Show: ALL IN with CHRIS HAYES Date: June 15, 2016 Guest: Jennifer Granholm, Robert Dold, Tony Hale, Daayiee Abdullah, Sherrod Brown
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CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC HOST (voice-over): Tonight on ALL IN --
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Our leaders have to get a lot tougher. And be quiet. Just please be quiet.
HAYES: As the conspiracies and the bigotry continues --
TRUMP: We have to maybe check respectfully the mosques.
HAYES: -- tonight, for the first time, concrete evidence that Americans are not buying what Trump is selling.
Plus, as Democrats take a stand on guns --
UNDENTIFIED MALE: Enough, enough, enough!
HAYES: -- my exclusive interview with a sitting Republican willing to cross the aisle.
Then --
TRUMP: Ask the gays what they think.
HAYES: The Trump`s plot to get out the vote by pitting gay Americans against Muslim Americans.
TRUMP: Who`s your friend, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?
HAYES: And fire up the Garyoake.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, Gary, did you find me a new dog yet?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I selected a few candidates. Or should I say canine to date --
UNIDENTIFIIED FEMALE: No, you shouldn`t say that.
HAYES: Emmy-winning "Veep" star Tony Hale will be my guest when ALL IN starts right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, I took a bullet for the veep.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAYES: Good evening. From New York I`m Chris Hayes. At this hour, Senate Democrats are almost nine hours into their filibuster, an honest to God talking filibuster on the Senate floor in hopes of forcing an agreement on new gun safety measures in the wake of the massacre in Orlando. We`ll have much more on that effort later in the show, including my interview with the only Republican House member who is defying his party on the NRA.
But first, ignoring harsh rebukes from President Obama, Hillary Clinton and leaders of his own party, Donald Trump continues to escalate his conspiratorial and bigoted rhetoric in response to the Orlando attack, stoking fear and suspicion of people of the Muslim faith.
In FOX News last night, Trump argued effectively that Muslim Americans don`t fit into this country and many of them a percentage in his words, are potential terrorists.
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TRUMP: Assimilation has been very hard. It`s almost I won`t say nonexistent but it gets to be pretty close money and I`m talking about second and third generation. For some reason, there`s no real assimilation. I`m not even talking about assimilation. I`m not talking about that. I`m talking about, there is a percentage of people that want to do what this maniac did in Orlando.
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HAYES: On the campaign trail today, Trump called for surveillance of mosque, albeit surveillance that`s respectful, as he put it.
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TRUMP: We aren`t vigilant and we aren`t smart. And we have to go and maybe check respectfully the mosques and we have to check other places, because this is a problem that if we don`t solve it, it`s going to eat our country alive, OK? It`s going to eat our country alive.
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HAYES: And after repeatedly spewing innuendos, raising questions about the sympathies of the president of the United States, then going so far as to revoke "The Washington Post" press credentials for filling in those blanks, today Trump abandoned the innuendo altogether, tweeting in the third person, "Media fell all over themselves, criticizing what Donald Trump may have insinuated about POTUS, but he`s right," linking to a thoroughly debunked Breitbart report claiming Hillary Clinton received a secret memo on the Obama administration`s support for ISIS.
According to a bunch of new polling however, the American people simply are not buying what Donald Trump is selling. In a new CBS News poll taken since the attack in Orlando, Trump gets intensely negative ratings for his response, 51 percent disapprove while just 25 percent approve. Compare that to Hillary Clinton who is about even and President Obama, whose response gets a net positive rating.
And it`s not just this one issue. It`s the totality of Trump`s candidacy in the recent days and weeks. According to a new ABC News/"Washington Post" poll taken mostly before the massacre in Orlando, Trump`s overall unfavorability is at the highest point it`s been over the entire course of this campaign, a whopping 70 percent.
Hillary Clinton`s numbers are nothing to brag about either. Her favorability is uncommonly high at 55 percent.
But there is much more data for Trump to be concerned about, including his absolutely dismal rating from women, Hispanics and African-Americans. He is even currently underwater with the single group that`s supposed to be his best demographic, non-college educated whites.
All this comes after a Bloomberg Politics poll out yesterday showed Clinton beating Trump by 12 points in a head-to-head matchup, and it`s more evidence of what became clear throughout the primary process -- the Republican primary electorate is not representative of the American public as a whole. What won over a plurality of those voters is deeply unappealing to a majority of the country.
The Clinton campaign plans to play its advantage up. "Politico" reporting it will unleash TV hell starting tomorrow with ads set to run in at least eight battleground states. Now that the primary is over, GOP officials find themselves handcuffed to a presidential candidate who, according to these new numbers, could be catastrophic in November.
A lonely (INAUDIBLE) are openly distancing themselves from Trump. The latest to declare he won`t vote for him, Republican Government Larry Hogan of Maryland, that`s a state that Trump insisted it can steal from the Democrats` column. But by and large, the response from Republican lawmakers has been to try and ignore the subject altogether.
