after this. she would be very impressed with it. with the organizations that support, vested news organizations interviewing. but i think mostly with the average citizen coming out there and this is one of those issues that crosses left and right. we have people on the left who are telling us about it, people in the right who are telling us about it. they are all saying the same thing. this is not american. this is not proper. this is improper, abuse of power. to intimidate someone, it is a uniting issue and there are darn few of those in our society these. days >> his words were so important, we felt the need to share them again. a very good reminder to support your local paper. because never forget, the truth matters. but only if you. cute and you are going to get it here every night. and on that, note i wish you a very good night. from our colleagues across the north of nbc news, thank you for staying up late with. me i will see you next week. will see you next week.

>> have you ever wanted to have a candlelit family styled dinner with former president donald trump and his adult sons? no, maybe? yes. today we got the news that the former president is hosting just that, a family style candlelit dinner at mar-a-lago. that is happening later this year and the point of the candlelit meal is to fund to pay the legal bills for the many criminal code defendants and witnesses in all of the many legal cases against trump. now, we do not know how much a seat at the special dinner will cost, as yet, candles set a mood. though they are expensive we do know that mr. trump reportedly headlined a very similar event just this evening, where tickets were $100,000 a pop.

well we do not know whether this one benefited from the warm glow of candles, we do know tonight's event in bedminster, new jersey, it was a fundraising dinner specifically for the legal defense of trump's former lawyer. rudy giuliani. which makes sense. rudy giuliani seems like he really needs cash right now. i'm not gonna play too much of this. i want to show you how the former new york city mayor ended his youtube show on the night he voluntarily surrendered himself to a fulton county jail a couple of weeks ago. >> i guess i surrendered myself. i haven't surrendered. i went there and made my statement to fight. so, go to my pillows. com, i don't know, help him out. you gotta need some of his stuff. i keep buying his stuff. you can buy.

the slippers are fabulous. i wish i had them on now. can't wait to get these shoes off. >> slippers are fabulous, can we get the shoes off. i apologize if you cannot see the mental image of rudy giuliani's feet. for whatever it matters, neither can i. but the my pillow slipper pitch on the heels of a criminal indictment? pretty wild even for rudy giuliani. even for an infomercial it seems desperate. that is apparently how much mr. giuliani needs the cash. then there's newsmax, a conservative news network that frequently host mr. giuliani as against. media matters spotted that, despite calling itself a news network, newsmax appears to be running a legal defense fund on rudy giuliani's behalf. over and over again, newsmax host seven making nearly identical fund raising pitches on air, as if they're just totally normal news segments. we put a few of them together

so you can see just how weird this is. >> mayor rudy giuliani is wanting americans, you may be next. >> mayor rudy giuliani is warning americans, you may be next. >> mayor giuliani has also announced that he has launched a legal defense fund to help defend himself against insane difficult tierney fani willis. >> if you want to put rudy in 18 other codefendants in jail, including president trump. >> president trump is urging americans, -- made rudy giuliani. >> if you want more information, you go to rudy fund. com. >> call that number on your screen. >> certainly hope that you do is what they said. rudy giuliani certainly hope that you do. now, media matters points out that the website that newsmax tells of viewers to go to, in this interesting set of

coordinated announcements, that website is rudy fund dot com. that website is a domain hosted by newsmax itself. the mailing address for physical checks is the same as newsmax as mailing address. same thing. we have no clue what is going on, there it's definitely unusual, and rudy giuliani really seems like he needs money right now. he is not alone. more than half a dozen of trump's codefendants appear to have set up crowd funding pages to raise money for the legal defense. and all of those, those crowdfunding pages, are in the georgia election cases. four people have already been indicted. remember, when trump was indicted in the federal election case by jack smith, that indictment listed six unindicted coconspirators. we think we know who most of those people are. but we do not know who all of them are. the tricky thing for unindicted coconspirators, at any point, that on, as an unindicted, could be dropped. they themselves could just be indicted coconspirators. with some real legal bills to

