← The Briefing with Jen Psaki
The Briefing with Jen Psaki
Psaki looks under the hood of Trump's 'truly sketchy' profit off the presidency
00:41:08
Jen Psaki takes a closer look at the dubious timing and thin excuses for the billions of dollars financial disclosure forms show Donald Trump made when he returned to the White House.
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- [00:00]
Freedom From Religion Foundation Announcer
America is an idea. For 250 years, that idea has helped expand our rights and our freedoms, but progress isn't guaranteed. Today, those founding principles are being challenged by efforts to mix religion and government. The Freedom From Religion foundation is working to protect the Constitution and keep power where it belongs, with we the people. Visit FFRF US MSNOW or text MSNOW to 511-511-Text MSNOW to 511-51-511 and keep state and church separate. Text fees may apply.
- [00:30]
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Jen Psaki
just want to start tonight with something of a bombshell from Trump's 927 page financial disclosure released last night. A bombshell that I should note was first reported by the nonprofit online news outlet Sludge earlier today. But do you remember last year when Trump announced his massive across the board tariffs? He had a big old cardboard chart to show it. Very modern of him. He called it Liberation Day. It actually led to a stock market crash. Now that Liberation Day announcement was on April 2nd of last year. And Trump's financial disclosures show that he made 327 stock purchases six days later on April 8, while the stock market was down. We literally again haven't had enough time to go through all of those purchases yet. But these trades vary in size from the 1 to $15,000 range all the way up to the 100 to $250,000 RA change. It's a ton of stock. So he makes those purchases on April 8th. The next morning, just after the market opened, he told his followers on Truth Social quote, this is a great time to buy in all caps, obviously. Now hours later, he paused his tariffs and the stock market had a historic rally. So historic in fact, it represented the biggest single day gain in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, to put it simply. And it appears an official act by Trump cratered the stock market. Trump then bought the dip and then used another official act to bring the price of the market back up. Now Trump of course insists that all his stock transactions are handled by his two adult sons without his involvement or knowledge of the individual trades carried out on his behalf. And when asked about the timing of these specific trades, the White House told us tonight that, quote, President Trump only acts in the best interest of the American public, saying there are no conflicts of interests. Okay. The White House also directed us to the Trump Organization. We've reached out to them but have not yet heard back. Now, I should note that last year Trump was trading lots of stock all the time, but the timing here is suspicious, to say the least. And it's not a one off. I mean, as the New York Times reported on July 23 of last year, Trump purchased somewhere between 1 to 5 million dollars of stock from each of the following Broadcom, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia, all companies focused on profits from AI markets. That same day, the Trump administration unveiled its Artificial Intelligence Action Plan, in which the White House expressed a desire to deregulate the industry. So Trump stood to profit from the policy he himself created. And sure enough, according to the Times, prices for four of the six stocks have since increased, with Apple and Broadcom surging more than 30%. And so today, while Trump was getting on the inaugural flight of the new $400 million Air Force One jet that he received as a gift again from the Qatari government, reporters asked him, of course they did, about all of the money his financial disclosures show he has made since he retook office. And here was what he had to
- [04:19]
Interviewer
say
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Jen Psaki
to critics who say you're profiting off the presidency.
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Norm Eisen
Mr. Well, you know why I'm profiting?
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Congressman Robert Garcia
Because the stock market's going up.
