>> welcome back to the weekend. with donald trump's approval, unelected billionaire elon musk is taking a sledgehammer to the federal government. nbc news reports that secrecy is becoming a defining trait of musk's doge, another defining trait. its trail of destruction with sensitive government data compromised life saving

humanitarian aid now paused, and thousands of federal jobs on the line. since the chaos erupted, at least one democrat ditched the congressional doge caucus because of musk's actions, and democrats on the house oversight committee are now demanding transparency. joining us now, democratic congressman ro khanna, who represents silicon valley in california. he's known elon musk for nearly 15 years and serves on the house oversight committee. welcome, congressman. >> congressman, thank you for being here. so nbc news has reported that secrecy is becoming a defining trait of elon musk's doge. more than two weeks after donald trump signed a 660 word word executive order that established those, confusion about it persists. three federal employees said that a lack of transparency about doge exists at their agency. another current employee who has been handling doge requests says musk's team is zeroing in on data. it is very focused on data. they want the

data. why do you think they want the data or the data? >> well, they want to unilaterally make decisions to stop payments that. >> they think. >> are wrong. >> and here's. >> the thing. >> i was pretty reasonable. >> about this. >> when elon first. was appointed to be the. >> head of doge. >> i said if. >> he has ideas for cuts in the pentagon budget, he. >> should come to congress. in fact, i took some. >> criticism from. >> my own party, as did. >> senator warren. >> and senator bernie sanders. but what i've said to him is, okay, if you actually have a spotlight of. >> transparency. >> that you think that there is waste. >> or. >> fraud. then come to. >> congress and. >> expose it. >> don't do. >> this in secrecy and you don't get to make the decisions. it's congress that. >> gets to make the decisions. >> and that's. >> where i think. >> he has lost. >> the plot. >> and really. >> has raised alarm, not just. >> with democrats. >> but a lot of independents. >> and republicans. >> i just want to clarify something that happened this week. there was a procedural vote in the oversight committee about wanting to subpoena musk. you had missed the vote. if they were to recall the vote with

proper notice, would you vote to subpoena? >> absolutely. >> and i made that clear. there were eight of us who missed it. it was a quick vote. >> he needs to come. >> before the committee. he should be subpoenaed. >> he should be. >> explaining why. he has taken. >> any action to freeze. >> the. >> payments unilaterally. >> and also. >> whether he's going to comply. >> most employers. comply with the judge's. >> decision that says that any. >> of. his employees. >> should not have access to any of our sensitive information. >> and just to be clear, in addition to using the power of congress to subpoena him, you've personally messaged him and said you should come. you should explain this. what was his response to you? >> well, i don't know if i could say the response on air, but it was not a polite one. >> you could. you know, i. >> mean. >> he i knew. >> that when i put. >> that tweet up. >> saying that he should be. subpoenaed and. >> come. >> that. >> it would. >> get a reaction. >> and what he says. >> is. >> well. >> i'm on this mission. >> to cut. >> the deficit. i want to expose the fraud. i didn't. >> come here to give a report to congress. >> but the. >> reality is. >> that congress. >> is the. agency under article.

>> one of the constitution that gets to decide spending. >> and if he's that. >> confident that. >> he. >> has fraud. >> waste and abuse. >> then why not. >> come to congress and expose it to. >> the american public? >> because it's all a lie. that's why he doesn't want to come, and that's why he doesn't want to spend the time. and that's why he's responding to you the way he did. he should be subpoenaed. he should have his behind brought up to the hill here and explain to us what he's doing. i mean, this is the point. these folks are acting with impunity. they're acting a uber executive. right. and so the question that i consistently have in all of this is where where is the fight here? where is the sense of this is our domain. you're now treading on our domain, elon musk, you're in some made up agency. you don't even really exist. the thing you're doing is not real. get your behind up here to capitol hill and tell us what you're doing. that's what i think a lot

