The Rachel Maddow Show, Transcript 07/17/15

RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: You can`t see this, Chris, I`m guessing, because you are out in the field, but I`m applauding you. It`s been an amazing week. I learned so much from you this week. CHRIS HAYES, "ALL IN" HOST: Thank you, thank you. MADDOW: I thought I already knew about that topic. It`s just been amazing. Well done. Well done. HAYES: That means a lot. Thanks, Rachel. Thanks. Thanks a lot. MADDOW: Appreciate it. Chris Hayes should win awards for this week that he did in California. That reporting that he did all week, the stuff he explained, the stuff that he figured out, the stuff that went out and saw, bring it on. All right. Thanks to you at home for joining us this hour, too. Happy Friday. We actually have a very big show for you tonight right here. We are beginning with an exclusive that, I`m sorry, happens to be about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. You are not going to see this story anywhere else. This is ours alone, and honestly, I have to tell you, it`s a little weird. It starts about a decade ago when Donald Trump made a big and very public donation. Mr. Trump had bought several hundred acres of land in New York state, in Westchester County in the 1990s. Now, the funny thing about that part of New York state is it is super close to New York City, even though it doesn`t feel like it. From basically anywhere in Westchester County, you can easily drive back and forth to work in Manhattan, or you can take the train and then back every day, in and out of Manhattan. You are in the immediate orbit of the biggest city in the country, but this is what it looks like. You would never know it. You are also in the land of bears and deer and coyotes and state parks. Like, for instance, the Donald J. Trump State Park. This all happened about ten years ago. The governor of New York, Mr. Trump`s home state was George Pataki at the time. Governor Pataki is now, more or less running for president though most people would not notice. Unlike Mr. Trump, former New York Governor George Pataki right now is in the very bottom tier of the Republican candidates. But back in 2006, he was governor of New York. And part of George Pataki`s politician brand, one of the centrist, popular noncontroversial things that he did as a New York governor was he added parkland and he preserved natural places all over New York state. Governor Pataki preserved a million acres of open space for his state. He preserved or his time in office, more places -- excuse me, more space inside New York state than the entire size of the state of Rhode Island. Just a ton of natural preservation work. And as George Pataki was coming to the end of the his time as New York governor, Donald Trump, it turned out, had a few hundred acres of his own in New York state that he wanted to give away. Mr. Trump had been holding on to this chunk of real estate that he had in the woodsy part of Westchester County, just north of New York City. He had been trying to build a golf course on it, maybe build condos on it. But despite how undoubtedly classy and huge and great, very great that golf course and condos were going to be, the little towns around where he wanted to build basically wouldn`t let him doing. The pesky little towns has questions about how this development would affect their traffic and drinking water and all the rest of it. And those little towns beat Donald Trump. He didn`t get to build his big development in Westchester County. And so, it was time for billionaire plan B. Mr. Trump took that land he owned, which he wanted to build on, but he couldn`t. He wanted to build on it and he couldn`t. He paid $3 million for the land. He took that land that he had not done anything with for years, and he decided to give it to the state of New York as a gift. They had a big ceremony with Donald Trump and George Pataki to announce this donation. When they asked Mr. Trump how much the land was worth, he said, at the time, quote, "People have told me about $100 million." But wait a second. He bought it for $3 million. He did nothing with it. He then proclaimed it to be worth more than 30 times that amount, $100 million and then he gave it away, presumably for the tax break. Of course, the higher the value of the thing you are giving away, the bigger the tax break you get. Nice. But, of course, there was more in this for Donald Trump than a classy, huge and great tax break. He also got something else. Right after he made that donation, the New York Parks Department under George Pataki put up big signs on the highway, where thousands and thousands and thousands of people have now driven past these signs every day for going on ten years. Turn here for Donald J. Trump State Park. Well, after seeing these signs on the highway, myself, after a few different people went to sendittorachel.com and sent local press reports about people complaining about seeing those Donald Trump signs on the highway every day, people complaining that you saw those signs on the highway, but then you actually found in Westchester County if you follow those giant signs didn`t necessarily add up. After figuring out that there might be something -- we just decided to go up there to see what Donald J. Trump State Park has to offer. Now, we heard -- it`s been reported that the state never made it into a park and the way you think of a functioning park with like staff parking areas and hiking trails and, you know, nature walks and whatever. In fact, what New York state did is officially closed it as a state park in 2010 when New York was having a budget crisis. But in "The Journal News", local paper in Westchester County, "The Journal News", a local columnist named Phil Reisman has been explaining even though the Donald J. Trump State Park is officially closed, it`s not like the land disappeared when they closed the state park. The signs are still there on the highway, pointing you to Donald J. Trump State Park as if it exists. Something is there, if you follow the signs, kind of. But it`s not a park. It`s like, an undead zombie park. It`s like a phantom park. And so, Phil Reisman of "The Journal News" agreed to meet us there at the end of a long and very, very bumpy ride. