Lawrence: Elon Musk says ‘unrepentant racists’ support Trump

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Episode: *Lawrence: Elon Musk says ‘unrepentant racists’ support Trump
Release Date: January 3, 2025

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Introduction

The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell dives deep into the political landscape, exploring recent events, controversial statements, and significant legislative developments. In this episode, Lawrence O'Donnell addresses Elon Musk's remarks about Trump supporters, the ongoing FBI nomination hearings, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's financial disclosures, recent terrorist attacks, and the tumultuous election for Speaker of the House.

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Elon Musk's Critique of Trump Supporters

Timestamp: [02:15] – [09:18]

Lawrence opens the discussion by examining Elon Musk's recent statement labeling Trump supporters as “unrepentant racists.” He contrasts this with Donald Trump's response, highlighting Trump's tendency to deflect terrorist attacks by blaming illegal immigrants rather than acknowledging domestic threats.

Notable Quote:

"When the richest person Donald Trump has ever met, who also happens to be the richest person in the world, calls Trump voters unrepentant racists, it's a significant statement."
– Lawrence O’Donnell [07:45]

O'Donnell emphasizes the irony of Trump siding publicly with Musk, juxtaposing it against Musk's surprise at encountering racism within Trump's base. He cites Nobel laureate Paul Krugman's critique of Trump, noting Trump's alignment with tech elites over his own supporters.

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FBI Nomination Hearing: Kash Patel

Timestamp: [09:18] – [24:37]

The conversation shifts to the Senate confirmation hearing of Donald Trump's nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel. O'Donnell and guest Senator Sheldon Whitehouse scrutinize Patel's controversial proposals to dismantle key components of the FBI, including the intelligence unit critical for preventing terrorism.

Notable Quotes:

"He wants to shut down the FBI headquarters... that's where the most important work of the FBI is done every day."
– Lawrence O’Donnell [11:47]

"He says he's going to shut down the Hoover Building... that's a lot of confusion of where do people go to work now."
– Ellie [14:47]

Senator Whitehouse raises concerns about Patel's lack of commitment among Republican senators, pointing out the potential difficulties Patel may face during the confirmation process due to his extreme proposals.

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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's Financial Disclosures

Timestamp: [17:33] – [24:37]

The episode delves into the Judicial Conference's decision not to reprimand Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for violations of financial disclosure rules. O'Donnell and Whitehouse critique the Conference's stance, particularly regarding Thomas's $267,000 loan forgiveness, which they argue constitutes a potential case of tax evasion.

Notable Quotes:

"Sixty-seven thousand-dollar tax evasion is a big deal, and by a Supreme Court justice, it's an even bigger deal."
– Ellie [23:09]

"How can a Supreme Court justice not know that a forgiven loan is an income tax event?"
– Lawrence O’Donnell [23:38]

Whitehouse questions the Judicial Conference's authority and transparency, suggesting that the body is more interested in preserving the Supreme Court's integrity than in addressing potential misconduct.

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Recent Terrorist Attacks and Domestic Terrorism

Timestamp: [01:38] – [35:27]

Lawrence discusses the New Orleans and Las Vegas terrorist attacks, both perpetrated by American military veterans. He contrasts these incidents with Donald Trump's rhetoric, which blames foreign criminals rather than addressing domestic threats.

Notable Quotes:

"The United States army is a much bigger problem than the southern border when it comes to terrorism."
– Lawrence O’Donnell [05:20]

Congressman Eric Swalwell joins the discussion, emphasizing the need for better identification and prevention of rapid radicalization, as seen in the New Orleans attack.

Notable Quote:

"The FBI has been telling us privately and publicly that the greatest threat to our safety in the United States is from domestic terrorism."
– Eric Swalwell [32:08]

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Election for Speaker of the House

Timestamp: [36:03] – [39:54]

The episode covers the precarious situation surrounding the election for Speaker of the House. Republican Speaker Mike Johnson faces uncertainty, lacking the necessary committed votes, with notable defections from within his party.

