← The Jim Acosta Show
The Jim Acosta Show
Senator Elizabeth Warren, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Minnesota Senator Tina Smith.
01:13:43
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- [00:00]
Hakeem Jeffries
Foreign.
- [00:05]
Jim Acosta
The Jim Acosta show. And it's another day that ends in Y and ice's brutal operation in Minneapolis. We have a big show for you on top today. The House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries is joining us now at the top of the hour. And, Mr. Leader, thanks for joining us. Really appreciate it.
- [00:22]
Hakeem Jeffries
Great to be with you, Jim.
- [00:24]
Jim Acosta
Good to see you again, sir. And I guess, you know, there are lots of places to start, but I think a lot of people have Minneapolis on their minds right now. And, and I don't know if you saw this, but the New York Times was just reporting this afternoon that I guess six federal prosecutors resigned from the Justice Department today because the DOJ has been trying to push these prosecutors to investigate the widow of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by that ICE agent last week. I mean, what's been your response to what we've seen unfold in Minneapolis? I've been saying on this show, it just doesn't look like America to me. And people say, well, it is America right now, but it shouldn't be this way.
- [01:00]
Hakeem Jeffries
Well, it certainly shouldn't be this way. ICE is completely and totally out of control. And this is all at the direction of Donald Trump, the Trump administration, Kristi Noem, of course, who's a complete and total disgrace. And ICE needs to be reined in. What we saw in Minneapolis most recently as it relates to the killing that was totally unjustified of Renee Nicole Goode shouldn't be happening in America, on our streets or anywhere across this land. You know, ICE killed an American citizen, 37 years old, left children without a mother, in terms of being able to move forward and grow up in the type of loving environment that was being provided. And then Christy Noemi and others lied about what happened, notwithstanding the fact that there was clear video evidence. Renee Nicole Goode is not a domestic terrorist. Donald Trump pardoned domestic terrorists who brutally attacked the Capitol on January 6, violently beat police officers, and then has unleashed those people in communities all across the country to commit crimes. So what we've got to do as members of Congress is to push for aggressive accountability measures and guardrails to ensure that ICE is unable to conduct itself in a manner that appears to be above the law repeatedly, and to bring them in line with every other law enforcement agency in the United States of America.
- [02:40]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, Mr. Leader. And instead of apologizing or promising reform or offering to investigate this, I mean, they've said that this agent has absolute immunity. On top of everything that you just said, they're doubling down. I Mean, we've just seen some fresh examples in the last 24 hours. We could just show them without, you know, playing the audio up or anything. But, I mean, they're just pulling people out of cars, tackling them, throwing them to the ground, putting their knees on people. I mean, it's, it's been wild. What's been unfolding. And when you talk about cracking down and reining the administration in, what can Democrats do at this point?
- [03:16]
Hakeem Jeffries
Well, I think one of the things that needs to happen, unfortunately, what we saw in the last session of this current Congress, when Republicans passed the one big ugly bill on a party line vote, Republicans voting for that one big ugly bill, every single Democrat in the House and the Senate voting against it, is that about $191 billion, a record amount was allocated to the Department of homeland security and $74 billion billion dollars of that has gone to ICE for them to engage in this kind of aggressive, violent behavior. Here's the problem. These individuals, masked agents in most instances, are conducting themselves as if they're never going to be held accountable for their actions. They will be. The statute of limitations for much of this activity doesn't lapse until five years. Donald Trump will be gone, no longer. The president sitting in the White House enable, you know, enabling this kind of conduct.
- [04:25]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
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Hakeem Jeffries
And Congress is going to have the ability, once the midterm elections take place, to engage in the type of aggressive oversight and actually serve as a check and balance on this agency moving forward. And we certainly intend to do.
- [04:41]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. And Mr. Leader, I, I know there's a funding deadline coming up. Is there any way that you can use the leverage of the power of the purse to say to the administration, listen, you know, we're not going to fund the Department of Homeland Security with these ICE agents running around with masks on and saying, you have no accountability. Is there a way to inject into this process some negotiations around some of these subjects? Because, I mean, when they say, oh, well, the people of Minnesota can't even investigate this, the folks in Minnesota are just hopping mad over this. Is there anything that can be done where you have the leverage over, you know, this, this budget process that we.
- [05:20]
Hakeem Jeffries
See coming up, that's a very important question. I raised the issue of the one big ugly bill because in allocating, outside of the appropriations process, tens of billions of dollars to both the Department of Homeland Security and ice, that they currently have the ability to operate with funding, you know, for years moving forward, is the current assessment. That said, in terms of the regular appropriations process, which is in front of us right now. Republicans in the House were planning to bring a homeland Security funding bill to the floor this week. We stopped that from happening because we indicated to them that there was not going to be Democratic support that was in any way meaningful for a Department of Homeland Security funding bill. In the absence of accountability measures such as ICE agents not being able to wear masks as they are aggressively unleashing extremism on the American people across the country, they should be wearing body cameras as it relates to this activity so we can see all of the things that are taking place when they're engaging in communities across the country. There should be a warrant requirement for their activity similar to the warrant requirements that exist for every other law enforcement agency across the country. We need to make clear that there is no such thing as absolute immunity. Who's heard of that? This is the United States of America. Nobody is above the law in that fashion, Particularly when you have been given the ability to bear arms in this fashion as you are engaging in this kind of law enforcement activity, you can't have complete absolute immunity. And we need to make that clear in the law. Republicans being resistant to these things and understanding that these were demands that were being made by Democrats on the Appropriations Committee holding hold the bill. And so when continued discussions moving forward, but our position has been both publicly and privately clear changes need to be made with respect to how ICE conducts itself, and those changes should be made in the context of this spending bill.
- [07:36]
Jim Acosta
Interesting. Okay, so it sounds as though the House Democrats are going to insist and drive a hard bargain here and say you have to make some changes to ICE or you're not going to see that funding. That's what it sounds like.
- [07:50]
Hakeem Jeffries
Yeah. Now, listen, Republicans do have a narrow majority. It's a seat majority at the time. So they're going to have to make decisions. If they continue to go down this my way of the highway approach as it relates to any of these spending bills, then they're going to run into problems. And they know that we're serious about that. They saw that during the fall. But in the context of funding the Department of Homeland Security generally, but particularly as it relates to Iceland, which is the agency that understandably is horrifying people all across the country. We've made very specific demands as it relates to the type of accountability measures that should be put in place so that ICE is conducting itself like every other law enforcement agency in the United States of America, not behaving in this rogue fashion, as we keep seeing day after day after day here. In the United States of America.
- [08:47]
Jim Acosta
Well, and I have to say I, I know from listening to the comments from my viewers that that is going to come across as very encouraging what, what you have to say there, Mr. Leader, and I do want to. Donald Trump was at the Detroit Economic Club today. He made the claim, the outlandish claim, that he has kept every promise since coming into the White House. Let's play that. Let's talk about it.