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here we are in this nice patch of weeds. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Behind us here is, I got to tell you, when I came up to Donald J. Trump state park, this, I did not expect to see. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I don`t know. Shade Trump, there it is. It`s graffiti covered. You can see that this was once some kind of a driveway. Nature is taking over. The last time I was up here, I mean, I was hoping I could find some trace of Donald Trump. There`s nothing. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like a piece of graffiti. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something like that. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, here is a trace of Donald Trump. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a dollar sign. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There it is, we found it. There`s some people that are really incensed about the signs. They want them removed, the one on the parkway. Nothing gets people`s blood up more, or one of the things that gets their blood up, is these signs on the parkway. You know, basically saying, right turn, get off the road. Here`s a state park and it`s really not a state park. How is it he gets these signs out there, basically advertising his name, you know? The point up the road is the Franklin Delano Roosevelt State Park. It`s a real park. He`s also a real president. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump might become a real president. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He might, you know? He`s leading in the polls, you know? I mean, who knows? Anything is possible. It`s like a Stephen King novel. (END VIDEO CLIP) MADDOW: RACHEL MADDOW SHOW producer Laura Conaway there with Phil Reisman from "The Journal News" in Westchester County. Donald J. Trump State Park is not much of a park. You can see a few abandoned buildings. There`s one gaping cellar hole that you can fall ten feet into. If you did 10 feet into it, you would land on the old truck left to rust there inside the hole. It`s got lots of very, very aggressive weeds. You can see where they meant to put up maps for this would-be park or signs or something. But today, there are no maps. There`s no trail marks. There`s no picnic tables. There`s no bathrooms. There`s nothing like you would plan to see if you plan a day at a state park because you saw a sign for it on the highway telling you it was the very classy, very huge, very great state park named after Donald J. Trump. What is there? If you follow the signs on the highway, it could be a nice place to walk your dog if your dog is adventurous and not too short. Obviously, what I feel like is it could be good for hiding in the woods and drinking beer where your parents can`t find you and I do not recommend that as a course of action at all. But it`s interesting. I mean, this is the major governmental legacy in New York state for a man who is known primarily as a businessman and reality TV star, who is now in the running, who is now the leading contender to be the Republican nominee for president of the United States. This is his governmental legacy. In terms of the art of the deal here, in terms of how much money he made on that tax break and whether it was more than he paid for the land in the first place, that part of it we still don`t know for sure. We have reached out to Mr. Trump to see how well he made out in the deal. No answer so far. But if we do get an answer, we will let you know. We live in hope, because he really does seem to love talking to the press. And he may love having the signs out by the side of the road. The people who have to live around the falling down disused place the signs point to don`t seem to feel the same way about it. But, hey, the New York state government must have a reason for basically advertising Donald Trump`s name on state property while he`s running for president because they want to direct people to a nonexistent facility that they closed down five years ago and have since let fall down. Donald J. Trump State Park, you will win bets this weekend if you tell people this story. But fair warning, if you try to go there, if you try to go to Donald J. Trump State Park, you will get lost. You will get five minutes -- you`ll get about five minutes lead time and you get lost, then about five minutes, you`ll get scared. