let me bring in on both of these fronts nbc news senior reporter ben collins. ind of bucket number two here. 12 of the 19 republican candidates who either did not respond or did not commit to the "washington post," this election denialism in the midterms, hem us understand what it means longer term, beyond simply november. >> i think the big thing in any movement right now, the q-anon movement, the pro trump movement online, is to dispel the idea that we have free and fair democratic elections and part of what they're doing to look at poll workers and hang outside of polls or actually try to get into the system and to be a part of the election infrastructure. they may learn something they don't want to learn, which is these are safe elections but they are actively, especially right now, telling people to get into those cases. and remember voting, they're talking about changing the way people vote and how acceptable it is for people to in dim date people and they want to vote for people, as we've seen in the primaries, they want to vote for people who will fundam

. >> ben collins is a senior reporter for nbc news, where he covers disinformation, extremism, the internete joins me now. ben, good to have you here. so, it really does seem in the last few weeks there's been a real turn in trump sort of active promotion engagement with that. how would you characterize it? >> yeah, so and truth social, his little fake twitter knock off that we just talked about, he has been re-trooping, which is the word for retweeting, a bunch of qanon posts. now, he's done this with the past in twitter stuff. he posted a line of plausible liability, last, week he posted that thing where he had the qanon, and where do we go on, all stuff. and then at this rally on saturday, over this very ominous music, i don't know if you are that at the end. it wasn't just people pointing, but it was this swelling ominous music. and that music was called, where we go one, we go all. and it was by a synonymous person named richard feel good, by the way. so, the fact that they found this at all, >> right, someone's gonna do a little work. >> that's exactly right. it's the first time you u

ben collins is joining me now. ben let's talk about this.one there in certain respects. but what happened this week it's a lot more troublesome. tell us why. >> yeah. he has never endorsed this conspiracy theory or pushed qanon accounts that says specific things about the storm but that is what he did this week. he posted a couple of qanon posts, one was in reference to the storm coming, the storm is the end date for qanon the big apocalyptic judgment day where hillary clinton and joe biden are marched down the street and executed in public and all of that stuff. there was an actual q drop, a fictitious government insider, who posted all of these things that was a post from 2017. so this is explicit endorsement of the most apocalyptic cult that exists, political cult that exist in america right now. but donald trump probably likes it because they are the only people who are left on truth social right now really cloying out this timeline. >> all right, so two questions. i know that you had a lot of folks immediately responding to this support

ben collins is joining us now from that rally, and you see the speaker we see there then, how do usedehind you. talk about the message they're trying to send. >> i think as you can see, probably dozens of people right here. they are trying to rewrite the history of january 6th here. for example, this was put on by a guy named jake lang, jake was at the capitol, the police officers with shields, he now has a podcast that he says was taken within his prison block, his that is speaking here today. also mike lindell, the my pillow guy speaking today, it is that kind of crowd, people trying to rewrite january 6th into an inverted reality. it's very weird, they are still in this space. they are blaming antifa, they are blaming people who were not there that day but they still kind of want credit for doing what they did on january 6th. >> here is a question, we had a bunch of investigations into what happened on january 6th, they are still ongoing in fact, there has been a lot of result in charges, people behind bars to a point they made, do any of these participants seem concerned at all ab

and i'll test it with ben collins. >> yeah, i drove the aston martin dbs in "quantum of solace." >> oh that's the one that went off the cliff, yeah, yeah. i'll ride shotgun with jazz legend herbie hancock in a car he bought 'cause he was told he couldn't afford it.

