Summary
The January 6th Select Committee Issued a Subpoena to Five Members of Congress Including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The Washington Post Obtained an Audio Where an Officer in Coffee County Manage to Have a Permission to Check Election Results in Georgia. Vladimir Putin started his week with the Victory Day holiday in Russia humiliated with no victories to claim in Ukraine. Days later, his military is still struggling to make gains in a war that even some of his top allies say should end.
Transcript
ALI VELSHI, MSNBC HOST: And yet is the target of book banners. And if you didn`t get enough from my conversation with Margaret Atwood and her disturbingly relevant book, "The Handmaids Tail," you can now watch our full extended interview streaming exclusively on Peacock.
Time now for THE LAST WORD with Jonathan Capehart sitting in for Lawrence. Good evening, Jonathan. I already know that you are a participant, you are member of the Velshi banned book club, so I know you`ll be there.
JONATHAN CAPEHART, MSNBC HOST: Yes. So, absolutely, I`ll be there, Ali. Thanks very much.
VELSHI: All right. Have a good evening.
CAPEHART: In the years since Donald Trump came down the escalator and took over the Republican Party it`s becoming clear that Trump is a symptom of the anti-Democratic cancer that`s infecting conservatism. Not the disease. It did not recede after Trump lost. After the laughable Rudy landscaping company press conference. Even after the attack on our nation`s capital. No.
Instead, it`s escalating. That anti-Democratic cancer is metastasizing. Just look at Pennsylvania today. The two high-profile races for the open Senate -- Senate seat of retiring Republican Pat Toomey and the governor`s mansion where Democrat Tom Wolf is term limited have huge implications for both the commonwealth and the nation at large as they do every year.
The editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer, one of the nation`s biggest newspapers, in a crucial swing state wanted to endorse a Republican candidate for those races. But they couldn`t. They write that they sent every Republican candidate in the Senate race a survey to see where they stood on a number of issues. But the candidates felt the questions were quote, "biased and unfair."
What hard-hitting got you questions did the paper ask these candidates who want to represent the keystone state in Congress? In their view, among the most problematic queries that we asked was, who won the 2020 presidential election? The only two options and the multiple-choice format were Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Only one candidate agreed to acknowledge reality. One.
One candidate agreed to acknowledge the reality that Joe Biden won the presidency. This is where the Republican Party is after Trump`s takeover. And it shows no signs of changing since the voters threw him out of office.
With midterm elections rapidly approaching, the January six committee is less than a month away from presenting its findings to the American people. They are expected to tell a story that puts the January 6th attack in context, of a frenzied effort to stop Joe Biden`s win from being certified by Trump, and his Republican allies. Some of whom are still in Congress.
Yesterday, the committee announced that its subpoenaed five Republican lawmakers including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. These subpoenas are an important and necessary step, but they are unlikely to lead to any testimony from the Trump allied Republicans.
The Guardian is even reporting that the committee, quote, "has no real interest in pursuing any legal enforcement."
Meanwhile, there is more evidence that Republican election`s officials, people on the front lines of the Democratic system could be a threat to voting machines and ballots. New reporting from my paper, The Washington rep -- The Washington Post reports that, quote, "a former election supervisor in rural Coffee County, Georgia, opened her offices to a businessman active in the election denier movement to help investigate results she did not trust in the weeks after President Donald Trump`s 2020 defeat."
It`s a type of insider threat that`s causing serious concern among election security experts. The recording you are about to hear was obtained by the Post as part of a lawsuit filed against the Georgia Secretary of State`s office, arguing that that states election system is so insecure, that it violates the rights of voters. That was a quote I just read you. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: I`m the guy that chartered the jet to go down to Coffee County to have them inspect all of those computers. And I`ve heard zero, OK, I went down there and we scanned every freaking ballot.
They sent their team down to Coffee County, Georgia, and they scanned all the equipment, imaged all the hard drives, and scanned every single ballot, you know, absentee in person, in person, and absentee by mail and have gotten no feedback.
UNKNOWN: They imaged the hard drives?
UNKNOWN: Yes.
UNKNOWN: How in the world that you get permission to do that?
UNKNOWN: We basically had the entire elections committee there, and they said, we give you permission. Go for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[22:05:06]
CAPEHART: Joining us now is Jena Griswold, she is the secretary of Colorado and chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State.
