Summary
The Biden administration is determined not to see a repeat of 2014, when NATO was caught by the surprise when Russian forces took over Ukrainians Crimean peninsula largely unopposed. President Trump`s longtime accounting firm, Mazars, which helped Trump put together financial statements, that firm is breaking up with him.
Transcript
SASHA ABRAMSKY, THE NATION: And then you had more liberal council members. But they all came together because they realized that this was about the future of American democracy. It`s a really interesting story.
CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC HOST, "ALL IN": It`s a great story. A great piece of reporting in my old home, "The Nation".
Sasha Abramsky, who`s been a writer and a journalist I`ve read and admired for years, thank you so much for your great reporting. Appreciate it.
ABRAMSKY: Always a pleasure. Thanks, Chris.
HAYES: That is "ALL IN" on this Monday night.
Get this. THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW starts right now with guest host, drum roll, as I live and breathe, Alex Wagner in the house.
Good evening, Alex.
ALEX WAGNER, MSNBC HOST: Womp, womp. Thank you, Chris. Happy Valentine`s Day, my friend.
HAYES: To you as well.
WAGNER: My heart is warm.
HAYES: Mine too.
WAGNER: And thanks to all of you at home owning joining us this hour.
It was February 2014, the autocratic pro-Russian ruler of Ukraine had just fled the country after being forced out of office by pro democracy street protests. In that confusing aftermath, soldiers began appearing in a southern Ukrainian province of Crimea.
The soldiers had no identifying insignia. They wore plain green uniforms and it came to be known as the little green men. Some of them stormed Crimea`s regional parliament, they barricaded themselves inside and they raised the Russian flag over the building. The next day, more of these green uniform men seized airports in Crimea.
Within a couple of weeks the whole of Crimea was under the control of these little green men. They were clearly pro-Russia, and they spoke Russian, and they`re heavily armed with Russian weapons.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted they were not Russian troops. He said they were local self-defense forces acting on their own. He couldn`t help but if the people of Crimea liked Russia more than they like the pro-Western in Ukraine.
The confusion led to headlines like this one from the BBC, Russians, in quotation mark, occupied Crimea airports. So, it was clear to everybody on the ground in Crimea that these were Russian soldiers in disguise. That the entire Russian government is denying from top to bottom, that they were Russian soldiers.
NATO and the U.S. kind of flummoxed on how to respond, how do you stop invasion when you cannot even get everyone to agree that invasion is happening?
Then Vice President Joe Biden flew to Poland to reassure Eastern European allies that the U.S. had their back. By the time he got there, the occupation of Crimea was a done deal. The day Biden arrived, Putin announced that Crimea was now part of Russia.
Fast forward to today, as Russia once again menaces Ukraine, this time with 130,000 troops on its border, a number that is growing every day. And now, President Biden, president Joe Biden, apparently wants to make his administration does not repeat the mistakes of 2014.
According to report this weekend in "The New York Times," back then, it wasn`t that the U.S. government didn`t know what Russia was up to. They just didn`t tell anyone. Quote: The Biden administration is determined not to see a repeat of 2014, when NATO was caught by the surprise when Russian forces took over Ukrainians Crimean peninsula largely unopposed. Senior Obama administration official recalled their frustrations when the intelligence agencies would not allow the White House to tell NATO let alone the public what Washington knew about Russia`s moves.
I can remember a dozen times and I thought that our interests would be advanced if we just told the world what we knew, said Michael McFaul, who is the U.S. ambassador to Russia when annexed Crimea. And so now, today, we have the opposite. The U.S. government is declassifying and publicizing at a breakneck pace what it says it knows about Russia`s plans, from the movements of Russia`s forces, to its alleged plans to launch false flag operations, to new urgent warnings that an invasion could come any day.
According to "The Times", quote, the hope is that by disclosing Mr. Putin`s plans that will disrupt them. It is, quote, information warfare between the U.S. and Russia.
Not only do we the American public find ourselves caught in the middle of this information war. But so, of course, does Ukraine. Ukraine`s president has expressed frustration with the ever louder alarm bells being rung by the Biden administration worry that those bells will cause panic in his country. Ukraine`s president is actually inviting President Biden to visit Ukraine in the coming days. But that seems unlikely.
