm sorry about that. >> i knew florida would come up eventually. at this point, as you said, there's this tangled web where he might have lied on his disclosure forms which is illegal. he has this pac paying his sister, people are earning money off it personally, he's going to his favorite restaurants. all this on this fund-raising dime. you now have seven house members who have called on him to resign. anthony deesposito was on earlier today on msnbc saying he's got to go, but kevin mccarthy seems dug in to stick with him.

why? >> i think it's pretty obvious. he has a four-person majority. he can't lose anybody. people say if it's that close, why does it matter init matters because people move on. people get sick, people pass. and if you're going to have a close vote on something, you need every vote you can get, particularly if there's a recall vote, which he has now given the terrorists in the republican party the right to do, to basically have a no-confidence vote any time. every vote matters. i think it's pretty clear that if santos, you know, either at some point will not be a member of congress in that district, and it's likely to go back to a democrat. so if he pushed or threw santos out, which the house does have the power to do, it could become a democratic seat. mccarthy, we are seen how much ezhe's traded away in the last week or so. so i don't think he's -- he's not going to force santos out and lose another vote. he said today t was really

interesting, he said, well, everybody is innocent until they're proven guilty. now, that's true in a court of law. but if someone comes in and starts lying and, you know, snorting drugs, you know, on the house floor, whatever they're doing, you can come to a conclusion and say that person should not be a member of this body. so he's hiding behind this rhetoric, when it's quite clear as we see with the new york state republicans, they believe he's dragging down the party. they want him gone. mccarthy says, my lifeline is really short in the house. i can't afford to have anybody go. >> going to be interesting -- come back with more developments because my other question is why him? why would this person be fund-raising for him in a seat that was likely to be democratic. >> the fact he got so much money is very mist tearious. >> david corn, always appreciate you. by the way, when the speaker said he was elected.

no, somebody they thought was george santos. thank you very much. >> still ahead, prosecutors present their opening arguments in the sedition trial of five members of the proud boys. arguing they did everything except stand back and stand by on january 6th. more next.

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federal government began making its case today against members of the right wing extremist group the proud boys for their role in the january 6th attack on the capitol. former leader enrico tarrio is charged with seditious conspiracy and obstruction of a official proceeding. with four other defendants, ethan nordean, joseph biggs, and dominic pet sola. they played this infamous moment from the 2020 presidential debate. >> what do you want to call them? give me a name. >> white supremacists. >> who do you want me to condemn? >> proud boys. >> proud boys, stand back and stand by. >> u.s. taerg jason mccullough told the jury these men did not stand back, they did not stand by. instead, they mobilized. the second january 6th trial that could garner a conviction on seditious conspiracy charges. in november, oath keepers leader elmer stewart rhodes and his

deputy were convicted of that very crime. as you'll recall, rhodes and tarrio met in a garage in washington the night before the riot at the capitol. the perfect person for this, you were in that courtroom today. we're going to show a couple sketches from it. talk about the atmosphere in the room. >> you have, first of all, the doj's case today was not unlike the one you see coming from the january 6th committee investigating january 6th. they're arguing that the moment trump said stand back, stand by, like you said, the proud boys started gearing up for civil war. now, because there are five proud boys defense attorneys, you have this whole cavalcade of different characters out there defending their proud boys in different ways. some of them were a little successful. some were absolutely ridiculous and spent their time, you know, talking about how the proud boys aren't actually racist, which is of course untrue. but going off topic. >> in one case, elmer stewart

rhodes, he said the same thing. i don't believe the proud boys are white nationalist. i think they have been sloppy and let white nationalists infiltrate the group. >> the proud boys have white supremacist tenets at their core. their founder said anybody can join as long as they accept and agree with the fact that white men were responsible for success of the west. so there's white supremacist tenets here, and they use their few people of color, sort of catapult them and show them aloft as the reason that they're not racist and they do this with enrique tarrio, their chairman, and they do this with even the wives of some proud boys who are black. this is a constant theme with them, showing we're not racist means we couldn't be out there doing racist things. and certainly they have. >> and enrico tarrio to me is a fascinating sort of terrifying character. a guy who is afro cuban from miami, you know, presents visually as a black man. but he's ripping down black

lives matter signs. that's why he was arrested, why he wasn't actually free to be in d.c. on january 6th. but as you said, he's pushed forward as the frontman. he's probably going to do time and get convicted because the case against him is no different than the case against elmer stewart rhodes. these are people like him that are going to go to jail and for what? for donald trump. >> right, and they see donald trump as the main reason for being. they are out there fighting for gop grievances. part of what makes this trial so interesting is it's almost a mob-like trial. you have proud boys who have already pleaded guilty ready to testify against their own. and you have enrico tarrio's connections to people like roger stone and donald trump's inner circle. so if the prosecution wants to fry some big fish here, they could use that testimony to try to get more information about extremist connections to people like roger stone and trump's inner circle. it's going to be very interesting to see which route they take here. >> the trump stand back stand by