Notable Quotes:

"Rep. Thomas Massie plans to vote against handing the gavel back to House Speaker Mike Johnson... I definitely have no Fs to give now."
– Lawrence O’Donnell [38:04]

Congressman Swalwell criticizes the Republican strategy, attributing the dysfunction to influence from Donald Trump and expressing confidence in Democratic unity to stabilize governance.

Notable Quote:

"Democrats are going to be united as we have been when we elected a speaker... we have leverage that you would never have in the minority at any other time, but we have it right now."
– Eric Swalwell [38:04]

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Presidential Citizens Medal Honors

Timestamp: [40:10] – [45:54]

Lawrence highlights President Biden awarding the Presidential Citizens Medal to former Congresswoman Liz Cheney and Congressman Bennie Thompson for their roles in investigating the January 6th Capitol attack. The segment underscores the recognition of bipartisan efforts to uphold democracy and the rule of law.

Notable Quote:

"This will be the last time for at least the next four years that the President of the United States publicly commends people for humility, heart, decency, and devotion to the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States."
– Lawrence O’Donnell [41:36]

President Biden's speech celebrates the honorees’ commitment to democracy, emphasizing their roles in safeguarding the Constitution and promoting justice.

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Conclusion

Lawrence O’Donnell wraps up the episode by reflecting on the day's discussions, highlighting the critical challenges facing American democracy, from internal threats and political divisions to the integrity of key institutions like the FBI and the Supreme Court. The episode calls for unity and vigilance in addressing these multifaceted issues to preserve the nation's foundational values.

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Notable Quotes Overview

• Lawrence O’Donnell:

  • "When the richest person... calls Trump voters unrepentant racists, it's a significant statement." [07:45]
  • "The United States army is a much bigger problem than the southern border when it comes to terrorism." [05:20]
  • "Sixty-seven thousand-dollar tax evasion is a big deal..." [23:38]

• Ellie:

  • "He wants to shut down the FBI headquarters..." [14:47]
  • "Forgiveness of a loan equals income is an obvious legal proposition." [23:38]

• Eric Swalwell:

  • "The FBI has been telling us... the greatest threat... is from domestic terrorism." [32:08]
  • "We are in a position to also functionally govern." [38:04]

• Senator Sheldon Whitehouse:

  • Detailed analysis of Patel's nomination and concerns about the FBI's future role.

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This episode of The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell provides a comprehensive examination of pressing political issues, shedding light on the complexities of American governance and the ongoing struggles to maintain democratic integrity.

Transcript

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[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Time now for the Last word with Lawrence O'Donnell. Good evening, Lawrence.

[Ellie]

I did not see that one coming. I have to tell you, I know a lot about Jimmy Carter.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

I've read a lot.

[Ellie]

I did not know how close he got to dying after the last guinea worm.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

You know, you just taught me that, too, Ellie. I did not know that. What's very clear, though, is that Jimmy Carter did more after his presidency, did more good after his presidency than any other president. And it's not close that some of.

[Ellie]

Us do in our lives. So I am glad for the tribute.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

That we're all going to be offering.

[Ellie]