of americans out there want to see and hear. my question is why aren't we? why aren't? why don't why don't democrats push the limits the way the republicans are pushing the limits right now? >> well. >> we are going to have the fight. >> i'll answer that question. >> but i want. >> to make two. >> points about why this isn't the right approach. if you actually. >> cared about. >> deficit spending, you wouldn't start with. >> us aid. >> that's less. >> than 0.1%. >> less. >> than 0.1% of the entire federal budget. you wouldn't start. >> with the cfpb. which is less. >> than. >> 0.01% of. >> the federal budget. >> you would start with things like the. >> pentagon that. >> are over. 50% of the budget. and yet that. >> has not. >> been the approach. now. >> look. >> the democrats are going. >> to fight. >> i grant. >> that the first two. >> months after we lost. >> with vice president. >> harris. >> we were a. >> bit shell shocked. there wasn't. >> the same unity, but the time that these. treasury payments were freezed, the time that they stopped that portal on medicaid funding, something snapped.

>> in the american. >> public and with democrats. and we've been unified ever since. >> hakeem jeffries. >> is a fighter. >> and here's where we're going. >> to make. >> the fight. >> the debt. ceiling and. >> the funding. >> government, they're going to need democratic votes. >> chip roy is not. >> going to go vote. >> for the debt ceiling. >> and hakeem jeffries. >> and the. >> democratic caucus. >> are going to be unified. not a. >> single vote. >> unless every dollar. >> of congress. >> is appropriation. and authorization is spent. and we have. >> very much. clarity that nothing. >> is going. >> to happen without. >> the congressional branch. >> and we're going. >> to win that fight. >> you know, this point about needing democratic votes for the budget fight and the funding fight. absolutely. but i have heard many of these caveats from democrats up and down the board. and right now, the administration is thumbing their nose at you all. they are they are ignoring the fact that you all have appropriated dollars already. and so what assurances could you all possibly get that would make you feel comfortable to vote with republicans to fund

the government? >> well, right. >> now we're. >> being saved by. >> some of the judge's decisions. >> who have. >> put a pause. >> on any. >> effort to cut funding. but you're absolutely right that we can't just. >> take the president's. >> word for it. >> on. some ironclad. agreement that they're. >> going to spend it. >> one of. >> the. >> ideas floated. >> is that there should be automatic. trigger cuts if. >> the president doesn't go. >> along with. >> it to republican priorities. so there are ways that we. >> can get. >> that agreement. but people should. >> know. >> that the congress has tremendous power. >> they're going to need the. >> democrats votes. >> on the debt ceiling. >> they're going to need. >> the democrats votes. >> on keeping government open. the in the caucus meetings. >> there is a. >> fierce resolve to make. sure that we. >> stand up for. >> congress's authority. to appropriate. >> money and for. >> that to be spent. >> and it's a shame. >> it's a. >> shame that. >> we can't get. >> three other. >> republicans. >> three other republicans. >> to stand up for. >> congress's article one. >> priority that we.

>> have to rely on. reagan appointed. >> judges and george bush appointed judges to do that. >> and you. >> can't. >> get three republicans. >> to go. >> along and do that. >> so, congressman, i don't know if you watch our show, but one of michael steele's favorite questions to ask over and over again is where is jd vance? is he still the vice president of the united states? and you found out this week where he is, he is apparently on ex. just to give our viewers a little bit of context, you had a d.o.j. staffer who was who resigned over racist ex posts. he has since been rehired. you and jd vance sort of went back and forth on this because a lot of the racism was directed at the indian community. i just want to cut through the noise here. what is the message from an administration that looks the other way on something like this? >> there's a 25. >> year old who. >> works at dodge. >> he had. >> put out. >> on. >> social media that we. >> should normalize. >> indian hate, that we should repeal. the 1964. >> civil rights act.