According to "Politico", Senator John Cornyn, the number two Republican in the Senate, says he`s not going too talk about his own party`s own presumptive nominee until after the election five months from now.
Asked by NBC News for a comment on Trump`s response to Orlando, Senator Tim Scott replied, you know, hmmm, and then he walked on to the congressional floor.
Joining me now, former RNC chair Michael Steele, now an MSNBC political analyst.
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HAYES: I want to talk about these numbers, but let`s start with this first --
MICHAEL STEELE, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Why?
HAYES: This just not -- this just descriptively seems untenable to me. It just -- and I understand, look, if I were any of these people, Tim Scott, any Republican, I would not want to spend every day answering questions about what the latest thing Donald Trump said.
But he is your party`s presidential nominee. It`s just impossible to avoid. They cannot put their fingers in their ears and pretend it isn`t there for five months.
STEELE: Everybody`s walking around going la la la la. Yes, no, you`re right. They can`t do that.
And this is the space that, certainly, Senator Cornyn, Senator McConnell and the speaker did not want the party to be in. I know Reince does not want the party to be in this space. But here we are. This is our reality TV moment that we will have to live with for five months.
So, the question becomes, what do they do? What I think what you`ll see them doing is a lot of what you`ve seen them doing, and that is avoiding the questions of today. I`m not talking about what Donald Trump said. That will be the standard conversation point that they will have with the media.
And as the party tries to narrate other messages, if you will, at the same time, you`ve seen Paul Ryan roll out I think a very strong poverty program, at least something that you can talk about and begin to sink your teeth with, agree with or disagree with, begin to have that debate but again, it got swallowed up in the Trump narrative. And the party has to figure out how to break the stranglehold and to your point, I don`t think they can.
HAYES: See, this is the thing. Trump is intent on being the subject of every day`s news cycle and will do whatever it takes to do that. And he learned the lesson in the primary that that was beneficial. And in a campaign against 17 other opponents, sheer attention was largely beneficial. It was kind of the case there is no such thing as bad publicity.
But that`s not what he`s in right now and those new numbers show this is a very different game.
STEELE: It is a very different game. Now, you have -- as this thing has opened up into a general election, everybody is looking and listening. It`s not just Republicans, it`s not just conservatives within the party, it`s everybody, independents, constituencies that aren`t identified typically with the GOP, but who do vote in November are now paying attention.
So the first words that your nominee says to the country matters in that moment. And this was May 4th. May 4th when he locked the deal, when he got the nomination effectively done, he had this five-week window to create a new narrative, Chris, and it was a wasted opportunity. It was a missed moment.
A lot of stuff that you covered and talk about that could have been part of the talking point, the conversation, if you will, from the jobs reports to the I.G. report, to a whole host of other things were not a part of the conversations because we were consumed about his narrative.
HAYES: But here`s the thing. That was not part of the conversation. And I`m doing a little arm chair psychologyizing here. Bu we`ve been covering this long enough, I take the license to do it.
Those were not the objects because that`s not about him.
STEELE: Not about him.
HAYES: That is the key thing to understand. I think the Republicans are slowly learning, he will not let there be a news cycle that is not about Donald Trump, even if that would be about an I.G. report of Hillary Clinton`s use of e-mails. He is jealous of that.
STEELE: Well, and it`s interesting because you sit there and you`re thinking, OK, so you`ve got all these other tools in the box that we can use. You`ve got, you know, the grassroots and you got the activist, you got the donors and all these other players who want to be able to help you do this, to put together a national strategy, but there`s not how he sees it. He sees this is a chance for him to talk about him and that`s going to drive the news because that`s what drove the news up until now.
Unfortunately, what he`s creating is negative news. That negative news is killing the party as well as his campaign.
HAYES: That is correct. And it is showing up in the numbers and we are seeing gravity restored a little bit here.
Michael Steele, thank you very much.
STEELE: You got it.
HAYES: I`m joined now by former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, senior adviser to the pro-Clinton super PAC, Correct the Record.
Jennifer, what is your sense of the strategic vision of the Clinton campaign in terms of allowing Donald Trump to talk himself into a huge corner vis-a-vis the American public?
JENNIFER GRANHOLM, FORMER MICHIGAN GOVERNOR: Well, clearly he does suck the news cycle but obviously what Hillary Clinton is doing is answering him, including using the president as well to answer him. So, I don`t think she`s going to allow him simply to absorb those news cycles, even though there is an argument that when your opponent is shooting yourself in the foot, allow that to happen. But there`s also another argument when your opponent is on the ground and you have your foot on his neck, you do not let up.
So, my guess is she`s not going to let up and there`s so much material. Chris, you talked about his narcissism. I mean, that alone, there is so much material from his business background there that we saw last week.
"USA Today" says that he`s got 3,500 lawsuits against him. You don`t think there`s huge amounts of stories inside of each of those lawsuits from people who have been scammed by him, ripped off by him.