Him over the course of the next week. And Lawrence, you have a great show tonight.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Thanks, Ellie. Thank you very much. Well, first, first There was Timothy McVeigh, an American military veteran who killed 168 people, including 19 children, in a terrorist attack on a federal building in Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh parked a truck outside that building loaded with explosives in an act of homegrown American terrorism. Timothy McVeigh's hatred of the American government was not tamed in any way by his service in the American military. So, too, with America's latest terrorist attack in New Orleans on New Year's Eve with an American military veteran driving a pickup truck through a crowd to murder 14 people. The American military veteran terrorist was then killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. But when Donald Trump sees the type of terrorist attack that occurred in New Orleans, he doesn't remember Timothy McVeigh, and instead, he blames the criminals that he imagines are crossing the Southern border. Hours after the attack in New Orleans, Donald Trump wrote, quote, when I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the fake news media, but it turned out to be true. No one has ever who has ever crossed the southern border in the history of the existence of of the southern border has killed more people in this country than Timothy McVeigh, who was born in Lockport, New York, the northwest part of the state, into a white Roman Catholic American family with roots in this country that go back farther than Donald Trump's roots in this country. The New Orleans terrorists like Timothy McVeigh reached the rank of sergeant in the United States Army. The simple fact is this country has suffered more deadly terrorism at the hands of American born citizens who are veterans of the United States military than people who have crossed into this country at the southern border. It is very clear from the evidence that if you want to worry about terrorism in this country, the United States army is a much bigger problem than the southern border. No one across the southern border attacked the Capitol on January 6th four years ago. But several veterans of the United States military violently attacked the Capitol on January 6th in an act of terrorism intended to terrorize Congress into violating the Constitution and not certifying Joe Biden as the elected President of the United States. With the country reeling from the attack in New Orleans and those of us with family and friends in New Orleans worried about their safety, the big players in Donald Trump's world were not talking about New Orleans. They were talking about visas. Former Trump staff member Steve Bannon got in a public argument on Twitter with the owner of Twitter, Elon Musk. That provoked Musk to call Trump supporters like Bannon, quote, unrepentant racists. Musk seemed surprised to discover that there were any racists supporting Donald Trump. Remember the outrage in both the news media and Trump world eight years ago when candidate for President Hillary Clinton referred to some Trump supporters as, quote, deplorables. The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it. Donald Trump pretended to be deeply offended at Hillary Clinton's accurate description of some Trump supporters. When the richest person Donald Trump has ever met, who also happens to be the richest person in the world, calls Trump voters unrepentant racists. Donald Trump, of course, sided with the rich guy against his own supporters. Donald Trump decided to publicly agree with Elon Musk that we should admit more skilled immigrants into this country, even to take jobs that Americans are eager to do. Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman writes in his Substack article titled MAGA is already eating its own Past the popcorn. Quote like many observers, I expected severe buyers regret fairly early in the second Trump administration. After all, many Americans who voted for Trump did so because they believed he would bring down grocery prices. He was never going to be able to deliver on that promise and stopped talking about the subject as soon as the election was over. Sooner or later, voters were going to notice. I did not, however, expect a mega civil war. Weeks before Trump had even taken office, Elon Musk threatened Trump supporters like Steve Bannon on Twitter saying, quote, take a big step back and eff yourself in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend. Vivek Ramaswamy joined the Musk side of the argument by saying that American workers are just not as good as foreign workers. American workers are mediocre, ramaswamy said, quote, american culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long. Imagine, imagine if Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris or any Democrat anywhere ever said that American workers are mediocre. American workers are not as good as foreign workers and that, quote, American culture has venerated mediocrity. Paul Krugman writes, quote, so where is Trump coming down on all this? It has always been clear that he shares the tech bro's contempt for ordinary Americans. But is he willing to openly sell out his MAGA base? Why yes. After Elon Musk told Trump loyalists to eff themselves in the face, Trump sided with Musk. The terrorist attack in New Orleans brings into sharp focus what is at stake in the Senate confirmation hearing of Donald Trump's choice for Director of the FBI. Confirmation hearing for Kash Patel as Director of the FBI will be held in the Senate Judiciary Committee with our first guest tonight, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, asking questions of the nominee who has publicly said he wants to eliminate the intelligence unit in the FBI that investigates terrorist plots and has successfully stopped many of those plots before they were carried out. Here is what Kash Patel said he wants to do with that unit of the FBI and with the rest of the FBI.

[Ellie]

The FBI's footprint has gotten so frickin big and the biggest problem the FBI has had has come out of its intel shops. I'd break that component out of it. I'd shut down the FBI Hoover Building.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

On day one and reopening the next.

