← The Briefing with Jen Psaki
The Briefing with Jen Psaki
Georgia raid seen as start of Trump's effort to corrupt elections ahead of midterms
00:41:52
While the Trump administration's raid of the Fulton County, Georgia election office might seem like another manifestation of Trump's embarrassing fixation on debunked conspiracy theories, the widely held expectation that Trump will do anything to corrupt elections and maintain his grip on power and even extend his time in office has people taking these actions seriously.
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- [00:02]
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Jen Psaki
Are you my dad now?
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Waiting for the green flag to drop.
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Jen Psaki
Today was a hell of a news day. I mean, so much news going on today. We got more news today than we normally get in a week. And thanks to our show's amazing booking producers, and they are amazing, we somehow ended up with literally the perfect people to talk about all of it with, each part of it with. As Donald Trump's border czar, Tom Homan kind of sort of talked the talk at a press conference today about reducing tensions in Minneapolis. That that guy is really dark and kind of evil. But he kind of sort of talked the talk today. Donald Trump just said tonight that he is not pulling back. Not at all. Trump said that. So there's that. There's that. And Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is gonna join me with his reaction to those new comments. And for an update on what he is actually seeing on the ground in Minnesota, we're also getting our first reports on the condition of liam Ramos, the 5 year old child that ICE detained in Minneapolis and shipped 1300 miles south to a detention center in Dilley, Tex. Congressman Rock Joaquin Castro was one of the only members of Congress who was able to meet with Liam and his father. And he's going to join me to tell us how Liam is doing and what he saw while he was there. Meanwhile, tonight, it looks like there could be a deal. It looks like there is a deal. It seems to avoid a government shutdown that includes two weeks to negotiate major reforms to how immigration agents operate, which would be a very big win for Democrats. Not everything they want, but certainly a big win. They're not in control of the Senate, remember? And Senator Chris Van Hollen has been one of the most outspoken critics of Trump's immigration policies. He was among the first senators to say he will not vote to fund ISIS lawlessness. And he's going to be my guest here later this hour as well. And Senator Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, is going to be here at the table with me. And in a moment, you're going to understand why I absolutely had to talk to Senator Mark Warner tonight. But first, I want to go through a couple of other things happening because as national outrage against this administration continues to grow, the current occupant of the Oval Office is coping in, well, increasingly unhinged ways is really the only way to put it. Because last night, the increasingly unpopular and increasingly cranky grandpa president holed himself up and went on a social media rage posting spree, posting more than 50 times to his social media account in the span of just a few hours. He reposted attacks on everyone from Governor Tim Walz, of course, to Gavin Newsom to Joe Biden and Barack Obama to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. He even posted an account smearing Minneapolis shooting victim Alex Preddy, calling the ICU nurse a domestic terrorist. Then this morning, Trump decided to, well, self soothe, I guess you could call it, with one of his North Korean style cabinet meetings. You know, the ones where members of administration go around the room lavishly trying to one up each other by praising him. But in a sign of just how rattled Trump is by the public outcry against his administration's brutal ICE operations, Trump did not allow embattled DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to speak during that meeting. So he didn't even let Kristi Noem tell him how great he's doing something. He really, he loves to hear from anyone who will offer it. But that's how bad this is. And unlike his previous cabinet meetings, he ended this one without taking questions from the press. Now, another notable difference about today's cabinet meeting was the apparent absence of Trump's Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. In fact, Tulsi Gabbard has been out of the public eye for quite some time now, even amid a number of international crises that would typically fall well within her portfolio. I mean, there was the Director of National Intelligence during the planning of one of the biggest national security operations of the Trump presidency. Where was she the lead up to the night Trump attacked Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife? Well, she definitely wasn't in the Situation Room planning alongside the national security team and all the photos that were released, she was on the beach in Hawaii. Now, there she is. Now, everyone loves a sun salutation. We all love the beach. But the fact that the Director of National Intelligence was able to do yoga on the beach during that particular time is also a pretty clear sign that she was not exactly in the inner circle. But she's been working really, really hard to get back in Trump's good graces. I mean, really hard. Which leads us to today's news, of course. And for that, I actually want to go back to an exchange Trump had with her during a Cabinet meeting she actually did attend over the summer.
