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Don Lemon Among Four Arrested By Epstein-Trump Regime | The Joy Reid Show LIVE!
02:08:11
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- [00:00]
Joy Reid
ABC's David Muir, the most trusted anchor in America, the most watched anchor in America. Thank you for making World News Tonight with David Muir the number one newscast in America. Most trusted, most watched. David Muir on abc.
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Lev Parnas
Okay.
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Joy Reid
Yeah. Good evening, everybody. Happy Friday, Kind of tgif. And welcome to the Joy Reid Show. Thank you to everybody who tuned in earlier today for our live coverage of the arrest of Don Lemon, Georgia Fort, and two other African Americans in who covered and who were present for the protest at a church in Minneapolis. We want to show you some video right now of the scene outside of the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. That's Karen Bass, who's speaking now. She attended the hearing where Don Lemon was, I guess, being arraigned on the charges, the federal charges that have been levied against him for no other reason than that he was doing journalism. This is a pretty outrageous moment, but let's listen just for a second to what Karen Bass is saying. Hold on, guys. Sorry. That's right. While we're doing that, while we're setting that back up, I just want to let you all know that these are the four things that we are trying to kind of wrap our heads around and keep our focus on tonight. That is before the thing started. So Jason's going to line that up. We're focusing obviously on the rest of Don Lemon as well as Georgia Fort, who was an independent black journalist from Minneapolis, as well as two other black citizens. There were actually four people arrested. Trey Hearn, Jean Cruz, co founder of Black Lives Matter Minnesota, Georgia Ford, and a gentleman named Jamal Lindell Lundy, who is a lobbyist, Hennepin County Attorney's Office and also a candidate for the Minnesota State Senate. And we listen to.
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Erin Haynes
Anyway, how far is this going to go? We're a hundred days away from celebrating. I don't hear that 50th anniversary of our democracy that has been under attack every day since this administration took over. Okay, I am not a lawyer. Listen to this proceedings.
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Joy Reid
This has sparked a lot of anger. Obviously, the arrest of journalists. Three out of the four people who arrested were journalists, all African American. So there's that that we're focusing on. That is obviously a very big deal. Also, the raid on Fulton County, Georgia's election offices, that's the second thing we're focusing on, as well as the ongoing occupation of Minneapolis and other states and the further kidnapping of people from there, including two more students who were taken from the very same school where little Liam Ramos attended. The little boy with the blue hat and the backpack. Two more Kids from his same preschool also taken into custody by the federal regime. And number four, the number four, and this one, please pay attention to this as well. Number four is the release today of three million. That's not a typo. Three million pages of the Epstein files, including some very vulgar allegations that were made in the late 1980s against one Donald John Trump. Now, all of that suggests that the regime is desperate to cover up number four using numbers one, two, and three. I want to start with thing one. Don Lemon had a hearing scheduled, as you can see, that is happening right now. I have spoken with his husband and we have tried to keep track of what's happening. Been trying to email a text message with Don since this morning. They were actually texting last night. Woke up this morning to find out that he had been arrested. There had been this threat to do that, not only from the world of Pam Bondi and the Justice Department, but also the so called civil rights division of the Justice Department, Harmeet Dhillon tweeting when Donald Trump tweeted, I am a First Amendment actor for actor, E a C T O R, meaning I act in the guise of the First Amendment as a journalist. I have freedom of speech and, you know, daring essentially them to try to interrupt that. And Harmeet Dhillon tweeted, okay, and now they have made good on the threats and on the demands of MAGA and the far Christian right to have Don Lemon arrested. So we're gonna focus. Let's quickly on thing one, Don Lemon, Don Lemon's arrest and also the arrest of Georgia Fort, who was arrested in her home. I wanna show you all some video from inside Georgia Fort's house of the armed agents who were gathering outside. She actually went live to show this happening. Here is that video. So you can see in that video she's showing, she's going to put a screen on happening at the front door and you can see the. Okay, I don't think there's audio on it. I actually don't hear any audio on these videos, so I don't know if maybe it's me. And on my end, I'm not hearing any audio whatsoever. Okay, well, this is really scary silent on my end.
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Erin Haynes
There's kids in the house. You guys have not been. To me, it seems a little. Can I finish, sir?
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Joy Reid
Okay, well, we'll figure that out. Get your.
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Erin Haynes
Get your phone.
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Joy Reid
You're the guest.
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Erin Haynes
It seems a little bit aggressive to have all these cars in our cul de sac. Two, three agents. And now I saw the one disappear to the back so to me, this is a little aggressive to just serve a warrant. Slide the warrant. Let me see the warrant.
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Joy Reid
No. Okay. Her children were home. She actually went live and essentially live streamed the fact that she was getting arrested and alerted folks that this was happening to her. This is a journalist. If this video was happening in any other country, we'd say that that country had fallen out of the realm of democracies and that it was no longer a democracy. So it's pretty. Pretty scary stuff. But that is what happened earlier, earlier today. And the arrest of Georgia Ford, as well as these three others, is actually some scary stuff. I want to note. Lev Parnas will be back on the show later on today. He'll be on in the second hour of the show. He's got some inside scoop about what's been going on behind the scenes inside the Trump regime, that they've been plotting these arrests of journalists and others. Note that three of the people arrested are journalists, and note that the others are the others who are arrested. One is a politician, a local elected official who is in Hennepin County. And note that Hennepin county is the county where Renee Goode and where Alex Preddy were killed. It is the very county that is having the information regarding those murders withheld from it. That county not able to access records that the FBI is holding on to. I will note that the same department of injustice, their civil rights division, which again, under Harme Dillon, really only works to protect the civil rights of white men. They made it very clear that they're not interested in anybody else's civil rights, just. Just theirs. But in this case, they are going to allegedly investigate a civil. Alleged. Alleged civil rights violations. On Alex Preddy's. On Alex Preddy in the shooting of him. Of course, you know that the Second amendment folks, the MAGA pro gun folks, had been very upset that they had not felt that the regime was very respectful of his Second Amendment rights. So that investigation is apparently going to happen. So that's some of the stuff that's going on. I will note that there have been a lot of releases from those who actually pay attention to the freedom of the press, etc. I'm gonna see if we can pull up some of these statements. Jason, if you could pull up a 7, this would be the NABJ statement on. On Don Lemon. So let me go ahead and pull that up and read you what they. What they had to say. Hold on. We're gonna pull that up. Give me one second. Sorry, guys. We've been working in breaking News mode everywhere. Yeah. Nope, it's on screen. But I'm going to read out the entire statement if I could to. Just give me one second. I got to actually pull it up. Let me find it. Let me find it. Nabj. Okay, let me read it. The national association of Black Journalists is outraged and deeply alarmed by the arrest of journalist Don Lemon and Georgia Fort. And by the way, Georgia Ford is the local chapter president of nabj. By federal agents and by the government escalating efforts and actions to criminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement. Let us be perfectly clear. The First Amendment is not optional, and journalism is not a crime. A government that responds to scrutiny by targeting the messenger is not protecting the public. It is attempting to intimidate it. And considering recent incidents regarding federal agents, it is attempting to distract it. There was also the Committee to Protect Journalists. Let me read that statement on Don Lemon's arrest as well. So let me see. I'm going to find that and pull that up in one second. We're going to pull that up. That is. Yes, that is a 8. To protect journalists. Let's see. Let's pull up their statement. Sorry, we're doing this a little bit on the fly. Apologies for that. So we're going to try to see if we can pull up that statement as well. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrests of journalist Don Lemon and Georgia for it over Minneapolis protests. So about 40 organizations supporting the NABJ and the committee to Protect Journalists in condemning these arrests. A9 would be the statement from Don Lemon's attorney, Abby Lowell. He has actually a pretty great attorney and Abby Lowell also condemning these arrests. He was the first person to actually post about this and essentially condemning them as well, saying, Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy Awards. Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done. The First Amendment exists to protect journalists, whose role it is to shine a light on the truth and hold those in power accountable. There is no more important time for people like Don to be doing this work. I think we can say amen to that. So lots of support for Don Lemon from the journalistic community. We haven't heard a ton of politicians. Hakeem Jeffries came out and also condemned the arrest of Don Lemon. Democrats corralling to declare this to be an outrage against the Constitution. So you do have statements from Democratic members of Congress. We're Waiting to hear from Republicans as well. We think everyone ought to have something to say about the arrest of journalists. If this was happening in Russia or some other country, I think that we would be very clear what it is. But I think because it is happening in the United States, sometimes I think we don't take it as seriously as being exactly what happens in the rest of the world. Let me bring in Paul Butler, our friend, who is a former federal prosecutor and also a law professor, and we appreciate him being here. I also want to bring in Mo Ivory, who is the Fulton county commissioner representing District 4 and a candidate for chair of the Fulton County Commission. I want to start with you, Paul, your thoughts on the arrest of these four, one of whom happens to be the co founder of Black Lives Matter Minnesota.
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Paul Butler
So these charges are clearly political and they are clearly unwarranted. They have to know at the Justice Department that they cannot get a conviction. They have to know that because they've been told that by five different federal judges. So a couple weeks ago, they. They went to a magistrate judge in Minneapolis and he refused to issue an arrest warrant because he said that there was no probable cause for the arrest. After that, the Justice Department took the extreme step of going to the chief judge in Minneapolis, the chief federal judge, and telling him that he had to force the magistrate judge to. To issue the warrant. The chief judge said, I don't think I can do that, but let me decide. Before he could make a decision, they went to the Court of Appeals, the federal Court of Appeals. At that point, the chief judge sent a letter to the Court of Appeals saying that the Department of Justice was saying that this was a national security emergency and that they had to arrest Don Lemon immediately. The court of the chief judge of the district court said that that was a frivolous claim, that it was ridiculous. And the Court of Appeals summarily slapped down the Department of Justice. 3 Court of Appeals federal judges agree that the magistrate was correct that there was no probable cause to arrest Don Lemon, that there was no evidence that he and the other journalists had committed any crimes.
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Joy Reid
This is incredibly outrageous, and it is just one piece of the outrage that we're talking about. I'm going to have Paul weigh in on it, too. But I want to welcome Commissioner Mo Ivory on and have you talk about thing too, because I do believe all of these things are related. I do believe that the seizure of ballots in Fulton County, Georgia, is related to the arrest of Don Lemon. It is all part of an authoritarian push not only to try to set up the next election to be held in a situation and an atmosphere of terror and fear where people will be fearful of leaving their homes, let alone covering the election fairly, covering what's happening fairly. And I think they're being very prepared to make sure that they don't lose those midterms. And I think also trying to make sure that whatever's in those Epstein files does not impact the Republican Party and Donald Trump. But the other thing they're doing to try, I believe, to get insurance for 2026 to make sure that the right wing Republican Party hangs onto power is to try to potentially mess with those ballots in Georgia, not necessarily just to try to give Trump his emotional need to pretend that he won the election. But I wonder if you agree with me, Commissioner Ivory, that once those ballots are in their custody, we don't know if they're going to mess with them, but we also don't know what they're going to do regarding the next election.
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Erin Haynes
Oh, joy. You are exactly right. And boy, is he on a rampage this week. But you are right, it is all connected. And it is not unlike what you just saw in the arrest of Don Lemon and Georgia for it in that they he is circumventing the legal system. He did the same exact thing in Georgia when he came here to Fulton county to get our ballots. We have a state case that is in the courts right now about this very issue of turning over the ballots to the state election board, which is going to be heard on March 9, which it was very likely that they were going to get access to the documents. The difference is it's a civil case and it was going to take until March and it was going to be in a judicious manner, meaning that we were going to have to inventory everything. Copies were going to be made instead of originals being taken, and whoever wanted those copies was going to have to pay for them. And so the Republicans did not want to pay for them, which was going to be hundreds of thousands of dollars because 700 boxes of ballots and paperwork related to 2020. So instead of waiting until March 9, when a judge would have given a procedure for reviewing documents, by the way, that have been reviewed over and over and over again already have been in multiple lawsuits where there has been no fraud found, he could not wait. And so he circumvented the legal system and he got a warrant through the Justice Department, who also circumventing the legal system and not paying attention to any laws, and came in and took the original ballots with accompanying documents away and they are now in Virginia.
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Joy Reid
And what are your concerns about what they might do with those originals?