pay. today, the same grand jury that jack smith used to indict trump last month met again in d. c., today. it was the first time in four weeks that these jury members had been spotted there. the question is, the question i would very much like to know the answer to, what in who could that all be about? joining me now to discuss all of this, barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan. david erin, former prosecutor in the doj's national security division in a former manhattan assistant district attorney. thank you both for being here. dave, the special grand jury, or the grand jury, can before jack smith set expire in september 15th. is that a real deadline? what does that indicate to you about the urgency with which the special counsel may be investigating? >> i think the special counsel can extend that grand jury, or ask for it to be extended. and won't hesitate to do so if that's what's gonna be best for the case. certainly, i think he's moving with all deliberate speed, perhaps to add additional

defendants, perhaps to add additional charges. >> yeah, we had some reporting from cnn, that will quote. smith is now focusing on how money raised off baseless claims of voter fraud was used to fund attempts to breach voting equipment in several states won by biden, according to multiple sources, in both interviews, prosecutors have focus their questions on the role of former trump lawyer sydney powell. that suggests a new avenue of investigation, not necessarily tying up with a bow the case against the unnamed coconspirators, right? is that right? >> it adds a couple dimensions.

one of, which financial. which is really important to add to this case. is to show that there was money involved, rather than ideology. and i think it even expands the scope of the notion of who the victims are. the victims of the people who gave the money. then, of course, there is a question of what was that money used for. does that tie the fundraising, they alleged fund raising scam, to additional criminal activity. so, it is interesting through line. >> barb, i think a lot of people wonder, well, what about the unnamed coconspirators. that still not complete we don't have a list of those six names is your expectation that we're not gonna know, there's there gonna be no charging indictment on those folks until after trump goes to trial on this? >> i think that seems right, alex. it seems like the strategy that jack smith is using here is to keep everything focused on donald trump for now, in this case. so that he can maximize the likelihood that this case can go to trial before the election. you've got a five-year statute of limitations. with these events occurring in 2021, that means they have till 2026 before they have to complete the investigation and file charges on these others. frankly, they can wait. the most important thing now is to get a conviction of donald trump. so the voters have that information before the election. the same is likely true with

regard to the new investigation we just talked about. about the money. and fundraising off of these false claims. that could be charged in a separate indictment, it could be a superseding indictment in this already pending case in the january 6th case. it seems to, me if jack smith's strategy is to get that case to trial as quickly as possible, he'd be better off charging the fund raising allegations in a separate indictment. >> is he considered, barb, untoward, or somehow gaming the system to wait to charge those coconspirators? if smith is effectively already knows that he'll charge them. with just in the name of expediting the trial of donald trump? >> very good question, alex, the supreme court answer that question in united states versus -- a case i teacher my criminal procedure case, which is why -- >> i'm going to tv law school, barb. i'm learning and i'm taking notes. proceed. >> it's perfectly permissible. as long as the case is charged within the statute of limitations, the government can

continue to collect evidence, it does not require to charge, just as soon as it has probable cause. it can continue to investigate, and the only deadline is the statute of limitations. >> having said that, i mean, if you are defending, they've, and you're watching the grand jury reconvene, you know the acts hangs above your head. your name is perhaps giuliani. you're out there. effectively, making infomercials for my pillow slippers to raise funds. you have candlelight dinners that are being hosted. if you're donald trump, just for a moment. if you will. is the reason donald trump hosting, is the reason he's doing this kind of candlelight dinners, and making such an effort to raise money for a person that is a key player in these investigations, if not these actual trials, could that have to do with some behind the

scenes wrangling to make sure that rudy giuliani stays loyal? >> i think it's important to watch who gets their defense funded. and who doesn't. that's gonna tell you a lot. everyone always talks about follow the money. that is true here as it is anywhere else. i raise money for him, and not for the defense of others. if that is what's going on. >> so, that is your very prosecutorial answer that perhaps there is something happening there that would suggest donald trump has an in. barbara, from your outside assessment here, the notion that donald trump doesn't hold a candlelight dinner for just anybody, and that he's doing this for rudy giuliani. i should we draw inferences from that? >> well, you can certainly speculate that he's trying to curry favor with rudy giuliani, keep him in his good graces. you know, it goes back to some of those things, remember, that we heard statements that there are making to michael cohen about remember you've got friends in high places. it sounds an awful lot like that. i think anything short of a very overt example of tampering with a witness is not likely to rise to the level of criminal charges for obstruction of justice. you can see that sometimes if

