Jane Fonda (7:09)

Trump has taken over the approval of media mergers. We risk having major jewels in the crown of independent journalism and nuanced entertainment being gutted. I am referring to Warner Brothers Studios, CNN and hbo. God, it hurts me to say those names. That may soon not be what they were. You'll hear more about why going after artists, writers and journalists has always been page one in the authoritarian handbook. We can model courage. Courage is contagious. We can tell stories that allow people to feel across difference. Feel across difference. I have one word for what it looks like when we tell new stories of unity, of neighboring, of love. Collective power. Minnesota. I'll say that The First Amendment suffers greatly in times of war as the government works to crush internal dissent. Our parents, our forefathers, fought and died for these rights, for these freedoms. We must not sit by quietly and watch them taken away. If we wait to act, if we hesitate out of fear or the feeling that it doesn't affect us, it may be too late. The tools we have now to resist, including the right to vote, may not be here, may no longer be available if we don't act now. So I am honored to vote today to be joined by a range of artists who will remind us that even in the face of powerful assaults, we still have our voice. We still have our community. And we will use our voices in our community to fight for our freedoms, the freedom to express ourselves and celebrate the joy of uncensored arts.

Joy Reid (9:25)

I too wish we could clone her. She is absolutely fabulous. Somebody in the chat was saying she's 88. I refuse to believe it, but when I tell you that woman is fit, fabulous and de. Gorgeous and powerful and spoke so powerfully and was our fearless leader today. It was so absolutely amazing. And joining me now was my onstage co host on today, the great Jim Acosta, my pal, my buddy and pal. And we're gonna have to take this on the road, my friend. We getting too used to this.

Jim Acosta (9:54)

And you know what? I think we could bring some houses down. I think that was some fun that we had out there. And we weren't at the Trump Kennedy Center. We were at the Kennedy Cent.

Joy Reid (10:03)

That's right.

Jim Acosta (10:04)

You should make sure everybody's aware of that. And Jane Fonda was absolutely amazing. And she, I mean, my goodness. She's got it.

Mark Thompson (10:12)

She got it.

Jim Acosta (10:14)

I know they say no kings, but she my queen.

Joy Reid (10:17)

Listen, we said. They didn't say no queens, okay? So we said that could still be a queen.

Jimmy Gomez (10:20)

We will.

Joy Reid (10:21)

We will have that queen because that sister is a. She was fabulous and her speech was absolutely amazing. And that was just a little super cut of it. But yes, she was fantastic. And you were as well, my friend. You were fantastic, too. Yeah, we had a good old time. So let's talk about this. We are on no King's Eve, and we are in the age where Donald Trump, where the Treasury Department under Scott Bessant, his toady at treasury, is literally minting a gold coin with Donald Trump's face on it. Jason, this is a four if you have it. It is absolutely insane that 250 years after the founding of the country and the separation from the king, Donald Trump is behaving just like he's mad. King George. Not just that, Jim, but also they are preparing to place Donald Trump's signature, unprecedented on our money. And it is not clear yet which denominations of currency he's going to get to put his stupid Magic Marker signature on. But this is. As a journalist, can you even believe this is happening?

Jim Acosta (11:25)

No. And I mean, it's a continuation of what he's been doing all around D.C. vandalizing the Kennedy center by putting his name on it, you know, putting the gold stuff everywhere in the White House. You know, we're, you know, so much that Liberace would, would blush, basically. Saddam Hussein would, would be like, I think that's too much. You know, I mean, Imelda Marcos, etc, and now he's doing it to our money. I mean, I'm just. Is he gonna, Are they gonna come to our house and put the gold crap in our living rooms? Like, is that next?

Joy Reid (11:51)

You know, we don't get the gold, Jim. We're not allowed to have the gold. The gold is for Donald.

Jim Acosta (11:56)

And the other thing, Joy, speaking of the gold thing, the other day he was claiming. I don't know if you saw this the other day, he was claiming that all of the gold stuff they put around the white. And this is. I want somebody, some reporter out there to find, find the documentation to show us. I think it's just some White House staffer in the driveway with just the gold spray paint.

Joy Reid (12:14)

Just solid gold. Don't worry. And also, the thing is, Donald Trump is not the brightest man in the world. All you'd have to do is put some Styrofoam and spray paint gold on it, and he would believe that it was gold.

Jim Acosta (12:26)

He would definitely believe it.

Joy Reid (12:28)

And you could do it cheaper and save whatever money. And first of all, even if he paid these people, but you could just keep the span, keep the difference. He wouldn't even know. How would he know?

Jim Acosta (12:36)

Well, and I mean, we make fun, but, you know, they're also hanging his face on the Justice Department.

Joy Reid (12:41)

Yes.

Jim Acosta (12:42)

And what, what kind of message does that send to the career prosecutors coming in out of the Justice Department? Like, for example, investigating the, the Epstein files. Anybody wants to understand why we haven't had any pedophiles arrested in this country, any big names hauled in, like the Brits. They bring in Prince Andrew. Where's our Prince Andrew?

Joy Reid (12:58)

Yeah.

Jim Acosta (12:59)

None of that is happening in this country because the dictator makes sure that everybody knows around town that he's in charge and that this is. That this is his city right now. And I. I think it's. I think it is scary. And it's. It's why no kings matters. It's why this is not just a protest. This is a movement. And, you know, the message has to be sent. You know, just a little while ago, Brendan Carr, the chair of the fcc, I tried to send this to your team, but he was talking about you and me, Joy. He was doing some. I think it was at CPAC or one of these things, and he was talking about how they got rid of you and they got rid of me, and they defunded NPR and PBS and the new ownership of CBS and CNN and so on. And, I mean, this is an authoritarian project that's happening right in front of our eyes. There's just no other way to describe it.

Joy Reid (13:46)

Yeah, and they're not hiding it. They're proud of it. Donald Trump tweeted about getting rid of you and me and, you know, even Chuck Todd, you know, bragging about taking down Chuck Todd, you know, and this is what they're doing. They're not, like, pretending not to be. They to be a time when the Republican Party would get very incensed at even the hint that they might be a little racist, but now they're very proud to be fascist. They're basically flaunting fascism, as you said. If you drive downtown in D.C. you'll see Donald Trump, a giant poster of Donald Trump looming over you, not just at the Justice Department on several buildings. They put his face up like he's Kim Jong Un of North Korea. He's going to be on the money, and he's soon to be building a monument to himself, a Arc de Trump. They're turning down DC into Mar a Lago 2.0 and destroying these historic buildings to remake them in Trump's image. That is monarchical behavior. And I guess what's sort of sad, you earlier were speaking with Tim Miller at the Bulwark, that the Republican Party is actually down with the Old Monarchy project.

Jim Acosta (14:48)

I think that's the only conclusion you can come to. And I asked him about this because he used to be a Republican staffer. I'd see him out on the campaign trail. I was covering mitt Romney in 2012, and he was with Jon Huntsman and so on. And. And he's seen the full, like, spectrum going from, you know, the Grand Old party of John McCain and Mitt Romney and Ronald Reagan and the Bushes and so on to what is essentially an authoritarian project. And I.

Mark Thompson (15:12)

And.

Jim Acosta (15:13)

And to me, the depressing but important thing to think about is you know, is the Republican Party going to be a part of the solution? Are they just going to continue to be part of the problem? And it seems to me that they've made up their minds, that the party elders have made up their minds there. It's ride or die with Donald Trump. It's Thelma and Louise. They're going off the cliff no matter what. And that means it's, it's on the rest of us, on the pro democracy side of things, as I like to say all the time. It's not left versus right anymore. It's truth versus lies. And we just are going to have to stand up against this as a people in order to get through this. And it's going to be, it's not, it's not going to be easy. This is, this is not as simple as a blue wave at the polls in November. This is going to have to be a sustained multi year generational push to keep this thing from going off the rails. And it's going off the rails as we speak. The only thing that we can kind of hope for and count on is in this, this is my observation, is that as he's putting his name on the money and minting his coins and all of this stuff, the folks at home understand what's going on. They see the high prices at the gas pump. They see their 401ks shrinking because of the stock market. They see what's happening in the Middle East. Donald Trump just a little while ago was saying, Cuba is next. I mean, can you imagine what kind of humanitarian crisis it would cause for the state of Florida, for example, if they were to start obliterating Havana? I mean, this is somebody who's. But the incompetence that they bring to the table is going to, what is going to be, what does them in? I mean, you look at these lines at the airports, the way inflation is now going up again because of high gas prices. Inflation goes up. You have to, you know, we can't lower the interest rates. We're gonna have to start raising the interest rates again. And so people are gonna start feeling this where it hurts in their bank accounts. And that, that has a way of sobering people up in a hurry.

Joy Reid (17:07)

Yeah, I mean, it was supposed to be that there were going to be multiracial heroes that faces were gonna be added, you know, onto the dollar. There was a, at one point a talk of a Harriet Tubman $20 bill, but Donald Trump has said, nope, just me, put me on the bill. But here's the irony of It. And this is why Donald Trump really is an idiot. People are going to be theoretically spending almost worthless Trump bucks as inflation skyrockets and the value of a $20 bill or a 5 or a $10 bill goes in the toilet because of his tariffs and because of this war and the gas prices that are shooting up. So your dollars and twenties and tens with Trump's face on it will buy less and less and less, and he will himself have ordered the symbol of his failure to be in the hands and pockets of every American while the economy is failing. You gotta be pretty dumb to put your name and your face on increasingly worthless money.

Jim Acosta (18:11)

That's true. Well, and the other thing, too, is.

Mark Thompson (18:14)

And.

Jim Acosta (18:14)

And there's Don. There's Don.

Mark Thompson (18:17)

And.

Jim Acosta (18:17)

And Don knows.

Don Lemon (18:18)

And the lemon heads are here, by the way.

Jim Acosta (18:21)

Oh, that's all.

Joy Reid (18:22)

I love it.

Don Lemon (18:23)

Yeah.

Jim Acosta (18:23)

The Acosta heads are here, too. I don't know who they are, but I think they're here. They're somewhere.

Joy Reid (18:27)

We're gonna make Jim get merch. Don, one of the things that came out of our meetup today is that I counseled Jim Acosta on why. You see, I've got my merch on. He needs to get merch done. I need to get merch into it.

Jim Acosta (18:39)

I get it.

Mark Thompson (18:39)

I.

Pete Hegseth (18:40)

It.

Jim Acosta (18:40)

I only have so many time, so much time in the day, so many hours in the day. Mojito heads. What do I call them? Should I go with the key?

Joy Reid (18:47)

If you go with mojito heads, I. First of all, I will drink to that, because I will literally need a. I need a mojito, like, now.

Don Lemon (18:55)

You guys know I have all kinds of merch, right?

Joy Reid (18:58)

So I have the hat.

Don Lemon (18:59)

I've got the hats, whatever. But this is what I'm going to wear tomorrow. Okay.

Joy Reid (19:02)

What are you wearing tomorrow?

Don Lemon (19:02)

And I think you guys will be very happy that I'm gonna wear this tomorrow. Independent journalism here at the Don Lemon Show. And guess what, guys? Every bit, every penny goes to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Joy Reid (19:20)

I love it. I love it.

Jim Acosta (19:21)

Very good.

Mark Thompson (19:22)

And that.

Don Lemon (19:23)

Yeah, it's not just merch for merch sake. It's.

Jim Acosta (19:25)

It does something.

Don Lemon (19:26)

And, you know, I got the hats,

Joy Reid (19:27)

you got the hats, you got the stuff, everything. We're gonna kick Jim out. Jim is trying to be. See, Jim is an OG journalist who's like, merch. I don't do merch. Yes, you do, my friend. You're a podcast.