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Bubba Wallace
You've also found many bags of information.
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Jen Psaki
I think they call them burn bags.
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Bubba Wallace
They're supposed to be burned, and they didn't get burned. Having to do with how corrupt the 2020 election was. And when will that all come out?
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Jen Psaki
Mr. President, I will be the first to brief you once we have that information collected. But you're right, it's, it's. We are finding documents literally tucked away in the back of safes, in random offices, in these bags and in other areas, which, again, speaks to the intent of those who are trying to hide the truth from the American people. Yep, that was the Director of National Intelligence assuring the President that she was hunting down information to support his widely debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. The proof was in the safes, in random offices, in bags. Who knows? Again, that was over the summer. And really, we haven't seen that much of her since then, aside from the sun salutations. I suppose that is until yesterday when she was seen literally creeping in the shadows of the Trump administration's latest abuse of power. That's Gabbard last night at the edge of a loading bay at the elections office of Fulton County, Georgia, while the facility was being raided by the FBI. It is giving Homeland the show meets the Bourne Identity. Maybe some other things, right down to the lurking behind a pillar in a hat. That's what it's giving to me. Now. This facility is where the FBI hauled away pallets of boxes containing ballots from the 2020 election. And we now know that in conducting that raid, those FBI agents were executing a search warrant sought by A Trump appointed U.S. attorney whose district is 500 miles away in St. Louis, Missouri, a guy by the name of Thomas Albus. So why is a U.S. attorney in St. Louis seizing ballots from Fulton County, Georgia? Well, two people familiar with the matter tell Bloomberg that This Trump appointed U.S. attorney has been empowered by Attorney General Pam Bondi to conduct nationwide investigations into Trump's false claims of election fraud. And Albus isn't. He's not just a typical MAGA loyalist. He was once the right hand man of former Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmidt, one of the chief pushers of the big lie. And not only did Schmidt sign an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn the election Results Back in 2020, he was a notorious pusher of election disinformation. And now his little or big protege is in charge of the nationwide investigations into so called election fraud. So yeah, that is as insane as it sounds and it is a space to definitely watch. And then there's the role of the Director of National Intelligence who is also somehow involved in all of this. Here she is in a different spy thriller get up. Today that job is supposed to be about collecting intelligence from around the world and analyzing it for potential threats to US national security. And that should be more than a full time job. And yes, those can include legitimate threats to election security, especially from foreign interference. But let's be real, that is not what we are talking about here. So why the hell was Tulsi Gabbard in Georgia? Well, excellent reporting on this one, too. According to the Wall Street Journal, Tulsi Gabbard is now leading an administration wide effort to hunt for proof of tampering in the election that Trump lost more than five years ago. And while that is itself equal parts embarrassing for him that he's still so obsessed with this and so insecure and very alarming, what's really concerning is what she's going to do with the information. Because as the Wall Street Journal also reports, Gabbard is expected to prepare a report on her work. And the administration has discussed executive orders on voting ahead of the midterm elections. Two of the officials who spoke to the Journal said. Now, in other words, this is not just a backwards looking investigation to vindicate a very insecure president's false election claims. This is about finding excuses to interfere with voting in the next election. And White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said something that made that crystal clear when she spoke to the Wall Street Journal. She gave them a comment, I guess she said President Trump and his entire team are committed to ensuring a US Election can never, ever be rigged again. Director Gabbard is playing a key lead role in this important effort. And tonight at the premiere of his wife's multimillion dollar flop of a movie, I'm as in it cost that much for them to buy, Trump said this Mr. President, what was Tulsi Gabbard doing at an election center in Georgia today?
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Bubba Wallace
She's working very hard on trying to.