"The Wall Street Journal" reports today that, not only is the State Department evacuated most embassy staff in the Ukraine capital and moved essential staff to Western Ukraine, but that the embassy itself has been essentially gutted.
[21:05:09]
Networking equipment and computer workstations have been destroyed, and the embassy phone system has been dismantled. Fifty-six embassy personnel arrived at Dulles Airport in Washington yesterday, carrying classified materials, removed from the embassy in Kyiv.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is heading to Brussels in Eastern Europe tomorrow to meet with defense officials. This as the Pentagon spokesman said it`s, quote, entirely possible that Putin could invade with little to no warning.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine`s capital this weekend, thousands took to the streets in a unity march pledging to resist if Russia invades. In just a moment, we`ll be joined live by NBC News` Richard Engel who is in Eastern Ukraine near the Russian border. He reports tonight that preparations are underway there for the worst.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD ENGEL, NBC NEWS CHIEF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With diplomacy going nowhere, this is not a good sign. Russian troops in Belarus practicing urban combat. U.S. officials say that this week is critical, declaring Russia is now able to attack with a little or no warning.
So, the U.S. is now moving its embassy personnel out of the capital to Western Ukraine, a move criticized by Ukraine`s President Zelensky suggesting that it showed weakness. And tonight, Zelensky was the dismissive of U.S. intelligence that Russia could soon invade, which he says causes panic.
They tell us February 16th will be the day of the attack. We will make this a day of unity, he said. His aides later said he was referring to recent media reports.
This weekend, President Biden spoke with President Putin. No breakthroughs.
Today, Russia`s foreign minister met the Russian president at the end of yet another long table, telling him they`re still room for diplomacy. Putin in a tight COVID bubble has met leader -- what`s seems like social distance plus.
Russia says it won`t invade but in Ukraine, some families are getting ready for war.
Training to handle an AK-47 is Valentina Konstantinovskaya, a 79 year old retired recount and a great grandmother.
You think you would actually be doing this?
Yes, if Putin will come, I should be able to shoot, she says.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WAGNER: Joining us now live from the port city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine is NBC`s chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel.
Richard, great reporting. Thank you for being here. I know it`s very early over there.
You are about 30 miles from the Russian border, even closer to Kremlin- backed separatists. What can you tell us about the mood on the ground?
ENGEL: So, the mood here where I am is quite specific and unique. I`ll get to that in a second.
But I think the mood across Ukraine is one of despair. People are afraid. People are angry at what they feel is Russia`s inability to let go. We went through some of the history and it`s really important. This country has been an independent country from the Soviet Union, from Russia`s influence since the collapse of the Soviet Union, 1991. It has changed profoundly in the last three decades.
Culturally, they`ve embraced their Ukrainian language much more, which was highly restrictive. And politically, they`ve changed. And particularly in the last eight years, they`ve really been racing towards democracy. And they began as a bang out of the starting gate in Maidan, in the Maidan revolution in 2014, when Joe Biden was vice president.
And they have been changing their political orientation more towards Europe, more towards NATO over the last eight years. And now it feels that Putin is saying, not so fast, you don`t get to go away. You don`t get to deny that previous history, you come right back into the fold.
So, there is this feeling that Russia won`t let them out of this relationship and move on.
Now, here where I am very specifically, is there`s so much of a difference. I am very far east, I`m close to the Russian border, close to the separatist areas, and here, this traditionally in that area where this speak Russian indigenously, many people are tied to Russia, Russia actually in some of their population -- sent native Russians here.
So, in the end result we have a population that is probably 25 percent actively, this is according to people I`ve spoken to, actively pro-Russian and might even welcome or support of military intervention. Twenty so percent who are actively fight against it, pro-Kyiv government and would take to the streets to defend the city.
[21:10:07]
And maybe 60 percent in the middle. That would take whatever comes.
And that`s a dangerous dynamic because it`s a winner-take-all. If one of those two powerful activist factions emerges on top, they get -- they get the population with them.
