tv Alex Wagner Tonight MSNBC January 26, 2023 9:00pm-10:00pm PST
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and i don't want to know my no. i just want you to tell them that this is a blessing from god. >> i would go on to donate $100 a month until his passing at the age of 80. earlier this month they finally shared his secret with his children shortly before he died. and they say they were not at all surprised. >> there's more today then -- but he had done a lot for everybody. >> it is made us want to carry on what he's been doing. >> his family and friends are now contributing to a fund to keep the kindness going. and show his neighbors that he loves them. this story is being shared around the country and its inspiring others to donate to their local pharmacy. and the small way, odious blessing continues. and as we always like to say on the show, i remind folks, if you need help, ask for. but if you can give help, please, give it. and on that note i wish you all a very good night. from all of our colleagues
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across the networks of nbc news, thanks for staying up late. i'll see you then tomorrow. you then tomorrow one of the many revelations to come out of the january six committees, was trump attorney general bill barr described in his own words how he pushed back against trump's claims of election fraud. he called those claims bogus, crazy stuff, and most notoriously complete bs despite the heroic headlines generated by barr's testimony, it is a good point to remember that barr did not say anything publicly debunking those same claims of election fraud until december 1st, which was nearly a month after the 2020 election. in fact, before his post trump rehabilitation tour, this was the bill barr we knew. >> what happened to the
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president in the 2016 election, and throughout the first two years of his administration, was a point. it was a grave injustice, and it was unprecedented in american history. the law enforcement and intelligence apparatus of this country who are involved in advancing a false and utterly baseless russian collusion narrative against the president. the proper investigative and prosecuted standards of the department of justice were abused, in my view, in order to reach a particular result. the durham investigation is trying to get to the bottom of what happened. i think spying on a political campaign as a big deal. i think there is spying that occurred, i think spying did occur, yes. >> my own view is that the evidence shows we're not
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dealing with just mistakes, or sloppiness. there's something far more troubling here. we're going to get to the bottom of it. i think what happened to him was one of the greatest travesties in american history. >> that is the bill barr we knew for the years of the trump administration. trump's attorney general spent the vast majority of his time as the head of the justice department, doing absolutely everything he could to cast doubt on the investigations into trump. he argued that doj and fbi institutions that he oversaw were somehow part of a deep state plot to overthrow president trump. to appease trump in 2019, barr appointed john durham, a career justice department prosecutor, to investigate the origins and intelligence committees investigation into trump and his 2016 campaign dealings with russia. right before the 2020 election, barr would promote durham to special counsel, protecting his work from any future doj's grasp. as barr promised, special counsel john durham did get to the bottom of it, but after nearly four years
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of investigating, it appears as though there was nothing at the bottom. john durham lost the two key cases he brought to trial. they both ended in acquittals. the one guilty plea durham did secure ended with no present time. despite what donald trump and bill barr would like you to believe, john durham, it seems, found no evidence of what bill barr had called one of the greatest travesties in american history. it undermines the very notion that there was a travesty to begin with. today, in a bombshell piece from an intrepid group of reporters at the new york times, we are learning new details about bill barr and john durham's efforts to craft a counter narrative that trump was, in fact, a victim of a deep state plot. here's the headline. quote, barr pressed durham to find flaws in the russia investigation. it didn't go well. the times reports that barr and durham would often meet weekly in barr's office together and drink scotch. as the times reports, john durham soon became a true believer, i wouldn't scotch it, was in the
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mold of bill barr, quote, as he was drawn into barr's personal orbit, durham came to embrace that particular attorney generals intense feelings about the russia investigation. probably the most explosive revelation in the times piece is this, while on a foreign trip to europe, barr and durham received a credible tip linking donald trump to suspected financial crimes rather than assign it to a different prosecutor, perhaps someone less inclined to drink scotch with him, barr told durham to investigate it himself. quote, mr. durham never filed charges, and it remains unclear what level of an investigation it was, what steps he, took what he learned, and whether anyone at the white house ever found out. the extraordinary fact durham opened a criminal investigation that included scrutinizing trump has remained secret. the investigator who was supposed to be investigating, excuse the rough prince, the investigators, john durham, open a criminal inquiry into than president donald