>> that we should eradicate. all of. >> palestine and. >> many other offensive things they. >> jd vance. >> said. >> well, let's. >> rehire him. >> all i. >> said. >> all i asked. >> is. >> before you're going to rehire someone who's 25. >> who has these. >> social media posts. >> how about. making sure that he retracts. >> those statements and apologize? >> and for whatever reason. >> vance got triggered. he said. >> this congressman is whiny. >> this congressman disgusts. >> me, but i don't think. it is. >> whiny or disgusting to say that. >> someone who. >> doesn't believe in the. >> civil rights. >> act, someone who. >> believes. >> that we should normalize. >> indian hate before. >> they. >> represent you in. >> the federal. >> government. >> before they. >> work for your. >> administration. >> that you would. >> want to ask, that they publicly retract those statements and apologize. >> i wasn't even. >> saying that. >> he shouldn't be. >> given a second. >> chance, and. >> i. still don't. >> have an answer. >> from the. administration about whether they're going to. >> do that. they're going to rehire him. >> but is. >> he going to retract. >> those statements? >> i mean, i have a question. do you think that do you think that the president supports white

supremacist ideology? >> i have no idea. >> what is in his heart. all i know. >> is what his. actions are, and his actions are that you have. someone who. >> has put. >> out statements. of white supremacy. >> i think if you're saying normalize. >> indian hate. >> and if you're saying. repeal the civil rights act. >> and if you're saying. >> eliminate palestine. those are by definition. >> white supremacist statements. and now you're saying rehire him. >> and you're you're basically. >> saying that. >> you don't have to retract. >> those statements. i mean. >> this is. not about. someone getting a second chance. yes, we all make mistakes in our youth. yes. >> i don't think someone. >> if they're. >> in their 20s. even if. >> they put out. >> racist statements or stupid. >> jokes, should. >> never be rehired. >> but we're talking. >> about working for an. >> administration. >> and you put these. >> statements out just. >> a few months ago, and you're not. >> willing to say, retract them. >> you're not willing to say apologize for them. that is. >> offensive to. >> the country. it's not. >> just offensive. >> to indian americans. >> it says, where. >> is the accountability? you know, we've gone.

>> too far. >> in describing. >> everything as as woke. >> i mean, talking about. >> basic respect. >> for other individuals. if that's woke, then call me woke. >> but, you know, are you going to. >> call doctor king woke. >> because he stood. >> up for civil rights. are you going to. >> say that people who. preach against hate. >> are woke? >> i mean, it's. >> gone too far. and those of us. >> who believe. >> in treating people with equality. >> and. >> dignity need to stand up for that. >> and not. >> buy into the. >> republican frame. >> congressman rokana, thank you so much. thank you for being with us. symone is now leaving us for the rest of the show to join our friends over at meet the press. but don't you go anywhere because next, congressman jamie raskin is going to be at the table to discuss how americans could hold elon musk accountable. you're elon musk accountable. you're watching the weekend. reimagine exceptional with the 2024 buick envision. buick. exceptional by design. get 0.9% apr. plus, no monthly payments for 90 days on this 2024 buick envision.

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>> nutrafol is life changing for me. >> get growing at neutrophil comm. >> the first. >> 100 days. it's a critical time for our country. >> and rachel. >> maddow is on five nights. >> a week. >> now is the time. so we're going to do it. settle in. >> the rachel maddow. >> show weeknights at 9:00 on msnbc. >> lock in the whole year. peacock for only 29.99. experience the joy of staying in and watch all this. >> for less than. >> $3 a month. don't miss your chance to lock in a whole year of peacock for only 29.99. limited time. offer terms apply. >> elon musk you may have illegally seized power over the financial payment systems of the united states department of

treasury, but you don't control the money of the american people. the united states congress does that. >> our next guest, democratic congressman jamie raskin of maryland, says he has a new legal theory for how americans can sue elon musk. congressman raskin joins us now. >> welcome, congressman. i'm loving this theory. it's very interesting. take. explain it to us how citizens can sue elon musk and doge and how us 18 us code 1030 can be applied. >> so the first thing to. >> understand, michael, is we are. winning in the courts and people need to understand that judge in the district court in the district of columbia just halted their efforts to out thousands, i think 6000 fbi agents across the country for their involvement in prosecuting january 6th. judge kollar-kotelly shut down the