And that is the dynamic that Putin is hoping that he`ll encounter, at least to the Eastern parts of the country, where there might be some resistance but a lot of passivity as well.
WAGNER: Well, I just wondered, Richard, when you talk about that 60 percent, whether Putin`s sort of belligerence is having the opposite effect that he wants, which is increasing Ukrainian nationalism, right? Is it all to say you can`t leave us actually making people take dig their heels and say, now we must leave you?
ENGEL: It depends on the region. I think in Kyiv, certainly, in most of the country, that is happening. People are angry with what Russia is saying. But here, people are also connected to Russia, and they`re watching the Russian media, it depends on who your opinion leaders.
There`s a community in this country, not a small one, that does believe the argument that the United States is whipping all of this up. That it`s not Putin with 130,000 troops, and it massive assault force to go with it that is surrounding this country that`s the real threat. It`s the United States that`s whipping it up.
And they`re taking their cues from Russian television, and ironically taking it as well from the Zelensky government, which in trying to show strength is lashing out at all sides, it`s lashing out at Russia, it`s also lashing out at the U.S. for -- exposing a lot of intelligence making people nervous, harming his economy and making him look like he`s about to be invaded. Which may be the case but, he`s really hoping that it doesn`t happen and then he looks like he was strong throughout.
WAGNER: I just have to ask you, Richard, before we go, Zelensky made some news today suggesting that joining NATO for him in his country is somewhat of a dream. So, I wonder what the reaction to that in Ukraine was? Is that the intent of maybe dropping his country`s bid to lend the alliance, what kind of reaction to the people on the ground after that?
ENGEL: Well, I think it was just the opposite. So, one of his is under tremendous amount of pressure. And when you`re under pressure every statement is -- there`s never been this much attention focused on Ukraine. Except for when Zelensky was at the center of another massive point of interest with the phone call with Donald Trump. And that factors into it into a degree.
On the skeptical side, people saw Ukraine manipulated by the United States for political purposes back home. And there`s some skeptical community here that believes the U.S. is doing that again. But in terms of what happened with NATO, one of the ambassadors, Ukraine`s ambassador said in a BBC radio interview that maybe there could be some flexibility on NATO membership.
And then, he quickly went on air and clarified himself. Although he had been pretty clear the first time around. But he sat down that said that he`s taken out of context.
But listen, -- but he came out and backtrack it a bit anyway. And then Zelensky made that argument and said, no, no they`re still our dream in aspiration to be part of NATO and the E.U., which is enshrined in the constitution, which was modified after the 2014 revolution.
WAGNER: Everything is moving very quickly.
Richard Engel, NBC`s chief correspondent, joining us tonight from Ukraine - - thank you as always, Richard.
ENGEL: Sure.
WAGNER: Joining us now is Michal McFaul, who was a U.S. ambassador to Russia with Russia invaded and annexed Crimea.
Ambassador McFaul, it`s great to see you again. Thanks for joining us.
Regrets, you had a few in the aftermath of the invasion in 2014. This time, the White House is being remarkably, some would even say radically transparent, about what is happening on the ground.
What do you think about that intelligence strategy?
MICHAEL MCFAUL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA: I think it`s brilliant. I applaud. It I think it`s the right thing to do. The fact that you have different leadership at the head of the intelligence -- the head of the DNI is Avril Haines, the head of the CIA is Bill Burns.
These are people with a lot of experience in the policy world, and have a relationship with the president and his national security team and are seeing the wisdom of exposing what Russia is doing, so that there won`t be these questions about like you said, these little green men that the whole world will know if Russia does decide to invade -- if Putin does decide to invade again, let me correct what I just said -- that we know who is at fault here.
WAGNER: Independent of the rest of the world, is it -- is it calling Putin`s bluff?
[21:15:02]
Is saying, getting ahead of the news if you will, getting out in front of this misinformation, or disinformation is that Putin`s Achilles heel? Is this the sort of tactical play that the U.S. has been looking for vis-a-vis Putin?
