martin, it's all yeours. >> thank you, s.e. good afternoon, it's tuesday june the 4th. the sun is shining. th weather is sweet. ♪ come on ♪ come on >> it is a glorious day. >> my nominees have taken three times longer to receive confirmation. >> pabacking the court because has issued rulings against the administration. >> pack the court? >> this is not about principled opposition. >> my gut tells me that too many people knew. >> this is about political obstruction. >> we will not tolerate another political enemy's list. >> poor babies. people getting all up in they business. checking they books. >> there is no factual evidence that this was a politically motivated review. >> my gut tells me -- >> i can definitively say within the white house, no. >> a president that continues to try and distance himself from his administration. >> i think it's time for eric

holder to step aside. >> it is the obama irs. >> it has to stop. too much of people's business is at stake. >> it is a glorious day. good afternoon. we've got a jam packed hour ahead. so let's get right to it. new jersey governor chris christie wants voters to decid who will fill the seat of the late senator frank lautenberg. at a press conference today, christie called for a primary in august and a special election on october the 16th. that puts all eyes on newark mayor cory booker, a democrat who announced months ago he was planning to seek the seat. christie did not say who he'll name to hold the seat in the meantime. meanwhile, in washington, in what is a forceful challenge to senate republicans, the president today nominated three judges to the influential federal appeals court in washington. venting his frustration with a

nominations log jam, the president called for an end to obstruction and an up and down vote for all three. >> these are open seats, and the constitution demands that i nominate qualified individuals to fill those seats. what i'm doing today is my job. i need the senate to do its job. >> in stating what may seem obvious there, the president was alluding to charges by senators like mitch mcconnell and chuck grassley, that the white house is trying to pack the court. a phrase that harkins back to fdr and efforts to create more seats to tilt the court. the comparison that the president treated with a cheerful dose of skepticism today. >> when a republican was president, 11 judges on the d.c. circuit court made complete sense. now that a democrat is president, it apparently doesn't. eight is suddenly enough. people are laughing because it's

obviously a blatant political move. >> and speaking of blatant political moves, the president's opponents continue to use investigations into irs missteps to try and embroil the white house in scandal. at a hearing today, conservative groups detailed how the irs held up their applications for tax exemptions. but some republicans wanted to take it much, much further. >> what you have described is the long arm of the federal government coming into you, coming into your organization and essentially telling you, we'll tell you what to think. we'll tell you how to pray. >> but this is a federal government that agency after agency after agency is out of control. >> or is it out of control overreach by republicans? something to maybe consider. joining us now from capitol hill is florida congresswoman debbie

wasserman-schultz, chair of the democratic national committee. good afternoon, ma'am. >> good afternoon, martin. great to be with you. >> thank you. i should say from the outset, we may be forced to adjourn this interview if speaker boehner decides to hold a 40th vote on repealing the care act, or if darrell issa decides to hold a seventh hearing on the irs or a tenth hearing on benghazi. congresswoman, if the president's first term was marked by dysfunctional government, is it fair to say that speaker boehner would like to ensure that his second term is marked by the death of government? nothing constructive is ever done on anything aside from endless hearings on the speaker's chosen scandal of the week. >> you know, i was just having a conversation earlier today about that very frustration because i know that i and my democratic colleagues ran for office to make the world a better place. to make sure that we came to

washington to solve our nation's problems. you know, there are still people who are struggling to find work, and i know the people in my district want us to focus on creating jobs and getting this economy turned around. and doing the work that we were sent to do. >> struggling to find work, ma'am. i'm talking about 4 million elderly people who because of the sequester will not be receiving a meals on wheels service. i'm talking about over 70,000 children, needy children, children who are vulnerable, being thrown off head start because of the sequester. but all -- >> and all the technicians. >> but all darrell issa wants to do is hold another hearing on the irs. >> the obsession that the republicans have with throwing obstacles in the path of president obama and preventing him under any circumstances from getting things done and working together is really, it's maddening. and, look, i know from all the work that i've done and the conversations i've had with folks across the country, they

don't want us to engage in my way or the highway politics. they want us to come together. they want us to heed the call that president obama has given which is that we should come together. we should put aside differences. build common ground. we're not all going to get our way. and solve the really challenging problems we have in front of us. not take a sequester that is indiscriminate across the broad spending cuts that just as we started hurricane season, all the technicians that work for the army national guard are going to be on furlough for every monday for the rest of the fiscal year beginning in july. >> well, don't worry, because speaker boehner can arrange for hurricanes only to occur after tuesday. >> oh, good. i feel so much better. >> the president was frustrated today about congressional obstruction. urging the senate to do its job, granting a vote to his nominees. and senator mitch mcconnell responded this afternoon. take a listen to this. >> there's a culture of intimidation throughout the executive branch of the federal government. we've seen it at hhs.