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trump. no one knows what came of it. instead, the report dives into just how committed bill barr was to making sure the durham probe uncovered something as long as it seems that something didn't target president trump. the times reports that, in one meeting, barr, put, repeating a sexual vulgarity, warned that if the nsa wronged him by not doing all it could to help durham, barr would do the same to the agency. i can't say that sexual -- on this program, but you could get the idea. months out from the election, and with no sign of imminent action from john durham, trump began putting public pressure on the men through tv interviews and fox news. here was the headline out of one trump fox news interview in august, quote, trump is down the gauntlet for barr and durham probe, greatest attorney general, or average guy. there you have. it we also learned from the times that when barr and durham could not find anything regarding abuse by the intelligence community in opening the trump russia investigation, then attorney general barr and durham turned
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their sights to old faithful, a hillary clinton conspiracy. in other words, when their probe turned up nothing, when durham came up empty handed, barr and durham chased down a new hypothesis. hillary clinton and her campaign had colluded with the government to push a trump russia conspiracy, because when all else fails, there is always the republican party's number one enemy, hillary clinton. quote, by summer 2020, with election day approaching, mr. barr pressed mr. durham to dropped a potential interim report centered on the clinton campaign, and fbi gullibility, or willful blindness. while durham never ended up releasing this report, the sheer desperation by the attorney general to give trump a hail mary in the months before the election is astonishing. it became clear in the months leading up to the election that there was absolutely no evidence of a deep state conspiracy against donald trump. what did bill barr do? quote, by summer 2020, it was clear that the hunt for
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evidence supporting mr. barr's hunch about intelligence abuses had failed. but barr waited until after the 2020 election to publicly concede that there had turned out to be no such sign of foreign government activity, and with the cia had stayed in its lane after all. i am so pleased to be joined by former fbi general counsel and senior member of robert mueller's special counsel team that investigated the russian interference in the 2016 election, the great andrew weissmann. thanks for being here tonight. >> great to be here. >> i had to, i mean, just pick my jaw up off the floor after reading this piece. what was your initial reaction to this? >> first, i reacted to it in terms of the journalism. this is the a plus team at the new york times. if people had not rhetoric, they really need to. it's beautifully sourced, and beautifully written. in no if it is this team, they will have
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kicked all of the tires. it was my first reaction. i wasn't surprised to read about barr. i come partly lived through his actions, and we were the effectiveness of his actions. that didn't surprise me. it was, to me, more of the same on that. i was surprised by the various revelations, the fact there are not one but three prosecutors who resigned, the reasons for their resignations, what you surmised, but did not know, and that as you pointed out, the italy piece was beyond shocking. this sort of leaving it out there that this was really wrongdoing being investigated, related to the fbi, when it was actually donald trump, and to give it to durham, with no sort of public disclosure about this, it's just a sign of, you know, with house republicans calling the weaponization of the department of justice. are they going to look at this? this entire article is exhibit a to how the
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department of justice was weaponized by bill barr and donald trump, and they saw no separation between the political sphere and the department of justice. whatever you could say about merrick garland, that is not his fault. he is independent. so, this is a really good example of exactly what could go wrong when the department of justice is weaponized, which is something that happened in the prior administration. there is no evidence that it is happening now. >> to go back to what you're talking about, for those who don't recall, there was a moment when it became clear there was a criminal investigation happening in the context of this durham probe. as we find out today in the new york times, the criminal investigation wasn't into the intelligence community, or agents, it was into donald trump. yet, when the news broke about the criminal aspect of all of this, most people thought that meant there had
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been wrongdoing at one of the agencies. bill barr chose to not clear that up. >> absolutely. because we all knew what the purview was for john durham, that if john durham was looking at, and you knew it had to be within that scope. he did nothing to correct that. do you really sit here, thinking john durham and bill barr did a thorough assessment of that? it's not like they looked for it. this is the italian government, according to the reporting, that gave them this tip. which was, apparently, so convincing, that they couldn't ignore it. does any one really think that this was investigated thoroughly? when i was at the mueller investigation, we would have loved to have had information -- >> you're, like i know some investigators who would use that! >> exactly. >> are we are going to find -- first of all, this -- the durham probe is not over yet, are we ever going to find out what that criminal investigation was? is there someone else at the doj who could take it over? given the fact these guys were so