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MADDOW: So, we have some breaking news tonight. We are keeping an eye on a Southern California wildfire, which very dramatically and very dangerously jumped Interstate 15 at the beginning of rush hour this evening. I-15 is the highway that connects Southern California to the Las Vegas area. People had to abandon their vehicles and flee for safety as they set on fire the cars and trucks that were trapped in its path. This wildfire has already burned through 500 acres. Fire crews have enlisted helicopters and planes to stop the fire from spreading any further. The San Bernardino Fire Department is not confirming injury numbers, but they`re saying there is an evacuation order in effect for people who live in the surrounding area. As of this hour, the fire department has put out the vehicle fires, we are told, but they are still working on the scene, getting people back to their cars, in some cases, burned out cars on I-15. They are clearing the road there. We`ll keep an eye on the situation as the story develops. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MADDOW: A new FOX News national poll is out in the presidential race today. Donald Trump of Donald J. Trump state park fame, Donald Trump wins in the latest FOX News poll. He wins by a lot. He`s in first. Both he and Scott Walker leapfrogged ahead of Jeb Bush, who is either won the poll of tied for first since it`s been done back to May. So, yet another national poll in which Republican voters say they want Donald Trump to be their presidential nominee more than they want any other candidate to be the nominee. Since FOX News is choosing which candidates are allowed to debate based on national polling, we will plug the latest poll into our who`s allowed to compete cable news derived random number generator, which is our best estimation of how FOX is going to cut off the Republican field this year. The cable news derived random number generator tonight puts Mr. Trump not just first in the poll, but first in the average of the last five polls. He leads a group of seven or eight candidates, whose places on the debate stage are more or less safe at this point. Those candidates are Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Walker, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee and this last one, he`s a little bit on the bubble, but maybe Ted Cruz get as slot in the debate, too. But then, thanks to FOX News and its rules, there look to be nine candidates competing for the remaining two slots on stage. Those would be Chris Christie, both Ricks, Santorum and Perry, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Bobby Jindal, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, Jim Gilmore. They`re all competing for the last two spots. And national polls are basically meaningless at this stage of an election like this, and it is very early yet, so early in the process. But because of FOX News, and because of FOX`s plan to cut out of the debate seven or more of the major candidates at this stage, just based on national polling. I mean, the race may look like early days on the calendar. But for a lot of guys, their presidential race is almost over. A couple weeks, then they`ll be done. Larry Sabato writing today at Politicom.com, quote, "Let them debate. The cable channels shouldn`t get to decide who gets to be president." He explains that what FOX is doing will effectively end some of the Republican presidential candidacies this year, end it before where anywhere near early state voting. Quote, "If a candidate can`t even make it to the debate stage, why would rational donors and volunteers continue giving money and time to what is apparently a lost cause? It`s hard to look presidential languishing at home while your opponents are discussing Social Security on national television." Indeed. It really is early days. For guys like Chris Christie and Lindsey Graham and Ohio Governor John Kasich and both Ricks, the race really is about to be over for most of those guys, by the first week of August because FOX News says so. And so, most of those guys are fighting back. They have to if they want to run. South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham is nowhere near on track to get a place in the debate under FOX`s rules about national polling. Lindsey Graham`s last effort to try to goose his national numbers was to mention Brad Pitt a lot. Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt. Subject line: Brad Pitt. Did I mention Brad? P.S., Brad Pitt. That did not work to bring up Lindsey Graham`s numbers. Two months ago, he was polling at 2 percent in the FOX poll. Last month, he fell from 2 percent to 1 percent in the FOX poll. Today in the new FOX poll, he has completely off the cliff. In this new FOX poll, Lindsey scratches. They don`t even give him a zero, they just give him a dash. Senator Graham`s new strategy to try to keep his candidacy alive is apparently to give up on his old friend Brad Pitt. Instead, he`s e-mailing supporters, promoting a Twitter hashtage, #ourpodium. So, people will demand FOX News let him compete. We`ll see. The Ted Cruz campaign is lobbying FOX News about who they are going to let compete and who FOX News is going to decide who they let compete. Politico.com reports that the Ted Cruz campaign has been trying to lobby the other Republican campaigns to join them in that effort. But now, this is amazing, I think. This -- I almost can`t get my head around this. Now, FOX News responded to the Ted Cruz effort by taking a giant public FOX News backhand to Senator Ted Cruz and his campaign. Look at this. Look at this. I can`t quote -- "I can`t wait until Senator Cruz is president so we can tell all the networks how to run their business", said FOX News executive vice president Michael Clemente. I mean, part of me is like, rrr. Ted Cruz and FOX News, right? But step back in just