we've seen it over at agencies like the fcc and the s.e.c. and, of course, we've seen it on full display at the irs. >> so the president appoints some judges and suddenly it's a culture of intimidation throughout the executive branch? i mean, how can you work with people like that, and can you explain the giant leaps of logic that the senate minority leader appears capable of on a daily basis? >> well, one, what mitch mcconnell's words were about is that they have to do everything they can to distract from the fact that they only have an obstructionist agenda. their only goal is to get in president obama's way and prevent him from being successful. and so, you know, tieing everything to the irs, or the "ap" or benghazi, is really their obsession. but, you know, i would suggest that the minority leader, mcconnell, do what they've always urged democrats to do which is read the constitution.

it talks about the senate's role in advising and consenting. there are three open seats on the court of appeals. the president has nominated three individuals to sitz on t court of appeals. the senate now needs to give them a hearing. consider whether they want them to be confirmed and make a decision up or down. it's pretty simple. >> yeah, it's too simple, i'm afraid, for speaker boehner. now, i can't let you go without asking about the other headline hearing today? that on the serious issue of sexual assaults in the military. >> yes. >> senator saxby chambliss suggested, well, he suggested it's almost inevitable. take a listen to this. >> the young folks that are coming in to each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22 or 23. gee wiz. the level, the hormone level created by nature sits in place the possibility for these types of things to occur.

>> i'd like you to respond to that because i'm afraid i'm speechless. >> oh, my gosh. for a united states senator or anyone to write off sexual assault and the personal violation of a woman or a man to the raging hormones of youth shows just how dramatically out of touch the republican party is. i mean, to suggest that we shouldn't be doing everything we can to make sure that we hold accountable individuals who have committed sexual violence but also make significant massive reforms in the military so these people can be prosecuted and we can prevent these kinds of crimes from happening again, as president obama has said, is absolutely essential. but i think senator chambliss is grossly, dramatically, horrif horrifically insensitive remarks should be, he should apologize, and i think he should think about whether if, god forbid, a

sexual assault happened to a daughter of his, would he think it was okay for a senator to just chalk the assault up to raging hormones? >> he seems to regard a violent crime as a simple process of biology and hormones. >> well, we've seen, unfortunately, many, many individuals through the years make light and be dismissive of sexual assault. it's just -- it's just unconscionable that from the highest reaches of power in republican party in the united states senate you have an individual who is so dismissive of sexual assault against anyone, particularly in the military, where we're supposed to have rigid adherence to rules and to respect and to duty and to honor. and sexual assault is obviously none of those things. >> it's absolutely not. congresswoman debbie wasserman-schultz. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you, martin. coming up, shoot first.

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anything else like the circus that's happening in the oversight committee are here is simply political theater. >> had the former irs commissioner, shulman, who knew about the political targeting long before congress is told, since implied that the organizations were responsible

for the targeting because they chose to apply for tax exempt status. so you're to blame, i guess, is the message here. >> the gop has developed a slick way of repeatedly shouting, scandal, without ever having to prove any of the allegations that they make. here's how it works. first, hold hearings on, say, the irs, and suggest that it did, indeed, happen to even reach the white house. then when questioned on talk shows, admit that, well, no, there's nothing really definitive, but that that's proof in and of itself for why there needs to be more hearings. >> the reason that lois lerner tried to take the fifth is not because there's a rogue no cincinnati, it's because this is a problem that was coordinated in all likelihood right out of washington headquarters and we're getting to proving it. >> did you hear that? we're getting there. we're almost there. not quite, but a little more time, a little more patience, and you're sure to see the

