← The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
Lawrence: Hegseth says he 'won't back down' but he will as soon as Trump names his replacement
00:41:55
Tonight on The Last Word: Trump defense pick Pete Hegseth is facing GOP skepticism. Also, Senate Republicans are reportedly open to considering Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel. Plus, The New York Times reports the liberal justices were outvoted on a stronger ethics code. And Republicans hold a slim majority in Congress. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, and Rep. Wiley Nickel join Lawrence O’Donnell.
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Patrick Adams
Building a business may feel like a big jump, but on deck small business loans can help keep you afloat. With lines of credit up to $100,000 and term loans up to 250,000, OnDeck lets you choose the loan that's right for your business. As a top rated online small business lender, OnDeck's team of loan advisors can help you find the right business loan to fit your needs. Visit ondeck.com for more information. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by Ondeck or Celtic Bank. Ondeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval. Hi, my name's Patrick Adams. You may know me as Mike Ross on the TV series Suits. And I'm Sara Rafferty and I play Donna Paulson on Suits. And we have a podcast called Sidebar where every week we watch and discuss an episode of the show. Because here's the thing, neither of us have really watched it. That's true. At least until now. So we're gonna cover all nine seasons, share behind the scenes stories, and talk to our co stars and friends like Gina Torres and Aaron Korsch. So look, if you love Suits, Amazing, this podcast is for you. And if you've never watched Suits, also amazing. You can join us and we'll watch it together. I think we're going to have a lot of fun. Listen to sidebar wherever you get your podcasts and don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode. Now it's time for the Last word with Lawrence O'Donnell. Good evening, Lawrence. The biggest tree in town. Alex. Alex, as you may have noticed, it is Senate confirmation season is upon us. Not only Christmas trees, but Senate confirmation season. Yes, and no one's mer about that than Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. And he will be joining us with his guidance through the Senate confirmation process that we are about to be going through. Mary is one word for it, Lawrence. Mary is one word for it. I will be watching. Thanks, Alex. Thank you. Have a good show. Well, it is worth noting this is really important that not all of Donald Trump's choices for his cabinet and other positions in the administration are 100% unqualified and ridiculous and scandalous. Donald Trump's choice for Secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, is the Trump nominee who is now most engulfed in scandal tonight. But as soon as Donald Trump gives up on him, as he surely will, Cash Patel or Tulsi Gabbard or Robert Kennedy Jr. Will get their moment in the spotlight trying to survive the wreckage they have wrought over the years with their own dangerous and often idiotic statements. But even some of Donald Trump's safer choices have proven to be gross strategic blunders by Donald Trump. Consider Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of Upstate New York, who will probably have no problem being confirmed as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. The problem is when she's confirmed, she will reduce the Republican majority in the House of Representatives by one. Same thing with Congressman Mike Walz of Florida, Donald Trump's choice of National Security Advisor, which does not require Senate confirmation. So he will definitely leave the House of Representatives for that job and reduce the Republican majority by another seat. But keep an eye on Congressman Mike Wallace because he is now tonight on the public list of possible replacements for Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Congressman Matt Gaetz already reduced the House majority by a seat when he resigned the House after being selected for Attorney General by Donald Trump and so taking three members of the House of Representatives for his administration before Donald Trump knew what the final count of Republicans would be in the House of Representatives will reduce the Republican majority in the House of Representatives to exactly two seats. At the beginning of the next Congress, when Elise Stefanik goes off to the United nations, the Republicans will have 217seats in the House and the Democrats will have 215. Members of the House can only be replaced by special elections. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has already scheduled the Florida special elections for Matt Ga seat and for Mike Walsh seat for April 1st of next year. New York Governor Kathy Hochul will schedule a special election to replace Elise Stefanik and that will be a minimum of 90 days after Elise Stefanik announces her resignation from the House of Representatives, which she hasn't done yet. So four months, the Republicans will only have a two seat majority in the House of Representatives thanks to Donald Trump's strategic blunder of pulling Republican members of the House into his administration. So Donald Trump's going to need pure and just flawless 100% Republican Party discipline in the House of Representatives, something we have never seen in the entire history of Republican control of the House of Representatives. Because the House of Representatives is not involved in the confirmation process, the unity of House Republicans is not being tested in the same way the Senate Republicans are being tested right now. Every day Senate Republicans make it more clear that the 53 Senate Republicans in next year's Senate do not agree on Trump nominees. And there are definitely not enough Republican Senators who agree with Donald Trump. On Pete Hegseth, NBC News has reported that at least six Republican Senators are not willing to vote for Pete Hegseth's confirmation on the Senate floor. It takes only four Republican senators to join the Democrats to defeat the nomination if it makes it to the Senate floor. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is on Donald Trump's list of possible replacements for Pete Hecseth. NBC News reports that that list now also includes Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst, who said in terms clear enough for anyone who's ever worked in the Senate to understand, she is not voting for Pete Hegseth. She, of course, didn't say those exact words after her private meeting with Pete Hegseth today, which she promised, as we reported here last night, would be her words, a frank and thorough conversation. There are many things she could have said about that conversation today. She could have said, we had a good conversation. That's what most senators say about every conversation with a nominee, including the nominees they vote against. A senator has to say something more positive than we had a good conversation to indicate that the senator is actually supporting the nominee. It is very common for senators to say, I fully support the nominee, and Joni Ernst has said that about other Trump nominees. Senator Joni Ernst, who's now on the list to replace the nominee, said this about her meeting with Pete Hegseth today. Senator, will you support Mr. Hegseth's nomination? It was a frank and thorough conversation. Did he ask for your vote specifically? Thank you. When you met with Matt Gaetz, you said he brought up some of the allegations against him. Did he accept? It was a very thorough conversation and also frank. As you have no doubt seen, there are many variations on the Senate walk and talk with reporters. The rarest of all is actually walking in absolute silence. Most senators absolutely never do that. The speed of the walk tells you how much a senator wants to talk to reporters. Joni Earnest was walking as fast as she can, which means she did not want to talk to those reporters. She didn't want to answer those questions. She would have loved to come out of a meeting with a Trump nominee saying, this is the greatest nominee for Secretary of defense I've ever seen. She would have loved to please Donald Trump, but she couldn't. She wasn't going to come out of that meeting and get into an open war with Donald Trump in front of her Trump supporting constituents. So she kept it in Senate. Speak. Senator, will you support Mr. Hegseth's nomination? Ernst? It was a frank and thorough conversation. That's a no. She was asked a yes or no question about supporting Donald Trump's choice for secretary of defense, and she did not say yes. And everyone in the Senate knows that that answer was a no. That's where she is today. When Joni Ernst votes against the nomination in the Senate Armed Services Committee, the nomination will not be sent to the floor of the Senate from the committee. A nomination that is defeated in a committee or stopped in the committee with a tie vote still can be voted on on the Senate floor, but it requires a special procedure to bring it up on the Senate floor. It's more complicated. If the Hegseth nomination makes it to the Senate floor, you can count on Republican Senators Joni Ernst, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, both of whom are scheduled to meet with Pete Hegseth next week to vote against the Hegseth nomination. Republican Senator Deb Fisher, who is also on the Armed Services Committee, will probably vote against the nomination in the committee and on the senate floor. Mitch McConnell, no longer in the leadership, will now be free to vote against nominations like this. For the first time in history, a nominee for Senate confirmation had to send his mother out to try to save his nomination. On tv, Pete Hegseth's mother, Penelope Hegseth, was warmly welcomed into the Fox studio where her son used to work, where she discussed an email that she sent to her son seven years and two wives ago, back when he was married to his second of three wives. The email from mother to son said, you are an abuser of women. That is the ugly truth. And I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man and have been for years. And as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that. But it is the sad, sad truth. Your abuse over the years to women, dishonesty, sleeping around, betrayal, debasing, belittling, needs to be called out on behalf of all the women. And I know it's many you have abused in some ways. I say get some help and take an honest look at yourself. Here is what Pete Hegseth's mother said about that email today. If we all went back seven years, we would see that maybe we were not the people we are today, but they were going through. Pete and his wife at the time were going through a very difficult divorce. It was a very emotional time, and I'm sure many of you across the country understand how difficult divorce is on a family. There's emotions. We say things, and I wrote that in haste. I wrote that with deep emotions. I wrote that As a parent. And about two hours later, my husband tells me I should think through things a little bit more. But Pete and I are both very passionate people. I wrote that out of love. And about two hours later, I retracted it with an apology email. But nobody's seen that, so it was a difficult time. I, for one, would be very happy to read Mrs. Hegseth's apology email that she just referred to. It's true that no one has seen that, but