- [10:27]
Jen Psaki
Keep the election safe, and she's done a very good job. And they, as you know, they got into the vot, signed judge's order in Georgia, and you're going to see some interesting things happening. Okay, so just to put a fine point on this, the White House is telling us that they are going to use this raid in Georgia and any other information they gather, because who knows what else they are planning, we don't currently know. As the basis of a report, the Director of Intelligence of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who promised last August she would dig into and look into the 2020 election results, a report she will file that will then serve as a justification for potentially putting in place through executive order, according to the Wall Street Journal, more restrictive measures in advance of the next election. That's what they seem to be very clearly telegraphing here. That's what I am hearing and reading from all of this. Now, we have long known that Trump's stolen election conspiracies are completely baseless. And the people who promoted those theories and tried to help them overturn the election results have all filed lawsuits, criminal charges, and they faced lawsuits, I should say, and they faced criminal charges and disbarment for their role in that scheme. They were completely discredited. But now the Trump administration appears to want to bring those complete kooks back into the spotlight. I mean, this morning, Trump's pardon attorney, Ed Martin, posted a photo from his official DOJ account of himself with election conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell. Remember her with the caption, good Morning, America, how are ya? I mean, that's not weird and freaky. I don't know what is. And remember that late night rage posting I was telling you about? Well, one of the posts was about a debunked conspiracy about Chinese and Italian satellites somehow being responsible for the 2020 election results. Trump is bringing all of his wildest election conspiracies back. He's trying to promote all of the cuckoo birds that surrounded him, not just to gripe about the last election, but to use them as some sort of bogus justification to limit voting in the next one. And it's clear that interfering in that election has been his goal for some time now. We all know this. I mean, everything he does always seems to lead back to finding a way to control how people vote, whether it's scaring them or making it harder. It's why he's told Minnesota that the only way he'll remove ICE agents from their state is if they turn over their voter rolls. And it's why leading Democratic governors have warned us repeatedly that this was coming.
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We know that there will be efforts.
- [13:05]
Jen Psaki
To compromise the election or to dissuade people from showing up, to scare people away, to threaten people.
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Senator Mark Warner
They do not believe in fair and free elections. Our republic, our democracy is on the line.
- [13:20]
Jen Psaki
We all need to wake up.
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Bubba Wallace
It's not a leap to say that he's doing this because he wants to affect the 2026 elections in favor of MAGA Republicans.
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Jen Psaki
There's no great mystery about what's going on here. Donald Trump is weaker than he's ever been. The American people are angrier at him than they've ever been. And so Donald Trump is taking his most drastic step yet to inject chaos into into our next election. My first guest tonight is already demanding an investigation and demanding answers. Joining me now is Senator Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Senator Warner, I just want to start. You have followed election integrity. You have led investigations for so many years. I just tried to give my best assessment there. It feels like a five alarm fire here. But I just, and I outlined, I tried to outline Tulsi Gabbard's new assignment. But what do you think is going on here? What should people watching understand?
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Senator Mark Warner
Well, Jen, unfortunately, you may have actually understated the threat. So as somebody who led the bipartisan investigation into the Russia intervention in our 2016 election, I've been on this topic for years. And let me surprise your viewers on my first comment. The first Trump administration actually did a pretty damn good job in making the 2020 election safe. They created a foreign malignant influence center. They had the cybersecurity agency worked with states and many Trump officials. I remember Chris Krebs, the head of CISA, got fired for telling the truth that the 2020 election was safe and secure. You've made the point which is absolutely true. Donald Trump is obsessed about the fact that he lost Georgia. He lost the election. We're five years forward. And his obsession about this is now wreaking incredible havoc. Let's go through a couple of the facts. First, the attack or search warrant that was launched against this, the election officials in Fulton County. Let's look at the facts. One, the FBI official who is head of the Atlanta bureau, a career professional, somehow has been fired or retired unofficially. Why? My sense is probably because he didn't think this was on the level. Secondly, when you offer a or Bring a case to get a search Warrant. Normally, the U.S. attorney that would bring that case is the U.S. attorney from Georgia. The person who signed this document was actually the U.S. attorney from Missouri, who you pointed out earlier was a henchman of all these warrant wacky election denial stories. So we've got this effort that doesn't pass the smell test on the front end of bringing this case against the election officials in Georgia. Secondly, then you've got the question of Tulsi Gabbard. Tulsi Gabbard, who I voted