results. sort of like those e-mails you get from nigerian princes who promise results if you'll give them just one more chance. of course, key to this strategy is to completely ignore someone when they actually have something definitive to say on the subject. >> so to be clear, as of this date, there is no factual evidence that this was a politically motivated review from senior officials at the irs, or at the white house. is that correct? >> i can definitively say within the white house, no, as of today. >> joining us now, two famous men whose names have been famously slaughtered. fox news favorite, recently named jonathan dyson, professor at georgetown university, and "saturday night live" star a. dan milbank, political kmumi cot at the "washington post." dana, you if these charges came

to you by e-mail, you'd immediately send it to your junk folder, wouldn't you? >> i think i shave a program tht sends it to spam automatically, martin. people who should be most upset about the way the investigations are being handled are the republicans, themselves. they've taken what was potentially a really legitimate inquiry here. we don't know exactly what happened out there in cincinnati, and in this division of the irs. something clearly went wrong. by leaping and putting it into the white house without any evidence that it's there, they're sort of getting out over their skis and they're basically biasing the investigation. they're allowing the white house, and they're allowing democrats in congress to say, see, it's all politically motivated. so they're basically defeating the investigation, itself, before it gets under way. >> okay. professor, i would be wrong to suggest that it's just mr. issa engaging in this conduct. here's kentucky's hal rogers

addressing the interim irs commissioner on the scandal. take a listen to him. >> you say you will follow the facts wherever they go. well, we want you to push the facts to find out where the orders came from. >> professor, don't follow the facts, push them. isn't that why we have a scandal? because someone pushed something they weren't supposed to? >> they are factless pushers. like the dope pushers on the corner, pedalling mythologies that have no substantive base in reality. it's tragic here, martin. they're wasting the taxpayers money when they could be getting after serious criminals, when they could be investigating banks that are too big to fail that have continued to exploit average people. but instead, they are engaging in what the gop is, goofy, ominous and predatory. i hate to say that. if we're going to give an acronym to fox, full of

xenophobia. a bipartisan approach to try to get at what is a serious problem. instead, by overreaching, they undermine and sully the very name of democracy, small "d" and they give bad image to those politicians who are there in washington, d.c., who are the bane of the existence of most americans. americans left and right are tired of this political chicanery. allow people to engage in reasonable governance and state craft and get away from this agonizing stupidity they seem to be obsessed with, martin. there's no other way to say it than that. >> but professor dyson, we've only had six hearings on the irs. shouldn't we have more? we've had ten on benghazi. we voted to repeal the affordable care act 40 times. why not move on? >> well, obviously you're chu absolutely right here. i'd rather look at the irs release of the line dancing video to learn more moves because i think there's more

worth and value in that than engaging in yet another governmental waste of money and abuse of taxpayers' income for this kind of witch hunt executed by the far right. >> professor, i've seen you dance, and you're far better than line dancing. dana, we also have former ambassador thomas pickering testifying on benghazi behind closed doors. now, i assume, dana, that's because they, again, don't want to hear that the white house did not, in fact, order troops to stand down. >> well, more to the point they don't want the public to hear that. so hence behind closed doors. the democrats have been asking for this to happen for some time, and pickering has said he's very eager to testify. the ben gaughazi thing from beginning to end has been quite an extraordinary affair. last week we had michele bachmann saying, in fact, it was actually the cover-up following the death of these men that actually caused the deaths going back in time to do that. >> yes. >> so, you know, the irs scandal

is one where, okay, something bad really did happen there. they could be investigating this. they could be -- >> dana, the president. >> -- seeing where the trail leads. >> the president, himself, condemned what happened in that office in cincinnati. there's never been a dispute. >> exactly. focus on what occurred there. pursue a legitimate line of inquiry. we can't really say the congress shouldn't be investigating something that went wrong at the irs. instead, we have three committees going after the irs and we have five going after benghazi. i don't know who's paying attention to the economy or to tax reform or to jobs or anything else. >> but it's certainly not them. georgetown professor michael eric dyson and the "washington post's" dana milbank. thank you, gentlemen. >> thanks, martin. coming up, racist, rigid and old-fashioned? reince priebus raps with the college republican set. ♪ three things taught me conservative love ♪ ♪ jesus, ronald reagan, plus atlas shrug ♪ ♪ on my hands and my knees

