Summary
President Biden has ordered visitor logs from when Trump was in office to be turned over to the Jan. 6th committee as the panel investigates the Capitol insurrection. Russia adds 7,000 troops near the Ukraine border despite claims it was withdrawing some military forces. The CDC is expected to update mask guidance next week as more states lift mask mandates.
Transcript
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): That is the work of elections. That is the work of legislation. That is -- that`s the work of theory of concepts, you know, and that is what it means to be in the arena.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE O`DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets tonight`s "LAST WORD." THE 11TH HOUR starts now.
[23:00:30]
CHRIS JANSING, MSNBC HOST: Good evening, once again, I`m Chris Jansing. Day 393 of the Biden administration, and President Biden has again rejected an executive privilege claim from Donald Trump. The move clears the way for the January 6 Committee to see even more documents that Trump had tried to keep hidden.
The President has ordered the National Archives to turn over Trump White House visitor logs. Those logs should give house investigators more details about who was coming to the White House before and after January 6, and of course, on the day of the riot.
The National Archives has told the former president that those documents will be delivered in 15 days on March 3rd, unless there`s a court order not to do so.
In January, Trump lost his battle to keep other White House records out of the January 6 committee`s hands when the Supreme Court ruled against him. The former president has made it clear where he stands on the Select Committee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: The unselect committee on January 6, how about that committee, and Biden has the real scandals and rest assured when Republicans retake Congress to Biden corruption will be investigated and exposed by Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JANSING: The Trump White House logs will be in addition to a growing pile of evidence already in the committee`s possession. The Washington Post points out today just how critical text messages are to this investigation. The Post reports quote, the panel has left a trail of newly released text messages between other players in Trump`s inner circle beyond the 4,000 messages provided by Trump`s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows as it compiles communications from hundreds of individuals and entities who have cooperated with its investigation. The committee`s trove includes texts from dozens of people, a committee staffer said.
Earlier tonight, one committee member talked about why these texts are so important to the overall investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ELAINE LLURIA (D-VA): First of all, I mean, who had access to the cell phone number for the Chief of Staff, the president United States, and then to look at, you know, who were these people who were texting with the frequency? What did he respond to? It really does provide an insight into how the Trump White House was functioning and who had access to the people closest to the President.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JANSING: Meanwhile, Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes who`s pleaded not guilty to seditious conspiracy related to the Capitol riot. Today trying to convince a federal judge that he should be let out of jail to wait for trial. Prosecutors argued against that saying new evidence shows that Rhodes was behind a plot to continue to fight the transfer of power after the insurrection.
Rhode`s defense attorney also revealed that his client told the January 6 Committee earlier this month, he still considers the 2020 election illegitimate.
We`re also following the latest on the ongoing crisis at Ukraine`s border. NBC News reports a senior by the administration official said no Russian troops were withdrawn from the border with Ukraine, disputing Moscow`s claim that it was pulling back some forces.
The official also said 7,000 troops have been added to the border in recent days. We will have much more with former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor a little later on.
Meanwhile, here at home COVID cases are falling and more states are dropping their mask mandates the latest Michigan. And NBC News reports the CDC could release new mask guidance as early as next week. But today the agency was still sounding notes of caution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: We want to give people a break from things like mask wearing when these metrics are better and then have the ability to reach for them again should things worsen. If and when we update our guidance, we will communicate that clearly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JANSING: With that, let`s bring in our leadoff guests on this Wednesday night. Philip Rucker, Pulitzer Prize winning senior Washington correspondent for The Washington Post. Carol Leonnig, The Washington Post`s Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter, together, they wrote the New York Times bestseller, "I Alone Can Fix It." And former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor. She hosts the podcast Sisters in Law. Good to see all of you.
Carol, what might these Whitehouse logs actually show? Put them in the bigger context of the story that January 6 Investigators are trying to tell.
CAROL LEONNIG, THE WASHINGTON POST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: You know, Chris, it`s such an important question because as of January 6 investigators, both in the Department of Justice and in the halls of Congress are trying to piece together what happened in the days before the bloody insurrection and attack on the Capitol. They are finding amazing texts messages that floated between Mark Meadows and a host of people including several Fox hosts.