you're trying to persuade a person to testify in a certain way, i think simply holding a fund-raiser for him, as well as it may be, probably not enough for a criminal charges. >> i do wonder when we talk about the special counsel, and what he's been up to this week, dave, we know that in a filing this week, jack smith's team pointed to what they call, quote, trump's daily extrajudicial statements that threaten to prejudice the jury in this case, and around january 6th in the 2020 election. he's filed a motion under seal, that pertains to those extra judicial statements. we know that trump has been targeting jack smith online. what's the point of filing this under seal, if these are public extrajudicial statements? and how do you read the news of this? >> assuming the filing is about those extrajudicial statements, there's something else in that motion that is non public. it could be someone to dress. it could be personal details of someone who's been targeted. if it is indeed about those statements. so, the process that's followed is, the main filing is done

under seal. then a redacted version can be made public. so, we don't know how much of that filing would have to be redacted. we don't know if it's one line or most of the filing. that is causing it to be filed under seal. so, really hard to tell. this is just one of those frustrating things about watching a criminal case unfold for the outside. >> well, following every procedural move. i would ask you, presumably, this has to do with the statements trump is making publicly. and the fact that they are having an impact on -- the case before they even made it to trial. i wonder if we're faster approaching the threshold in which the judge is gonna have to do something here? >> that day may come. i can see why the judge wouldn't want to do that. >> yet. >> until it's absolutely necessary. at what point do you decide it's gone too far. because the impact of that, in many different ways, is going to be enormous if that hammer

does drop. >> barb, do you feel like, i mean, this is just a stress test for our entire judicial system. i wonder how optimistic you are about the system's ability to keep something like donald trump in check? >> it really tricky, because he's running for president. if we didn't have that complicating factor, the judge will be much quicker to compose a gag order and say you can't say these kinds of things. because he is running for president, i think you're looking at the rights of the voters to have fulsome information. if he says things like, i need to be able to defend myself publicly, and part of that is pointing out what i believe to be the corrupt motives of the prosecutor in the judge, so, it makes it difficult for them to muzzle him. as much as they might like. i do think, as dave, said there's a point at which a judge has a responsibility to protect the integrity of the process and the witnesses and the prosecutor and the judge

themselves. by gagging some of the statements. >> well, it seems like the department of justice is not messing around here. barbara mcquade, david erin, thank you both for your time and expertise today. i appreciate it. we have much more ahead this evening, including an effort to keep a presidential candidate donald trump off the ballot in at least one state. how exactly could that work? could that work? first, we know d a fani willis has been targeted by members of trump's base and by conservatives in congress. today, she offered a glimpse at the specific kind of threats faced by women who dare to hold men like donald trump to account. that is coming up next. rsv can be a dangerous virus... [sneeze] ...for those 60 and older. it's not just a cold. and if you're 60 or older... ...you may be at increased risk of hospitalization... [coughing] ...from this highly... ...contagious virus. not all dangers come with warning labels. talk to your pharmacist or doctor... ...about getting vaccinated against rsv today.

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after willis's criminal indictment was issued, the chair of the house judiciary committee, congressman jim jordan, launched an investigation into her investigation. and, well, today d. a. willis responded to his demands for documents related to her case. d. a. willis did not mince words. she called it an unjustified and illegal intrusion. she said mr. jordan was flagrantly at odds with the constitution and also lacked a basic understanding of the law and it's practice. instead of her investigation she suggested mr. jordan train his attention, and that of the justice department, on the threats her office has received. by way of proof, missiles attached examples of racist and antisemitic and violent threats she has received, including the fan fiction style submission of willis being shot undertone by someone disguised as a postal worker. it says, in part, the postal worker assailant throws the box to the ground to throw a small plastic pistol in silencer. fani willis painfully crawls, bleeding, inside the house. this vial submission continues in gruesome detail, but you get the point. this is not the first time fani willis or a citizens associated with this case had been

threatened. the d. a. is not the only black woman prosecuting donald trump who has become a public target. new york attorney general letitia james said as a result of her case against trump, she has received death threats and is concerned about a lone wolf style attack. but to the highest stakes in the national interest in this georgia case in particular could mean that for d.a. fani willis these threats could just be an opening salvo. joining me is the former atlanta, keisha lance bottoms. she currently received in the biden ministration's senior and visor in the white house's office of public engagement. mayor bottoms, thank you so much. first let's hear your thoughts. the targeting of the d. a. and

the language that is being the vitriol, the hate, the racism that is being thrown in her direction. as a black female leader from georgia yourself, what was your reaction to all of this? >> it hurts to hear it. i know fani very well. we started off together practicing law as a very young attorneys. i have known her for many years. i was at her wedding. i have known her children. so this is very personal. it is deeply disturbing that this independently elected district attorney is being subjected to this by someone in washington d. c., this full investigation.

