that does it for me tonight. the rachel maddow show starts right now. hey, rachel.

>> hey, jen, thank you very much, my friend, much appreciated. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour, happy to have you here, hope you had a great holiday. so, in the 1950s, police in washington, d.c. assigned a whole squad of officers, a surprisingly large part of the overall police force, and made it their job to police author and sprint and public parks and other places where they thought men might secretly be meeting up to have sex. they had officers who were trained to come onto people to make passes at them basically, and leave them on, to see if they could get the other guy to initiate some kind of a sexual encounter, and then they would slap the cops on him and arrest him, all him downtown. they called this the perversion of elimination program. you will not be shocked to learn that what they called the perversion was not eliminated by this police program.

but this program in the 1950s, it did arrest a lot of people. it did ruin a lot of people's lives. that said, they didn't throw the book at everyone but if they picked up somebody in one of these sting operations was a first-time offender, no other trouble with the law, not employed in some sensitive position in which the person could conceivably be blackmailed, they attended in those instances to give a warning. yeah, maybe they would make the poor guy spend a night in jail to scare the jesus out of him, but in those kinds of circumstances, generally they would let the guy go. and that is what happened when a young seminary student was arrested in washington, d.c. and lafayette park in 1953. he was a very bright young man, he had a seemingly very bright future ahead of him, he was a seminary student after all, he had no other offenses on his record, no involvement with the

law whatsoever, but he was picked up in one of these sting operations committee gave him a warning, that they let him go. pretty much standard operating procedure for how you would handle that kind of a stained, that kind of an alleged offense, and that kind of defendant. but then with this particular young man, it turned into something else, because this young man's father was a united states senator, a democratic u.s. senator from wyoming. and as a senator, he had made some very powerful enemies on the other side of the aisle. specifically, he had squared off against and stood up against one particular republican senator named joe mccarthy. and when joe mccarthy and his friends in the senate learned that wyoming senator lester hunt's son, buddy -- is name was buddy hunt, when they learned that lester hunt's son buddy had been arrested in a washington, d.c. park for a so- called moral's offense, they learned that he had been let

off with a warning, the way most first-time offenders are, and then they decided that they had a better idea for how this particular arrest should be handled. they summoned a police supervisor to their offices in capitol hill, brought them up to the united states senate from the police, and they demanded that this particular young man should have his case reopened. that buddy hunt should not be let off with a warning, that he should definitely be charged criminally and put on trial. and then after intimidating the police into agreeing to do that, they then went to the kids dad, they went to lester hunt, the senator, and said, hey, shame about what is happening to your son, you know, we can make this all go away if you just resigned from the senate and give up your seat. and senator lester hunt told them to pound sand. and so, buddy hunt went to trial . and he was convicted.

whereupon joe mccarthy's allies in the u.s. senate came back to lester hunt and said, i bet that was pretty terrible for you and your family, right? wouldn't it be a shame if we put a flyer in every mailbox in the state of wyoming explaining just exactly what buddy was arrested for and what he did, and that he is your son and it is on your family, wouldn't that be a shame? and are you sure you don't want to resign from the senate? senator lester hunt worried so much about his son, buddy, he worried about his wife as well, buddy's mom, that trial -- the trial itself had already almost killed her. senator lester hunt's friends in the senate said he was basically reduced to a shell of himself by the worry. he had been really gregarious and outgoing and friendly by some contemporaneous press accounts, he was the most personally popular member of the senate among other

senators, he was just a great guy, very outgoing. but when all of this started happening, he retreated into himself, he stopped talking to people, he ate alone in his office, he was just profoundly worried and upset by what was happening to his son, and it was happening to his son because of politics, because these republican senators wanted to wage political war against him, the father, and they knew that the sun was the way to get at the father. and lester hunt had previously told those republican senators when they threatened him, he had previously told him to shove it. but in the end, they did get him out of the senate. there had been a one seat democratic majority while democrat lester hunt was in the united states senate, but when he vacated his seat in the u.s. senate, that flipped senate control to the republicans. they got their way when lester hunt indeed vacated that seat. and lester hunt vacated that seat in the senate by killing himself in his senate office in