[23:05:07]
But the visitor logs are also potentially really revealing, because visitor logs will tell you who came and went into the Oval Office and into the White House in the days before January 6. We know from lots of good reporting from our post colleagues work that Phil and I did, and from our competitors, a lot about the people who were getting inside the White House and inside the ear of Donald Trump in the days before January sixth, and a lot of them had devilish and conspiracy, sounding ideas and theories.
But the logs will be far more exhaustive, although there will be some gaps. And there`s really very little legal ground for withholding those logs from the committee at this point, given that this is a congressional investigation, trying to get to the bottom of potential crimes and make a criminal referral to the Justice Department.
JANSING: Yes, let me let you weigh in since she brought up the, you know, the whether or not there would be a case to fight this. What do you think Joyce?
JOYCE VANCE, MSNBC LEGAL ANALYST: So, obviously, there will be a case because Trump is all about using the courts to delay legal process from moving forward. The question, I think, is how the courts will respond. We`ve already had one Supreme Court ruling, affirming Joe Biden`s ability to exert executive privilege. They did reserve a little bit of authority to answer the question of when a former president can try to countermand a sitting president. But they concluded that because January 6 was so unique, it was important for Biden to have the authority to order the National Archives to turn these documents over.
So the courts could process anything brought by the former president very quickly, just referring to that prior precedent and quickly wending this case on its way through the courts so that Congress can get access to these documents expeditiously.
Of course, we know that our court system doesn`t always move as quickly as one would hope or expect it would be able to. And that`s a real question that we`ll see, how does the judiciary handle this clear effort once it`s filed to delay because it will have no substance to it.
JANSING: So that`s the logs. And Phil, today your paper detailed how important the text messages are to this investigation. And I wonder if you think maybe some of those kinds of documents that this committee has are just as or maybe even more important than witness testimony? I mean, texts, for example, aren`t subject to memory lapses.
PHIL RUCKER, THE WASHINGTON POST SR. WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That`s exactly right, Chris, and text not only show you -- these records not only show you the exact messages, but they give you timestamps, so you`re able to reconstruct, as our colleagues at the Washington Post did with this really masterful piece this morning, you know, minute by minute what sort of feedback the White House Chief of Staff was getting from some of the President`s allies, including Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, and it helps paint a picture, I think, for investigators in Congress how chaotic the scene was, but also how much for warning White House officials, senior White House officials had about what would transpire on January 6.
It was clear that Hannity was very concerned in the 24 to 48 hours ahead of time about what could be happening on the sixth and Meadows was receiving those messages, even as the president was continuing to buckle down on his election lie, and stoke some of his supporters on social media and elsewhere. And then, of course, at that speech at the ellipse. So the text messages tell the story. It`s sort of like the receipts if it were for what exactly was being communicated in that moment, minute by minute.
JANSING: And even though we think we know so much, Joyce, maybe you experienced this, but I certainly did. As I was reading, as Phil said, that masterful story today, it really paints a detailed picture. And I wonder what again, you know, as you`re looking to build a case, how the compilation of these texts informed us about how this committee is building its case.
VANCE: You know, I suspect that these aren`t the most damaging texts that the committee has acquired. They`re probably putting these out because they`re demonstrative of some really significant information that they`re digging up. I suspect we`ll hear more when they hold their public hearings this summer.
But just based on these, there`s so much rich, detailed information that makes you want to dig further and the Sean Hannity texts are a really great example of that, because he suggests a very specific concern he has that everyone in the White House Counsel`s Office is going to resign. And he suggests that that`s because of the plan to pressure Mike Pence. He doesn`t, you know, these are texts they`re short he doesn`t say to pressure Pence into interfering with certifying the election but that`s the clear implication.
[23:10:08]
I think it`s safe to say that Sean Hannity probably didn`t make that up out of whole cloth, because it`s so specific, so pinpoint. One suspects that there were concerns ruminating inside of the White House Counsel`s Office. Those are the lawyers who represent the presidency. They don`t represent a sitting president. They represent the presidency. And it`s clear that there were concerns in that office that he was trying to articulate to Mark Meadows, one has to wonder how widespread was the knowledge of what was planned for January 6, and precisely what was planned and who was in charge of the planning.