Don Lemon (19:37)

I did that, Joy. Remember, I counseled you. I'm like, get some merch. But I didn't want it either. And the Lemonheads were like, wait a minute. Yeah, you better get some merch. And the people stole.

Joy Reid (19:49)

Yeah, we're all OG journalists. And so we were like, we don't do that. But, yes, Don has schooled me in the ways of this independent journalism, and so we're all a team. And I just appreciate you guys. I know you guys have short time, so I just want to let each of you very quickly promote our incredible supergroup tomorrow. I will start with you, Jim Acosta, because I know you got a flash. Tell us, what are we going to look forward to tomorrow?

Jim Acosta (20:13)

I think what we're going to look forward to tomorrow is, as I was saying earlier, it's not a protest, it's a movement. And people are feeling like, what? And I love the subtlety of this graphic here. It's not Trump being burned in effigy. It's Trump setting the world on fire, as I explained.

Jane Fonda (20:29)

I know.

Don Lemon (20:29)

And starting with Jim Acosta. Look right there next to you. He's like, get Jim. Now.

Jim Acosta (20:34)

I'm always feeling the flames from that guy, let me tell you. Orange flames, as it were. But I mean, to me, this is. I mean, it's so American to do this. It's as American as baseball and apple pie to take to the streets, make your voice heard. Tell them, you know, up yours on these gas prices and. And on this war of choice and everything else. And that's exactly why we do this. And, you know, Don was talking about, you know, the. The T shirt there and how you can't arrest the First Amendment. I mean, that, to me, is the most precious part of the whole thing. Like, that is if we don't have that, we are cooked. And so let's just be loud and it says bigger and matter. Let's get mad. I mean, there's a lot to be mad about right now.

Joy Reid (21:19)

Yeah.

Jim Acosta (21:20)

And so I can't wait to get out there and be with you guys again. It's gonna be a lot of fun.

Joy Reid (21:24)

We just absolutely love being together. It's going to be amazing. Don, give us your big pitch for why people need to tune in tomorrow to no Kings 3.0.

Don Lemon (21:32)

Okay, so I'm going to say something. And you guys may at first view it as a negative, but I view it as a positive, and I also think it's a bigger opportunity for the folks to watch us. So I've noticed that. And you guys may have a different perspective, a different experience. I've noticed that there isn't. I don't see as much

Mark Thompson (21:54)

I don't

Don Lemon (21:55)

necessarily fanfare, but press around it. It's not like at the top of my algorithm, the no kings. I see it, but not as much as I should see it. And this is how I feel. So this is an opportunity, I believe, for folks, if they're not going to go, to watch us. But I feel like there are people who are just burnt out.

Joy Reid (22:13)

Yeah.

Don Lemon (22:14)

Joy and Jim, I think that they are just exhausted and they have news fatigue, war fatigue, protest fatigue, Trump fatigue. And I think that a lot of people, and this is the good part, have made up their minds. And the bad part, they've made up their minds. And they said someone was saying, I don't know, I may get out there and protest. I may not. But I'm so done. I am going to get out there in November. They've already made up their mind. Some are saying, like, I ain't got to go out there. I'm going to the polling place, so. And if you're not going out there, then tune into us at 1:00pm Eastern Time on the Joy Reid show, on the Jim Acosta show, and on the Don Lemon Show. I don't know if you guys agree with that, but I just feel like people are worn out.

Joy Reid (22:55)

I do. And you know what? What helps with exhaustion and feeling burnt out is to be together with other people. Don't sit at home alone feeling burnt out. What we've created is a community, and this community spreads across these three amazing shows. We're all partners in this fight for democracy, but you do not have to fight alone. We are not just going to be in here lecturing y' all about voting. We have a good old time, honey. We are going to have fun. We're going to laugh. We're going to make you laugh. We're going to have people on that you absolutely love, your favorite favorites. And we're just going to be in communion. We're going to be in community together. So that is my big pitch. Don't you want to hang out with the three of us? Look how fun we are. You didn't promise to make us mojitos. What more do we need?

Jim Acosta (23:36)

I will drink a mojito live on the show if it'll help. You know, I just want to do my part.

Joy Reid (23:41)

You know, margaritas go a long way and margarita. Okay. We all got our drinks go a long way.

Jim Acosta (23:46)

Yeah.

Joy Reid (23:47)

I love you guys. I will. See you guys.

Don Lemon (23:49)

I love you, too. Lemon heads, be good in here. Do not embarrass me in front of company. Okay? Lemon hands because they can be like the beehive.

Joy Reid (23:58)

They are serious about you, honey. And we listen, we're gonna get these gym heads. We're call y' all mojito heads. That's what we've decided. We're going to get some merch for Jim. Love you guys. And we'll see you tomorrow.

Jim Acosta (24:10)

Love you guys.

Senator Jon Ossoff (24:11)

Take care.

Joy Reid (24:11)

Thank you, friend. All right, that's it. You know, we love to bring the super group together because we are family. Thank you all for tuning in. Look at the lemon heads. Like, the good kids in class are

Kelly Robinson (24:20)

like, lemon, lemon, lemon, lemon, lemon.

Joy Reid (24:22)

And we got an acosta head. We got an Acosta head who jumped in with a $20 pitch for the Acosta heads. And what we'll do is whatever we get into the little money till tonight, we're going to also give that to the committee to protect what? Journalism? Cpr? Cpj. The Committee to protect Journalism. We will throw all of that in for the Committee to protect journalism. Let's give some love to our wonderful advertisers because again, we couldn't do this without them. So the Joy Reid show tonight is brought to you by our new friend, Wild Alaskan Company. Now, listen, what challenges do you face buying seafood? Nutrition, sustainability, taste? Just, you know, let us know. On my side, as a pescatarian, I'm always looking for something new to eat, something delicious to eat, and that will actually fit into my new sort of diet and lifestyle that I'm trying to be healthy and we're trying to stay away from not having the meats. Well, we were excited to discover Wild Alaskan Company. And when did you, by the way, ever really trust the seafood that you brought home? Right? And I used to question everything from nutrition and taste to sustainability because you always. You just never know what you're taking home from the store. Until I discovered Wild Alaskan Company. Wild Alaskan Company is literally the best way to get wild caught. Perfectly portioned, nutrition dense seafood delivered right to your door. Now, just trust me, you have not tasted fish this good. We cooked our first wild Alaskan seafood last week. And baby, when I tell you we was eating good, it was delicious. It tasted fresh. It was like perfection, right? It was absolutely delicious. We got our first box, we opened it, we cooked it. It's all portioned out. It's in its portion. So if you're a person that meal preps, it's absolutely perfect. And we love the fact that it's sustainable. And it came right to the door. 100% wild caught, never farmed. Which means no antibiotics, no GMOs, no additives. Just clean, real fish that supports healthy oceans and also fishing communities. It's nutrient rich. It's full of flavor. Wild Alaskan fish is frozen right off the boat to lock in taste, texture and nutrients like omega 3s. Sustainably sourced wild caught from Alaska. Every order supports sustainable harvesting practices and your membership delivers flexible shipments, expert tips and truly feel good seafood. And this was the one we had. I think we had the haddock last. That was the one we had last time. Tonight we're going to have some cod. It's just absolutely delicious. If you're not completely satisfied, by the way, you can try it risk free with a 100% money back guaranteed. If you're not completely satisfied with your first box, Wild Alaskan company will give you a full refund. No questions asked, no risk, just high quality seafood. Not all fish are the same. Get seafood that you can trust. Go to wildalaskan.com joy for $35 off your first box of premium wild caught seafood. That's actually a huge savings. 35 bucks off. That is wildalaskan.com joy for 35 bucks off your first order. And thank you to Wild Alaskan Company for sponsoring this episode and for that delicious meal that we had. And we're gonna have another one tonight. All right, you all. So let's talk about more on this wonderful no Kings Day that's coming up. Let me play you a throwback. It's a slight throwback from when we did the real State of the Union called the State of the People's Union with our friends at MoveOn. This was like about two months ago.

Kelly Robinson (27:44)

Because I gotta remind this country that lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer people, we've always been here and we're not going to anywhere. This is our country, too. This is our country too. We have paid for it in funerals, in freedom songs, in court cases, in classroom battles. When I say this is our country, I'm saying it with my whole chest. And once again, we are here to defend what is ours. Because, my friends, these are not ordinary times. There's nothing ordinary about this president removing the pride flag from Stonewall. There's nothing ordinary about them cutting billions of dollars from HIV prevention and throwing it into building more ICE detention facilities. We need health care. We need food. We don't need mass incarceration. And there's certainly nothing ordinary about this government murdering United States citizens. Renee Goode should still be alive. Alex Preddy should still be alive. Reuben Ray Martinez, Dr. Linda, Keith Porter Jr. And all the other people have died in ICE custody should still be alive. These right here are serious times that require serious leadership. And if that leadership isn't going to come from the White House, it's sure as hell going to come from people like us gathered like this to create change and fight for freedom and not give up on our country. Isn't that right? So I want to say this. I pray that one day my children

Kelly Robinson (29:26)

will grow up in a world where

Kelly Robinson (29:28)

they feel just as safe surrounded by

Kelly Robinson (29:30)

the American flag as they do when they are surrounded by pride flags.

Kelly Robinson (29:36)

And the only way that that day will come is if we show out

Kelly Robinson (29:39)

and vote this November.

Kelly Robinson (29:41)

If we.

Joy Reid (29:42)