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Jen Psaki
Everybody's profiting is that it is the stock market going up. The only reason you made so much money certainly doesn't seem like it. Now, whether or not you believe that all of Trump's incredibly well timed stock trades last year were just coincidence, they're actually just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the money Trump made last year. Because of the more than $2 billion Trump reported having made last year, more than half of that was from various cryptocurrency ventures. About $636 million of that came from Trump's meme coin, the cryptocurrency he launched just a few days before his inauguration. Now another $799 million came from the Trump family cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial. Now is everybody profiting on that front? Not exactly. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Last month, Reuters crunched the numbers and they found that across Trump's various cryptocurrency ventures, the Trump family overall appears to have made $2.3 billion. Well, and here's the key part. Other investors appear to have lost $2.3 billion. That's as of April of this year. And while the Trump family and Trump's Meme Coin company did not respond to a Reuters request for comment, the Trump family cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial did, saying just that it does not validate third party methodologies for valuing governance tokens or estimating aggregate investor positions, which is a hell of a way of saying no comment. Now think about that for a second. The bulk of Trump's windfall last year came from cryptocurrency, which, at least according to the math done by Reuters, appears to have cost investors as much in losses as the Trump family has made in gains. That is quite the business model, and as bad as that is on its face, and it's quite bad where Trump's crypto profits get truly sketchy and is where they intersect with his role as president. Earlier this year, the New York Times reported that just days before Trump's inauguration, an investment firm tied to the UAE bought a 49% stake in the Trump family cryptocurrency company for $500 million. And the Times reported that Trump's adult son, Eric signed the agreement. Can we just get a shot back of Trump on the tarmac this morning? Up again, just up on the screen. Just want to show you something. Now, if you look over Trump's shoulder there, you can see Eric Trump. There he is this morning, the person who has the supposed firewall between Trump the business and Trump the president. There he is this morning, getting ready to fly on Air Force One with his dad. He even had a seat reserved for him. How nice. There it is with his little card. I should note that Eric maintains that he has nothing to do with any of his father's official acts as president and that there are no conflicts of interest. They all say that now. A few months after the firm tied to the UAE reportedly bought a 49% stake in the Trump family cryptocurrency company. In May, the company announced that an Emirati sheikh was depositing $2 billion into the Trump family cryptocurrency. Two weeks after that announcement, the White House agreed to let the UAE access hundreds of thousands of the world's most advanced and scarce computer chips, despite national security's concerns for doing so. Now, representatives from the White House and the Trump family cryptocurrency both deny any connection between the computer chip deal and the $2 billion deal they also, both deny any connection between the computer chip deal and the $500 million purchase of 49% of the company. As the White House counsel told the Times, quote, President Trump performs his constitutional duties in an ethically sound manner. And to suggest otherwise is either ill informed or malicious. I will let you make of that particular comment whatever you will, but the bottom line is Trump made at least $2 billion last year. He wants you to think that that is just because he is a great businessman, because he is guiding the country so well, that everyone is simply getting rich. And if you believe that, I've got a $400 million plane to sell you. Joining me now is Congressman Robert Garcia. He is the top Democrat on, on the House Oversight Committee. And his fellow oversight Democrats today debuted a widget on their website, you can check it out, that they say tracks the Trump family's profits from, quote, digital grift. And man, the numbers keep going up literally every second. There's so many things to ask you. I wanna start by just playing you something that journalist Maggie Haberman said recently. She has a book out that seems, everybody seems to be reading. And she had this to say before Trump's financial disclosure was released. Let me play that We've only, the collective, we. The Wall Street Journal has done a lot of work, the Times, the Washington Post, a lot of, a lot of outlets have done a lot of work on this. All of us have only scratched the surface, I think, of what is happening because there's so much we can't see. It's interesting because Chris and I were talking about how it's sort of a surprise they released this, but it is a little bit like, we know what they tell us. You've been thinking a lot about Trump's unprecedented financial conflicts. Do you agree with Maggie Haberman about the scope of what needs to be uncovered? And really that we still may not know a lot?
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Congressman Robert Garcia
I completely agree. I mean, the reality is, is what we know with public facing is just part of the massive corruption that is happening every single day in the Trump White House and across all of our agencies. There is evidence of pay to play. There is evidence of the family enriching themselves. Clearly, there's no question that everything from pardons being sold to contracts being given to family members, to the grift around the cryptocurrency scheme. I mean, just Donald Trump and just this Presidency alone is $2 billion richer. Just him, not to mention the rest of his family. And so there's enormous amount there. And whether it's corruption, whether It's a protection of pedophiles in the Epstein scandal, whether it's giving out contracts to friends, whether it's selling directly to the White House. There will be so much to investigate in the years ahead that Donald Trump and his family have to be prepared to answer questions and to be accountable to the American public.
