the same day your loan is on deck. >> alicia and everyone at home. i just want people to know that michael steele just asked this. he get to close the show today and i said no, it says simone. that does it for the weekend, folks. we're going to see you back here next saturday, 8 a.m. eastern. be sure to follow us on social media at the weekend, msnbc. velshi will continue our coverage right now. good morning. ali. >> you know, i. >> got to say, michael's getting the last word. >> in here. >> i get it's like. >> even. >> i sometimes even have this argument with myself. >> and i'm the only one in. >> the studio. >> we had an audio issue at the top, so i heard like ten ali

velshi and then no, ali velshi. >> that's a lot of ali velshi. >> okay, we're going to figure. >> out. >> the audio issue. meanwhile, you guys have an excellent rest of your day. velshi starts now. >> all right. >> good morning. i'm ali velshi. it's sunday, january 26th. and moments ago, the republican senator, lindsey graham of south carolina spoke out on nbc's meet the press about president trump's controversial january 6th pardons. >> do you believe. >> that president trump was wrong to issue these blanket pardons to the january 6th? >> number one. >> he had the legal authority to. >> do it. but i fear that you will get more violence. >> pardoning the people who went into the capitol and beat up a police officer violently, i think was a mistake, because it seems to suggest that's an okay thing to do. >> i'm going to dive more into donald trump's pardons and the new republican investigation into january 6th, or really into the january 6th committee coming

up with the ranking member of the homeland security committee and the former chair of the original january 6th committee, bennie thompson of mississippi. now, as we enter the second week of donald trump's presidency, his cabinet and his national security team are being installed. and this morning, the white house is ramping up the pressure on senate republicans to confirm the remaining nominees. as some of donald trump's most controversial picks are set for hearings this coming week, a senior white house official tells nbc news of senate republicans thinking about breaking with trump over his nominees, quote, it's pass fail. you either support everyone or you don't. noting that a well-funded consortium of outside groups that are allied with the white house will quote exact consequences against those who do not support the president's nominees. end quote. i'm going to come back to this exact thing, consequences thing in just a minute. the warning to republicans comes after former fox news anchor pete hegseth was confirmed by the narrowest possible margin, with vice president jd vance giving him the tie breaking vote. that's only the second time in history

that's needed to happen, and it's the first time in history it's ever been needed for a defense secretary. yesterday, kristi noem was easily confirmed by the senate as homeland security secretary. she was later sworn in. but this coming week will see hearings for a trio of trump's high profile and highly controversial picks. on wednesday, rfk jr will appear before the senate finance committee for his hearing to lead the department of health and human services on thursday at 9:30 a.m. eastern. trump's pick for fbi director kash patel will appear before the judiciary committee. also thursday morning, the intelligence committee will hold a confirmation hearing for tulsi gabbard, nominated to be the next director of national intelligence. gabbard is a former democratic congresswoman from hawaii who later changed parties. she also spent time as a fill in host on fox news as the dni if nominated. if approved, gabbard would oversee 18 federal agencies, including

the cia, the fbi and the nsa, and would be one of president trump's top advisors helping curate the intelligence that is presented to him on a daily basis. gabbard served in the army national guard, but she does not have any experience working in a top national security or intelligence position. she also did not serve on a congressional intelligence committee during her eight years in congress, and there are long running concerns about her ties to authoritarians like the recently ousted syrian dictator bashar al assad and russia's vladimir putin. it's worth noting that the white house promising consequences for republicans who don't support nominees like tulsi gabbard is not happening in a vacuum. it's happening today. at the end of the week, marked by the enactment of the kind of retribution that trump promised on the campaign trail in a day one executive order, trump revoked the security clearances of 50 former intelligence officials. in what legal experts tell nbc news is an

unprecedented move, which underscores both the willingness to break political norms, which we've come to expect and to punish perceived political enemies, which we should never come to accept. that list of perceived enemies, by the way, includes john bolton, one of trump's former national security advisors, whom trump accuses of damaging america's national security by publishing a memoir for, quote, monetary gain that was, quote, rife with sensitive information. end quote, bolton and former justice department officials have denied that accusation, stating that the book revealed no classified information and that he handled the matter appropriately and lawfully. trump also moved removed bolton's secret service protection. this is important because it was provided to him because of an alleged iranian assassination plot, which is part of tehran's efforts to retaliate for the us's 2020 drone strikes that killed top iranian general qassem soleimani. trump also removed the protection for his former