And I want to let you all know that Kelly Robinson, who is the president of hrc, the Human Rights Campaign, she will be a featured speaker at the Los Angeles no Kings rally. She's one of the most powerful speakers in the entire country, a brilliant sister. So just to give you a taste of what you're going to hear as we cover no Kings Day tomorrow on no Kings Boudoir, we are going to cover that. And you're going to see Kelly Robinson, and she's going to be not just at no Kings tomorrow, but she's going to be a guest a little bit later on the show tonight. But before we get to that, I want to remind you that we've got more than one sponsor on tonight. Let me tell you something. Launching an independent media enterprise. And Don Warlow was one of the first people that I sat with and he was like, here's what the deal is, right? And one of the things you absolutely need when you are launching an independent media business is you need to have sponsors, you need to have advertising, you need to have people who will rock with you and roll with you. And those are the people who, you know, support not just you as a journalist, not just you and your audience, but also the whole enterprise of being independent. And the Joy Reach show tonight is also brought to you by our friends at Fast Growing Trees. Now listen, this is another one that we actually use. One of the things we love to do is we talk about stuff that we actually use in our real lives. And did you know that Fast Growing Trees is not just one of my favorites because I do love a good tree that I don't have to work too hard to make grow. I'm not the most green thumby person, but Fast Growing Trees is one of America's largest and most trusted online nurseries with thousands and thousands of trees and plants and over 2 million happy customers. 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They've got some really great deals right now on spring planting essentials. Up to half off selected plants and listeners to this show get 20% off their first purchase when using the code Joy at checkout. So all you have to do, you can get 20% off additional at checkout for better plants and better growing@fastgoingtrees.com using the code joy at checkout. So go to fastgoingtrees.com and then just use the code Joy. Now's the perfect time to plant. It is spring. Let's grow together. Use Joy to save today. Offers valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. To get back to what we're going to be doing tomorrow, we are going to start at 1pm Eastern Standard Time, but the protests are going to be starting at 1:00 clock in the east coast, all the way till about 5:30 or 6:00 clock nationwide. That's east coast time. So there are protests from the rooter to the Tudor, from the north to the south. 3,100 protests and counting. We actually don't even have a full number because Indivisible, which is one of the organizing entities, has put out their own list. But people are jumping on board without even having to necessarily coordinate with other people. So everyone is kind of doing their own thing. I will tell you that the Minneapolis protest is considered the landmark protest. The main protest, and the reason for that, of course, is that Minneapolis is where two Americans were shot dead in the street by ICE and Border Patrol. And the Renee Nicole Good and Alex Preddy murders have galvanized Minneapolis for a second time. And it's interesting because we don't tend to think about Minnesota or Minneapolis as sort of a landmark civil rights sort of center of the civil rights movement. But it's become that in the modern times, obviously, because of George Floyd, but also Philando Castile and all of these other killings at the hands of state authority. So in this weird way, Minneapolis has become the central hub of protest. But there are also other spokes off of the central hub. We obviously have Portland, where the frogs came from, and you're going to probably see lots more frogs and incredible fairy tale creatures marching and protesting there, obviously D.C. where Donald Trump also deployed the National Guard. He had them picking up trash and doing gardening and also just showing themselves with their firearms. There's going to be a big, massive protest there. Jim Acosta is going to be live at that protest. There are protests across the south, even in red states. We're expecting to see protests in Atlanta, in Houston, Texas, in Dallas and all over the country. But some of the big hubs where we've seen some of the most sort of active ICE activity, places like Chicago, Illinois, we're expecting those to be some of the largest protests. I hope you guys will tune in. One of the questions that people were asking even today when we were at the Kennedy center is sort of, what's the outcome? Like, what are we looking for in terms of an outcome? Lots of people being in the streets is not an outcome in and of itself. I think a lot of people believe they're like, we're just showing up to show that we have discontent with this regime. But I would argue that that's actually not true. Just showing up is actually one of the steps to countering autocracy. If you look at autocracies that have grown up around the world, what you'll find is that one of the ways that you push back on them is just for people to physically show their opposition. You think of Tiananmen Square, right? Tiananmen Square, in which somebody died standing up to Chinese tanks. Just the physical presence of those protesters. The physical presence of protesters in places like Iran throughout the Arab Spring, in places like Libya, these protests just showed that the population is not down with the regime. And that actually is an important first step to getting people comfortable with saying no. The challenge that you have is that in autocratic states and autocratic societies, people generally go along with it. People generally give in. People generally don't fight back. Even during the civil rights movement, it was a minority of people who marched, a minority of people who sat in at Woolworth and other lunch counters. It was a small percentage of the people who did it. The vast majority of people kind of quietly and maybe even miserably went along with those autocratic systems. Very few people were actual active abolitionists, but the ones who were inspired people simply by having a physical presence, just being in these streets, the whole idea of we outside, that is actually a real thing. Because when people see that you're outside, when people see that you're trying to push back and that you're standing up for yourself, it gives other people courage to stand up in their own way as well. They need to see the example of someone fighting in order to fight themselves. So it just actually isn't true that the mere presence of protesters is not a step toward fighting autocracy. It's actually the first step and a very important step. If you think about the protest against the Vietnam War, it was the physical presence, increasingly of actual military, uniform, military, that started to see the end of that war. Because when you actually saw people in military uniforms, including John Kerry, stand up and say, I won't not go and put my body on the line to fight Vietnamese people haven't done anything to me. When Muhammad Ali said that, the physical presence was actually a first and important step to the protest. All right, so this is the way it goes. Thank you, FRP Knox, who said, I usually don't give my money away so often, but anytime I watch your show, I see it flying out the window. We so appreciate it. People saying, Georgia. We have a Lady Casa saying, Georgia is way more purple than people think. DSA is going to show out in Atlanta. Joining me now is the lady who you heard her voice a little earlier, one of the most powerful and dynamic speakers in the country, nay, the world, my friend, Kelly Robinson, who is the first black woman president of hrc, a history maker in every way possible, and just a badass sister. Hello, my friend.

Kelly Robinson (38:51)

Ooh. It takes one to know one, my friend. I am excited to be here with you.

Joy Reid (38:56)

Thank you so much. Talk about what we are going to see at the West west coast no Kings protest extravaganza tomorrow. Yes.

Kelly Robinson (39:07)

Well, I have to say no Kings is set up to be the largest single day nonviolent protest in United States history. You gotta be a part of that if you're sitting at home. Don't let this moment of being part of history pass you by. And here in Los Angeles, I've been everywhere. I've been out at, you know, the Abbey, talking to the people where the people are at. I've been down at Ralph's in the grocery store. I've been getting coffee down the street at the local coffee shop. And everywhere I go, people are saying they are going to show up and show out because it matters. And here in Los Angeles, to me, it's a city of dreams, the city of storytelling, the city of imagination. And I'm so excited to be surrounded by creatives and storytellers and artists. They're committed not only to responding today, but, like you were just saying, envisioning the future for tomorrow. All of that is happening in LA down by City hall tomorrow afternoon.

Joy Reid (39:57)

Yeah. And you talked, you know, we played the clip when we were all together at the real State of the Union, the people State of the Union that midas touch and moveon.org through. And we were both there together. And, you know, you talked about Stonewall and this regime defacing the Stonewall monument. And I was trying to sort of get across the idea that presence actually, it is more than just a visual. Right. That it actually is powerful. And the presence of those protesters at Stonewall was a shock to the system. Right. People didn't expect gay and trans folks, including black trans women, to show up and say no. And when they did it, it shocks the system. So can you just talk about the power of protest in and of itself, even if it's not connected to some other, bigger scheme or plan?

Kelly Robinson (40:46)

Yeah.

Joy Reid (40:47)

This is important.

Kelly Robinson (40:47)

People are finding courage and community. And if folks don't remember a couple weeks ago, Donald Trump's administration, in the middle of the night, made the decision to remove the pride flag at the National Stonewall Monument. Can you imagine? Overnight, they removed the pride flag, and some of us got together and said, oh, no, not on our watch. And we went out and put that flag back up. And, you know, I wasn't there in the late 1960s and 70s when those uprisings were happening, but I could say I was there in 2025 when we put the flag back up. And when I think about this moment, this no Kings is different from the one that was in June or the one that was in October. Right. It's very different because it feels like the momentum is starting to shift. We haven't been winning on every policy fight, but people are believing that change is possible and showing up in big numbers. They saw us win a Senate, a state House seat in Florida, in the Mar? A Lago district that Donald Trump sits in. They've seen us have powerful victories in Virginia and New Jersey and New York. They've seen people show up in the hundreds of thousands from Minnesota to Georgia to here in Los Angeles. And I think that that matters. So in the arc of movements, it's not always just about the wind that's in front of you. It's about, are you on the right side of momentum? I know you talk about history all the time. I think a lot about the march across Selma. Right. A lot of people forget the Bloody Sunday was actually a day when they did not complete that march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Right. They didn't make it all the way, but they came back six weeks later. I think they went from having a couple hundred people the first time to having a couple thousand people the next time and kept the momentum going. That's what this moment is about. We can be knocked down, but we're not going to be knocked out. And a lot of people that are having a moment right now of awakening are coming into this movement and fight, and this is a time for us to welcome them to be a part of it.

Joy Reid (42:43)

Yeah. You know, today at the Kennedy center, where the first. The First Amendment foundation, we're protesting in favor of the First Amendment and protesting against the defacing of the Kennedy center by flapping Donald Trump's hideous name on it. And I got a chance to meet Joan Baez, which, first of all, legend. Okay, so I gagged, but I got a chance to meet Joan Baez. And we had this conversation about, you know, how I said, you know, it feels so wrong to me that, you know, her generation fought these fights already. You know, she was singing We shall overcome in the 60s, and now she has to come back and do it again. And I asked her if it frustrates her to feel like we've gone back to square one. And I think, you know, she was very poignant in saying it's really not square one. We actually moved forward significantly, which is the reason they're trying to retrench. Right. So we did make progress. It's not that it's all been undone, but she's like, we're just prepared to fight it again. We'll just do it again. And I loved her spirit in saying, you know what? If we have to do this 10 times, we're never gonna stop until we get human rights and human decency for everyone.

Kelly Robinson (43:48)

That's the energy we gotta have. Right? And the stories that we tell ourselves matter a lot right now. Look, I am a black, queer woman in America. If you've got a time machine, do not put me in it. Cause if we go back to nearly any other chapter of United States history, I. I can't live my life as who I am. And out loud. So I am clear that just my being is a testament to the progress that we've made. That doesn't mean we don't have more work to do, but we are actually part of this freedom struggle, and this is just our turn. And I think right now is just such an awesome opportunity, because what's happening is they're fighting a future that's already arrived. We are already here being blacker, browner, and more queer than ever before. And it feels a lot like white supremacy's last gasp at trying to shut down the power that they know is staring them dead in the eye.

Joy Reid (44:34)

Yeah. I mean, listen, there was a couple blocks in Sugar Hill in Harlem where you could have been real cool. Like two or three blocks in Sugar Hill, you would have been fine. It was some poets chilling with you. But other than those two blocks, you're not in a good place if we go back in time. But, I mean, yeah. And I think that is. I think the core point. Right. If white supremacy was so real, then why do they need to do this? Right. If they're so supreme, then they should be able to compete with women in the Pentagon. They shouldn't be worried about having black men get promoted to first to one star general. They wouldn't have to prevent women from moving forward. They wouldn't have to go out and try to prevent trans kids from playing sports. If y' all are so superior, why do you need to litigate and legislate all of this? Why do you need to prevent other people from competing with you. If you're. If you don't fear competition because you're superior, it's almost an admission of inferiority that they feel they have to suppress the growth and development of black folk, queer folk, brown folk, immigrants. It's like, wait a minute. I thought y' all was supposed to be superior.

Kelly Robinson (45:39)

You are telling the truth on tonight, y', all. And that's what this is all about. It has never been about sports or about fairness or about any of those things. It's always been about power and control. And what I feel like is we as a movement talk for a long time about how America is approaching the moment where we're going to be a majority minority Nation, about how 30% of Gen Z is a member of the LGBTQ community. And I was saying those things with my full chest as things to celebrate. But what I'm realizing is, as I was saying that out loud, there was another group of people that was shaking their boots, terrified about what that could mean. This is the critical point in the story of our nation's history of are we going to allow the diversity, the beautifulness and robustness of our diversity of experiences to actually shape the future or not? All of that is on the line right now. And showing up this Saturday, showing up every day after that, is us showing up to say which side of history we're going to be on.

Joy Reid (46:42)

There's been a lot of forward progress for the LGBT and the queue. The T is having a rough time, a very rough time. And because there's a significant sort of way in which they've been the choice sort of people to demonize, the right has decided, you know, they got Peter Thiel in the house. They can't really say too much about the gays because they in, you know, Scott Best and him, you know, it's like they in the club. So it's like you really can't hit them too hard. They're saying, you know, they don't really necessarily think that they can fight the L, G and the B. Right. But they've definitely decided they can hit the T hard. There's a Trans Day of Visibility that's coming up. Tell us when that is and what you think it will accomplish or can accomplish.

