tv The Beat Weekend MSNBC October 12, 2024 1:00pm-2:00pm PDT
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long haul. boeing month lost more than $1 billion in revenue since last month. look at this video from chicago, looters ran sinking a part freight train, thieves grabbing boxes of tvs, electronics and a heist lasting hours. at least six people have been arrested, some items have been recovered. tonight, the comment of the century set to make its closest approach to earth in nearly 80,000 years. the comment is one of the brightest in our lifetimes and will be visible to the naked eye. starting at sunset, the comet will glow in the western horizon for about 45 minutes until the end of the month. today the iconic rockefeller ice-skating rink open for a season. since 1936 more than one quarter visitors have hit the ice there every year. that will do it for me on this edition of "alex witt reports", a quick, best wishes for my friends for all the happiness in the world on their wedding day. i will see you tomorrow.
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up next is "primetime: weekend". ♪ ♪ welcome to the beat weekend. let's get right into the headlines. >> i can tell you what the top, one of the most common maga talking points about kamala harris you have probably heard is taking a hard fall today. trump is been arguing she wasn't doing any or enough press interviews. you will remember when she first stepped up as the nominee , it was a frenetic stretch when she lost a new campaign. a convention, a fund-raising operation and she picked her running mate all of that over several weeks, faster than everyone in history because of the switch. trump and his allies have been hammering she wasn't doing interviews then or enough in hammering this line of attack. the harder they come, the harder they fall. one and all.
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as jimmy wolf famously put it. respect. that would apply right now. this maga talking point is taking a hard fall as harris steps of two journalistic interviews like trump docs them, like on 60 minutes and harris leading a media blitz this week from classic forms like the view, i haven't seen trump on there recently, to howard stern, which i will get to in a minute to new media podcasts where she is engaging with different independent media posts and their sometimes younger audiences. so that talking point has taken a hard fall. here's just some of the harris tour . >> reporter: kamala harris has been a candidate for president for just two and half months. >> we are thrilled that joining us right now for her very first talkshow appearance. >> vice president, welcome to call her daddy. >> please, welcome back the next president of the united states.
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>> i am here on a special day. i was supposed to have the day off. i would only come in for the vice president of the united states. >> there are a whole lot of women out here who are not aspiring to be humble. you just hit play and dance to prince on eyeball. >> when you become president, we you come back on "the view"? >> of course i will. >> that is just some of what is been happening on this ongoing tour. these are mainstream outlets many outlets court and harris was using them, to, of course, take the hard question sometimes and get her message out. she talked a range of policy and talked about most nominees go to both party nominees, i will get into why trump wasn't there but these are the kinds of questions this cycle she is the only nominee answering on "60 minutes". >> what kind of gun do you own and why did you get it? >> i have a glock. >> was it a mistake to loosen
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immigration policies as much as you did. >> it is a long-standing problem. solutions are at hand. >> we are dealing with the real world here. >> the real world includes -- >> how will you get this through congress? >> when you talk quietly with a lot of folks in congress, they know exactly what i'm talking about. >> that is some of the interview, again, trump was not there. those would be fair questions for him, as well, how would you get something through this congress, which has not been super effective in terms of passing a lot of domestic legislation. i don't say that as a burn, just an observation. trump didn't take those question so what the nation socko i don't have to remind you, a lot of voters still watch "60 minutes", was an explanation of why donald trump claimed he would do the interview and then misleadingly backed out while harris was there. here is what people heard. >> this year, vice president kamala harris and former president donald trump accepted our invitation but,
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unfortunately, last week, trump canceled. the campaign offered shifting explanations. first a complaint we would fact check the interview. we fact check every story. later, trump said he needed an apology for his interview in 2020. >> if he is not to give your viewers the ability to have a meaningful, thoughtful conversation, a question and answer with you, then watch his rallies. you will not hear about how he will try to bring the country together. find common ground and, bill, that is why i believe in my soul and heart the american people are ready to turn the page. >> so that is just some of this playing out on "60 minutes" but there is a larger dynamic. this was a one-off about one show, even a great classic,
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well washed new show like "60 minutes", you might say, okay, the cabinet has an issue with that show. let's not make a whole meal out of it. but i will show you the evidence there is a whole meal here, even if some of the ingredients are toxic and people have to make their own mind about what they want to ingest, the information we ingest can be as damaging as of the things we put in our body but the theme here is something i told you about last night. it is bigger than "60 minutes" or any single show. we are seeing donald trump run and dock from anyplace he thinks he might be held accountable or fact checked in real time. that includes places he needs to go and used to go all the time. which brings us to the shock jock himself, although he has evolved over the years, howard stern. what does howard stern have in common with the venerated news magazine show like "60 minutes"? they are both places that were trump's stomping grounds. remember, trump previously win on "60 minutes" and last night