cia director and secretary of state mike pompeo. pompeo and one of pompeo's former top aides, brian hook, both of whom also allegedly face iranian death threats for their role in soleimani's killing. trump told reporters on thursday, quote, when you have protection, you can't have it for the rest of your life. i mean, there's risks to everything. end quote. notably, trump was also the subject of an alleged iranian assassination plot relating to the soleimani killing in november. days after the election, the justice department charged an iranian man for involvement in an alleged effort to kill trump when he was the republican presidential candidate less than a month earlier. then president biden reportedly has had his aides warn iran that killing trump or any other former u.s. government official would be considered an act of war. joining me now to discuss this is the ambassador, john bolton. he served as one of president trump's multiple national security advisors during his first administration. he also served as america's ambassador to the united nations

during the george w bush administration. he's the author of multiple books, including the room where it happened, a white house memoir which president trump cited as the reason to revoke ambassador bolton's security clearance. ambassador, good to see you this morning. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> glad to be with. >> you, ambassador. i want to start with this issue about your book, the allegation that you published sensitive information. just to be clear, when that happens, if that were to happen, if you published a book that had classified information without the approval or the clearance of the federal government and the cia, they would absolutely have come after you. they've done that with other people. if you publish things you're not supposed to publish that are national secrets, they'll come for you. tell me about this. tell me about this. >> well. >> the book went through a four month long pre-publication review, which is typical for books by senior officials in the national security space. and at the end of it, the official who conducted the review had made a

decision. there was no classified information in the book and that the book could be published. well, what trump didn't like was not the classified information point. and you'll notice in that executive order it says sensitive information, not classified information. and it was sensitive because much of it was critical of him. so he tried to order another review to get the outcome he wanted. now, let me just say that throws the entire pre-publication review process into into grave peril, because if it's manipulated by presidents for political purposes, that that can that does threaten the first amendment. but the book was cleared. there's no classified information in it. it was never my intent to disclose classified information. and in the in the almost five years now since the book did come out, i haven't heard anybody point to anything in it that was classified. this is trump reflecting. he just doesn't like to be criticized. >> yeah. one of the things that came up in the declassified

taking people's security clearances away, i remember having this conversation with the former cia director, john brennan. the argument was that you all use your security clearances for personal profit. brennan made an interesting point to me once, and i want to i want to know what you think about this, he said. i don't really use the security clearance for anything, but when the government needs to consult me about ongoing things, which they sometimes have to, they've got to sometimes reach into the past and say, hey, bolton, you were you were at the un when x, y or z happened. we want to talk to you about this. you need your security clearance in order to get the latest information. talk to me about the relevance and or dangers of revoking security clearances of people who once had them. >> well, i think it's a mistake to revoke clearances for political purposes. in my case, i'm not even sure i have a valid security clearance anymore. i haven't since i've resigned in september of 2019. to my knowledge, i haven't had an update on my background investigation. for example, and six or more years i can't even remember when the last one was.

i don't think you need a security classification if you have had a senior role before. if the current administration determines that they want to talk to you, i'll give you an example. remembering the famous chinese balloon incident, the chinese balloon that floated happily across the united states. a number of former trump administration officials were called in individually to be given briefings on what the government knew about the chinese balloon question. and i received one of them, and i signed a series of nondisclosure agreements that i wouldn't reveal classified information that that can be done at any time. and in normal administrations, signing that agreement is enough. your words should be your bond. after you've held high level clearances to get it for a special purpose and then move on. >> talk to me about the reason we actually invited you on the show, and that specifically about your own personal security. donald trump has removed your protection, that of

mike pompeo and others who with whom he disagrees, either politically or with whatever you've done. talk to me about this decision for you and how it affects future members of government who are going to be forced to make dangerous and personally, personally perilous decisions on a on an ongoing basis. >> an ongoing basis. >> well, the president has the authority to designate secret service protection for individuals that that he determines who are not necessarily part of the government. so do other agencies of the government. for example, in a case of a former secretary of state or a current secretary of state, that's provided by the diplomatic security bureau at the state department. but in my case, since i had been at the white house, biden decided to provide secret service protection because of the threat level that the intelligence community was picking up from iran for retaliation for the elimination of qassem soleimani,

who was a dangerous terrorist responsible over many years for the deaths of hundreds of americans, obviously ordered by president trump. and he was at the top of the list of people being threatened. the concern about the threat level in my case, which maybe was a little more advanced than some others, resulted in criminal charges being filed by the justice department against shaman poursafi, an official of the iranian revolutionary guard, for trying to hire a hitman to assassinate me. now, the question of the threat level, and that's on the website of the justice department, or at least it used to be. the question of the threat level is something that's reviewed on a continuous basis. and in fact, just in the days before the inauguration, i was informed again that the threat level remained, as it has been for several years. and i might say, for viewers who don't know this process, neither i nor anybody else assessed as targets of the threat have anything