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reluctant to do anything that was damaging to trump, the fact that they felt it was necessary to investigate this, just that it's something fairly significant in the way of criminal wrongdoing. >> yeah, so, it doesn't fit with any of this, of the multiple special counsels that we currently have. stay tuned. there could be more. right now, it doesn't fit within that purview of what jack smith has, or rob her. you could imagine that, with this reporting, that merrick garland, or lisa monaco, they're going to be curious if they don't know already. there's a good chance they don't because, you know john durham would've had to have told them about this and laid it all the facts. maybe he did. if he didn't, they're going to look at this and decide whether it is something that needs to be pursued, and whether these, for instance, the scope of what jack smith is supposed to look
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at gets folded into that. >> it's the danger of appointing a special counsel, right? you seem sanguine about far and the politicization of the doj under his stewardship. i was still shocked by it. you know, it was out there to be seen, but the idea he's back there, drinking scotch with john durham, and the atmosphere becomes poisonous and partisan enough that prosecutors are leaving the office. you've been on the inside of an investigation. what does it take to get people to resign in fury like that? >> by the way, i think my view of bill barr, the reason i wasn't shocked, is that i may be starting at a low point that this confirmatory. >> yes, you lived a different experience than i did. >> exactly, i lived through that month where there was a public letter reporting to the summary of the mueller report which we internally knew. it was completely false, and misleading to the american public, and having to wait for the report to come out, knowing what bill barr was up to, and,
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so, that one piece. to resign the way that at least two, possibly three people dead is huge. there has to be something that you find so, sort of, unpalatable, in terms of ethics, that you are going to resign. that is, in fact, what the reporting is, with respect to the number two. somebody who is very close to john durham, nor addenda he, resigned, and, according to the reporting, issued a formal written statement to the group about what was improper about what was going on, and how they should not be issuing this sort of interim report to play politics at bill barr's and donald trump's request. the second was, before they brought charges against a, sort of, clinton affiliated lawyer, two of the prosecutors said
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evidence is way too thin, and this wouldn't have been brought against anyone else. the second part of what a prosecutor has to do, which is even if there is the appropriate evidence, it's not that can we bring a case, it's should we bring it? they had objectives to both prongs. that is really significant. i mean, you shouldn't have that kind of dissension -- >> in the ranks. >> in the ranks. i have never experienced that, where something is happening that is that inappropriate. >> when you talk about -- we talk about the various ways in which barr was trying to undermine the good investigative work that was done at the department. there was an inspector general's report that was going to come out and, basically, it would say the agencies did nothing wrong. it was good reason to investigate the trump - russia ties. barr effectively gets out in front of it, minutes before the inspector general's report comes out, basically saying all clear for the agencies, they did nothing wrong here. barr preempt set with his own
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announcement. that was a very eerie echo to the thing that happened to you at the mueller report, right, before we get the report, barr is out there, preemptively undermining the work that's been done, and suggesting that something wrong, something wicked this way comes. >> right, with no evidence. also, so, that was quintessential barr for everything that is bad about him. i loved your opening, because it reminds people the new barr is not the new barr, he still the old barr. >> he's still bill barr. >> exactly. that was the first
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time john durham had lost his way. if you remember, he issues a statement also saying, well, i know more than the inspector general. i disagree with him. that is not done. if you are doing an investigation, you either bring a charge, or you don't. it turns out -- it came out on the minor issue, it's something i know for my prior job, when you could open a preliminary investigation, versus an assessment, or a full, that's not something john durham knows anything about, it's not in his wheelhouse, it's an fbi internal rule. that was not what he fronted, it's not what he told the public. he made it sound like you really can't trust the inspector general because i know more. that's when, i think, all of us at the department, and people who graduated from the department that, you know what? there's a problem, because john durham has really changed his reputation for being, sort of, a career guy, a straight shooter, something has happened. he has lost his way, and that was the first sign of it. >> i would love to know what the scotch was. was it mcallen? it was something good, because this is someone who really
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seemed to have a personality lobotamy in the course of his interactions with bill barr who did inexcusable things to the integrity, or the impression of the integrity of our intelligence agencies. >> absolutely. >> andrew, such a pleasure to have you on. i am sorry that you had to go through what you've had to go through, and i'm sure this is triggering, in some fashion. >> it is. >> it's so great to talk with you, especially, about, it in this amazing reporting from the new york times. thanks for your time, as always. andrew weissmann, former fbi general councils, great to see you as always. we have a lot more to talk about tonight, including all the concessions kevin mccarthy made in order to get the house speaker's gavel. it has started to backfire. tomorrow, the republican party needs to pick their next chair. what that means for the current de facto leader of the grand old party. that's next.