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when you think of college life, you probably think of frat parties, all night sit-ins, and republican national committee chairman reince priebus. what's that, you don't think of reince priebus? well, mr. priebus intends to change that by showing that he's down with the kids. he can get jiggy with it and speaks your language. in response to a new report from the college republican national committee which described the gop as "close-minded, racist, rigid and old-fashioned," mr. priebus told politico, "republicans are in a great position to talk to millennials about how we're actively fighting to give entrepreneurial young people a better shot at sack's and freedom and opportunity for all americans. the foundation is set, and now

we're putting the rubber to the road." entrepreneurial millennials? rubber to the road? the foundation is set? i tell you what, mr. priebus, he has a complete mastery of the linguistic currents that flow out of the east junior common room every friday night, but it seems he might have to do a bit more than just talk gibberish to get these cco-eds fired up. >> let's go. >> stay with us. the day's top lines are coming up. >> he said every flavor of terrorists is operating in syria right now. >> every flavor. your rocky road side bomb. there. death to ameri-cone dream,

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combine any 2 for just $12.99. [ stewart ] for the seaside mix & match, we're really mixing it up. there's just so many combinations to try. i'm stewart harrington, red lobster line cook, and i sea food differently. from republican wish fulfillment, to the irs boogaloo, here are today's top lines, 157 times. >> mu judicial nominees have waited three times longer. >> can mcconnell say we were trying to pack the court? >> what's happening is unprecedented. >> pack the court? >> my gut tells me that too many people knew that this wrongdoing was going on. >> i heard that. that's amazing. >> no, no, i'm talking. i'm talking and i'm going to finish my point. >> i'm not here as a surf or a vessel. i'm a born free american woman telling my government that you've forgotten your place. >> welcome to audit world, irs.

>> "talking points" is not linking the irs scandal to the white house. >> it is the obama irs. >> what was shulman doing at the irs? >> 157 times. >> 157. >> 157 visits. >> at some point it becomes wish fulfillment by republicans. >> we will not tolerate another political enemy's list. >> that's totally absurd. >> arrogance of power. >> wait a minute. wait, wait, wait. >> there is no factual evidence that this was a politically motivated review. >> it was bolo. bolo. >> within the white house, no. as of today. >> one word. bolo. >> this video made by irs employees. >> really not a glamorous job to be an irs agent. >> after watching that video, i'm pretty convinced it would be difficult for the irs so coordinate anything. >> lots of companies have retreated and motivational speakers. >> educational speakers are fine. doing the boogaloo on my dime is not. >> i can promise you, i've never been line dancing with bill o'reilly. ever.

>> should be an interesting segment. let's get right to our panel. joining us now is joy reid, managing editor of the grio.com and the great ryan grim of the "huffington post" joins us from washington. now, ryan, as we just heard in top lines, the irs commissioner met with the president 157 times at the white house. this is an absolute fact. it's actually been handed down to moses on tablets of stone and is currently in the old testament. surely with so many visits, it's time to impeach the president. >> well, sure. and why is this irs chief so dense? i mean, how many -- does he really need to be told 157 times to go out targeting conservative groups? isn't just one enough? like, hey, you know, go sick your agency on the tea party. just go do it, you know? >> he benefits from repetition. >> i suppose so. he kept calling him -- is that thing finished yet? is that thing done yet? >> that was the question. >> as we've seen, actually, it

doesn't even seem like -- it certainly doesn't seem like he showed up to the 157 meetings that he was cleared to go to. the vast majority were not in the white house and they were actually about health care reform, not about targeting, you know, a couple of guys waving flags at a glenn beck rally. >> so how many times did this individual actually turn up? >> i think i saw something that said about 11, maybe a few more than that. >> okay. >> you know, they record when you're cleared and when you actually arrive and depart. but, you know, there were weekly meetings that he was cleared to attend on a regular basis which he clearly did not. >> right. okay. joy, congressman david shwikert, republican of arizona, says house republicans are doing better than expected this year but he's afraid this relative success may not have been earned. in fact, he tells the "washington post" it may be due to the fact that, "we avoided the tough issues."

