Summary
The last holdout on the Senate Democrats plan to pass a version of President Biden`s agenda dealing with health care, climate and taxes is now on board; Senator Sinema of Arizona announced tonight she will support the legislation.
Transcript
ALI VELSHI, MSNBC HOST: It was -- it`s a depressing story but it is an important story and it continues to play out. I`m glad you in been have that conversation.
[21:00:00]
You have a great night, my friend, and we will see you tomorrow.
MEHDI HASAN, MSNBC HOST: Thank you.
VELSHI: And thanks to you at home for joining us this hour.
If you would allow me, I would like to take you back in time, back to September of 2009, as a new American leader was making his first appearance at the annual United Nations General Assembly.
President Barack Obama was just eight months into his first term. And the big U.N. meeting was kind of his big debut on the global diplomatic stage. He and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, were greeted warmly by American allies as they announced a more cooperative approach to international affairs as opposed to the with us or against us attitude of the prior administration.
But President Obama was not the only world leader attending his very first U.N. General Assembly that day. Another first timer got almost as much attention as Obama.
But unlike the new American president, this guy had been ruling his country for 40 infamous years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REPORTER: His Excellency, Moammar Gadhafi, leader of the revolution, president of the African Union, king of kings of the traditional kings of Africa.
REPORTER: Gadhafi raged on for 95 minutes and eight seconds, a diatribe against the wind from a jumble of handwritten notes, waving a copy of the U.N. charter and then pretending to wrap it up.
MOAMMAR GADHAFI, LIBYAN LEADER (through translator): It should not be called the Security Council. It should be called the terror council.
REPORTER: He made no mention of the Libyan bombing of Pan-Am 103 over Lockerbie, but launched a bizarre harangue about the assassination of President Kennedy.
GADHAFI: We want to know who killed him. Somebody by the name of Lee Harvey. And then another, Jack Ruby, killed Lee Harvey. Why did he kill him?
REPORTER: Mystifying the U.N. and the White House.
ROBERT GIBBS, OBAMA WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If I were to try to begin to explain the actions of Mr. Gadhafi today, I might be busy to the better part of the remainder of the afternoon.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
VELSHI: The speech from the Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was weird. Really weird. He called for the U.N. headquarters to be relocated to Libya so that he could avoid jet lag. But remarkably, this was not even the weirdest part of Gadhafi`s visit to the United States. The weirdest part was Gaddafi`s repeated attempts to find somewhere to pitch his tent, literally.
Gadhafi like to travel with a traditional Bedouin tent, which he set up wherever he was. Going we are not talking about small camping tent here. This is a big structure, where he could hang out with his entourage, and host dignitaries.
Of course, it also had to have room for his all female security detail, which traveled with him everywhere he went. But when he came to New York in 2009 for this un meeting, nobody was interested in letting him camp out on their property. First, he tried to get a permit to pitches tenth in Central Park. New York officials nixed that idea. Then he tried a spot across the river in New Jersey. But for some reason, no one there wanted a dictator and admitted terrorist camping next door.
So it began to look like Gadhafi was out of luck for his tenth. But ultimately, he found one New Yorker who was happy to host him. One New Yorker who looked at Moammar Gadhafi and saw not an international pariah but a business opportunity, and I`m going to give you one guess as to which New Yorker I am talking about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: The wealthy suburb of Bedford, New York, north of here, is the home of Richard Gere, Martha Stewart and perhaps, by tomorrow, Moammar Gadhafi of Libya. Donald Trump`s organization says it is looking into published reports that Gadhafi has literally put down stakes at Trump`s estate in Bedford, New York, for this week`s U.N. visit, and that he`s trying to pitch is tenth, including the requisite satellite dishes, on the estate, which is known as Seven Springs.
Late today, a local newspaper in Bedford reported the town has issued a stop work order because nobody had gotten a permit for the Gadhafi tenth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: I love that the Trump Organization said it was looking into reports that Gadhafi had pitched his tent on Trump`s property, as if he had just randomly shown up on Trump`s lawn was a total surprise to everyone. The town made them take the tent down and Donald Trump made this big show of how he was shocked -- shocked -- to find the Libyan dictator on his property.