statement came up in court today. are connections to him being made, at least at the top of this trial? >> not at the top of this trial. like i said, it's very much in line with the january 6th committee's investigation. i mean, they are proving that the proud boys took that quote and started recruiting, starting gathered money, starting gathering weaponry and doing what they thought was civil war for donald trump. so they're drawing the connection now, defense attorneys were out there saying today, blaming trump, saying this isn't my client. trump was the one who brought people to d.c. trump was the one who incited them to go to the capitol, and trump was the one who wouldn't stop them when the violence started. they may use trump as their big excuse here. >> what's interesting is you have members of congress who are defending essentially saying that these people in their minds, i guess, are the persecuted patriots, and sort of defending them. but you haven't really seen right wing and trump himself groups supporting them financially. are any of these people coming in saying, you know, i've got

trump's paying my legal bills? is there any actual support for them from him? >> we're still looking for big mega donors of the proud boys. one of the concerning things i found in my book is regular people have been donating to proud boy causes because a lot of america under trump believed that these are our freedom fighters out there fighting for our grievances. and so the proud boys going forward, their violence is continuing. and people are still supporting them. i'm hoping that this case has a chilling effect on that overall gop violence that we're seeing in the streets because so far, the answer is no. >> it's not even slowing down knowing these people are on trial for their lives. >> they have been mobilizing day to day, even though their leaders are behind bars. the gop grievance am sheen is still working today. >> andy, thank you very much. perfect person to talk to on this. up next, i'm sure republicans are going to unveil their big plan to fight inflation any day now. that is unless they're too busy defending their sacred constitutional right to own a

gas stove. back in a second.

when republicans sought to recapture the house and senate last year, their tactic was clear, riding the wave of fury over inflation and howling from the rooftops that it was somehow president biden's fault. >> inflation all across this country at 40-year highs. biden's energy polpolicies.

>> the three reasons are inflation, crime, and the border. >> inflation of gas prices rising, of a cust of living as you go to the grocery store. >> high inflation, high crime, open borders. fentanyl. >> inflation, inflation, inflation. the key issue for the republican party who vowed to tackle sticker shock and bolster the economy. it was of course a tactic to hammer democrats and pin it all on biden. despite inflation being an international phenomenon hitting the entire world, not just the u.s. here's some good news. annual u.s. inflation fell in december to its lowest level in more than a year. gas prices also plunged for the fifth time in six months, giving families some breathing room. an inconvenient development for republicans given that biden is still president. not that they're doing much about it anyway. since taking power, house republicans haven't focused on inflation at all. choosing instead to vote for defunding the irs but really irs employees based off bogus fears

that an army of militarized tax collectors are coming for the middle class. while also voting on anti-abortion bills and approving a weaponization panel to investigate federal law enforcement and national security agencies for daring to investigate conservatives, and of course, donald trump. it's what house democratic leader hakeem jeffries has renamed the select committee on insurrection protection. we're not hearing so much about inflation these days, are we? even from the governors like ron desantis whose bid for re-election felt more like a presidential campaign. but who now spends most of his time and floridians tax dollars battling mickey mouse, drag shows, and shouting about gas stoves, and then glenn youngkin of virginia, another republican with a white house glimmer in his eye, and deeming a fetus a passenger in a car, allowing pregnant drivers to use the carpool highways.

further curtailing abortion rights by advancing personhood laws. and then sarah huckabee sanders whose day one orders focused on prohibiting arkansas schools from teaching critical race theory. sanders also signed an executive order on a crucial matter that has nothing to do with her state's high poverty rate or its childhood hunger problem. or how covid hospitalizations in arkansas were in the 400s. no, nothing on any of that. instead, within hours of being sworn in, sarah huckabee sanders signed an executive order banning the term latinx, that will put food on the table. the right's obsession with telling you what to think, what to read, what to do with your body, even what to say is getting creepier and even more aggressive by the tame, even downright authoritarian. a new police video exposes one republican's literal attack on black voters and what the

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just look around. this digital age we're living in, it's pretty unbelievable. problem is, not everyone's fully living in it. nobody should have to take a class or fill out a medical form on public wifi with a screen the size of your hand. home internet shouldn't be a luxury. everyone should have it and now a lot more people can. so let's go. >> newly-obtained video by the the digital age is waiting.