Lots of follow up here that could be done both by the January 6 Committee to surface the truth, and perhaps as importantly, maybe more importantly, by federal prosecutors exploring whether there was a conspiracy at work here that should be charged.
JANSING: You know, what Joyce says Carol, obviously raises the question, are there real bombshells that they have that they`re withholding for the actual public hearings. And so the committee has all this evidence, all these documents? What`s the next step? What should we be watching for the coming days and weeks?
LEONNIG: I think you`re going to need to be mindful of the pieces that this committee is trying to put together. Joyce is a good prosecutor and she knows exactly the game. It`s a very tactical game, withhold some of your most important material and also withhold things that you need to get nailed down and corroborated, so you don`t muddy the water.
I think that some of the material here that you`ve seen in the Post piece about the text, this cinematic detail of putting together who was pinging who in those hours before. There is still material in between those conversations to learn. And I bet the committee knows a good portion of it, but not all of it.
I`d also highlight one particularly foreboding text in that great story by my colleagues. And that is the text from an unidentified former, forgive me, member of the Freedom Caucus, who says on January 1, on about January 1, remember that`s five days before the insurrection. This member is described by the investigative committee as someone who`s very familiar with Donald Trump`s planning for January. And his text reads, If POTUS allows this to occur, we`re driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic.
Now, what exactly did that Freedom Caucus member mean by this? If it is as simple as pressuring Pence to reject the election results and the electors, it`s a pretty prescient and interesting text. Committee members have either interviewed or learned information around this lawmaker and what he was saying to his staff, what he was saying to the White House, what he was saying to Meadows, but what else could this be? How grim and chilling a piece of information is this? If this lawmaker knew something Donald Trump was plotting beyond what we all know now.
JANSING: What did they know. And when did they know it. All right, we could talk about this all night. It really is fascinating. If folks haven`t read the story, they should. But Phil, I want to move on to Ukraine, because there`s a senior official, who says not only has Russia not moved forces away from the border, they`re actually adding troops, as you talk to folks at the White House is the level of concern growing.
RUCKER: You know, Chris, there`s been a heightened level of concern for weeks now about what Russia is doing. U.S. intelligence agencies, of course, are on top of this and are gathering intelligence to pinpoint where those troop movements are, and gain out sort of what to expect from Putin, but the wildcard is Putin himself. And he has made sort of public declarations and sort of signaled in certain ways, his motives, but we really don`t know, and he`s sort of holding his own cards here.
And so he can course, signal that Russia is going to be pulling back its troops, but that doesn`t necessarily mean the troops are being pulled back.
And so what you see here in Washington, and at the CIA and other intelligence agencies, it`s a real focus on what do we actually see happening on the ground versus what is Putin saying and what are sort of Russian officials and Russian state media putting out there in terms of the narrative about a possible invasion into Ukraine.
So, clearly, officials here on the U.S. side and of course in Western Europe, the leadership of the various NATO allies are continuing To be on alert for any kind of movement into Ukraine by the Russians.
[23:15:03]
JANSING: And we`re, as I said, going to do a deep dive with Ambassador Taylor on that just a few minutes. But Joyce, I want to get your take on this Reuters report that New York Attorney General Letitia James responded to Donald Trump`s five-page letter defending his company`s financial statements. So she files a letter with a state court. And here`s part of what it said. It is truly rare for a party to publicly disagree with statements submitted by his own attorneys in a signed pleading, let alone one day after the pleading was filed. What is she really saying here about Trump`s tactics?
VANCE: Well, you know, Donald Trump has already been fired by his accountants this week. It looks like he`s trying to double down and get fired by his attorneys, too. Because what happened here you have to remember the context is about whether or not Tish James is going to get to depose Donald Trump and two of his adult children.
And so the response that his lawyers filed in court with their names on the pleadings said, Donald Trump has no information relevant to these valuation issues on these statements that he can provide to Tish James in depositions. There`s no reason he should be deposed.
And he has contradicted his attorneys with so much specificity and detail in this written statement where he talks about valuation and says that he actually undervalued brand value, and implies that there`s a lot that he could offer in response to legitimate questions that Tish James has, and she has drove him straight into that opening that he has given her making the point to the court, that Trump has really engaged in a self-own here that he`s made her case to depose him better than she ever could have. I think she`s going to get those depositions scheduled.