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Reporter/Field Correspondent
Over the past 12 months, almost every promise I made to you right here in 2024 has been kept. I've kept all my promises and much more. I mean, I've given you much more than I, I gave you promises and I produced much more than I said I was going to produce.
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Jim Acosta
I gave you, I guess he said almost every promise, just to be fair. But your, your thoughts on that?
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Hakeem Jeffries
Well, that certainly is not the case, of course. Listen, his fundamental promise that he made to the American people was that he was going to lower the high cost of living. In fact, Donald Trump said that costs were going to go down on day one of his presidency, January 20th of last year. Costs haven't gone down, costs have gone up, inflation is out of control, housing costs out of control, grocery costs out of control, childcare costs out of control, electricity bills out of control, and health care costs out of control, just to name a few items that the American people deal with day to day. America is too expensive and Donald Trump is doing nothing about it. He's focused on Venezuela or Greenland or Iran or Syria. And yes, America, of course, has a role as the leader of the free world. Donald Trump's doing a terrible job at that as well. But he's not spent any time focused on actually trying to improve the quality of life of the American people. And when he said he was going to lower costs on day one or focus on that, he lied. And he lied to convince enough Americans to give him a chance as president once more. And he's broken those promises repeatedly. He said he was going to help improve the health care of the American people. Instead, he presided over the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. He went off and found $40 billion to bail out his right wing dictator for friend in Argentina, but is still unwilling to find a dime to extend the Affordable Care act tax credits. It was Democrats in the House who led a successful effort to pass legislation for a three year straightforward extension of the Affordable Care act tax credits in order to prevent tens of millions of people from experiencing dramatically increased health insurance costs. And now we need John Thune And Senate Republicans to actually do the right thing on the other side of the Capitol and Donald Trump to do the right thing and start keeping his promises to the American people.
- [11:32]
Jim Acosta
Well, and you mentioned the Affordable Care Act. I just saw a headline today that said that there's over a million people who have not signed up for Obamacare who signed up last year. So the roles are already dropping in terms of enrollees. That's not good news. But they're responding to the sticker shock of these premiums that are going up by sometimes double or triple depending on the circumstance. But Trump has said he will veto. He may veto this. I don't know if you saw that, but he said he may veto this. What's the response to that? What's the message to Trump if he, if he vetoes this?
- [12:05]
Hakeem Jeffries
Well, it will be a disgrace if he were to do it. And it will reinforce the point that Donald Trump and Republicans are uninterested in doing anything to lower the high cost of living. Because as you pointed out, Jim, the reality is you're already seeing about a million people unable to to sign up for their health insurance plans this year because of the lapsing of the Affordable Care act tax credits and the fact that in many instances premiums have increased by $1,000 or $2,000 per month. And over 90% of the people who rely on the Affordable Care act tax credits make around $63,000 per year. This is unsustainable. And that's why Democrats are in this fight. And we've said we're in this fight until we win this fight, we've got to make sure we can get the bill through the Senate. And then I think there will be enough public pressure on Donald Trump coming from the American people that he'd be hard pressed not to sign a bill that reaches his desk into law.
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Jim Acosta
And one of the other things that he was forced to sign, he didn't want to sign it, was the legislation requiring the release of the Epstein files. But what you've seen, I know you know this, Mr. Leader, over the last several weeks, is that they're just not complying with the law. They're just know they put some stuff out over the holidays and they've been slow walking it really ever since. What can be done? Is there anything that can be done legally? I guess you can't pass another law on top of the other law. But what can be done legally to get this administration to comply with that law?
- [13:33]
Hakeem Jeffries
Well, one of the things we'll need to look at is to use the vehicle of the court system to enforce a law that clearly is being violated at this point in time. Donald Trump, from the very beginning of this administration, this is another area where he lied to the American people. He lied. J.D. vance lied, this attorney general lied. The FBI director said, of course, sure, why not? You know, provide this information to the American people. And none of them have lifted a finger to do anything. And now there's a law requiring them to make sure that there's full and complete disclosure as it relates to the Epstein files. We just want the American people to get the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and let the chips fall where they may. But it's clear, based on the behavior that we've seen from Donald Trump, that they're trying to hide something from the American people. And there are millions of documents that should actually be released in compliance with the law that they're withholding. And so I believe all options have to be on the table. And that, of course, includes going to court to bring the requirements of the law to life.
- [14:40]
Jim Acosta
And Mr. Leader, I'm sure you have heard this one before, but I want to throw it at you anyway, because it's some of the things that we're hearing. Just as you and I are speaking, there's just an overall frustration, I guess, in the base of the Democratic Party that Democrats are not going on offense enough, that they're on defense, that they're back on their heels. And I know what you were saying earlier about forcing Congress's hand on the ACA and on the Epstein files and so on. And to the credit of House Democrats, I mean, people will say, oh, the Democrats folded during last funding fight. Actually, that's.
- [15:11]
Reporter/Field Correspondent
That.
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Jim Acosta
That is not what took place. It happened over in the Senate where you had a handful of Senate Democrats who kind of went rogue there. But what about this overall impression that the base people in the base have, that Democrats just need to fight harder, hold his feet to the fire, make his life miserable, throw the kitchen sink at him and everything else.
- [15:29]
Hakeem Jeffries
We're starting to continue to be in a more is more environment in terms of being able to push back using everything that we have against the extremism that Donald Trump and Republicans continue to unleash on the American people. But I think what we've seen throughout last year, and certainly this is the case electorally, we have them on the run. Democrats won up and down the ballot across the country. Big victories in New Jersey, in New York, in Virginia, in Pennsylvania, in Mississippi, where we broke the Republican super majority in the state Senate in Georgia, where we won statewide races, down ballot for the first time in 20 years in Georgia. And of course, with a big victory, Prop 50 in California, we're pushing back against them. We're on offense in terms of redistricting. They thought they were going to be able to gerrymander the national congressional map and rig the midterm elections. That effort has fallen apart because Democrats are on offense legislatively. We've now successfully won three different discharge petitions to force votes on issues against the objection of Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson. Republicans are in the majority, but Democrats are actually getting things done in the minority. And we've now done it on the Epstein files. We did it recently on eliminating a Trump executive order that took away collective bargaining rights from more than a million hardworking fellow federal employees who were unionized. We overrode that executive order in The House and 20 Republicans joined Democrats in an effort. And of course, the entire showdown connected to government funding and the 43 day government shutdown was Democrats demanding an extension of the Affordable Care act tax credits, elevating the issue of saving health care to levels that it hadn't previously been. That's the quintessential. Quintessential definition of being on offense. Yeah, and only when the narrative or when the politics. We're now on the verge of winning the policy as well on behalf of the American people. But every day is going to be trench warfare between now and the midterm elections, which is why we continue to say that we're in a more is more environment.
- [17:52]
Jim Acosta
And I was going to say, I mean, is it something where you would say to the folks out there who say this message received. I got this. Is that.