guardian shows heavily armed miami-dade police ambushing an unarmed black man at gunpoint. as part of florida governor ron desantis tracked down on voter fraud the man who was arrested in august was accused of illegal voting, -- >> [inaudible]

miami-dade police opened the door. open the door. come outside, man. let me talk to you for a second. i'm outside for a second. >> -- >> over here. come on, take a seat right over here. >> sir, take a seat. >> what happened? >> you gotta come with us. >> come for what? >> i'll explain once we got. they're >> during another around for the first day they were -- unsure these tactics are totally not meant to send an intimidating message to other black florida's in florida, not at. all joining me now is michael steele, amazon analyst and chair of the michael steele podcast. michael, great to see you my friend. we talk a lot about the and seriousness of the republican party in this era. it's both an serious and serious. on the serious side, the

desantis intimidation game is strong, these arrests of people in this case these voters were given voted registration card by canvassers they january believed they had the right to vote itself deliberate undermining of a constitutional amendment approved by 65% of florida voters. giving former felons the rights to vote back. but desantis, it seems to me, these violent arrests, these arrests with full guns showing are meant to scare the hell out of black voters. i talk to people who were in the turnout game who said that it did. >> let's put this in the proper context. you have police fully armed, battle gear if you will, flap jackets, the whole thing, guns drawn. they're going to arrest someone for armed hijacking of a car. attempted murder, rape, what?

oh, voter fraud. voter fraud so that's how you're gonna approach the community with voter fraud. is it any wonder why african americans not just in florida, but around the country are so fed up, frustrated, afraid, all those words when it comes to their encounter with the police. if that's what you're gonna do for voter fraud. you're absolutely right, the idea that the governor believes that he can just sort of willy-nilly circumvent because he doesn't like the outcome of the voters choice to retain power felons. not violent felons, right, not those who were convicted of murder and things like that. but those who had a drug possession record, or something

like that. that they aren't allowed back into society, to use these types of intimidation tactics, i'm just telling you as we get ready for the 24 cycle, this is just the beginning of it, this is just the beginning of what we're gonna see with governors like desantis in places like florida. >> the thing, as this is a governor who has the proud boys running rampant not only in the state. we had an expert on that so that florida's become a hotbed, a far right wing movement. a supporter of the proud boys on the board of the broward county school board. they were nazis marching, waving banners, he did nothing about that. he's inviting fascism and, and telling black voters who don't vote the way he likes, shut up, and telling lou don't say what he likes, who don't think like he likes, who don't love who he says you can, and want to put a mask on their head, shut up. it's full fascism.

meanwhile, let's put the pen in. that you have this open push towards a fascist style of governing in florida. and then you have this on serious side. that's the serious bet, then you have the unserious stuff. two other voters, to conservative voters what republicans are saying is, gamut, they're in a taker gas stove. the message to black voters is a serious one. be afraid, all the time. the message to white conservatives as, defend your gas stoves. >> yeah. yeah, and what's striking about all of that. is that desantis was overwhelmingly reelected. bats can you put the serious stuff was okay with florida voters. because a lot of times these voters don't think it impacts them. it's not gonna impact, i don't live in that neighborhood, i don't do voter fraud, they do voter fraud. that's that, not me. and as long as you have someone

it's the alamo of donald trump, ammo of guys like the santa's, as long as they're able to perpetuate that on the serious side. and they flip the script on the non serious stuff. like crt or caravans coming to your neighborhood. police are now gonna take the gas stove out of your house. you began, you get a full flavor of just how they approach the electorate. but the damning part for me, is not the actor in this case the governor, but the people who applaud it with their vote. and that to me, fertile some were serious problem, that i'm not gonna say are two down to see it, because you're not. you know exactly what you're getting when you cast that vote. for candidates like that. at the end of the day, this is not a situation like --

looks you in the eye and lie to you about who was. and all of that. they just tell you straight-up, we're gonna cut back on your access to the ballot box, we're gonna fill your head full of crazy stuff, you're gonna go along with that. it's gonna be a troubling time in many respects. it's good to see the level of activism that's out there on the ground. or people are trying to fight back against this but it's gonna be a long slog. a lot more people wanted than don't want it. >> you're absolutely right. for african americans, specifically, there was a people that said that only 6% -- that they were willing to vote for our people come in their races. they're chasing voters of color away. it seems like that's the goal, to silence the. rest because in florida the turnout was minimal among african americans. michael steele, thank. you that's tonight -- u that's tonight - >> tonight on all in. >> people