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Erin Haynes
Oh, yeah, we're very concerned about it because it's not, you know, of course we have an electronic copy of the ballots. Right. Of. Because ballots don't have anything but information about who you voted for. It doesn't have your name, it doesn't have your personal identifiable information. But we do have absentee ballot envelopes where people mailed in their absentee ballot envelopes. And of course that has their name on it. Of course it has their address on it. So what are we concerned about? We're concerned about people's personally identifiable information. We, we're concerned about the integrity the, the chain of custody of people's ballots. No matter what. Excuse me, no matter what the ballots, the ballots have on them. They are supposed to be in a chain of custody in Fton county. And it's very important to keep that integrity of the documents. He could say whatever he wants to say now that he has the originals. Right? Of course, of course we're going to refute that. But he could say, oh, I found, you know, whatever lie he wants to make up. And that is, again, like you said, a strategy to create chaos and confusion and distrust in our system of administering elections, which is not supposed to be partisan at all, so that people will then be afraid to go to the polls. Because no doubt, if this is what we're seeing in January, can you just imagine what, what we're going to be seeing in October when early voting starts, in April, when the primary early voting starts? Because the ultimate goal is to militarize our precincts and to make people completely afraid to go and vote and be unable to exercise their right.
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Joy Reid
Yeah, I think that's very clear. Let me go back to the Don Lemon arrest because I think it's really important that we set some, just some sort of baseline series of facts here. Before I do that, though, Paul Butler, did you have a comment about Georgia?
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Paul Butler
So it's entirely correct, as the commissioner said, that they're ignoring the law and what judges have said. So we know that there have been 60 lawsuits in which the Trump administration or the Trump campaign tried to contest the integrity of the election of 2020. And in each one of those lawsuits, the Trump administration laws, we know that Rudy Giuliani told lies about how the vote in Georgia, the election in Georgia was rigged, and he got fined $150 million for that lie. But they don't take the truth for an answer. They don't take the Law for an answer. They don't take judicial findings for an answer. They just keep going on with the lies, the unethical and. And illegal behavior. And it's one thing if it's a candidate who laws, who's just whining, but when it's the President of the United States who can weaponize the Department of Justice, it's a national crisis.
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Erin Haynes
National crisis.
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Joy Reid
Let me ask you, before I come back to you, let me actually very quickly ask you, Commissioner, what did you make of the presence of the Director of. Of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gap? Why was she there?
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Erin Haynes
Yeah, I. I don't have any reason to even begin to understand while she was there, except for the pressure to apply, you know, a sort of presence of the president being there. I was on the inside the entire time, and she remained on the outside. I only saw her when she walked into the sort of cage area where the 20, 20 ballots were being stored, and not a lot of conversation. There were at least about 40 FBI agents, so there was not any opportunity to have conversations or, you know, in any way to find out any facts. It was very much stay out of the way and let us do what we're going to do. We asked for an inventory of the boxes because they were on pallets, and so they were sealed and on pallets. And we asked our chief clerk of the Superior Court, who is in the chain of command of our archives, asked for an inventory of every box they were taking away, which would have meant they would have had to undo the pallet so that we could inventory every box. And they refused to do it. So they just took the whole pallets and put them on. And so we have no idea, you know, in sort of what order the boxes were or exactly how much of everything they took from that one cage.
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Joy Reid
It is. It is scary stuff. Commissioner Mo Ivory, please keep us posted on what's going on, and if there's anything we can do to try to highlight anything that's happening in Fulton County. It's very important to our right to vote. So thank you so much.
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Erin Haynes
Thank you so much.
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Joy Reid
Thank you. Paul, can you stay just a minute?
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Paul Butler
Of course.
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Joy Reid
You can say. Okay. I want to introduce. I want to bring on Congressman Joaquin Castro of the great state of Texas, because I want to talk about another issue that is. Again, it's all tied together, because what we now know is that this adorable little boy who was taken from his school in Minneapolis and rendered to Texas, we now know where he is. He is in Texas. Liam Ramos with his dad and Jason, if you could put up B2 and ask the congressman who did get the opportunity, as I understand, to visit with him and his dad, and you will all recall this sweet little boy with his little blue hat and his backpack, and there he is on the right. Congressman Castro, what is the condition of this child, as you were able to see?
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Paul Butler
Well, honestly, Joy, he did not look well to me. And from what his father said, that he has been sleeping most of the day, that he hasn't been eating well, that he's been depressed, that he misses his mom and he misses his classmates and wants to go back home, you know, he didn't look good. What you're looking at there in that picture is when you come into that dilly detention center, you know, it's like a trailer prison, right? And I say that because people's movements are controlled, who they can hang out with is controlled, what they eat, et cetera. So that's a makeshift courtroom there, and you've got to give seven days notice to go see, to go into this facility as a member of Congress, and then you've got to give 48 hours notice to be able to visit with particular people. And so we were able to visit with Liam and his dad, and they came over, they brought them over into this courtroom, and Liam stayed asleep the whole time. He never woke up throughout the time that we were visiting with him. And so he was very. Seemed to me, very lethargic and listless.
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Joy Reid
Do you know what the status of his parents are? What is their immigration status?
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Paul Butler
Well, they had legally applied for asylum and had, I understand, had used the CBP one, apparently. And so they were allowed under the Biden administration to come in the United States to wait for their asylum case to be resolved. And in fact, the father, I believe, told us that they had an asylum hearing coming up, I think he said, in February. And of course, they got snatched, you know, just over a week ago. But again, remember that, that that app was created because there was this big uproar during the Biden years that, hey, look, there's a rush on the border. We got too many people rushing the border. We need to do this in an orderly and efficient way, in a way where we can vet people and decide who we're going to allow permission to be in the United States while their case is pending. And this family qualified for that. And so that's why they were in Minneapolis.
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Joy Reid
And was Liam not born in the United States?
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Paul Butler
My understanding is that the family is from Ecuador. And, you know, and so, you know, I Think that's what. That's what the tragedy of all this is, is that Donald Trump said he was going to go after, in his own words, these criminal illegal aliens. And not a single person in that Dilley Detention Center, 1100 people, men, women and children, not a single person is a criminal there. Nobody has a conviction. I said that to me directly. And so you got 1100 people there who are in a kind of prison, and they're not criminals.
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Joy Reid
This is the reason I asked you to stay on. Paul, how is any of that legal?
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Paul Butler
It's probably not. So, Joy, earlier I mentioned the chief judge of the federal District Court in Minneapolis who said that there was no probable cause to arrest Don Lemon because there was no evidence that he committed a crime. This same chief judge, who was a conservative, he clerked for Justice Scalia. He's a mentor to Justice Barrett. He was appointed by George Bush. Very strong conservative credentials. This week, he also said that the administration and its conduct in Minneapolis has violated more laws, has ignored more federal court orders than any federal agency has that he knows about in its existence, and that ICE and its representatives in court have ignored judicial orders. So there are a number of immigrants in Minneapolis who've been swept off the streets by ice, who are fighting their claims. They're saying that what happened is illegal, including because they're lawfully in the country at the moment, while their immigration status is, and their ability to remain here is being decided by courts. But that doesn't stop ice. That doesn't stop the Trump administration. So when you ask whether it's legal, that's what courts are trying to determine. But ICE is not allowing that in many instances. It's taking people out of Minneapolis, where they live, where they work, it's sending them to Texas, it's sending them away from their lawyers, and it's trying to evade any kind of accountability.
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Joy Reid
So let me let you all know that a judge has ordered Don Lemon to be released on his own recognizance. Sorry, throwing some breaking news in the middle here. I'm going to respond to Paul in just a moment. Of his own recognizance after he was indicted for interfering with a religious service during an ICE protest in Minnesota. The judge also denied the government's request for a $100,000 bond and refused to restrict his travel to New York and Minnesota. It appears all four of the people, Paul, that were arrested on what seemed to be clear violations of the First Amendment have been released without bond and with on their own recognizance, suggesting that it doesn't seem like they were. Oh, wait, we have Don speaking now. Oh, wait. We're going to go ahead and go to it as soon as we get it. Okay. Yeah, as soon as we get it, Jason is going to go to Don Lemon because he is now speaking. He is outside of the courthouse. But what do you make of that, Paul?
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Paul Butler
So, Joy, the U.S. attorney's office tried to get one of the other journalists held. They didn't want her released on bond. And the judge said, what are you talking about? This is a non violent crime. There's no reason why we should hold her. So the Justice Department is playing hardball. It's been out to get Don Lemon for at least a couple of weeks, right? Probably longer than that because Trump famously does not like Don Lemon. And Trump is famously weaponizing the Department of Justice.
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Joy Reid
I don't know if there's any way we can rewind that video. I don't know if that's even possible. But Don Lemon has, in fact, been released. He was released on his own recognizance. I don't know if we can rewind that video to get back so we can see what he said when he came out of prison. He gave a very brief statement and then walked out of prison. And if he was some sort of danger to the community, that wasn't clear from what just happened in that he was indeed released. Okay, we could. I'm just seeing it in the background here. I don't know if we can see.
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Erin Haynes
It on screen, but as soon as it comes up, I will absolutely let you all know.
- [29:49]
Paul Butler
Clear the way to the podium.
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Erin Haynes
Thank you.
- [29:51]
Joy Reid
Thank you.
- [29:55]
Paul Butler
I need sunglasses.
- [30:00]
Erin Haynes
How are you?
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Paul Butler
Wow. Can everybody hear me? Are you guys set? Everybody ready? So look, I want to thank everybody for their support. It really. It truly means the world to me. I have no idea what's going on.
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Erin Haynes
Because obviously I haven't seen anything.
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Paul Butler
I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now. In fact, there is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable. Again, I will not stop now.
- [30:38]
Joy Reid
Now.
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Paul Butler
I will not stop ever. Last night, the DOJ sent a team of federal agents to arrest me in the middle of the night for something that I've been doing for the last 30 years, and that is covering the news. The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless of other journalists who do what I do. I stand with all of them. And I will not be silent. I look forward to my day in court. Thank you all.
- [31:17]
Joy Reid
Don Lemon outside of the federal courthouse in Los Angeles. Paul, it seems to me that he's got a pretty strong case. I mean, the idea that Don Lemon was somehow violating the sanctity of that church by being a journalist covering a protest at that church seems absolutely insane.
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Paul Butler
So if you look at the indictment, he's charged with conspiracy to violate civil rights. Joy. One of the overt acts that's alleged is that he peppered someone in the congregation with questions. That's now evidence of a crime. So what the Trump administration is doing is essentially criminalizing journalism.
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Joy Reid
Let me. I wanna go back if we could. Jason, if you could pull up, because. And I don't know what your time is like, Congressman. I don't want to hold you if you have to jump, so you can always just let us know whenever you have time. But I think this is a legislative matter as well, because they are using congressionally passed legislation that was designed to protect abortion facilities as well as houses of worship, which were added in order to get it to pass. But now they're attempting to use that against journalists. What are your thoughts?
- [32:26]
Paul Butler
Well, I think that this is another assault on constitutional rights by Donald Trump and his administration. We have seen them go after freedom of the press, freedom of speech, the Second Amendment, when he talked about Alexander Preddy and other protesters not being able to have guns, even though he was legally permitted to carry, also search and seizure, the Fourth Amendment. He's going amendment after amendment, or, you know, basically constitutional right after constitutional right and threatening each one. And this is. This is meant to intimidate. This is meant to keep other journalists, especially independent journalists, who don't have big corporations to back them up with a lot of corporate lawyers and money from actually doing their jobs and criticizing Donald Trump, investigating his administration. And so, again, just like, you know, he went after ABC and Disney And CBS in 60 Minutes, he's now going after independent journalists and try to do the same kind of intimidation tactics.
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Joy Reid
If I could just for a moment, Jason, if you could pull up a one, because I think it's important to just sort of set the level set here, because as Paul Butler said, they're trying to criminalize the idea of asking questions. I want you all to actually see what Don Lemon was doing. And see. We did a little mashup of his coverage. Jason, let me know when you've got a one. All right, we've got it. All right, this is a one. This is Don Lemon's coverage a little.
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Paul Butler
Bit ago and did some. Some reconnaissance on the ground. I'm speaking to an organization there that's gearing up to for resistance and protest. I've been surprised, pleasantly surprised, to see the community coming together, diverse community. If you see this, when we first pulled up, we're like, wait a minute, what is which. Which out operation are we at? And as it turns out, because we're like, well, this is kind of MAGA coated, right?
- [34:22]
Joy Reid
Saw the American flag or whatever.
- [34:24]
Lev Parnas
But these are resistance protesters.
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Paul Butler
They're planning an operation that we're going.
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Lev Parnas
To follow them on.
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Paul Butler
I can't tell you exactly what they're doing, but it's called Operation Pull up, and it's Takima Armstrong, and she has been doing this since George Floyd, Dante Wright and others where they surprise people, catch them off guard and hold them to account. And so that's what we're doing here. And then we're after that, after we do this operation, you'll see it live. And these, these operations are surprise operations.
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Joy Reid
Again, can't tell you where they're.
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Paul Butler
So right now it's kind of mayhem. We're not part of the activist, but we're here just reporting on them. Did they explain to you why they're here? They did not. They said that there is someone here, Easterwood Some, who is a member of high and he's a pastor of the church. How do you feel about this?
- [35:10]
Joy Reid
I don't necessarily agree with everything that's.
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Erin Haynes
Going on in the Twin Cities right.