MCFAUL: I think it`s the right tactical play, I`m not sure who`s winning, because remember, Putin is telling the whole world and his people, and its people inside Ukraine that all this is about NATO expansion. When in fact NATO expansion, he completely invented this as a crisis. It wasn`t a change of policies about Ukraine joining NATO and Brussels.
There wasn`t a change in policy in Washington under President Biden. President Zelensky hasn`t changed his views. He said today when he`s been saying for a long-time. He`s a long term drain that he aspires to. But Putin was the one that framed it that way. And I think that`s why the Biden administration rightly is now pushing back, to try to change the narrative.
And I would like to see them go farther by the way. I hear lots of people debating NATO expansion, and what Gorbachev said to Jim Baker 30 years ago. I`d like to hear a lot more about Russia annexing Crimea, violating one of the principal tenants of the United Nations that was established the rule of the game in 1945.
What about talking a little bit more about recognizing parts of Georgia as being independent countries? Those are the conversations we`re not having, and that is a victory for Putin`s information campaign.
WAGNER: So, you`d like to see a sort of wholesale reframing of exactly what is coming to pass here, or what has come to pass? I just I wonder though -- this radical transfer apparently that yet reassurances today from Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, that negotiations were the West were, quote, far from exhausted.
This is someone who`s amassing 130,000 troops, right, on the border. But the same kind, they`re saying, wait, wait, we can still talk. Is that evidence of a strategy of talking about the casualty, suggesting that Putin does truly grasp the evil that is coming his way. Or the pain that`s coming his way, I should say. Does that strategy working, the fact that the Russians want to keep the doors of diplomacy open?
MCFAUL: Well, of course, I certainly hope so. I mean I think they`ve run an effective strategy of coercive diplomacy, arming the Ukrainians, moving some of our soldiers in the NATO countries and threatening sanctions, and at the same time, have said very clearly to Vladimir Putin directly. The president is called them on Saturday, if you want to negotiate about European security we are ready.
And that tea leaves that you`re reading there, Alex, right, Sergei Lavrov, he doesn`t say things out by accident. I used to negotiate with Mr. Lavrov, he didn`t say that by accident. He said it on purpose. That gives me a glimmer of hope that maybe they are on -- negotiating way out of this horrible crisis. Because if there is a war tens or thousands of people will die, completely unnecessarily.
WAGNER: We will take that glimmer of hope and hold on to it. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Sergey, it`s always such a pleasure to talk to. Thanks for being.
MCFAUL: Thanks for having me.
WAGNER: Up next here tonight, bad news for Donald Trump as his longtime auditor cuts ties with him, just as the New York attorney general investigation into the Trump organization is heating up.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:22:42]
WAGNER: In May of 2017, just a few months into his presidency, "Forbes Magazine" realized that President Trump had been lying to them. The year before, then candidate Trump left the campaign trail to give Forbes a tour of his New York apartment, in an attempt to get a higher spot on the Forbes billionaire rankings, of course.
During that tour, Trump emphasized that the apartment was an astonishing 33,000 square feet. It turns out that was a lie. The apartment is only really about 11,000 square feet. Huge to be sure, but actually a full three times smaller than he claimed.
But President Trump wasn`t just lying to magazines. We know from documents filed in court last month by New York Attorney General Letitia James, that Trump was making the same 30,000 square foot claim and financial statements he was using to get loans.
New York`s attorney general is investigating that exact kind of inflation and deflation of Trump`s assets, which could amount to fraud.
Now you might be thinking, what difference does it make how many square feet the presidents claimed his apartment was? I know I`ve lied about the size of my apartment.
Well, according to the court filings, Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg conceded that Trump had overstated the value of his apartment by, quote, give or take $200 million -- 200 million? Give or take.
Attorney General James is still trying to get President Trump and his adult children Don Jr., and Ivanka to sit for a deposition as part of her investigation.
And today, on Valentine`s Day no less, we learn from new court documents that President Trump`s longtime accounting firm, Mazars, which helped Trump put together those financial statements, that firm is breaking up with him.