june 1954. those republican senators, those allies of joe mccarthy, they used their political power for political reasons to abuse and pervert the legal system into pursuing a young man for, yes, something that he did, but something for which anyone other than him would never have faced serious legal consequences. and they did it because of who his dad was and they did it because they knew this young man's dad loved him. and they decided that that father's love for his son would be their best and most effective weapon against the father. get him right in the heart. one of the most despicable episodes i know of in the entire modern history of american politics. just a shakespearean crash of evil against love.

with the result being a good man shooting himself at his desk in the united states senate. that was 70 years ago, 1954. last night, president biden put out a statement, explaining his pardon of his son, hunter. the statement said, "from the day i took office, i said i would not interfere with the justice department's decision making, and i kept my word, even as i have watched my son being electively and on early prosecuted. without aggravating factors like used in a crime or multiple purchases or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. those who are late paying taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, those people are typically

given noncriminal resolutions. the president says, "it is clear that hunter was treated differently. the charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the department of justice, unraveled in the courtroom, with a number of my political opponents in congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. no reasonable person who looks at the facts of hunters cases can be to any other conclusion than hunter was singled out only because he is my son, and that is wrong." he says, "there has been an effort to break hunter, who has been 5 1/2 years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. in trying to break hunter, they have tried to break me. and there is no reason to believe it will stop here. enough is enough."

he says, "for my entire career, i followed a simple principle, just tell the american people the truth, they will be fair- minded. well, here is the truth, i believe in the justice system, but as i have wrestled with this, i also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice. i hope americans will understand why the father and a president would come to this decision." a father and a president. he says there is no reason to believe it will stop here, enough is enough. it is true that president biden had said he wouldn't pardon his son, and it may or may not be related, but would it change your mind at all if after you made a pledge like that, the incoming next president then announced that he planned to remove the director of the fbi and install in his place someone who has literally published a hit list of people he wants to go after once trump is back in power.

there are 60 names on this list. this guy published it as an appendix to one of his recent books. not his series of books that described trump as king donald, no, those are history books for kids. no, the one with the 60 names on a list of who he is going to go get in trump's name once trump is back in power, that is a book he wrote presumably for adults. so, what would you do? what would you do if after you made that pledge to not pardon your son, that's what the next president said he was going to do to u.s. law enforcement, what would you do? what is reasonable to demand of a man after what has been done to your son already? right? you ready to put him back in the barrel? honestly, maybe what president biden should have done is not just pardon his son, hunter, but name him ambassador to france, right? maybe then the response, the criticism of the decision would

be a little more muted. i mean, considerate, right? donald trump, the president- elect, used his pardon power to give pardons to his longest- serving political adviser, his campaign chairman, his campaign manager, his national security advisor, he gave pardons to seven, count them, seven different republican congressmen convicted of dozens of felonies? he pardoned the father of his son-in-law. his daughter is married to jared kushner, he pardoned jared kushner's father. this man tried to blackmail and intimidate a witness in a criminal case against him by hiring a prostitute to seduce the witness and lure him back to a hotel room where the guy had staged a hidden camera. he found the sexual encounter, and then sent the tape to the wife of the witness to intimidate both the witness and the wife into not testifying against him, that is an

astonishing thing to do, an astonishing link to go to to commit the crime of witness intimidation. it is a whole other level of insanity when you consider the woman that this guy sent the tape to was his own sister, as it was his brother-in-law, his sister's husband, who is going to be the witness against them in this criminal investigation, along with potentially his sister herself, so this is what you did to his own sister in order to try to shut down the case, in order to try to shut down those witnesses. his name is charles kushner, his son jared is married to ivanka trump, and so, he got a pardon. he got a pardon. charles kushner served two years in federal prison, but i'm sure just on the merits of the case, he got a full pardon from donald trump in trump's first term, and now this weekend, trump just named him, that same guy, he just announced that he will name him ambassador to france, and he did that announcement right after he announced that the father of the guide married to his other daughter, tiffany, he will be trump's senior adviser on the middle east. and so, yeah.