whatever to do, no direction or control or influence at all over the determination of the threat that's made purely by professionals in the intelligence community. >> ambassador, what you saw, what joe biden sent that message to the iranians say you can't kill donald trump and you can't kill kill any other former or current u.s. officials. that would be an act of war. do you believe that's true? and what would happen if that happened to you or one of these people who have been targeted? how would the u.s. how should the u.s. react? >> should the u.s. react? >> well, for in the case of everybody, it's not just me, but but all of those who have been covered because of the iranian threat since they left the government, it is the iranians are after us for actions that were taken as part of our official government duties. now, i mean, i don't believe anybody is entitled to anything from the government, but if you're if you're going to allow people across the board really to be

exposed to the seriousness of this threat without protection, it's an incentive for us adversaries to take advantage of it. and so, so now, having read the news that the coverage has been lifted, there's no question in my mind but that the that the that the actual possibility of them taking action is real. what should the u.s. do in response? the same thing it does, it should do anyway. when americans serving overseas, serving as in the military, serving in our embassies overseas are attacked, is to take action against those who perpetrated it. it's better, though, to try and deter the adversary from taking action in the first place, which the provision of protection hopefully does. >> you and i have talked for years. ambassador, we always appreciate you. you agree to come on the show. you and i don't actually agree on a whole lot of policy issues, but that's besides the point. that's the whole exercise of being in media. i do want to ask you, however, because you have a lot

of experience in understanding what the what the director of national intelligence has to do. tulsi gabbard has her hearings this week. there are some deep and serious concerns. i don't know if there are enough for people to for republicans to vote against her, the announcement of her nomination. what's your sense of whether tulsi gabbard is qualified to be the director of national intelligence? >> well, she's not qualified in any way, shape or form. i mean, i thought there were a trio of trump nominations here that were really in a category by themselves. not just incompetent, but dangerous to the united states. one was matt gaetz. he's gone. the remaining two are tulsi gabbard and kash patel for the fbi. not only are they not qualified, they have done things through the course of their career that show they don't have the judgment or the character, frankly, to hold such sensitive positions. i think this is this is a real danger for the united states. in both cases. i think in tulsi gabbard's case, she said things and done things that show a lack

of judgment that should keep her as far away from classified information as possible. >> what's the danger on the on the kash patel side to you? obviously, the tulsi gabbard side has got associations that we haven't cleared up with with the former syrian regime. she's got associations with the putin regime and has some just some very strange foreign policy positions. what's your fear about kash patel, other than the fact that he's got an enemies list and thinks that the fbi should be used to weaponize, to be weaponized against the enemies of the current president, >> against the enemies? >> well, i had an op ed in the wall street journal about it, which i'd refer people to for a longer take on it. but i think one of the dangers of many of the trump nominations is that he's looking to be surrounded by yes men and, yes, women. he he wants people who are going to tell him what he wants to hear and carry out his bidding without without any question. it's no doubt the president makes the final decisions. but trump will find he's not well served if he gets his wish and

gets those kind of people. but particularly in a job like director of the federal bureau of investigation, this is something as part of a retribution campaign, if that's what trump is about. and it certainly seems that way, that makes it particularly dangerous. and i think it was very instructive that a few weeks ago, former judge william webster, who is the only person who's ever been both director of the fbi and director of the cia, came out strongly against patel getting that job. i hope people listen to bill webster. that's the kind of person with integrity. he came off the federal bench. he was a republican appointee to the federal bench, but became fbi director under a democrat. that's the sort of person you want leading the fbi, not kash patel. >> ambassador, good to see you again. thank you for joining us this morning. former ambassador john bolton, former national security adviser in the first trump administration, author of the book the room where it happened a white house memoir. all right. coming up, i'll

continue to discuss donald trump's political retribution agenda, which we just mentioned with the former chair of the january 6th committee, democratic congressman bennie thompson of mississippi, plus dangerous new efforts to undermine laws that were enacted to curb violence against abortion providers. and nbc news has learned that acting deputy attorney general emily bove is in chicago right now to observe immigration enforcement operations that are underway. we'll go live to chicago for more next on velshi. are you overwhelmed with identity management in the context of. >> omnipresent threats. >> to your organization? >> hi. so no one knows what that means. >> what's happening? >> just explain. i want to help secure digital identity. keep it simple. >> like what? >> like when delivering a fresh uniform. >> or viewing. >> your results. yeah. it's bad. or making bread soon at the high school reunion. >> oh, i love that. >> color. cue. >> that was a lot. >> oh, there's more like, lots