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we mentioned that. trump and howard stern go back many years. this is actually a picture of then the shock jock and the real estate magnet or pretend magnet, depending on which financials you believe, one of trump's weddings, his first. donald trump has gone on howard stern's show dozens of times. there is a whole breakdown on that. this is exactly the kind of thing that donald trump would use on his way up, if you want to call it that. he used to be able to handle questions from howard stern about a range of topics. now, what we have is kamala harris going on howard stern and donald trump running away. is only interviews this week have been on fox and on a conservative radio show where he thought he would get a certain type of treatment. on howard stern, again, like "60 minutes", a big platform that reaches millions, if not all of them, automatically, biden-harris supporters, harris
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uses this venue as trump heights as she engages with different forms and puts into the context what i told you is just larger than beef with just one show. the larger thing that you and i may know about, if you follow the news, as other people tune in, the fact that donald trump has a problem with the courts, independent journalism and any other independent power structure that might hold him accountable, which raises questions about what his second term would be like. >> he says he will be a dictator on day one. you want to know what a dictator will do? they jail journalists. they put people protesting in the street in jail. >> he said he thinks he wants to go after jimmy kimmel, a comedian. he wants to go after stephen colbert and seth meyer. >> if jimmy kimmel is not safe, who would be safe? it would be a laughing matter except it isn't. those instincts which donald trump is not disavowing, the guy is literally running for
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president. if you believe the state polls, it seems tied. even in that context, when the political benefits run the other way, he still has to lure out dictator some of the time, abuse of power some of the time. prosecutors enemies. this is serious stuff. harris was using this broad swath of different approaches and forms of media to reach different people, including journalistic outlets that do fact check and radio shows trump used to go on when he wasn't running scared. trump is burrowing deeper into what you might call his own self-imposed content tunnel. the candidate who, as i reminded you at the top of the show, accuses his opponent of ducking hard questions is the one actually avoiding all the hard questions, whether that is on "60 minutes" and then seeking refuge on fox. the harder they fall. fox's outlet, which broadcasts so many proven election lies,
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that after donald trump's lost in 2020, they broadcast those lies and had to pay a record defamation penalty. so this is not exactly a "60 minutes" level interview here or even a shock jock interview. historically, this is a safe place for snowflakes. their term, not ours. the defamation penalty was so costly i can show you tonight how this is even changing things over there. even trent wyatt -- maga allied hosts are doing some fact checking of trump real time. i will show you the basic facts. amid these terrible hurricanes and the risk we are facing, kamala harris visited north carolina yesterday. that is not a big deal one way or the other, it is something you would expect the vice president of a major party or a nominee to do. they have been talking that
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these threats and visiting affected areas. although they have a different approach . that public observable fact is known. when donald trump went on fox, lying and claiming the opposite about harris, laura ingram corrected him in front of the fox audience. >> but she shouldn't be there anyway. she should be, i would say north carolina is so bad. >> she was there today for three hours, i believe. kamala harris. >> now, that is not how many fox evening hosts handled trump's election lies last campaign season. it is a shift. notice, it comes amidst what i'm telling you about. trump is running away from all the other forms i mentioned because of fact checking. because of any adversarial attempt to hold him accountable is something right now he would rather avoid and run from, even if it squares the circle and shreds his own talking points about the other team doing the thing he is doing.
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the point i am exploring with you here tonight is not cheaply about ideology or partisanship, not about whether people vote for one party or the other, which is a tradition in our country and you should do your homework and vote for whomever you choose. i'm not speaking of partisanship, which comes aplenty in campaign. i am speaking about a deeper fault line, which i also reported on last night. it is a fault line over fax last night. maga gop increasingly uses lies as a litmus test. you have to support the lies for trump to be in good standing with the party. trump awaits a federal trial about election fraud and a crew. would end of political party yields lies and propaganda for power, it does not state neatly contained two lies for the leader or just one topic. those of the kind of rationalizations we erred, even right here at this desk from some trump allies or former allies. the lies and disinfo, for example, are spreading to the federal response to hurricanes helene and milton and they have consequences. emergency response officials say the misinformation is confusing residents who could be in danger.