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former rnc chair to be his chief of staff. trump loyalists began to fill open seats on the committee, and key-trump allies became the party's new finance chairs in charge of the party's national fundraising. that led to embarrassing headlines for the party when, one by one, those trump-backed financiers became embroiled in their own scandals, ranging from allegations from rampant sexual misconduct to foreign corruption schemes. if you don't know what i'm talking about, google steve wynn or elliott broidy. throughout those scandals, the rnc remained, effectively, an extension of trump world, promoting trump's business, and featuring him in fundraising emails, and in 2020, the rnc spent $300,000 of the donors money buying copies of donald trump jr.'s book. trump even involved them in the fake electors scheme to try and overturn the 2020 election. now, that cozy relationship between trump and the national republican party may be coming to an end. according to the new york times, members of the rnc, some of whom were noted trump-backers, those members are now expressing doubts about
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backing trump again in 2024. the new york times called, emailed, or texted all 168 rnc members, just four of them offered an unabashed endorsement of mr. trump's 2024 campaign. 20 said the former president should not be the party's nominee. an additional 35 said they would like to see a big primary field or declined to stake their position on mr. trump, and other major did not respond to messages. new phone, who this? the move away from trump comes as the party is being roiled by an internal battle between is trump-supporting ronna mcdaniel, and the conservative challenger named harmeet dhillon. tomorrow, the rnc will hold an election for its chairmanship and though mcdaniel is expected to win that election and remain in her current role, she's facing surprisingly strong challenge from her meet dhillon who managed to earn the backing of leading movement conservatives like matt gaetz and tucker carlson. just today, dhillon picked up her most important--.
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>> i think we need a change, i think we need to get new blood in the rnc. i like what dhillon has said about getting the rnc out of d.c.. i think it's going to be very difficult to energize people to want to give money, to want to volunteer their time with the rnc, if they don't see a change in direction. >> joining us now, mike murphy, republican strategist and co host of the podcast hacks on tap. mike, really no one better to talk to you about this interparty conflagration then you. what do you think of -- as the rnc battle a proxy battle from the soul of the republican party? if so, do you see any alarm bells, truly ringing alarm bells, for the former president, donald trump? >> well, yeah, i mean, i think the new york times story today reflected with a lot of us in the party worlds here, which is tremendous frustration, and losing. even people that trump put on the committee, you know, we are doing worse than the washington generals, the team that is paid to lose to the globetrotters. there is
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frustration. what you are seeing in the rnc race is, kind of, the trump guard on the defense about an election that trump and his acolytes helped blow. you know ronna romney changed to mcdaniel, because mitt became -- really on the defensive. now harmeet dhillon is saying these clowns can't win an election. there's not a lot of evidence she knows how to either. her coalition is interesting. it's both the hardest core of the rnc, and some of the pragmatic party regulators who just want to get ronna mcdaniel out of there because they think it's keystone cove city. ronna mcdaniel is favored, and the rnc is a very inside election,
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only 170 votes, three from each state, and another 18. that is the official. they don't like outsiders. as you saw in the new york times, they want a change. so, you know, it's not impossible that harmeet upsets this thing, but it would be a shocker. now, desantis has made it a proxy battle in a smaller way between him and trump. i can't figure out the smart move for him here. now, if ronna, who starts with more support, is able to hang on, that is a win for trump at a time when his new york times showed us the rnc, a bunch of those members that used to be hard-core trump all the way, are now looking for something new. >> what i don't get, and i mean, i don't -- there is a lot of reporting on this, about the way in which ronna mcdaniel -- romney, i've got to say romney, i know she wants me to, ronna mcdaniel is being blamed for the parties losses, the hill says some republicans called for mcdaniel to step down as
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the party was unable to win the house in 2018, lost the senate and presidency in 2020, and was unable to flip the senate last november. i had to last because, like, do you know why the party lost? it's not because of ronna romney mcdaniel. it's because the party has been laid off a cliff by donald trump, yet no one seems to understand that. the fact that harmeet dhillon can get together an unlikely band of moderates, and hard-core conservatives is evidence that nobody is thinking about the substantive issues of republicanism at this stage in the game. they're talking about new pizza, new pizza, and changing the box. they need to change the actual pizza. i don't know why i'm using that metaphor, but i think it is appropriate at this moment. do you think, i mean -- >> no, you are right. >> go ahead, mike. >> no, no, they're fighting over that can while the dogs won't get near the dog food. so, ronna takes a lot of heat for the failed thing, but she's a rubberstamp for trump. buying