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Reporter/Field Correspondent
Is that.
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Jim Acosta
That's what you're saying?
- [18:01]
Hakeem Jeffries
No, listen. That, you know, I go home, I represent the district in Brooklyn. People are horrified.
- [18:06]
Jim Acosta
They don't hold back.
- [18:07]
Hakeem Jeffries
Taking place, thankful for the fight that Democrats are showing. But they also understand that it's not over. That, you know, the fight and the battle and the effort continues and we have to continue to exceed their diabolical intensity with righteous intensity to bring about an America that is the best version of herself and to push back against the nightmare that is the Trump presidency.
- [18:33]
Jim Acosta
And Mr. Leader, one of the things that, you know, it's nice to go on offense. The other thing is, what if the other side steals the whole game? And Donald Trump said to the New York Times just the other day that he regretted not sending the National Guard after voting machines after the 2020 election. What assurances can you give to the American people that that is not. Something like that is not going to happen this time around. The Democrats are gonna stop Donald Trump from trying to steal the midterms. And people might say, oh, that sounds so hyperbolic. Well, he's the one who said this to the New York Times. Your thoughts on that comment? Because to me, that stood out. To me as a warning, not a confession on his part.
- [19:11]
Hakeem Jeffries
Yeah, no, listen, absolutely all hands on deck in terms of making sure that there is a free and fair election in November this year. Because we know if there is a free and fair election, Democrats are going to take back control of the House of Representatives and we're going to cut Donald Trump's presidency in half legislatively and be able to deal with the corruption and the out of control behavior that we're seeing. Affordability and accountability. Right. Those are going to be the two pillars of what happens in a Democratic Congress as opposed to what's happening right now, which is Republicans acting like a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump's extreme policy. So here's the thing. There's legislation, there's litigation, there's mobilization. Right. We've got to do all of the things. And one of the most important victories that we won from a litigation standpoint was a Supreme Court case in December that prohibited Donald Trump from being able to send in the National Guard without the authorization or approval or request of the governors of that state. That's incredibly important because we do believe that part of his strategy could have been to try to use the National Guard to intimidate people and, or as he referenced, seize equipment in connection with the election to play games with respect to the outcome of that election that has been taken away from him in this regard. And that's why he's pulled out of California or Oregon or other places and is unable to send the National Guard, which he wants to do, into Minnesota as it relates to the extreme behavior that we're seeing from ICE agents right now.
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Reporter/Field Correspondent
Yeah.
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Jim Acosta
And finally, I mean, you know, Trump does have, he's had propaganda outlets work on his behalf for some time. But we've seen even among the major networks, cbs, for example, which has been taken over by some pretty far right individuals and the Ellisons and Barry Weiss and so on. I mean, they had their anchor on the other night sort of both sidesing what took place on January 6th. I want to play this and just get your take on that.
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Reporter/Field Correspondent
A group of pardoned defendants marched through Washington. President Trump today accused Democrats of failing to prevent the attack attack on the Capitol, while House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused the president of, quote, whitewashing it.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah, I mean, that's just both sides in what took place, as you, as, you know, Mr. Leader. But, I mean, what do you have to say? I mean, it looks as though the Trump propaganda machine is getting bigger, not smaller, in this country.
- [21:45]
Hakeem Jeffries
When I first saw the clip, I was confused. I said, wait, is this Lindell tv? Is this Newsmax? Fox News? What's going on? It turned out to be cbs. It was extraordinary. And, you know, rightfully, there's been a lot of backlash as it relates to trying to both sides. The January 6th violent attack on the Capitol, it's extraordinary. And this is one of the reasons why we dedicated the entire day of January 6, the fifth anniversary, to both, you know, show our support and appreciation for the Capitol Police, the members of the D.C. police Department, all of the law enforcement officers who valiantly and bravely defended the Capitol, the Congress, the country, and the Constitution on that extraordinary day. And to highlight the fact that Donald Trump has pardoned hundreds of violent felons. That was his right on his first day, which is extraordinary. Jim, you promised a lower cost on day one. Instead, you pardoned hundreds of violent felons who brutally attacked police officers in the Capitol. And so we're not going to allow Donald Trump to whitewash things like January 6th. And we know, listen, their strategy, their approach is Donald Trump and these extremists, they want to wear America down so they can tear America down. And the key is we will not allow them to wear us down. We're going to continue to show up and stand up and speak up in the spirit of John Lewis and so many others who, in the face of brutal oppression and against all odds, leaned in to make America the best that it could possibly be. We've got to continue with that same spirit. And, and we've made progress. We are pushing back. We are on offense. We are winning elections, we're winning on the House floor. We're forcing votes through the Congress that are actually passing, and in some instances, getting to Donald Trump's desk. And we've got to continue to do everything to bring about a country that is the best that it can possibly be and end this national nightmare, which is our commitment, and I believe we are going to be able to do it.
- [24:04]
Jim Acosta
All right. Well, Mr. Leader, we appreciate you making time for us very much and making it possible for independent media to have folks like yourself on this program and in other places. So thanks again for your Time. Really appreciate. Good to see you, sir.
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Hakeem Jeffries
Great to see you. Thanks for all you do.
- [24:18]
Jim Acosta
All right. Thank you. You as well. Appreciate it. I. I do want to turn quickly to the back to the story in Minneapolis because, I mean, almost more than anything we have covered on this show over the last year, we're coming up on one year of this program has been the response, the outrage over the UN American tactics used by ICE in Minneapolis. And we're going to continue that coverage. I want, we're going to bring you right now Minnesota Senator Tina Smith. And I know she's been. Senator, you've been very outspoken on this, and I know that has resonated with people of Minnesota because it has just been absolutely outrageous what has taken place in your city. I had a chance to speak with Senator Elizabeth Warren and I asked her, what would you think if this happened in Boston? I mean, it's just unacceptable to see this happening and playing out in a major American city. So thank you for your time. But your thoughts on what we've been seeing over the last several days. I mean, they're just stepping things up. They're doing it again today.
- [25:21]
Senator Tina Smith
Well, thank you so much, Jim, for helping to shine a light on what's happening here, because I think wherever you live in this country, you would find the tactics that these federal agents are using completely unacceptable. I mean, here's what's happening on the ground. We have federal agents that are showing up at public electronic charging stations for cars and randomly checking the papers of the folks that are getting their cars recharged. Okay. This is frequently what Somali Uber drivers and taxi drivers do. That's where they can be found. There's no targeting here other than racial profiling. You can see, I mean, the incredible story of the pastor of a church that was only half a block from where Renee Goode was shot. And he's leading people who were there demonstrating and grieving in a song of we are not afraid. And literally, this ICE agent comes up and says, you're not afraid? And he says, no, I'm not. The agent pulls out a gun and points it at him, and he said, are you afraid now? These kinds of tactics. And I could. I mean, I've had so many stories from people who are experiencing this and, and also stories of people who are rushing to trouble, who are there to help their neighbors in all of the ways that they can think of. And that is pretty inspiring in the midst of this just onslaught that is happening.