But, of course, Trump himself had made the deal to let him stay there. And in true Donald Trump fashion, later on, he couldn`t stop himself from bragging about how much money he made on the deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, BUSINESSMAN: I`m the only one. I made a lot of money with Gadhafi, if you remember. He came to the country and had to make a deal with me because he needed a place to stay, and he paid a fortune never got to stay there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Trump didn`t make nearly as much money as he hoped to make, however. "BuzzFeed News" later reported that Trump had made a deal to let Gadhafi stay at his property because why else he? He wanted to get the Libyan dictator to invest some of his oil billions in Trump properties.
[21:05:02]
Long before he was president, Donald Trump had an affinity for foreign dictators. But once he became president, he got the opportunity to meet so many more of them. Vladimir Putin, of course, who Trump had been dying to meet four years.
Trump also travelled to the Philippines to meet their terrifying autocrat, best known for telling his police to shoot a drug suspects onsite, resulting in thousands of deaths. In a speech in Washington, just last month, Trump appointed to the Philippines bloody, lawless drug war as a model for the United States.
But maybe Trump`s favorite autocrat was this man, Viktor Orban of Hungary, because here was a guy who is demonstrating in real-time how to use the power of the state to undermine democracy and cement his hold on power.
Over his 12 years as prime minister, Viktor Orban has attacked Hungary`s independent judiciary, taken over most of the country`s media, criminalized civil society groups, prevented his political opposition from campaigning and inactive emergency powers that let him rule by decree. By the time he ran for reelection, for the third time, a couple of months ago, his victory was a foregone conclusion.
He has based his movement on an appeal to an explicitly white, Christian heritage for Hungary. Just last week, Orban delivered a speech in which he condemned, quote, race mixing, saying that European people should not mix with non Europeans. And he doesn`t want Hungary to become mix raced.
Even one of his longest serving advisors could not some of that speech. She resigned, calling it, quote a pure Nazi speech.
And after all of that, as Viktor Orban headed to the United States for a visit to this week, can you guess what his very first stop was? A visit to Donald Trump`s golf club. Because when you are an autocratic leader being shunned by everyone in the western world, and you are fresh off a speech that even your close adviser calls pure Nazi, never fear. The fine properties of the Trump Organization are always open to you. And Donald Trump himself will be there to welcome you with open arms.
Except, this time, it`s not just Donald Trump. Viktor Orban stopped off at Trump`s club because he was on his way to Texas to address the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC. The premier annual gathering of American conservatives, or at least that`s what it used to be.
The chair of the conference was asked whether they might reconsider hosting Orban in light of his no race mixing pure Nazi speech. CPAC chair responded, quote, let`s listen to the man speak. Let`s see what he says, apparently forgetting that everyone already did listen to -- and it see what he said, which is the entire problem.
And so today, the whole firmament of the American conservative movement welcome Viktor Orban to their conference and, boy, did they love what they heard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VIKTOR ORBAN, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER: Ladies and gentlemen, we are the first one in Europe said no to illegal migration, and stop the invasion of the illegal migrants.
(CHEERS)
Hungarians state institutions are obliged to protect the Christian culture of hungry. Hungary shall protect institution of marriage, as the union of one man and one woman.
(CHEERS)
Family ties have to be based on marriage, or the relationship between parents and children. To sum up, the mother is a woman. The father is a man. And leave our kids alone, full stop, end of discussion.
(CHEERS)
My government is devoted to law and order without compromise. We decided -- we decided we don`t need more genders, we need more rangers. Less drag queens and more Chuck Norris.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Boy, the autocratic prime minister of Hungary sure knows his audience, Christian heritage, no foreigners, more police, no gay marriage, no transgender rights. Apparently, no drag queens. And while you`re at it, less democracy. Because if you want a white Christian nationalist government and society, representative democracy and pluralism, they don`t really mix well with that.
Orban told the CPAC conference today that he and American conservatives to join forces, but that`s already happening. Fox News`s Tucker Carlson is Orban`s biggest cheerleader in the U.S. He took his show to Hungary last year.
[21:10:01]
Orban returned the favor, quoting Carlson in his speech today. CPAC itself held a conference in Hungary just a few months ago. This is the guy American conservatives are looking to for inspiration. And it is showing up, not just conservative conferences, but in election results.