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your weight with the formula from eli lilly. see if you qualify at irokotv. >> the trump administration continues to ramp up immigration raids this weekend, and nbc news has learned that acting deputy attorney general emily bove and trump's border czar, thomas homan, are on the ground in chicago this morning to personally observe immigration enforcement there. chicago is among the cities where immigration and customs enforcement, or ice, has increased arrests in trump's first week in office. after

signing an executive order on monday, federal immigration forces now have new power to cast a wider net to track undocumented immigrants and fast track deportations. in just the past three days, more than 1400 people nationwide have been arrested and detained by ice. joining us now is nbc's gabe gutierrez in chicago. good morning. gabe, what's going on? >> hey there. >> ali, as you mentioned, we have just learned that president trump's border czar, as well as his deputy acting attorney general, are here on the ground observing those operations today. we don't yet know of any arrests so far, but it is significant that tom homan is here because, as you know, ali, he has repeatedly said in the months leading up to this that chicago would be ground zero for mass deportations. and as you can see right here, i want to put up some headlines from the chicago tribune today saying people are scared also. the tribune from yesterday, fear and chaos. so certainly immigrant communities here in chicago have been bracing for this. but as you said, ice agents have been

busy across the country for the last several days. yesterday, ice says that it arrested nearly 300 people nationwide, more than 500 each of the days thursday and friday. now, ali, we should point out that under the biden administration, ice did make hundreds of arrests per day. however, the numbers and at least part of last week are significantly higher. look, the trump administration does seem more eager to publicize these numbers. they provide a daily tally, which didn't used to happen under the biden administration and white house deputy chief of staff stephen miller also says that the administration plans to deputize state and local law enforcement to help with some of these immigration arrests. so at the border, we're also seeing a ramping up of troops down there. and when it comes to deportation flights, those are increasing as well that we just learned just a few moments ago that colombia's

president has rejected two deportation flights to that country. ali. >> gabe, thank you for your reporting. we'll stay close to you on this. nbc's gabe gutierrez reporting from chicago. all right. coming up, the trump administration signals it will no longer fully enforce laws that protect abortion providers from the kind of threats, harassment, blockades and violence that flourished in the 1980s and 1990s. what it means for the future of abortion access in states where it's still legal. that's next. >> safelite repair safelite replace. >> nobody likes a cracked windshield. but at least you can go to safelite. com and schedule a fix in minutes. >> can't confirm. >> very easy. safelite can come to you for free, and our highly trained techs can replace your windshield right at your home. >> safelite repair safelitechool

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>> paul macklowe. >> just cleaned my entire house for $19. >> seriously? >> $19. they showed up right on time and did my dishes. my laundry. they even cleaned my windows. you just pick a date, pick a cleaner, and enjoy a spotless house for $19. i love using home glow, and i think you will too. >> i can feel. >> the winds of change. >> in 1970, doctor george tiller took over his family's his father's family practice in wichita, kansas, after his dad passed away. when his dad's old patients started rolling in. doctor tiller learned a secret his father had been providing safe but illegal abortions to his patients for decades. it hadn't been doctor tiller's plan to go into family practice, much

less women's health. but he was so moved by meeting his father's patients and hearing their stories, seeing the need that his father had been filling, that once the supreme court affirmed the right to an abortion with roe v wade in 1973, tiller began a decades long career as an abortion provider, eventually becoming wichita's lone abortion provider. while his father operated in secret. doctor tiller became perhaps the most famous public face of abortion to the anti-abortion movement. he became its biggest target in 1986. his clinic was bombed overnight. no one was hurt, but there was extensive damage. doctor tiller hung a sign outside that says, hell no, we won't go. in 1991, thousands of anti-abortion activists descended onto doctor tiller's clinic in wichita in what they dubbed the summer of mercy. weeks of protests and blockades designed to shut down the clinic and end the abortion and abortion access. protesters would block the entrances to the

clinic and adjacent streets, screaming threats and prayers at patients. over the course of six weeks, 2600 people were arrested. in 1993, tiller himself was shot five times by an anti-abortion extremist. but doctor tiller was not the only one being terrorized by violent anti-abortion extremists. clinics across the country would be vandalized, blockaded doctors, nurses and volunteers would be stalked, harassed and assassinated. between 1977 and 1988, there were 110 cases of arson or firebombing by anti-abortion extremists, according to researchers at usc's medical school. and in 1993, the same year, doctor tiller walked away from that attempted assassination and ob gyn in pensacola, florida, named doctor david gunn, was shot dead outside the abortion clinic where he worked. doctor gunn was the first known targeted killing of an abortion provider in america. the following year, two