Secretary Jena Griswold, thank you for coming to THE LAST WORD.
Colorado is dealing with its own insider threat to election security. A Colorado judge has banned Mesa County clerk Tina Peters from administering elections in her county after she was indicted on election security charges. How concerned should people be about these insider threats?
JENA GRISWOLD (D), SECRETARY OF STATE, COLORADO: Well, good evening, thank you for having me, Jonathan. I think the country needs to prepare for what`s coming. I actually addressed the nation`s first insider threat when a local county clerk trying to prove conspiracies compromised her own voting equipment.
So, I acted quickly, I decertify the voting equipment, a judge removed that clerk from last year`s elections, and then I asked my 2018 Republican opponent to step in. But you are absolutely right. We have to go back to court, after clerk Peters refused to affirm that she would follow security rules, and just once again banning her from oversight of this year`s elections.
But I think this is spreading across the nation. And my job frankly as Secretary of State is to ensure that every eligible Republican, Democrat, and independent voter has access to safe and secure elections.
That`s why I acted so quickly in addressing the nation`s first insider attack. That is also why I just let the first in the nation law to target insider threats, making it a felony to allow unauthorized access to voting equipment and hardening security. I think every state in the nation should look at what we are doing here in Colorado and follow suit.
CAPEHART: Secretary Griswold, did I hear you correctly? Because I was about to ask you about Tina Peters. Because she is supposed to be a Republican candidate for secretary of state. Did I hear you say that she has been banned from the ballot?
GRISWOLD: No.
CAPEHART: OK.
GRISWOLD: She has been barred from overseeing her own county`s elections.
CAPEHART: Got it. OK.
GRISWOLD: But she is actually the front runner running against me in this election. So, if you can imagine, someone who is under 10 counts of criminal indictment for trying to compromise voting equipment, someone who has embraced extremism, even applauding onstage as election denier called for me to be hanged, the nation`s premiere election insider threat is running for secretary of state.
We have to stop extreme candidates across the nation if we save American democracy. And if your viewers want to join me in stopping Tina Peters and the big lie, they can join me at jennifercolorado.com.
CAPEHART: So, Secretary Griswold, last question for you, what do you make of the Republican Party`s embrace of denying elections, of election denial?
GRISWOLD: Well, I think that it`s horrible for our nation. Democracy is in peril. Americans could lose the freedom to choose their elected officials. We are seeing not only these extreme candidates run. We are seeing the worst attack on democracy in recent history.
Voter suppression bills are passing. Election administration is being destabilized. The lies are attacking at confidence. And Americans are going to have a big job come 2022 elections. Because they are going to be able to choose between candidates who are telling us they will destroy versus candidates who will uphold the will of the people.
Democracy is on the ballot. And as we saw last week, so is all of our fundamental freedoms. Whether your viewers care about protecting the right to choose like I do, climate change, the cost of living, all the progress we have made, and we need to make as a nation, it depends on the right to vote. Democracy and our fundamental freedoms are on the ballot and I am so confident Americans are going to rise to the challenge to save them.
CAPEHART: Jena Griswold, Secretary of State of Colorado, thank you so much for coming to THE LAST WORD.
Joining us now, David Jolly, former Republican Congressman from Florida. He left the Republican Party in 2018 and is now national chairman of the Serve America Movement. He is also an MSNBC political analyst. And Stuart Stevens is a veteran of five Republican presidential candidates, he is author of the terrific book, "It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump."
David, Stuart, thank you for being here. Stuart, let me start with you. You know Pennsylvania from your time on Republican presidential campaigns. What do you make of the situation of the Enquirer, the Philadelphia Enquirer not being able to endorse in the Republican primary and statewide races because the candidates can`t acknowledge reality on the 2020 election?
STUART STEVENS, FORMER REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You know, I work for the last Republican governor to be reelected in Pennsylvania. Tom Ridge. And I wonder today, that the party that we look at, it`s just extraordinary.
[22:09:57]
You know, I mean, Jonathan, here is the reality. In Pennsylvania, sort of the birthplace of democracy in America, no Republican candidate for governor, or for the Senate will say that we live in a democracy. Because if you don`t say that Joe Biden was legally elected, then we don`t live in a democracy, it`s an occupied country.