[Ellie]

Day as a museum of the deep state.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Leading off our discussion tonight is Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. Senator Whitehouse, I've got to ask you about what we just heard there. There's someone saying, I want to make the FBI completely unable to either investigate plots and stop the kind of thing that happened in New Orleans, or unable to even respond and investigate after the fact what happened in New Orleans.

[Ellie]

Well, remember the history of all of this. We, for a long time as Americans, have made the determination that we did not want the CIA and other American intelligence agencies operating within the United States against Americans. And the FBI had a criminal law enforcement responsibility, and it was focused on terrorism primarily as a criminal act. Then came 9 11, and people understood that the firewall between the intelligence community looking outward and the FBI only looking at criminal matters inward was a failed prescription, and that we needed to coordinate better. We needed to take down the firewall, make sure that the FBI knew where its lanes were, the intelligence community knew where its lanes were. And it was actually a very successful shift. Shift and a very important development in the response to 9 11. And to be completely unaware of that and to think that the FBI has no proper role. What does he think? The CIA should come in and start doing the FBI's work in the United States, or we just stop looking at terrorism preventively? We just look at it when a crime takes place and go investigate it. It makes absolutely no sense. And if you know the history of the last couple of decades, it makes even less sense.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Senate confirmation hearings are places where words are taken literally and seriously. If you wrote something in college, you're going to have to respond to it in a Senate confirmation hearing if it's controversial. Here's someone saying he wants to shut down the FBI headquarters building in Washington, D.C. on day one. That's where thousands of members of the FBI work every day. That's where the most important work of the FBI is done every day. He wants to shut it down on day one, presumably in his Senate confirmation hearing, he will try to find a way to say, oh, I didn't mean that literally.

[Ellie]

You know, sitting on the Judiciary Committee, I see particularly judicial nominees, very often ones who are not white and not male, targeted by my Republican colleagues for things that organizations that they have a relationship with might have said but they didn't, or things that somebody else said and they might have retweeted or it's in the Twitter chain. So they're willing to stretch pretty far to try to find something to be irate about with these nominees. With Patel, you don't have to stretch. He puts it right out there. He's going to close the part of the FBI that helps protect us against foreign terrorism. He's going to shut down the Hoover Building, which for I'm a great fan of the Hoover Building. But day one, that's a lot of confusion of where do people go to work now and then, of course, he's got his enemies list of people who he thinks the FBI should go to work on that he's going to be bringing with him. And he's got his pledge to go after people like you civilly or criminally. He says if in his view, in the government's view, the press isn't telling the truth. So any one of those would be pretty disabling. And the fact that he brings all of this basket of sort of nightmarish views to the job with him. It's going to be a lively hearing and he's going to have to do a lot of fancy footwork to try to explain his way around all those things.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

He Cash Patel does not have 51 committed Republican Senate votes for confirmation at this stage. His confirmation hearing could contain all sorts of surprises that people aren't anticipating and could put his nomination in much more difficulty after the hearing than it was before the hearing.

[Ellie]

Yeah, particularly when we're seeing the results of an FBI background check. You know, who knows what that turns up with other things he said, what he has to disclose. It's a lengthy and difficult process to clear a Senate committee and you have to make an awful lot of disclosures. And so I suspect there's going to be more that comes out before it's over. But even if no more comes out, the feast that he has provided us, just from what we know already from his public comments, is going to make those hearings really, really challenging to the Republicans to be willing to hold and produce all of the votes that they need.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Senator, you in effect created some breaking news today about the Supreme Court in a response that you got from the Judicial conference. I'd like to squeeze in a commercial break right here and then come with that with Senator Whitehouse. We'll be back with Senator Whitehouse right after this break.

