Summary
Grand jury indicts Bannon, 1/6 committee threatens Meadows. Mark Meadows fails to appear before Jan. 6 committee. Steven Bannon indicted for contempt of Congress. Biden working to sell infrastructure bill to voters. Biden grappling with surging inflation.
Transcript
BRIAN WILLIAMS, MSNBC HOST: Well, good evening once again. Day 297 of the Biden administration and tonight as we bring along weak to a close, there is a glimmer of possible consequences for one of the most arrogant and hubristic members of Trump`s inner circle Steve Bannon indicted today by federal grand jury for contempt of Congress.
And the other news is about that guy on the right former Trump, White House Chief of Staff, former Congressman Mark Meadows may be headed for the same fate.
Grand juries` decision on Bannon came late this afternoon, 22 days after the House voted to hold him in contempt and send his case over the Justice Department. He`s been charged with refusing to testify and refusing to produce documents in response to that committee subpoena. House investigators cited Bannon`s comments the day before the Capitol riot, the stuff he said out loud and publicly. It`s one of the reasons they want to hear from him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE BANNON, FORMER TRUMP STRATEGIST: It`s going to be quite extraordinarily different. And all I can say is strap in the War Room a posse, you have made this happen and tomorrow it`s game day. All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. It`s going to be moving, it`s going to be quick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Sounds unambiguous, like a mob movie where the boss pressures his guys not to rat him out. Trump has directed his former aides not to cooperate, not to hand over documents.
On top of insisting that he`s somehow still President, Trump thinks he shielded by executive privilege in this case, and that won`t work here. Today, the 1/6 Committee Chair Bennie Thompson and co-chair Liz Cheney issued a statement together about Bannon that read in part, "Steve Bannon`s indictment should send a clear message to anyone who thinks they can ignore the select committee or try to Stonewall our investigation: no one is above the law. We will not hesitate to use our tools at our disposal to get the information we need."
Trump pardoned Steve Bannon earlier this year when he was facing fraud charges. That pardon, however, is not currency and will do nothing for him now. Bannon is now facing up to two years max on the contempt charges. Bannon is expected to surrender himself on Monday before his first court appearance, no doubt after enjoying his weekend. Would it surprise you to learn that he is taking a defiant stand?
BANNON: We`re taking action. We`re taking over the Republican Party to the precinct committee strategy. We`re taking over all the elections and we`re going to continue that and we`re going to get to the bottom of three November and we`re going to decertify the electors, OK, and you`re going to have a constitutional crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: As for former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who also happens to be a former Member of Congress, he was a no show today, despite the 1/6 committees demand that he appears for a deposition 10am sharp, no Meadows. That didn`t go over well with the committee which issued this warning. Mr. Meadows actions today choosing to defy the law will force the select committee to consider pursuing contempt or other proceedings to enforce the subpoena. Meadows has also invoked Trump`s claim of executive privilege, which 1/6 committee members have dismissed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ZOE LOFGREN, (D) CALIFORNIA JANUARY 6TH COMMITTEE: We`ve got to take some action. You can`t allow these individuals who have information that the committee needs to simply flout their obligation, thumbed their nose at Congress and the law. This just, that can`t happen in America.
REP. PETE AGUILAR, (D) CALIFORNIA JANUARY 6TH COMMITTEE: His posture is just laughable. There`s no absolute -- there`s no absolute here that he can`t come before the committee or can talk about some of his work previously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: And here`s the problem for Mark Meadows. He wants believed in the sanctity of a subpoena and the need to cooperate with a congressional investigation. This is from 2018.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you accusing Rod Rosenstein up specifically?
MARK MEADOWS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, really for nine months, we`ve asked for documents. And that`s all we want are the documents. And what we found is not only have subpoenas been ignored, but information has been hidden. The efforts have been stonewalled. And I guess for us it`s all about transparency. So, the American people can judge for themselves. And so, you know, they may be able to ignore Congress, but they can`t ignore the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Well, apparently, that`s all changed now. This is all unfolding, mind you amid a stunning new revelation about Trump`s reaction to Mike Pence being in danger on the day of the insurrection as those rioters hunted for him in the Capitol.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIOTERS (chanting): Hang Mike Pence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: You see it turns out the two months after that day back in March of this year, Trump spoke with John Karl of ABC News for his forthcoming book called, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show. During their interview, the former president appears to defend the insurrectionists who wanted to hang Mike Pence as he was about to certify the election results.