Just think about that. I am pretty sure who is going to win in both of these races. But it doesn`t really matter because all of them are denying that this was an election that was legal. Which I think is extraordinarily corrosive.
CAPEHART: You know, David, we have been talking about election security and what`s really interesting to me is that time and time again, it`s supporters of the big lie, supporters of Donald Trump, who are admitting to committing voter fraud and compromising our voting systems.
FMR. REP. DAVID JOLLY (R-FL): Yes.
CAPEHART: What does that say to you?
JOLLY: I think that it says as a country, we have to recognize the danger of the moment, Jonathan. I really mean that. I think it is easy intuitively to look at January 6th as kind of this singular capstone event to the Trump administration. But what it really represents is halftime in the greater strategy of the coup.
I mean, we are -- that is the strategy that Donald Trump and many of the leaders of today`s Republican Party are playing. That if we allege, as Republicans, that the last election was stolen, and that we are here to fix it, and to seek retribution for it, then that is the campaign issue upon which they are running.
And the reason it`s so dangerous is because if they are elected on that issue, right now the traditional issues of less taxes, and less regulation, and strong borders, but actually the last election was stolen, and we`re going to steal the next one, they will be empowered to actually begin to tear further and further at our republic.
And the only electoral optimism I would suggest though is this, it`s actually a losing issue. Right? Just 16 months ago we saw in Georgia, if you run on the election fraud issue, you take traditionally Republican favorite seats, and you lose them.
So, the hope might be that in this cycle, Republicans running on the big lie actually lose, but we also know that it`s a very dangerous environment, because it generally favors in a generic ballot test, Republicans, even those who are espousing the big lie.
CAPEHART: Right. And Stuart, I`m curious what you think about what we are seeing in Pennsylvania with the late surge from the extreme conservative Kathy Barnette. Do you think she can win the nomination next week? And does that give the Democrats a better chance at flipping Pat Toomey`s seat?
STEVENS: Yes, I think she will win. What you have in the Senate primary is a classic case of a murder suicide pact. Where you have McCormick and Oz. You know, A attacks B, and B attacks A, and C benefits. In both McCormick and Oz are actually reasonable human beings. I mean, neither one of them lived in Pennsylvania if you overlook that little thing.
But the people who, you know, five years ago would have openly said that Donald Trump was a fool, and a charlatan. And now they are trying to run to be something that they`re not where she is actually what she is. I think the voters can sense this, and feel it, that the others are acting, they are just sort of telling -- what a poll reminds them of their deeply held beliefs.
Well, she says the stuff and she believes it. And I think she is going to win. I think it probably not going to be that close.
CAPEHART: Wow. Stuart and David, we got to go. Stuart Stevens, David Jolly, thank you both very much for joining us tonight.
JOLLY: Thank you, Jonathan.
CAPEHART: Coming up, -- thank you. They will have blood on their hands. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito got a stark warning from an unexpected place today. The president of Planned Parenthood, Alexis McGill Johnson, will join us next.
[22:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAPEHART: If the U.S. Supreme Court confirms its draft decision, women will die. Those shocking and powerful words aren`t the opinion of a pro- choice or political organization. They are a matter-of-fact analysis of a post-Roe world from an editorial in one of world`s most renowned medical journals, The Lancet.
The editorial says, quote, "the justices who vote to strike down Roe will not succeed in ending abortion, they will only succeed in ending safe abortion. They will only succeed in ending safe abortion. Alito and his supporters will have women`s blood on their hands."
The editorial lays out exactly how Justice Alito fails in his leak draft opinion to consider the health of women who seek abortion.
The availability of an essential package of sexual and reproductive health interventions should be a fundamental right for all women, including comprehensive sexuality education, access to modern contraceptives, safe abortion services, prevention and treatment of HIV and others sexually transmissible diseases, prevention and treatment for gender-based violence, counseling for sexual health, and services for infertility.
What kind of society has the USA become when a small group of justices is allowed to harm women, their families, and their communities that they have been appointed to protect? The root forward is unclear and perilous. If the court denies women the right to safe abortion, it will be a judicial endorsement of a state control over women. A breathtaking setback for the health and rights of women, one that will have global reverberations.
[22:20:08]
Joining us now is Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Alexis McGill, thank you very much for being here. What`s your stake on this editorial in the Lancet?