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[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Breaking news about the Supreme Court the Judicial Conference, the disciplinary body for federal judges, has decided not to take any action against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who has violated more financial disclosure rules than any other Supreme Court justice in history. The Judicial Conference announced its decision in a letter replying to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's request that the Judicial Conference, quote, exercise its authority to refer Associate justice of the Supreme Court Clarence Thomas to the U.S. attorney General on the ground that he willfully failed to comply with the financial disclosure requirements applicable to federal judges under the Ethics in Government act of 1978. The Judicial Conference said today that Justice Thomas has promised to do better and in effect, that is good enough for them. The Judicial Conference also said in reply to Senator Whitehouse that they don't know if they actually have the authority to refer a Supreme Court justice for investigation by the Attorney General. The Judicial Conference said, quote, there is reason to doubt that the Conference has any such authority. That announcement came on the day when President Biden today thanked the United States Senate for making him the 21st century record holder. As the President who has appointed more federal judges in four years than any other 21st century president, I want to.

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[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who helped get all of those judges moved through the Senate Judiciary Committee, is back with us. Senator Whitehouse, I want to go to your correspondence with the Judicial Conference, which has now created the news of the day, where they're saying, well, Clarence Thomas promises to do better. That's good enough for us.

[Eric Swalwell]

Yeah.

[Ellie]

As you know, because you followed this so closely, Lawrence, I've had an ongoing correspondence with the and met with them repeatedly, the Judicial Conference for years now to direct their attention to the misconduct of various Supreme Court Justices. And by and large, I've had a pretty good response from them. Slow for sure, cautious for sure, but always moving in the right direction. And so this letter is a little bit hard to fathom there. It's full of seeming contradictions. The letter says that judges have an obligation to amend erroneous filings that goes back six years. And yet they did not require Justice Thomas to go back and correct his filings for the past six years. They said that there was confusion, unstated confusion, in the guidance about the Personal hospitality Rule, which is very clear. It says food, lodging or entertainment. And it's never said transportation, and it's never been read to mean transportation. And a lot of the gifts to Alito and to Thomas have been in the and before Scalia have been in the form of transportation. So there really is no way to maneuver around that other than this supposed confusion and guidance, which nobody else seems to be confused by. So that was peculiar. And then the other thing that never turns up at all is the question of the forgiveness of the $267,000 loan to Justice Thomas for his motor coach. And what's interesting about that is that if he failed to disclose that as a gift to him when he didn't have to pay the loan back then at the same time, that's also a tax event that is income the day that the forgiveness legally takes place. And if he didn't declare it, then he's engaged in tax evasion. So this is a pretty serious matter. A quarter of a million dollar tax evasion is a big deal, and by a Supreme Court justice, it's an even bigger deal. And so you would think that the Judicial Conference would be on high alert to try to make sure that that was sealed off. And when they don't even mention it, it's disturbing. It begins to seem that their effort here is more to clean things up at the Supreme Court and stop the bleeding, if you will, of all this misconduct than it is to actually get to the bottom of it and find out if we have a tax cheat on the Supreme Court.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Yeah. And the notion that a Supreme Court justice who has ruled repeatedly on tax cases, including tax evasion cases, over decades, that a Supreme Court justice would not know that a forgiven loan, a billionaire gives you quarter of a million dollars and then says to you you don't have to pay it back. That is an income tax event and every member of the Supreme Court knows that.

[Ellie]

Yeah. Forgiveness of a loan equals income is obvious. It is simple legal proposition that a first year law student would be expected to understand. Food, lodging and entertainment are not. Transportation is another extremely easy concept. You don't even have to be a lawyer to understand that those are different words. So here you have these very senior judges and the justices who are in theory the best and the brightest of the legal profession up on the Supreme Court, and they've gotten themselves tangled around these spectacularly easy propositions, which suggests that there's something more going on because the propositions themselves are certainly not difficult enough to justify all this tangling.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Senator, I suspect you've been watching some football this season because I read your letter to the Democratic National Committee and this notion of an offensive coordinator, which I'm sure occurred to you at halftime or in the middle of a game sometime, just strikes me as absolutely brilliant application of football strategy to politics. I want to read this for the audience you've sent a letter to Democratic National Committee delegates, all of whom are going to decide who the next leader of the Democratic Party is, saying Democrats are constantly on the receiving end of a right wing war machine. The capability gap is so great that our adversaries can rapidly and effectively deploy false narratives while we struggle to bring true ones to bear. I hope you will figure into your deliberations the opportunities that a persistent, well run strategic offensive coordinator role could bring to our team and how the DNC could best support that role. The upcoming Trump administration will be a target rich environment. Did that occur to you while you were actually watching a football game?