JANSING: We will see. Joyce Vance, Carol Leonnig, Philip Rucker on another fascinating night. Thanks to all of you. And coming up, more warnings from the White House today on Russia. We`re going to talk to former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, about Vladimir Putin`s immediate goal, and why he thinks it`s important to support Ukraine over the long term.
And later why our friend Bill Kristol is telling Democrats to please, please, please listen to San Francisco. The message voters they`re just delivered by ousting school board members, the 11th Hour just getting underway on a Wednesday night.
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[23:20:54]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: The Russians in the midst of all this, this is over the course of weeks and even recent days have put additional forces on the border. So I want to be very clear. Our concern has not diminished an iota.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JANSING: U.S. officials warn the threat of military -- Russian military aggression has not passed calling out Russia for lying about a truth pullback. And while the West anxiously waits and watches for the Kremlin`s next verifiable move, the Washington Post columnist David Ignatius says Putin has a week end game he writes, quote, Putin had seemed convinced a month ago that his ever intensifying war of nerves over Ukraine was working to Russia`s advantage. But White House officials believe this tactic might be backfiring. Some Russian officials are questioning Putin is brinkmanship and Western nations unsettled by Russian bullying are rallying around a NATO alliance that appeared depleted just two years ago.
Yet as Russia adds more troops to the border, the U.S. remains on high alert.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We`re in the window where we believe an attack could come at any time. And that would be preceded by a fabricated pretext that the Russians use as an excuse to launch an invasion. Claims of provocation in Donbas, false state media reports, which I think you should all everybody should keep their eyes open and aware of that potential faked videos, false accusations about chemical weapons or accounts of attacks on Russian shoulders that have not actually occurred.
(END VIDEO CLIP0
JANSING: With us tonight, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, he is also the United States Institute of Peace Vice President for Russia and Europe. So happy that you could be here tonight. We`ve got a lot to talk about Ambassador.
Let`s start with the senior Administration official telling NBC that Russia has added as many as 7,000 troops to Ukraine`s border. Do you agree with David Ignatius that Putin`s moves aren`t having the impact he wants? That in fact, the West is becoming more united against Russian aggression?
WILLIAM TAYLOR, FMR. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Chris, I do. I think they would have mentioned this exactly right. I imagine that President Putin is surprised, dismayed, unsettled by the strong reaction that he`s getting from a range of people on the other side of his border, that is President Zelensky in the first instance. Here`s President Zelensky, a fairly new politician. He`d never held office before. He`s what 43 years old. President Putin, KGB, 20 years in his office, thought President Putin thought that he could dominate or intimidate or rattle Presidents Zelensky. And President Zelensky has stood up. President Biden has stood up and has supported President Zelensky and has indicated that the sovereignty of Ukraine that President Zelensky continues to defend is not at issue, is not particularly discussed, is not on the table.
And as you said and as David Ignatius said, the NATO alliance has undoubtedly surprised President Putin had the strength in the unity of its response that NATO allies are unified in what they`re trying to do. And that doesn`t mean every NATO Allies doing exactly the same thing. But they`re unified in the in the focus in the direction that they are pushing. They`re pushing back on Russia, they`re supporting Ukraine and they`re defending the Alliance.
JANSING: So if indeed Vladimir Putin is unsettled, is an unsettled Vladimir Putin potentially a more volatile Vladimir Putin?
TAYLOR: It`s potentially more valuable Chris voluble, but -- volatile, but I also think that he must be calculating costs and benefits. This is not an international person. And the cost when he looks at these are heavy. The price he would pay for going across the border of pulling that trigger of sending all those troops or even some of those troops across the board would be very, very high, not just in terms of the sanctions that we`ve talked about for weeks.
[23:25:00]
They would be hammering. They would be devastating to the Russian economy, sadly, to Russian people, just individuals who are trying to use their bank accounts or their credit cards or pay their bills. They would be hit immediately if we sanction the top three Russian banks. So that`s the first thing. But that`s not even the biggest thing.
That could be sanctions on him on President Putin. There could be -- there will be sanctions on people around him, on their families, on their assets that they have in London or in Miami. They could be directly affected.