raid on the treasury department. and so the courts are. doing their job. i've been at rallies all week because, you know, a rally a day keeps the fascists away. but it was bugging me that these guys, elon musk's, you know, midnight fascist crew of teenagers and 20 somethings have been able to access everybody's computer data in the country. and that's why a lot of the courts are getting involved. but it was killing me because i wanted to spend some time with the statutes. and so this weekend i've been looking in the statutes and one of them, which is getting to be in contest now, is called the computer fraud and abuse act of 1986. it was actually pushed by ronald reagan, who at camp david had seen the movie wargames and got very concerned about the security of government

computers. and he, with congress, pushed for a statute to make it a crime to, on an unauthorized basis, to obtain other people's information and then distribute it. and there have. >> been tons. >> of criminal prosecutions on that. but if you read the statute, there's also a private right of action. so if you are a. citizen and you can integrate this with taxpayer privacy data statutes, if you are a citizen whose private data has been compromised through a breach of government computers, you can actually sue for damages. so i'm what i'm thinking about and talking to, you know, my friends at democracy defenders and other lawyers about is could there be a nationwide class action lawsuit to follow up on last week's victory, right, against musk, against the trump administration for this breach. >> in computer.

>> security and the data of all american taxpayers? it could be a class action suit on behalf of. >> all americans. >> if the proud boys and the oath keepers want to opt out, and they don't want their part of the money for the contamination of their data, fine. they can opt out. but really, it's a suit on behalf of everybody because that's our information, right? it doesn't belong to elon musk or his little midnight crew. it belongs to the people, and the government has to hold it in trust. trust. now, there's specific statutes which say that. information can only be accessed for tax purposes. for the purposes of the internal revenue system and for no other purposes. what are they using that information for? >> can i just say, congressman chairman, i made a decision not to go to law school. and somehow you have me reading us code on a sunday morning. >> it's a good day when you. >> do that. thank you. thank you for the free education. i mean, what's interesting to me is the

nobody elected elon musk act that you and your colleagues are putting forward. it's one of several pieces of legislation promoted by democrats to try to hold elon musk accountable. here's the question. have any of your republican colleagues showed any interest in joining you in this effort toward accountability? >> no. >> at this point. >> they're either, you know. >> out there. >> cheerleading for elon musk or. >> more and more of them are getting. >> real quiet because they see the. >> public does not. >> like this. the public does not like the idea that a guy who would not even be constitutionally eligible to run for president is acting as president, a guy who, if he were president, would be impeached immediately because he's taking billions of dollars in foreign government emoluments from all over the world. and some. >> people. >> have actually been talking. about impeaching president elon musk right now. >> you know. >> on the theory that he's usurped the powers of the presidency. so i think a lot of

the republicans are just going to wait and see which way. this goes. you know that there are a lot of very right wing maga republicans like steve bannon, who. >> are completely. >> opposed to elon musk. >> and what he's doing. >> bannon has called him a truly evil person, and laura loomer has warned of what they're trying to do in terms of creating a techno state monarch in the new century. obviously, elon musk has much bigger plans than donald trump, who, you know, we know just wants to become the richest person in the world and get all. the attention. >> but elon. >> musk would really like to completely overthrow our system of government and move us into some kind of techno monarchy. under the geniuses of silicon valley. >> i find it fascinating that in all of this, no one's really leveled up. the fact you just touched on it, congressman, that elon musk is a government contractor, right?

>> spending billions. >> of dollars, billions of dollars of government on 18 plus individual contracts with the us govt. why why aren't we exposing those people? what's in those contracts? because those is not going to look at those contracts. >> yeah. >> well why doesn't congress say look? okay, mr. musk, we want to call you in and have a conversation about your contract because you are a federal contractor. you can be a special purpose. you know, whatever. what in other words, how do how does congress deal with someone like musk, who, as you noted, is using the white house, the authority given to him by donald trump? it all flows back to trump, by the way, but he's using that to push out and basically dismantle our government and is seemingly he's getting away with it. and congress is kind of like, well. >> he's not getting away. >> with it. i mean, you. >> know, he is. getting brought. >> down. >> cut down. >> the size every. day in. >> court, whether it's at the