q all the handwringing and gnashing of teeth today about a president using his power, his pardon power, his powers as president, to do something for a family member. i mean, trump pardoned a family member and the named him ambassador to france. i mean, he has no qualifications whatsoever to be america's ambassador to france. trump pardoned the owner of the 49ers football team and has now nominated his son-in-law to be the head of the dea. the guy is a local sheriff, he has no apparent qualifications to lead the drug enforcement administration other than being a local sheriff and being related to a rich guy who trump pardoned. the surgeon general trump just announced, she is a random doctor from the fox news channel who has her own celebrity line vitamins. she has no apparent qualifications for being surgeon general at all, other than the fact that she is a doctor and she is the sister-in-

law of the guy he just named to be national security advisor. so, sure, obviously, why not? the guy he named to lead the navy has zero expense with the u.s. navy with literally anything having to do with any part of the united states military, but the guy did hold a $12 million fundraiser for trump at his multimillion dollar home, which famously features a mirrored floor, so you can see up people's spirits while they're standing in the living room at the fundraiser. you think i'm kidding, look it up. trump named someone who the u.s. government once felt the need to put on a tourism watch list to be the new director of national intelligence. he named an accused site -- child sex trafficker. he named his secretary who says heroine helps them read better and wi-fi gives you a leaky brain. and i'm just going to mention this one more time, he named his convicted felon relative to be our nation's ambassador in paris.

maybe his french is excellent, i don't know. but yes, tell me more about how outraged we all are about president biden's pardon for his son. because that, somehow that is the thing that looks bad. trump himself responded to the pardon news by asking sarcastically whether the pardon includes all the convicted defendants from the violent attack on congress by his supporters on january 6th, 2021. if nothing else, that reaction from trump serves to confirm and remind us all that trump lanced uses pardon power to pardon all those generous ex- convicts, apparently as soon as he is sworn in. and so, if this is our national moment to be taught tithing about pardons, to be saying that the use of a pardon power might be a problem and might deserve four different

simultaneous headlines on the front page of the new york times right now tonight, that let's talk about this other one. let's talk about a 33-year-old man who lives in henry county, georgia, just southeast of atlanta. well, used to live there, he doesn't live there anymore, now he lives in prison where he is serving four years and nine months in prison, and this is why: >> one more term, fight for trump. usa, usa, usa. usa, usa, usa. >> so, trump is indicating that that guy is going to get a

pardon. trump is indicating that he is going to pardon all the "patriots" who were convicted for what they did to him on january 6, which presumably includes this guy. wailing away on police officers, using a crutch to try to smash their faces in. i mean, this was trump's sarcastic response to biden's pardon announcement today, does the pardon given by joe include the january 6th hostages? this is and what hostages look like. this is what january 6th looked like. from police officers' perspectives. and that is the behavior on jay gray six, you see him here dragging a police officer down the steps of the capitol, that is the behavior on january 6th that trump is praising and promising to uses pardon power for. so, yeah, tell me all about the scandal of the use of the pardon power.