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Jen Psaki
And I want to talk about that because I think so many people are thinking about that. You're going to be in quite a hot important seat about that. But first I wanted to just get your thoughts about that series of events in the financial disclosures. I mentioned at the top of the show that basically Trump paused his Liberation Day tariffs leading to a of state stock market surge one day after 327 purchases were made in his name. Everybody's still digging through all of this, as I'm sure members of the committee staff are. But what does that, how does that timing strike you?
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Congressman Robert Garcia
Well, the timing is incredibly suspect. I mean, look, I think that is pretty clear to most folks that are looking at this is that the Trumps are enriching themselves and using the government to do so. While people can't afford gas, groceries, the cost of goods, the rent. The Trumps are taking people's hard earned wealth, giving it to themselves, giving taxes to themselves and their friends and then manipulating whether it's the market or they're manipulating their relationships or they're using our foreign policy to sell off access and make themselves richer. People need to understand that this is the most corrupt person to ever hold office in this country and we are going to expose it. I will also share that we have reports from folks at our agencies, whistleblowers, people that are engaged in day to day activities that see the corruption. We are building, we are building strong investigations and we're going to make the case and we're going to take this case to the American public. Certainly when we have the power to subpoena and have actual hearings, that the Trump family is a family that is focused on enriching themselves and nothing more.
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Jen Psaki
So let's talk about how you're going to go about doing that. I know you're thinking about it. And Democrats have a very good shot of taking back power in the House, especially the Trump sons. As I just noted this, they claim there is a firewall between them and their father. It's very hard to believe. I don't think that one particularly passes the smell test. How would you go about getting to the bottom of it? Does it involve bringing them up? What is the process that people should Expect you're preparing for come next January, February, potentially
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Congressman Robert Garcia
1. There is no firewall. Give me a break. That's hilarious. The Trump boys are, they follow their dad, whether it's on the new Qatari jet, now Air Force One, around the world when dad is out meeting with foreign dignitaries. The boys are right behind cutting real estate deals. Donald Trump Jr. Is apparently now of course advisor on all of these new companies popping up that are getting these huge contracts that are enriching the company and Donald Trump Jr. With defense contracts. And so what is happening right now is a complete grift and it's going to be up to oversight, Democrats and other committees to investigate, to have the accountability. I've shared with a lot of folks that when we win the majority, we will have a forward looking agenda and that's important, but so is accountability. We cannot just move on from the corruption and from the stealing of the American taxpayers hard earned wealth. Folks like Donald Trump Jr. Eric Trump, Jared Kushner, Steven Miller, they're gonna have to be in front of our committee. We're gonna subpoena documents, we're gonna ensure that they appear. There's already been precedent, by the way, to have family members of presidents appear before our committee, including Hunter Biden, who I'm still trying to remember what actually he did. Where was the grift in what Hunter Biden actually did? These guys are actually stealing billions of dollars from all of you and from the American taxpayer. And so the power of subpoena investigation, putting the right teams in place, coordinating with committees and my partner Jamie Raskin on the Judiciary Committee, all of that is going to be important. And we're working every single day and uncovering more and more grift. That work will continue all the way through November. And on day one, you can expect numerous subpoenas to go out the door.
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Jen Psaki
I think for anybody watching who's just as pissed off as you sound, and I am, and so many people are in this country about how much money this family is making off of the presidency. They're carrying you and they're thinking like that sounds great and it does sound great, I think, as you know. But people should know you'd be taking the gavel if Democrats went back the House under unprecedented circumstances. I mean, there's Trump's weaponized Justice Department this term. They're gonna continue. You won't have a partner in the doj. How are you going to approach this if they just say I'm not gonna appear, I'm not gonna abide by the Subpoena. I refuse. What are you gonna do without the cooperation from the Justice Department?