In a letter to the Trump Organization dated last week, the accounting firm started by writing explicitly that all of these statements of financial condition, it put together with Trump to evaluate his company`s financial situation from 2011 to 2020, those should quote, no longer be relied upon. It continued, we have come to this conclusion based in part upon the filings made by the New York attorney general, our own investigation and information received from internal and external sources.
[21:25:10]
Due in part to our decision regarding financial statements, as well as the totality of the circumstances, we have also reached the point that there is non-waivable conflict of interest with Trump Organization. As a result, we are not able to provide any new work brought up to the Trump Organization.
Meaning? That`s it. Relationship over.
The firm will not even finish Donald and Melania`s taxes this year. This is really saying something because Trump`s past statements of financial condition were filled with many, many disclaimers to lower Mazars` risk.
Like this one from the first paragraph of Trump`s 2011 statement. Quote, we have not audited or reviewed the incumbent statement and accordantly do not express an opinion or provide any assurance about whether the financial statement is in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. So, Trump`s accounting farm has been hedging its cosign on Trump`s financial statements for over a decade.
And now, the firm is going even further, saying it wants nothing to do with any of this. They`re out. They quit. Don`t let the door hit you on the way out. And if you`re the former president, finding a replacement firm may not be easy.
According to various reports the former president is somewhere in the ballpark of a hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. Reports of that debt vary from $400 million to over a billion dollars.
Even if you were to give or take 200 million, that is still a lot of debt. And this letter from his longtime accountant, very publicly bailing on the former president will likely make it very hard for him to find new partner is willing to refinance that debt, or let him take on future loans. I`m not a lawyer, and I`m sure not an accountant, but this all seems bad.
What does it mean, practically, for Donald Trump and for the New York attorney generals investigation into Trump`s finances?
Joining us now is Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Barbara, thanks as always for joining us.
Let`s start first with this line from the letter about Mazars as having a non-waivable conflict of interest against working with the Trump Organization, does that effectively mean that Mazars is on the Attorney General Letitia James side now?
BARBARA MCQUADE, MSNBC LEGAL ANALYST: You know, I don`t know exactly what it means, but it does say in the law, when a lawyer wants to quit, they typically use words like irreconcilable differences. The relationship has broken down to the point that we can no longer serve them effectively. I think that`s what it means.
But you talk about a conflict of interest goes a little above and beyond that. It does suggest that you might be on the wrong side of the v. in a lawsuit when it`s, for example, people in the state of New York versus Trump. So, I don`t know if it means that they`re corroborating but I do think it means that they can no longer vouch for the reliability of financial documents that they prepared on behalf of the Trump Organization.
I think the phrase that comes to my mind is garbage in, garbage out. And so it may be prepared financial docking it`s based on the data that they received. But, they have now learned perhaps that that data was inaccurate and therefore the financial statements that they have prepared utilizing that data are also inaccurate.
WAGNER: Do we have a sense that if Mazars is cooperating, we know that one of their officers has also testified to a grand jury, that that could be problematic for the Trump Organization?
MCQUADE: Oh, I think so. You know, an accountant has access to a lot of information obviously to prepare your tax records, to put together financial statements, so that could be very damning information. One of the cases that come to my mind, the case I watched covered for the show was the trial Paul Manafort. Remember, he had a financial crimes that he was convicted of, bank fraud, tax cases, claims and other things.
Some of the key witnesses in this case where his accountants. Some of the things they testified about where, you know, he gave me information that I relied in preparing these financial documents, I now learned the information was false. And so, because of that the documents that I produced was false.
So in the same kind of way I could imagine that the Mazars is cooperating with the attorney general. They don`t want to get cross-wise with the government. They will produce documents that they believe comply with accounting principles, but if they learn that the raw data that was used in those documents was wrong, I think you will see them run and from those documents, which appears to be what`s happening here.
WAGNER: I feel like this is actually the textbook definition of running right?
[21:30:02]
Don`t pay any attention to the last decade of documents we gave you.
I wonder to what extent should we expect this development to affect the criminal probe being led by the Manhattan`s district attorney into Trump`s finances? We know there are parallel probes, right? Is this going to bleed over into that? A civil crime -- the civil case into the criminal case?
