farr was a member of senator jesse helms' 1984 campaign. in that campaign, he wasn't merely a hired gun. avenues close legal associate of senator helms, a man that david broder called, the last unabashed white racist in this country. in that 1984 campaign, according to memoranda by the voting rights section of the department of justice, mr. farr was involved in the so-called, quote, valid security, unquote, program run by the helms' campaign in the north carolina republican party. the ballot security program included sending postcards to minority voters in an effort to suppress voting. in 2006, mr. farr's association with this noxious voter suppression attempts was enough to deny him confirmation to this very seat. in the intervening years, he has not repented or even moved on to different issues. he's still defending attempts to disenfranchise african american voters. i'm not from north carolina, but if i were, i'd be embarrassed to have this man nominated and placed on the federal bench. it takes but an ounce of principle to say, no, i'm n

back in 1990, thomas farr was the lead lawyer for former senator jesse helms' election campaign.that campaign, the department of justice filed a complaint against the helms campaign and the north carolina republican party for sending over 100,000 postcards largely targeting black voters. the doj said the intent of the postcards was to suggest black voters were not eligible and to discourage them from going to the polls. farr denies knowledge of the postcards, saying he attended a meeting about ballot security. farr also worked on defending a 2013 voter i.d. law, which included a controversial provision requiring residents to show i.d. before they could cast a ballot. it also eliminated same-day voter registration and voting on sundays, a day where black voters show up to polls in significantly greater numbers than white ones. in its ruling, one of the federal appeals judges wrote this. he said, the general assembly enacted legislation that restricted voting and registration in five different ways, all of which disproportionately affected african-americans. after a federal judge i

he defended jesse helms. it was a lawsuit where jesse helms' campaign sent 125,000 postcards to african american communities telling them they would be arrested for voter fraud at their polling place. imagine the terror in many cases in the eyes of those voters -- those african american voters that saw those postcards telling them they could be arrested for voter fraud at their polling places. of course many of them would not vote, which is exactly what jesse helms and thomas farr wanted to -- wanted to happen. to put this man as a judge is a disgrace. president obama elected two african american women to serve on this court. this body, under the leadership of the gentleman down the hall, under the republican leader mcconnell, they did not get a hearing. now they want to put this man on the bench after a choice of over a decade of two african american, they wanted to put a moon the bench who led with voter suppression. they want to put that kind of judge in that seat. it's a throwback to the worst moments of

voters in north carolina this began in the eighties and nineties when he was counseled for the jesse helms campaign. with the mayor of charlotte. and to african-american voters. with the north carolina g.o.p. with a ballot security program. this program included sending more than 120,000 postcards to african-american voters almost exclusively to say they are required to live in the precinct that they would vote for at least 30-- prior to the election. and subjected to criminal prosecution if they did not specifically the postcard says providing false information that the information on the postcard was false and clearly designed to decrease turnout but the questions for the record i asked this monash mr. farr about the program he said he did not provide counsel and was not aware of the postcards until they were sent but the press reports have indicated mr. farr was involved and engaged in the postcard strategy. so former prosecutor working on voting rights issues told reporters that those statements were false and since then mr. farr has remained active in an effort to dilute african-ameri

postcards that intimidated african measures to keep them from voting in the 1990 campaign of senator jesse helmstalked about. farr was a lawyer for helms campaign and scott said this in a statement. he said this week a department of justice memo written under president george h.w. bush was released that shed new lights on mr. farr's activities. this in turn created more concerns. weighing these important factors this afternoon, i concluded i could not support mr. farr's nomination. does that send a message to other republicans that some lines just cannot be crossed? >> i mean, i would hope so. i mean, we've seen a lot of lines crossed in the last couple of years in the trump era. i think that it's starting to culminate. if this nomination had happened in a vacuum and we didn't have what just happened in mississippi with this racist now the senator that just got elected in mississippi and president supporting her, if what didn't happen with the president and his attacks on black female judicialisournalis charless vi, good people on both sides, all of those things. if all of those things hadn't ha

ellis met a young raleigh journalist named jesse helms. the two idealistic young men headed off -- hit it off and it gave birth to a friendship and a relationship that would eventually transform north carolina politics and play a major role in the american conservative movement and help shape american history. during their regular thursday night poker games, mr. ellis began pushing helms to run for political office. and when helms ran for senate in 1972, mr. ellis managed his campaign to victory against great odds. over the next 30 years, ellis served as a key advisor and close confidant for senator helms. a short time after helms' 1972 victory, mr. ellis put his innovative and entrepreneurial mind to work, creating the national congressional club, which was a nationwide conservative fundraising machine that built senator helms into one of the most well-known senators in the country. mr. ellis' revolutionary direct mail fundraising practices raised an estimated $100 million for helms, as well as a host of conservative figures and causes. m