receptionists were shot and killed and five others wounded at a pair of boston area clinics. in all, at least 11 people have been killed in attacks on abortion clinics since then. but this was the political climate in which president bill clinton signed the freedom of access to clinic entrances, freedom of access to clinic entrances, or face act in 1994. it prohibits anyone from using force threat or force, force or threat of force, intimidation or injury to prevent someone from obtaining or providing reproductive health services. on thursday night, president trump announced he would pardon 23 anti-abortion extremists who had been convicted for violating the face act. one of them, lauren handy, was sentenced to five years in prison for essentially invading a washington, d.c, clinic. she posed as a patient with an appointment before eight of her allies barged into the building and blocked the doors with chains and ropes. when police searched her home, they found

five fetuses she had stolen from that clinic. in an interview with new york magazine, handy said, quote, i've accepted the reality that my life will be in and out of jail, end quote. not so. the president has pardoned her and her nine coconspirators. and on friday, trump's justice department issued an order curtailing all prosecutions under the face act, save for extraordinary circumstances. so despite donald trump's insistence on the campaign trail that states will do what they want with abortion, his pardon of people convicted for violating the face act and his order that largely no longer be enforced in the future, sends a very clear signal to women and women's health providers that the government will not protect abortion rights, even in states where they are still guaranteed. and worse is the signal that he's sending to extremists that it's now acceptable to make use of threats, intimidation and perhaps violence to shut down abortion clinics. our next guest knows as much as anyone in the country about the very real consequences of anti-abortion

extremism and violence. in 1991, she took a summer job answering phones for the wichita women's center, unaware that a mob was descending on her city in the summer of mercy. back then, she didn't know doctor tiller personally, but eventually julie burkhart came to work closely with him, later becoming his clinic spokesperson. that was until 2009, when george tiller was shot to death at his own church by an anti-abortion extremist. the clinic closed, and with it, abortion access in wichita vanished. burkhart opened. burkhart worked hard to reopen doctor tiller's clinic. she endured harassment and threats. she saw wanted posters with her face and address on them. she saw protesters at her home, where they stood outside carrying signs, one of which read, quote, prepare to meet thy god, end quote. and then she went on to open more clinics in states that were hostile to abortion rights. even before the fall of roe v wade in wyoming and oklahoma. julie burkhart joins me after the break. can i

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you could use some metamucil. metamucil's psyllium fiber helps keep your digestive system moving. so you can feel lighter and more energetic. metamucil keeps you movin'. and try the 2 week challenge at metamucil.com >> all right, before the break, i spoke to you about the face act, which protects abortion providers and patients from intimidation and use of force by anti-abortion extremists. this week, donald trump pardoned 23 anti-abortion activists convicted on face act violations. his justice department has announced that it will all but cease prosecuting any future face act violations. joining me now is julie burkhart, founder and president of wellspring health access. she's also the founder and former ceo of trust women, a women's health care provider. julie, it's good to see you again. thank you for being with us. this has real world consequences for you. and the reason we want to talk to you is because every abortion provider in this country faces threats of

violence and intimidation all the time. you're fairly used to it, but your connection with this is fairly intimate. you've seen it. you know, people who were actually killed by anti-abortion activists. so talk to me first before we talk about any technicalities about how you and the people around you are feeling right now. >> well, i have. >> to say. >> when. >> i first heard about. >> this, the first. >> thing i thought about. was clinic security. >> and. >> you know. >> wanting to make sure that we are going to be safe in. the clinics. that was top of. >> mind, you know, wondering if. >> some extremist is going to come to one of the clinics, multiple clinics around this country and inflict harm. and that's quite traumatizing, especially after being through so much trauma and violence, which has been inflicted upon

all of us by anti-abortion extremists. >> robin, marty in alabama often tells me that, you know, in a world where you can't get good information or the ground is constantly shifting on on abortion rights, there are people who come to her clinic still. where you can't get an abortion, but at least that's the place they can feel safe to say, can i? can you tell me what my options might be? and at least they have been protected until now by the idea that that that dangerous, intimidating act itself at least had some protections. now there are women who won't even go to places to seek information and guidance, let alone abortions. >> well, that is correct. and this action that trump has taken puts us into potentially even more dire circumstances here in this country. during the election cycle, there was a lot of fear that if he were to be