a second. I mean, it`s one thing to deal with if your hosts endorse candidates or denounce candidates and your network is going to host a debate for the candidates. But how can network executives who are organizing the debate endorse or denounce specific candidates and then also run the debate which that candidate has to compete? FOX News, you know I love you, but I think you`re in over your head here. And it`s only going to get worse as the field gets bigger and bigger and flatter and flatter. Ohio Governor John Kasich is going to get in on Tuesday. You guys are going to exclude him from the debate? FOX News, you are going to hold the debate in the state where he is currently the governor. He`s going to have to watch the debate from home, at the governor`s mansion because he`s not good enough for FOX News to let him on stage? Seriously? So, the drama on the Republican side is, capital "D" drama and heading for a break down. The drama on the Democratic side, thus far, has been totally nonexistent. But look at this, a live picture right now from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This is the Cedar Rapids Convention Center. This site tonight, that stage is about to host all five Democratic candidates for president all at once. This event in Iowa tonight is the first time the five Democrats running for president will all be in one place at one time. Tonight, in just a few minutes, we are expected to hear from all the declared Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O`Malley, Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee. That`s in roughly polling order. This event tonight is technically a celebration for the state of Iowa`s Democratic Party. They are inducting seven new members in the Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame. Mazel tov! Honestly, thought, the main event will be hearing from the candidates. The latest polling out of Iowa shows Hillary Clinton with a commanding lead. She leads the rest of the pack by 19 points. Any of the other Republican candidates would like to have 19 points. Her margin is 19 points. But check this out. Here is what`s happened in Iowa in the span of a few weeks. Since May, Bernie Sanders has more than doubled his support among Iowa Democrats. Hillary Clinton may still have a 19-point lead, but she used to have a 45-point lead. And that`s still -- what she`s got is still, of course, a comfortable lead, but there is movement there. The Clinton campaign has been telegraphing to reporters, that they are concerned about Sanders catching fire in Iowa, about Bernie Sanders potentially catching Secretary Clinton or surpassing her in the Iowa polls. So, there is a little drama there. And that is the context in which this event is happening. In terms of the crowd, the Cedar Rapids Convention Center has a capacity of about 1,200 people. Each of the campaigns was allowed to buy tickets, but no campaign could buy more than 200 tickets. So, no one campaign could have an overwhelming advantage when it came to the reaction from the crowd there. That was smart. Each of the candidates tonight will be given 15 minutes to speak. Out of fairness, because it`s Iowa and they are nothing but fair, the candidates tonight in this Democratic event, they are going in alphabetical order by last anytime, which means that Lincoln Chafee with the CH comes before Hillary Clinton with the CL, so, it will be Lincoln Chafee first then down the line, Lincoln Chafee, Hillary Clinton, Martin O`Malley, Bernie Sanders and finally Jim Webb. So far, all the 2016 attention has been gobbled up by the absolutely bananas fight on the Republican side and rightfully so. But this event in Iowa, tonight, with all five candidates on stage is the biggest event, so far, on the Democratic presidential calendar. And joining us now from there is my old pal, one of my favorite people in the world, MSNBC reporter Anthony Terrell, just outside the convention center. Anthony, it`s great to see you. Thanks for being here. ANTHONY TERRELL, MSNBC REPORTER: Thanks, Rachel. It`s nice to be here. MADDOW: So, I know each campaign was able to buy up to 200 tickets for this event. Do we know if every campaign was actually able to find 200 supporters to fill their seats? TERRELL: Well, I`m told by the Iowa Democratic Party they weren`t saying who sold out, but there was a wink and nod that you can guess who was able to find 200 supporters. One of the campaigns came up to me afterward and said although they had maxed out, they had supporters who are attending the event inside here, that they were going to be there. So, they weren`t part of the 200 cap, but they were also in attendance. There`s an open bar inside, so everyone is in a jovial mode. All the candidates came out in alphabetical order as you`ve mentioned earlier. And Bernie Sanders got cheers of "Bernie! Bernie!" after the Pledge of Allegiance. Even though these campaigns were capped at 200, you can feel the Bern- mentum going on inside. One thing I heard that I noticed here that other campaigns weren`t specifically used to was that everyone who went inside had to get patted down. That`s obviously because of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary Clinton, former first lady, all her events have the Secret Service agents wanding and patting people down. All the other candidates, you can just walk right in. So, that`s a little bit of a difference that supporters of the other candidates had to endure ahead of this dinner tonight. MADDOW: So, Anthony, you know, looking at this