ben collins joins us for more. what are you learning?to get a discount on a t-shirt. also, you know, i think a lot of people think this is happening in strictly red areas. you know, two of the biggest states with this membership were texas and -- sorry, california and new york, next to texas and florida, which you would probably expect. these people are all over the country. it's a membership list that was built online over the last 12 years. the oath keepers are built on the idea they're keeping an oath to the constitution, no matter what, even if current laws disobey them. that's the point of this, to build a large group of people throughout the country, both in law enforcement officials who are kind of abiding by their own laws. >> ben, i want to ask you more about that because there are a number of far-right extremist groups out there and you've become familiar with every single one of them even ones that we have not heard much about. what can you tell us about the oath keepers and their founder, stewart rhodes? >> the oath keepers a

joining us, senior reporter, ben collins, and ryan riley.n court behind you, ryan? >> it's going to be a slow process. they have 150 jurors they have to get through and vet them, and they filled out a questionnaire that lays out a lot of their viewpoints and associations of the oath keepers, and a lot of them have not heard from the oath keepers before, and the oath keepers have been trying to get their name out there for a long time and think of themselves as a big militia group. basically they will go through the jury selection process and it could take a few days, and then the trial overall is expected to last five or six weeks. it could be a lengthy process we could expect here, lindsey. >> ben, you are on set with me. how significant is it these people are facing seditious conspiracy charges? >> first of all, there are many people out there that doesn't believe the january 6th riot was put on by donald trump or militias, and when republicans gain control of the congress, it would be very important for them to get out there, because that

joining our coverage on set, ben collins, nbc news senior political reporter. ter the event of the weekend, a trump fan in a clown wig obsessed with the end times, have to explain end times to us, threatened to kill all democrats in a dq, dairy queen? love my blizzards. another man riddled with q delusions in michigan shot up his family at home injuring his daughter and killing his wife and killing his dog. >> yeah. you know, people are wondering when it's going to happen, when the big next january 6th thing is going to happen, and we have this rolling wave of violence in this country by people who are obsessed with bringing back the previous time. you know, and that can mean whatever they want. it can mean the '90s. it can mean the '50s, something much further back than that. but they think they are losing control of the culture, of their own power in society, and donald trump is giving them a way to get it back. so is qanon by the way, but that guy who shot his family, you know, killed his dog, killed his wife, injured his daughter, went on to read it. she wen

you know, when somebody's reading the book like ben collins, and he says oh, my gosh, kelly only had an attempted text. that's two bits of data. and a one to two-second hit. they call. oh, yeah, we sent the data train. andrew giuliani fell out. now we have a white house aide texting with an oath keeper charged with conspiracy. holy crap. those type of mistakes in data are critical. that's what i talk about in the boom. i want to committee to kick ass tomorrow. >> you said you were impressed with the way things were. are you still confident they've been able to pursue these leads from what you've seen so far or do you think the committee is wanting in some way? >> i think when you look at the day the, the committee doesn't have the authorities necessary. that's what i talk about. this is not a, this is a public trust investigation. this isn't fbi or doj. >> why do you think they're upset with you for coming out with this? >> they didn't read the book and now when they do, i think this calms down. i've been in politics, right. and i get it. right. because you know, you have to try. and

chris one thing i'd add tear excellent entry there that there's another reporter, ben collins, that's it kelly sorrel, the general counsel who was in touch with andrew giuliani during november, 2020, that's a definite link the you have in this chain, another piece of the puzzle. we have rudy giuliani, his father mentioning this idea of the oath keepers and proud boys. i think it's important to make that part of the puzzle as well. so i think this will definitely shape up and won that key moments i will be looking for in this testimony, is this moment on january six when another person who's expecting to testify, they've already told the court in sworn in his plea agreement that on the january 6th, stewart rhodes was in a hotel room trying to get in touch with donald trump, asking a trump intermediary put him in contact directly with donald trump and encouraging that intermediary to tell donald trump to call upon them that night. call them up and make them stop the peaceful transfer of power. that's a moment to definitely watch for in this trial. chris >> barbara, seditious conspiracy