The export ban we haven`t talked a whole lot about but the export ban actually is a very powerful sanction. It means that that small components, little microchips that they need, the Russians need for their weapons, for their smartphones, for their economy would be cut off. They can probably find a couple of other sources but not the same way as we can.
Again, our alliances, including the Japanese and the Taiwanese, and the Indians, not to mention all the Europeans strongly support the sanctions. And so the work that the Biden administration has done to develop this alliance is really paying off.
The last price, not the last but, one of the other big prices that President Putin will pay if he invades is the potential for unrest in his own country. An invasion of Ukraine, an attack on Ukraine is likely to be unpopular among Russians. The Russians think of Ukrainians is very close to them.
JANSING: Yes.
TAYLOR: They think they`re brothers and cousins. And all of a sudden, President Putin is going to be attacking them and Russian soldiers, this is again sad to say, Russian soldiers are going to come back to be buried in Russian towns and villages, not to mention the tens of thousands of Ukrainians, military and civilian that will be killed.
JANSING: Can I ask you about these people Ambassador because they gathered today to celebrate Unity Day to mark the day Russia was rumored to invade Ukraine. Our Richard Engel was there. I want to play what one Ukrainian told him about the current environment. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD ENGEL, NBC NEWS CHIEF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: What do you think about what the United States is doing right now? The U.S. says every day it`s coming. It`s coming. It`s coming. Do you think they`re overplaying it? Is it helpful to make people nervous?
DIANA BERG, UKRAINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: It makes people nervous, but it`s helpful. So yes, it`s aggressive. We are thankful to our allies in U.S. and in Europe for these strategy.
ENGEL: You like it?
BERG: No, I hate it. But it`s something that saves me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JANSING: So you know, the Ukrainian people ambassador and we see them they walk a live in a democracy. So when you see those kinds of gatherings today, when you hear someone like that woman, what goes through your mind?
TAYLOR: What goes through my mind, Chris is the strength of Ukrainian people. They have -- they`ve been living with this threat with this fight, with this boar in their east for eight years. The Russians, as we know invaded Ukraine in 2014. And the Russian have come across that border. They`ve annexed part of Ukraine, Crimea. The Ukrainian people have resisted, Ukrainian military has resisted has fought. Ukrainian military is now battle hardened, as they say Chris, they know how to fight these Russians.
The Russian army is clearly bigger than Ukrainian army. There`s no doubt about that. But the Russian army has to ask to come across the border into someone else`s land. The Ukrainian army is defending their own and you hear that the termination in the voices of Ukrainian people. You heard it in that woman`s voice. I was in Ukraine. I was in Kyiv three weeks ago. Talk to many Ukrainians, talk to President Zelensky, talk to the ministers, talk to people on the street. They are determined. They`re grimly determined. You heard that just in that clip that you just played with from Richard. They are ready. They are preparing themselves, they`re training to resist Russian occupiers. President Putin has alienated, has created on his border a hostile nation for generations.
JANSING: Ambassador William Taylor, pleasure to have you on the program, sir. Thank you so much for your time tonight.
TAYLOR: Thank you, Chris.
JANSING: And coming up, the clear message sent by voters in San Francisco by ousting members of the school board. Victoria DeFrancesco Soto and Bill Kristol are here to discuss what it means for Democrats heading into the midterms when the 11th Hour continues.
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[23:33:27]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR LONDON BREED (D) SAN FRANCISCO: The people of San Francisco have spoken and sent a loud and clear message that we want the school district to focus on their fundamental responsibility that is educating our children, that has to be the priority.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JANSING: That`s the Democratic mayor of San Francisco speaking in support of voter`s decision to recall three Democratic members of the school board. The recall election and one of the bluest cities in the country grew out of anger over what many saw as too much focus on racial equality, a particular point of outrage, the board had dedicated time to renaming schools named after the likes of Abe Lincoln and George Washington. While there was still no plan to get the city`s kids back into the classroom.
Back with us tonight, Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, the dean of the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas, and an MSNBC political analyst, and Bill Kristol, a veteran of the Reagan and Bush Administration`s and editor at large at The Bulwark. Good to see you.