- [26:53]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. I mean, we're seeing in video after video, here's another one here where the ICE officers, and this is in the same city as George Floyd, as what happened with George Floyd. And they're just, look at this, putting their knee on people's heads and just roughing people up. In many cases, they're clearly U.S. citizens. I mean, I remember when Donald Trump said during the campaign he's just going after the criminals and the gangbangers. That was obviously a lie. I mean, it's just outrageous.
- [27:18]
Senator Tina Smith
That is not what is happening here. They are just as likely to pull over and detain an American citizen as somebody or somebody who is legally here, who is a legal resident. I mean, my office is currently dealing with the situation of a man who came to Minnesota. He is a legal resident, and yet he has been, he's a refugee. We have the Minnesota is a, has historically welcomed refugees and asylum seekers to our state as part of our faith tradition, many different faiths coming together. And yet this man is currently sitting in a detention center in Texas, not sure exactly what is going to happen to him. And so this is what we're dealing with. And this is why what the Attorney General, Keith Ellison did this week, along with the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, was so important to say this is illegal activity we will not countenance in our state. We are demanding that you leave. And we're going to go to the courts to try to use all the levers of power that we have to stop this because it is so dangerous.
- [28:23]
Jim Acosta
Absolutely. And I have to get your response to a story that was in the New York Times earlier today, that six federal prosecutors at the Department of Justice have apparently resigned because they are trying to pressure the prosecutors to go after the widow of Renee Good. Just absolutely appalling stuff. Your response to that. It seems to me the Justice Department is completely out of control and they're just doing the bidding of the far right and the kooky people who are around Trump whispering in his ear.
- [28:55]
Senator Tina Smith
I mean, this is truly stunning. We have, what, you know, what should be happening is that there should be a fair and unbiased investigation of exactly what happened with this terrible shooting and killing. And yet what we see is the federal government, first of all, has blocked state investigators from participating at all. They clearly have already decided what happened. I mean, Secretary Noem, within hours of this terrible shooting, said had already determined they don't even know the name of the, the woman who lost her life. And they are blaming, they're identifying her as a domestic terrorist. And now we have direction, it appears, from the, from main justice to the investigators and the Minneapolis attorneys and the min. The U.S. attorney's office basically saying, your job is not to investigate what happened with the killing. Your job is to try to give us some know, give us something to say about the. What happened with this poor woman's, this horrible, you know, this woman's wife. It's. It's just unbelievable. I honor those lawyers who said, we are not going to be a part of this. We will resign rather than be a part of this. This corruption.
- [30:09]
Jim Acosta
Well, and one of the things that Trump has been saying over the last couple of days is, well, people should not show disrespect to ICE officers or to law enforcement and so on. But honestly, it's people's God given, you know, First Amendment right in the Constitution of the United States if they, if they want to say things. You know, obviously you can't go overboard, but if you want to speak out against what's happening in the streets of Minneapolis, you have the First Amendment. You're allowed to do that. And they seem to be saying, you know, they're just, they're. They're attacking people for trying to document this stuff or saying to ICE agents, get the hell out of here or get the f out of here, as.
- [30:46]
Reporter/Field Correspondent
We'Ve heard from others.
- [30:47]
Senator Tina Smith
Yeah, that's right. They have zero regard for people's First Amendment rights, for basic rights around search and seizure. And it's kind of unbelievable when you watch it. And yet this is what we're trying to do, is to make sure that people can see what's happening. And I mean, for God's sake, I know that this is not only happening in Minnesota, that this has been the situation in Los Angeles and Chicago and other places, but it is. To see these federal troops swarm through our community, and they claim that they're there to keep Minnesota safe, but we know that exactly the opposite is happening. They are making our communities less safe. And with this kind of brutal behavior, I mean, we are all just crossing our fingers. Thank goodness Minnesota has remained overwhelmingly peaceful in the face of this attack. But it is a very scary moment.
- [31:44]
Jim Acosta
And I asked Leader Jeffries about this a little earlier on the show. He was a guest earlier on the show, and I'll ask you the same thing, just to see what you think about this. But is there any way through the appropriation process, through the budgeting process, to sort of rein in some of this activity? Because obviously, the White House is not getting the message. They're doubling down on these tactics. Is there a way to say, well, we're going to hold up appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security. If you don't take the masks off or if you don't stop these tactics or if you don't allow for an investigation of, say, this officer Jonathan Ross, who's been deemed to have absolute immunity. I've never heard of a police officer, any law enforcement officer given absolute immunity by the vice president or President of the United States. What can you, can you do something to sort of hold their feet to the fire through the budgetary appropriations process?
- [32:37]
Senator Tina Smith
Well, so first, I just want it for a minute talk about this concept of absolute immunity, because this is what the vice president has said. Okay, so what does that mean? I mean, in many law enforcement organizations, and I've worked closely with many of them at the state level as well as at the local level. You know, if you are a bad actor and you are told by your bosses that whatever you do goes, that you have absolute immunity, I can promise you that those bad actors are going to do more bad things. And that is exactly what we're seeing here. It is complete lack of accountability. But the question is, what can we do in Congress? What can, you know, it should be, this should be a bipartisan issue that we want to rein in this illegal behavior. So the budget for the Department of Homeland Security has not been approved by either the House or the Senate yet. I can tell you that I can't imagine a scenario where I would support to give more money to this lawless agency while they continue to just disregard any kind of reasonable behavior. I think that what we should demand are kind of some clear reforms to the way that they are operating. I mean, for example, at least minimum training, which seems to have been thrown out the window, that you have to present who you are, no mask, wear a badge so that people can identify who you are. And so I think it's very important that we consider those. That's a source of our power to actually change what's happening here. And we can't just ignore that. We have to look at all the ways that we can try to get a different outcome here. Now, that's going to, as you know, I mean, that will require that Democrats as well as Republicans join together in saying, enough, this is un American. This is not safe. We need to stand up to it. And that's what, that's what has to happen.
- [34:24]
Jim Acosta
And not to ask you too difficult a question here, but do you feel that, that your party's doing enough or has done enough to fight the administration on this particular subject? Do you ever get frustrated and say, you know, we really should be kicking their butts on this a little bit more? What your thoughts?
- [34:44]
Senator Tina Smith
You know, I mean, it's. I mean, I get, I don't want.
- [34:47]
Jim Acosta
To get you in trouble with your colleagues.
- [34:48]
Senator Tina Smith
No, no, no, no, no. I mean, I, I totally get the question. And, But I can't help from sort of turn it back a little bit and say, you know, who is really accountable here is the Trump administration that is allowing and condoning and even pro promoting this lawless behavior. And, you know, I am doing. I can speak for myself. I am doing everything I can to help people understand what is happening, to help people appreciate that we don't have to put up with this and that we need to stand strong and that this is part of a bold agenda that my party needs to put forward to stand up to this lawlessness and this authoritarian kind of governing. At the same time that we are talking to Americans about how we have a really important job to do to make sure that they can afford their lives and they work hard and they do everything they can. And if they still can't get ahead, we need to fix what's rigged about the system that is keeping that from happening. We can do more than one thing at a time. And I think that's what Americans are looking to us to do.