treasury department, fbi. >> with the department. >> of justice. >> and the. >> reality is that he is a. >> huge government contractor. >> he collects billions of dollars from the us taxpayers, and he has an obligation right now under federal legislation, to file his ethics disclosure forms. and we haven't seen those ethics disclosure. >> conflicts there between what he's doing and his contracts. >> there are radical conflicts of interest, for example. >> suspend the contracts. >> well, there we go. i mean, the problem is the executive branch right now is not enforcing that process, but we are going to have to make them do it through the judicial branch and by congress. but there are radical conflicts of interest. he is overseeing his own government contracts. he keeps talking about waste, fraud and abuse. how about the waste, fraud and abuse that was being investigated with elon musk in china by aig, which led him in his, you know, outrageous destruction of foreign aid, which is coming back to haunt

us. >> foreign policy. now, you know why, folks, he's going after usaid because usaid was calling him out. congressman raskin, i want you to stick around with us for a moment because we want to talk about trump's fbi purge and his nominee for director, kash patel. oh, yeah. here we go. patel. oh, yeah. here we go. you're watching the weekend. where ya headed? susan: where am i headed? am i just gonna take what the markets gives me? no. i can do some research. ya know, that's backed by j.p. morgan's leading strategists like us. when you want to invest with more confidence... the answer is j.p. morgan wealth management there's never been a moment you were forgotten. you are not hopeless, though you have been

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help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need, and the flavor you love. so, here's to now... now available: boost max! >> work. play. blink. relief. >> the only 3 in 1. >> extended relief formula for dry eyes. >> blink. >> this week, the senate will vote on kash patel's nomination to be fbi director. senate democrats have worked to delay the vote over concerns that patel is a trump loyalist who's ready to target the president's perceived enemies. another concern the administration's purge of justice department officials and doj leadership's demand to have the names of fbi agents who worked on january 6th cases exposed. in fact, senate democrats want to have a second confirmation hearing with kash

patel to grill him on these very issues. congress is calling on patel to put an end to the termination of fbi employees, and to reinstate officials who've already been fired. but congressman jamie raskin is still with us. >> let's talk about what that second confirmation hearing could look like. congressman. so there are sort of these written questions that a nominee answers for senators. and when patel was answering these questions, he really hedged on the question of what he did and did not know about this fbi purge. he was asked if he discussed with anyone on the trump transition team or in the current administration, the demotion or removal of officials who were still with the fbi as of trump's inauguration. he responded, not that i recall this seems like something one would recall purging fbi agents. >> i mean, the guy is an election. >> denier to this day. >> he was a january. >> 6th enthusiast. he has. defended the insurrectionists at

every turn, and. now all this information is coming out about how he collected. money from. >> a russian filmmaker. >> with kremlin ties and has attacked the fbi in that context. and so, i mean, it's hard to imagine anybody less qualified to be the fbi director in america today or in american history than this guy. i mean, it's just. >> a remarkable. >> shocking thing that this is where we are right now. meantime, there is a vendetta against fbi agents who did nothing more than do their job by being assigned to investigate the mob violence against the capitol police and metropolitan police in dc. and they want to retaliate against them. he has uttered. >> the. >> words he would not engage in

retaliation. is there any evidence he's done anything to defend these people and to try to call off the dogs? against the fbi agents and prosecutors? i mean, we've got in the district of columbia, a dozen assistant u.s. attorneys. these are civil service lawyers, professionals, many of them decorated and awarded, who have been fired simply because they did their jobs in prosecuting people who violently assaulted our police officers. right. who brutalized and wounded and hospitalized our cops. they've been fired as assistant u.s. attorneys. those people should be reinstated and rehired immediately. just like any fbi agent who suffered any adverse discipline. and they should call off their witch hunt, round up of the fbi. and fortunately, judge cobb in the district court of the district of columbia has already blown the whistle on this and frozen that process. but do we want to put in as an fbi director, somebody who said