strongly against. I warned my Republican officials colleagues she was not competent for this job. She has proven that incompetence time and again. And now you've got her showing up here, as you said, with the baseball cap, looking like I'd have a bad spy movie. Tulsi Gabbard has no responsibility for domestic investigations. Her job is to look at foreign intelligence interference. And here's the part, Jen, that I hope we spend some more time on the very structure that the first Trump administration set up about foreign mine influence. They did a good job of setting up a center. In her first year as dni, she has dismantled that center saying there is no threat, a foreign malign influence. Suddenly at the 11th hour, she shows up in this very inappropriate search warrant, at least on the appearance of inappropriate, and is showing up, as you pointed out in the Wall Street Journal, not exactly a liberal publication has said this is a pathetic person basically trying to curry favor with her boss. Because I can tell you as a vice chair and former chair of the Intelligence Committee, usually the director of National Intelligence briefs you on these serious international matters. She's been nowhere on Venezuela, nowhere on Iran, nowhere on Trump trying to threaten NATO. And so this effort to try to curry favor is really frightening. And you layer on top of that, and this is how all of these things interconnect. One of the reasons why we have to make sure that we get some guardrails on ice and this is not going far afield, is what I fear. Beyond the potential for Trump to try to interfere in a major way in our elections, is one of the biggest ways he could interfere is by having these roving ice bands show up at polling stations, and not just in the fall at primary polling stations. We in Virginia may try to change our maps to deal with redistricting. They show up there that would chase away lots of potential voters. So this, and I have to acknowledge, you know, at the first couple of months of Trump, too, I was not sure they would be this devious in terms of potential election integrity. I am now a all in. And we all regard, I hope, again, regardless of party, you know, the basics of our democracy is based on the integrity of our elections. And I do believe there are some, Tulsi Gabbard being one, trying to interfere and in many ways intimidate. And the whole notion, as you pointed out, and this is just beyond bizarre, where they're talking about the Italians and satellites and Venezuela and this whole effort to try to change the 2020 elections, which has been investigated time and again, is beyond crazy, beyond kind of laughable, but is something that all Americans, regardless of partisan affiliation, should be concerned about.
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Jen Psaki
Let me ask you about what to prepare for because you spent a lot of time thinking about this and it's hard for me to imagine that this is the only set of election data they are going to try to acquire through this BS warning process. And through using the FBI in a completely inappropriate way, are you preparing for them to try to seize other data? And the Wall Street Journal also referenced executive orders. Sorry, I have another part of this, Executive orders. What are you preparing for in that regard? So just as you think about this, with all of your experience, what should we be bracing ourselves for here?
- [20:01]
Senator Mark Warner
Well, one, we'd have a heck of a lot easier time if we could find some Republicans with spying who would stand up and say this is about basic tenets of American democracy. We've seen some of that around ICE now, but if we could see a repeat of that. Two, and this is like the thing I've got to wrap my mind around back in 2018, 2019, 2020, one of the things that the federal government led at that point by Donald Trump said, how do we help states improve their election security? I now have to worry about a corrupted Department of Justice. I have to worry about an FBI run by Cash Patel. I have to worry about a cyber security agency that used to be very helpful. I don't know whether we should actually encourage that federal help because it may be politically biased. It may undermine the very integrity we were trying to sort through. I know there are a group of people across many domains who are trying to look about, you know, what do we do after the fact if governors don't certify elections? What my job is and others is to say how do we make sure we're prepared ahead of time? How do we make sure that if there is foreign malign influence and now with the tools of artificial intelligence, it's much easier that we're prepared for that. How do we make sure that Those assistance to our state and local officials who do the hard job of protecting our elections. And the fact that we're decentralized makes it safer. How do we make sure they have the current support, particularly in red states, that if there are these kind of outrageous actions. Again, I go back to this search in Atlanta that's been litigated many times coming from where at least it appears that the FBI agent in charge quit rather than be part of this or got fired. And the fact that the whole case is driven BY Not a U.S. attorney in Georgia, but out of Missouri. We got to get our stuff together, not just as representatives at the federal level, but we really need partners at the state and local level. And I think again about the Georgia secretary of state who I think now running for governor on the Republican side, who had the courage to stand up. This may be a time where, you know, it's not just call your congressman and your senator and you got to do that, but state and local officials need to stand up for the integrity of our elections as well. And we got to get ready. And we can't just focus entirely on the elections this year in November, but we've got primaries before that time. You know, this goes to the heart of soul of who we are as Americans.