she could allow everyone to see that. She's welcome to come on this program and read it, or come on this program and not read it, have a discussion about her son. It would be interesting to see if in that second email, Mrs. Hegseth actually retracts what she called the sad, sad truth about her son. Because she didn't do that today. She simply said, that was seven years ago. And now he's a new person. Pete is a new person. He's redeemed, forgiven, changed. Forgiven for what? All those things you talked about in that email saying he's a changed person. Seems to be saying that he really was guilty of all those things. He really was, in his mother's words, an abuser of women and someone who lies. That was her word, Lies. There was one thing Mrs. Hegseth said that I'm sure we can all agree with. I believe he's the man for the job. I think being a TV news host, I think prepares you for most things in a position like this. Sounds good to me. Pete Hegseth's mother urged him to get help in that original email. Urged him to get help. Today, Pete Hegseth told a Trump propagandist that he never got help. First of all, I've never had a drinking problem. I don't. No one's ever approached me and said, oh, you should really look at getting help for a drink. Never. I've never sought counseling, never sought help. So he didn't do what his mother asked him to do. He didn't get help. And in the single most desperate lie Pete Hegseth has spoken to try to save his already lost nomination, he said this. That's how I view this role as Secretary of Defense, is that I'm not going to have a drink at all. And it's not hard for me because it's not a problem for me. So Pete Hegseth is allowing himself to get as drunk as he wants tonight, at this very moment, and every night or day up until the day that he takes the oath of office as Secretary of Defense, and then Only from that moment forward, he will become the first secretary of defense in history who never takes a drink. And he is promising us he will never take a drink while saying he's never had a drinking problem. This is someone whose mother says he lies. Pete Hegseth also today in that same discussion, said that he would not reveal the amount of money that he paid a woman in California to remain publicly silent about what she called a sexual assault and rape by Pete Hegseth. In a police report that she participated in about that incident, Pete Hegseth said he's not going to reveal how much money he paid her. Why not? That is a legitimate Senate confirmation question. How much did you pay? Did you pay more than Donald Trump paid Stormy Daniels? Donald Trump is no doubt allowing the Hegseth madness to continue to give him time to choose his next secretary of defense. Make that next choice. Donald Trump had his next attorney general choice ready to announce the day after he forced Matt Gaetz to drop out. When Pete Hegseth drops out tomorrow or next week, it will mean that Donald Trump has the announcement for Secretary of Defense ready to go the next day. We've seen it before. We now know the routine. That's how it will go. When Pete Hegseth was repeatedly trying to climb on stage with strippers during his second marriage, he was working in a small veterans organization where he grossly mismanaged the finances and was fired. All of that has been documented in reporting in the New Yorker and elsewhere. The mission of that veterans organization was to support the war in Iraq, a war Pete Hegseth served in, the very same war that Donald Trump condemns as absolutely unnecessary and a complete and total waste. Pete Hegseth hated that about Donald Trump at the beginning of Donald Trump's political career. And here's what he had to say about it on March 4, 2016, when Donald Trump was well on his way to winning the Republican presidential nomination. It's typical Trump, all bluster, very little substance. He talks a tough game, but then when pressed on it, he's an armchair tough guy. Pete Hegseth, of course, has since backed down from all of his criticism of Donald Trump then. So who's the armchair tough guy now? Today, Pete Hegseth was granted page space in the Wall Street Journal to publish a self defense op ed piece with this line in the title, I won't back down. He will back down. He has backed down before for Donald Trump, and he will back down again as soon as Donald Trump has his replacement ready to go. Leading off our discussion Tonight is Democratic Congresswoman Mikey Sherrill of New Jersey. She's a member of the Armed Services Committee in the House and a former helicopter pilot in the United States Navy. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. The House does not have the role in Senate confirmation, obviously, but your House committee has exactly the same jurisdiction as the Senate Armed Services Committee, which means the next Secretary of Defense will be reporting to you in that committee. You will have oversight, you will have opportunities to question that Secretary of Defense. We've never seen this before, but if there's an unsatisfactory confirmation process and you see someone confirmed in the Senate who you believe failed, what would be your confirmation test? Would that Secretary of Defense be presented with questions in an appearance in the House Armed Services Committee that could reopen those kinds of confirmation issues? Well, I certainly think that there would be a lot of questions should he fail in his duty. But I'm really hoping, Lawrence, that it doesn't get to that point because he is wholly unqualified both in word and in deed. I'd say that as somebody who graduated from the Naval Academy with the first class of women to have access to jobs on combatant ships and aircraft when they lifted the combat restrictions. You know, I have known