[Ellie]

No. I've been pushing on this for years now. It is an intense frustration to me, as you know, because we've talked about this a lot on your show. There is an armada of right wing front groups out there that operate in coordinated fashion like, you know, the keys on a piano. It's all part of the same machine. Back to The Supreme Court. We often see them showing up in flotillas of a dozen or more with coordinated amicus briefs. And this whole operation is constantly bombarding Democrats, is constantly feeding a false narrative, is constantly at war with the facts. And here we are on our side and we have no organized operation to oppose what is perhaps the most ferocious political operation and the largest political operation America has ever seen. It is funded by these billionaires. It has unlimited money. It's quite well hidden. There are probably 100 of these organizations that they can call up again, like piano keys. And we need to just be better. You can't just go on the field against an organized operation like these billionaires. Run through the Republican Party and expect that you're going to win. You've got to have some planning center of your own, some way that you coordinate, some way that you figure out who's who and you expose them for what they are. We could do well simply with exposure if people knew. One of my favorite stories, one of these briefs at the Supreme Court came in under the name of a front group for another front group. And it didn't disclose to the Supreme Court that it was just a false, a fictitious name, to use the legal term, of another front group. So the scheming, it's actually pretty obvious. And we should have smart people who are looking at that operation all the time and calling it out and letting the public know what's going on, that this stuff is not for real. And the capture of the Supreme Court and the flood of dark money into our politics and the success of the fraudulent climate denial operation, these aren't things that just happened. They were done. And the thing that did it, we are almost willfully blind to and helpless against. And that just has to stop. Too much damage is being done to our country.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it.

[Ellie]

Thank you.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Thank you. Coming up, Congressman Eric Swalwell joins us on the eve of the House of Representatives vote for speaker of the House. And as of tonight at this hour, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson does not have the publicly committed votes to be elected speaker of the House. That's next. Today, President Biden gave this summary of the investigation of the terrorist attack in New Orleans which killed 14 people and a separate explosion in Las Vegas yesterday.

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Today, the FBI briefed me that as of now, no information, we have no information that anyone else is involved in the attack. They've established that the attacker was the same person who planted the explosives in those ice coolers in two nearby locations in the French Quarter just a few hours before he rammed into the crowd with his vehicle. They assess he had a remote detonator in his vehicle to set off those two ice chests. As I said yesterday, the attacker posted several videos just several hours before the attack indicating his strong support for isis. Federal law enforcement and the intelligence community are actively investigating any foreign or domestic contacts and connection that could possibly be relevant to the attack. And so we're also continuing to investigate whether or not there's any connection between this New Orleans attack and the explosion in Las Vegas. As of now. As of now, they've just been briefed. They have not found any evidence of such a connection thus far. I've directed them to keep looking. The individual who rented the truck to explode that exploded in Las Vegas also served as active duty U.S. army. And the FBI is working with the Department of Defense on investigating, including the service members, possible motives and all those he worked with in, who served with him, things he'd say and do. I directed my team to accelerate these investigations so we have answers to our unanswered questions and making every single resource available to get the job done.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Joining our discussion now is Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California. He's a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee. Congressman Swalwell, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Your committee has jurisdiction over the FBI. Homeland Security obviously has its jurisdiction stated in the name of the committee. What are you looking for as this investigation goes forward in New Orleans?