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$300,000 of donald trump jr.'s book, you know, i'd rather do a weekend at guantánamo than have to read that thing, and a little low blowing pretty money, where we are getting outspent in some places on that. it is the -- she is catching the blame for being a trump right hand, and because harmeet can say i am new and better, and she is dodging the question, that's a good message, but she doesn't have the answer either. she is in the kari lake business. you know, the presidential primaries that will find the soul of the republican party. this is a sideshow, but not an important one because the organization is powerful and important. >> you bring up the primaries. it says we have reporting that new hampshire and south carolina people still very much on the fence when it comes to donald trump. do you think desantis -- does he have a play to make here, substantively, really, honestly? you know, trump may be off putting to a lot of people, but he is an incredibly dynamic candidate that doesn't have a lot of staying power. how endangered do you think he is in terms of his titular role at the top of
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the party? >> you could never underestimate trump, but if you ask republicans, are you favorable of trump? 85% of them, which maybe 80 now, slipped a little, great president, wonderful, still my red hat. u.s., you ask those people if you want trump to be the president next time, it drops to 40, 45, half run away as fast as they can. so, there's an opening for desantis. on paper, he has a lot going on, and place the culture war piano well. that said, it is early. running for president is like going through 500 car washes. desantis has been through two car washes. i don't know if he has the long term legs, but he is the strongest position guy now in the early moves, and he is the one that, you know, activists are starting to take the first hard look at. he is the anti trump right now. we have a long time to go, no shortage of republicans who, private, they want to take out trump and run for president. >> 500 car washes, we are only two down, that's a lot of car washes, mike murphy. always
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good to see you, my friend. republican strategist and co host of the podcast, hacks on tap. thank you for your time tonight, mike. we have much more to come tonight, including why this dummy hand grenade may be the perfect metaphor for kevin mccarthy's republican led congress. stay with us. i get bladder leaks. it's just a new way of life for me. the always discreet pad is super comfortable. it feels like it's barely there. look at how much it holds, and it still stays thin! i've looked at myself in the mirror and i can't see it at all! that's the protection we deserve!
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is difficult to watch, and the pattern here is even more difficult to live with. on april 4th, 2015, in north charleston, south carolina, he was driving with a broken taillight. when an officer stopped him for that traffic infraction, he ran into a grassy lot. the officer began chasing him on foot before firing a taser. when he continued to flee, the officer filed eight shots at is back. one is limp body fell to the, ground the officer yelled, put your hands behind your back. he died from those gunshots. his name was walter scott, and he was 50 years old. on july 10th, 2015, in waller county, texas, he was on his way to the garage door, when police pulled over for failing to signal a lane change. when she refused an officer's request to put out her cigarette, the officer reached into her car and threatened to yank are out.
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when she began recording the altercation, the officer pulled out his taser and said, this. >> get out of the car. i will light you up. get out! now! >> wow. >> get out of the car. >> failure to signal, all this were a failure to signal. >> get over there. >> he then through her to the ground with her voice cracking, she told them she had epilepsy, and her head had hit the ground. he responded, good. they arrested her and took her to the wall a county jail. days later, when she was found dead in her cell, her death was ruled a suicide. her family disputed that. her name was sandra bland. she was 28 years old. on april 11th, 2021, brooklyn center, minnesota, he was pulled over for an expired registration tags. the officers conducted the stop tried to detain him -- outstanding warrant. when he tried to step back into his car, officers tasseled with him. one officer warned she would use her taser,
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and fired a bullet into his chest. his car took off, crashed, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. his name was dante wright. he was 20 years old. this kind of fatal traffic stop has happened all across the country, over and over again. according to the nonprofit research group, mapping police violence, police kill about 1100 people each year. 10% of those deaths involve traffic stops, and they disproportionately involve black drivers. the lives of black drivers are so frequently threatened during these stops, that when parents of black children teach their kids how to drive, they try to teach them how to survive. they give them the top, what to do if your pulled over, what to do if police get aggressive, how to talk to the police said that you come home alive at the end of the day. parents must educate their children on how to survive the threat of state sanctioned violence. despite that preparation, this fatal
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use of force against black people keeps happening. it happened again on january 7th, in memphis, tennessee. he was pulled over on suspicion of reckless driving. five officers approached his car where officials say a confrontation occurred, and pepper spray was used. when he ran away, police followed him. police say there was another confrontation when they tried to arrest him. at that point, he was injured, and complained of shortness of breath. an ambulance took him to the hospital. the family took this photo of him, with blood on his face, apparently unconscious, with a swollen i. he died on january 10th, just yards away from his mother's home. an autopsy found that he suffered extensive bleeding, caused by a severe beating. his name was tyre nichols, he was 29 years old. in this case, there is no video, yet. today, six days after the five officers who stopped nichols that night were filed, those