from a national perspective, we are looking at the race overall. The race on the Republican side is so freaking nutty, it`s easy to even forget sometimes that the Democratic campaign is going on. It`s certainly on a day-to-day basis, more fun to cover what`s happening on the Republican side. But on the ground in Iowa, not the candidates, not the candidates die hard supporters, but the Iowa Democrats turning out for their event. Are they psyched? Are they into it? Are people paying close attention here? TERRELL: Rachel, they are. When I came here to the event, an hour or two before, there were supporters of Martin O`Malley and of Hillary Clinton. Across the street from one another, dozens and dozens of supporters, chanting at each other. The Hillary Rodham Clinton folks chanting, "I believe she will win, I believe she will win." The Martin O`Malley supporters chanting back things that Martin O`Malley did in Maryland, the Dream Act, minimum wage, he was for gay marriage. And so, it was quite a scene out here before the event inside. I`m told the Martin O`Malley campaign had 200 people at his event. I was at the Hillary Rodham Clinton event, and she was packing the house as well. So, there`s a lot of grass roots enthusiasm here, sign waving supporters. They are pretty excited about the Democrats being here in Cedar Rapids. MADDOW: MSNBC reporter Anthony Terrell, who has never not been excited about wherever he is at the moment that he is there -- Anthony, I miss seeing your face every day from when you worked on this show. And I`m so glad you`re out there doing what you`re doing tonight. It`s great to have you there, man. Great to have you here. TERRELL: Thank you, Rachel. Thank you for having me. I miss you. MADDOW: Me, too. Anthony Terrell is -- we`ll all be working for Anthony Terrell one day. Seriously. Remember that name. Two R`s, two L`s. All right. Lots more ahead tonight, including the story I like to think of as nuns win, Koch brothers lose. Happy Friday. That`s ahead. Please stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MADDOW: I`m going to be very specific here. There are four things we learned today about the attack that killed four U.S. marines in Chattanooga, Tennessee, yesterday. It has been an emotionally tense day, as Chattanooga recovers and the country and people close to the victims coped with the direct impact of what has happened. But in terms of what we have learned today we did not know yesterday, I see we have four new pieces of information. The first concern this is visual, this memorable visual from yesterday. The raid on the suspected gunman`s house yesterday, produced this image of a woman being led away in handcuffs. We now know the woman, despite the fact she is handcuffed here, she was not arrested. The FBI special agent in charge of the investigation said today that unidentified woman was handcuffed simply as a precaution while agents secured the scene. Once it was determined that she wasn`t a threat, the handcuffs were taken off. The special agent says she was taken care of. So, again, that`s new today that we have that confirmation, even though that looked like an arrest, it was not an arrest. The second thing we learned today was about the guns used in the shooting. A law enforcement official telling NBC News he had three guns, an AK-47 type assault rifle, a .12 gauge shotgun and a .9 millimeters pistol. At least one gun appears to have been purchased from a dealer, one appears to have been purchased from a private individual, although it`s not clear which of descriptions attend to which of those guns. I should also say it`s worth noting the phrase AK-47 type assault rifle, that can mean a lot of things. There are a lot of AK-47s in the world. There were a lot of AK-47 rip-offs and variants in the world. But it`s also true, in reporting and in layman`s descriptions after shooting incidents, it`s often the case any assault rifle of any kind gets called an AK-47 type assault rifle. So, just take that with a grain of salt. We don`t know what that means exactly about that long gun. Specifically, we don`t know whether it was semiautomatic rifle or a fully automatic rifle, but we do believe, at least from that description, that it was a rifle. The third thing we know today that we did not know yesterday is, I think, the first concrete detail we have about how those marines might have died, specifically. About how the attack that killed the four U.S. marines actually happened. And, honestly, that`s the biggest black box, so far, outside the motive and any potential terrorist connections. That third thing we learned about the actual attack is geographic basically. What we learned today is that all four marines and the shooter were killed inside the fence, inside the perimeter fence that surrounds the Navy reserve center in Chattanooga. So, the shooter killed those four marines and he died himself inside the center. Once he got through the gates, the FBI said today the shooter was, quote, "most likely killed by Chattanooga police." So, that was new specific information about how that attack may have gone down at that naval and marine center. Of course, the fourth thing we learned, the fourth and final thing is the identities of the four U.S. marines who were killed. Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Sullivan, 40 years old, he was from western Massachusetts. He`s from Hamdan, Massachusetts. He had been in the marines since 1997. He served two tours in Iraq as field artillery cannoneer. He was awarded a Purple Heart. Staff Sergeant David Wyatt had served in both Afghanistan and Iraq since enlisting in 2004. He was a field artillery operator. He was from Burke, North Carolina. Sergeant Carson Holmquist was from Polk, Wisconsin. He served one tour in Afghanistan and as an automotive maintenance tech. Lance Corporal Skip Wells was reservist, who had just entered the service last year. He was a field artillery cannoneer from Cobb, Georgia. He was only 21 years old. A convoy of hearses transported the bodies of the four marines to Dover Air Force Base today where they were flown to their home cities. Back in Chattanooga this evening, the community gathered for a memorial service in their honor. It has been an emotionally intense day. In terms for further reporting on this story and what happened and why, we`ve got a little more information that we had yesterday but not much. There will be a lot more that we learn about this before it`s over. Watch this space. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NICK TUTHS, TRMS PRODUCER: It`s for the (INAUDIBLE) swag. MADDOW: Where`s Trisha? TUTHS: Trisha is out today, so I`m filling in. I`m doing double duty. MADDOW: OK, all right. I`m okay. Change is fine. I don`t mind. TUTHS: Up first, we have a hat that was sent to us by one of our producers` family members. MADDOW: It`s like an American Mohawk hat. TUTHS: It is exactly like that. MADDOW: All right. TUTHS: The other thing -- MADDOW: It works. TUTHS: -- that we have is from the Bob McDonnell trial when the Richmond -- MADDOW: Great. The little paper dolls of all the swag, the Rolex and everything? TUTHS: Yes, absolutely. MADDOW: You got them on cards stack and everything. I have to choose between these two? TUTHS: You do. MADDOW: I think we give our winner the choice. I can`t decide. They are both awesome and different. Is that OK? Is that disappointing? TUTHS: No, it`s good, I think. MADDOW: All right. I think we get them the choice. TUTHS: Great. MADDOW: Thank you. See you later. (END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MADDOW: Texas likes to brag about how big it is. But actually, Alaska is freaking enormous. The way it looks on most maps, you can`t always tell how freaking enormous it is. But Alaska is really freaking enormous. Here is an accurate, to scale representation of Alaska versus teeny, teeny, tiny, tiny little Texas. Despite that, Texas is still pretty big. Alaska, Texas. California and Montana, those are the biggest four states in the country by area. Alaska, Texas, California, Montana. Two of those four states are absolutely full with people, right? Texas and California are not only giant in terms of land mass, they`re also right up there as the top two states in terms of population. Montana and Alaska, though, yes -- different. There`s almost nobody in Montana and Alaska. I mean no offense. For all the huge land mass of Alaska, the population is the same size as Washington, D.C. A similar situation with Montana, Montana is physically ginormous, but its population is about the size of Rhode Island, slightly less than the population of Rhode Island. About 1 million people live in all of Montana, which made this very funny. After Montana`s legislature voted to expand health insurance in that state, the Koch brothers group, Americans for Prosperity, they released a furious statement in response. They said, quote, "This decision stands against the voices of millions of people in Montanans." Millions of Montanans -- there are not millions of Montanans. Again, no offense, but there`s only one millions of Montanans. It`s possible the Koch brothers people didn`t know that. That same Astroturf, parachute in, fake grassroots Montana Koch brothers group held town meetings around Montana, lecturing Montana residents about the dangers of Obamacare and health insurance expansion. They were so completely out of touch that Montana`s deputy secretary of state said to the local paper, quote, "Please take a moment to saver the image of a young man from D.C., showing up in a small, Montana town, wearing a tailored suit, and dressed short but no tie and pointy shoes, looking like he`s expecting bottle service at a night club, to answer an audience of burly men wearing flannel shirts and overalls and likely carrying concealed weapons." I said it was a local paper, it was actually salon.com. This was the group that was trying to appear to be a grassroots Montana organization with all this funding for the Koch brothers. They had such a fundamental misunderstanding of the state, that they made mistakes that no real Montana grassroots group would make about that state. Also, there`s this -- that group trying to be Montanan and not fool anyone. It really was a Koch brothers-funded operation designed to look like a Montana interest group, designed to convince people not to give people health insurance under Obamacare. Now, at a surface level, when Montana decides a few months ago they were going to expand health insurance under Obamacare, it`s a surprising headline, right? I mean, Montana does have a Republican legislature there. The Democratic governor of Montana wanted to do it, figured out a way to do it. It turns out all the kids with the pointing shoe that is don`t know about the population density of Montana, they -- the Koch brothers just got beat on the issue. Montana did it, despite the Koch brothers flying in that operation to try to oppose it. And the Koch brothers just got beat somewhere else, too, in a state that has even fewer people than Montana. Koch brothers