[Eric Swalwell]

Well, I want to understand, you know, are we safe at future public events? Of course there's going to be more college football playoff games. You know, New Orleans will host the super bowl this year, and there are multiple public gathering events that could be targeted. And as I understand it, you know, there were not many warning signs here. And obviously, when you use, you know, a truck, it's very hard, you know, to defend against or to see that coming. So, you know, what can we do in the future? And how can the public be aware of what the signs are of somebody who has become radicalized so they can more early prep the FBI to be on the lookout for that? So that was part of the briefing that I received this morning from the FBI as it relates to this attack.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

The Homeland Security, you've certainly seen and studied cases of radicalization, which clearly is one of the things that happened with this New Orleans terrorist. But his radicalization seems to have been faster than other versions of this that we've seen. It seems to possibly have happened just in the last Few months.

[Eric Swalwell]

Yeah. And that's what's so worrisome in that nobody around him thought that he was doing anything that was concerning enough to notify law enforcement. And I think that's where we really have to devote our resources in the future. And the FBI has been telling us privately and publicly that the greatest threat to our safety in the United States is from domestic terrorism. And that's contra to, you know, to what my Republican colleagues going all the way up to the President elect have been telling the public. And frankly, on the call today, a couple things struck me, you know, as bothersome. One was how thirsty some Republicans were to make this about a border crisis. And so thirsty, you know, for the FBI to say that, you know, this was the result of an unsecure border. And then also you should know, you know, John Kennedy, the senator from Louisiana, I mean, this, this awful incident happened in his state. And he acted so clownishly at the press conference yesterday and took it so unseriously today in a private briefing with the FBI. He was sober, he was serious, he asked the questions that you would expect. And it just concerns me that you have one Persona in public that puts out disinformation and that's not who these folks really are when they're in this closed environment, you know, with the FBI. And so we have to be serious about this threat. And disinformation is going to focus our priorities in the wrong direction, make us more vulnerable. And also it'll hurt the economy, you know, if we just completely shut down our legal immigration system because of the fear mongering that we've seen in the last 48 hours.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Congressman Swalwell, I have to squeeze in a commercial break here. When we come back, I'd like to ask you about the election tomorrow for speaker of the House, where as of tonight, we don't know if a Speaker will be elected tomorrow. We'll be right back with Congressman Eric swalwell.

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The.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

House of Representatives will be voting for the next speaker of the House tomorrow, and as of tonight, as of this hour, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson does not have the publicly committed votes to win the speakership vote. With the smallest margin in the House of representatives in 100 years, Mike Johnson can afford to lose only one Republican vote. And still when the speakership as of tonight, Mike Johnson has lost the vote of Republican Congressman Thomas Massie. According to the Wall Street Journal, Congressman Thomas Massie plans to vote against handing the gavel back to House Speaker Mike Johnson, a step that threatens Johnson's speakership and has put Massie crosswise with GOP colleagues and President Elect Donald Trump. Massie waves off the political risks. He survived attacks by Trump and his own party before his wife of three decades died last year. I don't know how to say this without cussing, massie said when asked about pressure to fall in line. If they thought I had no Fs to give before, I definitely have no Fs to give now. And the Hill is reporting that Republican Representative Victoria Spartz is not yet ready to vote for Mike Johnson. Congresswoman Spartz told reporters today she would make her decision tomorrow. This is what she told Steve Bannon on Tuesday. I don't trust him that he's going to deliver. For the last year he's been a speaker every time he folded to the swamp. Still with us, Congressman Eric Swalwell. Congressman, I'm so struck by the difference between the Democrats. No Democratic speaker in the history of the House has ever had to beg a Democratic president to help him get elected or help her get elected. No Democratic speaker of the House's election has ever been in doubt, in fact, at any point in the process.