- [35:52]
Jim Acosta
And your sense of it is that there is a cover up going on. There's a cover up going on of what happened with Renee Goode and of these tactics.
- [35:59]
Senator Tina Smith
It seems, you know, look, what I see here is a Department of justice and a Department of Homeland Security that are actively trying to hide what really happened, who are trying to tell Americans that we can't believe our lying eyes, that what we see on these eyewitness videos is not real. They're trying to hide the truth from Americans. And that, to me, looks like a cover up. And that is why it is so important that we see what's happening here and we hold them accountable.
- [36:25]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. Well, Senator Tina Smith, we really appreciate your time. Best of luck in your efforts. Because I, I think the whole world is watching this and they're saying, what the heck has happened to America? What is going on? And Minneapolis just seems to be the epicenter of this. It's just so disturbing.
- [36:41]
Senator Tina Smith
It is very. It is, it is disturbing. And it happens on top of a lot of really deep challenges that we've had with violence and political violence in our state. And so it hits very close to home.
- [36:52]
Jim Acosta
And I know it does. And thank you for mentioning that, too. Senator Smith, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.
- [36:57]
Senator Tina Smith
Thank you.
- [36:59]
Jim Acosta
And this has just been one of those days where our cup runneth over. You know, earlier today, I had a chance to speak with one of the leading voices in the Democratic Party, and that is Senator Elizabeth Warren. And she has been making the case, she made this case at the National Press Club just yesterday here in Washington that what Democrats need to do is, is not just go after Trump on, on all of these issues like ice and, and so on, Venezuela, Greenland and you name it. But what she is arguing that the Democrats need to do is adopt a bold, progressive, populist agenda that, that resonates with the American people. And the other thing that, you know, we talked about in this conversation that I had earlier in the day with Senator is that the Department of Justice has gone absolutely rogue in its investigation of the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. Here's that conversation with Senator Warren. She really, I think, made a lot of news here. Take a look. We have a very special guest during this special edition of the show. It's Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Senator, great to have you on. Thanks so much.
- [38:08]
Senator Tina Smith
Thank you.
- [38:09]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
It's good to be with you.
- [38:10]
Jim Acosta
Great to be with you. I always enjoy our conversations. And this is a really important moment because as I mentioned, people are really, you know, they're freaked out in this economy right now, frankly, and they're basically drawing the conclusion that this economy is not working for them. And you gave a speech at the National Press Club that went straight to the heart of that. You're talking about a message of economic populism heading into the midterms. But the other thing we should talk about very quickly is your thoughts on Jerome Powell being targeted by the Justice Department. Before we dive in, let me play a clip of you at the Press Club yesterday here in Washington. Then we'll talk about it.
- [38:47]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
And so Donald Trump just stays after it. And now this is a question about weaponizing the Department of Justice right out in plain view in order for Donald Trump to try to have a chance to take over over the Fed as quickly as possible so that he can make political decisions that he thinks will help him rolling into the 2026 election.
- [39:18]
Jim Acosta
Yes. Senator, your thoughts? What are the stakes here?
- [39:20]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
So stakes are huge because as most people will describe this, this is about Fed independence. But, you know, Jim, I want to try another way to think about this. You've raised two topics this morning, and that is how badly families are doing economically, how much economic stress families feel all across the country. And you're 100% right on that. And they are right to feel stressed. Prices are up. Mortgage foreclosures up 21% since Donald Trump got elected. Think about that.
- [39:51]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [39:52]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
And Donald Trump is trying to get his hands on the Fed. So the way these things relate to each other is Donald Trump is taking a look and he says there's an election coming in November 2026, and families are feeling a lot of economic pressure. And he's got to figure out what to do about it because he ran for office promising to lower costs on day one. Right. And cost of housing is up, the cost of health care is up, the cost of utilities is up, the cost of groceries is up. And they aren't just up, you know, because air floats. They are up because of deliberate policies that Trump and the Republicans have taken. On tariffs, on chaos, on not breaking up the giant corporations, on clean energy, all of these. So Trump has got a real problem on the cost front. If he can seize control of the Fed, then he gets to set the interest rates.
- [41:02]
Jim Acosta
Right?
- [41:03]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
And this is the temptation for any president. Roll those interest rates down in the six months before an election, the nine months before, and flood the economy with lots of Chinese cheap money. Because if you do that, people will buy more stuff.
- [41:22]
Jim Acosta
Oh, yeah.
- [41:22]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
And more corporations will make investments. They'll buy things, they'll buy other companies. Lots of business activity in the short run. It's like a sugar rush. How fast can you type if you just had 82 cans of red Bull, you know, Right answer is you can do it really, really, really, really fast. The long term consequences for the economy are a disaster. Right. Just like any, any crash and pushes up inflation overall, pushes up unemployment overall. So the fight with Jerome Powell is the fight for Donald Trump to seize control of the Fed. Now, he started that on basically the day he got elected or the day he got sworn in. He's tried to fire Jerome Powell and then backed off from that. He's tried to fire Lisa Cook, another one of the Fed board members. He has said publicly he will not name a Federal Reserve chairman who is not completely willing to do whatever Donald Trump wants. In other words, sock puppet.
- [42:32]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [42:33]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
So what Donald Trump is trying to do is he looks at it. He sees what you see, Jim, what I see, a lot of families struggling financially. He didn't bring down costs like he promised. So he's looking for plan B. How can he get a hold of the Fed, flood money in before the November election, and then, you know, the devil will Take the hindmost. And so that's what this is with Jerome Powell, this idea of a criminal investigation. This is just a pretext. That's all that's going on here. It's a power move.
- [43:14]
Jim Acosta
Well, and I mean, it's, it's dangerous too. Right, because other strong men have tried to do this in countries where the economies are not so, not so good, not exactly models for the United States of America. I was talking to Justin Wolfers, the economist over, over at the University of Michigan. He says Erdogan tried this in Turkey.
- [43:32]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Wreck the economy there, it blows up the economy. And that's the reminder, I know independence of the Fed sounds pretty boring, but what it's really about is it says when you're making monetary policy, we need a group of people who are as insulated from politics as we can get them to make decisions based on the numbers. To say, I read the numbers and here's where I think inflation is going, here's where I think unemployment is going, here's where GDP is going, here's what I think is best for the American economy overall. And so the way we do that is we make sure that the Fed is not like any other department in government. The banking regulators are separated from the political end of the spectrum. And Donald Trump is going after that hammer and tongs, trying to break that down, trying to seize the Fed. And you just got to throw in a compliant Department of Justice that will bring what appears to be a bogus investigation against somebody whose crime here was to try to rehabilitate this historic hundred year old building on behalf of the American taxpayers.