[23:05:16]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN KARL: Were you worried about him during that that siege? Were you worried about his safety?
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. FORMER PRESIDENT: No, I thought he was well-protected, and I had heard that he was in good shape. No, because I had heard he was in very good shape. But no, I think --
KARL: Because you heard those chants, that was terrible. I mean, you know those --
TRUMP: He could have -- well, the people were very angry.
KARL: They were saying "hang Mike Pence."
TRUMP: Because it`s common sense, Jon. It`s common sense that you`re supposed to protect. How can you -- if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? How can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: We want to let you know as well, Jonathan Karl, will join us on our broadcast Monday night.
With that, let`s bring in our leadoff guests on this Friday night, our starting line includes Jonathan Lemire, Veteran White House Reporter, Political White House Bureau Chief, he is also the host of Way Too Early at 5 a.m. on this network and is able to join us tonight because he can sleep in tomorrow. Katie Benner, Justice Department Reporter for the New York Times. And Daniel Goldman, former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York who also served as General Counsel for the House Intelligence Committee during the first Trump impeachment. Good evening, and welcome to you all.
Mr. Goldman, I need to begin with you and your legal training for us lay people in the audience. What`s the significance of these Bannon charges today that so many, especially Democrats were waiting for?
DANIEL GOLDMAN, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY: Well, the significance is that the rule of law matters, congressional subpoenas matter, and the Department of Justice is taking the view that flouting congressional subpoenas is a crime as the criminal statutes dictate. And they`re not going to be afraid of a partisan backlash.
WILLIAMS: It`s hard to do that.
GOLDMAN: And so, I think it really is a marker in the sand that if you are going to break the law, no matter if you`re a Trump supporter, or someone who received a pardon from Donald Trump, despite a massive fraud, you`re not going to get the benefit of that partisan political interest that Donald Trump sort of used for the last four years. So, I think it`s very meaningful, not only to send a message to the witnesses before the January 6 committee, but also to send a message around that the Department of Justice is back. The rule of law matters. And people who flout the law and got a free ride under Donald Trump are no longer going to get a free ride. This is one standard of justice now for everyone.
WILLIAMS: And Katie Benner indeed, along these same lines, you wrote earlier that the Bannon case is a litmus test, in your view, and in light of your reporting, what else does it potentially mean?
KATIE BENNER, THE NEW YORK TIMES JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, it shows two things. One, the Attorney General Merrick Garland is going to follow the recommendations of career prosecutors. He`s done it again and again, in cases of the Democrats of lightening cases, but Democrats have not liked in this case, career prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney`s office in Washington, D.C., they looked at the facts, they decided that charges were appropriate. And then when they were brought to the Attorney General`s office, he fully supported them essence done past cases. So that`s one and the other is that it`s not off the table, the idea that the Justice Department would make, would basically present cases before a grand jury that are very politically fraught, this one is politically fraught, we`ve wondered whether or not the Justice Department weighed in in that way, and we`ve seen that they`re willing.
WILLIAMS: Jonathan Lemire, any sense I keep asking the folks who cover this White House of how the Biden White House is reacting to today`s development for one and how closely they are covering the committee activities?
JONATHAN LEMIRE, ASSOCIATED PRESS WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Sure, publicly, they`re not saying a whole lot because they want to have a firewall between the White House and Department of Justice. Let`s recall as a few weeks ago, President Biden was asking the White House South Lawn what he thought should happen to Steve Bannon, and he suggested that he should be criminally prosecuted.
Later, the White House had to walk that back saying no, he -- the president, that`s just his personal opinion. He certainly wasn`t trying to steer DOJ in any direction, but privately aides I`ve been talking to and texting with today. Of course, they are pleased to see this because there was real fear here that Congress was going to almost lose its ability as a co-equal branch of government if they`re if their punishment didn`t have any teeth. So that`s why they were pleased the Biden -- that Bannon got cited and now the Department Justice followed through with these charges, which they believe is good, not just to have, you know, get to the bottom of what happened exactly on January 6, but perhaps send a message that something like this can`t happen again.