ALEXIS MCGILL JOHNSON, PRESIDENT & CEO, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Jonathan, it`s great to be here. I thought that was quite frankly a breathtaking editorial. The fact that we have medical providers who are making clear the impact of what it would mean for Roe to be overturned, the fact that medical providers have a much clearer understanding of the health of women and the impact, not lawmakers, right?
Not lawmakers who have been making restrictions that are not grounded in a real necessary medical regulation. Not crisis pregnancy centers that are not grounded in any kind of medical expertise whatsoever.
You know, we have a leading medical review journal that is basically declaring the court really taking the court to account for allowing such a horrific decision to come to pass if indeed the draft opinion is correct.
CAPEHART: You know, USA Today reports, and I`m quoting here, "abortion clinics nationally are reassessing and strengthening security measures following warnings from law enforcement they may be targeted by anti- abortion activists freshly motivated by the pending Supreme Court decision that may overturn Roe versus Wade."
So, Alexis, have there been more protests outside of clinics since the draft opinion leaked?
JOHNSON: You know, Jonathan, we`re always prepared for protesters, and we always have our security on high alert, because there are consistently protesters who show up outside of our clinics and the clinics of other independent providers and other organizations that provide abortion funds and care.
You know, what we have seen an increase around, actually started with SB8, you know, the Texas law that empowers bounty hunters to try to figure out who is getting abortion after six weeks. You know, which is oftentimes, before many people know they are pregnant. And, the reward for that bounty would be $10,000.
So, there is a perverse incentive that is already been put into play over the last nine months. That has increased surveillance in parking lots. That has increased the criminalization of the bodies of people who are seeking access to abortion, and those people who are providing care. So, you know, the reality is, you know, we have to stay ready because of the state of play.
CAPEHART: Let`s talk about something that`s even more extreme than what you were just talking about, in Texas, and that`s what the Louisiana legislature time to do. They tried to pass a bill that would make abortion a homicide. And when that was deemed too extreme, the legislature amended the bill, which now sets prison time and fines for abortion providers, and outlaw certain forms of birth control and emergency contraception.
I mean, Republican state legislatures have seen this draft opinion as an invitation to pass the most restrictive laws possible, right?
JOHNSON: The most restrictive laws, right? I mean, you`re seeing what`s happening in Louisiana, we also saw the kinds of laws that were being passed in Missouri, or the laws that are being introduced in Missouri. Laws against ectopic pregnancy, abortions, laws that were trying to prevent people from leaving the state to seek care. Right? Literally imprisoning people in their own state in order to prevent them from having access to abortions.
So, the criminalization, the surveillance, all of the ways in which they are, you know, bash or shaming people for the decisions that they are making about their own bodies. And at worse, criminalizing and, you know, potentially, you know, creating a felony and locking people up for the care that they seek.
This extremity is, you know, the extreme nature of where they are going. And it`s clearly not just about abortion, right? They`re revealing their intent. It`s about contraception. It is about identity. It is about power and control.
And where I think the American people are is, they don`t want lawmakers making these decisions with them. They don`t want lawmakers in the middle of their -- the decisions as to whether or not they should take birth control or not. That should be between them and you know, the person and their partner or the person themselves. Right? But, at every turn, they just can`t help themselves from becoming more and more extreme.
CAPEHART: President and CEO of Planned Federation America, Alexis McGill Johnson, thanks for joining us tonight.
JOHNSON: Thank you, Jon.
[22:25:01]
CAPEHART: Coming up, can a standing new claim about Vladimir Putin`s health be believed? That`s next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAPEHART: Vladimir Putin his week with the Victory Day holiday in Russia. Humiliated with no victories to claim in Ukraine. Days later, his military is still struggling to make gains in a war that even some of his top allies say should end.
[22:30:01]
Putin`s invasion of Ukraine prompted Finland and Sweden to consider applying for NATO membership. President Biden offered his support on a call today with the leaders of Finland and Sweden today despite the Kremlin`s warnings of retaliation. Again, another loss for Vladimir Putin.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Russian counterpart today, for the first time since the war began, calling for an immediate cease fire and urging further communication.
Britain announced new sanctions against Vladimir Putin`s inner circle and family, including his former wife, cousins, and a woman rumored to be his girlfriend.