just got beat in Alaska. Alaska also has a Republican legislature. They`ve got a Republican-turned-independent as their new governor. And, yes, Alaska, too, has their own fake grassroots Koch brothers/AFP-funded effort to try to make the expansion of health insurance not happen in Alaska just the way they tried to make it not happen in Montana. But again, it turns out, the Koch brothers were apparently no match for other actual, real Alaskans who wanted this thing. Basically, every health care interest in the state, all the hospitals, all the medical associations, because they`re going to be treating people whether or not they have health insurance. Those medical institutions, right, they`d rather have people have health insurance, since they`re going to be providing health care to them, anyway. The independent governor, the whole Democratic Party establishment, native communities in Alaska were super in favor of this plan. Also, religious communities were lined up in favor of getting this done. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SISTER MARY PETER DIAZ: We are our brother`s keeper. REPORTER: Sister Mary Peter Diaz is a daughter of charity here with representatives from 15 anchorage congregations on a mission to remind lawmakers there`s a moral imperative to help those who can`t help themselves. DIAZ: Like the Good Samaritan. We have to help them. We can`t be the ones that walk on the other side of the street. (END VIDEO CLIP) MADDOW: That nun, Sister Mary Peter Diaz, helping mobilize against a billionaire funded effort to keep people from getting health care in Alaska. In turns out, she is not just a force in the health care fight. In turns out, she`s pretty good at dog sledding. That`s her. That is Sister Mary Peter Diaz, mushing right along. But because of her work, I don`t know if it was her work on the dog sled, but her work as a nun, her work and the state`s governor and the other people who pushed back about it, if you make less than 20 grand a year in Alaska, you are soon going to get health insurance, even if you couldn`t get it any other way -- whether or not the Koch brothers agree. We reached out to them and Americans for Prosperity. We have not heard back in terms of our questions. We let you know if we do. But here`s what we do know, 40,000 people in Alaska are going to get health insurance because of this decision. And even in a state as big as Alaska, 40,000 people is a surprisingly large proportion of the population. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MADDOW: Tomorrow afternoon, at the Richard Rogers Theater on Broadway, the cast of the musical "Hamilton" will have an extra reason to be nervous about their super high profile, super hot ticket show, because tomorrow`s matinee will have a member of the audience, the president of the United States. President Obama is in New York fundraiser tonight, but instead of hopping back on Air Force One and going back to the White House this evening, he decided to stay the night in New York City with his teenage daughters, making the trip out of it and taking Sasha and Malia to go see "Hamilton" with him at tomorrow`s matinee. That`s a weekend trip to the theater with his daughters, just like normal people. Don`t be nervous, you guys. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MADDOW: I`ve got a feeling that something amazing is about to happen. Woo-hoo! Yay, it`s the Friday Night News Dump. Nick Tuths, who is tonight`s lucky player? TUTHS: Tonight, we have Carlos Pinero from Portland, Oregon. He`s a photographer for the insurance industry. He used to work here at 30 Rock and he plays Segway polo. Hey, me, too. Rachel, meet Carlos. MADDOW: That`s not true. Carlos, it`s really nice to meet you. Thank you for being here. CARLOS PINERO, PORTLAND, OREGON: Rachel, it`s great to be here. Thank you for having me on. MADDOW: Where -- did you work at 30 Rock? Did you work at NBC? PINERO: I worked at the rainbow room. MADDOW: Oh, very nice. PINERO: So it was the beginning of my career, it was first management job. That`s where I met my beautiful wife, singer Barbara years ago. MADDOW: Oh, that`s wonderful. That`s very exciting. See, I was going to ask you about Segway polo, now we will make long-term friends and you`ll show me that someday. PINERO: You bet. (CROSSTALK) MADDOW: OK. All right. You`re going to get three multiple choice questions Carlos, they`re all about this week`s news. If you get at least two of them right, you will win this specific piece of junk. Nick, please show everybody. TUTHS: It`s THE RACHEL MADDOW mini cocktail shaker. MADDOW: Not nearly nice enough to be used at the rainbow room ever. If you need extra credit or you need a consolation prize, we also do have one other random thing for you until tonight was cluttering up our office. Nick, what is our random office swag tonight? TUTHS: We have two options, a hat that was sent to one of our producers by a family member. MADDOW: It`s an American flag. OK. TUTHS: It`s an American flag Mohawk hat. And we have a cut out of Bob and Maureen McDonnell from the trial and all of the stuff. MADDOW: They are bribes. TUTHS: Yes, the bribes. MADDOW: The paper doll cutouts. So you will be able to choose one of though lovely items. We will also bring in the disembodied voice of Steve Benen, lord of Maddow Blog. He`s the guy who determines whether or not you got the right answer. Hello, Steve. STEVE BENEN, MADDOW BLOG: Good evening to you both. MADDOW: Good evening. All right. Carlos, are you ready for your first