she's absolutely right. these threats against her should concern us all. because what we see happening here, we see this erosion of our democracy. what we are witnessing, people being intimidated, there is an attempt to make people afraid to do their jobs, and it is going to scare good people away from serving in office. i don't think that's going to be the case with fani willis. i know that won't be the case with her. i describe fani as fearless. but it should be deeply troubling to all of us, no matter what our party affiliation is. >> do you see these threats is an extension of the way from former president trump has targeted prosecutors but particularly prosecutors of color who he has called, i don't think even reverse, he's called them racist. is this the harvest of those seeds? >> absolutely.

what you've seen over the past several years is that this underbelly, this hatred, simmering beneath the surface so long has now been given permission to make its face nonna. and i think it's come directly from the top. it is come from donald trump. he is the podium in the white house to say hateful things. he uses his bully pulpit. he continues to do that. and we have to remember there is violence directed towards elected officials. we know what, happened what speaker pelosi's husband, we've seen congress people targeted in the past, so this is not something that we are talking about in the abstract. this is something that can happen if people continue to beat those flames of hatred in our country. >> i think the d. a., fulton

county d. a. willis is fully aware, in the route to the announcement of the indictment, she was very clear with law enforcement down in atlanta that they were true that, she would need extra security. as a former mayor of atlanta, if you are still in that position today, what kind of preparations would you be making, and what practically can be done in a situation like this, where a grand jurors who were involved in the initial indictment, they were doxxed, their families were indicted, their identities have been made public. a jury has to be seated and selected for this case it seems like a number of people are intent on terrorizing the citizenry of fulton county and georgia writ large. what do you do if you are in charge of keeping georgia and atlanta safe, to make sure that terror comes to an end? >> i have been on the receiving end of it when i served as

mayor. i have received very hateful messages, directed toward me, directed toward members of my family, so i know what it feels like. on top of, that you still have a job that you have to go out and do, so you do the very best that you can. you beef up your security, you make sure that your personal security detail is in place. but of course jurors don't have personal security detail. the district attorney does. many elected officials in major cities, whether it be the mayor or even governor of the state will have a personal detail, but yours don't. what they are doing is they are going to do their civic duty to show up and serve and to be responsible members of our citizenry. so it's really unfortunate that this is happening, and what really pains me, alex, is that i don't hear a lot of leaders speaking out against it. think of audrey lord. they won't protect you.

it's not enough that you're not the one who is saying the hurtful words. where is the courage? where are these people to stand up and say this is not acceptable and not reflective of who we are as a party and as a country? >> you are so right. this is not a moment to remain silent, especially when you are in the republican party. no person should have to withstand threats like. this keisha lance bottoms, invaluable perspective. thank you so much for your time and perspective tonight. we have much more still to come. how republicans are trying to impeach one of their own in the state of texas and what lessons the national party might learn from it. at at all. plus, the push to get off the ballot in certain states using the 14th amendment. the great claire mccaskill joins me on that, coming up next. that cold water can't clean. cold water, on those stains? ♪♪ cold water can't clean tough stains? i'd say that myth is busted. turn to cold, with tide. wake up, achievers. you're making the most of every hour of your life. i'd say that myth is busted. except the hours that you're sleeping.

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and independents, are trying to block donald trump from running for president in their state. they filed a lawsuit in a state district court in denver yesterday allowing that under section three of the 14th amendment, don trump should be barred from office. that clause states that anyone who swore an oath to uphold the constitution as an elected official and then engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the united states or gave aid or comfort to the enemies thereof should not be able to hold federal or state office again. former president trump responded to all of that today in a way that only he can. >> what they are doing is, it's called election interference.