trump's announced nominee to lead the fbi has made the january 6th defendants his main cause since leaving office at the end of trump's first term, celebrating the january 6th attack is the work of patriots who all need to be freed, need to be celebrated and supported. and we will see what happens with the kash patel nomination to lead the fbi, given the explicit hit list he has published, given his celebration of the violence on january 6th, that fbi nomination is arguably a more extreme nomination than the accused child sex trafficker guide trump wanted to make attorney general. and that would be a nomination already failed, but you know what? with kash patel and all the rest of them, it is up to republican senators, god help us, so we shall see. was only after trump publicly named his trust for defense secretary, pete hegseth, that trump's transition team

reportedly learned that mr. hegseth had been the subject of a police investigation for an alleged rape. you can see the alleged offense listed there, rape, victim unconscious of the nature of the act. it was also reportedly a surprise to the truck transition team that after this allegation was made against hegseth, he paid off the woman who made the allegation to keep her from talking about it in public, surprise. hegseth obviously knew all about himself, but he didn't tell the trump team and they didn't figure it out on their own. it turns out bedding and background checks might be a nice thing sometimes. hegseth denies the allegation here, but the woman went to the hospital and submitted herself to a rape kit examination, and that resulted in a report to local authorities for potential prosecution of hegseth. hegseth himself apparently received a copy of the police report of the investigation in

2021 after local authorities in california decided that he would not be charged in the matter. but none of this was apparently known to the truck transition team, which again appears to have not done any formal vetting of hegseth at all, other than turning him on on the weekends to watch them on fox and friends. tonight, we are going to be joined by legendary new yorker reporter jane mayer, who has just broken new news about pete hegseth, that again, might have been turned up by any professional effort to that the guy before naming him as a choice to be defense secretary, but this is all news to trump and his transition as of today. jane mayer joins us with that new reporting here next print w

when you hit 65, your risk of hospitalization from flu and covid goes up. last year, one million people 65 and older were hospitalized from those viruses. so update your vaccines and keep doing you.

when a tough cough finds you on the go, a syrup would be... silly! woo! hey! try new robitussin soft chews. packed with the power of robitussin... in every bite. easy to take cough relief, anywhere. chew on relief, chew on a ♪ robitussin ♪

♪ ♪ chew on a ♪ something has changed within me ♪ ♪ it's time to try defying gravity ♪ ♪ ♪

there is new reporting today from legendary reporter jane mayer in the new yorker about the man who has been announced as a choice for defense secretary in the incoming administration. according to jane mayer's new reporting, before pete hegseth was hired to be a tv host at the fox news channel in 2017, he had been forced out of two small right-wing veterans advocacy organizations that he had been involved in. the first one was a group called veterans for freedom. they hired him on to lead that organization in 2007, according to mayor's reporting. by 2008, the very next year,

the group's finances had collapsed amid concerns about wild spending and "sexually inappropriate behavior in the workplace." the group stoners soon folded the organization into a different veterans group, basically, according to jane mayer's reporting, and order to get hegseth's hands off the checkbook. so, that was veterans for freedom, that it was concerned veterans for america where hegseth was in charge from 2013 to 2016, before he was forced out of that organization, too. "a previously undisclosed whistleblower report on hegseth's tenure as the president of concerned veterans for america , describes him as being repeatedly intoxicated while acting in his official capacity, to the point of needing to be carried out of the organization's events. the detailed report, which was compiled by multiple former employees and sent to the organization's senior management, states that at one

point, hegseth had to be restrained while drunk from joining the dancers on the stage of a louisiana strip club, where he had brought his teenager from the organization. the report also says that hegseth, who was married at the time, and other members of his management team, sexually pursued the organizations female staffers, whom they divided into two groups, the party girls and the not party girls. in a separate letter of complaint which was sent to the organization, a different number employee described hegseth being at a bar in the early morning hours of may 29th, 2015, while on an official tour through cuyahoga falls, ohio. he was drunkenly chanting at the bar, "kill all muslims, kill all muslims." jane mayer says i spoke at length with two people who identified themselves. one of them said of hegseth, i have seen him drunk so many times, i have seen him drive