- [44:57]
Jim Acosta
Well, yeah, I was going to say, you know, cost overruns for federal buildings tell me something that I've never seen before. You know, and you know, meanwhile, Donald Trump is trying to, he's trying to. He's bulldozed almost half of the White House and he wants to build a giant ballroom. Talk about cost overruns over there. I mean, let's not go down that road. But I mean, the pot is calling the kettle black big time here, it seems.
- [45:18]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Right, right. Exactly right. But what it's really all about, at the end of the day, it's about the November election and how families are struggling financially and Donald Trump is starting to sweat bullets over this.
- [45:35]
Jim Acosta
Well, one sign of that is he called you yesterday out of the clear blue, which, you know, I don't know what you do with when you see suspicious numbers on your phone, but what I do is I don't answer them, I send them to voicemail in the hopes that they'll go away. But you took this call, and it was about your call for a cap on credit card interest rate, something that he's talked about. How did all of that go down? And why is this policy important to you?
- [45:59]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
So for years, I have believed we need a cap on credit card interest rates. Just nuts. And who does it squeeze the most? It squeezes working families, just people who are paying 25, 30, 35% interest on their credit cards. And the problem becomes they just can't get out. They, you know, it's not like, okay, you and I both understand, I got a mortgage, gonna take a long time, but I pay a little every month. Every month. Every month I'll get out. It's predatory. That's exactly right. It is predatory. You have it 100% right. And by the way, you know, this is, you know, what I used to work on all the time. I know Washington. The most profitable customers for the credit card companies, they're not you and me. We pay off our credit cards every month. We're just in a better situation to be able to do that. The people they really sell to, the people they push those cards on, are people who stumble, people whose jobs are irregular, people who are struggling with mounting costs, because those are the people who tend to default and then pay and default and pay. And they are like lifetime annuities for the credit card company. They will never pay off their debts, but they will be enormously profitable to the company by paying and paying, paying these high interest rates. So all of that is by way of saying in this speech I gave yesterday when I was talking about how Democrats need to be in the fight to lower costs for American families, that we cannot soften up our agenda in order to be attractive to our billionaire donors. But we got to put really serious plans on the table and show how we're willing to fight for them. We also talked about conversation about putting caps on credit card interest rates.
- [48:00]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [48:01]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
I'm in the car on the way home, and I get the phone rings, and I look at the number and I think, I don't know that number, but. But it is a 202. And I just finished giving a speech to a whole bunch of people who are 202s, you know, area code.
- [48:19]
Hakeem Jeffries
And I thought, me too.
- [48:21]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Yeah, you know, so I went ahead, what's the worst that can happen? You know, and it was the White House switchboard, and they said, the President of the United States would like to talk to you. And so we talked about lowering costs and he talked about the credit card interest rate. He said, you know, he said, I'm very interested in that. And so we talked about that. And I never pass up an opportunity. I know you know that about me, of course. And I said, look, he hasn't done anything on credit card interest rates. He said a year ago that he was going to do it, hadn't done a thing. But also we've got this housing bill that expands housing supply. You know, you want to bring down housing costs in America, we got to build more houses. We're like 3 million houses short. And I mean houses for first time home buyers, houses for seniors, houses for renters, houses for veterans, housing in rural areas, housing in urban, urban areas. We need more housing in every state in the country. So I worked as the Democratic head of the Banking Committee with my Republican counterpart. We put together a proposal, got 40 different provisions in it, all of them aiming in small bites how to get more housing supply. Attacks things like how to make it easier to do manufactured housing, puts in stuff on, easier to get your EPA approvals when you're doing residential housing. You know, things like that. Yeah, and we passed it sitting down, Jim. We passed it through the senate unanimously.
- [50:07]
Jim Acosta
Wow.
- [50:08]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
100% got. Every Democrat on board goes over to the House. Democrats in the House are like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're ready. Republicans in the House, a handful of them, are like, no, refuse to do it. So I said, Mr. President, you say you want to lower the cost of housing. You haven't done anything to do that. Call those guys, get on the phone and call those Republicans in the House. They do anything he tells them to do, they do to move this bill on through. So, you know, maybe, maybe we'll get a couple of things going. But I always say on this, Jim, on anything like this, talk is cheap, right? Don't tell me what you want to do. Show me what you're willing to get out there and bust your tail to get done. So that's where we stand right now.
- [51:08]
Jim Acosta
And I just, I want to move on to others, your other elements of your agenda here. But I have to ask, was he nice? Because he gives you a real hard time otherwise. I have to ask, was he. It sounds as though to me that he would like to have a little bit of what you've got going on in terms of your appeal to, to Americans on these populous terms. I mean, this is, this used to be, I thought his stock and trade, but he's, he's lost that mojo.
- [51:34]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Yeah, well, this, this goes back to the point you and I were talking about earlier, all of this is about November 20. 20. 24.
- [51:43]
Hakeem Jeffries
Yeah.
- [51:43]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
And come November 2024, Donald Trump understands that the central issue for American families. Yeah, there's a lot of noise out there and a lot of stuff going on, a lot of terrible stuff going on. The central issue for millions of Americans is going to be, how am I doing here? And has the rigged game just gotten worse? And you know, Jim, that's exactly why I gave that speech yesterday. What I talked about is the importance of focusing in on our economic message, not bowing down, even within the Democratic Party to our Democratic donors. But for me, this is also about winning in November. How do we win in November? We listen to people, we read the room, any room that's not stuffed with billionaires, and we hear from people how worried they are financially. We put concrete proposals on the table and show we will fight for. Yeah, I just think that's crucial.
- [52:48]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, I do, too. And I, you know, I talk to folks about this stuff all the time and hear, you know, from the viewers on this show about their economic insecurities. People are very worried about these Obamacare premiums skyrocketing over the next year. There's no sense, I mean, talk about Donald Trump, that he's going to sign any legislation that would help people with that premium support that they need to buy into the Obamacare marketplace. And, you know, I wonder what is going to happen there. I think that the housing issue is a huge issue that you talked about. I mean, when I hear that first time home buyers are now in their early 40s. I mean, I remember I bought my own. My first place is a little condo in Chicago. I was a local reporter back in the day, and I was, I think 29 or 30 years old when I bought that sucker. And I wish I had held onto it, for Pete's sake, but I mean, to think that kids got away. I hate to say kids, but young people have to wait until their early 40s.
- [53:45]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Yeah.
- [53:46]
Jim Acosta
That's ridiculous.