[23:10:01]
Meanwhile, Trump, Brian, I`ll just add some concern, Bannon himself has certainly -- has embraced this. He seems to be willing to be a MAGA martyr if you will and even willing, perhaps, to face prosecution and even prison time. But it`s not clear that others the Trump orbit will do the same, and mostly crosshairs the sights now set on Mark Meadows, who now sees what happened to Bannon, and realize he himself could face similar charges if he does not cooperate.
WILLIAMS: Dan Goldman, let`s talk about Mark Meadows. What should the legal advice be that a guy like Mark Meadows is receiving right about now?
GOLDMAN: Well, the legal advice would be that you need to show up, and there`s no excuse for not showing up. Recently, a district court dealt with this in the McGahn case in 2019. And just and said quite definitively, there`s no such thing as absolute immunity. If you have an executive privilege claim and Mark Meadows, unlike Steve Bannon, very well may, then you have to show up and you have to make that executive privilege claim in person, the President has to assert it.
And you know, from -- it`s important, though, Brian, I think to take a step back, and there`s a lot of discussion about whether Donald Trump can assert executive privilege or whether Joe Biden can. From Mark Meadows perspective, it`s legitimate for him to say, I don`t know who decides executive privilege, but someone is telling me a former president is telling me that he wants to invoke executive privilege is not on me to make the decision as to whether that`s a legitimate assertion or not.
So, it`s a little murkier as it relates to the documents with Mark Meadows, but it is clear cut that he must show up and testify. And he can claim executive privilege or say that Donald Trump told him that he may invoke executive privilege. That is a bogus out. That`s a bogus claim, but there`s still some legitimacy from Mark Meadows perspective.
WILLIAMS: Got it? All right, Katie Benner, Mr. Bannon, in addition to loving attention, has been a central character in the Trump show season one and season two, remind our audience what he might know and how he might know it.
BENNER: Sure, so one of the things that the committee is really interested in is a statement that he made on his radio show the day before the attack on the Capitol, where he said things are going to get really crazy, things are going to really (inaudible). They want to understand why he felt that way 24 hours before the attack. He was also present at the Willard Hotel, which is where there was a lot of, sort of activity around the stock, the steel rally that took place earlier that day. So, it`s plays a very important spots just before the violence happened.
WILLIAMS: All right, so that puts him at the center of all this as chronicled as well. In the cost of Woodward book peril. Jonathan Lemire helped me turn a corner to the White House you cover on a daily basis, are they getting the message on messaging? And is all of it in danger of being washed aside by gas prices?
LEMIRE: Certainly, Brian, inflation and the consumer price index is they sent a shockwave through the White House this week, then, of course, no, that was up. But the sheer numbers of it. And the political fallout is significant. I`ve talked to aides over the summer, who acknowledged that this was going to be a problem. But it seemed to catch them off guard just how quickly it got here. And now how significant it is, and certainly hands, Republicans real cudgel with which to hit them.
You know, this is should be a moment of triumph for the White House, we are just two weeks or so a week or so from the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure, we`ll get into the House. There`s a lot that still needs to be done on the reconciliation bill. And it feels like both sides, though Congress is out this week kind of tap the brakes and said there`s a lot of work still to be done on that. And that will begin when they resume when Congress gets back to Washington next week. But this could be certainly this part ones when, and part two could be too. And White House aides believe that though it may take a while they`ll eventually land that plane to and get that bill signed into law. And this will make real tangible benefits in Americans lives and give Democrats something to run on the midterms next year.
But you`re right, the prices and inflation that`s significant, but Americans could look at the pump when they drive down the street. Those gas prices are displayed for all to see. It`s a tangible reminder of what`s going on. And of course, we`re heading into the holidays here and the rising prices twinned with a worrisome surge in COVID cases could be a problem as we head into the holiday season and not what this White House needs.