Today President Zelenskyy announced that Ukrainian forces have retaken more than 1,000 towns from Russia`s military, including six towns in the last 24 hours, and destroyed more than 3,000 Russian aircraft, tanks and armored vehicles.
According to President Zelenskyy 27,000 Russian soldiers have died, many of whom are young conscripts whose bodies have been buried and abandoned. Now for context, about 15,000 Soviet troops were killed in the Soviet-Afghan war which lasted ten years.
Putin`s war on Ukraine is now in its 80th day. Some Russian forces are reportedly withdrawing from Kharkiv to resupply before deploying to the Donbas, according to British intelligence. Putin`s military has yet to fully seize control over Mariupol, bombarding the last Ukrainian soldiers fighting from inside that steel plant, despite dwindling ammunition, food, and water.
Putin`s failures on the battlefield come as the first trial of a Russian soldier charged with war crimes began in Kyiv today. He is accused of killing an unarmed 62-year-old man riding a bicycle just four days into the invasion.
Joining us now is NBC News correspondent Cal Perry in Kyiv. Cal, what is the latest on the ground, and what more can you tell us about this war crime trial?
CAL PERRY, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: So this -- excuse me -- 21-year-old sergeant according to Ukrainian prosecutors executed as you said, an unarmed 62-year-old civilian who was just riding his bicycle home four days after the initial invasion took place. This Russian unit had been cut in half by Ukrainian counterattack. And this sergeant, at least tells the prosecutor, that he was ordered to shoot this civilian. The civilian was on a phone, and the commanding officer was worried that he was calling Ukrainian reinforcements.
The pictures, the visual, what you are seeing now on your screen, is intended for two separate audiences. There is of course the audience here in Ukraine, which is trying to find some answers, some closure, some accountability for the war crimes that have taken place here for the many civilians - over 1,000 civilians just alone in the Kyiv region whose bodies have been found.
But then there is a second audience. In the words of the Ukrainian prosecutor, she believes that Ukraine is saving the lives of civilians in the eastern part of the country, where the fighting is still raging, hoping that maybe social media will carry those pictures to the eyes of Russian soldiers, and then they will think twice, knowing that there is some accountability here.
This of course, is outside the International Criminal Court. This trial is taking place as fighting rages, which makes it unprecedented, and makes it quite unusual.
That fighting in the eastern part of the country, we understand from Ukrainian defense officials, that the Ukrainian army has have cut off the Russian army in the Donbas. They have blown a number of pontoon bridges, which Ukrainian forces believe is trapping some hundreds of Russian forces.
You heard there in President Zelenskyy`s nightly address. He thinks the number of Russian soldiers dead could number some 27,000. It is obviously impossible to independently confirm these numbers.
And we heard Ukrainian officials say that the Russian soldiers are burning the bodies as they invade. That is one of the things that makes it impossible to confirm. Either way, you can understand the backdrop of this war crimes trial as the violence continues to rage in the eastern part of the country, Jonathan.
CAPEHART: Wow. Cal Perry, thank you very much for that report, live from Kyiv.
Joining us now is Rick Stengel, former under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs in the Obama administration. He is also an MSNBC political analyst.
Rick, the Kremlin is upset at the prospect of Finland and Sweden joining NATO. And now the U.S. has come out in support of them becoming members. How do you think this changes Putin`s calculus, since NATO expansion is the opposite of what he wants?
RICK STENGEL, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, Jonathan. You put it well. I mean all of the things that Putin was trying to avoid, he has brought down on himself. The expansion of NATO, Finland and Sweden -- Sweden has been neutral, Jonathan, for two centuries. Finland has been neutral since World War II.
[22:34:56]
STENGEL: What has catapulted them into NATO? Vladimir Putin invading Ukraine. And so he is causing all of the things that he did not want. He is reaping the whirlwind and as your very good warm-up said, I mean the war isn`t going well for him.
CAPEHART: You know, Putin, you know, yes. The war isn`t going well and his military is still not making significant gains on the battlefield and suffering huge losses. 27,000 dead soldiers according to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. So what possibilities does Putin have to end this conflict, and are they narrowing?
STENGEL: Well, truth is the first casualty of war, Jonathan, as we know, it is hard to know how many Russian soldiers have been killed, and how many Ukrainians have been killed. Both sides tend to exaggerate.