So Bill, this is what you wrote on Twitter today. Don`t expect Democrats necessarily to listen to ex Republicans and I`m not complaining or criticizing. We`ve gotten things wrong. And our advice today, though, offered in good faith may not be right. But dear Democrats, please, please, please listen to San Francisco.
And to your point, Bill, I want to show you what was on Fox News on the screen tonight. It said when you lose San Francisco, you`ve lost the culture war. Republicans, Bill, are already eating this up.
[23:35:00]
BILL KRISTOL, THE BULWARK EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Well, Democrats can turn it around if they do learn some lessons, I think from the voters of San Francisco who are overwhelmingly democratic and liberal and progressive, but believe in racial equality and racial justice, but do object to some of the silliness, some of the incompetence. They also do try to change a school that was merit based admission for high school kind of a magna school into lotteries. And a lot of the students who went there, where minority students whose parents really wanted them to go there, get the best education possible.
So the Democrats need to be the party of equality, and equal justice and equal opportunity. But they do need to be careful about looking as if they`re just in sort of captured by their most progressive, their most woke elements. And sometimes it`s unfair. Sometimes these charges are unfair, you can go through each one and say, Well, this is a little more complicated than that one. There`s some counter arguments.
But at some point, a political party has to deal with the perceptions that are out there. The Democrats are vulnerable, again, maybe a little bit unfairly. I don`t know why the Republicans get away with so much. My Democratic friends said to me the other day, but Democrats are vulnerable to this charge. And politically, they need to learn the lesson of that referendum in San Francisco.
JANSING: Yes, Victoria wasn`t closed, voters overwhelmingly voted to oust these board members. So should this be a wake-up call to Democrats? And if so, what`s the message you hear?
VICTORIA DEFRANCESCO SOTO, MSNBC POLITCAL ANALYST: It`s one of moderation. Chris, it`s one of our rejection of extremism and policy, this, this policy that has aside the educational experience of students during the pandemic, you know, that was an extreme stance that the educational board in San Francisco ignored.
The other piece of this is the rhetoric of extremism. What we`ve seen is Republicans do a very good job of couching the Democratic Party as the party of defund the police, is the party of open borders. And for Democrats to come out and self-define themselves and say, No, we are a party that believes in a comprehensive immigration reform, regularized immigration, a strong police force, but one that also respects justice, diversity, equality.
So Democrats need to go, in a sense on the offensive, define themselves away from the extremes, whereas the Republicans would want to do that, because ultimately, it`s in the extremes that you start to generate anxiety. And that`s what propels the moderates independent to maybe say, I`m going to give the Republicans a shot in 2022.
JANSING: So Fox is messaging this tonight, Bill, but do you think we`ll see education specifically as related to COVID protocols take center stage as a top issue in the midterms? I mean, we already obviously witnessed something along those lines in the Virginia governor`s race. And today, Glenn Youngkin signed the measure banning mask mandates in schools, but maybe just as easily. It`s all old news by November. What do you think?
KRISTOL: Yes, I think it`s getting to be old news by November. But I very much agree with the (INAUDIBLE). The Democrats need to go on the -- they can`t just sort of let it hope that it fades away. They need to take some offensive moves, as it were, that clarify their views in the minds of the voters. They get so much material to work with on the Republicans extremism, and even the more moderate Republicans refusal to repudiate that extremism, The Big Lie, the anti-vax stuff, the violence or some of the bills that are being pushed in Texas and Florida and so forth. To not take advantage of that, to let themselves be forced themselves be playing defense always on these issues is a political mistake.
JANSING: Victoria and Bill are both staying with us. And coming up with early voting already underway in Texas some of the new GOP tea leaves were weighing democratic eggs stay ahead of the midterms.
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[23:41:49]
JANSING: With primary voting already underway in Texas, New polling from the University of Texas shows Republican incumbents with significant leads in their primary races, but state Democratic candidates not named Beto O`Rourke are having trouble getting noticed.
The Texas Tribune says the poll is quote, a sign that the party still has significant work to do to introduce its candidates to voters and disrupt the longtime Republican hold on the state. Still with us, Victoria DeFrancesco Soto and Bill Kristol.