- [53:47]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Yep. Yep. So, you know, the thing is, Jim, the way we make real change is we've got to start now. And this is why last week I gave away over $400,000 from my political campaign to 23 state parties. States where there are competitive House races or competitive Senate races or competitive governor's race, and I gave it away to the state parties for the states to be building infrastructure right now. We can't just do this in October. We've got to be doing this in January and giving people an opportunity. To build out the structure and you bring in the volunteers, you lay out. You know, where are we going to focus here? Do we have our candidates? Are we all on the same agenda? What it is we're fighting for? Are we getting the information that, that we need to be able to run? And starting that now, I just think is crucially important. And by the way, I want to say to anybody I know you have great people who listen to you. Anybody who's listening to this, who thinks that's a good idea, go to Elizabeth Warren.com and pitch in 10 bucks if you can afford it. Pitch in more if you can afford it. And help us make these investments now so that we're organized, we're rowing in the same direction. Watch what's happening. Jim. Our map is expanding. So a lot of people are talking about the House, but they say, oh, Senate.
- [55:30]
Jim Acosta
You know, I was going to ask this. Yes.
- [55:32]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
You saw that Mary Patola is going to run in Alaska. And the way I read that, I've known Mary for a long time. I like her. But the way I read that is increasingly across the country, places where we thought the Republicans have got a lock. It turns out Democrats are going to be competitive now. Competitive doesn't win. You still got to be organized. You got to be in the right kind of fight. But now is the time to get all that to swing into action so that we are in a place to put some constraints on Donald Trump. If you're worried about what Happened in Minnesota, November 2026 is your best chance to do something about it. If you're worried about the invasion of Venezuela or Greenland or endless wars all throughout South America, whatever it is that worries you, now's the time to put the structure in place so we can get a Democratic Congress to, to rein in Donald Trump.
- [56:50]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, well, and I have to ask you, Senator, because, I mean, you, you brought up Minnesota. I mean, I gotta wonder what, you know, what would go through your mind if you were to see the scenes that we're seeing play out in Minneapolis, if they were to start happening in Boston, Massachusetts? I mean, we were just, I mean, we know what happened with Renee Good last week, but just yesterday we were playing on, on my show. We, maybe if we have the video available, we can show a little bit to the audience. I mean, there were armed ICE agents basically invading this family's home in Minneapolis. I'm sure you've seen this. And it is nuts. And it's, and I say it on my show, this is not America. This is completely un American. And it used to be, Senator, you and I have covered or been in the political world for some time. There was a time when the Republicans would say, Obama's gonna do this to you.
- [57:39]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Yes.
- [57:39]
Jim Acosta
He's gonna come to your house, you're gonna take your guns or whatever it is. And now they're doing this stuff. And look at this. It's just unreal that this would be happening in America.
- [57:50]
Reporter/Field Correspondent
Your thoughts?
- [57:51]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
I have talked with my friends in Minnesota. I talked to Peggy Flanagan just in the last couple of days. She's Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota. And by the way, Peggy is in a competitive Democratic primary for the U.S. senate. And I've endorsed her because she is ferocious in her fight for working people and she doesn't take corporate PAC money. But Peggy was telling me about a 77 year old relative of hers who got forced off the road so that ICE agents could examine her credentials. She's driving down the road and in fact on her way to a funeral. And over and over I'm hearing this family after family where somebody's just walking down the street and they get slammed to the ground. That I go back to this point, what did Donald Trump promise? That we would be safer. Donald Trump is not making our city safer. He's certainly not making Minneapolis any safer and Minnesota any safer. But he's not making anywhere in our country safer. And this is a moment when as a people, I think we have to be willing to say, this is not who we are, this is not who we want to be. Yes, we want to enforce our laws about our border, we need to enforce immigration policies, but we need to restructure so that when ICE agents or any other agents are out in law enforcement, that it's done in a way that's safe for the American people and not in a way that masks folks up and terrorizes them. That's just fundamentally wrong. And I think we're reaching that point of big pushback.
- [59:57]
Jim Acosta
I get that sense too. I think it started in the elections we saw last November. We're seeing, I mean, I don't see any slowing in the momentum heading into 2026. And I think this, this year is going to knock a lot of people's socks off. Donald Trump likes to Talk about the 250th anniversary of America as if this is all about him. It may be all about him in a way. Not the way he thinks, but not.
- [60:20]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
The way he thinks. And you know, you've got to give credit to the people of Minnesota and other places. It's true. In Boston as well, and others, that people have been restrained. They have really. You really get the sense that. That these ICE troops are trying to provoke so that they then will have video made for tv.
- [60:41]
Hakeem Jeffries
Yeah.
- [60:42]
Jim Acosta
Renee Good was restrained.
- [60:43]
Hakeem Jeffries
Yes.
- [60:44]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Yeah, that's right. Very restrained. And this is where I feel like as a country, we really are showing ourselves. And you're right. The 250th anniversary, anniversary, we will still get out. We will protest peacefully. That is an important part of the Constitution of the United States. But we will hold our elected officials accountable and we will elect people who support the Constitution of the United States and who will. Who will work hard to take a rigged economy and help put it back on our side. Help out working people.
- [61:21]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, I. I think that's a huge message going into this midterm cycle. Senator Elizabeth Warren, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. I could go on and on. We could go on and on like this.
- [61:32]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
You and I can go forever. I think we have a few times, but we have.
- [61:36]
Jim Acosta
We. We'll do it again, but thank you again.
- [61:38]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Take care, Jim.
- [61:39]
Jim Acosta
Take care. And I'll call you. If you see a 202 number, it might be me. So answer.
- [61:43]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Okay. Okay.
- [61:44]
Jim Acosta
Good to see you, Senator. Thanks a lot.
- [61:45]
Hakeem Jeffries
Bye.
- [61:45]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Bye.
- [61:52]
Reporter/Field Correspondent
All right. Hey, everybody. I'm down in downtown Washington, D.C. right outside of the CBP headquarters. That is where this big rally, this big ice out for good rally is taking shape here in Washington, dc. Let's go a little bit closer and show everybody what's happening. So, yeah, surprise.
- [62:11]
Jim Acosta
I know.
- [62:11]
Reporter/Field Correspondent
I was in the studio just a few moments ago, but we decided to hightail it down here and see what is going on. This is being organized by the folks at Indivisible. They're the ones who organize all the no Kings protests and the ICE out. Good protests. And.
- [62:25]
Jim Acosta
And Sam, how are we doing? We're doing okay.
- [62:27]
Reporter/Field Correspondent
We're doing all right. Good. Mr. Sam is down here holding the camera. Hello, ma'.
- [62:31]
Hakeem Jeffries
Am.
