on the politics, on everything, bad. >> doug himself into a hole that he cannot get out of. thank you my friend. thanks to you at home for joining me this hour. have you ever wanted to have a candle lit, family style dinner with former president donald fa former president trump and his adult sons? no? maybe? yes? well, today we got the news the former president is hosting just that, a family-style candlelit dinner at mar-a-lago. that's happening later this year. and the point of this candlelit meal is to raise funds to help pay the legal bills for the many, many criminal codefendants and witnesses in all the many, 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 headlines a very

similar event just this evening where tickets were $100,000 a pop. and while we do not know whether this one benefitted from the warm glow of candles, we do know tonight's event in bedminster, new jersey, was a fund-raising 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 am not going to play too much of this, but 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, but i haven't surrendered. i went there and made my statement to fight. so go to mypillows.com. i don't know. help him out. you've got to 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't wait to get these shoes off. i apologize if you cannot unsee the mental image of rudy giuliani's feet. for whatever it matters, neither can i. but a my pillow slippers pitch on the heels of a criminal indictment is pretty wild for rudy giuliani. even for an infomercial it seems really desperate, and that apparently how much rudy giuliani needs the cash. then there's news max that frequently hosts mr. giuliani as a guest. media matters noted that news max appears to be running a legal defense fund on rudy giuliani's behalf. over and over again news max hosts have been making nearly

identical fund-raising pitches on-air as if they're totally normal news segments. we put a few of them together so you can see just how weird this is. >> mayor rudy giuliani is warning americans that you may be next. >> mayor rudy giuliani is warning americans you may be next. >> mayor giuliani has also announced he has launched a legal defense fund to help defend himself against insane district attorney fani willis. >> fani willis wants to put rudy and 18 other codefendants in jail including president trump. >> president trump is urging americans -- >> if you want more information you can go to rudyfund.com. we certainly hope that you do. >> certainly hope that you do is what they said. rudy giuliani certainly hopes that you do. now, media matters points out that the website news max tells viewers to go to in this interesting set of coordinated announcements, that website is

rudyfund.com. and that website is a domain hosted by news max itself. and the mailing address for physical checks is the same as news max's mailing address. same thing. we have no clue what is going on there, but it's definitely unusual. and rudy giuliani definitely seems like he needs money right now, and he is not alone. more than half a dozen of trump's codefendants appeared to have setup crowd funding pages in their defense. all of those are for people who 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 unindicted could be dropped and they themselves could just be indicted coconspirators with

some real legal bills to pay. today the same grand jury 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 have been spotted there. and the question is -- the question i'd very much like to know the answer to is what and who could that all be about? joining me now to discuss all this is barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan. and david arron. thank you both for being here. the special grand jury or the grand jury convened for jack smith is set to expire on november 15th. is that a real deadline? what does that indicate to you which the urgency 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 going to 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. >> smith is focusing how money raised off baseless claims of voter fraud was used to fund attempts to breach voter equipment. prosecutors have focused their questions on the role of sidney powell. tying with a bow the unnamed coconspirators, is that right? >> it adds a couple of dimensions, one in which is financial, which is really important to add to this case, to show there's money involved rather than ideology and i think it expands the scope and notion of who the victims are. the victims are the people who gave the money. and then there's the question what was that money used for, and does that tie the alleged fund-raising scam to additional criminal activity?

so it is an interesting through line. >> barb, i think there are a lot of people who wonder, well, what about the up named coconspirators, that's still not complete, we don't have the list of those six names. is your expectation there going to be no charging indictments on those folks until after trump goes to trial on this? >> i think that seems right, alex. it seems like the strategy 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 this case can go to trial before the election. you've got a five-year statute of limitations and with these events occurring in 2021, it means it'll be 2026 before they have to complete the investigation to file charges on these others, and frankly they can wait. the most important thing now is get a conviction of donald trump so that the voters have that information before the election. i say the same is likely true with regard to the new investigation we're just talking about about the money and fund

raising off of these false claims. that could be charged in a separate indictment. it could be a superseding indictment. but it seems to me if jack smith's strategy is get that case to trial as quickly as possible, he'd be better off charging the fund-raising allegations in a separate indictment. >> is it considered, barb, untoward or somehow gaming the system to wait to charge those coconspirators if smith effectively essentially already knows what he might charge them with, just in the name of expediting the trial of donald trump? >> that's a very good question, alex. and the supreme court answered that question in the united states vs. lavasko. and it's perfectly permissible. as long as the statute is charges in the limitations, it can continue to investigate, and