Lots of Donald Trump supported election deniers won this week `s Republican primaries. Candidates who pledged to mess with America`s election infrastructure until they get the results they want.
Republican nominee for governor of Pennsylvania is a textbook Christian nationalist, in the mold of Viktor Orban. The guy who won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Arizona a couple of days ago, almost entirely funded by a billionaire who says he no longer believes and democracy.
Not too long ago, if a dictator visit to United States, nobody, other than Donald Trump, wanted anything to do with him. But the Republican Party is Trump`s party now, in the right kind of dictator can come here and get a standing ovation.
Joining me now is NPR media correspondent, David Folkenflik, who attended the CPAC conference in Dallas today.
David, good to see you.
It sounded like a rowdy, phone conference in which the speakers, and he`s just one of them, Viktor Orban, knew what the audience wanted, and through them that red meat.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, NPR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that`s the point of the conference. This is what they like to pick up, the Republican wing -- excuse, me that conservative wing, America`s conservative party. It is really sort of at times, the far-right reaches up with success acceptable in Republican Party politics. Among the speakers will be Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Fox News` Sean Hannity, I believe at this very hour. And Jack Posobiec, a peddler of conspiracies, the one was called pizza-gate, shot in a pizza parlor in Washington, D.C.
So, you know, this is a place where a lot of heat is fostered around a lot of hot spot nations, where it was the president someone with a consent with how many hot button issues. Viktor Orban has said, prime minister of this small central European country can set off what is very conservative American audience.
VELSHI: What is it about him? What is it about the Hungarian leader that makes it such a favorite in particular with the Fox News and the CPAC crowd?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, I think one thing is his success, you know, just wanting his fourth straight election to be prime minister a basket that country, an election of the freedom house and independent operation that sort of monitors civil rights, civil royalty liberties elections called a free but not fair setup for elections. I think also the fact that he`s able to explicitly invoke the notion of Europeans needing to both protect and project Christian values. But also, the idea, as you said last week, races should not mix.
He`s able to say things that certain elements of Republicans and conservative bots nowadays touched upon but don`t want to say as explicitly. And there he is, saying it out loud. I`m not saying that`s true for all Republicans or all conservatives, but there`s an element that is happy to hear it in the age where wokism, cancel culture, and BLM are these touchstones for Republicans on the right. And by the way, all of which, he talks about in his speech earlier today.
I also think that the fact that you saw him talk about migration in this country, you know, borders are a rallying cry for the right, in a way that is some ways right now abortion rights a rallying cry for the left in this country, for much of the center as well. And that`s something which Orban was able to find support in this country, even as he was doing everything to do these Trump like things, intimidate, to buy off, to grind down, or to smother independent voices and outside outfits like the price, like universities, like nongovernmental outputs that moderate human rights.
VELSHI: And the idea that immigration, the hard line on immigration, one place as you mentioned. You`re right in your piece that, Viktor Orban, sort of, overlaps with the American right. But there are issues in which Hungary and Orban diverge with the American right as well, did you talk about.
FOLKENFLIK: Yeah, and doing reporting, talking to Hungarian journalists and others, you know, you found that abortion is legal there. It is restricted some, after I believe, 12, 15 weeks. But it`s legal up to 24 weeks under certain conditions. They have universal health care. Bait for and arranged for by the government.
In addition to that, it is strongly severely regulated. These are not stances that people at what`s called CPAC, this event, will embrace in any way, shape, or form. However, that is not the point.
The point is you have tone somebody, going to stand up what he calls, the global ruling classes, lumping together people in the media and academia, and independent outfits, as I`ve said before, people like the liberal, Hungarian-born Jewish philanthropist, George Soros, who is a bogeyman for Orban, just as he is for so many on Fox News, so many on the American right.
[21:15:21]
You know, it`s a mix of things. He`s willing to take them on a pledge equally. One of the things they said is their Christian politician, a question political leader can never be racist because of his values, because of his Christian values. He said they will always keep us from going to far. You know, it`s sort of a crazy defense in some ways, off the -- against the condemnation that you received, the kinds of statements you touched on earlier, the idea that races shouldn`t mix in Hungary is not racist, because he can`t be racist, because he has Christian values.
VELSHI: It`s quite something, but as you mentioned, it keeps getting reelected.
NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik, thank you so much for joining us. We always appreciate having you on.