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Joy Reid
Now, but I don't think it's good.
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Erin Haynes
To fight fire with fire.
- [35:16]
Joy Reid
I think it's good to speak up.
- [35:17]
Erin Haynes
I think it's good to protest, but.
- [35:19]
Paul Butler
I think it's better to do it in a peaceful way.
- [35:21]
Joy Reid
You don't think this is peaceful? It's trespassing. How do you feel if I went.
- [35:24]
Erin Haynes
To your house and I started yelling.
- [35:25]
Paul Butler
I think these people would go inside of anybody's house.
- [35:27]
Joy Reid
This is a house of God. In the house, people don't yell at each other.
- [35:31]
Paul Butler
There's a lot of yelling in my house. Growing up, we still loved each other.
- [35:34]
Erin Haynes
It doesn't necessarily mean yelling is the answer, right?
- [35:36]
Paul Butler
No, but I think it's the way you work things out is that you talk to each other. You disagree? I think maybe if the pastor would like, try to calm things down and say, let's all talk.
- [35:45]
Erin Haynes
I think that it's good to talk. I think protesting on the streets is fine, but I think there's a difference.
- [35:50]
Joy Reid
Between that and then going into someone's.
- [35:52]
Erin Haynes
Property and then yelling.
- [35:54]
Paul Butler
Would you be okay with your pastor talking to them?
- [35:56]
Joy Reid
Yeah, I think conversations will be great.
- [35:58]
Erin Haynes
I think we need more communication. I don't necessarily agree with what's going.
- [36:02]
Joy Reid
On with ice rays and stuff, but.
- [36:04]
Erin Haynes
I also don't think that. I don't think fire with fire is the answer. You think of this.
- [36:09]
Lev Parnas
A harmless Christian here that wants to.
- [36:11]
Paul Butler
Praise the Lord with my son. And now I gotta go home. I'm sorry that you guys are so angry. I'm. I'm just chronicling.
- [36:17]
Joy Reid
I'm not with the group.
- [36:18]
Paul Butler
Oh, what do I have to say? Can you understand why they're angry? I. I don't.
- [36:22]
Joy Reid
I don't understand any of this because.
- [36:24]
Paul Butler
I'm a simple man. I'm a simple man who loves the.
- [36:26]
Joy Reid
Lord and is a good father.
- [36:27]
Paul Butler
This is what we look forward to.
- [36:29]
Joy Reid
Is coming, being with our family and praising Jesus. And that's not something that we have.
- [36:34]
Paul Butler
To run away from. So this is kind of a bad day for us. But, you know, we're going to heaven.
- [36:41]
Joy Reid
So that's the best news we got.
- [36:42]
Paul Butler
Do you understand that some of these folks feel voiceless? I don't understand because right now I'm so upset. Right now I don't really have a much. I'm thirsty and I can't think very clearly. So what I want to do is just say, we love you, my son. And I love you guys.
- [36:56]
Joy Reid
And that's.
- [36:56]
Paul Butler
I'm a journalist.
- [36:57]
Joy Reid
They're activists.
- [36:58]
Lev Parnas
The simplest thing we can say is.
- [36:59]
Paul Butler
That we love you guys.
- [37:00]
Joy Reid
What do you mean, you guys?
- [37:01]
Paul Butler
Well, whoever's here in this house, okay, we don't.
- [37:04]
Lev Parnas
We don't distinguish between Christian and non Christian.
- [37:07]
Paul Butler
We love everyone. We want everyone to come to heaven. Yeah. That's the main thing.
- [37:11]
Joy Reid
We want folks to go to heaven.
- [37:13]
Paul Butler
And if we need to talk about these things, then, I mean, this isn't the time. Time for that, really. I mean. But don't you think until we go to heaven. Of what? If you believe in that, that there should be some sort of peace here on earth and that people should have agency and we shouldn't be beating people up off the street and we should be abiding by the constitution. I think that's just a little bit.
- [37:32]
Joy Reid
Loaded for me right now, what you're doing. I don't want to interview right now.
- [37:37]
Paul Butler
I don't want to interview.
- [37:38]
Joy Reid
I just want to tell you guys I love you. I don't need to interview right now.
- [37:41]
Paul Butler
Because I want to be with my son.
- [37:43]
Joy Reid
It's Sunday.
- [37:43]
Paul Butler
It's time for rest and for renewal. I would like to answer your question.
- [37:49]
Erin Haynes
I just can't right now.
- [37:50]
Paul Butler
Okay, thank you. I appreciate it.
- [37:51]
Joy Reid
You will note, Congressman, that he said he didn't want to interview at the end of talking for five straight minutes. So he's. You have Don Lemon doing what Don Lemon does, talking to people. Where's the crime?
- [38:03]
Paul Butler
Yeah, no, that's right. I mean, he's acting as a journalist, as somebody there who's. Who's there to cover what happened. And again, I think it's Donald Trump and Stephen Miller, the people around Donald Trump who are trying to intimidate and stifle dissent, really. And, you know, they think if they do it enough to enough people and institutions and communities, that they can start to shape the American society more and more to be loyal to them the way their cronies in the administration are loyal to them.
- [38:37]
Joy Reid
Last question to you, Paul Butler. Where is the crime in what we just saw?
- [38:41]
Paul Butler
There's no crime. We heard Don Lemon say twice that he was a journalist. He's not an activist. He was there to ask questions. To prove this crime, prosecutors would have to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that Don Lemon used force or the threat of force to obstruct access to the church. We have it on tape. The Trump administration apparently doesn't think we should believe our own eyes when we see its minions at work violating people's civil rights in Minneapolis and other places where you shouldn't believe what we look at when we see the tapes of the officers killing Mr. Freddie and Ms. Good. And apparently, we shouldn't believe our eyes when we see Don Lemon acting like a journalist, asking questions. Now, that is a federal crime. Joy. He's not going to be convicted. But the crime that he's charged with, if he was convicted, he could get 10 years in federal prison.
- [39:50]
Joy Reid
Wow. That is absolutely insane. Congressman Joaquin Castro and our friend Paul Butler, thank you both very much. We appreciate both of you. Thank you so much.
- [40:01]
Paul Butler
Thank you.
- [40:02]
Joy Reid
Thank you so much. I want to also show you all Georgia Fort's alleged crime. And, Jason, let me know when you've got a two, because this is her coverage of Minneapolis.
- [40:14]
Erin Haynes
I'm out here because I'm mad, and I want to protect my neighbors. These are all people that I love, and it makes me so mad that my.
- [40:23]
Joy Reid
My classmates are getting taken every day.
- [40:27]
Erin Haynes
Every day we're getting taken.
- [40:30]
Joy Reid
Well, we care. We care. We're so mad. We're so mad and hurting.
- [40:37]
Erin Haynes
Yes.
- [40:39]
Joy Reid
What do you see as some of the solutions for our country and how.
- [40:42]
Erin Haynes
We move forward from this moment. We need to find better solutions to find people to get into the country. No one should be illegal on land that's not even belonging to our government.
- [40:56]
Joy Reid
This isn't our land. Tell me how you found out about.
- [41:01]
Erin Haynes
The death of Renee Good and how that impacted you. How did it make you feel? I think I was just on my phone and I saw it. It was kind of the same way that I kind of found out about George Floyd. I was just scrolling on my phone and it just made me feel violated.
- [41:22]
Joy Reid
Because no one have to face a death that cruel.
- [41:30]
Erin Haynes
David Easterwood is a pastor here.
- [41:33]
Joy Reid
He is also the director of the field office for ICE in St. Paul. So someone who claims to worship God, teaching people in this church about God.
- [41:47]
Erin Haynes
Is out there overseeing ICE agents.
- [41:51]
Joy Reid
Think about what we've experienced. The murder of Renee Goode at the hands of ice, a Venezuelan national shot by ice, a six month old baby who almost died as a result of ICE unleashing military grade weapons on our community.
- [42:09]
Erin Haynes
How dare you claim to be a pastor of God and you are involved.
- [42:15]
Joy Reid
In evil in our country.
- [42:17]
Paul Butler
Community think Jesus would be understanding? We're, we're about worship these folks. We're about spreading the love of Jesus. But did you try to talk to them as they. No church had gathered for worship, which we do every Sunday, and we were interrupted by this group of protesters. We asked them to leave and. And they.
- [42:36]
Erin Haynes
Obviously have not.
- [42:45]
Joy Reid
So what you need to understand is that the protesters who went into that church went into that church to protest, probably understanding that they could be arrested. If you go in and you protest anywhere in a church, in a hospital, in a, in the capital, you should expect that you might be arrested. The people who were on January 6th protesting outside should have expected, although weirdly enough they were not, that they could actually also be arrested. Instead, they're arresting the people who are covering the people who are protesting. That doesn't make any sense. I said earlier on the live that we did, actually I said on Don Lemon's show live when I went on with his guest host this afternoon, that it would be like protesting. It would be like arresting the people who took pictures of John Lewis when John Lewis was marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. That's about how much sense it makes to arrest Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for doing the journalism of watching the people protest. The people inside the church know what they're going in there for. They're going in there to protest knowing they theoretically could get Arrested. They usually, typically when people are doing civil rights and other protests, they. They do these protests in full knowledge and understanding that they could be arrested, and they take that risk on purpose. But instead, what's happening is you're having the people who are covering the people who are doing the protests arrested, not the people who are doing the protests. So now these arrests do not include the woman. You saw Nakima, who is the main person who was. Who was doing the protest, leading the protest. Nakima is not the person that they're focusing on. They're focusing on the journalists who were covering the protest. Let's bring on Judge Glenda Hatchet. You will know her very well as Judge Hatchett, American television personality, lawyer and judge and the star of the former court show Judge Hatchett and the current day the Verdict with Judge Hatchett. Thank you so much, Judge, for being here. We appreciate it.
- [44:59]
Erin Haynes
Absolutely. Absolutely.
- [45:02]
Joy Reid
So can you make sense of the fact that we just played about five minutes between the two, between Don Lemon's coverage and Georgia Ford's coverage of them saying, and even saying, I'm a journalist holding cameras and microphones in front of people and asking them questions. They're on tape doing that. This is all on tape. Don Lemon says about three times to people who are coming up to him and talking to him willingly. I'm not one of the protesters. I'm a journalist. Make sense of the fact that you've now had Harmeet Dhillon and the justice, the injustice department at this point decide that they're going to still ostentatiously charge them with crimes.
- [45:40]
Erin Haynes
I appreciate the conversation, Joy, and I appreciate you breaking in earlier with live coverage of this. Can we go back just one step to frame this, please? Because there's a lot of talk about the First Amendment. Can I just quote the line that we really ought to be thinking about? The First Amendment of the US Constitution states, and I quote, congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech or of the press. End of quote. People talk about the First Amendment, but that. That is the guts of what we're talking about today. And the reason that the framers, historically, if you go back and you look at what happened and why we have the First Amendment in the US Constitution, it is so that journalists can be independent without fear of retribution, without fear of what is exactly happening in this situation today. This is broad. It is not just print. It is not just television. It can be digital. It is to not restrict the criticism because this nation then ostensibly was founded in a way that would not be Such that people were oppressed by the government for opinions of the press. I have to put that out there. Don Lemon, as you just said, repeatedly, said, I am not here to protest. He was not there to interfere with the church services. He was there to cover the situation. And if we start prosecuting journalists for doing their job, that is, in my opinion, such a slippery slope, because that then says that you are censoring what the press needs to cover.
- [47:50]
Joy Reid
Yeah. Indeed. Let me bring in Aaron Haynes, who is the president of the national association of Black Journalists, who put out a strong statement Today, backed by 40 other journalistic organizations, condemning the arrests of Georgia.
- [48:02]
Erin Haynes
Which I read and appreciated. I want to say that to you, Madam President. Thank you.
- [48:07]
Joy Reid
Absolutely. Absolutely. Erin Haynes. We saw the statement. We read from it earlier in the show. But please give us your take, both as a journalist yourself and as the president of nabj, of the arrests of these journalists who were literally. Literally doing journalism.
- [48:24]
Erin Haynes
Yeah, I mean, listen. I was just listening to the judge coming in to join you all tonight, and she's exactly right. The First Amendment is not optional, Joy.
- [48:33]
Joy Reid
And that's exactly what we said in the statement. It's not a joke.
- [48:36]
Erin Haynes
Don Lemon and Georgia Ford were not obstructing justice. They were practicing journalism. And we cannot reiterate that enough. And so arresting journalists who are lawfully gathering the news, that is a threat to press freedom.
- [48:50]
Joy Reid
And I think that that is why.
- [48:51]
Erin Haynes
You saw so many organizations standing with us, more than 40, as you pointed out and counting, who are standing up, because they know that when the freedom of the press is under attack, the.
- [49:05]
Joy Reid
Public'S right to know is really the.