WILLIAMS: Indeed, it`s getting rough out there. Dan Goldman, you get the last word while I have access to you and your legal experience at the risk of bumming out a bunch of people in our audience tonight. What`s the likely time frame on the Steve Bannon matter? Does this -- is this go to trial? Is there jury selection? Is there possibility of a plea? What happens?
[23:15:20]
GOLDMAN: There`s the possibility of both a plea and a trial as Steve Bannon is taking a very aggressive tact and he is, I think, enjoying being the center of attention. So, I doubt he`s particularly interested in some sort of a plea deal that would inevitably require him to testify before the congressional committee as a condition of that plea. And if it goes to trial, though, it doesn`t go to trial next week. There needs to be the production of the all the evidence that goes to him, his attorneys will have an opportunity to file motions, and then they will set a trial date, but that will be a couple months, most likely before the trial will begin. And it is a misdemeanor charge, but he could go to jail for up to a year actually up to two years because there are two counts and a total of a $200,000 fine.
WILLIAMS: We are so grateful to our starting line on this Friday night, to Jonathan Lemire, to Katie Benner, to Daniel Goldman, thank you all so much, have a good weekend.
Coming up, Steve Bannon has his date in court as we`ve been talking about. Will Mark Meadows be next? Why today`s bombshell contempt charges should usher in a whole new era of political legal warfare. Not to be confused with consequences.
And later, the groundhog bill that second Biden bill, the social spending bill, what kind of future does it face with inflation infiltrating every American home. It`s a lot, we`ve got it all covered all of it as the 11th Hour is getting underway in view of the North Lawn of the White House right now.
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[23:20:32]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ERIC SWALWELL, (D) CALIFORNIA: These guys Donald Trump, Steve Bannon Mark Meadows, they have run rampant for the last four years and a land of no laws where they were essentially above the law. They were pirates in international waters. And now they`re coming to find that they should be and will be treated just like everyone else. So, Mark Meadows call your office because your refusal to show up today is probably not going to be looked upon kindly at the Department of Justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: And indeed, the Justice Department is sending a message to Trump allies who wish to defy how subpoenas, let`s remember this is the second criminal indictment for Steve Bannon. Trump pardoned him for the first, but the pardon doesn`t cover insurrections.
Bannon is just one of a long list of Trump allies who have been charged with crime since 2016. Most likely not the last if Mark Meadows and others don`t fall in line. We`re going to hear the real deal on this tonight. Thanks to the two friends we have joining us this evening, Juanita Tolliver, Veteran Political Strategist, to progressive candidates and causes and Susan Del Percio, MSNBC Political Analyst and a Veteran Political Strategist herself. Good evening to you both.
All right, Juanita, rooted in the real world, you heard Dan Goldman`s answer, a polite way of saying this Bannon matter could go on until our grandchildren get old. What do you make of the indictment against Bannon today and what it may symbolize?
JUANITA TOLLIVER, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Look politically this couldn`t have come at a better time, like granted is 22 days after the House voted to refer the criminal contempt charges to the DOJ. And now it`s a moment where the Select Committee is demonstrating via the DOJ backing it up. It has teeth and it is ready to come for any witness who tries to stonewall the investigation.
I think Dan`s analysis of Bannon`s response to this is absolutely right. He wants to be a martyr. He wants to go down swinging. So, expect appeal, after appeal, after appeal. But Bannon is different in the regard that other witnesses might not be willing to take a criminal charge for Trump. Other witnesses might not have the financial resources to fight court battle after court battle for Trump to insulate him from any type of accountability. And so honestly, I`m looking at this like the signal to the other witnesses like the select committee will come for you with intense and it`s a matter of time before the first witness flips because again, finding criminal charges, taking criminal charges for someone like Trump is not something everyone on that witness list on that subpoena list is going to be willing to do.
And so, keep an eye out for the first witness to reverse course. And I also think that the select committee is not going to slow this down. Look, we started the day, I was asking myself the question, how helpful are these threats to folks like Meadows and Jeffrey Clark when the Select Committee hasn`t even had the first referral completed? And now that these criminal charges have been filed and the indictment has been made against Bannon were ending the day saying, OK, they mean business, they`re going to come for more people and those other witnesses are likely taking pause tonight.