the only deadline is the statute of limitations. >> having said that, i mean if you're a defendant, dave, and you're watching the grand jury reconvene, you know the ax hangs above your head, your name is perhaps rudy giuliani and you're out there effectively making infomercials for mypillowslipers to make funds. if you're donald trump just for a moment, if you will, is the reason donald trump hosting -- is the reason he's doing these 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? >> you know, i think it's important to watch who gets their defense funded and who doesn't, and that's going to tell you the lot.

everyone talks about follow the money and that's as true here as anywhere else. why raise money for him and not for the defense of others, if that is what's going on? >> that is your very prosecutorial answer that perhaps there is something happening there that would suggest donald trump -- barb, from your outside assessment here the notion donald trump doesn't hold a candlelight dinner for just anybody and that he's doing this for rudy giuliani, i guess should we draw inferences from that? >> well, you know you can certainly speculate he's trying to curry favor with rudy giuliani, keep him in his good graces. it goes back to some of those things remember we heard statements they were making to michael cohen about remember you've got friends in high places? it sounds an awful lot like that, but i think anything short of overt tampterring with a witness is not like lay to rise to the level of criminal charges for obstruction of justice.

you can see sometimes if you're trying to persuade a person to testify in a certain way, i think holding a fund-raiser for him as rare as it may be is probably not enough for criminal charges. >> i do wonder when we talk about the special counsel and what he's been up to this week, dave, we know in a filing this week jack smith's team pointed to what they call, quote, trump's daily extra judicial statements that threaten to brejs the jury in this particular case and around january 26th. we know trump has been targeting jack smith online. what's the point of filing this under seal if these are public extra judicial statements? and how do you read the sort of news of this? >> assuming the filing is about those extra judicial statements, there's something else in that motion nonpublic. and it could be someone's

address. it could be personal details of someone who's been targeted if it is indeed about those statements. the process that's filing is the main filing is done under seal and the redacted version is made public. we don't know if it's one line or most of the filing that is causing it to be filed under seal, so it's really hard to tell, and this is just one of those frustrating things about watching a criminal case -- >> and then following every procedural move. i would ask you if presumably this has to do with the statements trump is making publicly and the impact they're having on the case even at trial, and i wonder if we're fast approaching the threshold of which a judge is going to have to do something here. >> that day may come. i can see why the judge wouldn't want to do that until absolutely necessary. and 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 the hammer does drop. >> barb, this is just a stress test for our entire judicial system, and wonder how optimistic you are about the system's ability to keep someone like donald trump in check. >> it's really tricky because he's running for president. i think if we didn't have that complicating factor the judge would be quick to impose a gag order and say you can't say these kinds of things. because he's running for president i think you're looking at the rights of voters to have fulsome information. and if he says something like i need to be able to defend myself publicly, and part of that is pointing out the corrupt motives of prosecutor and the judge, but as they said there is a point at which the judge's responsibility to protect the integrity of the process and the witness and the prosecutor and judge themselves by gagging these statements. >> it seems the department of justice is not messing around

here. barbara mcquade and david aaron, thank you for your time tonight. we have more this evening including an effort to keep presidential candidate donald trump off the ballot in at least one state. how exactly could that work? could that work? but first we know d.a. fani willis has been targeted by members of trump's base and by conservatives in congress, but 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. onald tro account. that is coming up next ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com.