- [22:35]
Jen Psaki
Senator Mark Warner, I hope you'll come back and keep talking with me about this because I think this is one of the most important stories for us to watch and be clear eyed about this year. Thank you so much for being here.
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Senator Mark Warner
Well, Jen, thank you. Just again, at the end of the day, this isn't about Ds and Rs. This is about whether our country's going to remain a functioning democracy where Americans can trust the results of our elections. We owe it to everybody that we get this right.
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Jen Psaki
No question about it. Thank you so much again. Okay, coming up, Trump's border czar Tom Homan said they will scale back operations in Minneapolis. But tonight, Donald Trump literally said the opposite. Keith Ellison is the attorney general of Minnesota and he's going to tell us what's actually happening there tonight. When we come back.
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Jen Psaki
For a split second this morning, Trump supporters are. Tom Homan seem to be kind of sort of speaking in a slightly more measured tone about the path forward in Minneapolis.
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Angie.com Announcer
I do not want to hear that everything that's been done here has been perfect. We are not surrendering the president's mission in immigration enforcement. Let's make that clear. Prioritization of criminal ambulance doesn't mean we forget about everybody else. The withdrawal of law enforcement resources here is dependent upon cooperation.
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Jen Psaki
Okay. And I mentioned this earlier, but you have to hear it since you just heard that. Here's what Trump himself had to say earlier tonight.
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Senator Mark Warner
Will you be pulling back immigration enforcement agents out of Minnesota to keep our country safe?
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Bubba Wallace
We'll do whatever we can to keep our country safe.
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Senator Mark Warner
So, yeah, pulling back?
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Jen Psaki
No, no, not at all. No. No, not at all. Okay, so where does that leave us? Well, joining me now is somebody who would certainly know, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Thank you so much for being here with me. I know you're working approximately 23 hours a day. Yes. Thank you. Again. Let me start by just asking you, I mean, so many of us, we're doing our best to report on and share with people what's going on. We're reading all these tea leaves. Tom Homan said today they'd be scaling back operations tonight. Donald Trump essentially said the opposite. Tell us what's actually happening on the ground in Minnesota right now.
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Bubba Wallace
Right now on the ground, we're getting reports that ISIS activity is the same as it's been over the last several weeks. We're continuing to get multiple calls. We're continuing to hear monitoring from the neighborhood groups that they're doing ice sightings here and there. At this point, there might have been some signals that the rhetoric has changed, but I cannot report to your listeners that things have materially changed at this point.
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Jen Psaki
As my mother always told me, actions speak louder than words, and it doesn't sound like you're seeing that quite yet. I mean, Homan also told, and this struck me, too, also said today that federal agents leaving the state would be dependent upon cooperation, which that could mean a million different things. What do you take cooperation to mean here? What should we all understand it to mean?
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Bubba Wallace
Well, let me put it in some context. Kristi Noem never tried to talk to any of us who are leaders in Minnesota. Bovito never tried to talk to any of us. I'll give Holman credit for at least saying, let's sit down, let's have a discussion. You know, what I've said and I said to Mr. Holman is that Minnesota law already requires that the correction institutions, including sheriffs and jails, inquire to the immigration status of all people who are convicted felons, and that that information is transmitted to immigration authorities. That's been happening for. For years, years and years. And so we were always a little confused as to why Minnesota was allocated 12% of all the nation's immigration agents when we're, like, 28th in immigration. It didn't make any sense to us. We're not actually an immigration state, although we do value and really hold up and embrace our immigrant and refugee communities. We're really not in the top 10 or 20. So we always found it confusing and strange. So what's really going on? Well, I sued the Trump administration. I sued Kristi Noem, because what I really believe is that they're trying to make us give up our sovereignty as a state of the United States and basically be a reflection of Trump policy. They're bringing up things like voter rolls, and they're bringing up things like other documents in order to relieve this tremendous pressure that they've imposed on our state. 4,000 ICE agents acting horribly. A blanket of real intimidation and brutality across our state. But the only justification we can find is that we voted against Trump three times. And we embrace our neighbors who come from all parts of the world.