MCQUADE: I think it absolutely could. That case also depends on the same idea of fraudulent representations about Trump`s financial worth. And so, the statements are typically that he inflated some of his assets when it suited him, if he was applying for a loan, if he was seeking insurance coverage, if he was looking for tax deductions. He would inflate to the tune of $200 million, overestimating the size of his apartment from 100,000 to 300,000 square feet. Huge amounts of inflation of his assets.
And on other occasions, when it suited him, like paying his tax bill, he would take the same assets and reduce their value. So, sometimes you could look objectively at these documents and see, when year you claimed it was worth $200 million and the next year you say was $400 million. Some of those just don`t add up on their face. So, I would imagine that not only are those the bases of these civil fraud claims, but could very well be the basis of bank fraud, or tax fraud from a criminal perspective in the Manhattan D.A.`s investigation.
WAGNER: President Trump may be learning the hard way. A lesson all New Yorkers know, which is that a square footage of apartments really matters. Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Michigan, thank you so much for your time tonight.
MCQUADE: Thanks, Alex.
WAGNER: Believe it or not, primary voting started today for the midterm elections, but in the first state where people are voting, a new law appears to be doing exactly what many had feared, making it harder to vote. That`s next.
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WAGNER: If you would like to vote by mail in the state of Texas this year, you need to fill out this form. There`s a spot for your name, your address, your date of birth, and the standard information you might expect to provide on a form right now, except there`s something brand new on the application, a spot for voters to provide either their Texas drivers license number, or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
Last year, Texas Republicans passed one of the most restrictive voting laws in the country. Among other things, this new law added an additional hurdle for voting by mail. Requiring anyone who wants to vote by mail to provide a personal identification, when that officials could use to cross check applicants identities or the information the state has in its files.
Today is the first day of early voting in Texas, for the primaries being held on March 1st. This is the first election in which Texas will be able to test its brand new and highly restrictive voting law. And already, those new ID number requirements are creating major roadblocks for Texans who would like to vote.
Harris County is the most populous county in the state, home to the city of Houston. Already this year, Houston has had to reject about 40 percent of all mail-in ballot applications because they were missing a proper ID number.
This is happening all over the state. The number of mail-in ballot applications rejected from Dallas county is as high as 28 percent. And the rejection rate is 30 percent over in Williamson County, which includes the Austin suburbs. Williamson. Issue is not that just voters are leaving this section blank or that they don`t understand the directions. And a lot of cases the problem is on the Texas end.
CNN spoke with a Texas voter who tried to apply for a mail-in ballot. She provided her Texas drivers license number, like the new law requires, but her application was denied, because the number on her current license did not match the one Texas had on file for her, the one she used 46 years ago when she moved to the Houston area.
The point of this law passed by Republicans in Texas was to make it harder and more difficult to vote. So far, it appears to be working. The top elections official in Texas`s biggest county is named Isabel Longoria. She says quote, we are seeing in real time voters` votes being rejected.
Joining us now is Isabel Longoria, the elections administrator in Harris County, Texas.
Thank you so much for being here, Miss Longoria. What are you hearing from voters as they process this new law?
ISABEL LONGORIA, HARRIS COUNTY, TX ELECTIONS ADMINISTRATOR: We`re hearing a lot of confusion and fear. Questions being asked of what -- if my application gets rejected this year, does it mean it gets rejected next time and what is this being not only for the primaries but in general, and ultimately how can we face the so I don`t have this problem again.
This is just the tip of the iceberg as we start early voting in person in Texas today, that`s one of the big question marks for us election officials, just what happens to those in-person voters and are we going to see the same thing?
WAGNER: To that end, about how to fix the applications, is there a process, resources to help people fix these applications so they can in fact get mail-in ballots?
LONGORIA: Yes and no. Four counties as big as Harris County, we actually have a staff to double up our call centers so that we can answer all the calls. In January we got 8,000 calls to her call center and 5,000 just four male ballots. In November for our local elections we had maybe 5000 calls for the entire month for everything. We`re seeing an increase in calls, increasing pressure from local counties to meet the demands for call centers and outreach efforts, but it`s a layering of issues.