The fact is, now that he is concentrating on the Donbas region, and getting a kind of land bridge to Crimea, that does give the outline of a possible settlement. You know, the Ukrainian forces have been valiant, pushing him out of Kyiv, pushing him out of the north of the country. And so now there will be eventually some kind of negotiation over that region.
And hopefully, the two sides will be able to come to some agreement. Thus far, the Russians have not really been negotiating in good faith. But the worst the war goes for Putin, the more likely he is to negotiate.
CAPEHART: Rick, I have to get you on one more thing. There are rumors about Putin`s health that have been circulating inside Putin`s inner circle. Michael Weiss obtained audio of a Russian oligarch telling a western businessman that Putin is very ill with cancer. Let`s listen to Weiss on what that information might mean.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL WEISS, NEWS DIRECTOR, NEW LINES MAGAZINE: : If this is the truth, well, wow. If this oligarch is talking out of his hat, speculating you know, idly, doing kind of remote diagnosis the way a lot of people there in the tabloid press are doing, ok.
Or number three, perhaps most tantalizing of all, if this is some cleverly cooked up piece of disinformation that Russian elites have disseminated into the west, and also within Moscow itself, in the sort of inner sanctum of the Russian government, then it suggests that it is designed to make Putin look vulnerable, and weak, and perhaps susceptible to a coup.
CAPEHART: I mean Rick, you were in government. U.S. officials are obviously aware of the rumors. How do they evaluate these claims about Putin, and frankly, does it matter in terms of policy calculation?
STENGEL: Well, Jonathan, you heard the rumors. It is like, you know, rumors within rumors like Russian nesting dolls. That is kind of a classic terminology. And of course, you know, there has been speculation about this before. The fact that Putin sits 15 or 20 feet away from people during COVID, he obviously does not want to get COVID, maybe his immune system is compromised.
I saw the other day the annual hockey game that he participates in, he didn`t participate in it. So people are reading the tea leaves. But it is the sort of thing that the U.S. intelligence services I am sure are investigating. I am sure they have a little more data than we have.
But, in the short term, it doesn`t really make much of a difference because he is going to execute this war, he wants to come out and save face, and try to come home with some kind of victory. But even his speech on the Great Patriotic War Day, May 9th, was very muted. He didn`t claim victory. He didn`t try to link what is going on in Ukraine with what the Russian sacrificed in World War II, and they are sacrificing again now.
CAPEHART: Rick Stengel, as always, thank you for joining us tonight.
Coming up, bad news for Donald Trump`s Twitter account. Elon Musk has paused his $44 billion offer for the company because he has just discovered there are bots and fake accounts on there, or is there another reason? That is next.
[22:39:03]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAPEHART: Will he, or won`t he? That`s the question surrounding Tesla`s Elon Musk and his $44 billion Twitter bid after he tweeted early this morning, in response to an 11-day old Reuters article about Twitter`s fake and spam account estimates.
He tweeted, quote, "Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam, fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5 percent of users." Two hours later, Elon Musk added that he was quote, "still committed to acquisition".
Following those tweets, shares of Twitter sank nearly 10 percent. According to CNBC, Twitter is now worth about $13 billion dollars less than Musk`s agreed upon bid last month of around $44 billion.
But Elon Musk`s tweet actually sent Tesla stocks surging more than 5 percent. Tesla shares had fallen about 22 percent after Elon Musk announced his intention to buy Twitter.
[22:44:44]
CAPEHART: This news comes three days after Elon Musk said that he would reverse Twitter`s ban on Donald Trump. You may remember that Twitter banned Donald Trump`s account after that whole thing where he incited a mob to attack the Capitol so they can overthrow the government and, quote, "Hang Mike Pence".
Joining us now is Felix Salmon, chief financial correspondent at Axios. He is the host of the "Slate Money" podcast.
Felix, come on, is this deal -- does Elon Musk really want to buy Twitter? Is this just a case of buyer`s remorse?
FELIX SALMON, CHIEF FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT, AXIOS: I think it`s both. He still wants to buy Twitter, but he definitely has buyer`s remorse because he realizes that he`s paying way too much. It`s not worth anything near the $44 billion that he has agreed to pay.