Kelly Robinson (47:32)

Yeah, well, Trans Day of Visibility is coming up next Tuesday, and it's going to be a beautiful day. It's about lifting up the stories of the trans community's resistance and beauty and power and love, not just the stories of hate and harm that we see far too Often. And it's so important because this is a moment where visibility matters. You're right. They are going all out and attacking the trans community. We saw that in the 2024 election. We see that in places like Kansas, where they're trying to take away the driver's licenses of a group of citizens and people. You see it in Idaho just today, where they're criminalizing folks for using the bathroom. I mean, it's out of sorts, out of order. And I want to say this. It ain't got nothing to do with getting the gas prices to be lower, with how much eggs cost, with the war that this nation is in. It's got nothing to do with that. But what we find is when politicians don't have solutions to the issues that matter to people every day, they try to find a boogeyman, a scapegoat, and they've identified the trans community as that, and we cannot stand for it. But if you're looking for a little bit of hope, I would say this. In the 90s, when the defense of Marriage act was the law of the land, which meant that lesbian, gay, and bi people couldn't get married to the people that we love, visibility for our community was about 30%. About 30% of people believe that they knew someone who is lesbian, gay, or bi. Right now, visibility for the trans community stands about there. And we've learned over time in the fight for marriage equality that if you get those visibility numbers up, if you let people know that you care about and love somebody who shares my identity, their feelings change, not only for the person that they know, but for our rights and laws and our access to be who we are. So much so that as we got to 70% visibility, we also got things like the Supreme Court decision that affirmed our lives through Obergefell. We got the Respect for Marriage act, which is a federal law right now protecting marriage equality. That's the journey that we're on for the trans community. And look, if it took 30 years to make that progress for the lesbian, gay, and bi community, which is not long in the history, in the scope of our history, we can do it even faster for the trans community if we all stand up as allies, speak our truth, and lift up the beauty of their lives.

Joy Reid (49:38)

You mentioned Obergefell. Are you hopeful that it will stand? Because there is a very significant attempt to have it overturned, and the right has a pretty good record in front of John Roberts, Supreme Court.

Kelly Robinson (49:49)

Look, you know, I came from Planned Parenthood. I was the executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, when that Dobbs decision came down that overturned Roe v. Wade. Any right that we have that's been established through the courts, we should not take it for granted. I'm not saying that because we need to be afraid, but we need to be aware and active in doing what we need to do to build power. And I also know that the. The right wing has started this coalition called Greater Than, with an express goal of undermining marriage equality. So anybody, any lesbian, gay or bi folks that thought that our fight was over, you better get with it. They're not coming for one of us. They are coming for all of us.

Joy Reid (50:28)

Yeah. And by the way, I will note, just to circle back to the Trans committee, the SAVE act would effectively mean every trans person that has transitioned would not be able to vote just by default. Right. They couldn't register to vote because your birth certificate has to match the name on your driver's license. So that's just by default. That's every single person would immediately be disenfranchised. Are you all doing activism around the Save America Act? I really just call it the Save Republicans Asses Act. They're trying to save their jobs.

Kelly Robinson (50:53)

Yeah, the Steal America act is what it should be called. We are trying to disenfranchise millions upon millions of voters. I mean, how many of us don't have that form of identification? And specifically women and trans folks are the ones that are going to be targeted, right, from this terrible piece of legislation. So, yes, we're speaking up and we're speaking out, and I think that there's hope here. We can hold the line and we can also open a new conversation about what voting access and voting rights should look like at the end of the day. Why would these people be putting forward laws to try to make it so that millions, millions of people cannot vote? You wouldn't be doing that unless you knew that you did not have the will of the people behind you. So that means to me, we got to show up and show out voting. They don't want us to vote. So this better be our moment to show up in the largest numbers anyone has ever seen to send a clear message.

Joy Reid (51:43)

Oh, no. Amen. I mean, autocracies inherently understand that the things they're doing to the public are unpopular. And the Trump regime understands inherently that Project 2025 and attempting to send women back into the kitchen and all the things that they want to do and that they say out loud they want to do, that the vast majority of people don't want it. And how do you implement unpopular policies, you force them on the public, and you take away the public's ability to remove you from power. And they're trying to systematically remove the opportunity for the majority of people to work their will because they know that their will would be no more regime, no more Trump regime. Nobody likes what he's doing, so they're like, it's fine. We'll just impose it on you anyway. It's a frightening place to be.

Kelly Robinson (52:26)

It's terrifying. And look at the end of the day, the harm that's happening and how it's really felt is not with the people in Washington, D.C. that are going home to their congressional district and cutting all the lines at tsa. Right? It's happening to the kid that is five years old that just wants to play sports with their friend. It's happening to the family that can no longer afford health insurance because the premiums are so high. It's happening to a mom of a trans kid that I talked to yesterday that said she prays for the day she can worry more about her kid finishing his vegetables than whether or not he lives to the next day. We cannot allow our dignity and humanity to be subsumed in this moment. We have to stand up for each other. And if there's any bright lighting, it's seeing how people are doing that in Minnesota, how they're standing up for our neighbors in New York, how they've rallied around trans kids who don't have access to gender affirming care. I see it every single day. And that I don't want to lose that in this moment of crisis. We're seeing a real heroism of our community and our people standing up for one another. That's what can fuel us through this.

Joy Reid (53:33)

You now understand why Kelly Robinson will be a star of the Los Angeles no Patois protest on tomorrow. She's a bad sister and she is gonna give that kind of inspiration to the crowds there in la. Be well, my friend. Keep the fight going. And you know, the door here is always open. You are family to the team, the TJRS team. So come back anytime. Thank you, sis.

Kelly Robinson (53:59)

Thank you. Let's go.

Joy Reid (54:00)

Thank you. Thank you. Happy no Kings Eve to you and to all of us. Jason, can I get a round of applause for. Gotta tell you, all the good. We had a good time like, we had a good old time this first hour. I hope you guys are hyped for no Kings. It is going to be so amazing because it's not just going to be yapping and talk. It is going to be community. It's going to be a gathering. It's a gathering of like minded people who care about the country but do not like the direction that is going in. In the 250th year of America's birth, the worst thing that could possibly happen is, is that we turn into the kingdom that King George was ruling, which we, you know, a lot of people died to get the hell away from. They want back that world, the people on the right, and they're not being subtle about the fact that they want it back. And they're doing the most, doing the most, trying to turn us backwards such that you will not recognize this country when they're done. And that is the reason we have to stand up and fight. If you don't fight, you just have to get used to what they're doing. And none of us are willing to get used to what they're doing. We're just not used to it. And whether or not you feel like you understand the trans community, it doesn't actually matter because any minority community, once they go after one, they just go after all of them. And if you think that you'll be exempted from it, every minority community gets got a lot of Latinos who thought they could ride with the right wing are finding out that they eventually get got to people who are immigrants who thought, well, I'm an immigrant. That doesn't go for me. These African Americans are the ones who have the problem. They're getting got to people who thought that they could walk away from other communities and say, well, that's not my people. It's not about me. I can vote for the Lions Will eat My Face party. The lion will never eat my face. They're finding out, oh, they're eating my face too. A lot of farmers who thought, I can roll with the right wing. They'll never come for farmers. We feed the country. Bloop. They're coming after you too. Every single group ends up being on the menu because the only people at the table with the napkins tucked under their chins are the Epstein class. If the Epstein saga taught you anything, it should have taught you that there are two classes in America, just two. There's the Epstein class and there's everybody else. The Epstein class gets to have unlimited wealth, barely any taxation in many cases. They pay fewer taxes than their secretaries or their janitors. They get to live in 8, 9, 10 different homes and they get to get tax breaks on each of them. And they get to exercise their most lascivious and Horrific, delighted sort of delight. They get to play with children as if they are toys. They get to trade them around the world like playing cards. They get to build their disgusting, dirty AI plants and factories in poor people's communities and let those people get poisoned while they get to breathe free air. They just go and get on a cruise ship and blow it away. They get to poison us, fire us, take away our jobs. And they get to rule. Everybody else is who is getting ruled. And if you think that, well, I can stand with them because I don't like trans people, good luck because you're also going to be on the menu. There are only two kinds of people who are at the restaurant. It's the people that are cooking the food. It's the people that are eating the food or the people who are. It's the only kind of food, right? You know what I'm trying to say? You either on the menu or you writing the menu. If you're not writing the menu and serving the food, you on the menu. And every single one of our communities on the menu. AAPI people who thought, well, you know, some of us are the model minority. They won't come for us. Oh, yes, they will. And they'll eventually get through every single one of the AAPI communities. There's none of them that they like. They actually will take some of you and say, hey, let's be plaintiffs against the black people on affirmative action and then bloop the minute that case is done. They didn't kick your asses out too. They don't want you in there either. They've literally decided that there's only one group of people who get to thrive in this country and it is the Epstein class. It is a rich, billionaire, white, Christian men, and that's it. There's no one else that gets to thrive. There's no one else that gets to play. And their version of play is repugnant. They get to play by poisoning and stealing, taking, and in many cases by sexually abusing whatever they want. They can do it. Donald Trump loves to say, I can do anything. There's anything I could do. Donald Trump says, I want the Kennedy center. It's for me. He gets to take it because he's in the Epstein class. He gets to say, I want to build an Arc de Trump downtown while everyone else is starving. He gets to do it because he's in the Epstein class. Jared gets to say, well, I want Gaza. I want to build a brand new housing development there on top of all the dead people. He Gets to do it. If you're in that crowd, you get to do whatever you want. That is the world they're trying to build. Everyone else is on the menu. Everyone else is chattel. Everyone else is the equivalent of a cow, which they may pet. Sometimes they may oil it up, sometimes they may give it new cow hoof shoes. They may treat it like a friend, but at the end, they gonna slaughter that bitch and eat it. And they may. I'm just saying, all of you, who are the little pets? A little, you know, roly poly pig. No, you didn't rub in the belly. And they treating you like you their friend. I'm telling you, you're a pet cow. If you are not one of them, eventually they gonna slaughter your ass and eat you. Welcome to hour two of the Joy Reid Show. I'm telling you, it's two classes. And the rest of us better get with this brain, this thing quick and team up against them because there's a lot more of us than them. But they're smart about keeping us so divided among ourselves that we're never looking at them. We're just looking at each other. Like, C. Them people got X and I don't have a C. Them immigrants got all the jobs, see. The immigrants got daca. I didn't get shit. We're so busy screaming at each other and fighting with each other, we don't understand. We're all in the corral waiting for our turn at slaughter. Let me remind you all, as we think about all of this stuff, that everything that you've been told, speaking of the Epstein class doing what they want, everything that you've been told about this war in Iran is a lie. Everything, not one thing that you've been told about this war in Iran is true. Unless you've heard it from independent media or from right here on the Joy Reid Show. Everything you've been told by the mainstream or by the regime about this war is an lie, lie item. Let me prove it to you. I want to let you listen to Tulsi Gabbard. I'm a fan of Tulsi Gabbard. I don't love playing her sound. But last June, she actually said a true thing. She warned that elite warmongers in this country were spoiling for a war with Iran. This is Tulsi on June 11th of 2025. Take a listen.

Tulsi Gabbard (61:32)

Condemning survivors to agonizing deaths or lifelong suffering. A nuclear winter could follow with smoke and ash completely blocking the sun, plunging the world into darkness and cold, killing crops and Starving billions. Acid rain would scar the Earth, wiping out entire ecosystems. This isn't some made up science fiction story. This is the reality of what's at stake, what we are facing now. Because as we stand here today, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before, political elite and warmongers are carelessly foaming fear and tensions between nuclear powers. Perhaps it's because they are confident that they will have access to nuclear shelters for themselves and for their families that regular people won't have access to. So it's up to us, the people, to speak up and demand an end to this madness. We must reject this path to nuclear war and work toward a world where no one has to live in fear of a nuclear holocaust.

Joy Reid (62:44)

And so that was part of her push, not against starting a new war in Iran, but the war that she sees looming between the US And Russia. This is one of the reasons that some people on the MAGA side are against arming Ukraine because they feel that it's just a prelude to World War three. So Tulsi was a vehemently anti war United States Congresswoman. She was against, even striking Libya or, sorry, Syria. And for that she was said to be kind of soft on Bashar Al Assad, who was a dictator of Syria. And she was just against any of these interventions, right? So she gave a warning that warmongers were coming out and trying to start new wars not long before the warmonger, that's her boss, struck Iran and claimed that they obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities by launching an operation to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. So I want you all to listen to Tulsi's congressional testimony. And this was last year.