We saw a whole spate of stories by plumbers, and carpenters and bartenders and waiters who have been stiffed by him. I mean, those kinds of stories are just the tip of the iceberg. So, you better believe the Clinton team is not going to allow this dangerous narcissist to become president of the United States.
HAYES: Do you think there is a self-conscious decision on the part of the Clinton campaign for her to appear fairly hawkish in terms of national security policy as protection, someone referred to it as bubble wrap against the kind of attacks that are coming from Donald Trump, particularly in the wake of what we saw happen in Florida?
GRANHOLM: Well, I don`t think that how she is sounding now is inauthentic to her.
HAYES: I would agree.
GRANHOLM: I think she has been very concerned about U.S. safety. And she will continue to be concerned about the U.S.`s safety and our safety at home. That`s why she came out very early with a very strong foreign policy speech about exactly how she would do that and how she would take on ISIS as well.
But if you look at the substance of what she is saying on foreign policy and the substance of what he is saying, things like let`s deprive our allies, like South Korea and Japan of the military support we`ve had with them for decades -- I mean, he is saying stuff that is dangerous and she is saying stuff that will protect us.
HAYES: Although they do seem to agree on escalating air strikes on ISIS. This was something that he floated, although you can never tell -- sure if this is serious or not. But it was something the secretary came out in favor of as well, even though it`s unclear there are many more targets left to hit.
GRANHOLM: Well, to the extent to the points where they have some agreement, maybe it`s something they can take on. For example, today, gun control issues, gun safety issues, you see Donald Trump at least tweeting that there may be some openness of this notion of saying that we will not allow terrorists to have access to firearms. Now, he`s going to sign on with the Cornyn legislation. I`m sure he`ll be talking about that later, and she`s going to sign on to the bill that doesn`t create another loophole that, actually protects.
But the bottom line is, if there is agreement and he can demonstrate some leadership, good, good for him. But believe me, there is so much that separates them that this is going to be a very robust campaign and you better believe that every single day, she will be pointing out those contrasts that she is favor of Americans and he`s in favor of himself and he will walk on the backs of anybody to be able to get more for him. It includes the news media cycle and also includes his business dealings.
HAYES: All right. Jennifer Granholm, thanks for your time tonight. I appreciate it.
GRANHOLM: You bet.
HAYES: Still to come tonight, how Donald Trump is trying to ally with the LGBT community by vilifying people of the Muslim faith. To respond, I`ll have America`s first openly gay imam join me ahead.
But, first, an update on that live filibuster happening in the Senate floor, we mentioned earlier, our talk with the Republican breaking with his party on gun safety measures. He`ll tell me why right after this break.
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HAYES: In the wake of the Orlando shooting, Democrats are putting a lot of political pressure on Republicans to defend the NRA`s current stands on terror suspects and guns, instead of allowing the FBI to block terror suspects from buying guns. The National Rifle Association wants there to be a waiting period saying today in a statement, "Anyone on a terror watchlist who tries to buy a gun should be thoroughly investigated by the FBI and the sale delayed while the investigation is ongoing."
That is a position at odds with the Republican presumptive nominee who said there should be no sales period. He tweeted out, quote, "I will be meeting with the NRA, who has endorsed me, about not allowing people on the terrorist watchlist or the no-fly list to buy guns."
Senate Democrats are pushing that agenda, too. Today, on the floor, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut started to filibuster, trying to force Republicans to debate gun control measures.
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SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D), CONNECTICUT: We couldn`t proceed with business as usual in the Senate this week. We couldn`t do what we have largely done after mass shooting after mass shooting. We couldn`t go on and debate other issues and ignore the fact that the vast majority of Americans, 80 percent to 90 percent, want us to take this action and that it would be impactful.
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HAYES: Republican senators say they agree with the need to stop potential terrorists from buying guns. But they`re backing an NRA-blessed measure from Senator John Cornyn that would mandate a three-day waiting period for gun buyers on a watchlist. Senate Democrats say that is too weak.
Tonight, both sides are in impasse in the Senate. There`s a similar impasse in the House, where so far, the only Republican who has broken with his party on these gun safety measures is Representative Bob Dold of Illinois.
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REP. ROBERT DOLD (R), ILLINOIS: Mr. Speaker, I rise today because thoughts and prayers are not enough. It`s time for action. Congress should immediately move forward and pass the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorist Act. This common sense bill would prohibit suspected terrorists from purchasing guns or explosives, keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of people who wish to do our country harm is a solution that we should all be able to get behind.
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HAYES: Joining me now is Congressman Robert Dold. He`s a Republican representing Illinois 10th district.
Congressman, take me through your thinking that brought you to this point today.
DOLD: Well, Chris, it`s great to be with you. My thinking has been it really hasn`t changed. So, when I first got to Congress back in 2010, I worked on measures, whether it be background checks or again sponsoring this piece of legislation back at that point in time.