so many women that have done amazing things in our military. And to see someone like Pete Hegseth treat women so poorly, to see him say that women shouldn't be in combat, that is relegating women in the military to second class citizenship. That is saying that you can't be, as one of my classmates has been, the commanding officer of an aircraft carrier. She was the first person to do that. You're never going to rise to the ranks of superintendent of the Naval Academy or chief of Naval Operations. We have two women serving in those roles now if you cannot serve on combatants. So, you know, when I think back to my time at the Naval Academy, when I think of the dismissive way the then chief of Naval Operations said when asked, will women ever be serving on submarines? When I think of how, to a standing ovation, he said, not in my lifetime. That derisive attitude was rife in our military. So to come so far to be in a place where women are serving at the very top echelons of our military, to see the Lioness Squad, a squad of women, and it had to be women because they went in and cleared homes and they were able to gain valuable intelligence from other women in those homes. Men couldn't do that job on the front lines to see the strides women have made to see the contributions they have made to our military, to see them now serving in the strongest military in the world, and to think that he is going to degrade and undermine that, to think that here is a person that couldn't even run a small veterans organization, ran it into the ground, and yet that is the person that is going to supposedly be put in charge of our nation's military. It just really defies belief at this point. I also want to highlight this really stunning policy difference between Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth on the Iraq war. Donald Trump now claims the Iraq war was a complete waste. He didn't think this at the beginning of it, of course, so he's changed his tune on that. But let's listen to what Pete Hegseth was saying when Donald Trump began his political career about this. Let's listen to this. He said, you know what, are we going to be there for 200 years? That's very similar to what Obama said to John McCain in 2008 about Iraq. What are we going to be there for 100 years? It's a straw man argument that doesn't actually look at the strategic ramifications of finishing wars properly. And as a result, he devolves into the whole Iraq war is a disaster and we shouldn't be in Afghanistan as well. Then he realizes, well, that's not a great position. So two weeks later, he tries to make us all pretend like, no, no, I didn't say that. I said I want to be in Afghanistan. That's not clarity. That's not leadership. That's waffling back and forth. That's a pretty big disagreement between a president and his nominee for secretary of defense. And now, like so many others, he's walked that back in service to himself because he wants a certain position. So he has chosen to not speak out about concerns he has for our military, but rather to become totally loyal to Trump. And that's why you hear people like General Milley saying, we don't take an oath in the military to a king or a queen. We don't take an oath to a person. We take an oath to a constitution. And I'm not sure, in fact, I don't believe that Pete Hegseth can credibly do that when his loyalty seems to lie with Trump. Congressman Mikey Sherrill, thank you very much for starting off our discussions tonight. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Coming up, as the Trump nomination circus creates a parade of Trump nominees seeking Senate confirmation, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse joins us next, building a business may feel like a big jump, but On Deck small business loans can help keep you afloat with lines of credit up to $100,000 and term loans up to 250,000, on deck lets you choose the loan that's right for your business. As a top rated online small business lender, OnDeck's team of loan advisors can help you find the right business loan to fit your needs. Visit ondeck.com for more information. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by On Deck or Celtic Bank. On Deck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval. Hey, this is Jeff Lewis from Radio Andy live and uncensored. Catch me talking with my friends about my latest obsessions, relationship issues and bodily ailments. With that kind of drama that seems to follow me, you never know what's going to happen. 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When we get past the Hegseth nomination, Cash Patel will feel the pressure that Pete Hegseth's scandals have been shielding him from. Cash Patel once worked in the Department of Justice as a federal prosecutor, and he now seems determined to destroy the unit in the FBI that has Prevented a second 9 11. Every day since 9 11, the Intelligence Division of the FBI is what is standing between us and the next 9 11. And here is what Donald Trump's choice for FBI director has to say about that. The FBI's footprint has gotten so fricking 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 on day one and reopening the next day as a museum of the deep state. Needless to say, Russian state TV is very excited about Cash Patel taking over the FBI. Joining our discussion now is Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. He's a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He chairs its subcommittee on Federal Courts. He's also a member of the Senate Finance Committee and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Senator Kash Patel is coming your way. If he makes it as far as a confirmation hearing. You just heard Russian TV host saying what an excellent team is coming along with Trump. They