away and not a few times, but multiple times. to have him at the pentagon would be scary. when those of us who worked at concerned veterans for america heard he was being considered for secretary of defense, it wasn't know, it was hell know. at one such event in virginia beach on memorial day weekend in 2014, hegseth was totally sloshed and needed to be carried to his room because he was so intoxicated. the following month during an event in cleveland, hegseth, who had gone with his team to a bar around the corner from the hotel, was described as completely drunk in a public place. according to the report, several high profile people who attended the organization's event were very disappointed to see this kind of public behavior , though the report does not identify them. nevertheless, in october 2014, the group instituted a no alcohol policy at its events. the following month, however, hegseth and another manager lifted the policy, lifted the no alcohol policy, while

overseeing a get out the vote field operation to boost republican candidates in north carolina. according to the report, on the evening before the election, hegseth, who had been out with three young female staff members, was so inebriated by 1:00 a.m., the staffer who had driven him to his hotel in a van full of other drunken staffers, asked for assistance to get hegseth to his room. pete was completely passed out in the middle seat, slumped over young female staff member. it took two male staff members to get hegseth into the hotel after one young woman vomited in some bushes, another helped him to bed. in the morning, team member had to wake hegseth so he didn't miss his flight. according to the report, all of this happened in public, while concerned veterans for america was embedded in the republican get out the vote effort. the following month in december 2014, the group held an office christmas party at the grand hyatt in washington. once again, according to the report, hegseth was noticeably intoxicated and had to be

carried up to his room. the report stated his behavior was embarrassing in front of the team, but not surprising. people have simply come to expect pete to get drunk at social events. the 2015 federal tax filing by concerned veterans for america has an unusual note, saying major problems developed in the last fiscal year were paused. the filing also describes pete hegseth as president outgoing. by the start of 2016, hegseth was out of his job. i should tell you, nbc news has not independently confirmed the reporting in the new yorker. pete hegseth would not comment on the piece, though someone described as an adviser to him told the magazine that the claims were outlandish. outlandish or not, what jane mayer is reporting, is describing, is how things apparently went, with the last two tiny organizations that he ran. two very small right-wing advocacy groups that had a handful of staff.

now trump wants him in charge of the largest department in the u.s. government with an $800 billion budget and 3 million people to be in charge of. in 1989, george h.w. bush, newly elected president, nominated this man, john tower, to be his secretary of defense. john tower was then accused of womanizing and drunkenness. on a scale significantly smaller than this. john tower then made history by becoming the first cabinet nominee the senate had ever rejected from a newly elected president. when pete hegseth was announced as trump's choice for defense secretary, the trump transition team was apparently completely unaware of the rape allegations that have been leveled against him in california. they apparently were unaware of all of this stuff as well.

and you know, that's why vetting is a good idea, i've got to say. that's why journalism is, too. joining us now is jane mayer, chief washington correspondent at the new yorker magazine. it is really nice to see you, thank you for making time to be here tonight. >> so glad to be with you. >> did i get any of that the wrong way around or is there anything else from your reporting that you want to highlight for our audience to understand in terms of what you learned about mr. hegseth? >> well, thanks so much. thanks, you did a great summary. and the one thing i would say that is also clear from this report is that we gave a spokesman, a lawyer for pete hegseth two days basically to respond, and they have not denied a single thing in this report, so, they just said no, after being given very careful questions. the other thing i would like to

say is just that it has been almost a day since this story came out, and my phone has been ringing off the hook. i have been hearing from many more people who work with pete hegseth, who have come out of the woodwork to say they, too, have stories along the same lines. stories of just drinking himself into sort of oblivion. all of which i think is, you know, i have got nothing against people having a good time in life, but it is when you combine it with running the defense department that it really does get to be an alarming picture. >> i wanted to ask you about the first veterans group, chronologically, the first veterans group that hegseth was involved with, this group, veterans for freedom. you say under his leadership, veterans for freedom soon ran up debt, and by the end of