i'm sorry, we have breaking news. let's have more footage of conga line dancing. sorry. we've seen that plenty of times. i'm sorry, we do want to keep playing it. great moves there. as i was saying, sorry for the breaking news, joy, i'm just wondering if it's not that they've avoided the tough issues, or are they ducking the tough issues, these republicans? >> i think actually republicans have really missed the real scandal here which is that it's clear that the irs chief was in the white house learning how to line dance. because it's difficult to do the electric slide. you see, because you have to go to the left and the right. back and forth. it's very difficult. so we know that that's the real scandal. they should get right on it. i think what republicans were seeing now, we started to see it before, they fractured sort of along ideological lines when it comes to actual policy, the thing they were sent there by voters to do. since that's hard and it's difl difficult to agree on anything, immigration reform, something on the budget, it's difficult to do that. >> or the sequester. >> or the sequester. as long as they're turning their

focus on the white house, the debt ceiling, you know, little things like that, like america's budget and spending. as long as they're fighting with the white house and focusing that laser spotlight on the white house, they think they look better. >> right. okay. ryan, immigration, as joy just said, is one of the tough issues republicans are botching so conspicuously. even their savior who was supposed to clear up the whole problem. take a listen to this. >> i give you my word that if this issue becomes one of those old-fashioned washington issues where they start horse trading one part of it for another part of it, if each of these are not dealt with as separate issues even though they're all dealt with in one bill, i won't be able to support that anymore. >> now, ryan, with all due respect to the irs boogaloo, won't it be a bigger story if republicans can't fix immigration and can't fix their problem with alienating latinos along with a whole lot of other people? >> sure. i mean, i think the best thing that republicans can hope for is that the senate -- >> i'm sorry.

we have breaking news, again, of course some line dancing. we're just going to show that. here we are. 157 times. and great moves there. he's fabulous, that one there in the light colored shirt. and look at that hip movement. sorry, going back to you, ryan. sorry for the breaking news. >> the pity for the irs workers is how many of them do you think actually wanted to be at this conference? they probably would have rather been at home for the weekend. you know, grilling in their backyard. not only do they have to truck to this conference, not only do they have to do this embarrassing line dance that none of them wanted to do anyway. now they're getting criticized for spending all this taxpayer money and they're getting humiliated by it playing over and over and over again. however, you know, it's not easy to have sympathy for the irs. nobody -- >> although, frankly, i think we are beginning to feel rather sorry for them. joy reid and ryan grim, think you so much. coming up, sexual assaults in the military. a crisis deepens. the search for a solution continues. we'll be right back.

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to a new e-trade retirement account. none of them charge annual fees and all of them offer low cost investments. e-trade. less for us. more for you. the senate held hearings earlier today on the epidemic of sexual assault throughout the military. the goal of these hearings is to determine the best way to reduce and resolve this problem. testimony was heard from a number of high ranking generals. the consensus of which was that they do not want the system to change too drastically. >> if i believe that removing commanders from their central goal of responsibility and addressing sexual assault would solve these crimes within our ranks, i'd be your strongest proponent. but removing commanders, making commanders less responsible and less accountable, will not work. >> senator kirsten gillibrand took issue with this idea that commanders are the right people to make the determination as to what is, or is not, a sexual

assault. >> while you are all so dedicated and determined, not all commanders are objective. not every single commander necessarily wants women in the force. not every single commander believes what a sexual assault is. not every commander can distinguish between a slap on the ass and a rape because they merge all of these crimes together. >> joining us now is congressman charlie rangel, democrat from new york. good afternoon, sir. >> thank you for having me. >> it's a pleasure to have you, sir. senator gillibrand's bill would change, as you know, the military justice system so commanding officers are no longer part of the legal process. as you know, this is getting pushback from the military top brass. as someone who bravely served this nation and knows firsthand what that experience is like, do you support senator gillibrand's bill? >> 100%. military commanders are too close to the forest to see the trees. there are things that happen to all the of us in the military,