- [29:30]
Jen Psaki
It's been incredible to watch the spirit of the people of Minnesota. A real light in this really dark time. While I have you, let me just ask you, I was just speaking with Senator Mark Warner just about the efforts by Donald Trump in this administration to really intervene in the 2026 elections and elections moving forward. And the attorney general. You have so many hats you wear. I think people watching should understand the attorney general has requested the Minnesota voting records. We've seen happens in Fulton county last night. We've learned about new roles Tulsi Gabbard has taken on. Do you see this request for the Minnesota records to be related, all of these issues to be related to this effort to intervene in the 2026 elections.
- [30:14]
Bubba Wallace
The existing evidence clearly shows that they have escalated the number of ICE agents in order to achieve ends other than those they state, one of those being to deliver our voting rolls. I mean, Pam Bondi sent a letter to our governor saying that we can go back to, we can get rid of the chaos if you give us certain things, including voter roll information. And my answer to that is, I'll see you in court. We'll never hand the federal government anything that it is not absolutely and explicitly legally entitled to. We will fight them in court. We will not back down. And, and we're never going to give up one inch on Minnesota sovereignty, not at all. But we will have a reasonable conversation and we'll comply with federal and state law as it is written right now. And that's no problem. I want to be clear, my conversation with Homan was cordial and I was glad he was interested in talking to us. But you know, we're going to comply with the law. It's written, and no bully tactics from Pam Bondi or Donald Trump are going to change that.
- [31:25]
Jen Psaki
Well, I hope other attorney generals have your backbone. They're going to need it in the months ahead. Thank you so much for being here with me tonight and for all you're doing for the people of Minnesota.
- [31:36]
Bubba Wallace
Thanks, Jen.
- [31:38]
Jen Psaki
Okay. It has been a little over a week now since ICE detained this 5 year old Liam Ramos and his father in Minneapolis and sent them to a detention center in Texas. And for more than a week now, people all over the country have been demanding his release and demanding to learn something, anything, about how little Liam is doing. Yesterday, Congressman Joaquin Castro was finally able to see him. And Congressman Castro joins me live here right after a break.
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Senator Mark Warner
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- [33:38]
Jen Psaki
This was the scene outside of the ICE family detention center in Dilley, Texas yesterday as law enforcement clashed with around 100 protesters who were demanding ICE stop detaining children. And the symbol at the center of that protest were images of bunny ears and spider man, a reference to the bunny ear hat and spider man backpack worn by five year old Liam Ramos when ICE detained him and his father in Minneapolis just last week. This image, the one that you see on your screen right now, has made Liam Ramos detention a national flashpoint for good reason. But his story is unfortunately not unique. Liam School district says in their schools alone, ICE has detained three other children in recent weeks. One fourth grader and two high schoolers. The latest nationwide statistics we have are from October and As of then, ICE had detained at least 3,800 children since Trump retook office. Now, a huge part of what has made Liam's story touch so many people in this country is that we can see it. You can see right there on the left side of the screen his bunny ear hat. You can see his Spider man backpack as he's being taken by federal agents. He isn't just a statistic. He's a five year old preschooler. And we can all see that with our own eyes. The Trump administration has been fighting incredibly hard to make it so you can't see what they are doing. So the public doesn't know who they are snatching off the street or what happens to them when they get taken, like Liam and his father to detention centers like this one in Dilley, Texas. And yesterday, Democratic representatives Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett managed to get inside that detention center. They met with Liam and his dad in person, as well as literally hundreds of the center's other detainees, men and women with children ranging in ages from as young as two months old to, of course, adults locked up and hidden away from the American public. And joining me now to talk about that is Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro. Congressman, thank you for being here. It's so important, I think, for people to hear what you saw. Let me just start. We've all been watching the story of Liam and thinking about this five year old boy. How is he doing? How is his dad doing? Tell us about your visit with them yesterday.
- [35:55]
Congressman Joaquin Castro
Well, Jasmine Crockett and I spent about 30 minutes with Liam and his dad and I'll be honest with you, he didn't seem to be doing well. He slept the whole time. His father said that he hasn't been eating well, that he's been sleeping most of the day and that he's been sleeping so much because he's been depressed and asking about his mom and his school and classmates and friends and most of all asking to go home.