all these lawsuits get in the way. now the 14th amendment is just a continuation of that. it's nonsense. nobody has even said it was insurrection. and by the way, there were no guns at the capitol. the insurrection is, frankly, the people that rigged the election. those are the insurrectionists. >> joining me to discuss this is claire mccaskill, former democratic senator from missouri. claire, thank you for being here. i am eager to know what your perspective is on the 14th amendment being used to keep trump off the ballot, as both a political mind and a legal scholar, a trained lawyer yourself. what do you think of the merits of this? >> well, let's take the legal part first. this came into being, alex,

because of the civil war. this was an effort to make sure that those people who tried to divide our country and secede from our country and fought with our country did not become part of the union in terms of the government. it really has never been used in this way before. that doesn't mean this is not a good faith legal effort. i'm a very conservative respected republican judges have and lawyers and scholars have all weighed in and said this is an appropriate use of the 14th amendment. they can prove that he supported an insurrection, a coup, by lying and by encouraging people to stop the count of electoral votes.

so i think it is a legitimate case to be heard. now, what happens after this case is heard? there's a lot of complications here. firstly, it's not clear that these voters have standing. traditionally in the federal system and even in most state courts, standing in this instance would be his opponent. it would not be a voter. is a question about whether or not to the cases right for determination, whether it is far enough along in the process, if the court has anything in front of them they can rule on. and finally, if in fact this case was found in favor of the plaintiffs, it would go all the way to the supreme court. so this is one of those nine justices that we talked a lot about over the last year, would ultimately make the call on. >> there is the question, also, about whether trump needs to be convicted of being involved in the insurrection. notably the charges he faces on the federal level from jack smith in and around jerry six don't include incitement of insurrection. do you think that is meaningful in all of this, that he actually has to be proven to be guilty of involvement in in an insurrection or sedition? >> well, the determination in the criminal case would not be necessary for this case, but

there would still have to be proof. they would have to be proof, to the satisfaction of a jury or judge, if it was judge tried, that the facts presented were sufficient to qualify under the language of the 14th amendment. i think if in fact a court said he could not be on the ballot, it would only be this very conservative supreme court that could ever make a decision to keep him off the ballot that i think the country would even come close to accepting, most of the country, maybe 40% of the country would be cheering, but it would be very divisive. and politically, let's think about this for a minute. does joe biden want donald trump off the ballot? or does he want to run against a known quantity that is terribly unpopular and polling awful with independents and democratic voters across the country? >> there is that very specific reality. and then i think, how does someone like joe biden abide the notion of his opponent being taken off the ballot, setting aside where that leaves them with in terms of opposition candidate. there are efforts underway in florida, new hampshire, new mexico, ohio, and wisconsin, people writing secretaries of tweets urging them not to include trump on the ballots. imagine the scenario where in

key states across the country, trump is taken off. i know that that is maybe satisfying to some democrats and opponents of trump, people who have not found his candidacy or presidency to be a good thing for america. but at the same time, i just wonder about the division in the country and how it would go down without some kind of crisis. >> it would be a crisis. but it would be a crisis that would ultimately be determined by the supreme court. there is no way the supreme court is going to let individual states decide whether or not a former president can be on the ballot. they are going to take up this question if these cases prevail in any state where they are even contemplating it right now. it would take a bunch of those very conservatives and even some of those trump appointed

supreme court justices to make a monumental decision like this. i'm not arguing that trump is not guilty of acting in a way that disqualifies him for the presidency. but i'm pretty sure joe biden would approve that in the ballot box and in court. >> i think you are correct. senator claire mccaskill, always great to see you. thank you so much for your wisdom, claire. great to see you. >> thanks, alex. >> still to come tonight, as texas politics get mired in the right wing, the man hoping to unseat ted cruz joins me live. but first -- >> i have learned so much and can't wait to share my new knowledge. i'm gonna share what i have learned, as well. i love the environment and want to do what's best for the planet. it isn't with solar and wind energy. >> just who is financing the climate denialism that is getting peddled to kids and oklahoma and florida? that story is next. is next

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wilks brothers are spending that fortune on politics, specifically conservative politics. in 2016, the wilks brothers made what is believed to be the largest single campaign contribution of the presidential cycle. they donated $15 million to a super pac supporting ted cruz for president. faris wilks says he believes our country was founded on the idea that our rights come from the creator, not the government, and that ted cruz was the best candidate to support those values. together the brothers have donated millions to hard-line conservative organizations, like the heritage foundation and the liberty council, which defended a kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. faris wilks also continues his political activism in his own church, where he is the lead pastor. he has given sermons about how homosexuality is, quote, a perversion tantamount to best geology, pedophilia, and incest, and that it's a predatory lifestyle. his church maintains that the

bible is historically in scientifically accurate in every detail and that climate change is god's will. quote, if god once the polar ice caps to remain in place, then he will leave them there. and it is on that last point that climate change is god's will, where the wilks brothers are notably pointing their fire hose of fracking money. >> i just hear that solar and wind or the way to save the planet. >> unfortunately, many of the people who talk about how great they are for the environment give misleading information, leave out very important facts. >> like what? >> for starters, even when the sun shines bright and windmills spin fast, wind and solar just aren't powerful enough to power the modern world. the energy from them just isn't as robust enough. >> what was that? was that a bird? >> gross.

