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- [00:05]
Rachel Maddow
The corruption and lies coming from the Trump Justice Department are certainly no surprise at all, but they are full steam ahead. And the first clip I'm going to play you is the new attorney General lying through her teeth to the American.
- [00:22]
Donald Trump
People in the West Wing, swearing in Tulsi Galbard. And so I just came straight back here. So thanks for being patient with us with the delay. We're here today because we have filed charges against the State of New York. We have filed charges against Kathy Hochul. We have filed charges against Letitia James and Mark Schroeder, who is with dmv. This is a new doj, and we are taking steps to protect Americans, American citizens and angel moms. Like the mom standing right behind me, who you're going to hear from in a moment.
- [01:00]
Rachel Maddow
Enough. Okay, first of all, they filed a civil lawsuit. Not charges, not criminal charges. Civil lawsuit, that's different. And you cannot sue Kathy Hochul, Letitia James and whoever the other guy was in their personal capacity because they are acting on behalf of their government position. So this is just red meat to the MAGA base and then adding the angel moms to it. It's just more than I can take. I mean, it's just absolutely more than.
- [01:34]
Joy Reid
I can take the fixes in. And this is what they wanted. This is what he campaigned on. He wanted people to be loyal to himself. I saw that there was a photograph taken in the Oval Office where the door where you enter the Oval Office, right outside that hallway, Trump has a framed image of his mugshot. And I want you to think about all of the dignitaries and serious people that walk into the Oval Office. And we have a commander in chief, a president of the United States, who has framed his mugshot where he was convicted by a jury of his peers, 34 felonies. He has that hanging outside the Oval Office. The fix is in. Pam Bondi is a part of the fix. The Justice Department is only going to carry out his petty grievances. And this president is an embarrassment and a nightmare. And what I have to say to Democrats is this. Quit trying to figure out a way to talk to maga. You can't. You cannot talk to them. But what you can do is say, when he is in office, you are a part of his collateral damage. When we are in office, you are a part of the collateral benefit. And that's the best we can give you. That's the best we can give you idiots for voting for a criminal.
- [02:59]
Rachel Maddow
You're absolutely right. And speaking of corruption in the Justice Department and being loyal To Trump. As we know, orders came from on high. Trump, acting like the Attorney General's office is his own personal mob squad, has been instructed. The sdny, Southern District of New York has been instructed to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams for corruption. So he had recently appointed a U.S. attorney. She resigned and refuses to carry out that order. And here's what her resignation letter said in this most pertinent part. I attended a meeting on January 31st with Mr. Beauvais, Adams counsel, and members of my office. Adams attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the department's enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed. Mr. Beauvais admonished a member of my team who took notes during that meeting and directed the collection of those notes at the meeting's conclusion. Now, let me just tell you this good on her. This is one of the few people in Trump's orbit that has stood up to him. And she resigned. And three other members of SDNY also resigned. But Emile Beauvais also represented Trump in his criminal cases. So there is absolutely no surprise here that he is doing the bidding on behalf of the President. Nor is there any surprise that Adams wants to have his charges dismissed and he is willing to sacrifice his city to have it done. And Trump is happy to oblige. It's transactional. Transactional on both sides.
- [04:54]
Joy Reid
This U.S. attorney that sent her resignation letter in is a hardcore conservative. A member of the Federalist Society. She clerked for Antonin Scalia. These are people that are within this movement who are seeing this lawlessness, and she's standing up to it. And then after this, they kicked it. The Justice Department kicked it to D.C. and then three U.S. attorneys quit their jobs there. Six people. Six people in the Justice Department. And for those of you that need to kind of know this, the majority of the people that work in justice and the FBI are Republicans. So they've lost six U.S. attorneys, and these charges still have not been dropped because the Justice Department cannot find a person lacking integrity enough to walk in and drop the charges because it's such a slam dunk case against him. The fix is in. If you want to be a criminal, all you have to do is suck up to the most insecure man on the planet who falls prey to superficial flattery. And as we've seen with Elon Musk, $270 million. This is the weakest, most compromised leader on the planet, and he happens to be the President of the United States. And it is overwhelming, and I cannot imagine how fucked we are right now.
