jane mayer joins us next. stay with us. >>> jane mayer has had a lot of scoops over the course of her unparalleled career in investigative journalism. she's one of the greats. this is the headline on her current piece at "the new yorker." it lays bare with tapes, despite the fact that democrats are trying to pass the bill to protect voting rights and to force secret funding out of politics. those right-wing groups are apparently absolutely flummoxed by the fact they don't have any good public arguments to make against what the democrats are trying to do. they can't convince even conservative voters to side with them on this thing. so how else are they going to fight it? joining me is jane mayer, author of "dark money: the hidden history of the billionaires on the rise of the radical right." good to see you, jane. thank you for being with me. >> thank you for having me, rachel. i want that -- i want to thank you for playing that type. listening to that tape, you don't really get to be in the back with people. t

the tape jane mayer at "the new yorker" obtained and published today shows that far right dark money groups are pretty panicked about that prospect, about the prospect of biden and the democrats figuring out a way to pass that legislation, to pass those reforms. and part of the reason they're panicked about that prospect is because they cannot figure out a way to argue that those reforms are unnecessary or that they shouldn't happen. they can't come up with an argument that any actual voters like. turns out their research found that when you just explain in neutral terms the ways the for the people act, the democrats' bill, s-1. it's already passed the house, hr-1. it's senate bill one, s-1, in the senate. it's the for the people act. what the research found that was funded by far-right dark money billionaire groups is that if you describe in neutral terms what that bill does, if you just say just the facts of what democrats are trying to do there, that it would protect voting rights at the same level for every american in every state. it would put transparency into the elections pro

. >>> jane mayer has had a lot of scoops. headline on the current piece at the new yorker. the latest scoop lays bare with tapes that the fact that the right wing funded groups trying to stop passing bills to protect voting rights and force secret funding out of politics. those right wing groups are flummoxed by the fact they do not have any good public arguments to make against what the democrats are trying to do and can't even convince conservative voters to side with them on this thing. how else are they going to fight it? joining us is the staff writer of the new yorker, the author of "dark money" hidden history of the billionaires behind the rise of the radical right. thank you so much for making time. >> great to be with you, rachel and thank you so much for playing that tape. just listening to the audio, you don't get to be in the back room behind the curtains that are usually closed like this very often. it was great that you played this for people to hear. >> i am not going to pressure you on the sources or ask you h

someone who has done incredible reporting on vance is jane mayer.il trump. trump's taxes and businesses have felt like a mcguffin, a plot device, there's some mystery, if only we find it out, will be the end of it. i put the cy vance investigation in that category until i read your piece and thinking this is serious. is that your read on this? >> i think it is quite serious, and i think that what you can tell from talking to people close to the investigation is that they are -- they really -- the quotes from people i interviewed who have been in and been interviewed by the investigators say they mean business. they're asking questions that are not just broad but are laser sharp, and very focused. they've seemed to have a lot of attention on in particular the family of alan weisselberg, the chief financial officer for the trump organization. seem to be trying to push him to flip on trump, putting pressure on him and his family. he's got two sons who also have worked in ways to help trump. one for a banking company, latter capital, that's made huge lo

joining me is jane mayer, author of "dark money: the billionaires on the rise of the radical right." see you, jane. thank you for being with me. >> thank you for having me, rachel. listening to that tape, you don't really get to be in the back with people. the curtain isn't open like this very often, so it was great for you to play it for people to hear. >> i'm not going to press you on your sources, i'm not going to ask you how you got it. it is amazing that you got it. let me just ask you if this is sort of their m.o. if this is the type of call, the type of research that these groups generally do, the type of message testing that they do when they set out on a new political objective. >> absolutely. this is the complete playbook. you have to understand that these groups are funded by some of the wealthiest people in the country. billionaires and they have endless resources, so they can do all kinds of market testing and they look for the best-selling line. for me, i nearly fell off my chair when i listened to this, they tried testing an argument against themselves, basically. they

joining me now is jane mayer, chief washington correspondent for "the new yorker" and shan wu who wasr federal prosecutor. jane, how serious is this investigation getting for the former president? >> you know, i think it is quite serious. they have got some of the best lawyers in the country working on this investigation. you know, while trump may not be on the national scene anymore, i think he's very much in the sights of the d.a. at this point. you can see that they're working intensely. they have millions of pages of his tax records, eight years of them. they're just poring over it and trying to look at every single angle, so i think it's quite serious. >> he may want to look at south korea, italy, other places, they have prosecuted former presidents. jennifer weisselberg is pretty close to the center of gravity here. her ex-husband is one of allen weisselberg's sons. here she's talking about trump using gifts to exert control over people. take a listen. >> they control people by compensating you with homes and things. then it's hard to leave an organization when, for example, the

and jane mayer reports in "the new yorker" that the pace of the investigation has picked up dramaticallyextensively involved in the investigation said it's night and day. that's a quote. another source who complained that things had seemed to stall while vance waited for trump to leave the white house and then waited for his tax records said of the d.a.'s office they mean business now. on wednesday, trump's former personal attorney michael cohen sat down with cy vance for the seventh time in a meeting that lasted 2 1/2 hours and has been asked back for an eighth time. reacting to that news, john dean tweeted, from personal experience, i assure you, you do not visit a prosecutor's office seven times if they are not planning to indict those about whom you have knowledge. it is only a matter of how many days until d.a. vance indicts donald and company. joining me now, glen kirschner. glen, my friend, good to see you. bring us up to speed on what you think is happening. there was a lot of talk about when donald trump finally leaves office, will these things all come home to roost? tell me wh

this is report from "the new yorker's" jane mayer, and egive lates all of this to tutankhamun's tomb.e are in uncharted territory. no former president has ever been criminally indicted. richard nixon, of course, was worried about it. that's why he wanted the pardon, but it didn't happen, and he got the pardon. now one of the probes in trump's orbit that is also drawing notice under investigation in georgia for a variety of potential crimes that include now conspiracy or potential racketeering for allegedly pressuring georgia officials to steal the election, as we've been reporting on. >> something happened there. something bad happened. the people of georgia are so angry at what happened to me, when the right answer comes at you, you'll be praised. you will then be praised. people will say great -- whatever you can do is a great thing. it's an important thing. >> a new filing in court today about the january 6 riot case, meanwhile, reveals some astonishing details. prosecutors want more time because they say they're investigating what they now call, quote, one of the largest prosecuti

and jane mayer, thank you as well.e posted moments ago on the new yorker website. >>> coming up, a lot more ahead. chuck schumer and chris coons. and is congress willing to tackle it? we'll be right back. tackle it? we'll be right back. how great is it that we get to tell everybody how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? i mean it... uh-oh, sorry... oh... what? i'm an emu! no, buddy! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ you wanna win out there today? then get a tuna footlong from subway®. it's 100% wild caught, on freshly baked bread. let's show 'em what you're made of. you're made of tuna! go get those footlongs! now at subway®, buy one footlong in the app, and get one 50% off. subway®. eat fresh. narrator: covid-19 has changed how we show up and get one 50% off. and show out with our family. now it's time to take the first step that lets us get back to talking smack with a side of mac and cheese. before we can safely come together, we need the