. >> ben collins and ""the guardian's"" hugo lowell, than you for your reporting. >>> donald trump's former chief of staff mark meld does is scheduled to give testimony today in fulton county, georgia, but it's unclear whether he will show up. fulton county's district attorney filed a request last month for meadows to testify about phone call he set up between trump and georgia's secretary of state brad raffensperger. during that infamous call, trump asked raffensperger to find enough votes to put him ahead of joe biden. >> all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state, so what are we going to do here, folks? i only need 11,000 votes. fellas, i need 11,000 votes. give me a break. >> just find the votes, says the president of the united states. nbc news correspondent blayne alexander is live outside the fulton county courthouse. any sign of mark meadows yet? >> reporter: well, willie, we've been watching this door behind me all morning and the other entrances around the courthouse. so far no sign of my entrance. we

. >> ben collins, always your reporting is fascinating to read.times. love that. julia, keep us posted on how jury selection is going. that's going to do it for us this hour. join us every weekday, but tomorrow in advance of the january 6th hearing, i'll see you at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. katy tur reports starts next with former january 6th committee member and former republican congressman, denver riggleman. he's giving a behind the scenes look at the investigation in his new book. that's coming up right after this. w book that's coming up right after this and for those who do get it bad, it may be because they have a high-risk factor. such as heart disease, diabetes, being overweight, asthma, or smoking. even if symptoms feel mild, these factors can increase your risk of covid-19 turning severe. so, if you're at high risk and test positive, don't wait. ask your healthcare provider right away if an authorized oral treatment is right for you. the first time you made a sale online was also the first time you heard of a town named... dinosaur? we j

and we also welcome ben collins, senior reporter for nbc news. gentlemen, thank you for being here.is there anything in your mind revealed in these documents that is raising new red flags about national security? >> alex, great to be with you this afternoon. the photo that's on the screen right now, that your viewers can see, it has these distinctive markings. top secret, sci, and then secret sci. in the world that i came from, and my year in the white house, to have those types of documents in a government facility, they can only be handled in a certain kind of facility called a secure compartment facility -- or escape. the fact that these documents were not declassified, they didn't go through the formal process, they were kept in his possession. and then they were taken in a facility that wasn't approved to store this kind of material even if it was somehow in a locked room in mar-a-lago. so that in and of itself is really concerning. we also don't know, looking at those cover sheets, what's behind the actual sheets -- i can make some speculations based on the words sci. i would

our colleague ben collins was at the rally and reporting that it was this mixed malice surge salad andit did, we are proud of it last night you had trump giving a nod to another far-right movement. he went on, i just wonder when you step back and assess what is happening, what are these rallies telling you? >> for one thing the trip doesn't matter and people go to these rallies to say that their lives are interesting and have meaning. they're not really here to hear what actually happened, they decided what happens and they have decided that this is something that they want to be part of. the more dangerous thing and the thing i'm much more worried about is that big donald trump is priming a lot of people and forgetting the violence. if the government doesn't leave him alone. if they're being indicted. if they run. trump is now reaching out to any group that will worship him no matter how dangerous they are and he is basically convincing them that he is their messiah and they have to be willing to pick up arms and fight on his behalf >> to that point, i think the stakes were already ve

this is from ben collins who tweeted, quote, trump going mask off. the qanon stuff on truth social today. he retruthed a photoshop of himself wearing a q pin plus a couple of q catch phrases from a q account. trump is not flirting with qanon anymore. he's moving in. this is a political evolution, i guess. i don't know what we call it. it has serious domestic security implications. christopher rae testified in september of the election year that domestic violent extreism of the white premise cyst stripe was of the gravest threat to the homeland. qanon is in a bucket of its own. it's bizarre. and trump is all in. >> yeah, it's a completely bonkers conspiracy theory. part of the reason that in addition to everything else, it's a total head scratcher that you have trump amplifying qanon messages is that the conspiracy theory debunked itself over the course of trump's presidency. it was built on this notion that trump was going to take all these dramatic steps to incarcerate hillary clinton and send generals to gitmo and on and on. steps that trump never

we care more about actions rather than words. >> ben wedeman, kaitlin collins, thank you both for yourrting. let's continue this conversation. joining us is robin wright, a distinguished fellow at the u.s. institute for peace and colonel cedric leighton, former member of joint staff of the pentagon. robin, putin calling up 300,000 reservists. what does that tell you? >> well, it reflects the disa ray as ben pointed out. this is an army that has suffered serious losses both in manpower and territory. this is a turning point for putin, for his country, for his military initiative and i think for his political future. this is a dangerous moment in this war, particularly because he is now more than once talked about invoking all the weapons in his arsenal, which include nuclear weapons. that would change the face of the war, it would change the nature of it. it's already in practice kind of a mini world war. but this would then pose a threat to nato allies in ways that we haven't seen in over 70 years. so this was a real moment. he clearly was trying to steal the bluster of an american pre