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fulton county d.a. fani willis is an independent state prosecutor. her indictment of donald trump and 18 alleged co-conspirators is a state level racketeering and conspiracy charge. but that reality has not stopped republicans in congress from

getting involved. after willis' 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 its 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 ms. willis attached example of racist and anti-semitic and violent threats she has received including the fan-fiction-style submission of willis being shot at her home by someone disguised as a postal worker. it says in part the postal worker assailant throws the box

to the ground to reveal a small plastic pistol and silencer. fani t. willis painfully crawls bleeding inside the house. this vile submission continues in gruesome detail, but you get the point. now, this is not the first time fani willis or citizens associated with this case have been threatened, and the d.a. is not the only black woman prosecuting donald trump has become a target. new york attorney general letitia james says as a result of her case against trump, she's received death threats and is concerned about a lone wolf-style attack. but the high stakes and the national interest in this georgia case in particular could mean that for d.a. fani willis these threats may just be an opening salvo. joining us now is the former mayor of atlanta, keisha lance bottoms. she of course recently served in the biden administration as a senior director at the white house office of public engagement. thank you so much for being here. i'm eager to first hear your

thoughts about what's going on, the targeting of the d.a., and the language that is being -- the vitreal, the hate being thrown her way. what was your reaction to this? >> it hurts to hear. i know fani very well. we started off together practicing law as very young attorneys. i've known her for many years. i was at her wedding. i've known her children. so this is very personal. so it's deeply disturbing that this independently elected district attorney is being subjected to this by someone in washington, d.c., this whole investigation, and she's absolutely right. these threats against her should concern us all because what we see happening here, alex, we see

this erosion of our democracy. what we are witnessing -- we witness people being intimidated. there's an attempt to make people afraid to do their jobs, and it is going to scare good people away from serving in office. now, i don't think that's going to be the case with fani willis. i know that won't be the case with fani willis. 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 as a direct extension of the way in which former president trump has targeted prosecutors but specifically prosecutors of color -- i don't think he's used the word reverse, he's just called them racist. is this the harvest of those seeds? >> absolutely. and what you've seen over the past several years is that this underbelly, this hatred that's simmered beneath the surface for

so long has now been given permission to make its face known. and i think it's come directly from the top. it's come from donald trump. he used 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 has been violence directed towards our elected officials. we know what happened with 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 feed those flames of hatred in our country. >> yeah, and i think the d.a., the fulton county d.a. willis is acutely aware of that reality, right? in the run up to announcement of the indictment she was very clear with law enforcement down in atlanta that they were to --

that she would need extra security. as the former mayor of the atlanta, if you were still in that position today, what kind of preparations would you be making? i mean and what practically can be done where grand juries involved in the initial indictment their families have been targeted, their identities have been made public. a injury has to be seated and selected for this case, and it seems like there are a number of people intent on terrorizing the citizenry of fulton county and georgia writ large. what do you do if you're in charge of keeping georgia and atlanta safe to make sure that that terror comes to an end? >> well, i've been on the other -- i've been on the receiving end of it when i served as mayor. i received very hateful messages directed toward me, directed toward members of my family, so i know what it feels like. and then on top of that you still have a job 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 a personal security detail. the district attorney does. many elected officials in major cities whether it be the mayor or even the 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 makes it -- what really pains me, alex, is that i don't hear a lot of leaders speaking out against it. i think of the quote of audrie lord, your silence will not protect you. it's not enough you're the ones saying the hurtful words. where's the courage? where are the people to stand up

and say this is not acceptable and not reflective of who we are as a party and as a country? >> yeah, you are so right. this is not a moment to remain silent especially if you are in the republican party. no person should have to withstand threats like this. keisha lance bottom, invaluable perspective on this. 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, if at all. plus, the push to get trump off the ballot in certain states using the 14th amendment. the great claire mccaskill joins me on that coming up next. mccas me on that coming up next. to duckduckgo on all your devie

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six colorado voters, republicans 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 alleging that under section 3 of the 14th amendment donald trump should be barred from running for office. now, 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 that today in a way that only he can. >> what they're doing is it's called election interference, and all these lawsuits get in the way. now, the 14th amendment is just a continuation of that. it's nonsense. nobody's even said there's insurrection, and by the way there wasn't any guns in the capitol. you know, the insurrection is frankly the people that insurected the election or rigged the election. those are the insurrectionists. >> joining me now to discuss this is claire mccaskill. claire, thank you for being here. i'm 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 lawyer yourself. what do you think of the merits of this? >> well, let's do the legal part first. this came into being, alex, because of the civil war.