Tulsi Gabbard (63:52)

The IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon. And Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003. The IC continues to monitor closely if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program.

Joy Reid (64:11)

Okay, so that was Tulsi Gabbard. Sorry, that audio was a little low. She said the, the intel, the IC, which is the intelligence community, which is 18 different intelligence services in the United States, all of which report up to her, as she is the DNI, the Director of National Intelligence. This DNI job was created after 911 because of the concern by members of Congress that the US had missed the warnings of 911 because all the various intelligence agencies weren't talking to each other. So they created this thing called the Director of National Intelligence, the Directorate of National Intelligence. And they assign someone to Basically be the supervisor that all the intelligence agencies report up to, including the CIA. She's now the dni and she testified as the person who's all the intelligence agencies report their findings up to her that Iran was not seeking to reconstitute its nuclear arsenal. Iran has never had nuclear weapons. They do not have nuclear weapons. They have a nuclear program for nuclear power. And the man who we killed, the Ayatollah Khamenei, actually issued a fatwa saying they would not build nuclear weapons. And this was after Barack Obama, President Obama inked, along with the eu, a deal with Iran to de escalate from wanting to have a nuclear weapon. Now, by the way, rationally, they probably should want a nuclear weapon because Israel has nukes. And Israel got their nukes during the John F. Kennedy administration or really slightly before. And Kennedy tried to tell them, you can't have nukes. They were the ones who were being told, you can't have nukes. They got them anyway. And if you live near them, particularly if you live in one of the countries that they see as part of their Eretz Greater Israel, which they'd like to take over and eat up some of your territory to make their Greater Israel, you maybe want nukes so you don't end up becoming Ukraine. But I digress. Let me play for you a very different Tulsi Gabbard who used to be stalwartly anti war and say, let's not have a war between the US and Russia over Ukraine and let's not have a war in Iran. Now, I want you to listen to Senator Jon Ossoff last week trying to get Tulsi to simply stand by her previous assessments of Iran.

Senator Jon Ossoff (66:32)

Under the law, you are responsible for providing national intelligence to the president, correct?

Tulsi Gabbard (66:39)

Yes.

Senator Jon Ossoff (66:39)

And to the heads of executive branch departments and agencies? Yes.

Tulsi Gabbard (66:42)

Yes.

Senator Jon Ossoff (66:43)

And to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and senior military commanders across the ic?

Tulsi Gabbard (66:48)

Yes.

Senator Jon Ossoff (66:49)

And to the Senate and the House and relevant committees, Correct?

Tulsi Gabbard (66:52)

Yes.

Senator Jon Ossoff (66:53)

And the law states that the national intelligence you provide to Congress, quote, should be timely, objective and independent of political considerations, correct?

Tulsi Gabbard (67:01)

Yes.

Senator Jon Ossoff (67:02)

And you noted in your opening statement you're here fulfilling a statutory responsibility and that your testimony, quote, represents the IC's assessment of threats, Correct. That opening statement, as submitted to the committee in advance of this hearing, stated that as a result of last summer's airstrikes, quote, Iran's nuclear enrichment program was obliterated, end quote.

Mark Thompson (67:25)

Correct?

Joy Reid (67:25)

That's right.

Senator Jon Ossoff (67:27)

And is that in fact the assessment of the intelligence community?

Tulsi Gabbard (67:29)

Yes.

Senator Jon Ossoff (67:30)

So the assessment of the intelligence community is that Iran's nuclear enrichment program was obliterated by last summer's airstrikes.

Tulsi Gabbard (67:37)

Yes.

Senator Jon Ossoff (67:38)

And the opening statement you submitted to the committee last night also stated, quote, there has been no effort since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability, end quote. Correct?

Tulsi Gabbard (67:48)

That's right.

Senator Jon Ossoff (67:48)

And that's the assessment of the intelligence community?

Tulsi Gabbard (67:51)

Yes.

Senator Jon Ossoff (67:52)

The White house stated on March 1st of this year that this war was launched and was, quote, a military campaign to eliminate the imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime, end quote. That's a statement from the White House, Quote, the imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime. Was it the assessment of the intelligence community that there was an imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime?

Tulsi Gabbard (68:19)

The intelligence community assessed that Iran maintained the intention to rebuild and to continue to grow their nuclear enrichment capability.

Senator Jon Ossoff (68:27)

Was it the assessment of the intelligence community that there was a, quote, imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime?

Tulsi Gabbard (68:33)

Yes or no, Senator, the only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the President.

Jim Acosta (68:39)

False.

Senator Jon Ossoff (68:39)

This is the worldwide. This is the Worldwide Threats Hearing where you present to Congress national intelligence, timely, objective and independent of political considerations. You've stated today that the intelligence community's assessment is that Iran's nuclear enrichment program was obliterated and that, quote, there had been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enforcement enrichment capability. Was it the intelligence community's assessment that nevertheless, despite this obliteration, there was a, quote, imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime. Yes or no?

Tulsi Gabbard (69:12)

It is not the intelligence community's responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat.

Kelly Robinson (69:17)

That is up.

Tulsi Gabbard (69:18)

Here's the problem based on a volume.

Senator Jon Ossoff (69:19)

No, it is. It is precisely that he received. It is precisely your responsibility to determine what constitutes a threat to the United States. This is the Worldwide Threats Hearing where, as you noted in your opening testimony, quote, you represent the IC's assessment of threats. You are here to represent the IC's assessment of threats. That's a quote from your own opening statement. And so my question is, as you're here to present the IC's assessment of threats, was it the assessment of the intelligence community that, as the White house claimed on March 1, there was a, quote, imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime? Yes or no?

Tulsi Gabbard (70:05)

Once again, Senator, the intelligence community has provided the inputs that make up this annual threat assessment.

Senator Jon Ossoff (70:13)

You won't answer the question?

Joy Reid (70:15)

I swear, if y' all in Georgia do not return John Lewis's mentee, Senator John Ossoff, to the United States Senate. Know what I'm gonna do? With y', all, that is one of the most brilliant young men in public office today. He is up for reelection. If y' all don't get to those polls and keep him in, I can't help you. That was a dismantling. He knows that. She said and has testified, as I played you before under oath, that Iran's nuclear capability was allegedly wiped out. And then now she refuses to repeat that when asked a direct question by a United States senator. All right, let's go over to the House side and give a day later, Representative Jimmy Gomez a shot. Let's see if he can get her to just stand by what she said before.

Jimmy Gomez (71:11)

Last year, you testified that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. Do you stand by that statement? You were yes or no.

Tulsi Gabbard (71:20)

Context matters with that yes or no. Iran had all of I reclaim my time. I reclaim my time to do so.

Jimmy Gomez (71:26)

Mr. Chairman. I reclaim my time. It's an easy answer. You either stand by what you said last year or not.

Tulsi Gabbard (71:33)

It is a serious question that requires the director Gabard.

Jimmy Gomez (71:37)

I reclaim my time. I reclaim my time. Did you when President Trump was asked about your testimony, he said you were wrong. Were you lying or not?

Tulsi Gabbard (71:52)

I stand by the intelligence community assessment.

Jimmy Gomez (71:55)

Director Ratcliffe, when it came to the director's testimony, she said that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon last spring in Congress. And so the Supreme Leader had has not authorized the nuclear weapons program. Do you agree with what she said or not? Yes or no?

Joy Reid (72:16)

The director's right here. She can speak for herself.

Jimmy Gomez (72:18)

Oh, so I thought this was an intelligence community briefing. Let's move on. Trump also said he didn't care what you thought or said. Should he care about what you have to say when it comes to intelligence?

Tulsi Gabbard (72:35)

I continue to provide the President with the intelligence community's assessments on all matters.

Jimmy Gomez (72:41)

So let me just kind of get this straight. The department you said that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. Last year, President Trump said he didn't care what you thought and you were wrong. They engaged in Operation Midnight Hammer. He then says it was obliterated. We hear later reports that in open source reporting that it was only set back by a few months. Then at the beginning of this war, he said that there are weeks away. I just want to kind of get a sense of were they weeks away of achieving a nuclear weapon?

Tulsi Gabbard (73:22)

Yes or no, Congressman, this is a serious matter and you've made some very serious mischaracterization.

Jimmy Gomez (73:29)

Yes or no. Were they weeks away?

Joy Reid (73:31)

Yes.

Tulsi Gabbard (73:31)

Disservice to you and the American people. To answer this claiming my time, in

Jimmy Gomez (73:35)

my time, were they weeks away or not? The American people need to know if this was an imminent threat or not, if there are weeks away or not, if there are months away or not. None of this dodging, were they an imminent threat. Yesterday you said that only the President.

Don Lemon (73:54)

Only.

Jimmy Gomez (73:54)

The only person who can determine what is an imminent threat is the President of the United States. Do you stand by that statement?

Tulsi Gabbard (74:04)

Yes, I do.

Jimmy Gomez (74:06)

Director Ratcliffe, do you agree with that assessment that the President is the only person that can determine if something is an imminent threat or not?

Pete Hegseth (74:16)

The President's Commander in Chief gets to make a decision about what's an imminent threat.

Jimmy Gomez (74:19)

The intelligence community.

Joy Reid (74:21)

Well, the intelligence.

Jimmy Gomez (74:21)

Reclaim my time.

Joy Reid (74:23)

Intelligence. Intelligence community provided a body of intelligence.

Jimmy Gomez (74:28)

The reason why is that if the President can determine and ignore what you're doing, why do you guys even have a job? Why even, like, why do you even advise them? So you're saying tomorrow the President of the United States can say China is an imminent threat, and then he can take his own. No matter what the intelligence says, he can take his own action. That's what you're basically saying.

Joy Reid (74:51)

That was the difference between genteel Georgia and not here for the shits Illinois. He said, reclaiming my time. I want to hear this shit. Jimmy didn't have time for it. He didn't have to have time for this. He's like, I got to get on to. I don't want to hear it. But that what you heard from Tulsi Gabbard is a kind of learned helplessness. She's the person who challenged Kamala Harris when she was a Democrat who was running for president in 2020, essentially attempting to make it sound that Kamala Harris was a warmonger. She was so anti war that she was challenging Kamala Harris on that basis. She now has got this learned helplessness where apparently she doesn't know and remember anything. She can't tell you anything about anything. Suddenly this woman who was so self possessed and was such a strong advocate against the war, learned helplessness. Wonder why that is. So if it was not an imminent threat. I think we pretty much established Iran was not an imminent threat to the United States. I think that's fairly clear. So why were we there? Why are we there? Do you remember the mysterious trading we talked about on Wednesday? The mysterious trading. Jason's got this chart here at C5. You see that? Remember that? How when Trump started this war, crude oil futures trading suddenly shot up and someone who. We don't know who it Was. Was making all these trades on that Monday. It was weird, right, that somebody was suddenly trading on oil futures before we went into war. That's a strange thing that we should just make a note of. Just make a mental note of it. I'd also just make a mental note of Donald Trump's wealth gains. If you just look at the time between when he was president last time and when he's president now. Donald Trump in. And I'm not even sure that the 2001. This is his net worth. So this is the Forbes estimate of his net worth. Donald Trump wasn't really like a real billionaire, right? But he has a lot of assets that you could say are worth a billion in total. Look at his growth from 2001 through when he becomes president again. And the pandemic hurt his net worth a little bit, so it didn't grow that much. And then all of a sudden, he becomes president again. Look at that chart just fly up. Suddenly this dude is. The next slide is worth $6.5 billion. Most of it is crypto. Well, a lot of it is properties that he now owns in. In the same region that's getting bombed by Iran. Deals he's done with foreign governments and secret investments in his crypto enterprise. It's a weird thing, right? There's also, of course, another reason for this. The Greater Israel Project. Let's listen to Pete Hegseth. Oh, there it is. How much is he really worth? $6.5 billion. Donald Trump added $1.4 billion over the last year alone, leveraging the presidency for profit. His cryptocurrency ventures stalled out before the election, exploded after his victory, adding an estimated $1.8 billion to his fortunes overall. Another $500 million came in court, where Trump's legal team succeeded in eliminating a half billion judgment against him. In the state of New York, his once dormant licensing business earned $400 million as foreign developers clamored to do business with an American president. Why isn't he up more? The value of his shares in Trump Media, which is where Truth Social is, the parent company of Truth Social, actually decreased by $1.3 billion. That's just a scam. No one uses that thing except him in the media that follow him. But he's just made a lot of money being president. So Donald Trump, that's the whole purpose of the presidency, right? And the billionaires who support Donald Trump just like to keep him fat and happy with lots of money in his pockets and a full diaper, a constant diaper change. A Frequent diaper change and just keep him happy so that they can run the country. The billionaires are eating off of his presidency, which is why they're never gonna let him go. They're never gonna let him go because his presidency is what enables them to eat. They can get endless defense contracts, endless money that they can grift off of crypto. Endless opportunity for payday. And so keeping him happy and making an arc to Trump and putting his name at the Kennedy center, they don't care if he does that. They don't care what he does. If he destroys the country, if he turns the dollar into cinders, it doesn't matter. They're trading in crypto now. So one reason for this war is that it's making a small number of people really rich. Reason number two, the Greater Israel Project. Okay, now let's hear Pete hex. This is C8 talking about the Temple Mount in Israel.