- [06:17]
Rachel Maddow
Totally agree with that. What's interesting to me is there will be somebody in Trump's orbit lacking integrity enough to do this. I mean, it's coming. There's just no question. Somebody is lining up saying, pick me. I have no integrity. I'll be loyal to you. I'll do whatever you want. I have no ethics or morals. Anyway, so we'll wait to see who that lucky winner is. And then Trump was asked about the resignation of the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York. And here's what he said.
- [06:47]
Chris Hayes
It was a horrible war. It's a vicious, bloody war. We want to end it. To your other question, that U.S. attorney was actually fired. I don't know. He or she resigned, but that U.S. attorney was fired.
- [07:02]
Rachel Maddow
Okay, so here's the thing. We know she resigned because we saw a resignation letter. And then he says, oh, no, she was fired. And then he says, well, I don't know if she was resigned, if she resigned or was fired, but then he says, we fired her. This man is incompetent in all ways. He only knows how to lie, he only knows how to spin, he only knows how to brand. He is a disgrace. And anyone that works in his judicial or his department of Justice, Pam Bondi being at the top is a disgrace. This is embarrassing. The corruption is rampant. Obviously, we knew this was going to happen. It's lightning speed. We're not even four weeks in and the corruption is just falling off the walls at the White House. He is absolutely a national embarrassment, as is his Justice Department.
- [07:56]
Joy Reid
Well, of course his Justice Department is corrupt because he hung his mug shot outside of the Oval Office. I mean, this is so staggering. It's so unbeliev. And my message to MAGA voters is, and to the Democrats who need to start branding here is quit trying to reach out, quit trying to defend wokeism. Simply attack their ideas. Y'all are for lawlessness. You're for criminals. You support a mafia style government because make no mistake, what Elon and Trump are, this is like big mafia style stuff. These are career criminals. Elon Musk stopped 32 investigations into himself and always sits in the back of my brain during the campaign. He said, well, I sure hope Kamala doesn't win because I'll probably go to prison for a long time. So what does he do? He spends $270 million sucking up to Trump and then he gains all the access to the federal government that no other person has had this style of Unmitigated access with zero oversight. So to maggot, you're for no transparency in government. You're suckers. You fall for stupid shit. I can't have empathy for you. But what I can tell you is that when our side wins, you will reap the benefit of it. All these farmers that were doing so well under the inflation Reduction act, and now Musk and Trump are willing that back. Guess what? You're the collateral damage of the dipshit that you voted for. That's. I mean. And they're criminals on top of it. And I just, I can't. The Democratic Party sometimes where it's like, oh, we've got to figure out how to talk to them. You can't. You cannot talk to them, attack their ideas and move on.
- [09:35]
Rachel Maddow
Absolutely. And just to round out the theme of the day, as if right on cue, Eric Adams signs an executive order to allow federal immigration agents into Rikers island complex, a significant shift in the city's sanctuary policies. It will not stop at Rikers Island. Eric Adams made a deal with the devil and now he is going to do what he's supposed to do under the terms of the deal, which is let Trump come in, dehumanize, take a bunch of migrants, make a big show of it. Because as we know, the deportation numbers under Trump are lower than they were at Biden at the same point. So he is madder than a hornet. So you have the quid now. You have the pro quo. There is absolutely zero doubt that this is Corruption 101.
- [10:29]
Joy Reid
Yes. And I believe that. I believe this is correct, that Kathy Hochul, the governor of the state of New York, has the power to remove Eric Adams. And I think that needs to be done immediately. I think every single chance that we have to fight back against this regime, this Mafia style, incompetent, I think the Mafia was probably more competent. These morons. We have to push back every step of the way. And good on those US Attorneys that stepped aside and wrote letters and made their names public. And this is the type of fearlessness and confrontation we need to have if we want to salvage any sense of democracy in this country.
- [11:14]
Rachel Maddow
And I just get to point out the U.S. attorney that resigned and stood up to corruption was a female. And that's all we have today. Keep watching.
- [11:23]
Joy Reid
MAGA female.
- [11:24]
Rachel Maddow
A MAGA female.
- [11:25]
Joy Reid
Very conservative. Very, very, very conservative. It doesn't get any more conservative than Antonin Scalia. And that's whom she clerked for. And so this is, this is telling. When people from with inside your own crazy ass house are saying this is wrong and I'm not doing it. That speaks volumes to me.
- [11:46]
Rachel Maddow
Absolutely stick with us.