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there are echoes here of what it was like when donald trump was present. you remember the covid response with all the lies, disinformation and the bleach. people remember that and that matters. that is the person in charge and how they wield the awesome authority they have in office. bob woodward now revealing trump's covid tests going to back then, what he did in real time when he influenced the hurricane map with a sharpie. i told you before, politics is often too important to be left to politicians. tonight i will update that was something else. it is basic but sometimes i share with you basic, straightforward things and repeat them. the truth is way too important to be left up to political liars. they do not seem to care whether you, the public, live or die. we have two special guest here. we'll be right back. ht back.
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campaigning in whatever swing state i am in, which i will just refer to wico-georgia. [ applause ] >> do you like it? do you like it? it is fun right? she is so good. the suit, the jewelry, everything. >> the vice president with the impression there. we are joined by a democratic strategist and full disclosure, a senior congressional reporter with punch bowl. welcome to both of you. there is nothing new about these fact faultlines.
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we just explored why there is something larger here. the vice president argues it goes back to governing. it is not just for homework, fact check types, this matters to the public. your thoughts. >> it matters to the public. it matters what kind of leader, the character of the leader. take donald trump at his word when he says he wants to be dictator on day one. he looks up to and idolizes dictators. that covid story was very weird to read about today during the very height and the peak of the pandemic. comes back to what you stated at the top, look who's hiding now? vice president, harris is making a very important pitch to the voters to understand what they would get with this second trump presidency. donald trump lost the narrative. that allows the vice president to dominate and set the frame of what people should be thinking about as they cast their ballots. i say that knowing the election is happening now. people are casting their ballots right now. >> i will say, in talking to trump's allies and his
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supporters, they will tell you, at least privately, the more he talks, the more he hurts himself. kind of ironic that the gop talking point has been that they have to keep kamala harris away and keep her away from these environments but trump has failed where he is in these environments where he is questioned or held accountable. his debate performance was pretty terrible. it was just overshadowed by joe biden's performance. all his problems as a candidate came to the forefront with the last debate which, by the way, he is still complaining about at his rallies on social media. [ laughter ] >> it is not surprising he declined to go on the "60 minutes" interview but it does speak to, i think, what he sees as his weakness as a candidate. >> that may explain some of the shift. we showed it on howard stern and in this recent era when he was on "60 minutes", the rallies are decreasing. it is almost like the trump campaign long-distance
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strategy now. you keep them away and they only see him occasionally, maybe they will remember him more finely than what he is currently like. you can see at the rallies, there is a huge contrast beyond the evidence, from 2016 where he use those and twitter to sort a barrel into the conversation. look at what he says now. here, fewer alleys -- rallies and less governing. look at this from howard stern discussing what presidents do, including supreme court members. >> the strength of america includes that we have been committed, as americans, it's part of our spirit, to the expansion of rights. and for the first time we are seeing a restriction of rights. and understand if donald trump were to get another term, most of the legal scholars think that there is going to be maybe even two more seats that will be up. >> that is a central argument
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you are hearing from democrats up and down the ballot. they are using it in congressional races. they say this is why it matters to have the democratic- controlled senate. there could be another supreme court seat up for grabs. we have seen the real-time effects from the donald trump presidency and the supreme court justices he appointed. roe versus wade, of course, was a return. that is something kamala harris has a message on. she continues to beat the drum for democrats up and down the ballot and making the case that perhaps they need to change senate rules in order to codify roe v wade. that is something that is permeating races up and down the ballot. >> we are more detail on that, calling into question donald trump's foreign-policy with his judgment during a national domestic crisis, which was covered. and, we are thrilled to welcome back to the program someone i heard a lot of you appreciated with her clear and thoughtful remarks, sarah matthews one on one back with us tonight. ♪ ♪ ight. ♪ ♪ and get a new ipad and apple one, all on us. only on verizon.