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Congressman Robert Garcia
Look, I think first we gotta start out with courage. And I think one thing that's really important is that we have got to take this on with everything we got and know that the president and his allies are gonna weaponize the government against us in this process. He's already shown he's ready to do that. We expect he will continue to do that going to the fall and he's going to go after folks on our committee and those people that are got to take this on with courage. We've got to be fearless. We've got to not only build national support like we've done with the Epson investigation, it's the singular most bipartisan popular issue in the country where people see eye to eye. And that's because we've built support the grassroots across the country going into places where people are having these conversations and on TV shows and in the media that are not maybe traditional news shows. We've got to reach folks where they are at. And then finally, we've got to use our judicial powers along with our congressional powers to go after the family, to go after the corruption and ensure that we're getting all of the information that's happening across your agencies in the majority, as you know, we also have the power to sue in the minority. You don't have the same ability to bring lawsuits forward to the court, whether it's federal court or other court. That's a power that mostly the majority has. And so our ability to go to the courts, to use our allies and all the different judicial groups that also will go to the courts and to use congressional power through subpoena and documents is going to be really important.
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Norm Eisen
Important.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
There is precedent for family members to appear and we're going to hammer that home we will have. And we're going to require that the Trumps, the Kushner's and others appear before our committee and others.
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Jen Psaki
Let me ask you about this jet because I think the visual of Trump flying, I mean, he flew for it on the first time today. The jet that was of course donated by Qatar, refurbished to the tune of hundreds of millions of taxpayers, taxpayer dollars. Aside from the obvious issues here, of which there are many, the fact that Trump says it will go to his presidential library instead of the next president is really hard to swallow. Is there, do you see a way where taxpayers can keep it, where it stays as a product of the U.S. government?
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Congressman Robert Garcia
Look, I think there's some conversations and certainly I think you'll probably see some actions in court on this issue. But look, I think broadly speaking, as an American, I think all of us should be horrified by what's happening, that any American president, even a corrupt one like Donald Trump, is going to be flying around on a jet given to us by a foreign nation, and he's going to be flying this jet on the 4th of July over the mall, celebrating a foreign nation jet that then he plans on keeping. That is not patriotism. That is not feeling proud of our country. And every American should be sickened by this action by Donald Trump. And so that action is being investigated. There are numerous committees looking at actually this plane because it's very suspect. And we're not also feeling that this plane might even be secure from a national security perspective. But certainly whether or not he should be allowed to keep it is a question that I think will be fought in the courts.
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Jen Psaki
Congressman Robert Garcia, there's always so much to talk with you about. Thank you again for being here tonight. Now, our coverage of this corruption, the most corrupt administration in history is just getting started tonight. There's lots of new information out there in the world the last 24 hours. For our next conversation, I brought some props and I brought former ethics star in the Obama administration, Norm Mimzen Eisen. We'll be right back.
- [19:19]
Freedom From Religion Foundation Announcer
America is an idea. For 250 years, that idea has helped expand our rights and our freedoms, but progress isn't guaranteed. Today. Those founding principles are being challenged by efforts to mix religion and government. The Freedom From Religion foundation is working to protect the Constitution and keep power where it belongs with we the people. Visit FFRF US MSNOW or text Ms. Now to 511-511-Text Ms. Now to 511-511 and keep state and church separate. Text fees may apply.
- [19:50]
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- [20:19]
Congressman Robert Garcia
Simone Sanders Townsend and I have known each other for more than a decade, tussling over politics and policy when she worked in the White House and I reported.
- [20:28]
Jen Psaki
And now we're friends and colleagues. And on our podcast Clock it, we are positioning ourselves at the intersection of culture and politics.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
Clock it is where we talk about what we see and hear in the news. So you can start to clock it, too.
- [20:42]
Alicia Menendez
Clock it with Simone and Eugene. All episodes available now.
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Jen Psaki
Since 1978, every US president has had to file annual financial disclosure reports listing all of their holdings and all the money they made in the past year. And I just want to put in perspective for you what these often look like. This right here was the last financial disclosure report for President Barack Obama. It is eight pages long. That's it. Eight pages long. And this behemoth right here is Donald Trump's latest financial disclosure report. It is more than 900 pages long. And this financial disclosure is almost 700 pages longer than the one he filed for 2024. Which basically means that the current president has made a whole lot of money since taking office, profiting from, as we've been talking about through the course of the show already, shady crypto deals to Trump Organization real estate projects in foreign countries projects, tariffs that were approved while Trump was actively negotiating his tariff policies with those very countries. The Trump administration claims that this is all above board. Of course they do. Totally legitimate. Nothing to see here. I have a feeling my next guest feels quite differently from that. Joining me now is Norm Eisen, former ethics czar for President Obama and the executive chair of the Democracy Defenders Fund. Okay, Norm, you have reviewed financial disclosures. Many of them. How many? Hundreds in your time, probably including President. What did you make of this monstrosity of 900 pages?