- [49:06]
Erin Haynes
Thing that is also at risk. So this is a thing that really should concern not just members of our beloved profession. But I think that is why you're seeing so many people stand with us.
- [49:15]
Joy Reid
Every member of the public needs to.
- [49:17]
Erin Haynes
Be alarmed and outraged, as outraged as we are by the events that have transpired.
- [49:22]
Joy Reid
I mean, this is. It is not unprecedented.
- [49:25]
Erin Haynes
We know that, Joy. I mean, black journalists being arrested or intimidated or, you know, just trying to be silenced, trying to do their jobs, trying to speak truth to power. We have a long tradition of that, and we know that while that shouldn't.
- [49:39]
Joy Reid
Be part of the job, that is.
- [49:41]
Erin Haynes
Unfortunately, the backlash that we have too often faced. And so to see so many people pushing back and standing up is heartening.
- [49:48]
Joy Reid
But it is certainly a dark day and a new. A new moment for us, at least.
- [49:57]
Erin Haynes
In this political climate, where we are seeing the arrest of journalists.
- [50:02]
Joy Reid
And, Jason, if I'M just to warn you, if we can get a zero and also a four, a zero, I want to play what Georgia Ford actually said when she was released earlier today. Again, all four released on their own recognizance, no bail, meaning didn't seem like they were too much of a danger to society. They were released, released forthwith. They just wanted the arrest. They wanted the headlines, and they got that. And now here's what Georgia Fort said when she was released or not. I should be protected under the First.
- [50:32]
Erin Haynes
Amendment, just like all of the journalists.
- [50:34]
Joy Reid
Who I've been advocating for, too. I've been advocating for mainstream media journalists who have been brutalized for months. Do we have a constitution? That is the pressing question that should.
- [50:45]
Erin Haynes
Be beyond the front of everyone's minds.
- [50:48]
Joy Reid
And so, to everybody who showed up today, thank you. Please continue to support the other people.
- [50:54]
Erin Haynes
Who are being charged.
- [50:57]
Joy Reid
Obviously, because there's ongoing litigation. There is not much that I can.
- [51:01]
Erin Haynes
Say beyond what I'm saying now.
- [51:03]
Joy Reid
But amplifying the truth, documenting what is happening in our community is not a crime. And the questions that were were asked.
- [51:16]
Erin Haynes
A few weeks ago on a Sunday.
- [51:18]
Joy Reid
Morning by concerned community members.
- [51:21]
Erin Haynes
Those questions still need to be answered. And as a journalist, I am committed.
- [51:25]
Joy Reid
To continuing to follow the story until their questions are answered. And Aaron Haynes, I mean, to the point that she even did the journalistic work of covering her own arrest. Your thoughts on this fellow NABJ member? She's also, I understand, the chapter president, I believe, of NABJ in where she lives in Minneapolis.
- [51:46]
Erin Haynes
Yes, she's their chapter's vice president. Listen, you know, Joy, journalists, we're not trying to be the story. We're trying to cover the story. She doesn't want to be in this position. Don Lemon doesn't want to be in this position. You didn't want to be the story when you were the story. And yet this is what ends up happening in this very consequential and challenging moment that we find ourselves in just trying to do our jobs. You know, she. She said the same thing that I said earlier. Journalism that holds power to account, that's not a crime. We have to continue to say that.
- [52:19]
Joy Reid
Journalists have a fundamental responsibility as well.
- [52:22]
Erin Haynes
As a constitutional right to observe, to report, and to bear witness, you know, on behalf of the communities that they cover. And we know that black journalists in particular, because of the types of things that we cover, whether it's, you know, immigration or civil unrest or police violence, like, we are the ones that are disproportionately covering those things.
- [52:43]
Joy Reid
And so we are the ones that.
- [52:45]
Erin Haynes
Are disproportionately affected when these, when these attacks on press freedom are happening. And so, you know, I am so heartened to see Georgia, you know, stepping out of custody and saying, you know, she is just as committed to doing her job, to continuing to do her job with courage and with clarity.
- [53:03]
Joy Reid
And I think that the rest of us owe her, no less, not only.
- [53:07]
Erin Haynes
To stand with her, but to continue to do the jobs that we are doing, holding power to account and also, you know, just telling the truth about who and where we are as a country. It's so important right now.
- [53:18]
Joy Reid
We are the trusted messengers.
- [53:20]
Erin Haynes
I mean, folks like Georgia, folks like Don, folks like you, independent media that is not beholden to an institution is so important in our media ecosystem right now. And so that's why those voices cannot, cannot be silenced. And Georgia sounded very determined that she will not be silenced and that she will continue to ask the important questions.
- [53:39]
Joy Reid
Yeah, indeed. And Judge Hatchett, I mean, earlier on the Live. Earlier today, Lev Parnas reported to us that Don Lemon's arrest was something that Don Lemon, Don Lemon, that Donald Trump personally demanded and that members of the far right, that are his acolytes under Stephen Miller, but also some of these far right religious leaders were on Twitter demanding Don Lemon's arrest. There was a drumbeat for it. And Donald Trump clearly wants to please his base. But I want to show you what the White House itself, the official White House account tweeted regarding Don Lemon and get your response just as a judge, as a lawyer, the White House tweeting, don Lemon arrested with a black and white photo and changed.
- [54:23]
Erin Haynes
I think it's outrageous. I think it is to incite a certain part of a reaction from the basis we're talking about. And as we were talking about this, Joy, I also pulled up. I mean, this is just, this is more of the intimidation and these kind of pictures and, and him being arrested. We know that he was, they tried to arrest him when he was in Minnesota a few days ago. And the judge didn't buy it. The magistrate judge there didn't go along with it. Then they've regrouped. But the First Amendment covers protection on the local, state and federal level. But if I could just also, you know, you know me, I have to read every line of everything. The indictment, because I've been looking at the indictment. This is what the indictment says. It says on the morning of January 18th. And this both applies to both these two journalists. I mean, they're separate Paragraphs. But it says the same thing that they basically talked about him being them being co conspirators. And specifically in the OOVERT act number five, I won't get into the weeds on this, said that they were organizing and gearing up for a resistance operation and putting and tying him back to this, which is not what the case was with either of these journalists. But I am reading line for line these indictments and it is so contrary to what we know happened that day in that church.
- [55:59]
Joy Reid
I will, I'm looking at the indictment as well. It is not just against the four people that we mentioned to you earlier earlier. It is indeed against Nekima Valdez, Levy Armstrong. She is the lead, I guess protest organizer who you saw in Georgia Ford's video that she as a journalist took explaining why they were in that church. Because a member of lay pastor in that church works for ICE Chantill, Louisa Allen, who is also a protest leader, William Scott Kelly, AKA DA Woke Farmer. They say here Don Reynaldo Lemon. Don Lemon. Of course they do not list. They black out the name, which I presume is his producer Jamel Lindell Lundy, who we spoke about earlier and Trihern Jean Cruz, one of whom is the founder of co founder of Black Lives Matter, Minneapolis and Georgia Fort. So they're indicting them all to together. And Aaron, I wonder what kind of a message this sends to fellow journalists because as I said earlier, it would be like indicting the people who photograph John Lewis being beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge for being on the Edmund Pettus Bridge with John Lewis.
- [57:16]
Erin Haynes
Yeah, I mean that's exactly right. I mean by conflating two journalists with protesters who they are also attempting to demonize, right, for protesting, the message is that these journalists are not credible.
- [57:30]
Joy Reid
That is the message that that suggests. And we know that that's not true.
- [57:34]
Erin Haynes
Don was identifying himself as a journalist, Georgia Ford identifying herself as a journalist.
- [57:38]
Joy Reid
I mean Don Lemon has been Veteran.
- [57:41]
Erin Haynes
Journalist of 30 years, award winning.
- [57:43]
Joy Reid
You know, we know this and Georgia.
- [57:46]
Erin Haynes
Ford absolutely legitimate independent journalist.
- [57:49]
Paul Butler
But.
- [57:50]
Erin Haynes
But by trying to conflate them with these protests, by trying to say that they were not doing their jobs, but that they were participating in this protest instead of covering. Is contrary to what we know that we saw them doing literally on the ground trying to report back on what was happening on the ground in Minneapolis. And look, I mean this is why it's so important for us to have transparency, transparency from the authorities on what the legal basis is for these arrests. I mean if these are the Allegations being laid out in, in that indictment, you know, prove why that is the case. We, we need an end to prosecutorial actions that are targeting journalists for lawful news gathering. Again, as we said, that federal magistrate refused to, to, to, you know, to move forward with those charges. So why are we here? Why are we here?
- [58:40]
Joy Reid
We need a full inquiry into whether.
- [58:42]
Erin Haynes
These arrests violate press freedom, whether these arrests really violate constitutional guarantees. I think also that it, this is not going to go away to the two of you, my sisters, I think that it has to be framed in the situation that this is going to be a long legal battle that ultimately will end up at the Supreme Court perhaps. But they were strategic in this indictment, as you read it, to label those journalists as co conspirators. And it is by design, as Joy has so well articulated, so well articulated earlier, that the protesters were there for a very distinct reason. The journalists were there for a very distinct reason. But they then made this all a part of a common, common legal action. And unless this get. I just don't want this to become a legal precedent that is. Has such a chilling effect in judicial manner that this cannot stand. This just cannot stand and must be channeled.
- [60:01]
Joy Reid
Yeah, Judge Hatchett, that there are two questions here. Number one, whether the protest itself constitutes some sort of illegal conspiracy. People protest all the time. I recall we were played on this show that a former January 6th insurrectionist was burning Korans in both Michigan and in Minneapolis. He came to Minneapolis to burn Korans to effectively attack religious communities in that city. And that was a constitutionally protected protest. You got Dallas with, with water because he was by himself and didn't attract any friends and had to be rescued by a black man. But this is something they do you wanna talk about collusion between journalists and protesters. This regime itself has colluded with right wing YouTubers to go in and essentially scare people about the Somali community going to daycare centers while they're closed and saying, see, I can't open the doors when the windows are blacked out so that people can't peep in on the kids saying aha, see there's fraud. And the head of the Republican party in that state has admitted that they did collude with this person who's been to the White House who's part of their anti antifa roundtable. And they collude with this person to try to create a pretext to strip Minnesota of its SNAP benefits and of Medicaid. So it's not hard. It's kind of difficult to understand what kind of collusion they're talking about? The protests themselves strike me as First Amendment activity and the journalism strikes me as separate First Amendment activity. Are either of these two things, if you just look at the Constitution judge has had illegal.
- [61:42]
Erin Haynes
Well, the two. Let's separate the two. What they are saying is that there were worshipers who were not involved with the protesters. And what they're saying is that the worshipers right to be able to worship their were infringed upon. And that is, that is the hook they're using Joy on that side. And I think that they are going to write that. And I think that there is. If you go back and look at the Constitution and you look at the First Amendment and you look at that language, clearly they then will say, and as you predicted, those protesters went in, expected to be arrested because there were people who came to worship that day who were not able to worship because of the protesters. And so I do think there's some basis there to say that they, the people who, who were there to worship their constitutional rights to worship freely, uninhibited, was imposed upon or infringed upon. That is a totally separate conversation from the journalists being there to cover it. Does that make sense? Am I making sense?
- [62:53]
Joy Reid
Absolutely. It should be two completely separate things. Exit question. That is the bottom line, right? That if Chad said, if you conflate those two things, then why not arrest the journalists who are covering the January 6th insurrection? They were there in some cases. They followed those insurrectionists into the building. They followed them all the way to the speaker's lounge. They were standing there covering it when shots were fired. They were covering it when people were being crushed indoors. There were cameras on the whole time, not just people's cell phones. There were journalists in there, international journalists. Why couldn't you arrest any of them? Why would any journalist go, go and cover the future Freddie Gray uprising as I did, walking down the street with people who were marching in outrage over the killing of Freddie Gray. I was in the crowd. So that means the idea here would be to chill journalists from covering any protest. And if you starve protests of coverage, you end protests feasibility at all.
- [63:54]
Erin Haynes
To your point, you don't have vision, you don't have eyes, eyes in on what's happening.
- [63:58]
Joy Reid
Right.
- [63:59]
Erin Haynes
Journalists then are frozen. I mean, I've, you know, spent many a day in Minneapolis, in Minnesota because I represented the family of Philando Castile. A lot of people don't remember that part. And there were protests then. I mean, this is not new to this area. But let's be clear. You know, I mean, they had their eyes on Don. I mean, they had their eyes on.
- [64:19]
Joy Reid
Don.
- [64:21]
Erin Haynes
Going and Georgia.
- [64:24]
Joy Reid
Erin, your final word. Erin? Yeah, I mean, look, and this is.
- [64:30]
Erin Haynes
Why this is not just about one protest or these two journalists.
- [64:35]
Joy Reid
This is about whether the First Amendment.