elected for a second term, that we would see an uptick in restrictions across this nation, that we would see an uptick in violence across the country. and what he has done has proven that our fears are valid, and it makes me, you know, i hurt for the women and the people who just simply need good, sound medical health care. and they are going to feel that this level of intimidation is going to keep them from from being able to access that. and people deserve to have good medical care, accurate medical care in this country. it's a right, not a privilege. >> let's talk about donald trump signing an executive order on friday to enforce the hyde amendment, which is a provision that bars the use of federal

funds to pay for abortion. he also reinstated something, you know, well, the mexico city rule. i think our viewers will remember, we've talked about this before, that bars federal funding overseas from going to any non-governmental organization that performs, advises on or, in their words, promotes abortion. this is a you know, this was all written about in project 2025. it was all detailed and there's much more to come. surprise that it all happened in the first week, or entirely unsurprised. >> i am unsurprised. you know, none of us has a crystal ball, and so we didn't know exactly what might occur. but we knew that this was a possibility. and so i am not surprised at all. incredibly disappointed in this administration that he would put fidelity to himself above the

rule of law and what is right and just and moral in this country. >> this business about the face act. house republicans are backing a bill to repeal the actual face act. is there a practical difference, as far as you understand, between the doj not enforcing it, which is what donald trump has signed an executive order for, and of course, pardoning people who were convicted under it and repealing it materially. is there any any difference or it's the same concept. >> well, if i understand your question correctly, you know, i was, as i heard in your lovely intro, that, you know, i was working at a clinic during the summer of mercy in wichita, kansas. the face act came about directly because of that. those actions in wichita, and we had mass hysteria, mass chaos. we

did not have proper protections at the clinics in wichita and also across the nation. so the face act allowed us to have that as a resource. if we were being blockaded, you know, harassed, intimidated, so that people were not able to get into our parking lots to cross on a sidewalk, to come in to our buildings. and so i'm afraid that if that is repealed, that we are going to see that mass chaos once again at clinics in the states where it's legal across this country. >> julie, thanks very much. we'll continue to stay close to you and be safe, you and your your colleagues and your workers across the country. julie

burkhart is the founder and president of wellspring health access. all right. up next, wealth and power in the trump era. what the rise of the new american oligarchy means for america's democracy and the working class, and how the president, this new president has politically capitalized on what was already a broken system. >> for the. >> times when cooking just isn't in the cards. try brand new ready made meals from hellofresh. no prepping, no cooking. just heat up and dig in to delicious new from hellofresh. >> to avoid. >> digital threats, just turn on. >> nordvpn, improve. >> your protection against. >> trackers. >> malicious websites. >> and malware ridden downloads. get the deal now. if you're over 50. >> imagine you could turn. >> back the clock on your stiff, achy joints ten, even 20 years. imagine you could do this

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>> keepers. >> stewart rhodes, the. >> third. >> he was going to save america from the end of the world. the big lie is that there was some concerted plan near the capitol. it just wasn't. stewart was becoming increasingly unstable. >> people are. >> gravitating to him like a son. i bet everything on him being locked away forever. >> perhaps no image so powerfully encapsulates the nascent 47th presidency of the united states. rows of seated billionaires, the wealthiest incoming cabinet in u.s. history, formally ushered into power the combined personal worth, not the market value of the stock of the companies they lead. i'm talking about the actual personal net worth of the billionaires seen in this image is estimated to be nearly $1 trillion, according to forbes. the message seems to be welcome to the new american oligarchy.

this billionaire flex is a stark and damning illustration of the role that extreme wealth plays in donald trump's orbit. but understanding how we got here and how to rise from it requires us to zoom out from this image and this moment. president trump is the inevitable outcome of forces that were set in motion some 50 years ago, maybe even longer. his ascendancy marks the apex of laissez faire economics, a philosophy that argues for minimal government intervention in the economy. what we think of as the free and largely unregulated market system that, combined with pivotal supreme court rulings that lifted sensible restraints on corporate political spending. together, these forces set america on a path toward oligarchy. trump recognized the brokenness of our system and then moved in to capitalize on it. investopedia defines an oligarch as a person, or of or of a ruling class of individuals who amassed great wealth or status and who exert power over the highest government circles. starting in