Pete Hegseth (79:41)

And today, Jennifer and I and others had a chance to go see the Western wall of the Temple Mount. The Western Wall tunnels, so much of the Old City. And as you stand there, you can't help but behold the miracle before you. And it got me thinking about another miracle that I hope all of you don't see too far away, because 1917 was a miracle. 1948 was a miracle. 1967 was a miracle. 2017, the Declaration of Jerusalem as the capital was a miracle. And there's no reason why the miracle of the reestablishment of the Temple on the Temple Mount is not possible.

Joy Reid (80:22)

Okay, let's stop there. That's okay. The date that.

Pete Hegseth (80:28)

I don't know how it would happen. You don't know how it would happen, but I know that it could happen.

Joy Reid (80:34)

So he's talking about these various dates in Israel's development. 1948, of course, being the establishment of the state. ZIONIST, There's a 1917, sort of, you know, European Zionist. There's sort of a Balfour Declaration. That's the Balfour Declaration, I believe, is 1917, 1967 war, in which Israel, with the help of the west, because they had Western weapons, defeated the Arab neighbors. You can keep going, but this Temple Mount piece is important for you to know. The Temple Mount. So the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed twice. The second time in 70 A.D. jesus talked about it. Right. According to Christian theology, it's never going to be rebuilt because Jesus prophesied that the Temple would be destroyed, the Temple of Jerusalem would be destroyed, and that it would never be replaced, because he himself replaced the physical Temple. So Christian theology says the Temple doesn't get rebuilt because Jesus is now the Temple. Right? But to ardent Zionists and to dispensationalist far right Christian, Christian nationalists, it will be rebuilt. In fact, it'll be rebuilt right on top of the Al Aqsa Mosque, which is what stands there now and is the third most holy and sacred site to Islam. Rebuilding it, in their view, would bring about Armageddon, the sect of Jewish fundamentalists. There was a gentleman named Schneerson who was their rabbi. He's died since then. That sect believes that in order to bring about the new Messiah, you have to rebuild the temple. Right. So it's part of their theology. And Heg says to the Christian nationalist, so they believe the same thing, which is why you're hearing him talk like this. Holy war talk. Oh, that's okay. This is. Yeah, that's it.

Pete Hegseth (82:15)

This month I meant to read a prayer which I'm going to read today, which I think is fitting, given. Given what's going on right now. But it was just as fitting in January as it is today. And it was sent to me by the chaplain who oversaw the Maduro raid. So this was the prayer that he prayed before that mission with those great Americans who conducted that mission. And he wanted to share it with me, and I'd like to share it with the group today. Almighty God, who trains our hands for war and our fingers for battle, you who stirred the nations from the north against Babylon of old, making her land a desolation where none dwell, behold now the wicked who rise against your justice and the peace of the righteous. Snap the rod of the oppressor. Frustrate the wicked plans and break the teeth of the ungodly by the blast of your anger. Let the evil perish. Let their bulls go down to slaughter, for their day has come the time of their punishment. Pour out your wrath upon those who plot vain things and blow them away like chaff before the wind. Grant this task force clear and righteous targets for violence. Surround them as a shield. Protect the innocent and blameless in their midst. Make their arrows like those of a skilled warrior who returned not empty handed. Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness.

Joy Reid (83:39)

The enemies of righteousness. Given what's going on right now, the enemies of righteousness. The enemies of righteousness. The Babylonian king is the first monarch to destroy the temple of Jerusalem, and that was in 587 BC. So you see what he's doing there? He's trying to use Bible talk and this holy war talk to frame attacking Iran as a fulfillment of the biblical prophecy, to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem so that far right wing Christians will hear that it will trigger them to believe this is a holy war. This is how they're trying to get people who genuinely do not want this war to be on side for it. And the people who really want it are these two groups. White dispensationalists, white nationalist Christians who believe that rebuilding the temple will bring about Armageddon, and Zionists who want an Eretz Israel. They want to turn Iran into a failed state full of competing ethnicities who are all failing so that they can take possession of the majority of the Middle east, so that they can grow Israel by knocking off all of the surrounding countries and taking pieces of it. They want a big piece of Lebanon, they want a big piece of Iraq, they want a big piece of Egypt, they want a big piece of Jordan, they want probably half a Jordan, and they want their Israel to stretch from the Euphrates all the way to Egypt to the Nile. And to do that, they need Iran to be a failed state because that's really their only real opponent in the region that's strong enough to fight them and that could get close enough to matching their nuclear capabilities. So a failed Iran is their goal because Bibi Netanyahu's only way of staying in power is for the far, far, far right in Israel to keep him in power with their votes in the parliament, in their Knesset. And to do that, he has to promise them Eretz Israel. So those are the two reasons that actually are why we're doing this. And then, of course, the third reason, of course, the Saudis love the idea of, of a destabilized Iran because that's their competitor, too. It's about money and it's about power and it's about a land grab. That's what it's about. And by the way, meanwhile, to assuage the white nationalists, one of the other things that the Pentagon is doing or the regime is doing, they're about to pay out. Mike Flynn, who is the QAnon curious former defense Intelligence Agency head who was actually prosecuted for having conversations ex parte with the Russian, with a Russian spy, with the Russian ambassador. Trump pardoned him after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about that. And then the last thing I will note is that part of this project is white Christian nationalism, not any kind of Christian nationalism, because Helene Cooper tweeted this. This is the terrific Pentagon correspondent Helene Cooper, the life of the Pentagon under Pete Hegseth. He has stricken the promotions of Two black and two women officers from promotion to one star general stricken their names unprecedented denied them promotions because apparently a 43% non white military, 43% of the military are people of color, but they apparently are not allowed to enter the ranks of the more than 90% white officer corps. Senior officer corps. Let's get one more add in before we bring our guests in. Today's show is sponsored by Strawberry Me. And we all know that career growth is a struggle, particularly in times like these when people have a lot of questions about what to do next. I was speaking with Jackie Reed's class at FAMU today and one of the questions they had is what next in terms of career? Well, if you're one of those people that's waking up every day knowing that you're capable but not quite sure how to get what you deserve in your career, just know that success does not just happen. And the most successful people in the world don't just figure it out on their own. They have mentors and coaches and people who guide them every step of the way. That's where Strawberry Me career coaching comes in. Now, if you think about the people in your life that have coached you, that have helped you, that have given you opportunity or that made a phone call for you and given you that coaching, those are the kinds of people who have helped make your career possible, right? But with expert guidance, you can identify the obstacles that are holding you back or develop a step by step plan to move forward or take action with confidence, knowing you have a dedicated coach supporting you every step of the way. So instead of just relying on guesswork or waiting for the right time, try professional coaching because it will help you take control of your career trajectory, ensuring that you make intentional decisions that are strategic and that will get you towards success. If you'd like to try professional coaching, go to Strawberry Me Joy and get 50% off your first coaching session at Strawberry Me Joy. It is like therapy for your career. All right, y'. All. So the bill to finally pay the TSA made it through the Senate, but now it faces opposition in the House where House Republicans moved just today to further extend the six week shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security because they have rejected the Senate bill as a non starter. Instead, Speaker Mike Johnson, the guy who gave Donald Trump a made up award to make him happy, he proposed a temporary extension of all DHS funding, including ice, a plan that probably can't even pass the House and likely will not pass the Senate, meaning that this now longest shutdown of funding for dhs, DHS in its history is just going to continue all the way through the weekend with travel a whole hot mess. The Republicans, he said, are not going to be a part of reopening our borders or stopping immigration enforcement. He said basically they want money for ICE or there'll be no money at all, even though ICE already has money. Let me show you what's happening at Houston Airport where the ICE officials, the ICE agents who do get paid, are literally now sitting in the seats of TSA agents who are likely not there because they're not getting paid and they're doing their job. Do you feel confident with those people, the now unmasked ICE goons, screening you before you get on the plane? Joining me now is Judge Glenda Hatchett, legal expert and host of the Verdict with Judge Hatchett. She's also recently released her first ever children's book, Gold Girls, about empowerment and making dreams come true for girls age 3 to 8. There is a picture of it. You can also get it in the store. We, of course, Stockton store. Judge Hatchet, can we talk about this for a minute? Jason, if you could put back up D2 without the sound, the idea that now I don't even know if this is legal. Judge Hatchet or it's not for ICE agents to do someone else's job. Your thoughts?

Judge Glenda Hatchett (90:33)

It's not because they're not trained. There is specific protocol for TSA agents to screen passengers at these airports. And what we know with the more than what now, 480 who have resigned and understandably so because they haven't been paid. We're not talking about a few days. We're talking about for weeks they have not been paid. So stop right there, Joy. It will take four weeks, four weeks of training. And this is what the government has said. Those are the standards that they have set for TSA agents. So even if they were able to recruit tomorrow and that the funding started, it would take four weeks to replace the people who have resigned. So the fact that they are bringing in ICE agents who are not trained, and we know that There are in 14 of the major airports in this country, is not white and they shouldn't be doing it. Now contrast that and I'll make this very brief. Contrast that to the videos we saw when they were first deployed on Monday when they were standing around leaning against the walls while these men and women who are trying to get the work done are not being paid. Let's be very clear, ICE agents are being paid. And it just the horrific irony of this is despicable.

Joy Reid (92:10)

I can't imagine being a TSA agent who already makes half of what ICE agents make. So apparently we can afford to pay airport screeners double what we're paying them because ICE agents make double what tsa, the average TSA person makes. So now what you have is the indignity of unpaid people, watching people who already make twice their salary when they were getting paid do their job with no training. It's an insult to the idea that TSA agents are professionals at all.

Judge Glenda Hatchett (92:44)

It is, and it is really troubling. But also, as you were talking about the beginning of the segment, what does that mean in terms of the efficiency and the safety of people traveling in this country? First of all, they said we're going to bring them there because they're going to help with the security lines. But they also, let's be very clear, said that they were going to be screening for sex traffickers, for criminals. And my theory, Joy, quite frankly, is that this is all designed for Americans to get used to them being in the airports. That this then helps to, quote, unquote, normalize this. This is the first time. Think about this. This is the first time in the history of this nation that we've seen this happen. Yeah, I mean, we haven't seen this. I mean, in foreign countries, I travel. I mean, you see people, you see military. But it almost as if this is the precursor so that we will get used to it. And then the question in my mind, which we're not going to talk about tonight, but perhaps another time, is then is this then ramping up to justifying having ICE agents at polling places?