FOLKENFLIK: You bet.
VELSHI: I want to bring in to the conversation Ruth Ben-Ghiat. She`s a professor at New York University, and the author of "Strongman: Mussolini to the Present". She is an expert on authoritarian leaders, like Viktor Orban.
And people have gone after you a lot in the last several months, because you and I have talked about it. You`ve spoken a lot about Viktor Orban and how on the step he is, in fact, with his NATO neighbors and Europe. But he continues to gain popularity.
I should point out, which I think he`ll do anyway, he wins elections, but every election is a little bit less free than the last one.
RUTH BEN-GHIAT, PROFESSOR, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: Yes, that is right. And the reason he`s the idol of the GOP as he has shown the workings of what`s called electoral autocracy. And he calls, you know, he talks about Hungary being an admirable democracy, but there`s nothing democratic about it at this point, where he`s managed to have this, you know, capture the institutions and his party as a huge amount of power, so that the elections are kind of rigged.
And in fact, the last election of his opponent hasn`t been invited on national TV since 2019. So, there is the veneer of freedom but the practice -- it`s despotic. And that`s what the Republicans are very interested in.
VELSHI: This is a point you have made, that always stands out to me. That we have an association here with the idea that if a vote exists, and there are elections, then there must be democracy, and hence, freedom. And you point out that, increasingly, in a world that is marching toward more authoritarianism, there`s still votes. They`re still elections. There`s lots of countries in the world that have elections, that are neither free or fair.
BEN-GHIAT: That`s right. And so, actually, the metric that you need to use for democracy versus, you know, autocracy today is not really elections, but transparency and accountability. And that`s in short supply in Hungary, because, you know, it`s very difficult to be equivocal voice. When he has these, you know, he has these international conferences, and he allows some dissidents to be there, which is typical.
But it`s very difficult to have, as we saw in the last election, he just keeps winning over and over again. And now, what he`s doing is, you know, trying to be the kind of mentor, the strongman, who`s going to have, you know, lead the aligns of the far-right international, because Putin -- he`s trying to go into a place where Putin is a toxic now, people fall out of windows, he`s got in this war. And so, Orban becomes the acceptable tyrant.
VELSHI: Aha! And he wrote today that in fact, Orban`s appearance of CPAC is the outcomes of the words you used, of a carefully cultivated relationship. That is particularly in this moment. Who is cultivating this relationship?
BEN-GHIAT: Well, you know, Hungary is a small country. But what`s better things then to have Tucker Carlson gave his -- give a whole week of his show over to you, and make you a showpiece.
So, it`s like a very good synergy that they have going. And so, you know, they are helping one another. They`re giving each other legitimacy. And that`s very important to Orban.
And, so in fact, in the end, he said, we need to make agreements with the Chinese, the Russians and the Americans. But it might be easier you know with Republicans. Now, we didn`t mention Trump, which is typically autocratic, because they`re very opportunistic and transactional. He didn`t mention Trump at all at CPAC, and he will make a deal with whoever he needs to keep that relationship going. It might be Trump. It might not.
VELSHI: Ruth, as always, thank you for your time tonight. Ruth Ben-Ghiat is professor of history at the New York University.
[21:20:01]
She`s an expert on authoritarianism. We always appreciate your time.
Well, up next, the issue that has Republicans panicked about the midterms. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD ANNOUNCER: If you take Tudor Dixon at her word when it comes to outlying abortion, she`s still thus exactly who she is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you for the exceptions for rape and incest?
TUDOR DIXON (R), MICHIGAN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I`m not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exceptions for rape or incest?
[21:25:01]
What about health of the mother?
DIXON: No exceptions.
AD ANNOUNCER: Tudor Dixon, that`s not acceptable for Michigan.
AD ANNOUNCER: Blake Masters has made his dangerous idea on abortion easy to understand.
BLAKE MASTERS (R), ARIZONA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I actually think we should go further.
You make it illegal, and you punish a doctor.
AD ANNOUNCER: Blake Masters, too dangerous for Arizona.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
VELSHI: Those are two new ads, out today, targeting Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters, and Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon. Those two Republican candidates only won their party nominations on Tuesday, but they`re already facing ads like that, giving voters a sample of the candidates extreme positions on abortions, on abortion in their own words.