And what we do know is terrorist attacks like what happened in Orlando and the hate crime against the LGBT community, we want to make sure we`re preventing terrorists from having access to these weapons. So, I think this is a common sense piece of legislation, one that enjoys bipartisan support and it`s one that we`re going to continue to work forward so that we can make communities safer.
HAYES: If that is the case, how is it that you are the only Republican in the House, if it is so common sense, if it is bipartisan -- how are you the only member of the Republican House caucus that`s supporting it?
DOLD: Well, I`m not the only one supporting it, but certainly wanted to come out and make sure that we`re, again, highlighting this issue. I just came --
HAYES: Well, how many of you are there?
DOLD: There`s less -- there`s a handful, maybe less than a handful. But as we`re looking at trying to move forward, I am working with others to say, look, this is a piece of common sense legislation, we need to get you on board, largely because this is something the American people want. And we want to make sure we`re keeping communities safe.
I just came from an event, Chris, with Sandy Hook Promise and just an opportunity to spend time with the families of those from Sandy Hook, Vice President Biden was there. But this is something that, frankly, could happen anywhere around the country and something that we need to step up as leaders of the country to say we can and must do better.
HAYES: You, if I`m not mistaken, your district voted for President Obama in 2012 I think by a significant margin, 58-41, if I`m remembering that correctly.
DOLD: Yes.
HAYES: How much of this is just political fear on your part that there is going to be hell to pay with your voters over something like this?
DOLD: Well, it`s something that I`ve been doing since I got here. So I got here in 2010. After the 2010 election, Chris, and it`s something that I`ve been working on, working on with people like Mayor Bloomberg, working on with Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.
HAYES: But, Congressman, let me ask you this -- if you`ve been working on it, why have you been unable to persuade more of your fellow Republicans to come over to your side of this issue? What is so hard --
DOLD: Listen, this can be complicated in terms of trying to make sure you`re moving legislation. And so, I am working on terms of trying to make sure we`re getting a bipartisan solution to move forward. We need 218 votes here in the House of Representatives to move an initiative forward.
I`m going to continue to work toward those very things. And, frankly, by me sticking -- you know, coming up and talking about these things, my hope is that others will say I`m going to the same.
HAYES: Secretary Clinton called for a reinstatement of the assault weapon ban, whether that was identical to the one that was passed in the `90s and allowed to last under the Bush administration, there`s actually legislation being filed by Alan Grayson to that extent. Would you support that legislation?
DOLD: Listen, I think that all options have to be on the table. There`s no question about that.
HAYES: But that legislation specifically, would you support that?
DOLD: But, Chris, what I`m working on why don`t we get the background legislation passed? That`s something that again I think is common sense legislation we wants to move forward. We`ve got legislation on our side of the aisle over here in the house doing the same thing.
Mike Thompson, myself, Elizabeth Esty, supporting that piece of legislation that I think is a common sense piece of legislation. We wants to make sure we`re keeping guns out of the hands of people who want to do us harm -- the mentally ill, violent felons. We want to make sure that we`re having an impact that frankly makes our community safer. And, frankly, I`m going continue to work until we come up with these solutions, until we`ll able to get things across the house floor, through the Senate and to the president`s desk for signature.
HAYES: Just finally and briefly here, Congressman, do you support an assault weapon ban?
DOLD: As I said before, I think everybody option has to be on the table. So, I`m not taking any option off the table at this stage of the game.
HAYES: OK. Congressman Robert Dold, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
DOLD: Chris, thanks so much. I really appreciate it.
HAYES: All right. Up next, the FBI held a press conference today in which they revealed some new details about the investigation into the shooter. We`ll bring you that after this quick break.
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HAYES: The FBI and Orlando Police Department held a press conference today on the latest into the investigation into the Orlando massacre.
Joining me now, NBC News correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin, who`s been in Orlando, following the developments. He`s now in Port St. Lucie, Florida, where the gunman lived.
Ayman, what have we learned today?
AYMAN MOHYELDIN, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Most notably from that press conference that took place today, the FBI saying that it was premature at this stage to talk about any charges in relationship to the wife of Omar Mateen.
Now, why that is so important, is because over the past 48 hours, there`s been an tremendous amount of interest in what she`s been telling the FBI, pieces of information, including things like she had driven Omar Mateen to Pulse nightclub before in instance of casing the place, and she was with him in previous occasions when he purchased ammunitions or even a holster for one of his weapons.
There was speculation there were going to be charges. Today, the FBI said that was not the case of as yet. It doesn`t mean they ruled it out, but today, it was too premature to talk about pressing charges against her or anyone.
In terms of the investigation, it is ongoing. They say they`re interviewing all of his associates, interviewing all the people that may know him, as they continue to piece that timeline, they are asking people to come forward if they have any information on Omar Mateen and trying to place together that timeline.