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tonight we have been covering many aspects of this campaign, including what is still the most important question for any candidate you are assessing for high office, how will they actually govern? in this case, we have a current vice president and a former president, so we have some clues about both of them. then we get no information, not exactly a full-blown october surprise, but simply a new revelation from the legendary journalist bob woodward, who is known for tough coverage of every administration. his new book is "war" a hole inside look at the biden and trump responses to this chaotic international order we have been living through. woodward has written trump is unfit to lee, worse than nixon. woodward famously covered that in watergate and "the
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washington post" covered that change the course of history, he says, it is the most reckless and impulsive president in all of american history. he details something that overlaps with what kamala harris just said, for those who think of that as political rhetoric, this is reporting. trump did not put the basic public safety or public interests of the american sedentary first or second or anywhere near his priorities. instead, trump was vengeful, following his election lost his campaign manager told woodward it is vengeance. trump has hit on that. take a listen. >> a lot of people will say, well, he will just do to them what they did to him and get back at them. >> a lot of people say that is what should happen. >> but you are not to do that. when you get in office you are gonna look at your political enemies -- >> i want to make this the most successful country in the world. that is what i want to do. >> woodward then reporting how donald trump used his office, the powers he gets from being president, to apparently try to
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sweeten the pot with someone that most administrations, including republicans, have seen as an adversary, the dictator of russia, vladimir putin, telling woodward that trump and putin have been speaking on the phone repeatedly since he left office, up to seven times. we can tell you today trump's spokespeople say these allegations are just, quote, made up. woodward is standing by his multisource reporting. he will be speaking, i am sure. we will be tracking that, as well. now let's turn to the special guest i mentioned, sarah matthews. she testified before the january 6 committee and spoke about her experiences and why she is now backing kamala harris. you are on the show last week. welcome back. >> thank you for having me back. >> let's start with those reports whether or not you were an eyewitness to that. we have woodward reporting on things that involve trump sharing covid tests with putin
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and the core allegation there is it is somehow for trump and not the american public. how do you view the reporting? >> i was unfamiliar with that reporting that came out. it was really alarming to me because we had recent reporting from "politico" that showed us that during wildfires in california, trump did not want to send relief to americans there until he was shown voter data they were supporters of his. then you have, during the pandemic, americans who were suffering and dying because of this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. people couldn't get a hold of
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tests but what does he do? he was not sent to the american people, he was sending them to our adversary, a dictator and a murderer, vladimir putin. that goes to show you he is buddy-but he was somebody like that because he admires dictators. he wants to emulate them. even said he would be a dictator on day one. a lot of republicans love to say trump is just kidding. my pushback to that is who jokes about that? what kind of american president jokes about being a dictator on day one? it just shows how cozy the relationship is and that has been one of my points of contention with him, actually, beyond the things that i have disagreed with him about january 6, as you mentioned, i testified against him in front of the january 6 committee because i believe he is unfit for a lot of reasons . but another thing is this relationship he has with putin and how i believe he would invade ukraine. that is something that shines a light further on how close the two of them are. >> on this idea of prioritizing somehow and sweetening the pot for putin on the co-big crisis other than any number of things he could have done with the test, this was a big topic, let's listen to what the vice president said after hearing it for the first time. >> donald trump has this desire
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to be a dictator. he admires strongmen. people were dying by the hundreds. >> yeah. >> everybody was scrambling to get these kits, the tests, the covid tests kids. >> couldn't get them. >> and get them anywhere. >> right. >> this guy, who was president of the united states is sending them to russia to a murderous dictator for his personal use? >> when you look at that and the people still supporting trump, which you were engaged with at this table last week, what is their understanding of this? the fisher mac on january 6 relates to that because do you want to be in the democracy business on the dictator business? he sort of has this cute or maga answer to that. this is a rhetoric. this is what he did with the dictator. how do you see that affecting people in that orbit and ultimately voters who may still be trump curious? they may have memory hold what he really did during the crises. >> it is so concerning to me, it clearly shines a light on how foolish they are, even in bob woodward's book they talked about it a minimum seven times since trump last left office
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when putin was invading ukraine. what was trump talking about on the phone with him? was he undermining u.s. policy by having these conversations secretly with putin? who knows what they were discussing. and then i think, two, for republicans who would defend donald trump still and who would still support him, despite this cozy relationship he has with our adversary, vladimir putin, i think my pushback is it is not even just this covid tests example where that is something appalling to me that he was sending covid tests you a murderous dictator while americans were dying but he has said things like he would give parts of ukraine away to putin. we need to come to some solution and that might be part of the solution. i believe in fighting for freedom and democracy and supporting our allies.