Joy Reid (93:58)

No, we can talk about it now. Let's not wait because, okay, so Bannon has said that that is exactly what it is.

Judge Glenda Hatchett (94:04)

And so if the public then starts seeing them and gets used to seeing them in public places, I. E. The airport that we're seeing now, my concern is that then it becomes normalized for elections. And I am concerned about the intimidation factor of people, of ICE agents being in polling places now. You know, I live in Atlanta, so I'm also really concerned about what happened some weeks ago with them coming in and seizing the ballots. I mean, there are so many things happening that really concern me about. About the feasibility. I mean, about. That's not the right word about the practicality of people being able to vote without being intimidated.

Joy Reid (94:54)

Yeah, right now you can't travel without being intimidated, because if you're walking up to hand your ID and the person sitting behind that counter is not TSA Their ice with their ice paraphernalia on. Do you want to injure ID to them? Because what they're doing is are they screening you to get on the plane or are they screening you to see if they think you seem sufficiently American? Are they going to get up and pull you out of the line? Are they going to act like they act in the streets? What are they going to do if they don't like your idea or they don't like your face or they don't like your accent? You've put the most dangerous, most unprofessional people in so called law enforcement. These people who we don't know if they're proud boys, we don't know if they're oath keepers. We don't know if they're white supremacists. We have no idea who these people are, where they were recruited from, with how they were trained. We know they got 47 days of training in honor of Trump. We know a lot of them are ideologues, anti immigrant. We know that they profile people racially in the street and they're going to profile people in the line. Like, nothing about this seems like it's going to make traveling safer. And it's definitely not making lines shorter.

Judge Glenda Hatchett (95:54)

It's not. And I take this very personally. I have a dear friend who was born here, her children were born here. And she just hit me up last night, Joy, and said, you know, Glenda, we were thinking about traveling for the holidays, for spring break. I don't know that I want to risk being in the airport and me and my children being subjected to this. So we're staying home. What does that say about us? What does that say about us as a country? What does that say? But now let's go back, Joy, for a second. And we talked about this a little before and I think we are close this loop. The Supreme Court did three things. Remember, they set three criteria. One was where you're working, one was your language, but the third was the color of your skin. Yes, that's you and that's me. That's us profiling that. The profiling that has been approved by the highest court in this nation and sold the whole thing about probable cause and rights has just been decimated.

Joy Reid (97:03)

Yeah.

Judge Glenda Hatchett (97:03)

And for me, from where I sit, from the legal perspective of this, I am concerned that this is just the beginning of further erosion of rights.

Joy Reid (97:13)

I would say it's also an erosion of the notion of law enforcement professionalism. Let me play this surveillance video because what we have are masked ice Agents in the streets and in the airport and an FBI that can't find an 80 something year old mom. This is surveillance video of Nancy Guthrie's home. This is the video that everybody's now seen, I think on the Today show, et cetera, that this poor woman is still missing. And Cash Patel has gone to the Olympics to hang out with the U.S. hockey team. He's yapped about Valhalla, he's done all sorts of stuff. He's done some testimony before Congress in which he didn't answer any questions. But we don't have an FBI that's professional enough to find this one woman. And it seems to me that the deprofessionalization of the FBI, the fact that they've run out, fired or caused the professionals to quit because they dared ever to investigate Trump, means that we just don't have a professional FBI.

Judge Glenda Hatchett (98:11)

Well, I think that, I think a few things, my heart goes out to this family. I mean it's just, it's heart wrenching. How could this have happened and how could this not be solved in all these years? But to your point, I think there's a bigger issue about what is happening and particularly concerned that the FBI then fired the people who are specialists in terms of this national security piece at a time when war has been started with Iran and there is a question about the safety and what may happen on this soil. This is not going to just be contained necessarily to that area of the world, but may well. So how do you justify having just gotten rid of specialists in an area that is so tied to the security, the domestic security and integrity of this country? But you know, we can go down the, we can go down the list now. We have someone who is now in charge of HSS who has no credentials. And yet we are in a situation where there needs to be knowledgeable leadership, but there also needs to be leadership that has integrity.

Joy Reid (99:26)

Yeah, and by the way, FBI Director Cash Patel's emails got hacked and an Iranian based hacker is saying that they've got his emails and they're starting to post them online. So our FBI director, the guy in charge of our most important domestic law enforcement agency at the federal level, could not protect his own email, nor can they seem to find Nancy Guthrie. It's a strange and strange world. Last thing before I let you go, Jason, if you could pull up D6. This is a wild thing that happened and that is also a deprofessionalization of law enforcement issue, but also an American in human and ICE issue.

Judge Glenda Hatchett (100:09)

Take a listen To D and anguish.

Tulsi Gabbard (100:12)

Savannah.

Joy Reid (100:12)

Oh, no. I'm sorry. In her first interview, nearly eight weeks. D6. Sorry. D6.

Judge Glenda Hatchett (100:17)

The one with. About the roof. Yes.

Joy Reid (100:20)

Okay, let's do the next one. The next video. The video after that one. Yeah. D7, I think is a still. This should be D6. It's on my list. It's D6. All right. That's okay. We'll. We'll leave it. A homeowner called ICE on their own contractors. They decided that the people who were doing work on their home were too brown, too much of an accent, and they called ICE on them. Your thoughts?

Judge Glenda Hatchett (100:47)

First of all, there's such a discrepancy about the reporting. Officials say that this is part of their ongoing investigation in Maryland and that they were going to be there anyway. That contradicts some other reporting that she actually, the homeowner actually call. One report says that was the first day they were there. Another report says that actually they had three days of work finished. The work, owed $10,000. And then she called. I. I don't think that this was just part of a thing. I don't think this is coincidental that ICE just put. I do believe that she called, but let me also tell you that this interesting because this may come back to bite her legally, Joy, because of the company who had these men out there working and that she called ICE, if that is true, called ICE after the work was finished and owes $10,000, she may then be charged criminally for then having done this as a way of avoiding the payment. So it's going to be very interesting to see how this. How this plays out. Obviously, they don't have standing there in the position to bring any kind of charges against her, but maybe, perhaps the company does. But I think it's horrible.

Kelly Robinson (102:00)

I just think it's horrible.

Judge Glenda Hatchett (102:01)

I think it's horrible.

Joy Reid (102:03)

Yeah. We are training Americans poorly to do poor actions and to be inhumane. And it is not good. Judge Glenda Hatchett. We always love talking with you. Thank you so much. I'm wishing you a great weekend and happy no Kings Eve. What are your. No Kings Day plans.

Judge Glenda Hatchett (102:17)

Yes, I will. Absolutely. Of course, in Atlanta, there'll be big plans. You know, I'm busy with the book, but this is a priority this weekend. I will be there. I don't want my grandchildren to look back and ask and say, grandma G, what did you do? I want to be very clear to them about my commitment on this.

Joy Reid (102:35)

And I love that we're twinning today. We are in.

Kelly Robinson (102:38)

You know what and then after I

Judge Glenda Hatchett (102:39)

saw it, I was like, oh, I don't have time to run and take. But we are twinning because this is the Go Girls thing. So I have.

Joy Reid (102:45)

Yes, yes. Well, we. We are Go Girls and we are Joy Reid show. And we love the Go Girls jacket. Very cute. Super cute.

Judge Glenda Hatchett (102:54)

Thank you. May I just say two seconds, please? All pre sales for the book will benefit the Boys and Girls Club for Gold Girls. If people will do that and support it, I would be most grateful.

Joy Reid (103:04)

That is amazing. We're gonna put the link to your Gold Gold Girls website. We also have the book listed in the store, so if you purchase the book, you will be benefiting the Boys and Girls Club.

Kelly Robinson (103:15)

So, yeah, by the 31st.

Judge Glenda Hatchett (103:17)

By the 31st, all proceeds will do that. Thank you for doing that, Joy. I appreciate that.

Joy Reid (103:21)

Love it.

Judge Glenda Hatchett (103:22)

And we are twinning.

Joy Reid (103:23)

You know, we're twinning. Look, great minds think alike. Great minds think alike and dress it.

Judge Glenda Hatchett (103:29)

I appreciate you. I appreciate you and what you're doing. Thank you.

Joy Reid (103:33)

Thank you so much. I want to note that we are also raising money for the Committee to Protect Journalists. And we just got $100 that was put into the till. Let me see if we can figure out who that is. Y' all let me know who that was because I can't click on it. But we're very excited about you all jumping in to try to support journalists who are facing incarceration in this moment because this regime is toxic and nasty. All right, let's move on. The vote in the 193 member United nations to declare that chattel slavery, the enslavement of Africans across the Atlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity. That vote in favor was 123 to 3, with 52 countries abstaining. And the three countries who voted no, Argentina, Israel and the United states. The only three to vote no, the United Kingdom and all 27 members of the European Union abstained. Let's take a look at how that vote went down. This is E1.

UN Official (104:38)

The assembly will now take a decision on draft resolution A80 L48, entitled Declaration of the Traffic of the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialized Chateau. Enslavement of Africans as a Gravestone Crime against humanity. A recorded vote has been requested. We shall now begin the voting process. Those in favor of the draft resolution A80 L48, please signify. Those against and those in abstention.

Kelly Robinson (105:26)

The assembly is now voting on draft resolution A80 L48, entitled Declaration of the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialized Shuttle Enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity. Will all delegations confirm that the votes are accurately reflected on the screen? The voting has been completed. Please lock the machine.

Joy Reid (106:09)

There it is. The result of the vote.

UN Official (106:28)

The result of the vote is as follows. In favor, 123 against, 3 abstentions, 52. Therefore, draft resolution A80 L48 is adopted.

Joy Reid (106:44)

Boom. Joining me now is our friend Mark Thompson, host of Make It Plain and longtime activ in the global reparations movement. Mark, this was a big deal and it does go to show you what it looks like when it's not just the very white National Security Council, but the whole global body gets to vote. What's the significance of this vote?

Mark Thompson (107:05)

Well, thanks for having me, Joy, as always. And thank you for your dedication to this global reparations movement as well. This is quite meaningful when you have this many countries doing that. And it also is consistent with this being the second consecutive international decade of people of African descent as declared by the un. This decade has been declared by the African Union as one for reparations as well. So this says quite a bit. And it shows that how much the world has matured when it comes to our struggle, our people. The issue of enslavement and the issue of reparations. This began, this struggle began with Marcus Garvey at the League of Nations before there ever was a un and it continued throughout history with Malcolm X and even Dr. King, who it is widely speculated that if Malcolm X had lived after his trip to Selma, the reports were that he and Dr. King were going to go to the UN together eventually. And so this, this means quite a bit. It is also meaningful and striking. Sometimes folks, we need to have a vote to see where people stand.

Joy Reid (108:18)

Yes.

Mark Thompson (108:19)

So you see where the United States stands. No surprise. And really Israel should not be a surprise. Israel fully supported the apartheid regime and helped the apartheid regime develop a nuclear weapon.

Joy Reid (108:34)

Yep.

Mark Thompson (108:35)

And also help wage war. And then with. On behalf. And with the apartheid regime.

Joy Reid (108:40)

Yeah.

Mark Thompson (108:41)

Solidarity with the top part time regime in Angola, Namibia and other countries in Southern Africa. So. So this is very, very consistent. So anybody who thinks that the Israel. That Israel and United States are not in lockstep with each other ought to know for sure.