and there are certain things that men kind of believe in that are just myths. it would seem to me that a woman to complain that's looking to make a career out of military and she's going to be planiin complaining and looking for the sympathy and support of someone higher up in the military, she is just going to be out of business. you know, we had a similar type problem with our new york city police department, and nothing worked except civilian review. someone that is not personally or politically involved in the process. >> so you don't agree, sir, with those highly decorated generals who believe that if the decision is taken out of commanding officers' hands, it undermines those commanding officers within their own regiments, battalions? it undermines respect they're due? >> well, i was one of those middle class soldiers, and i can

tell you one thing. those people with all those stars don't want anything taken away from them. i personally believe that we're doing the commanders a great service by not allowing the military training to get involved with the sensitivity we need to bring all of the people in the military working together. now, let's make it abundantly clear. if someone is sexually assaulted, you don't need any military training to tell what is an assault. i think that senator gillibrand said it all. a slap on the behind is different from a rape. and going to military school in west point can help you with that. but not being blinded by your own prejudice as a military person, that could help women and other people who are victims a great deal. you don't have to be military trained to determine what's right and what's wrong. >> absolutely. is it difficult for the white house to take a stance on this issue in that supporting miss gillibrand's bill would require

the white house to go against the nation's top military commanders? >> well, i wouldn't be too concerned about the top military commanders. i was trying to say commanders the way you did. but the truth is that they don't give up anything. that's a part of their -- they got the jurisdiction. i think the problem may be with the secretary of defense, senator hagel, and he and i have hardly disagreed with anything with the military. but i -- he is a former military person, himself, albeit he was not an officer, i would hope that he would agree. the best way to judge people conduct is to find someone who can be objective about what the facts are. so i don't think the president has any problem, and he shouldn't have with generals, but he should talk it over with the secretary of defense. >> right. what is your reaction to saxby chambliss who said this earlier today? take a listen, sir.

>> the young folks that are coming in to each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22 or 23. gee wiz. the hormone level created by nature sits in place the possibility for these types of things to occur. >> what is your reaction, sir, to an individual like that suggesting that the sexual crime of rape can somehow be justified by the raging hormones occurring in a young man's body? >> well, some of his friends believe if a person, if a young woman is being raped, that she can avoid pregnancy by having the body to reject these type of things. i don't know how badly we men folks have been raised in terms of regarding women as an inferior person, but you can see that some of this is hard for

certain people to get rid of, and there's just no excuse to violate a person's body regardless of the hormones. and if you follow that to its illogical conclusion, it could even get worse than that. but we don't really need that type of thinking for a serious problem that the military is facing now. those people expose themselves, their body, in order to save this country. the least we can do is give them the protection they deserve. >> absolutely. congressman charles rangel, thank you, sir. >> thank you. coming up, a gop at odds with itself, as seen through one influential republican consulting firm. stay with us. both maxwell and ted have hail damage to their cars. ted is trying to get a hold of his insurance agent. maxwell is not. he's on geico.com setting up an appointment with an adjuster. ted is now on hold with his insurance company.

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if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.

>> how could anyone forget the illustrious mr. todd akin and his theories on the female reproductive system? what you may not know is that after he spoke those words, he saug sought the advice with a major player within tea party circles, the strategy group for media. it's an organization that's helped rand paul and ted cruz in the senate, and perhaps sustained the campaigns of michele bachmann and newt gingrich well beyond their shelf life. but in a fascinating new article by "buzzfeed" politics this strategy group is engaged in a civil war between its founder and a now former president. much like the rest of the party, it has helped to dominate. we're pleased to have the author of that piece "buzzfeed's" mckay coppins joins us. from washington, rick tyler who appears on our broadcast in his third position, i believe, over the last two years. mckay, can you briefly explain what caused this rift? and also, what sort of waves is

it causing for the tea pear and republicans as a whole? >> sure. yeah. this is a pane that over the last few years has really kind of blazed a trail under the national stage by riding the tea party wave and helping many of very conservative candidates and politicians that the gop establishment has sort of cast off make their way into congress. it's also a company whose culture is very religious and built around christianity. and what basically happened, my reporting shows, is that over the past year, several of the managers including the president who, now former president, became increasingly disturbed and concerned about the behavior of the ceo, rex, who they said was making irrational business decisions and who also in his personal life was not living up to the christian values that their company was based on. so in april -- >> what do you mean specifically by that? >> sure. the sources that i talked to said they became concerned about