that his first move as fbi director would be to shut down the fbi and turn it into the museum of the deep state. so this is a very serious moment for our country. >> it is a serious moment. and a part of that is the is the bald faced lie that, oh, we don't have hit list. that's that that's just made up stuff. oh we're not going after anybody. you just detailed what's what's going on with fbi agents. you also have trump himself putting out a list of people he says he's revoking their security clearances, including former secretary of state antony blinken, attorney general, new york attorney general letitia james, manhattan district attorney alvin bragg, biden's national security advisor. jake sullivan, biden's deputy attorney general, lisa monaco. and lawyers andrew weissman, mark zaid and norm eisen. and joe biden himself. apparently, he wants to revoke his security

because, oh, guess what? during january 6th, when trump was all in that messed up in that little insurrection thing that occurred in the building behind us, president biden did the appropriate thing and said, you know what? let's slow the roll on giving this kind of information, having these briefings to donald trump, the pettiness of trump is what drives these lists. >> yeah. >> what's the impact, though, on the functioning of our government? these individuals still play roles. yeah, administratively and otherwise. help us understand why these threats and the actual revocation of these levels of security and, you know, access to security clearances matter. >> well, revenge. >> and. retribution are the. >> commanding animus for donald trump right now, in the same way that elon musk really does want to dismantle our system of government agency by agency and usurp all of congress's power

over the purse. but it's true. >> they don't. >> have a hit list. they have many hit lists for each department, for each agency. >> but all. >> of it goes back to the big lie when you think about it. right? this is an election where joe biden beat donald trump by more than 7 million votes, 306 to 232, in the electoral college. and donald trump simply could not accept that he had been repudiated by the american people like that. and everything since has been an effort to undermine and attack that result, including january 6th, which was a deliberate effort to block the peaceful transfer of power. remember to get mike pence to turn the whole table over and simply declare donald trump the winner. and when it didn't work, donald trump decided that basically he had to attack and engage in retribution against anybody who wasn't on his side. and he has succeeded

in cleansing the republican party of people like liz cheney and adam kinzinger and mitt romney and the people who would actually stand up for historical fact, for reality, and for the rule of law and for the constitution. and so this vengeance tour, this mass political vendetta, suddenly has become the overriding agenda of the government. and the republican party is allowing his fantasies, his mania and his pathologies to define public policy in the country. >> congressman jamie raskin, as always, thank you so much for being at our table next. >> you bet. >> trump trying to fire ellen weintraub, the chair of the federal election commission. but she says that move is illegal. we're going to talk to her right after this. you're watching the after this. you're watching the weekend. we're still going for that sweet shot. and with higher stroke risk from afib not caused by a heart valve problem... we're going for eliquis. eliquis reduces stroke risk. and has less major bleeding. over 97% of eliquis patients did not experience a stroke.

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the senate. ellen weintraub joins us now. she is still serving as commissioner and chair of the federal election commission. good morning. >> good morning, commissioner. >> it's a real pleasure to have you at the table this morning. i want to i want to start with your one of your predecessors, former fec chairman trevor potter, who happens to be a republican who noted in a letter, quote, as the only agency that regulates the president, congress intentionally did not grant the president the power to fire fec commissioners. with multiple fec commissioners serving on expired terms and one vacant seat, trump is free to nominate multiple new commissioners and to allow congress to perform its constitutional role of advice and consent. it's contrary to law that he has instead opted to claim to fire a single democratic commissioner, who has been an outspoken critic of the president's lawbreaking and the fec failure to hold him accountable. your name is no

longer listed on the website. you your email is not working. >> it is not. >> you're still the head of this organization, and you intend to be so until remove the appropriate way. is that pretty much if at all. >> my position. >> is that the president's. >> letter was unlawful. but as. >> you pointed out. >> my name is not on the well. >> i am on the website, but i'm currently listed under former. >> commissioner, former commissioners. >> with a term that it claims. >> expired in. >> or expires in february 2025. and i've been. >> cut off from. >> the databases. i've been cut off. >> from the. >> from my computers, my email. >> so it's. >> a it's a little bit of a challenge to do the job under those circumstances. i think i was not removed lawfully. and that is not something that should be tolerated either by me