[21:40:06]
Yes, there`s an online database to cure your mail ballots from the secretary of state, but you have to put in both of your ID numbers to even get into the database. So if you only have one ID number, you can`t even get into the states database to cure your mail ballot. So, like I said, it`s a death by a thousand cuts, it`s layering of this, reelection loss, confusion, fear, paperwork for the application, paperwork for curing. You have to ask yourself, are you really tearing down barriers to help voters or putting up more roadblocks?
WAGNER: The one -- I mean, it bears mentioning it`s not just Democrats who want a mail-in ballot, right? I mean, this is affecting Texas voters writ large, generally -- Democrats, Republicans, independents. Is there a sense from the Republicans that were in charge of drafting this law and passing it, that they have made a mistake and that things need to change or are they trying to devote more resources -- I mean, to what degree are people realizing the problems that they`ve created?
LONGORIA: The big message I`m getting from the state right now is a learning curve. Sit and wait. Unfortunately, when it comes to votes there is no learning curve. That is someone`s vote being lost period that should never be a learning curve. That should never be set flippantly.
That`s my biggest concern, reelection officials raised this last year when the election bills were being passed. These were big the well predicted consequences of these actions, and yet we are still seeing this, oh work it will get better overtime. If you didn`t believe us then, please believe us now. This is not getting better. It`s something bates into the laws, the statutes that we`re going to see yes, rejection rates, but now into the november midterms as well.
WAGNER: You know, the more you try to take people`s right to vote away, sometimes the harder they fight for it. I just wonder, is the frustration being coupled with determination to get this right? I mean, what anecdotally can you share with us behind the frustration? Are people doubling down on their efforts or people in fact just getting up?
LONGORIA: It`s a really interesting question. First, we`re going to see how many applications that we`ve sent back actually get cured, same with the mail ballots. How many people actually take the step to fix or cure more ballots and how many people will come in person in the mail ballots fall through? We are on day one here.
I heard from my staff that perhaps our in person voting is a little higher than four years ago. That`s a whole other point. But I think for some folks who elections were talking about -- election officials. It seemed so theoretical. You are just fearmongering. It`s never going to happen.
Now, we are seeing the real life consequences. People -- when you get a call from my office because of the state laws, we have to reject your mail ballot. They`re saying whoa, I never thought this would happen to me.
WAGNER: It is happening and it`s happening now in Texas. Isabel Longoria, elections administrator in Harris County, Texas, thank you for being here and all that you are doing to keep democracy moving.
LONGORIA: Totally (ph).
WAGNER: For weeks now, this show has been reporting on the terrifying wave of bomb threats lobbed at historically black colleges and universities. What the great Toni Morrison had to say over these institutions over 25 years ago is taking on newfound meaning today. That is next.
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[21:47:25]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONI MORRISON, NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING AMERICAN NOVELIST: The first thing I thought was how glad I was my mother was still alive. The second thing I thought was, I think I`m the first African-American to win the Nobel Prize. And that is astonishing. We not only survived, we could use something so valuable, so irreplaceable. And that`s what`s worth celebrating.
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WAGNER: That was Toni Morrison in 1993 on the day that she was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. It was an unbelievable achievement for a child of the Great Depression who was born to a family of sharecroppers who move north, a journey that culminated in Morrison becoming the first black woman ever to win a noble prize for literature. Morrison will forever be remembered as the greatest novelist of the 20th century.
One thing that she credited making this document even possible is that she went to a historically black university. Morrison got her bachelors degree in English from Howard in Washington, D.C. And when she later returned to the university to teach part-time, nurtured our very first book, "The Bluest Eye".
Howard University has just announced its decision to honor Toni Morrison with a new position, establishing a newly endowed chair in the arts and humanities program. The schools expecting to fill that role with someone who will, quote, have a track record of academic and creative impact that reflects the acclaimed career of Toni Morrison.
That is what Howard University is doing in the name of one of its most esteemed alumni, because that`s how deeply she influenced both the country and her university. But Howard is also place that had a profound impact on Morrison herself. In 1995, she returned to the campus to give the universities 128 convocation address.