- [36:24]
Jen Psaki
It's a five year old kid we're talking about here. I just want to reiterate and mention, I know that, and I mention this because I think he has become such. He's tugged all of our heartstrings, mine included, Sorry, but. And it's just, it's really hard to watch. And I can't imagine what your visit was like yesterday. But there are so many of these other kids, 3,800 of them, who are detained around the country. And you met with literally hundreds of people yesterday, family members, their kids. Tell us about what you heard from them. And I raised this in part because the lawyer who's handling Liam and his father's case is asserted that the two entered the country legally and followed every immigration procedure by the book. How many stories like that did you hear? And what were the conditions of these other kids and family members that you saw yesterday?
- [37:14]
Congressman Joaquin Castro
You know, immigration and the border are always some of the thorniest issues in American politics. But one thing you would hear over and over again is many Americans saying, we want people to do it the right way. And if they do it the right way, if they come in legally, then we can respect that and accept that. Well, that's exactly what Liam and his family did. They used the CBP1 app, which was an app that the Biden administration used so that people wouldn't rush the border and you wouldn't have chaos at the border. And so they used that app and they were allowed permission to come into the country and wait for their asylum case to be heard. And so there are many. We asked at one point how many people use the CBP app. And there were a lot of people that raised their hands. And so these were people that did it the right way. The other thing is there isn't a single criminal at the Dilley Detention Center. And I know that because ICE told me that you can't have a criminal conviction to get sent there. So it's 1100 people, scores of children, if not hundreds of children who were there, whose parents committed no crime. These kids obviously committed no crime. There's a two month old baby who's been there for several days, a little girl who kept coming up to me and hugging my leg and asking us to help her get out of there, a nine year old boy who was picked up on New Year's Eve and spent the new year getting processed, taken into the Dilley Detention Center. And you know, so many, you asked about the conditions people complained about not receiving proper and prompt medical attention, about contaminated food and water. And, you know, and so these facilities are like prisons. There's cameras all around. Your movement is controlled. Where you can go is controlled. Who you could be around is controlled. So it's no place for a two month old baby or a five year old child or certainly for people who are not, quote, unquote, criminal, illegal aliens. As Donald Trump has said, these were people in our community who don't deserve to be in that prison.
- [39:27]
Jen Psaki
Congressman, thank you for going and for sharing the story with us. I know you've said you would go back and so many people are watching what you're doing and using it really as a model of activism. So thank you again and thank you for sharing the story with us tonight.
- [39:41]
Congressman Joaquin Castro
Thanks.
- [39:43]
Jen Psaki
Okay, coming up, Senate Democrats have held out on funding for Trump's DHS. And 24 hours ahead of a possible shutdown, this is still very much a live ball. Senator Chris Van Hollen is standing by and he joins me Next. But just over 24 hours until a potential government shutdown. Senate Democrats and Republicans appear to be nearing a deal and it would keep the pressure on when it comes to funding for dhs, it looks like and sounds like. And I'm going to ask my next guest all about this, five other of the other funding bills will make their way through. Well, DHS funding is extended for just two weeks and this is basically what Senate Democrats were pushing for, which is more time to secure real reforms, an upcoming due date so that they could push for them. Joining me now is Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. Senator, thank you for being here. You are certainly more up to date than I am. It seems like things are still very much in flux or you tell me where they are. But where do things stand right now with this deal and negotiation?
- [40:57]
Senator Chris Van Hollen
Well, Jen, you're right there in flux. I'm here in the Senate right now and we're still waiting to see if a final agreement can be crystallized. As you indicated, under pressure, Republicans in the Senate now seem willing to break off those five other appropriation bills, for example, for the Department of Defense, Department of Transportation and other departments. And then they want to move forward on the Department of Homeland Security bill with a essentially a two week cr. I do want to be clear. I have said consistently that I will not vote for one more dime for this lawless Trump administration ICE operation at dhs. And so I will not support extending any money for the Department of Homeland Security. My view is we should keep the pressure on by not giving them another dime, as I've said. But we're right here in the Senate and we'll see how this ends up.