or by the american people. >> but whether. >> i can continue to do my job, that's. >> that. >> that is unclear at this point. >> do you go to the building tomorrow morning? >> i don't think i can get into the building anymore. i think they have terminated. >> you know, its. >> all. >> controlled by a. >> key card with. >> a. >> computer chip. >> chairwoman, thank you so much for being with us. as you said, there is you and then there is the job you do and the stakes of the job you do. as i understand it, the fec now has four commissioners. that is a bare quorum, meaning they can proceed in doing their work technically. do you trust that the remaining four commissioners can hold the line on protecting our elections? >> well. >> i'm not going to comment on. on my colleagues and the job that they do. there is a history of commissioners leaving without replacements and or their replacements not being able to get confirmed. and the result having been that there have been three times in the commission's history where the commission ran out of quorum, it did not have

the minimum four commissioners that are needed to have a quorum to do commission business. and, you know, if we have a quorum today with four, i'm not sure that means we're going to have a quorum tomorrow. what happens if somebody else leaves? what happens if somebody else gets a letter like i got? so i think the commission is in a tenuous, functional, but tenuous situation right now. but more importantly, there's a reason that congress set up the law so that commissioners can continue to serve, even after the expiration of their term, until a replacement is put in place. and that is because we want to maintain the integrity of the institution. it's supposed to be a bipartisan, independent body. and when a member is no more than three can be of any one political party. i sit in a democratic seat. so if my seat is going to be vacated, democrats in congress should have a voice in who gets to replace me. there's that. that voice should not be left void. there's been a systematic and

not very subtle attempt to silence opposition voices in this administration. i am not, obviously the only person who has received a letter like this. there are commissioners at other agencies. it has reached from the fbi to the kennedy center. there is this widespread attempt to get rid of people who might not agree with what the current administration views as their view of the law, their view of how the world ought to be functioning. and that is very bad for america to eliminate opposition voices. so if my no one's irreplaceable, if i'm going to be replaced, then democrats on the hill ought to have a voice, and there ought to be another voice lifted up who can speak out for enforcing the law. >> commissioner, what do you think, outside of getting rid of voices that disagree with trump, which is pretty much a daily thing? what do you think is driving this, this takeover,

particularly of the federal election commission? very much like the fbi. there is a there is a there's a motive behind all of this. there's an outcome that they're they're seeking for. it's not just, oh, we don't like, you know, this commissioner or that commissioner, because they're a democrat and they disagree with us. do you think that there's something else going on and what direction they'd like to move the federal election commission once you're gone, or at least republicans, the right kind of republicans have control of the commission. >> i have spoken out about how the agency operates and has operated, and have criticized the fact that the federal election commission, i believe, has not done an effective enough job of being a fair and effective law enforcement agency. we have we dismiss far too many complaints, and i have spoken out in particular about the number of complaints that have been filed and dismissed against the man who is currently

sitting in the white house. the fec exists to shine light on the relationship between donors and politicians, and when there are not individuals in those jobs who will protect that law, protect that right of americans to know who is behind the money and where the money is going. then we have influence that is being played, that is done behind the scenes. there's a disproportionate role of billionaires already. it's legal, but the american people need to know about who is behind the money. there are people who have engaged in very complicated schemes to try and route their money through different organizations, in order to hide who is the actual donor. i have advocated for more investigations of this kind of conduct and stronger rules, and we have never had the political will to actually do it. it takes four votes. it's got to be bipartisan, and we haven't had that bipartisan consensus to effectively enforce the law. so

i think that all of those factors are in play here, where there are a lot of people who are very happy with a with an agency that does not effectively enforce the law and that it does not go after dark money and try and reveal all of these big money donors. >> given that trump's letter did not cite any cause for your termination, will you consider a lawsuit? >> i am considering all of my options at this point. it is still very new. i received that letter at 414 on thursday, and i'm still kind of processing and considering what my next steps should be, right? >> because if i can. >> just put a finer point on what you said to michael, i mean, the timing of this is notable not just because this administration has just come into power, but because there are outstanding questions and complaints about the 2024 election. among those questions and complaints, what is most alarming to you? >> well, i can't talk about