Joy Reid (108:57)

Now by the way, let me just note that the Secretary General said that he. This is his quote. The transatlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity that struck at the core of personhood. Broke up families and devastated communities to justify the unjustifiable. Slavery's proponents and beneficiaries constructed A racist ideology turning presidents turning prejudice into pseudoscience. I want to play for you all some of the sound of the people who voted to abstain justifying it. This is just a few of the countries, including France and England. Jason, this is E2, if you could play that real quick.

UK Representative (109:38)

We regret also the fact that this resolution seems to establish a hierarchy amongst crimes against humanity. This gives rise to serious legal difficulties. In addition to that, it runs the risk of creating a competition against historic tragedies which should not be compared. And what is done, it's done to the detriment of the memory of victims. At the time when the United nations is working on the development of a new International Convention on the prevention and suppression of crimes against humanity, it seems to us important to recall that any and all resolution from the General assembly has to be centered in international law and a universal approach to human rights. I thank you.

Joy Reid (110:27)

We encourage the continued promotion of comprehensive educational programs, memorialization initiatives and research on slavery, the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialized chattel, enslavement of Africans and their consequences. We had hoped to be able to vote in favor of this resolution, but regrettably, New Zealand was not in a position to endorse all aspects of the text presented today. New Zealand acknowledges the significance and horrific scale of transatlantic slavery, but it is not able to endorse a text that suggests a hierarchy of crimes against humanity and which has implications for other multilateral processes underway related to the progressive development of international law.

UK Representative (111:14)

I delivered this joint explanation of vote on behalf of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. At the outset, we underlined the importance of the International Day of Remembrance of the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade and command efforts to ensure that the profound suffering caused by the trafficking of enslaved Africans is never forgotten nor diminished. To address the enduring consequences of slavery crimes, Liechtenstein launched the Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking initiative to combat modern forms of slavery and human trafficking. Against this background, the process leading to the adoption of this Declaration is unfortunately a missed opportunity to broaden consensus and recognize the unprecedented nature of these crimes. We believe that more time and meaningful negotiations were needed to galvanise further support.

UN Official (112:12)

The United Kingdom recognizes the gravity of the issues addressed in this resolution and welcomes the opportunity to set out its position. We have repeatedly recognized the abhorrent nature of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, which inflicted untold harm and misery on millions of people over many decades. Its horrors were profound and its legacy continues to leave deep scars today. The UK also believes that only by acknowledging and discussing collectively the most painful elements of the history that we share with other nations, including the transatlantic slave trade. Can we come together in a spirit of solidarity and mutual respect to respond to the challenges that we all face today? The UK remains committed to that goal. That is why we engaged constructively throughout the negotiations on this resolution in the hope of reaching a consensual based text. However, despite our efforts, our concerns have not been taken on board. The UK continues to disagree with fundamental propositions of the text and therefore, regrettably, could not vote in favor of it. Firstly, the UK is firmly of the view that we must not create a hierarchy of historical atrocities.

Joy Reid (113:23)

So this term, hierarchy of historical atrocities, Mark, this reflects what the United States said. Argentina just voted because Javier Milei just does whatever Donald Trump wants. They voted to stay in fair with us. But here was the statement from the U.S. they called the text highly problematic and this is the quote. The United States also does not recognize a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred, said our ambassador, Dan Negrea. The United States also strongly objects to the resolution's attempt to rank crimes against humanity in any type of hierarchy. So they're all using that language of ranking crimes against humanity in a hierarchy. Your thoughts?

Mark Thompson (114:03)

Yeah. That's what you call litigious word salad. Litigious is actually the lettuce for it because they are anticipating legal action.

Joy Reid (114:15)

Yeah.

Mark Thompson (114:16)

Resolution does not explicitly say that. It says, it talks about reparations and repair. So this wasn't a resolution that says reparations should be paid in a certain amount. But, but they're smart enough to know what's coming. And, and it's already been cheated because independent of the UN in a lot of these countries, people already doing that, you know, France, as you kicked off with, you know, we're talking about enslavement, we're talking about Haiti or iit, as our sisters and brothers say specifically. And they're terrified. If their leaders in any of these countries we just heard from were to acknowledge this in a certain way, it would open the door for legal argument. Now, the fact that they're abstaining doesn't negate the legal argument. But let's just be clear, folks, that's really what this is, what this is all about. And people being afraid of that because the, the, the, the laws are coming, the movement is coming. Prince Charles is currently not. He's, I'm sorry, he's king. Now King Charles is currently boxed in because this is an, a bubbling debate in Britain and so what this resolution does is help in terms of a hierarchy. You know, I don't know that anybody wants to have sort of oppression Olympics whose oppression was worse. But we must say this went on for centuries. And this is just enslavement. We're not even talking about the colonization that accompanied enslavement, but we can acknowledge that the enslavement and all the vestiges from enslavement, because that's the other issue. How did enslavement create some of the society and socioeconomic challenges we have today? All of those vestiges, Enslavement and its later practices, especially in this country, when it came to segregation, and that was happening in other countries, too, were the template that Adolf Hitler used himself for the Holocaust, you know, and some folk don't want to acknowledge that either. I don't know why. I don't know why folk want to have specific ownership over their own oppression. Oh, that was exclusive to us. No, it's the same template. Oppression. Genocide is genocide is genocide is genocide. So that's where we are so very, very proud of the. The nation of Ghana. And it makes sense. One of the first nations to become independent, if not the first in on the continent. Recommend a great book, too, by Dr. Jeremy Levitt of Florida and M. Beyond borders. It's about Dr. King's pan Africanism. There's a lot of articles about Dr. King's pan AfricanISM, but the first full volume of his work, and he even posits joy a theory. Then one of the reasons for Dr. King being targeted for assassination is that a lot of people don't know this. In the last year of his life, he had been tapped to be the mediator in the Biafra civil war in Nigeria. So to have had a Dr. King even more injected into the politics of the continent and the mineral wealth was also an existential threat. And so this. This is long overdue. Lastly. It is, folks. It's somewhat sad that it took until 2026 for this international body to even acknowledge how grave a crime against humanity this was. But his final.

Joy Reid (117:46)

Yeah, Jason, giving you some support there. Amen. It took way too long, and I will just close out by saying yes, big ups to John Muhammad, who is the president of Ghana. Ghana put forward this resolution. Look how Africa is moving in the un, y', all, moving at the ICJ against Israel. That's South Africa is doing Ghana, putting forth this resolution that winds up getting an overwhelming yes vote. Just 3 nos and 52 abstentions. All Europe and I will close Mark by saying the foreign Minister of Ghana, Samuel Oko, his name is Okudzeo Ablaqua. He came out and he said the thing that I think scares Europe the most. He said we're not looking initially for a cash payout, but we want back all our antiquities. He said we want to repatriate all the antiquities that are sitting in y' all museums in your private homes. We want them back. And I think that scared the bejesus out of Europe because that's step one. Yes. And the, the also the resolution calls for reparations.

Mark Thompson (118:56)

It does, it does it, it supports reparations. And again that's not, that's folks, that's not just cash. There's a lot that goes with it. That's the antiquities questions of, of land and all of these, you know, white wealth. White folks didn't wake up rich born under cabbage patch. They, they had help. There was support. There were institutions put in place for, for home buying and building middle class societies. In Europe and in this country we didn't get that. We didn't get the GI Bill, for example in America we didn't get the Homestead Act. We weren't even included in Social Security at first. So the generational wealth that exists and I get people see that wealth disappearing under these new regimes, but the wealth that you've been enjoying for over a century came at our expense.

Joy Reid (119:47)

Pretty much all of the King and Queen of England, that entire structure of that wealth of the British royal family, which is cousin related to all the European royal families, they got that wealth from the continent. Mark Thompson, what are you doing for no Kings Day tomorrow?

Mark Thompson (120:09)

I'm in solidarity. You know, we, we all should be in solidarity for no King's Day for these very reasons. You know, monarchies are what ended up carving up Africa in the first place. Monarchies are what began the trade of enslavement. So we all should be out there, stand up and, and, and see to it. We can't wait for more crimes against humanity and greater crimes against humanity to take place also. You know, a week ago we said goodbye to Bernard Lafayette and Dr. Bernice King said he was the greatest apostle of non violence. After her father's death, he built non violence centers all over the country. We must be against war. And, and this is probably the first war in history where there's. People really don't have a clarity on what it is about most wars. We can look back historically, but this war was about A, B, C and D. What was, what was this about. But we've. We've come into our own. Lastly, Joy, let me just say we also said goodbye today here I'm in Chicago with Dr. Alva Carruthers. And we said goodbye to Brother Akbar Muhammad, who was the ambassador from the Nation of Islam to the. To the whole country, to the whole world. And he visited over 100 African countries. He was quite a states person. Listen, we were not allowed. It was just Jackson. Say this, Mark. They don't want us to talk about global affairs. They punish Du Bois and Robeson and Garvey and Mary McLeod Bethune for having a world or a global perspective. We're only supposed to stay in our little silos and deal with our own little neighborhoods. But every time we as black people talk about ourselves in a global context or within the context of the African world, as Dr. John Henry Clark would. Would call it, we are standing up for our dignity, our humanity and our universality as a people.

Joy Reid (122:06)

Amen. Amen. Mark Thompson, always a pleasure, always profound. Thank you very much, my friend. I appreciate you happy. No Kings eat. Thank you. All right, before. Thank you. Before we go, we have two things I want to do really quick. Tomorrow after no Kings Day at 6:15, I'm going to be jumping in to yet another exciting thing. This is E6, Jason, if you have E6 just to show it. Choose your fighter. No, no, E6. E6. All right, easy. There it is. This is an initiative. Oh, this is going to be fun, everybody. We are going to be talking resistance. Crystal ball has put this together and invited me to be a part of it. So 6:15. The link will be in the chat here. It'll also be on substack. It's also on my Instagram channel, so please tune in for that as well. Choose your fighter. We are going to be doing a lot of resisting tomorrow. All right, let's do our moment of joy because we're going to get to our members only chat very soon. If you haven't hit like and subscribe yet, this is a great time to do it. Let's get into our moment of joy. The cross racial negotiations that we told you guys about on Wednesday, they continue. There is a new entry in the cross racial negotiations to try to systematize language to make sure that we're all doing the insults in the right way. And Jason lets us play our moment of joy.

Don Lemon (123:50)

Black delegation, are you willing to bring back perpetrating? If you bring back perpetrating because of

Joy Reid (123:57)

all these perpetrators perpetrating, we're willing to

Jim Acosta (124:00)

bring back

Mark Thompson (124:03)

ass Hat perpetrating has now

Joy Reid (124:06)

been replaced by capping.

Mark Thompson (124:08)

The black delegates will agree to bring

Joy Reid (124:11)

back perpetrating in exchange for.

Mark Thompson (124:13)

For not only asshat, but tomfoolery. We await word from the delegates of Atlanta to see if they will retract capping. I will now pass this off to the rest of the black delegation for confirmation on perpetrating for asshat and tomfoolery.

Joy Reid (124:29)

I think that that is a good trade. George, who started this whole thing off, we're going to make sure that we add him in the. In the description. He has started off a movement here. And I think if Tom and I have never let go of Tom foolery, I'm just going to note. Please let the. Let the. The white delegation or spicy white delegation know that I actually have been using tomfoolery freely for a long time. So I will note that I'm already using it. So if you could please inform the black delegation that some of us were already using it, but we think asshat should absolutely come back. Rapscallion, apparently also back in the mix. Rapscallion, a quality insult, and we're going to make sure we systematize it. But Tom foolery, it's a no miss. All right, y', all, thank you for tuning in. Hopefully you guys will be out there doing some shenanigans is also being. I will.