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officers were arrested and charged with second degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, and for other charges. an attorney for two of the officers says they will plead not guilty. all five former officers are black, and all five are agents of the state who targeted and killed a black motorist. the shelby county district attorney added this during a press conference, announcing the charges. >> while each of the five individuals played a different role in the incident in question, the actions of all of them resulted in the death of tyre nichols, and they are all responsible. nothing we do today, or did today, precludes the addition of any further charges. >> the da announced that footage from the traffic stop will be released tomorrow night at 6 pm. when tyree nichols mother watched the footage on
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monday, she was not able to finish it. the director of the tennessee bureau of investigation and the memphis county police chief described what appears in the video this way. >> i am sickened by what i saw. what we've learned through our extensive and thorough investigation, i have seen the video, and as they stated, you will, to. in a word, it is absolutely appalling. >> this incident was heinous, reckless, and inhumane. in the vein of transparency, when the video is released in the coming days, you will see this for yourselves. i expect you to feel what the nichols family feels. i expect you to feel outrage in the disregard of basic human rights. >> officials are bracing for protests as the country awaits the release of this video, even fully activating local police departments in some places. the nichols family, and elected officials, local leaders, and even president biden, are
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urging the country to protest peacefully after the footage is released. for families in memphis, and across the country, this story, this pattern, this violence is personal. millions of people live in fear that the next time they or their child, or their i've looked at myself in the mirror and i can't see it at all! that's the protection we deserve! teeth sensitivity is so common. it immediately feels like somebody's poking directly on the nerve. i recommend sensodyne. sensodyne toothpaste goes inside the tooth and calms the nerve down. and my patents say: “you know doc, it really works."
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republican congressman from florida, corey mills, brought his fellow house members grenades along with the literal grenade was a letter saying we -- explaining the grenade significance, in case you did not interfere being handed a grenade. to a mission -- i'm eager to work for the american people and i look forward to working with you to deliver on this commitment. i'm honored to be a part of the armed services and foreign affairs committees, and that spirit is my pleasure to give you a 40 millimeter grenade made for an mj 19 grenade launcher. these are manufactured in the sunshine state and first developed in the vietnam war. let's come together and get to work on behalf of our constituents. and then at the very bottom of the letter there was a little note about how the grenades were inert. they did with that part first, next time. now of course this was a publicity stunt, but it is also sort of a perfect metaphor for house republicans right now because, house republicans keep
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getting very close to blowing each other up and their entire party, figuratively speaking of course. tonight marks a week since the u.s. government get its debt limit. the treasury department says it could use creative accounting to keep the government running until somewhere around early june, but after that the government could default on its debt and potentially throw the entire economy into chaos. of course, the only thing stopping the u.s. from raising the debt limit and avoiding all of that are house republicans and they're fake grenades. speaker kevin mccarthy and his caucus with been incredibly upfront that they're using this looming potential catastrophe to their advantage, holding the nation's debt hostage to get what they want. now republicans have done that before, but this time there's one key difference. road balloons do not know what they want. they just know they will fight to get it. representative marjorie taylor greene, for example, said there has to be cuts to spending for her to agree to raise in the debt limit. but when asked what should be kept she replied, quote, i have
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not really formulated and exact list. joining us now is brendan buck, a former senior adviser to republican speakers paul ryan and john boehner. brandon, thank you for being here. i'm sorry that every time i speak with you it seems to be like a crisis for the republican party. i know that there is a lot of comparison between this debt limit race and the previous crisis around the debt limit that you are a part of back in the house, not that you are creating it, but you are part of the negotiations. this time feels different. not just because we are in a different landscape and there are different actors, but as dan pfeiffer says in a political article today, john boehner may have been willing to put more of his butt on the line, he did intellectually and suddenly understand why default was terrible. i'm not sure that mccarthy understands that and that mccarthy cares, and that he would value the full faith and credit over the u.s. over his own job. do you agree with that, is that where we are at right now?