2008, the year after he became the leader of the group, it was unable to pay its creditors. the primary donors became concerned there money was being wasted on parties that could politely be called trysts. a former associate of the group put it, one early hegseth sympathizer said i wasn't the first to hear there was money sloshing around and sexually inappropriate behavior in the work lace. i don't mean to be dense here, but can you explain or just put in different terms what exactly that allegation means about the sort of combination of a fiscal problem at the organization, a financial problem at the organization under his leadership, but also something about what was going on in the workplace and with these parties? >> well, i mean, it is no secret to anyone who knows pete hegseth that he has had -- gone through at least two marriages, and there are many, many, many allegations of infidelity, which are the reason that his

marriages ended, and there has been a long pattern here that we have seen of sexually inappropriate behavior by him in the workplace, and overspending as well. and so, that is what people saw, even in the beginning, way back, that was back in 2007. and as you say, by 2008 -- i mean, that organization was on the brink of bankruptcy. and the thing is, if you think about it as a test of whether this person might be a manager of the largest federal department in america, on, it was an organization that had between five and 10 employees and a budget of between five and $10 million. i mean, it is minuscule really. there's just no history that he has that shows that he is capable of managing a large organization.

>> senator richard blumenthal told you, much as we might be sympathetic to people with continuing alcohol problems, they shouldn't be at the top of our national security structure, it is dangerous. the secretary of defense is involved in every issue of national security, he is involved in the use of nuclear weapons. entrusting these kinds of issues to someone who might be incapacitated for any reason is a risk we cannot take. jane, last question for you, as you were rare reporting this and try to get context, did you come across any indication that the trump transition or that former president trump himself was aware of these problems in hegseth's past when he was announced, when trump announced him to be the choice for defense secretary? >> i mean, it is actually not clear. the lawyer for pete hegseth said that he was consulting with the transition team when we asked all these questions, but it is unclear whether pete hegseth came clean on this extraordinary that history in his professional life.

and you know, i mean, he certainly did not disclose that there had been a rape allegation against him, and that he had paid off a woman and signed a national -- you know, an nda, nondisclosure agreement with her, in order to keep it secret. so, i mean, that was definitely not disclosed to the transition team. i mean, as you have been saying, if nothing else, this shows you what a tremendous mistake it is not to do background checks. i mean, the press were doing the best that we can, but you know, we are not the fbi. and i was just -- it was jaw- dropping what i learned about pete hegseth. >> yeah. and the fact that your phone, like you said, has been ringing off the hook all day today, since this has been out there, with more people calling to corroborate these kinds of allegations -- we will look

forward -- we will expect your continued reporting on this, jane, thanks for helping us understand it, i appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> jane mayer is chief washington correspondent at the new yorker magazine, we will be right back, stay with us. ght b e my swiffer wetjet. it's a quick and easy way to get my floors clean. wetjet absorbs and locks grime deep inside. look at that! swiffer wetjet.

when i was diagnosed with h-i-v, i didn't know who i would be. but here i am... ...being me. keep being you... ...and ask your healthcare provider about the number one prescribed h-i-v treatment, biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in many people—whether you're 18 or 80. with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to undetectable—and stay there whether you're just starting or replacing your current treatment. research shows that taking

h-i-v treatment as prescribed and getting to and staying undetectable prevents transmitting h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. don't take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding or have kidney or liver problems. if you have hepatitis b, don't stop taking biktarvy without talking to your healthcare provider. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. no matter where life takes you, biktarvy can go with you. talk to your healthcare provider today.

so, at the time, it was the most destructive wildfire season california had ever had, dozens of people died, thousands of buildings burned. then came the political fallout. conspiracy websites started falsely blaming the fires on an

undocumented immigrant, saying it was all arson and that is who started it. the sheriff of sonoma county, california issued a statement, debunking that false claim. of course, this happened in 2017, the first year of the first trump administration, and any story that blamed an undocumented immigrant for a blue state tragedy was just too good for trump officials to pass up, no matter how unfounded it was. and so, trump's acting director of ice, immigration and customs enforcement, a man named tom homan, he jumped on it, he criticized the sonoma county sheriff who had debunked the conspiracy theory, he said the sheriff had left the community vulnerable to dangerous individuals. the sheriff responded then to tom homan with clarity, with a pledge to take care of the people that he served. he said i.c.e. 's misleading statement stirs fear and some of our community members who are already