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so i would not like to see that happen in ukraine. i am not saying we need to write a blank check to ukraine. i know a lot of republicans think we send too much money. i think it is a worthy investment to keep the war contained there without it spreading further to our nato allies and without having to put a single american soldier on the ground and also, i think, too, this is something i brought up last week on your show, trump has said maybe he would let putin invade our nato allies because they are not contributing enough to nato so he has made these lighthearted remarks. >> maybe people will hear the signal. >> we should take donald trump at his word. >> we we come back, harris' strategy is to use the media landscape to break through. we will deal with disinformation the political role next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
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by cass. trump maybe the older candidate but is jumping into new medians does my mediums faster than other candidates. he is joined twitch and bailed on the cbs "60 minutes" tradition. both candidates are clearly adapting to new medians, just like jfk jumped into the new technology of tv back then. it is a long ways right now from when three broadcast networks dominated, with stars like tim russert and chris wallace, you see right there, reached far more people than today's landscape. both of those thinkers held iconic "meet the press" on nbc. chris wallace jumped to fox about 20 years ago and gave their take on a weekend public affairs program, the inch windchill fox news sunday. he interviewed clinton to bush to obama. the kind of
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experience that actually led to the most prominent and challenging role of any american anchor moderating those high-stakes presidential debates. he did 2016 and one of just two of the big 2020 debates between biden and trump. >> will you tell us how much you paid in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017? >> millions of dollars. >> you pay millions of dollars? >> millions of dollars. millions of dollars. you will get to see it. >> at the end of the campaign, the loser concedes to the winner. are you saying you are not prepared now to do so? >> i will tell you at the time, i will keep you in suspense. >> chris, let me respond to that. that is horrifying. >> a big question that has remained relevant. one outlet has donald mr. wallace the most influential journalist in the nation in 2020. now at cnn, he makes his big debut right here, a special for the new book countdown 1960
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about the nixon election. chris wallace, like many, i have been watching you. i am thrilled you made the time. welcome. >> thank you for having me. you know, i have gotten my eulogy right here and now. it is kind of depressing to see yourself aging in about two minutes of pictures but thank you for having me. i very much appreciate it. >> i am glad to have you. we went from nbc days, the broadcast network here, fox was in the thick of it, i want to jump right into that and we will get to the book because people are interested in that but let's look at something you are right in the center of and ultimately left fox. i want to look back to the 2020 election period. take a look. >> american votes in the presidential election are actually counted in a foreign country.
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these are serious allegations. >> their machines caused thousands of votes in one michigan county to be switched from donald trump to joe biden. >> this is an extremely flammable situation of the president just threw a match into it. he hasn't won any of the states. >> do you still question whether or not joe biden won the election fair and square? >> chris, i stand by my vote to object on january 6. >> congressman, you say everything that distracts from that. >> accusing fox news of airing lies related to the 2020 election. >> the settlement to be paid by fox news, $787.5 million. >> how did you approach your role then and was fox wrong to air so much material that amounted to, at times, election misinformation? >> well, the way i handled my job then is the way i have handled it in the last half- century in the business. you know, it is funny, ari. i get praised a lot. people come up to me and tell
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me how much they appreciate how evenhanded i am and now fair i am. i started at the boston globe in 1969. being fair and evenhanded was not an object of praise. it is what kept you from getting fired. it is like being accurate, getting somebody's name right and the address right. the fact is, to a certain degree, i have gotten praise or stood out for doing that, to me, is kind of depressing. you know? i think it is a bad commentary about our business and how it has changed over the years. >> i understand that. i have someone who worked at fox, not praising you. we only learned about this from private text messages and as a longtime reporter, you know how
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this works. i will redo what is said and you get a chance to respond. laura ingram says my anger at the news channel was pronounced, making the distinction with what some news anchors do in which he does. tucker carlson texted it should be. we devote our lives to building an audience and they let chris wallace wrecked it. your response. >> well i am employed and tucker really isn't anymore. that is part of my response. you know, look, i had a good 18 year run at fox and they never messed with me the whole time. you know, as you can see from some of those reports, i ask tough questions. i book the toughest guests. i never got second-guessed by the executive floor at fox. i sensed a change in fox as time went on, particularly after the 2020 election, particularly after week correctly, but were the first to call arizona on election night in 2020 and the trump campaign was very upset with us and a lot of supporters were
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upset with us. they began going to other outlets, like newsmax, who went even further to the right. i sensed a change in fox at that point. there was less interest, even in the news side, in sticking to the facts or the truth and more in telling that audience to try to win them back what they wanted to hear. they paid a big price for it. you talk about the misinformation about the elections and, you know, i have to say i am not unhappy that fox had to pay $787 million. there ought to be a price to pay when you don't tell the truth and you don't inform people but you misinform people that evidence that fox higher- ups knew wasn't true. speck you think the hefty penalty is a good thing to correct some of their mistakes. >> yes, look, there was a price to pay. there are laws about defamation and libel. clearly, fox settle because they thought they were gonna lose the case and have to pay