In a speech called "Racism and Fascism", Morrison reminded students of just how much the campus and its students have gone through.
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MORRISON: Howard struggle with the distress, with shortages, with slashes, and long periods, as well intermittent periods of national indifference. Yet among its alumni are men and women who`ve raised the standard of morality, responsibility, and intellect all over the world.
Howard negotiated and debated conflicting views on solutions to highly complex extremely volatile social problems and regarded that debate as its duty.
[21:50:19]
Howard has been much praised. It has also been much maligned and has suffered a step back, even a setback. But it has never suffered defeat.
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WAGNER: It has never suffered defeat. Howard has certainly been through a lot since 1867 when it was founded just two years after the civil war. And now in 2022, the university is facing new challenges.
This morning, Howard instructed students and faculty to shelter in place as it faced yet another bomb threat. The fourth of its kind since January 4th. This is just the latest in a thriller string of terrifying threats against more than two dozen HBCUs this year, that includes Fisk University in Tennessee where that campus was also closed because of a similar threat. So far, no bombs have been found in any of these schools. The FBI has been investigating the matter since February 2nd. So far, they suspect that at least six juveniles are involved, but no one is in custody.
Last week, we got a concrete look at the threat against Spelman College, when the following 911 call was released. We`re going to play the audio, but I have to warn you it is disturbing. So if you`d rather not hear it, now is the time to just take a break for a few seconds. Okay, here it is.
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911 CALL: Yesterday, I went into Spelman College University with a backpack on two explosives in them. Once I went to the main hallway of Spelman College, then I went to the secondary main hallway. Then I place both bombs there and planned to set them off in 30 minutes. I pick this school because university because of this reason. They`re too many black students in it.
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WAGNER: There are too many black students in it. Despite these threats, America`s HBCUs insist that they will not be deterred. After giving the campus, after giving the campus at all clear the Howard student association president told community quote, as ill actors attempt to induce fear among our community, we stand united and committed to addressing the needs of the student body more than ever.
For more than 150 years, universities and colleges like Howard had to combat white supremacy leading the nation`s fighting against its worst impulses by succeeding. By cultivating intellect and creativity, by turning alumni like Thurgood Marshall, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Toni Morrison, excellence that flies in the face of bigotry.
In that 1995 speech, Toni Morrison had a bit to say about that too.
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MORRISON: Howard University both as an institution and as a population has had an extraordinary journey. It entered the world in an interventionist mode, and has continued throughout its history to engage with debate, and respond to the most salient, the most passionately held and the most urgent issues of this nation. It countered with a vengeance the prevailing 19th century notion that education was not part of the future of African Americans. The prevailing 19th century notion that if by some object, higher education were to become available on large scale, that it would be of no use to have it, because the higher plateaus of achievement and influence were closed.
Evidence to the contrary is overwhelming and the nation owes Howard University a great deal.
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WAGNER: President Biden is expected to begin interviewing candidates on his Supreme Court shortlist this week and name his nominee by the end of the month. But after that, the timing will partly depend on the senator from his own party.
Senator Ben Ray Lujan, a Democrat from Mexico check himself into a Santa Fe hospital a few weeks ago after experiencing a relatively rare kind of stroke. Lujan`s office announced he was expected to make full recovery and would be back in the Senate in time to vote for Biden`s nominee.
Well, Senator Lujan has not released a video where, flanked by two of his doctor, he made the same promise.
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SEN. BEN RAY LUJAN (D-NM): I`m doing well. I`m strong. I`m back on the road to recovery and then make a full recovery. I`m going to walk out here. I`m going to beat this and I`m going to be stronger once I come up.
Now I`m proud to report that I`ll be back on the floor the United States Senate in just a few short weeks to vote on important legislation and to consider a Supreme Court nominee.
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WAGNER: Lujan said he also looks forward to cooking and mountain biking again soon, which sounds great, but maybe start slow. Maybe start with cooking. Solid. And then voting, because every one counts.
That does it for us tonight. We will see you again tomorrow.
Now it is time for "THE LAST WORD" with my friend Lawrence O`Donnell.
Good Monday evening to you, Lawrence.