So now, he`s casting around for some kind of way to maybe get a cheaper price, get them to agree to bring the price down. It`s not clear why they would agree to do that. And so, he`s saying, I`m going to take the last hundred followers of the @Twitter and see if more than 5 percent of them are bots.
None of this matters, you know. No like Delaware court is going to say, oh, yes, that will allow you to get out of the deal.
CAPEHART: Right. Can you actually -- I mean there`s that, what way you just said, but I`m chuckling at the whole thing. But also, isn`t it impossible to put a deal on hold or even back out of the deal?
SALMON: Yes.
CAPEHART: It is?
SALMON: It is totally -- a deal on hold is meaningless, that means nothing. He has a bunch of lawyers and financiers running around trying to make sure that all of the financing gets done. So you can`t just stop that.
In fact, I`m sure those people are running around even more right now than they were yesterday. So, can he pull out? Not really. There`s no obvious way for him to do that, although I`m sure he would love to be able to threaten to be able to do that.
CAPEHART: And is it realistic that he will, that he would be able to get a lower price?
SALMON: So, the most recent thing was when LVMH, the big French luxury house, agreed to buy Tiffany just before the pandemic. And then the pandemic hit, and they were, like whoa, we`re totally overpaying. Can you reduce the price? And eventually they managed to get the price reduced by 2 percent.
So, maybe the Twitter board, just to keep things copacetic might agreed to the knock a buck or two off the share price. But nothing like where the total price shares are trading right now. They have no incentive to really, significantly cut the price if they`re willing to accept.
CAPEHART: All right. Can we talk about cryptocurrencies?
SALMON: I love that, yes.
CAPEHART: Ok, good. Because they`re plunging in value. The price of bitcoin dropped to its lowest level since December 2020. What is it, Dogecoin? I don`t know, all of this is new to me. I don`t even know how to pronounce this company. But it is Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency --
SALMON: Dogecoin --
CAPEHART: Dogecoin.
SALMON: It`s as Shiba Inu coin. It`s a joke (INAUDIBLE) coin, but because Elon likes it, it went up in value at one time. Basically everything in the crypto world is down right now. Elon is very long crypto. Tesla owns a bunch of crypto for reasons no one entirely understands. And so, yes, that`s been caught up in the big markets. I love that.
CAPEHART: Right. It`s lost I think half its value, or something like that. And we put up a the tweet that Elon Musk put up. It has potential as a currency. Is that even true?
SALMON: No.
CAPEHART: Ok. Felix Salmon, thank you very much for coming to the LAST WORD tonight.
SALMON: Thank you. It`s been fun.
CAPEHART: Coming up, the true and wild story of a video game store chain, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the amateur investors that shocked wall street. It`s the subject of the new film, "Diamond Hands", which premieres on MSNBC Sunday. The directors will join us next.
[22:48:56]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAPEHART: Do you money? Do you like money? Do you invest money? Those are questions that attracted amateur traders to the Internet at the height of the pandemic to change the game of traditional investment in the stock market.
It`s the subject of a new documentary, "DIAMOND HANDS: THE LEGEND OF WALLSTREETBETS". In 2020, when hedge funds were betting GameStop would go under, amateur traders joined forces and made money taking on Wall Street instead.
Matt Ryan is one of those amateur traders. Here he is in "DIAMOND HANDS" AIRING Sunday indictment hands, airing Sunday at 10 p.m. eastern on MSNBC. Explaining why he took the risk and invested in GameStop.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT RYAN, INVESTOR: This is where stuff started to shift for me. I`m not sleeping at all. I can`t focus on anything else. I`m compulsively looking at my phone.
Then I started buying into the whole Diamond Hands thing. I think luck is when preparation we saw opportunity, right. And this was an opportunity.
Monday morning while I was around and my friend Theo, he messaged me saying, hey, man, I don`t think GameStop is going to do anything more, I don`t think it will go any higher, I`m just going to sell.
[22:54:55]
PICAR: And I said, don`t sell, dude. You`re an idiot. Like don`t sell, what the hell`s wrong with you. And you sold literally ten minutes later, H starts going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAPEHART: It`s getting good. Joining us now are Drea Cooper, and Zack Canepari, the directors of the new documentary "DIAMOND HANDS: THE LEGEND OF WALL STREET" bets again -- excuse me -- which are (INAUDIBLE) -- premiers this Sunday, 10 p.m. eastern, on MSNBC. Drew, what drew you to the story? Drea, sorry.