- [64:37]
Erin Haynes
Still protects journalism, especially journalism that challenges power and that really is centering marginalized communities. Listen, you're exactly right, Joy.
- [64:48]
Joy Reid
The message that is is sent here.
- [64:50]
Erin Haynes
With these arrests is that journalists either should not be covering protests or that.
- [64:55]
Joy Reid
Any coverage of protests is not journalism. And we know that both of those.
- [64:59]
Erin Haynes
Things are not true. So we must continue to stand up, we must continue to speak out. And NABJ is certainly going to do that. And we are just so grateful for.
- [65:07]
Joy Reid
Our allies and folks like you that are standing with us and continuing to.
- [65:10]
Erin Haynes
Shine a light on this issue while we are doing our jobs with courage and clarity under these challenges conditions.
- [65:16]
Joy Reid
Thank you so much, Judge Glenda Hatchett and of course, Erin Haynes, president of nabj. Thank you both very much. Stay safe out there.
- [65:22]
Erin Haynes
Thank you for what you're doing, Joy.
- [65:24]
Joy Reid
Thank you very much. We're going to take a break. We are going to keep going here. We've got more guests coming up in the second hour. Thank you for sticking with us on the second hour of the Joy Reid Show. We are continuing. This is, we're about five hours into coverage because we did about three hours of our own live broadcast earlier today. Then we did, then I went on and did another hour or so on the, on the Don Lemon show as his fill in host was doing that and holding it down over there. We're going to continue talking about the arrest of these four people who are now indicted along with the activists who were conducting an action at Christ the city's church. The city's church is the church, as I've told y' all many times before, that is affiliated with, with, Yep. That was affiliated with the white Christian nationalist movement in the country. But let's go ahead and do a little bit of paying for this stuff because we got to make sure that independent media stays on. And to do that, we have to, we have to pick up our advertisers. And the Joy Reed show tonight is brought to you by our friends at Quint. Now starting this year with a wardrobe refresh. Well, Quint has you covered with luxe essentials that feel effortless and look polished. They are perfect for layering, mixing and building a wardrobe that lasts. Their versatile styles make it easy to reach for them. Day after day after day. Quince has all the staples totally covered, like soft Mongolian cashmere sweaters that feel like designer pieces without the markup and 100% silk tops and skirts for easy dressing up to perfectly cool, perfectly cut cool denim for everyday wear. Their wardrobe essentials are crafted to last six season after season. They're Italian wool coats, fabulous standouts, beautiful to touch and built to carry you through years and years of wear, not just one season. The quality shows in every detail. The stitching, the fit, the fabrics. It's all amazing. I myself have a couple of fabulous quince pieces. Break them out when I want to be warm, cozy and cute. We love that at all times. So I cannot tell you how much I'm loving my cashmere sweater. You've seen it, my little purplish color number. It's kind of almost the color of the show. We love that and is one of my favorite, favorite, favorite staples. So if you would like to refresh your wardrobe with quince, do not wait. You can go to quince.com joyread for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now also available in our favorite country, Canada. Canada sounds like a great place to be. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com joyread to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com Joy Reid thank you all very much for tuning in and for supporting our sponsors. We need them. We love them. We appreciate them. One, a couple more things before we get off of this topic. We're going to actually come back to Don Lemon because we've got Lev Parnas coming up later in this hour because he obviously has the tea on what's going on inside of the Trump regime when it comes to what they're doing to Don. But I want to go back because they are using this as a way way to support their white Christian nationalist movement that is a part of Project 2025. And they need that movement in to be strong and to stay with Donald Trump and to still be excited about Donald Trump in order to continue wrecking our democracy on behalf of this small group of Tech bros and Theo Bros and also to continue hiding the Epstein files. They were attacking the press, they were attacking journalists for a very serious reason because they need to keep control of the country. And keeping control of the country involves all sorts of things, both the electoral process, journalism, attempting to squash that, attacking the press. It's all part of one piece. And the white Christian nationalists who Donald Trump actually answers to hate the people like Renee Good and like Alex Preddy, who are siding with the marginalized, who are siding with the immigrants. And so their goal is to demonize them. But also, as Lev Parnas has reported, to make this story blacker because the story was very white. The people who've been really protesting, who've been really taking up the whistles and standing in the gap for those brown and black immigrants have been white men and women. And the rage against them is something serious. I want to play you a couple of additional bites just before we get off of this topic. Jason, if you could pull up a five. This is Pam Bondi essentially speaking not to the American people. She's supposed to be the attorney general of all of the people, but she speaks very specifically in this piece just to white Christian nationalist. This is a five.
- [70:10]
Erin Haynes
Make no mistake. Under President Trump's leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely. And if I haven't been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.
- [70:26]
Joy Reid
And there you have it. And this is all happening at the same time that we are seeing attacks on people that Donald Trump does not favor, on people that Donald Trump does not think are important, important on people who Donald Trump does not think are worthy of protection. If you could find for me, please, Jason, let me find it. This is B3, because in the state of Minneapolis, in the state of Minnesota, I should say in the city of Minneapolis, Representative Ilhan Omar, who is a woman and immigrant and black and a hijabi and Muslim, she was attacked. Water. It wasn't water. It turns out it was apple cider vinegar, apparently, that was thrown, thrown on her while she was doing a town hall. Donald Trump has been relentlessly attacking Ilhan Omar, just relentlessly, relentlessly attacking her. And here was her response to the attack on her and to Donald and the role she says Donald Trump played in that attack.
- [71:31]
Erin Haynes
You know, blame is very interesting, but facts are more important. And what the facts have shown since I've gotten into elected office is that every time the president of the United States has chosen to use hateful rhetoric to talk about me and the community that I represent, my death threats skyrocket for four years when he was in office. The first two years I was state rep, and the last two years I was a member of Congress, it was maybe my second or third week when he started attacking me. I became a freshman who nobody should have actually known I existed because I wielded no power to having the most death threats of any member of Congress to the point where I had to have six Capitol Police officers providing 24 hour detail to me and my family. He left office. Well, he was defeated and Biden got elected. And for four years it almost plummeted. Then he came back into office and he reassumed his vitriol. And now my death threats are the highest of the members of Congress. And last night, the man that attacked me was specifically upset that Trump's order to deport Somalis was not yielding enough deportations of Somalis. So he wanted to come get the person he thought was protecting the Somalis. Well, we are protected by the Constitution. Sorry. To tell you the truth, we are protected by the Constitution. And so I do believe that the facts of the situation are that I wouldn't be where I am at today having to pay for security, having the government to think about providing me security if Donald Trump wasn't in office and if he wasn't so obsessed with me. It is ironic that just last night he was on stage moments before I was attacked, talking about me. And then when asked about my attack, he said, I don't think about her. Does he not remember? Is he suffering from dementia? How do you spend 20, 30 minutes on stage obsessing over me by now name multiple times and then moments later say, ilhan Omar? I don't think about her. So hopefully that answers your question.
- [74:47]
Joy Reid
Joining me now is Nana Gamfi. She's the executive director of the Black alliance for Just Immigration, Baji for short, and Liz Winstead, the founder of Abortion access Front aaf, a bold New York City based reproductive rights organization that combines humor and activism to expose anti choice hypocrisy and mobilize Support all across 50 states and the humor parties because she is, of course, the co founder of the Daily Show. Thank you both for being here. Nana, I do want to start with you. In this whole context, the attacks not just on Ilhan Omar, but also on Maxwell Frost. He was also physically attacked. He is also. Okay, the arrests of Don Lemon and six other people now, I guess it appears, and very focused on black people when the face of what we've seen in Minneapolis has really been very, very white.
- [75:38]
Erin Haynes
Yeah, absolutely. And thank you so much for having me on and thank you for continuing to keep up the energy on this because we can't let it go when we look at what's happening now. Joy, I think about the fact that we know that the attacks that have been happening when it comes to the invasion of the Body Snatchers is, I refer to it as icbp, the federal agents and the mass mercenaries, that this started in Minnesota as an attack on black people and then quickly shifted. The regime was horrified to find that the same white folks that were excited to be allies in 2020 still are in that mode and excited to be allies now. In fact, there's even more folks than they had before. And so then they shifted to trying to scare white people, as they've done, you know, since the time of abolition. Right. To be able to try to get white folks to go to the side. But they see that that's not worked. And so they're going back to trying to rile up their base who they know. Some of them are horrified at the fact that they've actually murdered white people. And so they're like, okay, let's bring the bouncing ball back to the black people. And in so doing, that dog whistle has gotten the their dogs to howl at the moon and start to attack folks like Representative Omar to point the finger and to agree with the arrest of Don Lemon, Georgia Ford and others, and to again attack folks like Maxwell Frost. So this is what they're doing on purpose because they realize that when the focus is on white people, they lose. When the focus goes on black people, they get that base going again, particularly that white Christian nationalist base, or I call it Christian supreme white supremacist base that you were talking about earlier.
- [77:22]
Joy Reid
Yeah. Another name for it is Christofascist. I wanna 0 in on that point because to that point, Liz. And you know, Minneapolis. Well, you live in Minneapolis. You are very much acquainted with that world. It is a very liberal community that Alex Preddy and Renee Goode like, lived in. And it was a very, you know, a community where there are a significant number of Somali immigrants and businesses. Those businesses have all but shut down because people are afraid to leave their homes. People are terrified. They're hiding at home. They don't want to leave the house. What do you make of this very aggressive attempt? Left Parnas reported on it. And then it seemed to happen almost immediately that the. The Stephen Miller regime, Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, the whole gang decided, oh, this is too white. We need to make this into a focus on black people. What do you make of that?
- [78:14]
Erin Haynes
Well, again, it's just underestimating Minnesota. So I am in Ilhan's district right now. I. I live in Ilhan's district. And they don't understand. Like, Ilhan brought home four Minnesotans federal dollars so that every child in Minnesota could have free breakfast and free lunch. You know, Ilhan brings home to a district that is. While her district is most of the Somali community in Minnesota live in Ilhan's district. Her district is majority white, and she wins with 87% of the vote. She also has a very strong Jewish community with which she represents the largest Jewish community in Minnesota has a mayor who is black Muslim. And so we just don't play that way. We just don't play that way. And maybe that works to this weird Trump base outside of Minnesota, but it doesn't work here. And I find it really, again, the ahistorical nature of this administration, again, just shows its ugly head as they try to do this pivot back and forth, and it is just not working. We've had the most robust refugee program in Minnesota for 50 years, since the end of the Vietnam War. So Minnesota has a history of inviting black folks in. We've had some problems. White white Minnesotans did not understand the profundity of how racist our police were until really we saw Philanthrope and Dante Wright and George Floyd. And what did we do? We reacted by saying, how do we put ourselves on the line? So what I'm just still trying to figure out is it's not working in Minnesota. So how is it going to play out in the greater. In the greater space? Right. That is the question. I really wonder.
- [80:17]
Joy Reid
I want to just play for a minute, Jason, if you can get a 12. Because Donald Trump does not understand that because people around him are people like Stephen Miller. It's people like Kristi Noem, who's just a useful idiot. She'll just do whatever she's told and say whatever she's told. She's now saying. I was just repeating what Stephen Miller told me to say when I called this gentleman a terrorist. When I said that Mr. Preddy was a terrorist, I was just repeating what I heard. This whole gang of them, they listened to. To each other and to Fox. I don't say news. And they listen to people like the ones I'm about to play. And I'm apologizing for about two minutes. Don't put your fingers in your ears. But this honestly. And I could have had Tucker Carlson, but it would have been too long. This who Donald Trump actually answers to. Simple.
- [81:01]
Paul Butler
In the fog of war, right? Just look through it. We have to hold the line.
- [81:06]
Joy Reid
There can be no de escalation at all.
- [81:07]
Paul Butler
You don't need to bring down the temperature, raise the temperature.
- [81:10]
Joy Reid
You can't put a handful of C Customs and borders and ice agents there and Let them be surrounded every night.
- [81:14]
Paul Butler
By domestic violent terrorists.
- [81:17]
Joy Reid
This is inflection point.
- [81:19]
Paul Butler
You blink now and you're going to blink forever. You bend the knee now, you'll bend the knee forever.
- [81:24]
Joy Reid
If we stand in the breach and.
- [81:25]
Paul Butler
Say, screw you, we're fighting for the country, right?
- [81:28]
Joy Reid
And I don't care how many people I got to deport. I don't care if you got. If the families are there and they're there illegally and we want to keep them together, guess what? You're going to have to round up some five year olds with their parents.
- [81:37]
Paul Butler
But they're going home. And home ain't the United States. I don't care how long they've been here on Biden's watch, law abiding.
- [81:43]
Joy Reid
That's not the point.
- [81:43]
Paul Butler
They're here illegally.