OK, Victoria, you know a little bit about Texas the struggle to turn it purple, let alone blue. Look, we know turnout is usually pretty bad in primaries, and this year, there`s even more from the Tribune. In the Democratic primary races they report 57 percent and 52 percent of voters that they hadn`t thought enough about the lieutenant governor or Attorney General matchups respectively. So here`s my question. Is that to be expected? Or is it a sign to the Democratic Party, you better gin up some interest here not to mention some name recognition?
SOTO: It`s both Chris. I mean, we know that typically in primaries, you don`t have the enthusiasm, the attention that you`re doing your generals, especially in midterm elections. That being said, Texas Democrats know that if they want to move the needle that they need to get beyond the governor`s race they need to get into those down ballot races.
So the focus on Beto is not enough. And even there, Chris, I mean, it is going to be an uphill battle when you look at the contrast between Beto and Greg Abbott. There`s a 10-point difference between Beto and Greg Abbott. And look, I know there`s a lot of fun until November, and things can change. But 2022 is not 2018 when Beto bursted onto this theme and really captured a moment of frustration against Donald Trump.
We also see Beto having moved to the left. That is not gelling with the very conservative deep roots of Texas. And finally, Greg Abbott is not Ted Cruz. So in addition to the lack of name recognition for general Democratic candidates, Texas, Beto has a whole host of challenges himself.
JANSING: Top of the ticket, baby. OK, Bill, Texas Republicans meantime, a lot of them anywhere are doubling down on cultural issues. Most recently, you saw the Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick vowing to ban critical race theory at public universities. Is there a risk of Republicans like Patrick going too far? Or do they assume it won`t matter with these restrictive new voter laws?
KRISTOL: And they seem to assume it won`t matter that they could appeal to the base just throw out these checks of red meat where they are in restricting academic freedom, basically public universities in Texas. So they want to at least they have an abortion law. Remember, it was sort of forgotten about that. That was pretty restrictive, pretty much more restrictive that I think the average voter in Texas maybe even a lot of Republicans in Texas would want.
We`ll see what happens if Roe v Wade gets struck down and we end up with that law or even stronger ban just the full ban abortions period, except for the life of the mother.
But if the Democrat -- the Democrats need to take make that case, and they need to pry away those -- the sort of establishment Republicans for now seem to just regard that as all, well, they`re sort of playing these games but at the end of the day it`s a pro-business Republican Party so we`ll vote for Abbott, we`ll vote for even people like Paxton, I guess, and others, Patrick as Lieutenant Governor.
[23:45:17]
I mean, I`m sort of amazed at the tolerance, a lot of the more established Republicans seem to have so far, at least, for a party that is wave, not just to the right, but kind of to the demagogic and to the race baiting side of things in a way that a lot of these Republicans. I can`t believe they that has quite what they want. But they seem that the Democrats have not done a good job of explaining to those swing voters, as independents as we Republicans that hey, we`re respectable, we`re responsible.
JANSING: So there`s something pulling from Quinnipiac, Victoria, that shows Republicans edging out Democrats in a generic congressional race 45 to 43 percent, so that`s basically, you know, a tie. But voters approve of congressional Democrats more 31 percent to 24 percent. And I`m curious what you might read into that, is it good news for Democrats in the year where historically they`re the underdog? Are we seeing a genuine split? Or do you think there`s just an overall disgust with the entire political system? And if so, who`s better positioned to capitalize on that?
SOTO: I`m going to categorize it as a funk, right, there`s a generalized funk. And we see that also targeted toward the Democratic Party. And this is typical, and we expect this, right, it`s that thermostatic response to whatever party is in the White House in the midterm, you turn the thermostat down to the other way, for some of that checks and balances. So we see that.
But in addition to that, Chris, we have to layer on the fact that Biden`s numbers are not good. We have, you know, the economy, not where we want it to be. We have COVID, where it seems like we`re coming out of it, and who knows what things are going to look like in November, maybe they`ll be great. We`re back to normal. Maybe there`s another variance, but you layer all of these things on top of, you know, the hyperpolarization and you can see why the funk that these numbers are represented.