Now, there was also speculation that Omar had gone to other venues and locations in Orlando to try to case those out. The FBI said today they do not have any knowledge that those visits were in relation to him possibly planning another attack. Here at the home of Omar Mateen`s father, he spoke to the media once again. Seddique Mateen said that he, too, was a victim of terrorism, that ISIS not only radicalized his son but also took his son away from him, in addition to the 49 victims that were killed in that shooting rampage.
But he also had warning for parents to be aware of this radicalization and he also had harsh words for the night club saying they should have had better security that could have prevented this massacre -- Chris.
HAYES: All right. Ayman Mohyeldin in Florida -- thanks, Ayman.
Up next, Donald Trump`s latest tactics to woo LGBT voters at the expense of Muslim people. America`s first openly gay imam responds next.
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TRUMP: Toward the gays out there, ask the gays and ask the people, ask the gays what they think and what they do in not only Saudi Arabia, in many of these countries, with the gay community. Just ask. And then you tell me who`s your friend, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton? You tell me.
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HAYES: Donald Trump continuing the novel and rather ugly tactic he launched after the Orlando shootings of trying to convince LGBT voters that he`s on their side because of his harsh words for people of the Muslim faith.
The strategy, such as it is, can best be summed up by this recent Trump tweet, "thank you to the LGBT community. I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs."
Joining me now, someone I thought would have some interesting views on that, Imam Daayiee Abdullah, he`s executive director of the Mecca Institute. He is America`s first openly gay imam. And Mr. Abdullah, thanks for joining me.
I, at first, would like to hear what you think Donald Trump said to, quote, ask the gays. So, I will ask if you have a response to that.
IMAM DAAYIEE ABDULLAH, MECCA INSTITUTE: Well, do I have a response. His particular comment is being used to try to divide various subgroups in the U.S. so that he can walk right through and make certain that he can disrupt the process for people to vote for Hillary and not vote him into office.
HAYES: How -- what is your life as a gay imam been like? I wonder what your religious exchanges about the prophet`s views on homosexuality with other fellow imams.
ABDULLAH: Well, first, in terms of being a gay imam, there`s really nothing different than being an imam, I just have a specific community that I tend to cater to, which are LGBT Muslims, but also in that community are young adults who want to raise their children in more open communities and older people and everything else.
So, it`s not like it`s unusual. I provide the same kind of pastorial services and other services that any other imam would do.
Secondly -- I forgot your second question, sorry.
HAYES: Well, let me ask you this, I`ll phrase it this way, there`s a lot of rhetoric that Islam as a faith is particularly hostile, antagonistic to LGBT folks, that it`s a particular threat to LGBT folks. I wonder what you say to people who are making that argument?
ABDULLAH: Well, it just reveals that they don`t know Islamic history, because there are very types of Islams throughout the 1,500-year history and through that process there`s been various important religious leaders, Caliphs and other people who were what we would call gay today who existed and throughout the centuries they`ve been there.
So, it shows that many people do not know Islamic history. And then what they relate to, quite often, is to their particular reading and interpretation of Koranic versus taken out of context. And then they claim that this is something that is supposedly divinely sponsored, but actually it`s human divinity, meaning that humans have read it and they say, oh, this is what god means. And this is where the problem stems from, because too long they`ve been depending upon ancient scholarship rather than reading the Koran and applying it to modern day life.
HAYES: It seems like this is something that ISIS particularly has been particularly focused on persecuting gay men and women, LGBT folks in the territory they control in some of the most horrific ways imaginable and they seem to have an interpretation of Islam in which they seem to prioritize that in a way.
ABDULLAH: Well, what it is is that this has been a problem throughout because within the Muslim context over the last couple of hundred years, religious leaders and governmental leaders will quickly say that they are -- the religious types of people support me and then they will tag various groups who may be antithetical to them.
For example, in Malaysia when the prime minister there I think it was who was -- said that he had sex with his driver and then they put him in prison, but we find out a couple of years later afterwards that that was not true, but it was a way, a power play, for them to maintain control.
HAYES: All right, Imam Daayiee Abdullah, thank you for your time tonight, sir, I really appreciate it.
ABDULLAH: You`re welcome.
HAYES: Up next, an important update in the Trump`s last ten, where we keep track of the most recent unbelievable stories out of the Trump campaign, which as you`ll see after the break is no small feat.
And later on, Veep`s own Tony Hale joins me here. So, make sure you stick around for that. We`ll be right back.
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HAYES: It is time once again for an update to our Trump`s last ten list, our running tally of things that if any other candidate had done or said them may well have ended their campaign, but not Donald Trump.
Trump says and does so many outrageous things, it`s easy to forget what he said and did just a couple of weeks ago, which is why we came up with the list.
The only problem is we could only fit ten slots on our board so when he does something new, it pushes something else off. Here`s how things looked entering today with Trump`s attack on the Trump University judge at the top and Trumponomics at the bottom. Now Trumponomics is own name for Trump`s suggestion that he would not honor U.S. debts if the economy went bad. That debt, in the form of U.S. Treasuries, is the cornerstone of the world financial system. And attempting to stiff bond holders on it would, many experts say, likely blow up the world economy.