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Norm Eisen
We've never seen corruption like this in American history. And it gives world history a run for its money. Donald Trump is monetizing the presidency for himself, for his family, his cronies in and outside of the government. And the American people. People are the losers because these massive crypto deals, people have lost hundreds of millions of dollars when the value of these Trump associated cryptocurrencies bottom out. Some of these companies have cratered, like Alt five Sigma, associated with Trump's family, with Witkoff's family. Massive losses in the value of that. You shouldn't have a president who is regulating, or in Donald Trump's case, failing to regulate crypto companies or any other industry while doing enormous profit taking. Jen. And it's not just domestic conflicts of interest, the foreign conflicts with the UAE making a massive investment in a Trump associated company shortly before it gets favorable treatment from the United States on highly sensitive computer chips. This is not America. And it's not just the crypto. It goes on and on and on. Conflicts hurting the American people at a time when they're struggling financially. They didn't elect Donald Trump to line his own Pockets. They elected him to help them. It is outrageous. And Trump is suffering the price. He's now at Nixonian public approval lows when Nixon was at the bottom of his corruption scandals. So there is a price to pay in public.
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Jen Psaki
Definitely. I mean, the eight pages indicates that Barack Obama at the time did not have a ton of financial assets. What struck me about this monstrosity I'll keep calling it is that it is almost 700 pages larger than the one he filed for 2024 the year before he became president. Which means, as we know from the numbers he massively expanded how much money and how much he's profiting from just the first year of his presidency, essentially
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Norm Eisen
from what we know here, over $2 billion. And it's not just the business deals. There's crypto and other ventures. They involve these foreign governments where we have very serious conf. It's the real estate deals, licensing. In the Middle east, it's pettier things like Trump bibles, Trump sneakers, taking expensive free sports tickets. I mean, the grift just doesn't stop. And it's not just him, his family, friends, cronies in and outside of his government. It's shocking.
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Jen Psaki
I was just talking to maybe the future chair of the oversight committee about that. Let me ask you, on the top of the show at the I laid out this sequence of events in the financial disclosure that others have covered, but I don't think is getting enough coverage. April 2nd is Liberation Day of last year, of course, for the tariffs and the market crashes on April 8th. Trump buys hundreds of stocks on April 9th. He says it's a great time to buy. He posts that on social media and pauses the tariffs, sparking a huge market rally. What alarm bells go off in your head there? What do you make of that?
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Norm Eisen
The president is the most powerful policymaker, has the most say in influence over markets of anybody on the planet. He should not be engaging in these stock trades. We certainly did not allow that in the Obama White House. President Obama would never have wanted to do it. But it's not unique. To Obama, the same was true Bush. Other presidents, they either have blind trust, they put all their property where truly they are not in charge, they don't know what's going on, or they have the equivalent like widely diversified mutual fund holdings where you don't know what the trades are. Now Donald Trump says through spokesman, well, I'm not involved in those trades. We are entitled to ask some pretty hard questions about whether that's true. To get some more information, Congress is gonna do that. These issues will be the subject of litigation. And litigation has been very successful, Jen, including at Democracy Defenders Fund and Democracy Defenders Action, my organizations, in shutting down other outrageous Trump corruption scandals. The slush fund, $1.8 billion, we helped shut that down in court. The Kennedy center, he tried to take the whole Kennedy Center. We got that stopped in court. And we're going to do that. We're fighting the Epstein files, getting those out in public. And this disclosure, that massive pile of paper is an equally massive scandal. As you know, in the Obama White House. We decided that President Obama shouldn't even refinance his modest family home during the Great Recession cuz he was regulating the bank. Banks would have saved him a few hundred dollars in interest per month. This is a scandal and the American people are the ones who are being hurt.