and this was an effort to make sure those people who try 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. a very conservative respected republican judges have to -- and lawyers and scholars have all weighed in and said this is an appropriate use of the 14th amendment, that 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 as his case is heard, there's a lot of complications here. first of all, it's not clear a

lot of these voters have standing. even in state courts standing in this instance would just be his opponent. it would not be a voter. there's a question whether the case is right for determination, whether it's far enough along in the process the court has anything in front of them they can actually rule on. and finally i think we all know if in fact this case was found in favor of the plaintiffs, then it would go all the way to the supreme court, so this is one that those nine justices we talked a lot about over the last year would ultimately make a call on. >> and i think there's the question, too, about whether trump needs to be convicted of being involved in the insurrection. notably the charges he faces do not include incitement to insurrection. do you think that is meaningful in all this, he has to be proven to be guilty of involvement or guilty of insurrection or sedition? >> well, the determination in a

criminal case would not be necessary for this case, but there would still have to be proof. there would have to be proof to the satisfaction of a jury or a judge if it was judge-tried, that the facts that were presented was 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, then i think the country would even come close to accepting -- most of the country, maybe 40% of the country. 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? >> well, right, there's that very specific reality. and i think it's also i mean how

does someone like joe biden abide the notion of his opponent being taken off the ballot setting aside what that leaves him with in terms of an opposition candidate. i mean there are efforts under way in florida, new hampshire, new mexico, ohio, and wisconsin, people running -- those states urging not to run. imagine those key states where trump has taken off. people have not found this candidacy or presidency to be a good thing for america, but at the same time i just wonder about the division that sows in the country and how that would go down in that kind of crisis. >> well, it would be a crisis but it would be a crisis ultimately determined by the supreme court. there is no way that 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're even contemplating it right now. and it would take a bunch of those very conservatives and even 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 rather approve that in the ballot box that in court. >> i think you are correct. senator, always great to see you. 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 i want to share my new knowledge. >> i'm going to share what i learn, too. 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 pedaled to kids in oklahoma and florida? that story is next. s in oklahoma and florida that story is next

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here are two people you have probably never heard of. this is dan and ferris wilks. the story goes they grew up in a goat shed. but these days they're billionaires. they started a fracking company

when they sold for billions of dollars a little over a decade ago. and as have their billionaire forefathers before them, the wilks brothers are spending that fortune on politics, specifically conservative politics. in 2014 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. he said he believes our country was founded on the idea that our rights from the creator, not the government and ted cruz. together they donated millions to hard line conservative organizations like the heritage foundation and the liberty counsel which defended a kentucky clerk which refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. he continues his political activism in his own churn where he is the lead pastor. he's given sermons how homo

sexuality is quote a per version tantment -- his churn maintains the bible is historically and scientifically accurate in every detail and that climate change is god's will. quote, if god wants the polar icecaps 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 are the way to save the planet. >> unfortunately, many of the people who talk about how great they are for the environment give misleading information and 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 isn't robust enough. >> what was that?

was that a bird? >> ew, gross. >> did that bird just get killed by a windmill? >> yes, it did. like many people, leyla, you've been misled about energy and the impact on the environment. windmills kill so many birds. it's hard to track how many, but that's just the start how negative wind and solar are for our natural environment. >> you may recognize the style of that video. we have been talking about the specific kind of media a lot on the show recently. the video is courtesy of prageru kids which creates conservative propaganda style for children. it's not as "u" as in university. it's an unaccredited right-wing advocacy group. there's a whole library of these prageru kids videos which tells kids climate change is no big deal, renewable energy doesn't work and otherwise pedals

misinformation and bunked 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 those videos, those prageru kids videos that tell kids how bad solar and wind power are for our natural environment, those videos were made possible by a pair of fracking tycoons, the wilks brothers. according to the "the guardian" financial records reveal dan and ferris wilks have poured more than $8 million into prager's coffers in the last decade. it seems like it was money well

spent. it brought pseudo science into america's classrooms in at least two states with several others on the horizon. one might also imagine teaching kids about the evils of renewable energy and the divine destiny that is the melting of the polar icecaps isn't so bad for business when you're in the business of fossil fuels. so win-win on that one. dan and ferris wilks, remember these names. wilks, remember these names.