And they may have something to do with the other election that happened on Tuesday night, when voters in the state of Kansas, the state the Donald Trump won by nearly 15 points in 2020, overwhelmingly rejected Republican proposal that would remove protections for abortion rights in that state.
Republicans spent the last two days struggling to explain the results of that Kansas election. Kansas Republican Senator Roger Marshall, told "Politico" today, it was quite a gut punch. Yes, I`m shocked, absolutely shocked. That`s not what I was expecting, not what I was told the polling showed, and I thought it was going to be a tight race. I don`t have an explanation.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was also at a loss for an explanation, when he was asked about Kansas on Fox News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I don`t think we really know until the end of the year, what kind of an impact putting this issue back into the hands of those officers elected, as opposed to nine unelected judges will have on the country. We are in the process of finding that out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think Kansas tells you something about that?
MCCONELL: It tells us you there`s a lot of people interested in the issue in Kansas. There`s no question about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: As Republican leaders struggled to deal with the electoral consequences of the Supreme Court`s decision on Roe v. Wade, some Republican officials are moving full steam ahead toward an even more radical antiabortion agenda.
Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his decision to suspend a county prosecutor in Tampa, who had promised not to prosecute those, who quote, seek, provide, or support abortions, end quote. That prosecutor has just been reelected by voters in 2020, but Ron DeSantis decided to overrule those voters.
With the midterm elections less than 100 days away, it`s clear that the Supreme Court`s decision to end Roe v. Wade still looms large. And Republicans aren`t sure how to deal with it. So, what do we expect in the next couple of months?
Joining us now is Irin Carmon, senior correspondent at "New York Magazine", who covers this very closely.
Irin, good to see you again.
Democrats, wasting no time as we show in those at, trying to make the Republican opponents records on abortion part of this election. Are those ads, like the ones we just played, are they going to have an impact on how people choose to vote?
IRIN CARMON, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Well, Ali, I mean, I think the most important thing is that the victory in Kansas belongs to the organizers on the ground who spoke to people, met people where they were, and turned people out.
So, yes, abortion is broadly popular, even in a state like Kansas, they did not want to see a total ban. And in states like Arizona and Michigan which are purple states, you look at the numbers there, people don`t want to say these total bans either. So, I think is a question of advocating people. People are paying attention because the Supreme Court did the unthinkable, and it allowed the words to be said, Roe v. Wade has been overturned.
Now, John Roberts wanted the Supreme Court to take the more incremental step. It had -- Mitch McConnell said that there were nine unelected justices, as if they`re implementing the policy agenda that he has declined, to put on the floor when he control the Senate. He has been pretty happy with denying unelected judges, when they, for example, start their campaign finance, voting rights, but okay.
The Supreme Court has made this real. I think that`s the biggest difference. People are used to seeing ads that tell them, this or that is going to happen, if this person gets elected. But one people in Kansas realize, and what people across the country are going to realize, because the Supreme Court ripped the rug out from under these constitutional protections, this is not a theoretical question. People in Missouri are being denied plan B rape survivors. Miscarriage care, all over the country, is being compromised. Republicans are defending ten year old rape victims being forced to carry to term.
So, we can no longer say, okay, if you elect this Republican, maybe somewhere down the road, abortion will be chipped away. It`s a reality. It`s a reality in states all around Kansas. It`s a reality in states all around Michigan and Arizona as well.
So, knowing that this is what indeed is being fought in these very same states, I think that is going to have voters for painful, if Democrats stay on this issue, and if they turn people out.
[21:30:07]
VELSHI: Well, "The New York Times" did an analysis, using the Kansas results to protect how the rest of the country would have voted on civil referendum. And they found that voters would support abortion rights in all but seven states.
I don`t know if you`ve had a chance to dig into this. But what do you make of that analysis? Obviously, every state is a little different, because Kansas, starting from the position in which it had abortion protections in its state constitution. Wisconsin doesn`t have that. Michigan is trying to get it on as a ballot question.
So, everybody is in a different position. But what do you make of this sort of analysis?
CARMON: I think we`ve known for a long time that public opinion on abortion is broadly in favor of access. People do not want to see abortion banned. There have been ways in which Republicans have tried to turn it into law station issues, and they are also, by the way, times in which antiabortion activists have succeeded in their ballot initiatives, and states like Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee. But they did so really under the radar. It may be, you know, in states like Louisiana, which I believe is highlighted in the New York Times graph.