JANSING: We`ve only got a minute left, Bill, but I do want to ask you about a new report in Axios tonight about Republicans worrying that Donald Trump`s constant fundraising emails are hindering the party`s ability to raise money for other candidates and that the former president, so far has been stingy about sharing the wealth. Are those concerns legit in your mind?
KRISTOL: Well the parties using Trump to raise money themselves. Their -- Trump is their keynote speaker, I think at the Senatorial Committee and congressional committee`s dinners. I mean --
JANSING: Can have it both ways.
KRISTOL: You know what if they don`t like Trump`s job, they should repudiate Trump. But they won`t do that, of course, so I don`t take it too seriously.
JANSING: Bill Kristol, Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, thanks to both of you for your insight. And coming up. A fear of COVID used to make airline passengers nervous now, it might be the passengers themselves when the 11th Hour continues.
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JANSING: There`s a battle brewing over what to do about the growing number of unruly, even dangerous passengers on airlines these days. With a dramatic spike in onboard misbehavior during the pandemic, the FAA is referring some cases for possible prosecution. But should there also be a list of those passengers to keep them off future flights. Our report tonight from NBC News correspondent Tom Costello.
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TOM COSTELLO, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight after a record number of disruptive and dangerous incidents onboard commercial airliners, the FAA sending 43 more cases to the FBI for criminal review, bringing that total to 80 since the start of 2021 including all our fistfights.
Flight attendants assaulted even restraining violent travelers.
(on camera): After nearly 6,000 reports of unruly behavior last year so far this year, nearly 400 reports roughly two-thirds related to the onboard mask mandate.
(voice-over): Late today the Texas Attorney General sued the Biden administration to overturn the mask mandate in airports and on planes. But for the past year, the FAA has come down hard on bad behavior rolling out a national public information campaign.
STEVE DICKSON, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: These events need to stop. And we`re working very hard to do that.
COSTELLO: Delta Airlines and the nation`s biggest flight attendants union have called for a single no fly list that would ban people from traveling on any U.S. airline if convicted of an onboard disruption.
SARA NELSON, ASSOC. OF LIFGHT ATTENDEANTS INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT: I have to be really clear, this is not something that we can accept as a new normal.
COSTELLO: A group of Republican senators while condemning the bad behavior opposes the no fly list saying it will seemingly equate those passengers to terrorists. But Delta says it wants to ensure individuals who have endangered the safety and security of our people do not go on to do so on another carrier. Tom Costello, NBC News, Atlanta.
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JANSING: And coming up what a very popular PBS show that aired for decades might look like today amid local efforts by some to ban books when the 11th Hour continues.
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[23:57:16]
JANSING: The last thing before we go tonight, the banning of books. Local and state legislatures all across the country are proposing and in many cases implementing challenges and restrictions to certain books in libraries and schools.
In one well publicized case, the Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, Maus, has been removed from schools in Tennessee for what was called inappropriate content.
In states like Texas, Florida and Missouri Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison`s The Bluest Eye is being challenged for similar reasons.
This prompted our friends at The Daily Show to team up with former Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton, to see what his popular PBS show might look like today.
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LEVAR BURTON, READING RAINBOW PRESENTER: Hey, y`all, LeVar Burton here, and I am so excited to read with you today. Our first selection is called Rosa. And it`s the story of Rosa Parks who --
So, as it turns out, that book is banned because reading about segregation is divisive. But since almost any book with black people these days is considered divisive. Here`s one that doesn`t have any people in it at all. It`s about two penguins and their little baby. Both penguins are boys.
Well, I`m told that that book is also banned because of sexual perversion, which is weird because there`s no sex in the book at all. Y`all they adopted the baby. What do you guys want? Mommy and Daddy penguin so the kids can make sure that the penguins are knocking boots.
All right, I`ve got one that they can`t possibly Hop on Pop.
What? Disrespectful to parents. You got to be kidding me. All right, there are plenty of books to choose from. But you know what? No. Read the books they don`t want you to. That`s where the good stuff is. They`re coming. Read banned books.
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JANSING: Advice and a warning from LeVar Burton to take us off the air tonight, read banned books, and if there`s any silver lining, some of them have made a reappearance on the bestseller list.
That is our broadcast for this Wednesday night with our thanks for being with us. On behalf of all of my colleagues at the networks of NBC News, good night.