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TRUMP: Look, I`ve borrowed knowing that you can pay back with discounts. I would borrow knowing that if the economy crashed you could make a deal. And if the economy was good it was good. So, therefore, you can`t lose. It`s like, you know, you make a deal before you go into a poker game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAYES: Sadly, Trumponomics is now getting pushed off the list by our new number one, Trump`s repeated suggestion in the wake of the Orlando massacre that President Obama harbors secret terrorist sympathies.
But that is not our only update to the list. We have got two more additions, things Trump has said or done just this week. Think you can guess what they might be? Stick around. We`ll tell you in just 60 seconds.
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HAYES: OK, we`re back with new updates to our running list of the last 10 things Donald Trump has said or done that might well have sunk any other candidate. AT the moment, the 10 spot belongs to Trump`s vow to cut taxes on the rich, followed by his repeated promise to raise taxes on the rich, followed by his claim, that not, he`d still cut them.
But that gets pushed out for our new number one, Trump revoking the press credentials of the Washington Post, something Richard Nixon didn`t even do during the Watergate scandal when the Post was taking down his presidency.
And with that new addition, the top 10 spot on the list is now occupied by Trump`s white nationalist delegate -- do you remember that one when the Trump campaign included as one of their California delegates, a self- described farmer and white nationalist named William Johnson who paid for a robo-call that included the line, "we don`t need Muslims. We need smart, well-educated white people who will assimilate to our culture. Vote Trump."
But that now, too, is being pushed off the list, replaced by our newest entry, Trump`s comments last night that U.S. troops stole money in Iraq, though, we should note the campaign later claimed unconvincingly he was talking about Iraqi soldiers.
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TRUMP: How about brings baskets of money, millions and millions of dollars and handing it out. I want to know who are the soldiers that had that job because I think they`re living very well right now, whoever they may be.
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HAYES: Now, there`s no question a lot of money vanished in Iraqi reconstruction. There are published reports that a small number of U.S. soldiers skimmed government cash in Iraq, but we have never, ever seen a presidential candidate take such a clear, casual shot at the fidelity and integrity of U.S. service members and not have it turn into a major scandal.
We will keep updating our Trump`s last ten list, as circumstances dictate, and if recent soon as it dictates and if recent history is any indication, we won`t have to wait too long.
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HAYES: You are looking at a live picture of the senate floor, where a filibuster that kicked off nine hours ago with Democrat Chris Murphy is still going on. Murphy began the filibuster this morning to push for legislation that would prevent terror suspects from buying guns.
Joining me one, Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat from Ohio, one of the several Democrats who joined Senator Murphy on the floor today.
And Senator, how long do you all plan on going?
SEN. SHERROD BROWN, (D) OHIO: Well, a long time. I`m going after this interview -- I`m going back to the floor tonight. Senator Murphy and Senator Booker from New Jersey have just been spectacular. They`re two of the youngest members of the senate, two of the brightest members of the senate, two of the most gutsy members of the Senate and they`re standing up to the gun lobby, to the people that manufacture these guns and make lots of money from -- because of so many politicians are in the pocket of the gun lobby.
And I`m so appreciative of them for standing up, leading this filibuster. They`ve been joined by at least, I believe, three dozen Democratic senators. And it`s just -- I mean, I asked Chris on the floor during the floor debate, not privately, publicly, I said how do you go home and look people in the eye and say that congress failed again on the issue of assault weapons? I mean, people don`t -- military are given semiautomatic weapons, why do we have automatic weapons all over the streets of America? Why can you get -- if you`re a terrorist, you`re a suspected terrorist, you can`t get on a plane but can you buy a gun? You can buy an assault weapon? What are we thinking?
Yet Republican senators one after another after another are in the pocket of the gun lobby and they won`t budge. And we`re hoping this puts enough pressure on them so that they finally do the right thing. It won`t solve everything, of course, but it clearly will save lives.
HAYES: There does seem to be a development here in that they have counter proposed a bill, John Cornyn has a bill that would have a three-day waiting period for folks that are on that list. And that seems like something I haven`t seen in a very long time, which is -- in some ways used to be the semi-normal process of legislating. One side proposes something and there`s a counter proposal, you sort of work it out as opposed to just no, no, no.
Does that strike you as progress?
BROWN: It is progress, but it`s nothing significant enough. I mean, I think Republican senators are realizing they are so, so out of step with the public. 80, 85 percent of the public thinks we should ban assault weapons, thinks we should have waiting periods, thinks that if you`re on -- somebody is suspected by the FBI of being on the terror -- of being a terrorists, they can`t fly, they shouldn`t be able to buy a gun, the Republicans have blocked all that, the NRA has blocked all that.