DREA COOPER, DIRECTOR: It`s all good, thank you Jonathan. Going back to 2020, I mean it`s, you know, it`s easy for us to forget, I think, you know, memory is a funny thing. But if you go back to 2020, and just think about it for just a minute, you know, global pandemic, everybody`s out of work. And, you know, everybody is at home. They`re getting their stimulus checks, they`re trying to collect unemployment, and at the same time, the stock market is going through the roof. Record gains.
And then we had an election. You know, where a sitting president was trying to overturn the results. And then a virus surge hits. And it was just like man, what is happening here?
And then sure enough, in early January, we have an insurrection on the Capitol. And at that point, I was, like you know, are we living in a simulation? you know, it just seemed like, one thing after the next.
And then three weeks after that, the stock market goes bananas, and the GameStop stopped short squeeze becomes this real thing, where you know, small time retail investors were forcing the hand of big-time hedge funds and forcing them to lose billions, meanwhile a handful of retail investors were able to capitalize and some of them made out with millions of dollars.
CAPEHART: And so Zack then, what does it mean to have quote-unquote, "Diamond Hands" in the world of trading and how many people found out they didn`t have the magic touch?
ZACK CANEPARI, DIRECTOR: I think that actually more people probably would say they did have it. I think diamond is a slang on the Wall Street Bets forum in subreddit. Forum they used -- they say things like Diamond Hands, Paper Hands, to describe like their patience to sell or hold on to a stock, right. So Diamond Hands is holding on to a stock through thick and thin, through the tsunami.
And so many people held this stock, when Robinhood shut down trading they continued to hold their stock, and as the stocks started to tank, they found themselves unable to sell their stock, because the stock was losing value so quickly.
So "Diamond Hands" is this kind of like mentality about -- you know, about the stock market, but it`s also this kind of bigger philosophy about, you know, your approach to life in our current environment.
You know, these guys were, there`s almost a nihilism to the stock market these days, especially back in 2021 when this was going on, where people were just YOLO-ing their 401(k), and throwing everything they had into this. Not just to make money, but to make a statement.
So much of this was more -- at first there was a value play but eventually, it became so much more than that.
CAPEHART: I think we have time for this, let`s listen to another clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I went from working, you know, owning a business, working 60, 70, 80 hours a week to I can`t do anything. And I thought, you know, at the time, I had a little extra money in the savings account, so I thought, you know, it`s just sitting there in the savings account, let me see what I can do on the market. Maybe if I`m smart and you know, I`ll pull a Warren Buffett move, it will take its time but I`ll get some winners.
You know, you never know until you play the game, right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAPEHART: And that was Chris Garcia. We`ve got about 90 seconds left, so Drea, what do you hope people take away from the film, from "DIAMOND HANDS?
COOPER: Well, look, I mean I think this is a story, you know, a lot of people wanted to frame the story of sort of a David versus Goliath situation. And I think, well that is sort of a convenient narrative. I think the reality is that, you know, young folks, millennials, and Gen Z folks they`re just -- they`re upset. And there`s this generational angst and this generational divide that`s happening.
And the world that, you know, their parents sort of came into is very different for them. And so opportunities are different, you know, debts through the roof and so, you know, folks are trying to find different ways to play this game, literally.
CAPEHART: And Zack, 15 seconds to you, what do you hope people get from "DIAMOND HANDS"?
CANEPARI: I think, that there`s just something to be said about the system in general. Creating an opportunity where a stock could be, you know, the federal system allows for a stock to be shorted for 140 percent, but then at the same time, when the retail investor sees the opportunity of creating a short squeeze with that number, it shuts the door on them at the same time.
And so, you know, I think that as always, we find that the system is not built for everybody, and this was an appropriate example of that.
[22:59:51]
CAPEHART: Right. Drea Cooper, Zack Canepari, thank you very much for coming to the LAST WORD.
You can see "DIAMOND HANDS" on MSNBC at 10 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.
That is tonight`s LAST WORD.
I`m Jonathan Capehart. I`ll see you on "THE SUNDAY SHOW", Sunday morning at 10 a.m. Eastern also right here on MSNBC.
"THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE" starts right now.