WILLIAMS: So, Susan, here`s a question, what are Republicans saying about all of this? What can they say about all of this? Is there still a kind of ghost establishment wing within the party like the Portman`s of the world who find it also distasteful, but would rather die than to say so publicly?
SUSAN DEL PERCIO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, that`s about it, Brian. They are so grateful when they don`t have to comment on what`s happening with the Select Committee. They want nothing to do with it. Any Republican that may have a conscious as far as go speaking out that we`ve seen who they are, we see -- and two of them happen to be on the select committee.
But yeah, I just want to follow up on something that was just said, which is witnesses have already given testimony, 150 of them, actually, Liz Cheney said, have spoken to the Select Committee, which tells me that Republicans internally and I`m hearing this are a little bit nervous about what they`re hearing because they know that Liz Cheney knows their playbook and knows how to play hardball. And she is the vice chair, is very intimidating to a lot of Republicans who knows, she knows where the bodies are buried.
[23:25:08]
WILLIAMS: Susan, you`re not intimating that any Republican members of Congress know more than any others that any of them perhaps had an active or passive role on that day.
DEL PERCIO: Oh, I wouldn`t dare, Brian. I wouldn`t dare suggested. But I can say it`s been reported. So, I do believe the news reports that there are people who have been aware, and some of them have even thrown their staffs under the bus. I didn`t know. But if my staff, did it that`s great. So, those staff members are talking and like when you said, they don`t have the resources for an attorney, and those who are attorneys like Eastman and Clark and even Kayleigh McEnany, do they really want a contempt charge on their record with their legal -- with their law license on the line? I don`t think so.
WILLIAMS: Kayleigh tells everyone in her presence that she went to Harvard Law School, I guess that`ll be the test of that. Both of our guests are thankfully staying with us. We`re going to fit in a break. Coming up, we`ve sent it off, and it`s the eve of yet another critical week for this administration, will get into what`s at stake. And what we`ll be talking about by the time we meet again on Monday night.
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[23:29:58]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT: We owe it to the American people, make sure the money in this infrastructure plan and the bill back better plan was God willing, we`re going to be able to still finish, will be able to be used for purposes it was intended. Did we do it right? We know what it will mean. We know what it will mean. It will create millions of new jobs, will grow the economy, and we`ll win the world economic competition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Notable today, Biden held a Cabinet meeting, did not go around the room, soliciting praise from everyone at the table. While President Biden tries to sell the bipartisan infrastructure plan, he`s already having to face the next challenges to his agenda. He needs to get enough votes for that build back better plan with yet another government shutdown -- shutdown rather looming.
Still with us, Juanita Tolliver and Susan Del Percio. So, Susan, you think of these challenges, massive social spending bill, a big roadblock in the name of a guy who, despite the motor yacht and the Maserati is in it for the little guy in West Virginia. And then you`ve got the government funding deadline coming up. And on top of all of it, if you ask people, the number one issue in American homes these days, price of bacon, what we`re paying for gas, and the fear that these prices are going north for a good long while.
DEL PERCIO: That`s right, and Brian, that should be the target of this administration, that and -- well, actually, let me say it this way, the first, second and third thing that should come out of the President`s mouth and everyone around him is I am going to repair this bridge, I am going to get broadband to this community. Be specific, say what you`re delivering because the President needs politically, in order to get the other things done, he needs to get his approval numbers up there. And anywhere from the low 40s to some even in the high 30s. He has to be effective. He has to have political play. And that`s where he will get it from. From actually saying he delivered.
Don`t talk about Build Back Better until after you sign the first bill that you actually have. Because right now, people are more concerned -- they are concerned about inflation. They`re concerned about COVID. Jonathan Lemire talked about this in the trifecta. You`ve got them concerned about the supply chain and empty store shelves for Christmas. So, this is a problem that this administration is fixing. They have to tighten their message to the public.