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i was deeply concerned that the name and authority and power of our office had been in my view hijacked to serve the interest of an individual against the interest of the broader public. >> i mean i really wanted him to come clean. i even said are you under undue influence, sir, and he said no. >> he did say no, yes. >> mr. paxton fail today protect the state and instead used the power of his elected office for his own benefit. >> those were the scenes from the impeachment trial of ken paxton, the republican attorney general of texas. and those were texas republicans

and conservatives detailing his alleged misdeeds. charges of bribery, obstruction of justice and violations of the public trust, and it is a rare display of republicans attempting to root out corruption within their own party. there was just one problem. the national leaders of that same party disagree 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. republican senator ted 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 collin allred currently running for the democratic nomination for senate to unseat senator ted cruz next year. congressman, thanks for joining me. >> thanks for having me. >> what's your assessment of what's happening right now with ken paxton? do you see this as a sign of

hope? what kind of credit do you give the gop? >> well, this is republican led. as he said it's going to be decided ipmany ways by republicans, but i think texans are tired of being embarrassed by so many of our elected officials and that's also true of ted cruz. i think most folks around the country might understand about our state is that i think we're tired of this. we're tired of this reputation, tired of people not doing the job they're elected to do and pursuing their own agendas. i do think there's hope to take from the texas house. i don't know what's going to happen in a trial but i know folks like ted cruz and ken paxton are all about themselves and their embarrassment to our state. >> i was shocked ted cruz was out on a limb defending paxton given the fact republicans in the state are so clearly against him and the fraud seems so clear. then again you have someone like george soros who remains in the

house because kevin mccarthy needs his vote. and i wonder is it the fraud they really take issue with in a way they will excuse the other outlandish things the members of their own party get away with? was that the tipping point for this? >> for ted cruz all it matters is which sides are you on the culture war? if you're on our side, then there's no conduct that's unbecoming, no conduct that goes too far. and to me this is the issue we have in our politics right now is that there's no accountability. i come from a background where i played in the nfl, and accountability is that's what it's all about. there's games going on right now. tomorrow they're going to watch the film, correct the mistakes. you got to get that corrected or you're going to lose your job. that's what we have to do in our politics now. in texas we have to have folks like this an embarrassment to our state and they have to be voted out. >> okay, we're going to talk about ted cruz in one second but i do want to talk about other

things happening in the state that are distressing. in the wake of the dobbs decision we know texas has had a very hard line position on reproductive positions. texas towns and cities on state borders are now outlawing 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 -- does this have any repercussions at the ballot box? how is this being abided by the citizens of texinous. >> does it sound like freedom to anybody? what are we going to do next? start boarding planes and buses and & women what's the nature of your travel now? where's this going now? it's a tragedy what's happening in our state. every sing day there are lawyers not doctors determining, there are victims of rape and incest with nowhere to go, and it's a tragedy for our state. but we don't have to put up with

it. we can codify roe v. wade, and we can vote out folks like ted cruz who want to take this nationwide and have a nationwide ban on abortion and to inspect travel. folks out there think that's not who we are i ask them to go to collinallred.com and get involved with us. >> they're very much interested in policing where women go to get their health care. i will also say i meant george santos not george soros, because george soros is obviously not a -- let's play the ad for sound please. >> now these idiots have come out and said drink two beers a week. that's their guideline. well, i've got to tell you if they want us to drink too two beers a week, frankly they can

kiss my ass. >> so on official of the usda suggested at one point america may one day adopt guidelines that suggests people can drink mow more than two beers 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 doing whatever that is? >> he thinks that's what texas is. he's a fake texan in a lot of ways. he knows there's no requirement coming down the pipe for that, but he's pretending, and he's trying to appeal to the culture war. that's the only thing he has to offer. he doesn't vote for the infrastructure bill or the chips and science act. he doesn't vote after the shooting of uvalde for the safer communities act, which is first time in 30 years we've done anything on gun violence that john cornyn helped lead. it's culture wars and stunts, and texans are embarrassed and

tired of it. >> i would also say he likes pretending to be super macho. good luck. texas congressman collin allred, thanks for joining me. please don't try to ram me when this is all over. that is our show for this evening. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is coming up next. donald trump's defense team floats a new strategy in his georgia election interference case, trying to move it to federal court. we'll get expert legal analysis on this development in just a moment, and it comes as the fulton county district attorney issues a scathing response to republican congressman and trump ally jim jordan, accusing the ohio lawmaker of trying to obstruct her case. plus we'll dig into some disappointing new pole numbers for president biden and