his drinking. they thought he was drinking too much. they also thought that he needed to eat more healthily and exercise more and they also were worried he was showing off his wealth too much. they -- >> temptations there of drunkenness and debauchery. rick, we've spoken to nick everhart. declined to comment for the purposes of this broadcast. you replaced mr. everhart. i'd like to give you a moment to respond to the problems the organization has had and how you plan to clean things up. >> well, first of all i read mckay's piece of fiction between the taco bell fired, and 18 most insane sex toys. that was on "buzzfeed." i want to congratulate mckay. he shred the pretense of any journalistic -- >> mr. tyler, i'm happy for you to make judgments about my journalism and mr. coppin's

journalism. what i'm keen to hear from you is what you think about what has gone wrong? after all, a former president has been kicked out and is now in a legal fight with the ceo. tell us what happened. >> the former president was kicked out through his own doing. he violated company policy and, look, he is a former employee and he's now gone. there is no civil war at the strategy group for media. we are stronger and more capable of getting conservatives elected than we've ever been. and that's really what this attack is about. we're the most successful political advertising firm in america. we install more conservatives into public office than any other of our competitors including congress. and so i'm not surprised we would be attacked. but we have more capabilities, more people, and we're stronger than ever. and there's no civil war. in fact, i think we are more in accord than ever. so i -- and the premise of your question, by the way, martin, was how was i going to clean up the organization based on the

false reporting of mckay coppins? >> again, mr. tyler, sorry, mckay, would you like to respond? you've engaged if false rerting. >> oh, yeah, i expected that the company would push back on this story. my reporting is based on interviews with nearly two dozen sources including current and former employees of the strategy group. and, of course, i worked with rick leading up to the publ publication of the story. a lot of what the story reports on happened before rick joined which was a few weeks ago. i think the broader story here is about kind of the tea party and the state of the republican party, where you see a lot of, you know, attention and money flow very quickly to these groups and it can be disorie disorienting and cause rifts with organizations. >> okay. rick, can i ask you a broader question? >> sure. >> aren't strategy groups such as yours making it difficult for men like speaker john boehner to cobble together the sorts of majorities that are needed to break the gridlock in

washington? i mean, it seems to me as though your organization is almost like the 17th century church in england. it's always purifying itself, seceding and seceding, kicking people out because they're not quite as pure as the rest. and so it goes on. >> well, i would disagree with you, martin. i think you just described the lockstep of the democratic party. we support candidates who would like to see the budget balanced. we support candidates who are by in large pro life. we support candidates who would like to see some fiscal responsibility return to washington, reduce regulations and embrace free market enterprise and success. and so on those things, we can all agree. the reason we get nothing is done is because we can't get the u.s. senate, which is dominated by liberal democrats, to move anything in a president who won't sign it because he's a liberal democrat. >> okay. going back to you for a moment, mckay, tell us a little bit about the kind of behavioral issues that this gentleman was involved in that raised so many concerns about him. >> sure. well, a lot of the people that i

talked to, more than one person unprompted referred to the organization, and they said that the way that rex elsass kind of has a very firm grip on not just the company, but his employees. the way the payment structure works out means he buys cars and houses for his manage ers which would seem generous, and many people said it was. also means if you leave the company or cross the boss in any way, you can be left homeless and without a job and without a car. there are a lot of people who said, you know, the way the company was run was this way. and they said that rex over the last year, who also is very brilliant -- >> yes. >> -- at creating ads. >> no doubt. >> has built up a very successful business. has just been increasingly kind of -- >> very quickly, rick, do you think it's entirely christian for a gentleman who runs this organization to drive around in a bentley, chomp on a cigar, and require two forms of laproscotic

surgery because he can't control his eating? >> rick elsass. i haven't gone through the indoctrination that mckay talks about. all of our employees are free to go, come and go. they stay because they adhere to the integrity of the company. >> rick, i'm sorry, we've run out of time. >> it's good to see you, martin. >> great to see you, rick. >> good to talk to you again, rick. >> good to talk to you. >> we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] erica had a rough day. good thing she's got the citi simplicity card. it doesn't charge late fees or a penalty rate, ever. because she's got other things to stress about. ♪ go to citi.com/simplicity to apply.

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