1976, the supreme court's landmark decision in the campaign finance case buckley v vallejo, unleashed a torrent of political spending by wealthy individuals. in that case, the high court determined that limits on election spending were unconstitutional, opening the door for the ultra rich to spend as much as they want on their own campaigns. 34 years later, the supreme court would go one step further in citizens united, granting corporations first amendment rights, meaning that their political spending was protected as a form of free speech, essentially opening the door to unlimited election spending. with a single ruling the supreme court dismantled over a century of federal restrictions designed to shield our political systems from the corrupting influence of extreme wealth, the damage to our democratic institutions cannot be overstated. dark money flooded our politics. politicians became more beholden than they had been to moneyed interests rather than to their voters. a handful of unelected

judges essentially gutted the fundamental principle of one person, one vote, forcing your individual vote to compete against billions of dollars from industries whose interests often conflict with those of the working and middle class. meanwhile, a new economic philosophy emerged in the 1980s, one that prioritized free and unregulated markets, a seismic shift that would usher in historic levels of inequality. deregulation across multiple administrations brought prosperity to the wealthiest, while the rest of america experienced stagnant or even declining incomes. when you account for inflation. and that brings us to today. today, just a tiny sliver of the country controls the overwhelming majority of wealth in this nation. according to a congressional budget office report from october, the country's top 10% maintains a majority of the wealth in the united states. the top 1% controls nearly a third of it. what effect does control of the

moneyed class over politics have on us? well, today the word care in american health care has been stripped of all compassion, with insurance companies routinely putting profits over people, according to an ftc report from last week, some of the nation's largest health insurance companies profited from prescription price hikes of 1,000% or more. today, health insurers interrupt doctors in the middle of surgery to question their patients coverage. as a texas physician detailed in an instagram video earlier this month. today, so-called food barons dominate our food industry, where just a handful of mega-corporations control every link of the food supply chain. as an investigation by the guardian and food and water watch revealed in 2021. today, a monopoly of home builders is worsening the housing shortage in the united states, pushing home ownership further out of reach for the average american, according to the federal reserve bank of minneapolis. tackling america's housing crisis will

require taking on these monopolies. decades of laissez faire policies have completely shattered the american dream for the nation's working and middle class. oxfam america puts it bluntly. today, the top 0.01% and giant corporations have rigged the rules so drastically that some billionaires end up paying 0% in taxes. nothing. instead, working families are bearing more than their fair share of the tax burden. as a result of all of this, 46% of america's middle class say they have no choice but to scale back or suspend their retirement plans, according to a primerica report, and now need to rely on staying healthy enough to work more years than they had initially planned. those economic forces, combined with key supreme court rulings, have collectively laid the groundwork for the seismic shift in power that we are witnessing today. notably, today's equivalent of the robber barons not only control vast streams of wealth and production, but also the

flow of information, possibly making them an even greater threat to our democratic institutions and public welfare. the tech industrial complex, as biden called it, now seems to function as an unofficial propaganda arm of the trump administration, cloaking its actions in the language of economic populism and even democratic rights. as the oligarchy prepares to strip america for its parts. mark zuckerberg, for instance, frames crucial and much needed regulation of the tech industry as an infringement of the constitutional right to free speech. as our nation enters this new chapter, we at velshi remain committed to providing you with clarity amid the smokescreens of deception and holding to account the tech industrial complex that now occupies the halls of american power. we will closely track these threats to our democratic institutions and to america's working and middle class, these threats to you and your livelihood and your prosperity. and we will hold those who are using their economic power to

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formula from eli lilly. see if you qualify at koco-tv. >> all right, before the break, i told you about the rise of the american oligarchy and how we at velshi plan to closely document its attacks on our democratic rights and the american dream. and for more on that, i'm joined by a real expert on this topic, thom hartmann, acclaimed syndicated radio host of the thom hartmann program, author of the book. many books, but this one in particular is relevant. the hidden history of american

oligarchy reclaiming our democracy from the ruling class. tom, good to see you. i don't know when the book was published, but it is wildly relevant in this particular moment. everybody uses the word oligarchy now, but what we are seeing is its manifestation. we are seeing the ways in which the powerful make decisions without shame that influence policies that affect the prosperity of the average american. absolutely. the book was published four years ago, by the way, and not much has changed. it's gotten worse. >> what's interesting. >> ali, is that starting in 71. >> with the apollo. >> memo, which really kicked this. >> off. >> and then, of course. >> the reagan revolution. >> but, you know, as you mentioned. >> the supreme. >> court in. >> 86 ruling that. money isn't actually money, it's actually speech, and therefore it's protected by the first amendment when it's given to politicians. and then lewis powell himself two years later in 78, authoring the bellotti decision. that was an entirely republican appointee decision, as was citizens united. i think it's important to note that these are entirely