donald trump makes jesse helms -- remember jesse helms in the race against harvey gant in 1990 and howgeorge h.w. bush with willie horton or ronald reagan seven miles outside philadelphia where people were killed? people have always engaged in dog whistles and racially coded speech. donald trump is just appealing explicitly to the ugliness. our leaders aren't going to do this. tone is not enough. that's just trying to put the genie back in the bottle. we have to imagine america differently. we have to be different if we're actually going to be open up the future to our children and our children's children. >> it's not just imagining it, we can be different every single day by opening our hearts and minds and caring about our neighbors, even those who don't share our views. i want to play a bit of what the president had to say in missouri last night. >> i will tell you, we have gotten tremendous numbers, tremendous numbers of republicans are going out to vote. now, we did have two maniacs stop our momentum that was incredible, because for seven days nobody talked about the elections. it

thomas farr and jesse helms got busted for that. ivil complaint against the helms campaign to settle that lawsuit and an official from the helms campaign had to sign a consent decree. the official that signed the consent decree for the helms campaign was thomas farr. thomas farr went on to a long prolific career in north carolina, developing and implementing some of the most racially-specific voter suppressive techniques ever seen in this country. and that guy is now sweating it as he wait s to see if he can get the votes he needs to be confirmed. maybe the senate not getting around to thomas farr today was no big deal. maybe they'll get to it tomorrow. but there is a lot of pressure on this farr nomination and it is tonight looking a lot wobblier than this time yesterday. so watch this space. that does it for us tonight. we'll see you tomorrow. it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. and the mueller investigation has taken so many twists and turns today. but the paul mana

farr was working as legal counsel for the 1990 campaigns for senator jesse helms for north carolina, the justice department filed a federal lawsuit against the campaign for trying to intimidate thousands of african americans from voting. how did they do this? they campaign sent postcards suggesting that the voters were ineligible to vote and warned that they could be prosecuted if they voted. although mr. farr denied any involvement in these racist voter intimidation efforts, the justice department who investigated the matter determined that mr. farr was certainly involved in the scheme as it was being developed. end quote. that was not the only time mr. farr imposed the rights of the african americans. when they tried to dilute the votes of african americans over the past ten years, mr. farr fiercely defended these efforts as a private attorney. in 2013, for example, he defended the north carolina legislature voter suppression efforts that a court found were enacted with racially discriminatory intent. racially discriminatory intent. in other words, the north carolina legislature wa

it was jesse helms v. harvey gant in 1990. it was worse than that. fact that it was successful suggests that even as we come out of this mid-term with mixed government, that the intensity of our exchange will increase. what do you think? do you think it will be more, shall we say, sharp? >> i imagine it would be. it would be outside the political arena if it had gone a different way. as long as we are engaging in politics. the boring stuff. legislation. cloture votes. the stuff in washington. then we're in a better place. in 2006, republicans lost 31 seats and it was a cataclysmic thing. we all know how this turned out. it was a mixed bag and democrats did quite well. >> you've been looking at voter suppression. some of that has been in the state of georgia. one of the candidates is the, what did you see? >> a couple numbers. i'll may corn actioni. the pick-ups there kind of reflect that. look at the senate. 42 million americans voted for democratic senators and only 32 million voted for republican senators. and on that night, they stuff that happene

when you get to the bad old days, jesse helms, to try to suppress votes, you ask your self, if you're a black man in the united states, is there no one not touched by this that we could not have with the lifetime appropriate -- tim scott's answer was let's not. >> the left. up my twitter feed and a lot of them came back to say listen. >> never read the comments. a serial killer, 90 people and samuel little with another feeling. - i think the best companies succeed as a team, and our shirts from custom ink help bring us together. we just upload our logo, and if we have any questions, customer service is there to help. - [male] custom ink has hundreds of products to help you look and feel like a team. get started today at customink.com. >> shannon: officials are calling samuel little one of the shannon: officials call samuel little one of the most prolific serial killers in history. he confessed to 90 unsolved murders from 1970-2005 and now he may be linked to another killing. here is casey steagall with details. >> reporter: chilling new information coming to light after samuel little