- [81:44]
Joy Reid
I. I know I'm supposed to feel sorry for Alex Preddy, but I don't. I don't. Do you know why I wasn't shot by border patrol this weekend? Because I kept my ass inside and out of their operations. It's very simple. If I felt strongly enough about something the government was doing that I would go out and protest, I would do it peacefully on the sidewalk without interfering via a whistle, via shouting, via my body, via any other way. I would make my objections known by standing there without interfering. Because interfering is where you go. South. You try to get them out. It's barely even happening. These race traders become martyrs for them. They don't ride for them. You see the Somalians rioting for their white saviors. It doesn't happen. And you have your own side are.
- [82:25]
Paul Butler
Agitating for it, saying, yeah, abolish ice.
- [82:26]
Joy Reid
Because you know they're being too heavy handed. It's the opposite. They're not being heavy handed enough. We should have martial law, insurrection act, military in the streets. You think this is militarization? The cops are being chased around on American soil. It's a joke. It's embarrassing. And people say this is like the Gestapo. It's like Nazi Germany. Give me a break. It's not extreme enough. People don't have a stomach for it. You got to grow some. Or else again, we will be pushed around by radical white race traitors, by non white invaders until they have taken everything from us. First of all, when these people come out, go, tim's a bootlicker for defending us. I'm like, no, no, you misunderstand.
- [83:05]
Paul Butler
It's my boots.
- [83:06]
Erin Haynes
It's mine.
- [83:07]
Joy Reid
I voted for them. I'm wearing the boot.
- [83:09]
Paul Butler
I'm stomping on the ground. I ain't licking anybody.
- [83:11]
Joy Reid
I'm clapping for these people that I said please go out and enforce the law.
- [83:15]
Paul Butler
And anybody else who's cheering for, who voted for too, we're all wearing the boots.
- [83:18]
Joy Reid
You're the one crying if you didn't know who all of those people were. That was of course Steve Bannon who said if we don't win the mid the next election, we're going to jail. That is Megyn Kelly who effectively said that underage girls are just underage types that maybe Jeffrey Epstein and his friends liked. And there's nothing wrong with that. Despite herself having a 14 year old girl and excused Jeffrey Epstein's predation. The Mexican white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Very ironic Mexican neo Nazi white nationalist. And of course the bootlicking power incel Tim Pool. That is who Liz Winstead Donald Trump ultimately answers to.
- [83:59]
Erin Haynes
Yeah, and I'm sorry my dog's on my lap, but he won't bark. If he's on my lap, he's welcome. But the one thing I wanted to say just real quickly is Minnesota rejected Stephen Miller because Stephen Miller was Michele Bachmann, who was a representative here before Tom Emmer. We had Michele Bachmann and he was her press secretary from 2007 to 2009 and led for her and advised her on this anti immigrant agenda. And the whole state was like garbage. So we already hate Stephen Miller for many reasons. But when you have these people trying to talk about race trading and all this other garbage, again underestimating Minnesota. We opened up ourselves and invited and insisted upon policy that invited the immigrant here years ago and what we have done in this city and how immigrants.
- [85:03]
Joy Reid
Have.
- [85:06]
Erin Haynes
Blended this fabric, we have and effortlessly become part of who we are. You know, I almost don't like I was out in the streets today and I almost don't like the chant. Immigrants are welcome here because immigrants live here. It gives some this kind of ownership to whiteness. And I, and I, and I. So I always kind of cringe a little bit at that where it's like this is the home to immigrants. We protect you because you live here.
- [85:38]
Joy Reid
So is all of America. So is all of America. And I want to give you the last word. I know we're going to lose you very quickly, Nana, because while they're doing all that and while that crowd is barking at Donald Trump and he's barking back, they're ostentatiously recruiting a different immigrant. Nicki Minaj. We originally had you on to try to talk about Nicki Minaj's Latest tomfoolery. Tomfoolery being the Tom being the main part of it. But they ostentatiously want at least one or two black house pets in the house. They had Candace Owens, but she kind of went away on them because of Israel and her opposition to the genocide. And so now they, you know. But her job was to recruit rappers. It was to recruit Kanye West, Amber Rose, all through this Turning Point USA mechanism to get these blacks in so they can have one or two, because they still need the cultural cool of blackness. Explain to me why Nicki Minaj has decided to pretend that she got a gold card with Trump's face on it that gives her instant immigration status when it turns out that's actually not even true.
- [86:43]
Erin Haynes
No, it's not even true. First of all, here's my little conspiracy theory. And I'm here as long as you need me, Joy. But here's my little conspiracy theory. Remember, Nicki Minaj had attacked brother Don, and they were going back and forth, and I just find it weird. This is my conspiracy theory that she says she got this gold car, and the next day they come and arrest Don Lemon. That's my conspiracy theory.
- [87:06]
Joy Reid
Because you're talking about attacks on. And if those. If you do have a few minutes, we do actually have a clip of those attacks. I'm gonna number. That is. That is 6C1. Jason, if you can grab it.
- [87:21]
Erin Haynes
Needing a Michelle and Bill, needing a.
- [87:25]
Joy Reid
Hillary.
- [87:27]
Erin Haynes
You better pray to God you don't get stuck with a Melania. You want brainless. I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president. He. He has. I don't know if he even knows this, but he's given so many people hope.
- [88:00]
Joy Reid
Okay. That there's a chance my ears hurt.
- [88:04]
Erin Haynes
So you're about to say, enough, Joy.
- [88:09]
Joy Reid
My ears are in pain. Your. Your supposition is the attack not just on Trump, but on Melania, who has a flop movie that is debuting today in theaters to tens of people watching it. Do you think the theory is she has tax problems, pedo relative problems, and immigration problems?
- [88:27]
Erin Haynes
Absolutely. She has all of those problems. And what she has decided and figured out is what I'm going to do is I'm going to cozy up to Trump, and in cozying up to Trump, I'm going to protect myself. And if. And you know, Trump does this sort of in order to try to make you feel better, he'll do something for you as well. Right. And so I think that it's this. This relationship in which she has figured out that, hey, if I play this game that I'm going to be able to protect myself. I'm going to be able to protect my family, including folks that clearly would be deported. Because there are certain crimes that people commit that get you deported, not because I'm happy about it, but because that is the law and pedophilia is definitely one of them. And so I think that she's decided that that's where she's going to go. I mean, it's very clear. And how we know how clear it is is that in 2018, this is the same person who is posting about how she came here as five, how she was undocumented. She posted a picture of the inside of a detention prison looking like a horrible detention prison, and said how she felt so terribly for children whose parents had been taken away and she could not imagine what that felt like. And literally in her post, begging people to imagine to themselves what it must feel like for a child that was the age she was when she got to this country, five years old, to have your parents taken away between 2018 and now, she has completely flipped. Now she's down with the crown. She's ready to get rid of people, to separate not just Liam, but all these other black immigrants from this country. I want to point out that Trinidad has some of the highest rates proportionally of people who are deported from this country. And so she has reason to be afraid and wanting to cozy up. And I think that it's really important that we point out at all times that when we see people like Nicki Minaj stepping up to go along with this anti black racist, authoritarian actions that this, that this administration is engaged in, that what they're really contributing to is the development of a taxpayer funded domestic authoritarian, racist army, which is what he's looking for, a federales under his control that will cage, survey and disappear us all. And so we've got to push back in a strong kind of way and we've got to make sure that we're not letting Nicki Minaj get away because we like her music. That's not gonna work anymore.
- [91:03]
Joy Reid
Yeah. And I'm sure it's completely coincidental that Donald Trump is an alleged sex pest like her husband and brother. Completely coincidental. To her support, I'm sure. One last question before I let you go, Liz. Earlier in the day, you really beautifully explained, explained this law that is being used to attack Don Lemon, that was originally passed in order to prevent right wing Christian nationalists from attacking abortion clinics could for those who were not on the live earlier Please explain that law.
- [91:35]
Erin Haynes
Absolutely. So the law that we're talking about is called the FACE act, which stands for freedom to access clinic entrances. And it was passed in 1994. Bill Clinton signed it into law. Oddly enough, Chuck Schumer was the author when he was in Congress. I think that's the last time he actually, actually did something we're really excited about. But so the purpose of this law was back in the day, in the late 80s, into the early 90s, clinics that provided abortion care were being firebombed, doctors were being killed, patients were being harassed, and it was happening constantly. They were attacking themselves, they were chaining themselves to the entrance to the entrances of clinics, they were chaining themselves within the clinics, and they were blocking people from getting out, getting in and getting care. So Congress decided they wanted to pass this law with hefty fines, 10 years, up to 10 years in prison, hundreds of thousand dollars in fines so that they couldn't do it. The conservatives in Congress said we don't really care and we actually really don't like women or abortion providers. So the only way we'll pass this law is if you give these same protections to houses of worship. And so houses of worship now have this same law. And as we have, we've had some success prosecuting. My organization, Abortion Access Front has bears witness, which is why I'm so comfortable in the streets, is that for 10 years we've been bearing witness at clinics and gathering data, gathering information. And those 23 people that were actually convicted in 2024, a lot of that was the footage and the information that we provided. Trump pardoned all those people right after he did J6 he did these people. And now Chip Roy and Mike Lee with Pam Bondi are trying to strip out the abortion protections and leave in the church protections. And so what they did was when they brought in Georgia and they brought in Don, they said that they were violating the FACE Act. Now here's something that's interesting that we didn't talk about earlier, Joy, and that is some of the anti abortion folks who got off or did not get convicted for face said that face only can be used if you're outside the clinic or blocking a door door. And they said we were in the clinic, but we weren't blocking anyone's access. So you can't confront us with that. And so I'm wondering with Georgia and with Don, nobody there was blocking anybody's access to get in or out. They were in a church covering it as journalists. And even the other protesters weren't blocking anybody's access to in or out. So I find that really interesting. So that's, that's where we at with the Face Act. And it's something that's been this little known law that's been kind of hanging out over here that we're going to be hearing more about. But just know that 33 years ago, because we kowtowed to right wing extremists then, Pam Bondi is now taking her goon squad and trying to prosecute journalists for covering protests just because they are in a church.
- [94:50]
Joy Reid
They're also attempting to use Nana the KKK act to enhance these alleged crimes. Again, an ironic use of an act that was originally designed to protect newly freed African Americans, black folks from the Klan. But Harmeet Dhillon did an interview today on a right wing podcast in which she explained how they would attempt to enhance these crimes, alleged crimes against these, this multiple set of African Americans of black folks. With that, I want to let you get a final word on that.
- [95:25]
Erin Haynes
Yeah, I mean, this is what this administration can. And this regime, I hate to call it administration because it's really a regime. Joy. This is what this regime continues to do. It continues to take what is used for black people, what our folks, blood, sweat and tears. Mainly black American, but also of course, black immigrants such as Kwame Ture and others. Right. Bled for to be able to have. And they take these, they take things that were used in the time of reconstruction to be able to give people the opportunity, black people, the opportunity that black people deserve to be able to build the world that we needed to have. They take that and then they use it against it in like this cruel joke. It's a mockery. They're literally making mockery of the blood, sweat, tears that we have shed in order to get to the places that we have gotten to that they consider to be too far. It's too far for them. And so they're using that and thinking that it's humorous that they're using it as a sword against us. It's really important that as we're dealing these cases because there's a lot of attorneys that are talking about democracy, which is important, very important. But this is not just democracy when it comes to black people. And I'm saying this as a movement attorney of 30 years, it is also about anti blackness. It's about trying to grind black people back to where we were. And if your only conversation is about democracy and the rule of law and you're not bringing in these other pieces, that's why critical race theory is so critical, then you're going to be missing the whole piece of what's happening and you're going to be saying how do we get to Renee Goode dead? How do we get to Alex Preddy dead? And you won't be understanding how Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, how dismissing what happens to black people. That's part of what we have a framework we just launched called stop taking our people at bogie. And part of that is a warning. It's an invitation, but it's also a warning if you continue to dismiss what happens to black people and anti blackness and and you will be surprised when you look up and it takes us all out.
- [97:35]
Joy Reid
Indeed. Very beautifully said, Nana Gamfi, thank you very much from Insta Baji on Instagram. It's so easy to follow her that way. And Liz Winstead from the abortion access front, it's aaf.org I am presuming but correct me if I'm wrong, It is.
- [97:48]
Erin Haynes
A front.org a front.
- [97:51]
Joy Reid
Look at that. See, you got to make sure that we get it right. We don't want to wrong with thank you both very much. Happy Friday. Have a great weekend. Please. Happy Friday.
- [97:59]
Erin Haynes
Great to see you all.