>> did that burgess get killed by a windmill? >> yes, it did. like many people, leyla, even misled about renewable energy and their impact on the environment. >> i never thought about windmills killing birds. >> windmills kills so many birds, it's hard to track how many. but that's just the start of how negative wind and solar are for our natural environment. >> you may recognize the style of that video. we've been talking about the specific kind of media a lot on this show recently. the video is courtesy of prageru kids, which creates conservative propaganda style is educational material for children. prageru kids is an offshoot of prageru, and on the credited right wing advocacy group. this whole library of these prageru kids videos, which tell kids the climate change is no big deal, that renewable energy does not really work, and otherwise pedals misinformation and bunk science about the very real climate crisis in this country at a time when millions of americans are currently living under extreme heat

advisories. and these videos are now allowed to be shown to students in florida and oklahoma public schools. they have been approved by those states departments of education. which we reported on earlier this week. but the reason we are revisiting this story is because in the course of our research into this, we have learned that those videos, those prageru kids videos that tell kids how bad solar and wind power power are vernacular environment, those videos were made powerful by a pair of fracking tycoons. the wilks brothers. according to the guardian, financial records reveal that dan and faris wilks airport more than $8 million into prageru's coffers over the last decade, and it seems like it was money relatively well spent. the wilks millions have helped bring climate change denialism into americas classrooms in at least two states, with several

others on the horizon. when might also imagine the teaching kids about the evils of renewable energy and the divine destiny that is the melting of the polar ice caps isn't so bad for business when you're in the business of fossil fuels. so win-win on that one. dan and faris wilks, remember these names. e names. the long-lasting scent of gain flings made it smell like dave was in his happy place... ...the massage chair at the mall. but...he wasn't. gain flings with oxi boost and febreze.

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and i didn't hear ted cruz say how many beers he wants to >> hijack to serve the individual. against the interest of the broader public. >> i want to him to come clean. i even said, are you under undue influence. he said.

now >> mr. paxton should be removed from office. because he failed to protect the state. and instead, use the power of his elected office for his own benefit. >> those were the scenes from the peak binge went to trial ken paxton. republican attorney general of texas. it is we're republicans and conservatives detailing his alleged misdeeds. the 61% majority state senators trying paxton on charges of bribery, obstruction of justice and violations of the public trust. and it is a rare display of republicans attempting to root out comes corruption with in the own party. there's just one problem. the national leaders of that same party disagree with what is happening. donald trump took time away from his own various legal troubles to denounce the impeachment trial against paxton. calling it election interference. which is his catchphrase at this point. and republican senator tim cruz agreed with trump, calling the impeachment effort a travesty. and defending mr. paxton's record as a conservative

warrior against the biden administration. joining me now is texas congressman colin allred, currently running for the democratic nomination for senate to unseat senator ted cruz next year. congressman, thank you for joining me. >> what is your assessment of what is happening right now with ken paxton? do you see this as a sign of hope, what kind of credit do you give the gop in all of this? >> well this is republican led as he said. it's going to be decided in many ways by republicans. but i think the texans are tired of being embarrassed by so many of our elected officials. and that was for ken paxton. it's also true about ted cruz. and that is what i think most folks in the country might not understand about our state. that i think we are tired of this. we are tired of this reputation. tired of people who are not doing the job they are elected to do. for pursuing their own agendas. and so i do think that there is some hope to take from the fact that the texas house, which is republican dominated. voted for this overwhelmingly. i do not know what's going to happen in the trial but i know folks like ted cruz and ken paxton are all about