anything that would be currently before the commission. by law, complaints that are filed and any investigatory action is remains confidential until the cases are closed. but i can tell you that in the past we have had 63 separate complaints filed against the president or his political committees. there were and not all complaints are well-founded. not all complaints are worth the agency's time to pursue. but our nonprofit, nonpartisan professional staff has advocated that we pursue 31 of those cases. and in not a single one, did we get four votes to move forward. so i think that is deeply disturbing. i have spoken out about this, and i don't think that went unnoticed. >> so the composition of the commission is right. three democrats right now, two republicans. is this. >> if you still count me. >> if you still count, you correct. so the so folks understand what trump is trying to do, get you out. how does he.

how does he get a republican majority? if your seat is a democratic seat. >> well, there's a vacancy. >> there's a vacancy. >> there's a republican. so he gets to make he'll make two appointments, one republican, one democrat. but that would flip the majority. >> well, yes. now i should say it takes four votes. so having a majority. >> doesn't necessarily get you what you need. >> it gets you some things. you can accomplish some things on a majority vote. but some of the more significant things enforcement actions can only be taken by a four vote majority. >> so they stuffed. >> the deal with doesn't that doesn't get him all the way there. but i think there's a serious risk that he doesn't appoint anybody. and then somebody else leaves and the commission goes out of business. >> yeah. >> which? >> go ahead. michael. >> no, i was going to say which could be the ultimate end game. >> fec chair ellen weintraub i know you've got a lot going on, but i know you're also rooting for your eagles. so best of luck to you, ellen. thank you. there's still there's still more there's still there's still more of the weekend ahead. stick

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critical parts of the federal bureaucracy. it goes on and on, and that's the answer. you keep calling because it's not donald trump's government and it's not roosevelt's government, and it's not stephen miller's government. and it certainly is not elon musk's government. it's your government. it's my government. and they need to hear from you. so you keep calling them, you keep faxing them. at this moment. that's what we all can do. >> no, i agree with that. and i love the way you frame it, because it's not their government, it's our government. and they don't get to tear it down. they don't get to take it apart. you know, elon musk is unelected. donald trump appointed vought. you they are accountable. each of them they're they're all accountable to us. and he trump is ultimately accountable to us to the extent citizens feel and know it's important for them to raise their voices. please do. because you know, i get it. you know, all the election was a shocker and i didn't think this

was going to happen. okay, fine. get over it. because what you're seeing happening now is real. we just had a conversation with the with the head of the fec, the federal election commission, who's been summarily dismissed from her job illegally, arguably. right. the power isn't there to do what he did. the power isn't there for him to just tear down the, you know, department x or y or z or education, for example. you know, there's a reason why republicans didn't do that since reagan. because they can't they can't and they won't be able to now, even even given the efforts and what they look like, and largely because members of congress know that has to go through them. and they they don't want that on their, on their plate, because there are a lot of republicans in swing districts that don't want to cast a vote to eliminate the department of education. and that's where your voice has come

in. >> and now i need you to cast your vote. who's going to win the super bowl? >> philly fly, eagles fly. i say that as a commanders fan and a ravens fan. and i was yeah, look, here we are. this is the second time these two teams meeting. you've got kansas city chiefs the eagles 2020 23. it was a closer race this time. eagles go fly baby. here we go. >> i just. >> show up for the nachos. all right. don't go anywhere. because up next on velshi russian opposition politician vladimir kara-murza was released from a russian prison this summer. he's going to talk to ali about the dangers of oligarchies. that is 10 a.m. oligarchies. that is 10 a.m. eastern right here on msnbc. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need, and the flavor you love. so, here's to now... now available: boost max!

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weekend this sunday morning. we'll see you back here next saturday at 8 a.m. eastern. and be sure to follow us everywhere on social media at the weekend, msnbc velshi continues our coverage. ali is all yours, my friend. >> all right. it's my on the road to victory. there we go. >> whoa, >> whoa, somebody's yelling in my ear. traitor! >> wow. there is no way. >> that my director is telling me now, after all these years, that he's a chiefs fan. we could have had that discussion earlier,