- [62:31]
Reporter/Field Correspondent
How are you? Good to see you. I like that message. We are all immigrants. Yeah. You can see this crowd is building by behind me. Right. And this is something that I think, you know, I probably better get used to that. The Department of Homeland Security better get used to. This is the headquarters to U.S. customs and Border Protection right there. And you know, as. As we saw over the weekend with the ICE out for good protests across the country, I mean, the American people have had enough and they're making that crystal clear. And what we've been seeing over the last week or so since the killing of Renee Good. Honestly, it should have been, I mean, it would have been great to see this crescendo building sooner than this. But obviously, the killing of Renee Good has, has been the catalyst for this. And so we'll see how this, this protest takes shape. But you could, you could tell from my conversations with the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, my conversation with Senator Tina Smith, my conversation with Senator Elizabeth Warren, it does look as though, and I know there are some folks who are a little suspicious of this, it does look as though Democrats, at least in Congress, have gotten the message. They're starting to push harder. You heard Hakeem Jeffries say that, yes, during the appropriations process for the Department of Homeland Security, they plan on holding a hard bargain. You heard it said on this, on this program, not, not more than an hour ago, that Democrats in the House are going to insist on some kinds of reform in order to see that legislation go through where the DHS funding is passed by the House and by the Congress. We'll see how that plays out. But you heard Senator Tina Smith when I was speaking with her. It's understandable why the leaders in Minnesota are at their wits end as it relates to what is taking place in Minneapolis. Imagine if what is taking place in Minneapolis was happening in your neighborhood. There was some talk that some Democratic lawmakers might be here. And so we'll see if that actually comes to pass. But I mean, what you're seeing here, out on the streets here in D.C. you're seeing it play out all over the country. It really is the American people rising up and saying, you've had enough of it. And so we'll see how this plays out over the next hour or so. But it's clear to me, and this is the message that I picked up on and covering these protests and watching this for some time now. There's our friend Aaron Farnas. He's coming down here, too, as well. Hey, Aaron. How you doing, buddy? Good to see you, man. Good to see you. That, you know, this is, this is really, this is what it's all about. Politicians in Washington, some of them have gotten the message, I think on the Democratic side, very few on the Republican side, almost nobody on the Republican side because they're doing Trump's bidding. And so this is going to require the American people to hit the streets, to use their right to free speech. They, they may be trying to tell everybody in Minneapolis that you don't have the right to free speech anymore. Donald Trump and his minions are trying to sell people out on the streets that you don't have the right to free speech anymore. But we know what the truth is. We know that you do have the ability to speak out, that you do have the ability to say, hell no, we're not going to have more killings of people like Renee Goode in this country. And as we've seen and as we played on this show over the last hour, the Department of Homeland Security is not playing pulling back Donald Trump in the White House. They are not pulling back. They are going harder. They are continuing to use these abusive tactics to show the American people that they're in charge. And as I have talked about on this show and others have talked about, it's not just the cruelty is the point. Yes, cruelty is the point. The fear right now is the point. And what the American people need to do by coming out on the streets here, and we're seeing that play out here today, is to send the message that they are not afraid. The American people are not afraid. They're not going to be fearful of ice cracking people's skulls, dragging them out of cars, doing things that are completely un American, completely contrary to good law enforcement, completely contrary to what it is to be an American. So let's, let's take a look at the crowd right here. Pan American around a little bit here and show everybody what's going on. This is down in familiar with Washington, D.C. right by the National Mall. We are right by the White House and we're now out in front at the U.S. customs Border Protection offices. That is where the folks are indivisible. All the people who've been pulling these ICE out for good protests, they have decided to descend on this building today, protest outside peacefully, to say what this gentleman is saying on his sign right over here. Thou shalt not kill. Very clear message. Thou shalt not kill. And what we saw last week in Minneapolis was ICE killing an American citizen and then the vice president saying afterwards that the officer involved has absolute immunity. As Senator Tina Smith was saying on my show earlier today, the notion that you would just give blanket immunity to police officers, that you would give blanket immunity to ICE officers, what's that going to, what's that going to do? It's going to encourage more abuse, more bad behavior, more victimizing of not just immigrants and people who are legally in this country, but of American citizens. And so what we're seeing down here in downtown Washington, D.C. is a lot of people in Washington, D.C. area saying enough is enough. Continue to stay out here. We'll keep watching this. We'll keep tabs on this, and I'll come back to you if things start to get, you know, a little bit down here. But at the moment, this appears to be exactly what needs to be said at this moment. Exactly what needs to be done at this moment. The American people coming out of force and telling the Trump administration that what you are doing is wrong, that what happened last week with Renee Goode is wrong, and that police brutality, that ICE brutality is wrong. And so we'll keep you posted on all of this. And if I find some folks out here to talk to, we'll bring. We'll bring that to you as well. But what we're seeing right now is a lot of folks who care about this democracy, care about this country, and care about other human beings. We're saying not just military, but hell notes what took place with Renee Good last week in Minneapolis. Keep an eye on this. Let's just kind of show what's happening right now. Play a little bit with what downtown. Sometimes you find folks down here who want to talk, and sometimes you don't. That's okay. No requirement of all of that. But you see some signs here that say, abolish ICE for good. Keep calm, wake up here, of course, ICE signs. These are all. Whatever. No more to all. Talking. I'm live on my podcast right now. Bruce and Bruce, why you come down here today? Want to tell the Trump administration that the brutality they're engaged in and the attacks on immigrants have been taking over Venezuela. All things. And it's not all that we can do. And we need to stop. We want to send a message to him, to Congress. Tell them to stop. And Bruce, I, I assume you were moved by the killing of Renee Good. That's a big part of this, too. People are completely outraged, right? The, the brutality, this effort to get rid of ignorance beyond anything any of us really. Ignorance it is worth. Thank you very much. How about you, ma'?
- [70:48]
Hakeem Jeffries
Am?
- [70:49]
Reporter/Field Correspondent
Do you have any thoughts? Same thing. We're here to support immigrants and try.
- [70:53]
Senator Elizabeth Warren
To support our country's democracy because it's.
- [70:56]
Reporter/Field Correspondent
Not good right now. It's not looking good right now. All right, thank you very much. Enjoy the protest. But, you know, people have felt, you know, as. As though they can't do anything. A lot of people felt like, you know, they want to give up and, and not be a part of this particular. Really can't afford to do that right now. And I think that's the message that a lot of people have brought down here. To this protest in downtown D.C. that obviously staying on the couch, staying at home, not getting involved, that doesn't work anymore. Folks, what Donald Trump is going to respond to, and I know this maybe better than some folks, he responds, he understands what pushback is. And what the bully always likes is when you just don't do anything about it. And so when people come out, they speak their mind, they stand up for themselves, not bend the knee, not what we saw in 2025. As I, as I've been saying, 2026 is the, is the year that, that this nation stands tall. So we're going to see a lot of that down here over the next hour or so. I'll pop back on depending on how things go. But it looks like a very just wonderful and peaceful rally down here in Washington. Can people say that they've had enough what they've been seeing in Minneapolis? They don't want what's happening in Minneapolis to come to a town near them in a town near you Just want to thank everybody for tuning in today. Today was a big day for the show. We had Hakeem Jeffries, Elizabeth Warner and and Tina Smith and this protest down here. And we thank all of them for joining us still. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. Have a good evening. I'll be, I'll come back on if events warrant. Thanks for tuning in. See you next time.