And another -- just one other thing. When it comes to inflation and Joe Manchin, he happened to be right, a couple of months ago when he started bringing this up. So that is a problem also for translating this to more moderate Democrats is that inflation is a problem. And it`ll be interesting to see how the moderates address that. And if they still have the buy in that maybe they had a week ago when we saw them pass this bill.
WILLIAMS: I know we never see, Juanita driving around D.C. in a Maserati. So, Juanita coming right off those comments, what, if anything, in your view, agree or disagree with Susan? Is the White House doing right? What are they not saying? What are they not trying to sell that they should be doing?
TOLLIVER: Look, I agree with Susan on a lot of points. I think what the White House is doing right is listing out the ways that they`re trying to alleviate the most immediate present issues like we heard with Biden preview in Baltimore, he talked about working to get ports on the West Coast operating 24/7 to make sure stores are stocked, to make sure people have everything they need, and could want going into the holidays.
I think that the other thing the White House is doing is already starting to talk about the cost cutting measures. And this is why I disagree with Susan, talk about Build Back Better to let people know that more is coming. Because yes, investments and roads and bridges and broadband are critical to communities and the way people function. But they are not the same as eliminating and reducing the cost of childcare, eliminating the cost of pre-K, reducing elder care costs, reducing medical prescription costs, right, things that would be helpful encounter, I think some of the inflationary impact we`re seeing.
I think going into congressional activity next week that`s absolutely a drum that the Democrats should be hitting from the White House, as well as President Biden deploys his cabinet, mayors and governors across the country to sell this. So, on Monday, when he signs the bipartisan infrastructure bill, I fully expect him to mention build back better yet again, emphasizing that more is coming, more cost cutting measures that will allow people to save money and put more of their own money where they need it.
I think the other factor here for the President is continuing to contextualize this in the global pandemic that no one plan for, especially as we know the GOP is gearing up their attacks on inflation and blaming it all on Biden what it truly is a lot to do with the pandemic and global supply chains as a result.
[23:35:13]
WILLIAMS: I know our audience joins me in thanking Juanita Tolliver and Susan Del Percio, two friends of our broadcast for joining us on this Friday night, thank you both, always a pleasure. We`ll do it again.
Coming up for us, the editor of the local paper in Storm Lake Iowa, happens to be a Pulitzer Prize recipient yet struggles to keep his family-owned paper alive and well. He`ll tell us about local media why it needs to survive, why it must survive when he joins us next.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ART CULLEN, THE STORM LAKE TIMES CO-OWNER AND EDITOR: Most people in Storm Lake care a lot more whether garbage is getting picked up than whether Elizabeth Warren is in town. So, when it comes to news, our motto is if it didn`t happen in Buena Vista County, it didn`t happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: That was our next guest, Award Winning Journalist Art Cullen. He stars in a new documentary named after the town of Storm Lake Iowa that airs Monday on PBS. The film reveals the grueling feat of surviving as a local family run newspaper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CULLEN: I get real uptight about deadlines. Every hour related it costs us 100 bucks. Get all amped up twice a week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: We are pleased to welcome to the broadcast tonight the aforementioned Art Cullen. He`s the Pulitzer Prize-winning Editor and co- owner of the Storm Lake Times. He`s also the author of Storm Lake: Change Resilience and Hope in America`s Heartland.
[23:40:00]
Art, do you have any idea how much mail and emails you`re going to get telling you to quit smoking for starters?
CULLEN: Yeah. I`ve been trying since I was 12.
WILLIAMS: All right, well, be ready people are going to be sending you gum and every other keyword they`ve discovered along the way. Hey, I want to, I want to establish our conversation with, tell us how big or how small Storm Lake is, and what kind of town it is?
CULLEN: Well, Storm Lake is a town of about 10,000 to 15,000 people. We`re not sure how many people actually live here because so many are undocumented immigrants, and the substance wasn`t terribly successful accounting them all.
It`s a meatpacking town and corn, soybean and hog country in northwest Iowa. Corn and beans as far as the eye can see. About 90% of our elementary school children are children of color, mainly immigrants from Mexico. But about 23 languages are spoken right now on Storm Lake.