[Eric Swalwell]

And never have you heard a reputable news anchor reference that a Democrat went on some fringe Democrats podcast to talk about, you know, whether they would support the speaker or not. And that's really what happens when the long pole in the tent of this circus is Donald Trump. It has invited in and created this permissive structure for people like Massie and so many others, you know, to come to town. And they're not here to govern. They're here for the theater. And it gets them more attention for them to just create gridlock and chaos. And so as Democrats, we're going to be united as we have been when we elected a speaker. To your viewers, who may be down in the dumps because of the election results, because we did so well, especially in New York and California, to pick up three seats in both states, we are in a position to also functionally govern. In the last Congress, Lawrence, and you've never seen this in any Congress or Parliament. The majority of the votes on every vote of consequence came from the Democrats. So we just have to be that wrecking ball that, you know, really goes after what people care about on lowering their costs, raising their wages, you know, ending and reducing gun violence, because we have leverage that you would never have in the minority at any other time, but we have it right now.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Well, and it's going to increase because you're going to lose some of these Republican House members who are going to go into the Trump administration. It's going to take several months to have special elections to determine who will hold those seats in the future. So for the the next six months or so, you're going to have an even tighter margin.

[Eric Swalwell]

I just lost.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

LAWRENCE oh, sorry, Congressman Swalwell. We will leave it there for tonight. Sorry about that audio difficulty with Congressman Eric Swalwell. Thank him very much for joining us tonight. Tonight's last word is next.

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Elizabeth L. Cheney for putting the American people over party.

[Ellie]

Benny G. Thompson for his lifelong dedication to safeguarding our Constitution.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

Today, President Biden awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney and Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson for investigating Donald Trump's involvement in the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Also among the 20 honorees was former Senator Bill Bradley, who was a basketball star at Princeton, in the Olympics and in the NBA before becoming an accomplished legislative leader in the United States Senate.

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Bill Bradley for bringing the values of.

[Ellie]

The game to a life of Public service.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

The award citation for Senator Bradley says. Raised in small town Missouri, Bill Bradley showed a dedication to basketball that would define his courage, discipline and selflessness. A two time NBA champion and a Hall of Fame New York Knick, he served three terms as a United States Senator from New Jersey and was a candidate for president advancing tax reform, water rights, civil rights and more. While still today seeking to deepen our common humanity with humility and heart. This will be the last time for at least the next four years that the President of the United States publicly commends people for humility, heart, decency and devotion to the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States. Here is more of what President Biden.

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Had to say and to the highest standard set by women and men. We celebrate here today. You know, for the final time as president, I have the privilege bestowing the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of our nation's highest honors. An extraordinary, and I mean extraordinary group of Americans. The Citizens Medal recognizes, quote, citizens of the United States of America who performed exemplary deeds of service to their country and to their fellow citizens. Over 50 years, presidents of both parties have awarded this medal to, to Americans who've met that high calling. Diplomats and doctors, conservationalists, community organizers, philanthropists, faith leaders. You know, I've been honored to present law enforcement officers who defended our Capitol on Jan. 6 and the state and local election officials, elected leaders who defended the free and Fair election of 2020. Today we celebrate a new group of Americans who dedicated their careers to serving our democracy in other essential ways. Some of you I've known and worked for a long time. None longer than Ted Kaufman. Others, I've admired your character from afar. You're all, and I mean it sincerely, you're all incredible. Incredible. You're activists who turned pain into purpose, forced open the doors of equality and justice. Attorneys who changed not just the laws, but society and brought America closer to our highest stated ideals. You are our elected officials who served in difficult times with honor, decency and ensure our democracy delivers. Storytellers who have shown light in darkness and educators, educators who have kindled new flames of imagination. You are veterans, veterans who revolutionized trauma care, won recognition for women and built new foundations for peace. Together, you embody, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, the essential truth. We're a great nation. We're a great nation because we're a good people. A good people. I've said it before. Our democracy begins and we preserve in the habits of our heart and our character, our optimism attested, yet endures and our courage that digs deep, real deep, when we need it as a nation, and our apathy that fuels our common project of our willingness to see each other not as enemies, but as fellow Americans. I think it's pretty damn simple. Our democracy begins and ends the duties of citizenship. That's our work for the ages. That's what all of you, and I mean this, all of you embody. Thank you for being here and thank you to all the families because all these awards are being given today are in no small part because of all the support you gave them. Thank you. Thank you.

[Lawrence O'Donnell]

President Biden gets Tonight's last word.

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