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Jen Psaki
Noor Mizen, you're always tireless. Thank you as always for being here.
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Phil Weiser
Thanks, Jen.
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Jen Psaki
Okay. Coming up, brand new polling of key Senate races out today shows extremely tight margins across the board. But former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has by far the widest lead across those Senate battlegrounds. The numbers were so stark that our friend Sarah Longwell tweeted, we should talk more about what Roy Cooper is doing right in North Carolina. Doing right in North Carolina. Well, Sarah Longwell, we happen to agree. And Roy Cooper joins us next.
- [29:00]
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- [29:30]
Freedom From Religion Foundation Announcer
Ever since I was young, I've watched people working hard, chasing opportunity, making sacrifices, doing everything they can to build a better life. And now we're shining a light on what matters most, our economy, our national identity, our democracy, our future. The stakes have never been higher. It's all on the line.
- [29:49]
Alicia Menendez
On the line with Alicia Menendez, weekdays at 12pm Eastern on MSNOW.
- [30:06]
Jen Psaki
I just want to take a moment and remind you what the Trump White House had to say at the start of his second term about the possibility that Trump was personally profiting from the presidency. And here's press secretary Caroline Levitt back in May of just last year.
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Caroline Levitt
I think it's frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit. He left a life of luxury and a life of running a very small, successful real estate empire for public service not just once, but twice. And again, the American public reelected him back to this White House because they trust he acts in the best interest of our country in putting the American public first. This is a president who has actually lost money for being President of the United States.
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Jen Psaki
Has he? Now, just over a year after that bold declaration and now that jaw dropping details of Trump's financial disclosures are public, his administration seems to be giving a very different answer.
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Roy Cooper
What's the White House's position on all these questions?
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Jen Psaki
Well, I think the President said it best. And let's remember, Bill, why Americans elected this president to office because he was an outsider who was tremendously successful in business, built the New York City skyline, and that's what Americans wanted. They wanted a businessman in office. Now, set aside the insane claim that Donald Trump built the New York City skyline. That definitely did not happen. But he's a businessman. It's quite the explanation for why the President made more than $2 billion his first year back in office. Joining me now is the Democratic nominee for U.S. senate in North Carolina, former Governor Roy Cooper. And I want to talk about your race, cuz you are clearly doing something very right there in North Carolina and the people there have known you a long time. But I just have to ask you, I've been watching your race. You've been talking about affordability, what people are going through. How does the President of the United States making more than $2 billion while in office resonate with the people of North Carolina?
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Roy Cooper
I think the Washington, D.C. swamp is deeper than ever, Jen. Elected leaders should serve the people, not line their pockets. And all of this is occurring at a time when people's paychecks just simply are not keeping up with the cost of living. No wonder people don't trust the federal government. No wonder people don't trust the administration. They want leaders who are there to serve them. That's what I can do for the people of North Carolina. They've known me for years. My opponent and other Republican leaders, my opponent, Michael Whiteley, who was the RNC chair, and other Republican leaders are letting all of this happen. And many of them are participating in it themselves. Michael Whiteley was a longtime D.C. lobbyist. He lobbied for utility and big oil companies. He owns all of the stock. He encouraged the war. When gas prices go up, he makes money. He encouraged higher rates for utility companies. When people's rates go up, he makes money. That's the kind of thing we shouldn't have. I am for a congressional and executive stock ban, regardless of whether a law passes. I'm not going to own individual stocks. I now have all of mine in widely held mutual funds. As the ambassador suggested, we need more people in Washington like this. This is going to be a tough race. So I need people to go to roycooper.com and help us out.
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Jen Psaki
Let me ask you about the race, because I'm sure it's to your frustration. It probably feels good to be up in the polls, but you got to keep people focused on the race. There was actually the Supreme Court yesterday. They had a number of rulings, but one of their rulings, they struck down restrictions on certain spending limits for political parties and candidates. And we were trying to. We've been working to make sense of all this for people watching, too. But the New York Times used your particular race as an example of how these new rules would offset the cash advantage your campaign currently has over your opponent. You were just talking about former RNC Chairman Michael Whatley because the RNC can spend unlimited money now and give it to campaigns. What do you want people to understand about how the Supreme Court ruling just changed the game, not just in your race, but in perhaps other races across the country?