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>> i do not necessarily agree with that entirely, i think kevin mccarthy clearly understands the consequences that we are dealing with. i think the difference here was in 2011, you are recovering this, i think you appreciate that we all had confidence that barack obama and john boehner we're not going to let something really bad happened. i do not think kevin mccarthy really bad to happen and i think he knows it would be really bad if we went over the limit here. but what he is dealing with is a conference that is just so much further to the right than what we dealt with. we are very conservative in 2011, don't get me wrong, but it is a cast of characters right now who think that their job is to blow things up. they think that they are there to have chaos. my biggest problem, you outlined this very well, nobody is really formulated their view of what needs to be done here. in 2011, we set a standard, a framework, we worked, we communicated for a really long time about what we are trying to accomplish. this just feels like they rolled out of bed one day and said we're going to hold hostage the debt limit and not communicate anybody within
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themselves, the public, what they are trying to do or get out of this. so they are making it up as they go along. this is really stuff, of course, and so i think they need to be let more deliberate about what they need to do. a little bit more reasonable and what they're trying to accomplish because right now it seems like all of their leverage comes from the idea that we might be crazy enough to do this. we might be crazy enough to go over the debt limit and think that that is the kind of letters that they need, and it is a scary place to be. i do not know how they resolve it. >> you know, i appreciate your defense of mccarthy's appreciation going over the cliff is not something that he wants. but the question is is he going to do anything to prevent us from doing that? will he risk's job, there are democrats who would vote for a clean debt raise. there is a way to do this that does not create global financial calamity, but would endanger kevin mccarthy standing with a far-right wing of his caucus. as of right now, what we saw on the speakers fight, it feels like he will do anything to keep a hold of that gavel. it is impossible to imagine
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john boehner taking 15 votes and making every concession under the sun just hold on the speakers gavel. and yet that is something that kevin mccarthy did. >> it is a totally fair question, i think that there is a real possibility that he is going to have to face the choice, the question of bring up a bill that probably upsets a lot of your conference and face their wrath or go over the limit. i think he will ultimately choose to bring that bill up but it will be hard to execute and it will be incredible political pressure. i don't know how we'll get there, i do not know it's gonna look like, but i do think there is going to be that moment in june or july where he has to make that decision. it may cost him a motion to vacate. he may survive that, they make about, but i do think it is a very real possibility. those are the stakes that we are dealing with, i just think that kevin mccarthy is probably, i don't think he's willing to risk economic catastrophe for this job. >> that's a big thank. i have one last one for you brandon. mitch mcconnell was seen in a bipartisan event with joe biden,
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as governor kathy was having the speakers voted debacle. now mitch mcconnell's wife, elaine chao, is out with a statement basically criticizing former president trump about his racist insults. when i was young, some vehicle deliberately misspelled or mispronounced my name. asian americans have worked hard to change that experience for the next generation, said chao. trump does not seem to understand that, which says a whole lot more about trump than it will ever say about asian americans. this is the wife of the minority leader. this is someone who trump has a rocky relationship with a publicly. do you think it is indicative of the way that mcconnell himself may manage a future negotiations with the white house that his wife is coming out and leveling pretty strong criticism against a man that kevin mccarthy is very much pledging allegiance to. >> yeah, i think this is gonna be a really fascinating dynamic, i'm really grad that she said that. mitch mcconnell has become a master of expressing his disdain for donald trump
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without ever actually saying's name or referencing him directly. but that is going to come to a head, there is very soon we are going to be deciding who the nominee for the republican party is in 2024. mitch mcconnell is going to have to have some conversation without. it's gonna make governing very hard, imagine trying to raise the debt limit with a deal that mitch mcconnell instruct and then donald is going to war with, him so i think we're gonna have some pretty open warfare here and very notable that she said that. i do not think that was an accident and i expect a lot more of that confrontation over the next couple of years. >> aren't you glad that you are not there anymore? brendan buck, former senior adviser to republican speakers paul ryan and john boehner, thank you as always for your time, brendan. >> thanks alex. >> we'll be right back. e right back it feels like it's barely there. look at how much it holds, and it still stays thin! i've looked at myself in the mirror and i can't see it at all! that's the protection we deserve!
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quick note of shameless self promotion. you can catch me later tonight in the time space continuum talking to nbc's seth meyer, i will be his guest on late night with seth myers on 12:35 eastern on nbc. i will see you again here on this tomorrow night. here now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. >> good evening alex, i ran into south up on the covid testing floor. >> i've talked to five people today, who is
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