- [98:00]
Joy Reid
Thank you very much. Before I introduce our next guest, a couple of news items just to share with you. The Senate has approved a Trump backed government funding deal, delaying for now a larger fight over whether ICE will be funded. Democrats have been breaking left and saying they do not want that funded. The United States for the New York Times and Argentina Javier Malay is authoritarian country are said to be in advanced talks to allow the United States to deport immigrants from other countries to Argentina even if they're not actually from Argentina. One more piece of breaking news. Sahil Kapoor from the Artist formerly known as MSNBC reporting that every Senate Democrat we might from NBC News that every single Senate Democrat plus Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski just voted for the Bernie Sanders amendment to repeal repeal the $75 billion in additional ICE funding under Trump's big hideous bill. However, the measure failed 49 to 51. And Sahil is NBC News. Let's make sure we give him his right honorific. Let's bring in our friend Lev Parnas, the man with the scoops from Lev remembers Lev, we've been talking about the release of Don Lemon on his own recognizance as well as Georgia Ford and the others. No bail. No hundred thousand dollar bail. So obviously they're not a threat to the community. Don is now free to Go as is Georgia. What do you know about the motivations here and what have you developed as far as what's happened?
- [99:36]
Lev Parnas
So, yeah, no, there a lot of things are happening behind the scenes. So thank God Don is out and also the other report supporters are out independent. I've also been speaking to some of Don's illegal team behind the scenes and thank God, you know, there is justice there. You know that we have judges that are standing up to Trump all over the place. But this is bigger than just Don Lemon. I mean, yes, as I wrote in my sub stack, they finally got what they wanted. Him and Steve, I mean Stephen Miller literally walking around with the grin in the White House. They got their black man, they got their gay man, they got their perfect. You know what, they want to now go out, try to cause this. But it's more than that. They're linking it. Also some of the people in the indictment, I don't know if you saw Joy were actually tied to Black Lives Matter. That's another thing that I was talking about previously, if you remember, behind the scenes, me and you were discussing it, that they're trying to link because of a video, because of they're trying to link organizations like Black Lives Matters. Also there I'm hearing reports reporting that there are actually, they're having surveillance done on certain independent journalists, like even my own son and others that are right now out there. And Don might have been one of them because as you could see in the indictment, they're trying to indict him with the conspiracy charge of getting together. So, uh, they're uh, they're also trying to go after and basically scare the money donors, people that are supporting people. And that's why right now, folks, more than ever we need to support, stand up, help one another. Because that's part of what the fear factor that they're doing in also they're going into signal chats, phone records, basically trying to turn this into a whole big cabal conspiracy tied into organizations. Like I said, like Black Lives Matter is trying to bring Antifa, as we know is not even an organization, but bring that in there and make Don and others. Because I'm hearing there's also others that they're looking into that there's other arrests coming and other journalists that they're going to be trying to shut down.
- [101:46]
Joy Reid
This is clearly in advance of what they've been doing with Palantir in terms of this total surveillance. We understand that ICE is using Palantir or Palantir style surveillance technology when they're Putting their phone. Lots of people saw Greg Bevino walking up to people in the street, putting phone in their face. They're using this surveillance technology, some of it apparently tied to Palantir, to try to track people all through neighborhoods. But as you said, there have been rumors, Lev, that they have been infiltrating signal chats, that they have been attempting to plant spies and infiltrators in these organizations and that, as you said, they're very determined to draw Black Lives Matter in. Now, just so that you all will understand, in both of the chats here, Black Lives Matter is not one organization. There are lots of different Black Lives Matter individual entities around the country. It isn't one big organization, but they are attempting to pretend that it is and that there's some sort of connection because as you said, they've been frustrated that there have not been black faces front of these protests 100%.
- [102:53]
Lev Parnas
I mean, literally, they are, you know, rejoicing and thinking that this attack, that this is going to again, what they don't think through because Stephen Miller is not the brightest cat in the, in the, in the litter as saying that kindly. But you know, the fact that they, like you said earlier that the people are onto their game and what we've seen in Minnesota is just amazing because with all the atrocities, the killings, the, the. I mean, you could, I don't even have the adjectives to say. The stuff that they do are doing. We're seeing peaceful protests. We're seeing all black, white, brown. We're seeing everybody come together. What they're doing is backfiring instead of dividing the country and what they're trying to. Between black and white and trying to turn this into that, go back into that white national supremacist country. It's working the opposite. And then, and, and we're seeing the peaceful protest and that's why they're not able to push. What they're really trying to do is the Insurrection act, their project 2025. And I'm also hearing behind the scenes that there's, even though some of the stuff were distractions, you know, what happened with down. But today they're trying to cover up a lot of the stuff that was being dumped in the Epstein files that is being uncovered right now like Howard Lutnick, the famous Howard Lucknick that came out there and said he was neighbors with Epstein, knew all about never been to Epstein Island. Well, the records are in. We're going to be talking about later tonight. He was an Epstein Island. Howard Lutnick is in The Epstein files. You know who else is in the again in the Epstein files. You know the guy who was screaming the loudest. I want them to release the Epstein file. Well, this is the third dump. And again Michael Cohen is in the Epstein files. You can't, I mean Joy, you can't make this stuff up. And you know the other things that are in the Epstein files that are, is just disgusting. And where you know that white why Don was put in the situation to begin with because of the timing is there was a lot of, a lot of complaints that were they tried to sneak in there where they're actually talking about 13, 14 year old girls getting, doing oral sex to Donald Trump. Literally the same thing as Katie Johnson was saying. And there's several complaints about that.
- [105:20]
Joy Reid
I mean there's there for just one moment because one of the things we read earlier today, only Zatao right now. And again this is the tail's reporting earlier today. I started to read some of it during our live earlier when we were on earlier but I just couldn't get through it. It was so disgusting. But one of the things that stood out to me in this alleged, alleged tip that came into the FBI in 1987, 1987, when Donald Trump was an active real estate investor. Now remember when Donald Trump in the 1980s was a, a public person, a famous real estate developer. He wasn't a politician. He really wasn't that important on a national level. He was mainly known to people in New York. So this wouldn't have been about attempting by Jeffrey Epstein to try to be his friend because he thought he would be president. Unless you believe the stories that Donald Trump was in the late 80s already being developed by the Kremlin as a Russian asset. If you believe that, then maybe you do believe that that's why he was getting close to him. But the reality is this was an era when Donald Trump was very active in the modeling work world, owning a modeling agency. I think that he might have started maybe in the 90s. I'm not sure when he started it but he was palling around with John Casablancas and Jean Lou, Jean Luc Bernard, I think his name is correct. Karen models. And all of these men were predators. That they were predators. And there was one thing, Levin, I don't know if you've been able to zero in on this particular thing in this alleged complaint. Alleged Donald Trump has not been accused of this. There's no accusation legally but this is a tip to FBI is that they were mentioning, to put it the most bland way I can. Digital penetration, meaning Donald Trump allegedly grabbing underage girls by the P word, which is something he himself has on tape bragged about doing, and that he himself, in a civil trial, was found liable for having done to Eugene Carroll.
- [107:15]
Lev Parnas
I mean, that's 100%. You hear that? Again, this is all alleged because. But we don't know the way they dumped it. That's another thing. We don't know if this has been investigated. We don't know what transpired with these complaints. The way, I mean, this is why I call it a dump, because they basically dumped this on us without actually. Okay, so what happened with that complaint? Did you follow up on it? Did you see. We don't know where's the other dump. And that's why we're seeing lots of things there. Another thing we saw in there was Elon Musk again showing up, making plans. Again, we don't know if he actually was at the island, but again, we see messages of him talking about him going to the island. So again, we're seeing these bits and pieces. And again, they dumped this during a time where like, again, the country's outrage because of what they did to Don Lemon and other independent journalists. What's happening in Minnesota is continuously. They raided yesterday, Georgia, and all of a sudden, today we dump 3 million files.
- [108:14]
Joy Reid
So, yes, Joy, this is weirdly not coincidental.
- [108:17]
Lev Parnas
No, not. None of it. And that's why I want to make sure. And I'm glad. Thank you for having me. Because I, I tell everybody, watch what they do now, what they say, keep d the ball, you know, because they're trying the distractions. Yes, they're important because a lot of these things are important in their own ways. But what his. I mean, the kryptonite to Superman. His kryptonite is the Epstein files. Major, major cover up.
- [108:39]
Joy Reid
And Lev, listen, Bill Gates, who we know is very. In the Epstein files. Elon Musk, who at least there are emails talking about him maybe going to Epstein Island. Peter Thiel, who in the last dump we saw there were emails about trying to arrange a meetup between Epstein and Peter Thiel. Steve Bannon, Donald Trump. You start to look at a very small nexus of men who at minimum, like Alan Dershowitz, but he was his lawyer, had some form of a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, at least knew him well enough that they are appearing more than once in these files. Your average person is not appearing in these files. But these all happen to be billionaires or billionaire adjacent people. Donald Trump, now a billionaire because of crypto but they are people who want a certain number of the same things. Absolute power and to be an elite through a techno feudalist system in which they would have total surveillance over the United States and everyone in it. They would have palantir that would be able to read your phone even when your phone is off, read watch you through your smart TV even when your smart TV is off. And do pre crime. In other words, try to determine whether you might commit a crime in the future or whether you might protest in the future, laying everyone out like Minority Report so that you'd have total control over every single person in the United States. Last thing I'll add, you've now had Doge go into the federal government and get for potentially Grok, potentially OpenAI, potentially Peter Thiel, potentially Palantir, potentially who, whoever, access to every single American. Social Security records, immigration records, birth records, you name it. They now have that which they can sweep up into their AI systems in order to enhance and improve their total surveillance. When you start to look at it that way, you don't sound as much like a conspiracy theorist as you sound like a realist who says this cabal is suppressing the Epstein files because it is the roadmap to what they want to do to us and how they want to do it and what Jeffrey Epstein's role was in it.
- [110:56]
Lev Parnas
100% joy. And that's why I keep saying. And that's why actually, if I may, we also have a petition out there. I'll share it with you if you could share it. We have over 10,000 already signature, folks. It's a petition basically to say to. I'm going to meet up with in Congress the February 12th with Congressman Raskin and Congressman Rokana. We have over 10,000 and it's a petition to say, listen, yes, they're going to release the Epstein files, but in the meantime, we could walk and chew gum. We already know that certain people are in the Epstein files. Steve Bannon, Michael Cohen, the Clintons, you name it. What's it called? Peter Thiel. What's his name? What's his name? Michael Wolf, Elon Musk. I mean, these people need to get subpoenas right now. Why are we waiting for. Let's start questioning. Let's get out there. We don't.
- [111:46]
Joy Reid
Y' all like Bill Clinton's in the epc? Bill Clinton said, good, subpoena me.
- [111:49]
Lev Parnas
Yeah, exactly. That's what I'm saying. Subpoena everybody, not just Bill Clinton. Let's go. Let's get the list. We have A list. Sign the petition, folks, and let's go. We don't have to wait until everything is released. We don't know what is going to. They're scrubbing, they're lying, they're trying to cover Right now we, we have some really incredible stuff. I mean, we know Michael Cohen's all over. We know Michael Wolf is all over. Steve Bannon is all over it. We know Elon Musk is all over it. I mean what else do we need? Let's go, let's get going.
- [112:18]
Joy Reid
Bubba is, you know, Mark Epstein and Jeffrey Epstein texting about whether or not Putin has the tapes of Trump quote, unquote blowing. Bubba, I want to know who Bubba is. And we don't know if. Absolutely. Last question before I let you go. You talked about it earlier on the live because this seems to be one of the things that Donald Trump really fears the most. This I'm holding in my hands from the previous Epstein dump this complaint. Jane Doe versus Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. This is something that came up back when I first heard and met you or met a new of you at least when I was doing my weekend show. And this disappeared real quick because we were attempting to interview whoever it was that filed this. This is Jane Doe. Who do you know, Lev, who Jane Doe is and why she filed a complaint, a lawsuit that was withdrawn, ultimately claiming she was sexually abused as a 13 year old child by Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. Again, not something he was charged with, not something that went anywhere. Do you know who, who Jane Doe is?
- [113:16]
Lev Parnas
Absolutely. And thank you so much for talking about this, Joy, because it's extremely important and this is exactly what Donald Trump is scared of. Jane Doe was Katie Johnson, which is another synonym for, for we don't know what her real name was. She was a 13 year old girl that was like you said, I'm not going to go into the graphic details, but was sexually trafficked, abused by and had the courage right. To file an actual lawsuit. She filed a lawsuit and she was represented by a very powerful attorney. So it's a credible lawsuit by attorney Bloom.
- [113:48]
Joy Reid
Boom.
- [113:49]
Lev Parnas
And at that time she named Epstein and Trump as sexually, you know, raping her and all kinds of stuff.
- [113:57]
Joy Reid
Right.