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Roy Cooper
This is the worst campaign finance ruling since Citizens United. It essentially allows unlimited money from parties. And that just means the billionaires and those in power are going to have more control over these elections. And that's why we need people to step up more than ever. Look, I've been in a lot of tough elections in my time as Attorney General and governor, but this is the toughest one that I've ever been in in North Carolina. In almost 40 years, we've only elected two Democrats to the U.S. senate. Both of them were one termers. The last Democrat we elected was in 2008. And as you well remember, Barack Obama won North Carolina that year. Already, these outside groups have put in about $100 million against me. And we've run great candidates for the Senate in the past. But the pattern has been that the Democrats have been ahead, ahead, ahead until they weren't. And Republicans often close at the end. People know me. They don't know my opponent that well. This race will tighten just like all of these other swing seats. But if we don't flip North Carolina, we cannot flip the United States Senate. And from all that you've been talking about tonight, it is pretty clear that we need to take back this legislative branch, reassert the constitutional authority that the legislative branch has. And you do that by taking back the United States Senate. So we need everybody out there working in these swing Senate seats to try and win this. And people can go to roycooper.com, see my platform to make stuff cost less, volunteer for the campaign and also help us financially.
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Jen Psaki
Boy, among many things, somebody who supports a stock ban, including one for the president, sounds pretty good on a day like this. Governor Cooper, thank you as always for being here. Really appreciate it.
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Roy Cooper
Thanks.
- [36:27]
Jen Psaki
Up next, there has been nonstop right wing hysteria after another Democratic socialist won another primary last night. And in response to that hysteria, I'd like to present in this particular headline, possible GOP Governor Pick Won't say How Many people He's killed. That is a real headline, everyone. But sure, tell me about again which party is too radical. Tell me again about that one. We're going to talk about that guy with the newly minted Democratic nominee for governor in Colorado when we come back. Republicans are increasingly leaning into one strategy to win back the midterms and that is to bring back the red scare. They see progressive leaning and Democratic socialist candidates winning elections in places outside of New York City, most recently last day in Colorado with messaging centered on affordability and expanding health care. And the MAGA response has been to label them godless commies and lots of fear mongering about a socialist taking over the country. So with that in mind, may I just present to you the leading Republican candidate for Colorado governor, Victor Marks.
- [37:41]
Phil Weiser
Your claim that your abusive stepfather forced
- [37:43]
Jen Psaki
you to kill a man when you
- [37:44]
Phil Weiser
were seven years old. Is that the only person you've ever killed?
- [37:57]
Interviewer
Well, I would say as a, as a child, yes. I mean, without question. But I've been in other situations where possibly people or persons died as a result of me defending myself and other countries. I. There's no count on that and there's no photos or. But that was something as a kid, without a doubt. Yeah.
- [38:39]
Phil Weiser
Do you think that you've killed people as an adult?
- [38:44]
Interviewer
Does it matter?
- [38:47]
Jen Psaki
Yeah, I think it does matter. You're running in general, it matters. But you're running to be governor of a state. Joining me now is Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser won the Democratic nomination for governor in that state last night and may face off against Marx this November. I want to ask you about that clip in a moment. It is real, everybody. That is a real clip, if you're not familiar with that guy. But I just want to start and ask you about last night. I mean, it is incredibly rare and I just want to look at my statistics. The last time that a sitting Senator lost an open primary race. The last time that happened, the Democratic party, was nearly 70 years ago. Why do you think the voters in Colorado chose you over Michael Bennett?