exhausted and scared. despite i.c.e. 's misleading statement, we will continue to protect and serve our community members. well now, that same i.c.e. official, tom homan, is going to be back. one of the first decisions trump made after his re- election was to announce he is bringing back tom homan, this time to be his border czar, whatever that means, but californians standing up to donald trump is also back in a big way. according to the washington post, by the end of trump's first term in office, california had filed more than 120 lawsuits against the trump administration. california in trump's first term sued trump over everything, from immigration policy to healthcare to gun safety. now with trump set to return to the white house, california lawmakers today opened an emergency special session of the state legislature, specifically for the purpose of funding a new legal fight, starting a new legal fund to fight the incoming trump administration in court.

california governor gavin newsom has asked the state legislature to set aside $25 million for potential california state lawsuits against trump's federal government. california's top layer, state attorney general rob says that he is ready to do that work. >> we have been here before. we lived through trump a 1.0, which means we won't be flat- footed come january. you can be sure that as california attorney general, if trump ataxia rights, i will be there. >> joining us now is rob, attorney general for the great state of california. mr. attorney general, thank you so much for making time to be here tonight but >> honored to be with you, rachel, thanks for having me. >> what should our viewers understand about how you are

sort of strategizing for the days ahead? at the end of next month, trump will be taking power in washington, he has taught a lot of big talk about what he wants to do on day one and right out of the gate. how are you thinking strategically about what california can do to protect californians rights and to defend some of the states policy interests against what you are expecting from truck? >> my plan for my california department of justice is told mr. trump and his administration accountable if and when they violate the law. they did it repeatedly, consistently during trump 1.0 point my office took him to court over 120 times. we won and prevailed a vast majority of the times because he was violating the constitution. in particular, the 10th amendment and separation of powers at the time. he was violating the federal law, including the ministry of procedures act. he was misusing money that was budgeted for other purposes than the purpose he was seeking to use it for. we will hold them accountable when he violates the law, and

based on what he has said he will do, his inner circle has said he will do, what project 2025 indicates he will do, we have a good sense of where he is headed on immigration, on reproductive freedom, on common sense gun safety, on the environment. so, we have been preparing and readying for weeks, months, in some cases years. we have written briefs that are ready to press print, just need to dot our i's, across the t's, and file it in court, based on actions he has signaled and telegraphed he will take, so we are ready. we are committed to making sure progress prevails in california, that our forward movement continues, and we are not looking for a fight, but if he picks a fight with us, gets in the way of our progress here in california, we will be ready. >> this $25 million request to the legislature is obviously a big chunk of money, it is not however the same amount of money that was spent in california, it doesn't actually match the amount that was spent by the state to bring those 120 lawsuits, those 120 challenges

against the trump administration when trump was first in office. can i just ask you, what were the lessons learned of california's strategy along these lines in the first term? both in terms of spending the taxpayers money widely -- wisely, but also enacting most effectively. when to act alone, when to act in concert with other states, went to get things into federal court and when to expect that may be holding back on that might be the better part, given the constitution and the federal courts right now? what were the lessons learned from the first time that you had to do this as a state restaurant >> yeah, i will first say that the $25 million litigation reserve is not the same as a $42 million that was spent over four years, but this is your one, it is reserved to draw on as needed, as necessary, and what we do will be fully based on and related to the actions that mr. trump and his

administration takes. if he doesn't violate any laws, unlike he did in trump 1.0, if he doesn't violate the constitution or federal law or misuse budget, there will be absolutely nothing for us to do. we don't expect that based on what he has said and done in the past. there are a couple of things, the return on investment of additional funds coming to the california department of justice is huge. we were able to save california billions of dollars. for example, in striking down the citizenship question on the 2020 u.s. census. by our account and estimations, it save california billions of dollars in funds that we receive, based on getting an accurate account, there were federal funds that violated the 10th amendment because they were conditioned on providing assistance to federal immigration authorities on immigration enforcement. and those were two grants of about $30 million, we sued in court because of those unlawful