I think, those were low turnout election, similar to the one that was expected in Kansas, and isn`t what happened. They were ones in which, perhaps, Democrats didn`t pay, didn`t mobilize people on abortion. So, now, with folks paying attention, and with people being emboldened by what the folks in Kansas managed to pull off, I think that we`re talking about that we`ve always known that this is what the polling stands.
We haven`t known people turned out, whether they will actually -- and it remains to be seen, whether they`re voting on a candidate, whether that will be different from voting specifically on an issue to take something away that is a status quo.
VELSHI: There`s a lot of elements to what happened in Kansas, but are specific to Kansas. But it`s surprised a lot of people on both sides of the issue this week.
Irin, good to see you again. Thanks for joining us.
Irin Carmon is senior correspondent at "New York Magazine".
I want to bring you a major and sadly unexpected update on a story that we`ve been following closely. Today, a Russian court sentenced the American citizen Brittney Griner to nine years in prison, after something of a show trial with the pre-determined outcome.
The basketball star has been detained in Russia since February, about a week before Russia invaded Ukraine. When it vape cartridges containing cannabis oil was found in her luggage.
Now, Griner`s hopes turns to national diplomacy. President Biden released a statement today, condemning Russia`s harsh sentence for Griner, and reiterating his call for her release, and that of another detainee, Paul Whelan.
U.S. official tells NBC news that Russia has not responded substantively to quote, serious offer that the U.S. meet in June for a prisoner swap, for the Russian arms trafficker, Viktor Bout. But officials will keep pressing for his release.
This is a portrait of the so-called justice in Russia. Here in America, there was another big update about justice, for Breonna Taylor. We`ll have more on that, next.
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[21:37:44]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROTESTERS: Say her name! Breonna Taylor! Say her name! Breonna Taylor! Say her name! Breonna Taylor!
(CHANTING)
TAMIKA PALMER, BREONNA TAYLOR MOTHER: I have waited 874 days for today. It`s here now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: For 874 days, Tamika Palmer, activists and protesters across the country have been calling for justice for Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old emergency room technician whom police shot dead in her home during a nighttime raid in March of 2020.
Louisville police officers executed a search warrant executed related to a drug investigation that Breonna Taylor had nothing to do with. They used a battering ram to enter her room around midnight. Police say they knocked and announced themselves.
Breonna Taylor`s boyfriend says all they heard was loud banging got no answer when they asked who was at the door.
Breonna Taylor`s boyfriend feared it was a break-in, so he fired his gun once. That`s when police blindly fired multiple rounds into the apartment, shooting Breonna Taylor. She did not receive immediate medical attention. She died that night. There were no drugs found in the apartment.
So, for 874 days, Breonna Taylor`s family and people across the country have been asking law enforcement to hold the police who killed her accountable. And at one point, in September 2020, just months after she was killed, it looked like maybe that day would come. A Kentucky grand jury had a chance to indict three officers involved in Breonna Taylor`s death. They indicted one.
A grand jury charged him with three counts of wanton endangerment for shooting into a neighbor`s apartment -- not for shooting Breonna Taylor, and he was later acquitted.
Fast forward today, when the federal Justice Department weighed in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Justice Department has charged four current and former Louisville metro police department officers with federal crimes related to Ms. Taylor`s death.
[21:40:01]
Those alleged crimes include civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force, and obstruction offenses.
Federal charges announced today alleged that members of the place based investigations unit falsified the affidavit used to obtain a search warrant of Ms. Taylor`s home, that this act violated federal civil rights laws and that those violations resulted in Ms. Taylor`s death.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: The four officers charged include three officers who were part of the investigative unit, which obtained the search warrant to raid Breonna Taylor`s home last night. The officer who was fired from the police department for shooting blindly into Taylor`s home.
The Justice Department has been investigating the process of the Louisville police department for a year now, and today, the Department of Justice argues that three of the officers made false claims in search warrant affidavit connecting Breonna Taylor to their drug investigation. The DOJ also argues that Hankison deprived Taylor, her boyfriend and their neighbors of their constitutional rights when he fired recklessly into the apartment through a window covered with blinds.