question? PINERO: I`m ready. MADDOW: OK. This is from Monday`s show. On Monday`s show, we reported the decision by Donald Trump to run for president not only had brought David Letterman out of retirement briefly this past week, it had always also brought out of hibernation a beloved comic strip that had been on hiatus for the past 25 years. Which beloved comic strip is back now because its creator could no longer resist the desire to make fun of Donald Trump in comic strip form? Is it the comic strip Cathy? Is it Hagar the Horrible? Is it Bloom County? Or is it Marmaduke? PINERO: This is a tough one. I can`t phone a friend, right? No, wrong show. Let`s see. I would have to go with Bloom County. MADDOW: Bloom County. Steve, did Carlos get that right? BENEN: Well, I think as we can put it on the screen, the brilliant Bloom County is back and that is great news. In fact, there`s a new installment today which I was thrilled to see which is also about Donald Trump. And, of course, the good news is Carlos is one for one. MADDOW: It`s about Donald Trump and I will tell you, I saw it on Facebook today and it involves the name Donald Trump and the phrase poo-poo sauce, so we can`t -- obviously can`t go there on TV. All right. Second question, Carlos, you actually have a choice on this one. Do you want it to be -- it is from Monday`s show, I`ll tell you that either way. Do you want it to be a politics question or a non- politics question? PINERO: I`ll go with politics. MADDOW: All right. I will tell you the answer to the non-politics question was Portland, Oregon. Here`s the politics question. On Monday, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker officially launched his presidential campaign. On that night`s show, we reported that the stylized E in his campaign logo looks like the logo from the flagship radio station of the dearly departed liberal talk radio network where I used to work, Air America Radio. That logo however looks exactly like the logo for a thriving existing eyeglasses business. From which national eyeglasses company did Scott Walker apparently appropriate his campaign logo? Was it A, America`s Best Contacts and Eyeglasses, B, GlassesUSA.com, C, 39dollarsglasses.com, or D, Warby Parker? PINERO: Oh, this really is a tough one. I think I`m going to take a stab in the dark because I do not remember this topic. Let`s see. GlassesUSA.com, I`m leaning that way. $39 glasses, that sounds like Scott Walker, but -- leaning towards b or a. I`m going to say A, America`s Best Contacts and Eyeglasses. MADDOW: Steve, what`s the right answer? BENEN: Let`s check the segment from Monday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MADDOW: That`s not Scott Walker`s logo. Come on, you guys. Put up the right one. Oh, now that is Scott Walker`s running for president logo. See? Totally different. (END VIDEO CLIP) MADDOW: America`s Best Contacts. (CROSSTALK) MADDOW: Yes, you got it right. The suspense was killing me. OK. Carlos, last question. Wednesday`s show, we reported on the truly epic corruption charges against a former public official named Steven Reid. He has a 499 count criminal indictment against him which alleges he spent thousand of dollars in public money, possibly millions of dollars in public money on memorabilia and historic artifacts like a life size sarcophagus, Wyatt Earp`s cane, a fake vampire hunting kit, a taxidermied coyote, which beleaguered American city was Steven Reid the mayor of when he allegedly spent his city`s money on taxidermy and all the rest of that stuff. Was he the major of A, Detroit, Michigan, B, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, C, Hoboken, New Jersey, or D, Coyote Falls, Utah? PINERO: This one I do remember. I was hoping you would have a vampire kit as one of the contestant prizes for me today. The answer is B, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. MADDOW: Steve, you got the answer for us, Steve. BENEN: Let`s check the segment from Wednesday`s show. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MADDOW: All of these things and thousands of other things, pistols, saddles, anchors, anvils, stagecoach harnesses, crossbows, bowie knives, strong boxes from stagecoaches, sheriff`s badges, all of this stuff apparently millions of dollars worth of this stuff was bought by the former mayor of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with taxpayer money. (END VIDEO CLIP) BENEN: Yes, correct answer is Harrisburg, PA, and Carlos is correct. MADDOW: Yes! This is very good news. Nick, did Carlos win the prize? TUTHS: He won everything. MADDOW: Carlos, we`re not going to make you pick between the hat and paper dolls. You get it all. Thank you so much for playing with us tonight. PINERO: Thank you. I also have a prize for you, Rachel. Since you are always giving us prizes, I thought I would reciprocate. And from the great state of Arkansas, I have this lovely attack bird from the great state of Oregon here. MADDOW: Excellent. PINERO: I will send along. If the shirt doesn`t fit, you can always regift it in a future segment. MADDOW: I hear you. Absolutely. That`s very kind of you, Carlos. You are an excellent guest. Thank you for playing, well done. Great to meet you. Hello, Oregon. I love you. Great. PINERO: Thank you, you bet. MADDOW: And if you want to play, send an e-mail: rachel@MSNBC.com. Tell us who you are, where you are from and why you want to play. We cannot wait to send you our unwanted junk, but now you must go to prison. THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. END