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even more. >> fascinating. you have interviewed seven presidents. there is no automatic sunday shop dispensation. you have to earn every one of those interviews through your work, efforts and their reputation. i want to look at one i think you would remember that made a splash at the time. bill clinton. he served as president. going back and forth with you about national security and osama bin laden, important, heavy stuff. for those who don't remember, let's take a look at that. >> you put bin laden and the organization at a business. >> i was asked this on fox news. you did your little conservative hit job on me. what i want to know, it was a
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pretty legitimate question but i want to know how many people in the bush administration you asked this question to. i don't believe you asked them that. >> we ask plenty of questions. >> educate us how you approached that, how it felt in the moment. he was alleging you were somehow biased and raising things in a political manner or feeding the audience so it would repeat back the political view of things. you had a back-and-forth but since i have you here, the first time i am interview -- interviewing you, you have interviewed seven presidents, tell me about it. >> it was pretty incredible. the last time i went on youtube, which was a number of years ago, the last time i checked, there were 10 million views. there was just something on abc on the path to 9/11 and they had been critical of bill clinton. in fact, there had been a pulitzer prize-winning book called the looming tower. they were critical of clinton. they said he hadn't done enough to put bin laden and al qaeda had a business when he was president. i simply asked him a question. you know, that is what we do for a living. i later asked, have you ever seen him sort of fly off like
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that? they said, i have never seen him fly off, that is what we call the purple rage in the white house. >> did you feel anything in the moment? did you feel you had to screen you had to be professional or had you done this so much it was just one more day? >> no, it wasn't just another interview. when you are getting called out, even though he was the former, not the current president of the united states which you could put up clips of me what donald trump in 2020. i talked to him about the competency tensed -- test and the fact he aced it, wasn't so hard, mr. president. there is a picture of an animal you have to identify it as an elephant. that is what we do for a living. we are there to seek the truth. we are there to seek light, not heat and not to make friends and not to take, ari, not to
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we are back with cnn anchor and nbc and fox alum and author chris wallace, the new book "countdown 1960", part of his series of countdown history books. we have it right here. people can get it wherever books are sold. chris, what interested you about this 1960 race and what about it might apply today? >> well, two things, ari. first of all, it is a great story. i think it was kind of a key inflection point in american politics, maybe the first modern election, the first two candidates for president who were both born in the 20th century. the first of may, the first television debate, the youngest
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president ever elected, the first catholic elected president. you know, it is the fascinating story. what interested me was this relevance to where we are in politics today which is why i wanted it to come out just before this election. there was certainly an indication, i am not an essay definitely, but there certainly was evidence of vote fraud. it is an election that may have been stolen by the democrats for john kennedy. richard nixon had to make a decision whether or not he would contest it or not. a lot of pressure inside his party to fight it. it was the height of the cold war. he didn't think the country could stand not knowing who the president was for weeks or months as it went through the courts, he was also only 47 years himself and he wanted to have a political future not be seen as a sore loser. he actually, january 6, 1961
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presided over the electoral vote and declare john kennedy was the winner. was the first time in 100 years of vice president had to basically sort of certify his defeat and his opponent's victory as president. it could not be more different from 2020 and what we see even in 2024 with donald trump, no evidence, any substantial evidence, of election fraud, certainly not enough to make any difference. in the last four years donald trump has held us captive with this idea he actually won the election in joe biden didn't. >> now i have about 70 seconds left. is there anything you have learned about either figures here, either the candidates here that you did not know before you wrote this book? >> a tremendous about about both of them. one of the things that came out of the book was how crooked the democratic machine was and the kennedys. to give you one quick example, the archdiocese of boston, obviously, kennedy was a massachusetts senator,
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richard colonel cushing later told the story that when they took the collection from all the people who went to church on sunday, he gave it to joe kennedy. joe kennedy covered that and sent a check and a big tax deduction back to the church. he took that money and gave it to the mom, who spread it around to share some local officials and even protestant preachers in west virginia. at the end, cushing told somebody it was good for the church, good for the preachers in west virginia and good for the candidate. one other thing, kennedy was in the love quadrangle with frank sinatra and the head of the chicago mob and a party girl
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named judith. all of this went on during the height of the 1960 presidential campaign. it is a fascinating, personal and political story and real relevance to 2020 and 2024. >> all fascinating. chris, we you come back on next week and every week until the election or are you busy with those other guys? >> well, ask my bosses at cnn. i am glad to be here. it is a good, stimulating conversation. >> thank you for joining us for "the beat: weekend". thank you for joining us to make sure you join us on the weekdays. weekdays. ace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ask your doctor about breztri.
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