And don`t forget -- I mean, the NRA is a Washington-based special interest group, at the beck and call of the gun lobby, of the manufacturers. Most NRA members around the country, including in my state, think we should do some of this. They don`t buy into this total obstructionism on guns. They want to hunt, they want to collect guns. I`m totally fine with that. They don`t think that criminals and terrorists should have assault weapons, people who are mentally ill should have assault weapons. Of course they shouldn`t. These don`t belong on the streets of Cleveland.
My wife and I, we live in the city of cleveland. We hear from time to time more often than we`d like to think we hear gunshot and then police we hear police sirens. And each time you just wonder if a child has been killed, because far too many times these are kids that are in cities, they`re in rural areas, they`re all over. Kids that were totally innocent are killed by mistake, by gang fire, by malevolent people, by terrorists. And it`s just -- it`s wrong in our country.
HAYES: All right, Senator Sherrod Brown, thanks for making some time in between sessions on the floor tonight. Appreciate it.
BROWN: Got to head back to the floor. Thanks, Chris.
HAYES: Up next, I get to interview someone from one of my favorite shows on television right now. The phenomenally funny Tony Hale will join me right at this desk after this break. Don`t go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIA LOUIS DREYFUS, ACTRESS: Merry Christmas. Hello, Congressman Yaeger. And this must be Mrs. Yaeger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s not his wife. This is one of my staffers, Nadia. She`s a prostitute.
DREYFUS: Well, would you like a picture for your friends and for your family? There we go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAYES: Over the five seasons of the show veep, the character of Gary, President Salina Myers devoted body man, confidante and factotum has become iconic. And the dysfunctional relationship between the president and her undyingly loyal assistant has become one of the most entertaining on TV.
Veep, which airs on Sunday night on HBO is I think the funniest show ever made about American politics. And for my money, the funniest show on all of TV right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENITIFIED MALE: Madam President.
DREYFUS: Dr. Abernathy (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you could please have a seat. Gary.
TONY HALE, ACTOR: Dr. Abernathy (ph).
UNIDENITFIED MALE: You`re here.
HALE: I`m here to assist the president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think that Karen and I can handle this.
DREYFUS: Oh!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you?
DREYFUS: I`m fine, thank you. I`m just a little nervous, I have to confess.
HALE: You`re going to be fine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re going to be fine, ma`am. In fact, I usually perform things that are bit more complicated than a debagging.
DREYFUS: A debagging? Is that what you just said to said to me? I think you said tea bagging.
HALE: No, no, no, that`s my department.
DREYFUS: He meant that literally. He doesn`t know what the other thing is.
Anyway, listen, can you just talk to me through this procedure one more time?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s quite simple. Actually don`t have to make any cuts to the exterior dermis, it`s all approached internally, from behind the eyelid. There is going to be a little swelling and of course a tiny bit of bruising afterwards.
HALE: Bruising?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Gary, bruising, that`s when a little blood collects underneath the skin. It`s not a problem for an actual doctor.
Now, the beauty of this procedure is that we can do it today, and you`ll be healed by Monday.
DREYFUS: And I`ll look 10 years younger.
HALE: That would make you a baby.
DREYFUS: OK, it`s...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shall we get started?
DREYFUS: OK, yeah.
UNIDENTIIFED MALE: Gary.
Please, excuse us.
HALE: You know, it`s very easy for me to just sit right there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Easy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAYES: Joining me now, actor Tony Hale who plays Gary Walsh on HBO`s Veep, which you can watch Sunday nights.
He also on played Buster Blouth on Arrested Development.
It`s great to have you here.
HALE: Thank you for having me.
HAYES: And I just -- you know, I just -- I think the world of the show. I think you guys are doing incredible work.
HALE: I do, too. I love my show.
HAYES: I was just about to say, you just laughed as if you had heard the jokes the first time at Julia Louis Dreyfus`s, like, which made me think like, oh, that`s why the show is so funny, because you`re still laughing at that joke.
HALE: Oh, yeah. And she -- she makes me laugh so hard, because I`m the closest to her all the time, so I hear the small stuff she does.
And one time she even said to me, she says -- because I broke, I laughed, and she says, Tony, you know you`re not watching the show, you`re in the show. And I was like, I know, I`m sorry. IT`s a funny show.
HAYES: You guys have a pretty amazing dynamic. There`s a long TIME magazine piece about it. I mean, it is a great bit the two of you have. It is a complicated relationship and it is a very...
HALE: It`s very complicated.
HAYES: How is that developed sort of as actor to actor comedically?
HALE: You know, I mean, I think especially with comedy you want to have that trust that you can throw the ball and it`s going to be thrown back to you that you can -- because there`s many times with -- I`ve done other stuff where you`ll be like I just don`t know if this is working and what comes back to you is, like, really? I think that`s funny. And you`re like, no, it`s not working.
So to have a team of people like on Veep with Julia and stuff when you say, oh, something is not working, they got I totally hear you. Let`s play with it. Let`s come up with a bit. And we`re all kind of on the same wavelength. And that is a gift.