Now, if these officers are convicted of any of these charges, they could face years in prison. For example, willfully violating someone`s rights when it results in death can result in a maximum sentence of life in prison. The indictment stated did not name the officers who actually shot and killed Taylor, but at the very least, 874 days after Breonna Taylor was killed, these are the potential consequences these four officers now face.
One of Breonna Taylor`s family attorneys, Ben Crump, put it this way after the charges were announced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR BREONNA TAYLOR`S FAMILY: As Dr. King said, the more lack of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Well, today it bends toward Breonna Taylor!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[21:46:35]
VELSHI: What I`m about to show you is the absolutely unbelievable email exchange in which the legal team for the far-right media personality Alex Jones accidentally sent the opposing legal team a 2.3 gigabyte digital copy of Alex Jones`s cell phone contents -- texts, emails, everything.
This is the opposing legal team`s lawyer, by email, to Alex Jones`s lawyer. Quote, I forwarded this email to my paralegal to download this production. He asked me to take a look because of the huge amount of material he was downloading, and he wanted me to verify that they needed to download all of it. I look through the director`s and they seem to contain a lot of confidential information. My assumption is now that you did not intend to send us this.
To which, Alex Jones`s lawyer replies, thank you. There appears to have been a mistake in the final transfer. Please disregard the link.
Now unfortunately, for Alex Jones, just saying please disregard the link does not only not weight legally and Jones`s lawyers apparently didn`t do any of the lawyer-y things they need to do to meaningfully restrict the cell phone content that had been inadvertently forwarded to the other side. And now not only does the opposing legal team in this case have the contents of Jones`s cell phone, but the January 6th investigation has now requested contents from them as well.
And it looks like Jones is opposition`s lawyers will be complying with that request.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDY HOOK PARENTS LAWYER: I have been asked to turn them over. I certainly intend to do that unless you tell me not to. I don`t see how a protective order could be applied in a way that would prevent me from doing that. I think they have dropped the ball completely.
JUDGE: Turn it over to authorities? Turn it over to press? Who are you turning it over to?
SANDY HOOK PARENTS LAWYER: I`ve been asked by the January 6th committee to turn the documents over.
JUDGE: I mean, I don`t know that you get to stop that anyway.
ALEX JONES LAWYER: Well, if they subpoenaed them it certainly would be a very different story.
JUDGE: Well, they`re going to now. They know about them. They know they exist. They know you have them. I think they are going there either way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now what`s most amazing to me about all of this is not just the hoops, wrong attachment, moment. What`s most amazing to me is that this case isn`t about January 6th. It`s about Sandy Hook.
For nearly a decade, Alex Jones had been pushing a dangerous conspiracy theory that claims that the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012 was a hoax. I was on the scene hours after it happened in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14th, 2012.
Within hours of the massacre, long before many parents knew they had lost their kids, 26 people died, 20 of them were first graders. All of them were real, with real families who suffered first from that tragedy and then later from the psychological torment and literal harassment produced by the conspiracy theory that Alex Jones was pushing.
Today, the jury in this case decided that Jones owes two of those Sandy Hook parents for point $1 million four point $1 million for his actions, and that is all for one trial, for two parents. Jones has multiple damages trials ahead of him for his role in pushing the Sandy Hook conspiracy theory, which could ultimately cost him a ton of money.
[21:50:01]
But it is like a cosmic justice bonus that because of Jones`s lawyers mistake, this case could also be happening handing January 6th investigators evidence that could be used in that investigation. It is important to remember that the January 6th committee try to speak with Mr. Jones back in January. He claims to have pleaded the Fifth Amendment nearly 100 times.
And there`s a lot Alex Jonas could have said in that interview that maybe his texts can now say for him.
Take, for example, the story we learned from White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, about president Trump demanding that once he finished his speech on January 6th, he wanted to be taken to the capitol to march with his supporters. How Trump allegedly, physically fought with a Secret Service agent to try to get taken there. We didn`t know that until the January 6th hearings last month.
But check out this video of Alex Jones at the Capitol on January 6th after Trump ended his speech, telling his supporters to march on the Capitol.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD MEMBER: We love you Alex Jones!