farr worked as legal counsel for the 1990 campaign of nor jesse helms. that campaign engaged in well-documented, deeply disturbing tactics aimed at suppressing the black vote in north carolina. as an example, the helms campaign sent out over 100,000 postcards to mainly african american voters warning that they might be ineligible to vote for residency reasons. the postcards from the helms campaign, which mr. farr worked on as legal counsel, warn that the black recipients might be arrested for voter fraud if they came to the polls to vote. now, mr. farr initially told the judiciary committee on which i serve that he did not participate in any campaign meetings in which this mailing was discussed. however, news reports then indicated that mr. farr did in fact participate in an october 1990 meeting that included discussion about the very mailing which i have described, the challenged voters -- that challenged voters' residency. mr. farr, this nominee for for a lifetime appointment to the federal court in north carolina, later admitted participating. he told

but it's also -- this is also the guy who sat with jesse helms to come up with a plan to send out postcards to african-american voters telling them that they might be arrested if they showed up to vote in one of senator helm's elections. he has a long, long history of essentially leading efforts to try to keep african-americans from the polls. i would hope that he does not have the votes tomorrow to actually get to final passage, even if he just limped across the procedural finish line today. >> it's still an open question? >> i think it's absolutely an open question. again, probably sits on the shoulders of tim scott. i wish it wasn't his burden to bear. but he's got a tough decision to make tonight. >> i should note that two black women were nominated by barack obama, president obama, both were blocked with republicans. that yemen vote today was remarkable. 63-37, again, procedural. what do you think the significance of what happened today, what happened there? >> well, you know, this is the fourth vote that we've taken over the past three years to try to put an end to the u.s. participat

he also rked for jesse helms' senate campaign at one point, sending t postcards telling african americanst they were not eligible to vote,. false so he's very controversial, but the president supports him. today, it came down to one voteo the was 49-50, and the outstanding vote was tim scott of south korea. i. i sat in the senate chamber as he sat in the back trying to sort out his in the end he was a "yes" for moving forward on this nomination. but he said he hasn't decide his final vote yet. that's a vy big issue, of course, about how you perceive race and how the republican party perceives issues of race. and i thinit will be decided tomorrow when we have the final vote on this nominee. >> woodruff: so, as you say, hisa, all three of these issues revolve around oneng, and that is the president. wean republicans in the senate, in the house, have had their frustrations with th president. are we seeing that frustration turn into something more?th >> ink that's right. we're seeing the senators be a little bit morbold here on saudi arabia. however, one good longtime senate source of mine wh

when thomas farr was a campaign counsel for jesse helms in 1990, the helms campaign blasted out 125,000 postcards to black households in north carolina. the postcards warned sternly about how strict the residency requirements for if you wanted to vote and how voter fraud is punishable by imprisonment. was a clear attempt to intimidate black voters. thomas farr got busted for that. the justice department filed a complaint. in order to settle that lawsuit, they had to sign a consent degree. the official that signed that degree was thomas farr. thomas farr then went on to a long, prolific career in north carolina developing and implementing some of the most racially specific voter suppressive techniques ever seen in this country. and that guy is now sweating it as he waits to see if he can get the votes he needs to be confirmed. maybe the senate not getting around to thomas farr today was no big deal. maybe they'll get to it tomorrow, but there is a lot of pressure on this farr nomination and it is, tonight, looking a lot wobblier than it did this time yesterday. watch this space. that doe

when you get into the bad old days and jesse helms and these cards that were sent out to really try to votes, then you have to ask yourself, if you're a black man in the united states and you say is there no one who's not touched by this that we can have as a federal judge with a lifetime appointment? is there no other qualified lawyer in the tar heel state that could do that? tim scott's answer was let's not. >> shannon: the left blew up my twitter feed and today a lot of them came back to say they love him. this is politics in 2018. >> never read the comments. >> shannon: twitter is a scary place. chris stirewalt, thank you. serial killer claims he's killed 90 people. he's been linked to yet another killing. the disturbing story next. you're still here? come on, denise. we're voya! we stay with you to and through retirement... with solutions to help provide income throughout. i get that voya is with me through retirement, i'm just surprised it means in my kitchen. oh. so, that means no breakfast? i said there might be breakfast. i was really looking forward to breakfast. i know... vo