conditions that violated the 10th amendment, we got those grants. so, we have seen some of the patterns in the violations. mr. trump likes to do what he wants, when he wants, how he wants, regardless of the constitution, regardless of federal law, regardless of the processes in place, regardless of what the budget is supposed to be used for, he wants to use it for what he wants to use it for, so he can't help himself. he will violate the law, and it is our job to be there if he does. we know that it is better to go together, we can go further when we go together than when we go alone. and so, we have been preparing with democratic attorneys general of other states across the nation, new york attorney general letitia james, others in nevada, illinois, delaware, connecticut, teaming up, preparing. and we all have different expertise, institutional knowledge, deploying our expertise and our talent as is most effective is part of the game plan. there will be a lot to do, and we have a lot of members on our team to do it with.

we are also working with advocates in various policy spaces, from immigration to reproductive freedom, common sense gun safety, and working with them for best ideas, getting the sinking, the strategy, best litigation strategy, so we know what courts to file an end where it is best, and so we have thought it. >> california attorney general rob, thank you so much for helping us understand this tonight, we look forward to having you back in days and weeks ahead, as i'm sure these battles take shape. thank you, sir. let's look forward to it, too, thanks for having me, rachel. >> we will be right back, stay with us. , stay with us. nge so you can lose the weight and keep it off. and it starts at just $149. noom. the smart way to lose weight.

(♪♪) (♪♪) (♪♪) start your day with nature made. and try new zero sugar gummies.

oh, my leaffilter? i just scheduled an appointment online and the inspection was a breeze. they explained everything. leaffilter's technology protects your gutters for good! now my home is protected. call 833 leaffilter or visit leaffilter.com

while blue state california's legislature was meeting today for a funding reserve against the incoming trump administration, today in north carolina people turned out at the state capitol there, including the chair of the state democratic party. it's part of what's turning out to be a spirited opposition in north carolina to an effort by republicans there to strip power away from incoming democratic officials. >> reporter: the debate started. the protest did, too. one woman was escorted from the building. >> this is ridiculous! >> reporter: things escalated quickly. >> clear the gallery. just clear the gallery, everybody. you got to go. >> clear the gallery. everybody's got to go.

with the opposition physically removed republicans in the state senate pushed through an override of the governor's veto of this power stripping bill. it's far less clear whether republicans in the statehouse will manage to do the same next week. people are pushing back hard against republicans trying this big power grab in north carolina. this is an ongoing fight in that state. we're watching it closely. watch this space. >> we felt like it was necessary that they know that we're with watching, you know. this is our house and we have a responsibility to show up and educate them. and a grandmother of two. about five years ago, i was working full time, i had an awful lot of things to take care of. i needed all the help i could get. i saw the commercials for prevagen. i started taking it. and it helped! i was better able to take care of all those little details. people say to me, "barbara, you don't miss a beat." prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription.

at harbor freight, we design and test our own tools. and sell them directly to you. no middleman. just quality tools you can trust at prices you'll love. whatever you do, do it for less at harbor freight. ♪♪

your business needs a network it can count on... do it for less at harbor freight. even during the unexpected. power's out! -power's out! power's out! comcast business has got you covered, with wifi backup to help keep you up and running. wifi's up. let's power on! let's power on! -let's power on! it's from the company with 99.9% network reliability. let's power on! power on with the leader in connectivity. get wifi backup for your business, or get started with comcast business internet. and for a limited time, get an $800 holiday bonus. call today. programming note, this coming saturday night 9:00 p.m. eastern saturday night, msnbc will premier the new documentary from the legendary filmmaker errol morris and our nbc colleague, the film "separated" that tells the inside story of the forced child separation policy during th