ALEX JONES, CONSPIRACY THEORIST: History is happening. I salute you. Tell everyone you know, go to the other side of the Capitol, that`s where Trump`s going to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now, here is Jones the day after the riot on January 7th on his show explaining how it is that he came to know where Trump was supposedly going to be.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: The White House told me three days before, we are going to have you lead the march. The Secret Service, before Trump, then, just 30 minutes before. We will add you to a point, take you to the front row and lead you to the place where they want you to start the march. And Trump will tell people, go on to meet at the Capitol.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now, we have no clue what`s actually in the trove of text and emails that the January 6th committee is now very likely about to receive. But texts cannot plead the fifth. There is lots to unpack here.
Joining us now is Paul Butler, professor at Georgetown law school, former federal prosecutor.
Paul, thank you for being with us tonight.
I want to start with a very basic legal question about the damages case against Alex Jones, to go back to the sandy hook story here. The first phase wrapped up today. In this $4.1 million dollar judgment against Jones for Sandy Hook victims parents.
What happens next? There is a punitive stage to that. Is that a different trial or is that a different decision by the jury?
PAUL BUTLER, MSNBC LEGAL ANALYST: So, Ali, the first phase is about compensatory damages, or actual damages, how much money Jones has to pay back the families for the extreme harm he caused -- things like medical bills, moving expenses, security costs.
This next phase is about punitive damages. That is about sending a strong message that Alex Jones probably won`t understand. But to other people who are out there, spreading conspiracy theories, that they know are lies and ruin the lives of innocent people, a huge punitive damage award might that them know, actions have consequences. Intentional, malicious lies can cost you all your money, and if you lie under oath, you might even get locked up.
VELSHI: What`s the lying here? Because Alex Jones, for a very long time here, said he was protected by the first amendment and saying what he said. Lying is not against the law. What is the part that hold him responsible for this?
BUTLER: And if he had bothered to comply with the four other court proceedings, and turn over documents, he might have had his chance to have his First Amendment claims litigated. But he didn`t turn over the documents and now sandy hook families have exposed Jones as a serial liar. As you mentioned, the defense attorney had to prove it in terms of all those text messages.
And, Ali, Alex Jones was dumb enough to complain about the judge and jury at the same time that they were deciding the case. He called the jurors extremely blue collar and said they didn`t know what planet that they were living on. The judge allowed the jury to hear that and some of that money that he lied about having was earned by exploiting the families of dead children after the jurors fine punitive damages, Jones might actually be bankrupt.
VELSHI: What a story. Paula, thank you. As always, good to see you. Thank you for joining us.
Paul Butler is a professor at Georgetown Law School and former federal prosecutor.
We are just getting news that Senator Sinema has finally broken her silence, putting Democrats one major step closer to getting their big spending bill, which contain significant money to fight global warming through the Senate. That breaking news is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)F
[21:58:53]
VELSHI: All right, some breaking news I was just telling you about, the last holdout on the Senate Democrats plan to pass a version of President Biden`s agenda dealing with health care, climate and taxes is now on board. Senator Sinema of Arizona announced tonight she will support the legislation. There is a condition -- the removal of the carried interest tax provision from the bill. That provision would close the loophole that allows private equity and fund managers to pay a reduced tax rate on their share of profits from investments.
In a statement, Senator Sinema said, quote, we have agreed to remove the carried interest tax provision subject to the parliamentarian`s review, I`ll move forward.
This follows speculations about whether she would support the bill and what appeared to be a lobbying effort from Senator Joe Manchin. The Senate chamber camera captured them talking today.
Meanwhile, the Senate already started moving ahead in case the bill already gets the all clear from the Senate parliamentarian. Earlier today, Senate leader Chuck Schumer said that the Senate will take tomorrow off but will reconvene on Saturday and hold the first procedural vote to begin consideration of the bill. That motion to proceed only needs a simple majority. It cannot be filibustered and will start up to 20 hours of debate equally divided between each party.
Once debate is over, they will move on to a so-called vote-a-rama. A bunch of amendment votes that will conclude with a final vote that to pass the package and, who knows one that would be. But maybe we will be together for it.
It`s a big step in the right direction. Watch this space.
That does it for us tonight. We`ll see you again tomorrow. Time now for "THE LAST WORD" with Zerlina Maxwell who is in for Lawrence.
Good evening, Zerlina.