themselves. and they are an embarrassment to our state. >> i was kind of shocked ted cruz is out on a limb defending paxton, given the fact the republicans in the state are so clearly against him. and the follow-up seems so clear. then again, you have somebody like george soros whom remains in the house because kevin mccarthy needs his vote. i wonder, is it the fraud that they really take issue with in a way that they will excuse the other outlandish things that have members of the own party got away with? was that the tipping point for this? >> for ted cruz, all that matters which side are you on in the culture war. where are you on that, are you on our side or the other side. if you are on our side, then there is no conduct that is unbecoming. no conduct that goes too far. and to me, this is the issue we have in our politics right now. is that there is no accountability. i come from a background where i played in the nfl and where accountability is what it is all about. there are games going on right

now, they're going to watch the, some cracked mistakes. and you get that corrected or you will lose your job. and that is what we have to do in our politics. now in texas, we have to have folks like this who are not doing their job, they have to be voted out. and that is what we will do a ted cruz. >> we will talk about ted cruz in a second, but i want to talk about other things happening in your state that are distressing. in the wake of the dobbs decision, we know texas has had a very, hard-line position on reproductive freedoms. texas towns and cities on the texas border with mexico were now outline driving through them. for the purpose of obtaining an abortion. there are women who now have to travel to mexico to get reproductive health care. is this having any reproductions at the ballot box? how is this being abided by the citizens of texas? >> does this sound like freedom to anybody? what are we going to do, next start boarding planes and trains and buses and asking women what is the nature of your travel now? i mean where is this going?

it is so unbelievable. it is a tragedy what is happening in our state. every single day, there are lawyers, not doctors determining whether or not a woman's it would have a pregnancy terminated it, they're victims of rape and incest nowhere to go. and it is a tragedy for our state. but we do not have to put up with it. we can codify roe v. wade at the federal level. we will do that. and we can vote out folks like ted cruz who want to take this nationwide. who want to have a nationwide ban on abortion and to inspect your travel. so folks out there who think that is not who we are as americans or texas, ask them to go to colin allred.com and get involved with us. >> we know tom or tommy tuberville told the senate, they're very much interested in policing where women go to get their health care. we will also say, i'm george santos, not george soros because george soros is not a republican congressman who has been reported to be very fraudulent in his activities. ted cruz, can we, do have time to play this fascinating

portrait of ted cruz's culture war against, yes, let's play the pr stunt. sound please. >> and now these idiots have come out and said, drink two beers a week. that is their guideline. i've got to tell you, if they want us to drink two beers a week frankly they can kiss my -- >> okay, so the usda, official at the usda suggested at one point that america might someday adopt guidelines that suggest people drink no more than two years a week. and that is ted cruz's response. you obviously have some thoughts about ted cruz. what is on display there when you see ted cruz do whatever that is. >> he's playing texas. he thinks that is what texas is. he's a fake texan and a lot of ways. he's an ivy league trainer, he knows what he's talking. he's knows that there is no requirement coming down the pipe for that. but he's pretending. and he is trying to appeal to the culture war. that is the only thing that he has to offer. he does not vote for the

infrastructure bill bringing 35 billion dollars to our state over five years. or the chips and science act bringing high tech manufacturing to texas. he doesn't vote after the shooting in uvalde to safer communities. for some 30 years we've done anything on gun violence. this is what he has to offer. its culture war and stunts. and texans are embarrassed. they are tired of it. and that is why we're getting rid of them. >> i would also say i think he likes pretending to be like supermacho and that is just my -- you can try that. good luck. texas congressman colin allred, thank you for joining. please do not try to ram me when this is over. that's our show for this evening. now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. good evening. lawrence >> good evening, i was listening carefully and i did not hear ted cruz say how many beers he wants to drink every week. how many do we know what the number is? >> i mean also, did he really drink to be a, i have a lot of questions of what exactly went down in that video. >> i have a feeling that ted

cruz would not like me very much. because i have not had two beers in my life. in my entire life. >> i know. i hate the stuff. >> well, you also have never had flowers delivered to you. don't send beer. that would be ridiculous. alex no. i did send the flowers. the flowers were from. haven't just changed my understanding of the universe. >> yes, and everything. especially those. >> i won't make you make you drink beer. but i might send flowers. once >> you've managed to draw out some of the peculiarities of my resume. in these exchanges but there we go. >> it's my job lawrence. >> you asked the question, so that's right. >> thank you alex, thank you. >> today, outside of federal court in washington d.c., we heard a line that we are going to hear from er