republican efforts, that that the consequence of all this has been, that the democratic party has been focusing on elections, they've been focusing on congress and the white house and the republican party has been focusing on the courts and on the media, buying up media like there's no tomorrow. and packing the courts, realizing that if you if you control the courts in the media, you can control the elections. and then thus the elected bodies. and that's pretty much where we are right now. this is the second time we've seen this in america. the first time was in the period from the 1830s to the 1860s in the old south, where a group of plantation owners, as a result of a technological innovation, you know, the kind of the tech bros of their time started using this device called called a cotton gin. eli whitney had invented in 1789, and it could

do the work of 50 people. and so a small number of very large plantations were able to just wipe out all of their competitors over this 20 or 30 year period, and ended up ruling the south with an absolute iron fist, ending democracy, controlling the courts and controlling all the newspapers, any, any newspaper publisher who took them on could find himself hanged. and, you know, we ended up fighting a civil war over that little brush with oligarchy. >> you know, we've gotten to an interesting place, the entrepreneur and venture capitalist and billionaire nick hanauer, who's a sort of an activist, has recently explained how the wealthy deploy propaganda to justify this consolidation of power. and he he talks about a specific refrain that we've often heard from the corporate sector. he says, the one thing i've come up against so many times in my career working on economic policy is it's a job killer. how many times have you heard that if you raise taxes on the rich, it'll kill jobs? if you regulate big corporations, it will kill jobs. if you raise wages for working people, it'll kill jobs. we live in a world that has turned so upside down by this

market fundamentalist framework that anything you propose that will improve the lives of middle class or working people has to affirmatively prove that it will do no harm. but anything good that happens to the truly rich is an unalloyed good. so infinite bonuses on wall street are a sign of economic growth and success. but a tiny increase in the minimum wage is a very dangerous job killer. i mean, that's become the reality of the discourse these days, tom. >> yeah. and nick is a good guy, you know, in his participation with patriotic millionaires. and but it's absolutely the case. and which another book i wrote, the hidden history of american monopoly, what we've seen since reagan in 1983 essentially directed the federal trade commission, the securities and exchange commission, and the department of justice to dial back on their enforcement of the antitrust laws. you know, we had kind of a during the industrial revolution in the 18. yeah, the 1870s. 80s 90s senator sherman

of ohio introduced the sherman antitrust act. and that was passed in 1881, as i recall. but it really didn't get enforced until teddy roosevelt became president in 1901. and, you know, the consequence of reagan and for all that time, from then until the reagan revolution, we were actually enforcing the antitrust laws. there were two other ones, the clayton antitrust act in 27 and 1 in 56. and the result and in fact, the supreme court in 1965 ruled that it was illegal for buster brown and kinney shoes to join because the resulting company would control 5% of the shoe market. 5% today, just nike controls 19%. yeah, i mean, it's so what we're seeing is just this absolute seizure of american business by these giant monopolies. it's massive. >> we're going to keep talking about this, tom, because right now we had a hot minute where we were actually enforcing laws on the books, not bringing in new regulations, but doing what we said under the biden administration. lina khan and

the federal trade commission gone now. and so whatever you didn't like that was going on in terms of consolidation. we're going to see more of in the next few years. but you and i will keep talking about it. we appreciate it. tom hartmann is the host of the syndicated radio show the thom hartmann program, author of multiple books that are very important to read right now, including the history hidden history of american oligarchy reclaiming our democracy from the ruling class. all right, straight ahead. the ranking member of the homeland security committee, bennie thompson, joins me to discuss the consequences of president trump's ongoing political retribution tour for america's national security. another hour of velshi starts right now. hi. good morning. it's saturday. i'm sorry. it's sunday, january 26th, when donald trump launched his third presidential bid nearly two years ago, he told his supporters, quote, i am your retribution. and this week, his first week in office, he's followed through on that promise, having taken a number

of early actions that appear to be more about settling scores than about achieving policy goals. it began minutes after he was sworn into office on monday, one of the first executive orders trump signed on inauguration day instructed the director of national intelligence and the cia director to revoke the security clearances of 50 ex intelligence officials. all of those officials had previously signed an open letter back in 2020, cautioning that the allegations about hunter biden and the contents of his laptop bore, quote, all the classic earmarks of a russian information operation. end quote, the list of people whose clearances were revoked included prominent names like the former directors of the cia, leon panetta and john brennan, and the former director of national intelligence james clapper. all three men served in those roles under former president barack obama. but trump also revoked the security clearance of his own former national security adviser, john bolton, with whom he's had an acrimonious relationship for years. on top of that,