. >> elliot abrams who pleaded guilty on two misdemeanors to lying to congress about iran contra and was pardoned later by george herbert walker bush just became the united states new special envoy to venezuela abrams' surprise appointment comes as the political crisis in venezuela came to a head when juan giude declared himself president and president trump recognized him jennifer ruben is back with me steve evans from the atlantic and mariana atencio, msnbc correspondent. steve, on the history of elliot abrams first he was a surprise pick in part because he did the thing you are not supposed to do to get on the trump team which is criticize trump. he wrote this op-ed titled "when you can't stand your candidate." it's an excerpt from a do not allow the republican convention to be a coronation where trump and trumpism are unchallenged. the party needs to be reminded there are deep divisions and trump needs to be reminded how many oppose and fear his nomination there was an op-ed by the council on hemispheric affairs in 2017 that talked about considering elliot abrams would be a rude s

amy: the trump administration has tapppped elliot abrams, a right-wing hawk implicated in in lying to congress to be venezuela, just days after the start of the u.s.-backed attempt to oust venezuelan president nicolas maduro. we will speak to democrat congress member ro khanna, one of a handful of u.s. lawmakers to speak out about u.s.-imposed regime change in venezuela. then we look at a stunning new documentary about the man whwho mentored donald trump and roger stone, the infamous attorney roy cohn. >> they swallowed roy cohn in a certain way and absorbebed all f his incredible abilities at practicing the dark arts of manipulation of politics and media and understanding the nexus between politics and media and how to operate those lovers for dark and selfish purposes. "where's my roy cohn?" premiered here at sundance just hours after one of the key figures in the film, roger stone, was arrested for lying to congress about his interactions with wikileaks during the 2016 campaign. we will hear roger stone himself talk autut thempacact of roy cohn. it is t rules oar, you not fight on

assessment of the employment of elliot abrams, part of the united states.a question about what more can the u.s. congress do and again the question of asset recovery -- [inaudible] >> okay, regarding the decision of elliot abrams, you know, independent from the u.s. government and i respect that. i met with him recently and i just proposed to him our agenda and we want to get the support of the u.s. administration and our agenda. i'm willing to work within the family to work as we are doing right now with the lima group and also that the european union. so we have been very clear and we will continue pushing our agenda. we will be asking to support what we have presented to the venezuelan people. in the second question as you know, this is no regular situation. it's a very complex moment. we have an urgent agenda as i just mentioned we want to achieve as soon as possible the change in order to conduct a smooth transition in minnesota. that would be for us and the people of venezuela because in that sense we can stop the suffering immediately. so that is wha

administration and from elliot abrams, our agenda. and i'm willing to work with him and willing to work as we are doing right now with the lima group and also with the european union. so we have been very clear with our agenda. and we will continue pushing our agenda. we will be asking to support what we have presented to the venezuelan people. so we have been very transparent on that. and in the second question, i mean, as you know, we -- this is no regular situation. this is a unique situation. it's a very complex moment. we have an urgent agenda that as i just mentioned, i mean, we want to achieve as soon as possible the change in order to conduct a smooth transition in venezuela. that would be the perfect scenario for us and for the people of venezuela because in that sense, we can stop the suffering immediately. so that's what we want to achieve, but taking into account the decision that have been taken by the u.s. government, i mean, first of all , what we wat to do is just preserve the asset of the venezuelan people. if we're g

i want to be very specific with you what was your reaction when the person goes by the name of elliot abrams was pointed. leader of american foreign policy and the washington consensus apparently to deal with venezuela so early and they're able to definitely if he has the right. to do this and this is somebody who. you know. as with many other new.

i want to be very specific with you what was your reaction when the person goes by the name of elliot abrams was pointed. leader of american foreign policy and the washington consensus apparently to deal with venezuela so even if definitely he has the right. to do this and this is somebody who. you know. as with many other in your comments he comes from a family of democrats he was deeply involved in the iran contra affair and in fact he was convicted of withholding information from the u.s. congress he was pardoned by george h.w. bush later on he was also involved in decision making in the lead to the iraq war and now we see him up pointed to deal with the who essentially according the eight slow moving call in minnesota would you say that he's fluent in regime change definitely he's that person to get to do this. without them to go in two thousand and two charges was removed from power for several days and it was a real cool i mean it was. not there was no alternative you know leader it was just the army you know trying to step in. of course the department congratulated the visit very well

amy: the trump administration has tapppped elliot abrams, a right-wing hawk implicated in

he began by talking g about the significance of the appointment of elliot abrams. >> what his appointmenteemphasizes, it was already obvious, was that the u.s. is trying to overthrow the government of venezuela and that it will be willing to use violence, to use military force if necessary. that's what abrams and indeed u.s. policy has been all about. i think their first preference would be to have a successful covert operation. mike pompeo when he was in charge of the cia all but stated it publicly. at one point when he was spspeaking in aspen at one of ,hose gatherings of the e elite he gave the rough outlines of an operation in coordination with u.s. allies like columbia to topple the maduro government in venezuela. now just recently the night himselfuite go declared as the new president of venezuela he was on the phone with mike pence directly. the wall street journal broke the story. hence was directly talking to him and the next day he declares himself as the president of venezuela. incentivese offering to venezuelan army officers to come over to their side and hoping the u.s. can r

elliot abrams will deal with venezuela a country whose leader nicholas maduro who we have not recognizedtor. we're backing juan guaido, a populist opposition party leader that declared himself the leader of the people and calling for elections in the near term. our government recognizes him, canada and most of the western hemisphere country. the military generals are remaining loyal to nicholas maduro. he's got the backing of russia, china, turkey and cuba as well. our administration says that's not going to fly. he's a dictator, brutal. the country is suffering. three million have left. ten million percent inflation. he's got to go. maduro has said all american diplomats will be thrown out of the country. president trump said no, they're not going anywhere. this back and forth continues and will heat up tomorrow when secretary of state will be at the united nations addressing this very urgent matter. reaction right now from among other issues, home depot co-founder, bernie marcus. forgive me with going with this breaking news, your reaction to it. standing by the venezuelan people as we

amy: the trump administration has tapppped elliot abrams, a right-wing hawk implicated in