. >> cnn's chief white house correspondent, kaitlan collins is outside the u.n. and benedeman is in kharkiv. ben, let's start with you and if there's been any response from ukraine to what we heard from president biden and what we've heard from president putin. >> reporter: well, before i get to that, victor, let me tell you within the last half hour we have seen several missiles fly over here, kharkiv. here's some of the video. according to local authorities, one of them landed on a non-residential building. there's no word of any casualties or there don't appear to be any casualties. last night at 2:00 a.m. local time, similarly, missile strikes nearby. the fear is that after president putin made this announcement it's going to take months for those 300,000 reservists to be brought to the front line. the fear is that perhaps tonight or in the coming days they may use their fire power just to remind ukraine of the kind of weaponry they have. regarding reactions to president putin's speech, we've heard president zelenskyy said that it wasn't a surprise that they're going

>> ben, thank you so much for being there. >>> kaitlan collins is back with us. also chief national security correspondent and anchor jim ch scuitto and retired general mark hertling. general, let me start with you. the white house says that this is an admission of failure by putin. let me play what john kirby said just this morning. >> it's definitely a sign he's struggling. we know that, he has terrible morale, unity cohesion on the battlefield, command and control has still not been so solved, and he 'forcing wounded back into the fight. he's on his back foot. >> general, do you agree? >> absolutely, katy. it's prescient in terms of what may happen in the future. this is a physics problem. russia cannot generate an additional force of 300,000 soldiers to come on the battlefield from a reserve force, especially since those individuals don't want to do it. we are seeing massive purchases of one-way tickets out of russia to territories of different aged men. putin just provided a new rule to all of this, saying 18 to 65-year-old men cannot leave the country. so w

ben wedeman in kharkiv, ukraine, thank you so much for all of your terrific reporting. >>> u.s. officials are closely watching the sham referenda taking place. our chief white house correspondent, kaitlyn collinsus. you have new reporting about what the potential response could be from the biden administration to what you just heard ben call a foregone conclusion in ukraine. >> reporter: and the white house recognizes it's basically a foregone conclusion, these sham elections that are basically being carried out at gunpoint. that's why the white house is watching them closely, as they are set to conclude and the results are set to be announced. because, of course, their concern is not what the results are going to be. the white house has made clear they will never recognize the results of these so-called elections, because they're being orchestrated by russia, they know they are fraudulent. so that part is clear. what they are watching for is what russia does after it announces the results of these fake referendums, because the concern is that the white house, they are going to move to annex these regions, make them part of russia and then potentially use any kind of fighting or attacks from t

westminster where big ben was chiming the bells for a moment of silence to begin for the celebration of the late now queen elizabeth ii. tomorrow the funeral gets under way. back now to katelyn collins and kate williams. we saw the moment of silence recognized from downing street to hyde park where you could hear a little bit of the bell tolling. katelyn, the president of the united states is there. he paid tribute earlier today even remarking after signing that condolence book. >> people come to take in the moment of what this means and reflecting upon the queen's legacy and president biden himself did that earlier today. the first stop in london and went to see her lying in state as we you people waiting in line to do so. over a dozen hours in line. he signs the condolence book and talking about what it was like when he met her and described him as someone that reminded him of her mother. >> she was a same in person as the image. decent, honorable and all about service and our hearts go out to the royal family. king charles and all the family. it's a loss that leighs a giant hole and sometimes you think you'll never overcome it but as i have told the king she's going to be with hi