WILLIAMS: I am assuming the indictment of Steve Bannon is not the number one topic of conversation in Storm Lake. I`ll just as quickly say it is not the number one topic of conversation uniformly across the country. But what is these days?
CULLEN: Well, I think inflation is a big topic of discussion right now, especially gas and home heating prices. We had snow this morning, and it was with about a 50 mile an hour winds. So, you`re reminded about natural gas prices. And I think that is a source of great anxiety among people in the uncertainty of what`s going to happen with the pandemic and all these supply chain issues. And it just, you know, adds to this level of anxiety, I think in across the country.
WILLIAMS: Well, when you think about it, and I know you do a lot, we`ve just talked about supply chain, we`ve talked about inflation, we`ve talked about potentially a climate change topic, I`m certain opioids are a factor in town, so it`s a small town with big city problems?
CULLEN: Well, rather than opioids, I`d say meth is a bigger problem in rural Iowa than opioids. That said, yeah, there`s a lot of big issues and swirling around Storm Lake climate change, being one of them. That`s it`s causing Iowa to be wetter and warmer through the decades, while just west of us in the Dakotas and Nebraska and Colorado, they are going through extreme drought. And that`s affecting agriculture significantly. And farmers are ready to do something about climate change.
And again, I don`t think most people in Storm Lake aren`t paying a whole lot of attention to the January six investigation or the talks in Glasgow for that matter. But they are interested in what Congress is doing about climate change and agriculture, in particular.
WILLIAMS: My first reporting job was in Kansas, and even though I came from Jersey, grew up on the East Coast. Once I was out there, I remember at least two stories brought in national media. The Hyatt Regency in Kansas City that skyway collapsed, and the Tylenol tampering case happened near where I was working, and what a different perspective to see the national media come in. I remember thinking, how patronizing they were to local media and local folks and life in rural Kansas. What do national media routinely get wrong about your job, your business and your town?
WILLIAMS: Well, one thing that I think perhaps national media get wrong is that they think we don`t know what the story is. And, in fact, we do. Another thing that I think national media gets wrong about the Midwest and Iowa in particular, is that we`re just farmers. And, you know, there`s about 800 farmers in Buenavista County, and there`s about 3000 meatpacking workers. Again, most of them Latino, and it`s a much more diverse place than anybody from the outside might imagine. And those are two misconstrued options, I guess.
[23:45:02]
WILLIAMS: Art, you look comfy on a cold night, I`m going to ask you to stay right where you are. I want to fit in a break and continue our conversation.
We`ll talk when we come back about why local news has been so critical in Storm Lake and other places just in these recent months.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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CULLEN: I call hospital to see if anybody has been admitted yet for symptoms that appear similar to COVID-19. And well, that goes nowhere.
If we do the right things here, we`ll be right. We were kind of scolding local officials for falling short on testing. We`re falling short on equipment and we`re falling short on a clear and consistent message from local state and federal authorities.
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WILLIAMS: I know that guy, I know that chair, in fact, more from the documentary Storm Lake that airs Monday on PBS thankfully. Still with us as Art Cullen. Art, talk about local news. I`m obviously a big believer in it. I think for civics, the sense of civics in our society. It`s essential. It`s been tragic to watch these kind of hedge fund group owners come in, sapped the money out of local news operations, destroy them in effect and leave them a shell of the way they found them talk about the challenge the need for local news during a pandemic while running a small family business that`s been as affected by the pandemic as anything else in town?
[23:50:09]
CULLEN: Well, yeah, during the pandemic, you know, advertising just dropped through the floor, it went to zero. And we were having a tough time going into the pandemic. So, the newspaper industry has been in decline for basically my entire adult career. And it just has been hastening with the internet and Craigslist, and so on. And then Facebook and Google and YouTube. And so, we need to make a digital transition, but we`re consumed by printing our newspaper and devoting our resources. So that`s been very difficult for us.
And so, we`ve been losing money. And we, we realize that we`ve got a -- we started a nonprofit foundation, called the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation, to get tax deductible donations to help independent family- owned newspapers in western Iowa survived this pandemic, for starters.