- [39:32]
Phil Weiser
Voters in Colorado are frustrated with those they see as representing an establishment that isn't focused on meeting their needs. We ran an upstart campaign. I am what the New York Times called a scrappy fighter, which is I said, I'm going to fight for Coloradans. And I've shown this as Attorney General, obviously, against the lawless and bullying Trump administration. I've sued them 67 times and counting. I've also taken on corporations that have harmed people, like when Kroger and Albertsons, two of our largest grocery stores, wanted to merge. That would have hiked up prices for consumers, that would have lost jobs, and it would have hurt local farmers. I took that case to court. I helped stop the merger. I'm taking on Ticketmaster to break them up because of concert fees. I'm taking on Meta because they're harming young people by keeping them on these dangerous social media platforms. Coloradans know I'm fighting for them. And I ran a campaign where I showed up everywhere. The Durango Herald, the leading paper that made an endorsement, said I crisscrossed all 64 counties with uncommon regularity, building meaningful relationships along the way. When I show up, when I listen to people and they know I'm fighting for them, that builds an authentic connection. That's what carried us to victory.
- [40:47]
Jen Psaki
I just. I wanna go back listening to you. I just want people to remember the clip I just played for them. And I just have to ask you about that because, well, Victor Marx did serve in the military. He reportedly never saw combat. And when he was pressed by that journalist, he said, quote, if I did kill someone, I wouldn't be telling a reporter. There's a lot of other things. But what goes through your mind when you see that clip and the fact that Marx is running to be the governor of your state, and he may be your opponent, too, of
- [41:18]
Phil Weiser
the thought that I'd be asked, as part of a political campaign, have I ever killed anybody? Was not on my bingo card when I decided to run for governor, let alone when I got into running for elected office eight years ago. But here we are. You didn't share another quote, which is circulated. There was a John Oliver episode where he was asked about his missions abroad, and he responded by saying, are you calling my dog Scout a liar? And one of the options in this race that, again, I didn't anticipate, is a debate between my dog, Zeke, who we call the People's Pooch, and Scout, who obviously was presented as a somewhat intimidating figure in that debate. He was on the debate stage. If people want to learn more about the People's Pooch, we actually created merch. You can check out our merch store@philforcolorado.com store. And we'll try to do the best we can to make this debate both a serious one, because we got serious challenges, but also, if he's gonna bring his dog into the conversation, I'll bring my dog in as well.
- [42:15]
Jen Psaki
He's also threatened to have his dog bite people. So there's also that your office, I mean, part of your bio and your background for people who are getting to know you is you have been the attorney. This is your second term as Attorney General. That's of course a reference to all of the times you've sued the Trump administration. Your office, of course, also played a big role in prosecuting former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, an election denier who was found guilty of multiple felonies relating to unauthorized access to election machines. As you well know, Colorado Govern Jared Polis of course commuted her sentence, which you put out a statement on. So now she's out of prison. Out of prison and appearing in the Oval Office or a photo op with Trump. This is for anybody who hasn't been paying attention to all of this. And tonight it appears Polis has fired two clemency board directors who opposed her commutation. And I just have to ask what your reaction is to that.
- [43:04]
Phil Weiser
Really, Jen, when you review this whole episode, it is part of why so many Democratic voters in particular are so frustrated that some leaders in our party are seen as bending the knee, giving in to the bullying pressure. And one of the points in my campaign that has been crystal clear is I don't believe you ever give in to a bully. You stand for what you believe in and you fight back. When this administration tried to pressure us to let Tina Peters out of prison by withholding SNAP benefits, think about this. 600,000 Karans would go hungry. But this administration broke the law cuz they thought it was a pressure point. We fought back in court and we won. That's the response that I want cowardice to take. And the fact that the clemency board made clear that Tina Peters had no business being let out because she lacked basic remorse is something I wish our governor had taken seriously. And obviously, to see Tina Peters in the Oval Office just underscores how problematic it is that the pressure of this administration is seen widely as leading to someone essentially getting a sentence cut short for lacking a good reason. That's an affront to my mind, the justice system, to the rule of law. As you note, I prosecuted Tina Peters along with the Republican DA in Mesa county, and the fact that she's been let out sends exactly the wrong message.
- [44:25]
Jen Psaki
Weiser, thank you so much. We'll be right back. That does it for me tonight. You can catch the show Tuesday through Friday at 9pm Eastern on Ms. Now. And don't forget to follow the show on Blue sky, Instagram and TikTok.
- [44:37]
Alicia Menendez
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- [44:46]
Jen Psaki
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- [44:51]
Alicia Menendez
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