he's worse than jesse helms in 1990 in express it appeals and dog whistles. >> you hear all the whistles. >> he's a fog hompblt these aren't whistleles. it's an invasion of a hoard with rep recy -- leprecy. >> notice what he didn't talk about? all these people coming up on the caravan. >> it's over. >> there is no caravan. >> remember. >> demagoguery. >> when he went threw all his republican colleagues under the bus, his principal kindness is cruelty. he mobilizes it. >> confidently made. i agree about that. >> it's interesting. this goes to this wwe thing. there is a part of him, when he spars with the press, he'll say, i'm trying to give my people something, entertain them, forgetting the pipe bombs and fbi things happen on a regular basis. >> peru a president, not an entertainer. sometimes you need to happily, sometimes you need to consol and discipline you are still president. >> let me ask you this, how does nancy pelosi be the face of the democratic party in this environment? let's set aside her own baggage she comes w. she has a negative with the country. i think this would be a c

intended to prevent african americans from voting while farr worked for then republican senator jesse helmsst word. 11:00 lever with bri "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts now. >> michael cohen is working with the feds as he admits to lying in 2016 out of loyalty to donald trump. it's a bombshell in mueller's russia investigation as trump arriving tonight in argentina calls off his weekend meeting with putin. and here at home, a huge reaction in the legal community. we have it all covered from the white house to trump tower, from the justice department to the fbi and c.i.a. as "the 11th hour" gets underway on a thursday night. >>> well,

when thomas farr was a campaign counsel for jesse helms in 1990, the helms campaign blasted out 125,000north carolina. the postcards warned sternly about how strict the residency requirements for if you wanted to vote and how voter fraud is punishable by imprisonment. was a clear attempt to intim state black voters. thomas farr got busted for that. the justice department filed a complaint. in order to settle that lawsuit, they had to sign a consent degree. the official that signed that degree was thomas farr. thomas farr then went on to a long, prolific career in north carolina developing and implementing some of the most racially specific voter suppressive techniques ever seen in this country. and that guy is now sweating it as he waits to see if he can get the votes he needs to be confirmed. maybe the senate not getting around to thomas farr today was no big deal. maybe they'll get to it tomorrow, but there is a lot of pressure on this farr nomination and it is, tonight, looking a lot wobblier than it did this time yesterday. watch this space. that does it for us tonight. now it's tim

intended to prevent african americans from voting while farr worked for then republican senator jesse helms. that is the last word. 11:00 lever with bri "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts now. >> michael cohen is working with the feds as he admits to lying in 2016 out of loyalty to donald trump. it's a bombshell in mueller's russia investigation as trump arriving tonight in argentina calls off his weekend meeting with putin. and here at home, a huge reaction in the legal community. we have it all covered from the white house to trump tower, from the justice department to the fbi and c.i.a. as "the 11th hour" gets underway on a thursday night. >>> well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 679 of this trump administration. the day the president was hit with a legal bombshell as robert mueller secures a guilty plea from the man who was once one of trump's most loyal lieutenants. today michael cohen, the president's former personal lawyer, admitted to lying to congress about his boss's involvement in a project to build a moscow version of trump t

it passed the senate, but not the house. 1994, they were able to get it through the house, but jesse helms blocked it in the senate. it looked like the effort to create this museum was dead. nothing about any involved inwas not any of -- in any of those efforts. 1995, this isin me 40 pounds ago. and lewisiform wife, and marjorie at our wedding in 1995. we were living our lives, not thinking about this issue. a year after this picture was was celebrating his 60th birthday with his wife. they are at a birthday party and out on a dance -- on the dance floor and he collapsed and died that evening. went to sit with his widow and his family, and that evening we listened to all of these stories, stories about to whatup and going room all-black schoolhouses. other people were involved in sit in. people were involved in various efforts to desegregate institutions, just talking about the differences and evolution in ,lack colt or, music -- culture music and all of these things. it was this beautiful rich conversation. as we drove home, i said why do we not have a museum to capture all of this. i gue

let's begin with his role on jesse helms' senate campaign in 1990, a campaign i remember very, very well. the department of justice alleged that senator helms' campaign sent thousands of postcards to heavily african american precincts, falsely telling voters that they were ineligible to vote and threatening prosecution against those who did. mr. farr served as the top lawyer to senator helms at the time. he appears to have misled congress about his role in that bray discern voter -- that brazen voter suppression scheme. i recall very well both of them said -- in fact, when senate judiciary members asked mr. farr what he knew about or provided any counsel on the decision to send these postcards, mr. farr said he hadn't learned about their existence until after they were mailed out. a former d.o.j. official stated mr. farr definitely knew about the postcards before they were sent out and that mr. farr's response to congress was just plain contrary to the facts. setting aside this outrageous attempt at voter suppression, each senator in this chamber should care whether a president's nominee