And we have been a critical source of information when people are trying to find out what`s going on at the Tyson meatpacking plant. And how many people are infected, we were the ones that were beaten down the door trying to find out. And we were confronting the governor`s office and local public health officials to keep people apprised of what`s of what the score was. And it was a terribly confusing time for us, because of all the obstruction, and that was for no apparent reason. And it was a terrible time financially for us.
We`ve bounced back, advertisings bounce back a little bit, but it`s not going to come back all the way to where it was. And so, we`re going to have to start raising funds to support local journalism. And it`s happening in very interesting ways across the country, from the Salt Lake Tribune to the Philadelphia Inquirer to the Seattle Times. And we hope that might be a solution. And it appears that is the response to this documentary has been tremendous. And that`s a good start in broadening the conversation.
WILLIAMS: I hope the folks watching tonight will check out the documentary. Bless you for the work you`re doing. We wish you well out there. Art Cullen has been our guest tonight. There it is, Storm Lake, a newspaper, a family, a community, PBS our thanks.
Coming up, it may be a test of how much you can get away with without consequences.
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[23:56:35]
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BANNON: We`re going to get to the bottom of three November and we`re going to decertify the electors, OK, and you`re going to have a constitutional crisis. But you know what? We`re a big and tough country and we can handle that.
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WILLIAMS: Brings us to the last thing before we go tonight. That`s the men`s grooming icon, Steve Bannon on his podcast today. As we mentioned he received a presidential pardon, but it doesn`t apply to insurrection. So, he will face the music on Monday, the Feds allowing him to enjoy his weekend as a courtesy apparently, with the pace of news and everything that`s been going on everything at play on 1/6 you may wonder how involved could Bannon have been in the insurrection effort? Well, this may help.
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BANNON: It`s not going to happen like you think it`s going to happen. OK, it`s going to be quite extraordinarily different. And all I can say is strap in the War Room a posse, you have made this happen. And tomorrow it`s game day.
President Trump`s presidency is first terms ending with action in the second term is going to start with a bang, OK. That we can guarantee you. And so, the fights end. This is a huge weekend. There`s so much going on behind the scenes, a massive fight. We`re heading towards a historic day, the sixth of June massive rally. There`s a lot happening this week, people are getting revved up, people are getting fired up. People are getting madder as they should.
You and I happen to be on a call last night and you`re walking people through it, was so brave. Could you just walk people through what the framework is for this week?
A lot of tough Ambry (ph) is down there. I saw someone last night and we had meetings down there close that came out last night. And let`s say they were still up and going, they were still -- they were still reviewing their plans for the day like 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning. We`ve helped provide the information. I think that people are jacked up, we`re all going to converge on that point on the six. We`re all going to converge there. We just got to impose our wills like in football, you have to impose your will on the opposition or hurtling towards an historic event on January 6, we`re hurtling to something that`s going to -- it`s going to be complicated and it`s going to be nasty.
Nothing could be more turbulent than what`s going on this week. We want everybody in the mid-Atlantic region to come. You`ve got to be there. This is going to be historic, remember. This is a historic week. This is like towards how the Republic fell, right and became a totalitarian or authoritarian empire. We`re at that moment. And that`s what this week is.
Are we going to affirm the massive landslide of Donald J. Trump? Are we going to turn over constitutional republic to the forces of what are they going to say the force of darkness.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Massive constitutional fights going on behind the scenes? People don`t understand.
BANNON: You know, after hours, we`re on Skyping. These calls in Lackawanna County and to all these, you know, patriot groups around and conservative groups who see through in the fog of war is they have clarity, is to have clarity that no January 6 was going to be the day or one of these big days and you had to converge everything down to January six.
This is a wound that will not heal. We`re hurdling towards a constitutional crisis. That is going to make the impeachment look like a Sunday picnic. This is going to be a historic day. You`re going to be part of history. We wanted as many people to get here as possible. 48 hours away from one of the most consequential history.
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WILLIAMS: Media Matters with a collection of some of Steve Benton`s greatest hits to take us off the air tonight. And with that, that is our broadcast for this Friday evening and for this week, with our thanks for being here with us, have a good weekend unless you have other plans. On behalf of all our colleagues at the networks of NBC News, good night.