HAYES: I listened to her interview -- she did a great interview on Mark Marin`s podcast. And she talked about -- it was interesting to me, she talked about the rigor of the shooting, about how hard the process of that show to get to the point where you have that many jokes that are firing at the way they are. You guys -- that is an intense and rigorous process.
HALE: It is an intense process. I mean, the writers work incredibly hard to give us the framework and give us these fantastic scripts.
But then they allow -- they give us two weeks of rehearsal time, which is very rare for television to kind of play with the material. And you never see that.
So, we just kind of -- my thing is like, just -- not my thing, our thing is really just to kind of see what gels? Does this make sense? Frank Rich who is on our show is a political consultant. And so many times we have to figure out can this even happen? Does this work? Has this happened before? What would really happen if this went down? And so we have to figure that all out, or they a lot of times figure that out.
HAYES: You also have this cult following among people actually in Washington, people that work on the Hill, people that work in politics. There`s characters like the Gary character, the Jonah character that seem like extremely familiar archetypes to folks.
What do you think it is about the show that appeals, that`s hitting this audience?
HALE: Well, I mean, the thing -- the big thing I love about the show, and I`ve said this befoer, and it`s -- because you`re around, you see all these politicians and what they say, and you hear their sound bites and stuff. And that`s very planned, as you know, it`s like these speeches and what am I going to say? And what will the media hear? But nobody sees behind the scenes. Nobody sees someone going backstage and being like, I don`t know what the hell to do. Do you guys know what to do? Like this is huge, what are we going to do?
They don`t see the insecurity. They don`t see people falling apart. They don`t see the positioning, like high school, to be the most popular and to get ahead and the back stabbing. They don`t see that.
So our show takes us behind the scenes and I think people in D.C., this is my assumption, might appreciate that that`s being seen. It`s like, yeah, that`s what I see on a daily basis and I love that in the media.
HAYES: I think that`s exactly right. Because I think there`s a sense of like hyper competence and nefariousness, on the part of political actors, that they`re plotting behind as opposed to completely in over their head an totally floundering around, even at the highest levels. I mean, that was what struck me when I`ve been around people even working the West Wing in the Obama administration, which I think is a pretty competent organization, there`s just so much to manage that people are kind of underwater all the time.
HALE: Yeah, and also I think -- I mean, we as humans kind of put these people on pedestals and then when they make a mistake, they`re like what? How could -- but, like, they`re human beings. I mean, you know, I`m sure Obama at times is like, guys, got me. I mean, let`s just work this out, you know.
He`s doing his best. And I so appreciate it. But that`s a big thing to carry.
HAYES: You`ve, as a comedic actor, you`ve played these two roles that are both incredibly funny -- Buster Blouth in Arrested Development and Gary Walsh here, they`re also like the lowest status characters that you could possibly imagine.
Do you ever think of yourself you want to like play, like, I don`t know, some, like, imposing and terrifying bad guy at some point?
HALE: That would be nice.
No, it`s -- the thing is it`s really -- I`ve been very thankful to playing these two characters.
I mean, there are some similarities -- there`s a lot of similarities and anxiety. I think what`s funny is Buster with Lucille, his mom, he would never really stand up for Lucille, he`d just be rocking in a corner somewhere.
Whereas Gary really will stand up for Celine.
HAYES: That`s right, Gary has a spine when it`s a spine for Celine.
HALE: And I think Gary could counsel Buster. I think like he would love to take Buster as a project and befriend him. And be like, hey -- I mean, he would probably if they were in a restaurant, he`d probably put them in a corner with not a lot of stimulus, just so he could focus. But there are differences but there definitely are similarities. And, yes, I mean, it`s fun to be outside the show and play other kind of characters, too.
HAYES: Is your trajectory through comedy? Did you come at this from the sort of comedic background the way that Julia did, for instance?
HALE: Yeah, and Matt Walsh also, he started Upright Citizens Brigade, plays Mike McClintock, he`s a huge improv background.
Mine was more sketch comedy. I was part of a group in New York called King Baby and we would do sketches and all this kind of stuff, and perform, and I did a lot of theater in New York, just kind of comedic theater, and so that was kind of my background.
HAYES: Does it feel satisfying that make something that people appreciate as much as this show? And also Arrested Development.
HALE: Oh, yeah. I mean, here`s the deal. I`m very grateful for a gig. I mean, I`ve been an actor for over 20 years. And I`m very grateful to be working, to be on a job that I actually really appreciate like Arrested Development, oh my gosh that`s huge.
And I laugh at it.
I will say, I don`t watch the show -- I watch it once and then I don`t watch it again just like Arrested Development. But what I watch all the time are the gag reels.
HAYES: Yes, which play at the end.
HALE: That`s what I remember. And that`s what I love.
HAYES: All right, Tony Hale, thanks so much for being with me.
HALE: Thanks for having me.
HAYES: That is All In for this evening. The Rachel Maddow Show starts right now. Good evening, Rachel.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. END