the senate but not the house in 1992, and in 1994, they were able to get it through the house but jesse helms blocked it in the senate. it looked like the effort to create this museum was, again, dead. so, i really knew nothing about any of this and was not involved in any of those efforts as they were ongoing. i got married in 1995, and you see me, about 40 pounds ago, with my beautiful wife and a couple, lewis and margery fraction, at our wedding in 1995. we were living our lives, not really thinking about this issue, and about a year after this picture was taken, brother fraction was celebrating his 60th birthday with his wife. they were at a birthday party. they were out on the dance floor, and he collapsed and died that very evening. my wife and i went to sit with his widow and family, and that evening, we listened to all of these stories, stories about growing up, some people going to, you know, one room all black schoolhouses, other people were involved in sit-ins or freedom rides or things during the civil rights movement. people involved in various efforts to desegregate institutions

department memo revealing farr's alleged role in black voter intimidation tactics by the late senator jesse helmsdecision along with senator jeff flake's opposition effectively kills farr's nomination. >>> thousands of student vets claimed their benefits were incorrect or delayed. a top v.a. official telling congress any veteran who has been underpaid will receive everything they're owed in january. the v.a. has blamed a massive backlog of claims in the last few months of inadequate training and technology issues at the same time. >>> road crews in california are working around the clock trying to clear away the mess made by flash floods and mudslides. >> here's why. the radar shows heavy bands of rain and snow from the west coast into the rockies. likely it will last for the next few days. >> most roads in and around yosemite park are closed, blocked by mud, rocks and trees. the park was badly scarred by the deadly ferguson fire that burned for nearly a month last summer, destroying nearly 100,000 acres. accuweather's julia weiden joins us with the forecast. julia, good morning. >> janai, kendis

been connected to every voter suppression case in our state for the last 25 years who was with jesse helmslack women were denied. we need schumer to say no to this and any republicans that will. because right in the time that we are seeing all this voter suppression you're getting ready to put a federal judge on the court that is a supporter of voter suppression. also, joy, we need this deep analysis. we've got to take them to class. you've got to go to court, get in the legislative hall. we did it for four years. you have to tell people stay out with your convention, bring your people in. we need a deep analysis. how many black people did not vote? how many black people did not vote because of voter suppression? how many votes were suppressed? how many democrats split the ticket? there are 4.9 million poor people in georgia. 10 million poor people in florida. almost half are white. many of them are white. we have to say you just voted, many of you, for somebody who is going to hurt you. show that policy and begin to build these coalitions to change the south. >> before we go, democrats ge

helm resigning? supposedly your case is that he's part of the whole conspiracy! i don't get it. >> jesseon't get it, either. i think as greg mentioned, hot stocks are rising. democrats should love that for now he's out of there, democrats can smoke weed again. the democrats love that! can we pull nadler's face up again? his eyebrow was as crooked as hillary. did you see that shoot out to the right? >> greg: my eyebrows get like that. my eyebrows does that and i come in here and they spend hours combing it. >> jesse: with that little pick. i have that too. let me say this. democrats think they can pick trump's cabinet. in order to pick a cabinet -- >> marie: or you can be in the senate and advise in the constitution. >> dan: i want to think mollie hemingway on interviewing jerry nadler on the amtrak. president trump once again blasting cnn's jim acosta and now threatening to pull more press badges. we'll see that next on "the five." hi, i'm joan lunden with a place for mom, the nation's largest senior-living referral service. for the past five years, i've spoken with hundreds of families

in 1990, farr was the lawyer for the reelection campaign of jesse helms, during which the department of defense alleged that 120,000 postcards had been sent over overwhelmingly to black voters intending to intimidate them from voting. is that amazing? that man is the man we're elevating. i believe the republican party is going to have huge trouble in the future, and they'll shrug their shoulders. they'll say this is political correctness. no it isn't. it is because they tolerate things just like this. not all, but too many. right now we only have one person on the other side of the aisle who said that he would vote against farr. i don't care what the marching orders are, it's wrong. here, in response to a question from ranking member feinstein, farr denied that he had, quote, participated in any meeting in which the postcards were discussed before they were sent. unquote. however, the deputy chief of the voting section of the department of justice's civil rights division said farr's response was contrary to the facts. in effect, that d.o.j. person was saying farr did participate. we