- [113:58]
Lev Parnas
And at the time, right prior to election in around 2016, all of a sudden she disappeared. Her complaint got withdrawn. There's several things that are going on right now that we are right now opening up and the Epstein files are releasing. One of those things is Michael Cohen at that time was his fixer. He has denied, he has said that he's been the closest to him, has been around him, done everything to him. Except when it comes to the Epstein files. When it comes to the Epstein files, he's been very aggressive. He's been very, you know, hiding behind, you know, a story about another Jane Doe, that Jane Doe. That story doesn't exist. The story that Michael Cohen tells us because after investigative work done, we've confirmed that there's only one actual complaint, and this is the Katie Johnson Jane Doe. Then Michael Cohen's in the Epstein file now. I apologize. It's very important came out that said that when Michael Cohen was in prison, he asked to be released out of prison because he had information about Epstein and Donald Trump. And I've been speaking to. Today we actually have a major special at 9 o' clock with Wajahid Ali and Ellie Leonard and a surprise guest, Mark Ebner. Mark Ebner is an investigator that was on investigated and did the work about Michael Cohen, Jerry Falwell Jr. Donald Trump and. And he's gonna. Michael Cohen. There's a lot. Has a lot more explaining to do, so we're bringing it. So the fact that Michael Cohen wrote that letter, like I said to you, that Letitia James and also Alvin Bright, it's all tied in together and it all has to do with Katie Johnson. It all has to do with what Michael. Again, I'm not accusing Michael Cohen of doing the only thing I am saying Michael Cohen is. He knows a lot more than he is saying. And it's time that he needs to be brought on the road. Same as Michael Wolf, same as Steve Bannon.
- [116:05]
Joy Reid
It is interesting because we know Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen absolutely is welcome to come on this show and explain what this is all about. I have seen him do a couple of interviews about it. And so I think it would be important to get more information. The bottom line is the truth will set you free. There is something in these Epstein files that terrifies Donald Trump. He is protecting, if not himself, somebody's. There are people being protected and all of the things that they're doing to distract you, including arresting journalists, ostentatiously arresting journalists that Donald Trump hates to make a spectacle, particularly a black spectacle for the racist MAGA cult. Because again, MAGA is a racist white Christian nationalist religion. And they know that it's easy to trigger them, find them someone black that you can wave in front of them, wave the bloody black shirt in front of them. They go crazy. It's like throwing chum to a shark. And that is what they've done with Don Lemon. They must know clearly that they have no case against him or Georgia Ford or any of the others. They know Black Lives Matter is nowhere near responsible for the almost all entirely white protests in the almost entirely white state of Minnesota. They know that because you can just take a camera or phone out and look at the protests. It's people who look like Lev, not people who look like. And so they know that, and they're angry about it. And so they needed black people. Unfortunately, they found it in this group of protesters very clearly. Nakima Levy Armstrong, who targeted that church for a reason. And on Monday, I hope you guys will tune into this show because we are going to dig deep into that reason. I've been talking about it. I've been hinting at it. The leader of the white Christian nationalist faith in this country is. Is in Idaho. He spawned multiple churches, including that church in Minneapolis. That is why that church was targeted. We need to talk more about that and about white Christian nationalism, the people who are building the Handmaid's Tale in America. That's what that church is about. So we're going to talk more about that on Monday. Lev, we appreciate you. Please follow Lev remembers on substack. Where could people.
- [118:11]
Paul Butler
Where could people sign that petition?
- [118:13]
Joy Reid
Oh, yeah, please tell us, Lev, where. Where can we sign that petition?
- [118:16]
Lev Parnas
You know what? I'll send it to you. It's at. Org. I'll give you the link. And maybe you could share that link with everybody. That would be incredible. Thank you so much. Enjoy. I just want to say God bless you. Thank you for having me. And keep. Keep speaking true to power. We need more independent journalist voices like you, like Don, like my son, like we need to. Because that's the most. Because they're. That's who they're coming after next. This is just the beginning. So thank you.
- [118:40]
Joy Reid
If you all don't know who Lev San is, it's Aaron Parnas, the very popular YouTuber. We've been trying to get him, but we keep trying to ask him on Friday. And he's. He's more religious than you because. Yes. So we're gonna try to catch him on a day that's not Shabbat. But we appreciate left. Please let him know we really appreciate him. And you need to go to synagogue, my friend, because you're here with me after sundown. He's a great guy. And you, Lev, I have to say to you, because you are Ukrainian, and I think it's always important that, you know, the courage of the people of Ukraine is part of what continues to inspire me and so many of us and of the courage of the dissidents in Russia. We think about Vladimir Karamurza all the time. We think about Alexei Navalny and they did not run or shrink from the autocracy in that country. Russia was falling into what seems to be interminable autocracy. But Alexei Navalny believed in that country, loved his country and died for his country. As partly what he did was being a journalist, telling the truth and the wonderful Vladimir Kara Murza. Every time I get nervous, I think about him and the fact that he went back to Russia and got in jail. Right. It's incredible.
- [119:50]
Lev Parnas
So finally went back to and got killed. I mean, he gave up his life knowing going back he's going to go to jail. That's. That's heroes. That's incredible. Go ahead.
- [119:57]
Joy Reid
That is heroes. And so. No, absolutely. No, no, no, no. I want you to go ahead and get the, the last word because this is the courage that we need. We need to look to, and look to Nelson Mandela who went to prison 24 years in South Africa to overthrow their autocracy, which was called apartheid. We now are living in apartheid, y'.
- [120:13]
Lev Parnas
All.
- [120:13]
Joy Reid
We're living in authoritarianism and fascism. But there have been people who've stood up who are no different than us. Mega ever is just a regular guy, you know, with a wife and did his thing. Anyone can be courageous if you just love the country enough to try to fight for it. Give you the last word. Lev.
- [120:27]
Lev Parnas
Thank you. J100 I mean, remember Martin Luther King, you know, he had a dream. I mean, just simply, it's simple thing. I mean, and the dream is you, unification to unite this country. We need to stop division. We need to use this. I say, you know what, Joy? We need to use our anger. We have to put our anger, our frustration and put it into action instead of depression, instead of falling back. And action is being loud, being strong, keep going, protesting. Don't let them scare you, but be smart, be vigilant, because you see what they're doing. Don't give them the opportunity. And know we all need to stand together, support each other, and now's the time. Doesn't matter if you're black, white, purple, gray. Doesn't matter if you're Jewish, Christian. We all need to stand together against authoritarianism, against dictatorship, and against this rulousness that's going on by Donald Trump, Stephen Miller and a lot of them. And you know, Joy, I'm not proud of it, but I could tell you folks one thing. I'm not a journalist, I'm not a pundit. I was one of these people. I was inside. I was part of building this mega machine in 2015, 2016. I know them all very well. Not just Donald Trump, Pam Bondi, Cash Patel, you name it. I spend time with them. And I could promise you, I'll tell you one thing, Joy, to each and every one of you, I'm doing everything in my power and I will to make sure I take apart mega piece by piece, because that's. We need to save our democracy. Democracy. And we can't wait till 2026 midterms. We need to act now. So folks, go out there, write your congressman, senators, sign the petition and support independent journalism like Joy, Don Lemon and others out there. Because that's right now what we need in our country.
- [122:03]
Joy Reid
Amen. An immigrant, a man, a stand up guy. How would you say slo, The American equivalent of Slava? Ukraine. How would we say that? America.
- [122:14]
Lev Parnas
Glory to Ukraine.
- [122:15]
Joy Reid
Glory to Ukraine. Glory to.
- [122:16]
Lev Parnas
No, but they respect and they respond. Glory to the heroes.
- [122:20]
Joy Reid
Yes, okay. Glory to the heroes. We need that for the US too, because look, we kind of in the same situation as Russia, buddy. Yeah, we are.
- [122:26]
Lev Parnas
I mean, there's no. I'll tell you honestly the crazy part, Joe, you're going to be in Russia. Women could go get abortions, no problem. And we're even worse than Russia right now. We're worse than Russia. That's the crazy part. Because at least their dictators are trying to hide and pretend that they're nice. Our dictator doesn't care. He's right. Now just think about it. We have the country's disarray, economy is going to nothing. And he's, you know, out there tweeting about Melania, the movie. I mean, they're having a premiere at the Kennedy center while people are getting killed. People are starving, you know, so I don't even. I mean, we'll go into it a different time, but thanks for having me.
- [123:01]
Joy Reid
Joy, one of our favorite guests. Thank you very much. Lev Parnas. Have a great, great, great weekend. And it is Lever members. Thank you. We're going to make sure we link to Lever members and to that petition. We're going to share it both here in the description on both YouTube and Substack so everybody can get on that petition. Thank you.
- [123:16]
Lev Parnas
Thank you so much. God bless you guys.
- [123:18]
Joy Reid
God bless. Thank you very much. There it is. Immigrants get the job done. Including Lev Parnas. We love that guy. He's terrific. Well, thank you all so much. We really appreciate y' all tuning in. We did a two a day today, Jason. We. We got on two times. Two times at zero. Makeup. I didn't get hair makeup for either one.
- [123:35]
Paul Butler
Yeah, we got work done today, but.
- [123:37]
Joy Reid
Do you want to be a moment of joy? Just want to come close us up? No, I think we need to absolutely have a moment of joy. By the way, I didn't even mention it tonight, but, you know, Donald Trump is also suing the United States for $10 billion. Donald Trump and his janky sons are suing you for $10 billion. He wants the IRS to pay him because he defrauded the state of New York and had to pay a fine. So there you have it. Donald Trump hates this country so much that he's suing the United States and forcing a whack Melania movie on the country that tens of people will watch. All of them, probably with the surname Trump. No one's watching that shit. I bet. Even Brett Ratner, who's been accused multiple times of sexual predation. Weirdly enough, everyone around Trump is sexual predators anyway. I'm sure he'll watch it. Or maybe he won't even. Let's go to the moment of joy. Our moment of joy you've probably seen already on our social media, because if you is celebrating a number that we've already, like, quite surpassed last night at about 7:30pm we reached the 400,000 subscriber milestone, which we've now cleared by another 3,000, 3,000 by behind 4,058 by another 4,000 tonight. So we appreciate everybody. I want to shout out before we go to our moment of joy. Cynthia Newland on the substack chat. Is that Bokia D Alpha. We wanted to food safe. T Y D. We want to just thank somebody. Rex Jarrell. We got somebody named Joy. We got dons. Everybody's saying Don. There's a don over here, Jenna. I also want to shout out some of the people that are in the YouTube chat as well. T. Taylor, 21 208. Ms. What is that? Ms. Sip 40. And we actually figured out who our 400th subscriber was. Jason. We figured out who it was. Our 400, 000 subscriber, I should say. We found the name. I'm gonna have to put it in the. I'll put it in this, in the description because, of course, I won't be able to find it unless, of course, the daughter can, like, grab it for me, because I'm not gonna be able to grab it. We're gonna Play the moment of joy, you guys. This was the moment that we were in two different offices here at the studio, figuring out, watching ourselves get to 400, 000. And that's our moment of joy. Here it is. Enjoy it. Happy weekend. Like, subscribe. Share. Thank you and please support our sponsors. We appreciate y' all and happy weekend. Goodbye. Stay safe.
- [125:52]
Erin Haynes
Here we go, y'.
- [125:53]
Paul Butler
All.
- [125:53]
Joy Reid
We're about to hit the 400,000 mark. No.
- [125:56]
Erin Haynes
Second run.
- [125:57]
Joy Reid
Let's go. I'm gonna be here to see. It's gonna take under a minute. Come on, let's touch that. So exciting. All we need is one more person.
- [126:10]
Erin Haynes
Family.
- [126:11]
Joy Reid
Let's get that 400, 000. Come on. You see that number change? Let's do this.
- [126:17]
Paul Butler
703.
- [126:19]
Joy Reid
There we go, baby.
- [126:26]
Paul Butler
Thursday, January 29th.
- [126:30]
Joy Reid
I am very excited we got our 400, 000 subscribers. Thank you, family, for blessing us. Wow.
- [126:40]
Paul Butler
Seven months, 400, 000.
- [126:42]
Lev Parnas
This is amazing.
- [126:47]
Joy Reid
That's it. That was our moment of joy. Thank you to everyone. Thank you to the Lemon heads. We love you. Free Dawn. Don is free, y'.
- [126:55]
Paul Butler
All.
- [126:55]
Joy Reid
Don is free.
- [126:56]
Erin Haynes
Hallelujah.
- [126:57]
Joy Reid
And Georgia Fort and all the rest as well. Love y'. All. Happy weekend and see you Monday.
- [127:03]
Paul Butler
Getting back to the basics Grassroot level Let me dig a little deeper with.
- [127:07]
Lev Parnas
The shovel Plenty can't tell the force.
- [127:09]
Joy Reid
From the trees that I'm hard to detect Like a black hole in the.
- [127:12]
Paul Butler
Dark it's justice anywhere It's a threat.
- [127:14]
Lev Parnas
To justice everywhere Let me make this.
- [127:16]
Joy Reid
Clear I got a bone to pick and I'll never fear the threat of poverty they don't want to talk about it they rap the party so I'm a real talk about it for sure.