- [41:55]
Jen Psaki
Well, we will see. Sometimes things move slowly, sometimes things move quickly. If they do in the next few minutes, you let us know and jump into whatever questions I'm asking you. Let me ask you about. There was a video that went viral that purported to show terrible conditions at ICE's Baltimore field office. And this is, of course, in your state. And you, as you said, have been incredibly vocal and a huge advocate for gaining greater access. I know you tried to get inside that ICE facility and were basically told they would block you from entering. What's the, what's the latest on your effort? What more should people know and understand about the conditions there?
- [42:34]
Senator Chris Van Hollen
Well, the conditions are very bad, Jen. Right. This is not a detention center. This is what they call a holding facility. The standard is you shouldn't hold anybody there for more than 12 hours. They've been holding people there for three days and more, including people with medical conditions, people are now packed in. We have every reason to believe that the videos are authentic from everybody we've talked to, which is why last Tuesday, as soon as the videos came out, I said I wanted to come and visit that holding facility. They said no, that they wouldn't let me in. And it's pretty clear what we're seeing. There is an effort to cover it up. They don't want the public to see what's happening, just like they've been trying to cover up and lie about the killings in Minneapolis, as well as so many other things they're engaged in. From their perspective, they want the public to be kept in the dark because when people find out what they're doing, they don't like what they see.
- [43:35]
Jen Psaki
Senator Chris Van Hollen, thank you so much for joining me. We're all watching this live ball happening. We'll see what happens over the next coming minutes and hours. I really appreciate it. We've got to sneak in a very quick break, but Lawrence has Senator Amy Klobuchar standing by for her first national interview since announcing her run for governor. That's a good one. We'll be right back. In the aftermath of Renee Nicole Goode's killing, a guy named Chris, who had never attended a protest in his life, had seen enough, and he took to the streets. And while he was protesting, he was approached for a man on the street interview. And, well, let's just say he gave it to the camera straight and for cable news purposes, get ready for many bleeps.
- [44:21]
Bubba Wallace
Sounds like you don't fit the definition of the I'm not paid to be here like everybody says. What the is that? I gotta work in the goddamn morning just like everybody else. I'm just here trying to stand up for community.
- [44:33]
Angie.com Announcer
Dude, we're all human beings here.
- [44:35]
Bubba Wallace
I don't give a who you are, where you came from, what color you are. It doesn't matter. This is wrong.
- [44:41]
Jen Psaki
Chris was all of us in many ways, and that video went completely viral, as I'm sure many of you have seen. Clearly, Chris's anger and frankness struck a chord with everyday people across the country who have been feeling the exact same way. Effing f fed up. Chris now goes by the nickname Minnesota Angry man, and he's using his newfound fame to encourage others to stand up for community, too. Ahead of nationwide strikes and protests tomorrow, we asked Chris if he had any words of wisdom to share. And here's what he had to say.
- [45:12]
Bubba Wallace
We need some peace and harmony. In our state and across our country.
- [45:15]
Congressman Joaquin Castro
We've been dealing with enough tyranny.
- [45:17]
Bubba Wallace
We're done with that. We need some peace, love and harmony. Please come out. Please show up. Get off that couch. If I can do it, you can do it. We can march, we can dance, we can sing. We can hug it out. We can swear at the sky.
- [45:35]
Jen Psaki
From the couch to the streets. What a rallying cry there. Love to hear it. 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.
- [45:49]
Senator Mark Warner
Why have I asked my electrician I found on Angie.com to bury my pet.
- [45:52]
Ashley Flowers
Hamster Nibbles in our yard for me?
- [45:54]
Senator Mark Warner
Because I was so moved by how carefully he buried my electrical wires, I.
- [45:58]
Bubba Wallace
Knew I could trust him to bury.
- [46:00]
Senator Mark Warner
My sweet Nibbles after his untimely end.
- [46:02]
Jen Psaki
Nibbles gone too soon.
- [46:05]
Bubba Wallace
May he scurry in peace.
- [46:06]
Angie.com Announcer
Hey, sorry about your pet, but I just wire stuff.
- [46:09]
Bubba Wallace
Nibbles would have loved you like a brother.
- [46:11]
Angie.com Announcer
Connecting homeowners with skilled Pros for over 30 years, Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find pros for all your home projects@angie.com.