will dismantle America brick by brick. They are thrilled about Cash Patel, who will be part of dismantling America brick by brick. As far as the Russians see it, that sounds to me like a difficult confirmation hearing to survive. It sure does. And, but of course, there's no Trump Russia connection. We have to remember the. Yeah, I think that he's going to have a very rough time. And at the moment, there's been so much attention that has been dedicated to Matt Gaetz and all of his problems and now exeth and his set of problems that when public scrutiny turns to Cash, I think there'll be a whole lot more stuff that comes out. And I actually think there's a credible chance that he never makes it to a hearing. Yeah. In any other universe, of course, he would be the most ridiculous thing ever presented to the Senate for confirmation. But this is one of those years, or it's actually the only year in history where the slate is so full of the ridiculous that he has yet to have his full moment of attention. The Judiciary Committee. Yes, I'm sure Judiciary Committee will also have the Attorney General confirmation with Pam Bondi. But the Cash Patel confirmation requires something before that, which is the President has to fire the FBI director who has a 10 year term still time left on that term. That firing is supposed to be for cause. Be hard to identify the cause. For starters, Trump appointed the guy. Yeah. So there's a kind of the opening bid. I think the obvious problem from Trump's point of view with Ray is that even though he was willing to do things like roll over for a essentially bogus Kavanaugh investigation in order to get the favored nominee onto the Supreme Court in other areas, he has not been a figure of absolute servitude to Trump. And that's the Trump standard, his willingness to engage in absolute servitude. So it's going to be interesting to see whether there's pressure to encourage Ray to step out on his own, at least nominally on his own in some fashion, whether he chooses to fire him outright, exactly how that transpires. But that's all just going to be part of the equation that will make, I think, Patel's hearing very, very challenging for the nominee. Will there be some overlaps in the sense that isn't the Tulsi Gabbard nomination relevant to the Cash Patel nomination? I can imagine a world in which they're are elements of these nominations that are creeping into each other's confirmation hearings. Yeah. Well, certainly the national security components overlap quite a lot. The DNI has a huge national security portfolio. The FBI's national security portfolio was expanded after 9, 11 to try to eliminate the problem of the firewall. And so the FBI has taken on a significant role in intelligence support. So, yeah, I think there is quite a lot. I think the danger for Gabbard is if the Senate Intelligence Committee determines that our most significant allies and intelligence partners, particularly the countries referred to as the five eyes, signal to the Intelligence Committee that they are not going to be willing to share intelligence in the same way that they have been, because they see her as compromised and potentially somebody who would give up their sources, their methods, their secrets, to Putin, to Assad, to somebody with a big checkbook whomever. And that is remains to be seen. But I think that would be immediately pretty fatal for her nomination. Hard to imagine that a whole lot of Republicans on the Intelligence Committee would vote to confirm a DNI and then have it come out that they knew that major intelligence allies of ours were going to take a walk on sharing often vital intelligence that we need because they don't trust her. Senator Whitehouse, please stay with us. I want to squeeze in a break here so that we can continue this discussion. On the other side of the break, we'll have more with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. Norwegian Cruise Line invites you to experience more in the Caribbean, Alaska, Europe and beyond. For a limited time, get 50% off all cruises and enjoy NCL's all new more at Sea Cruising package, including unlimited open bar, specialty dining and more. Visit ncl.com call your travel advisor or 1-888-nc- ACL cruise offer ends soon. Norwegian Cruise Line ships registry the Bahamas and USA restrictions apply hey, I'm Yara Shahidi and I'm the host of the Optimist Project. This is the podcast that asks what gives you hope. Each week I sit down with change makers you may or may not know from comedy, music, academia and more to uncover what inspires them to create a better tomorrow. Join us as we find out ways that we can cultivate optimism in our own lives. You can find the Optimist Project wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode at a public urinal. It just feels like you're standing there too long. What used to seem like a high pressure hose filling a bucket, now it's more like a trickle. You notice a weaker flow, an urge to urinate more often. Sleep is interrupted by multiple trips to the bathroom and it has steadily gotten worse. You didn't think about going to a doctor for it? They may call it enlarged prostate or bph. I mean, no, no one talks about this. We're supposed to suck it up, right? That's what we do. But we know we need to do something or life is going to be different. But what can you do about enlarged prostate? The good news? There is a minimally invasive procedure covered by most insurance called the urolift system. Men 45 and older go to helpbphnow.com to find a Urolift System trained doctor near you. Most common side effects are temporary and can include discomfort when urinating, urgency, inability to control the urge, pelvic pain and some blood in the urine. Rare side effects, including bleeding and infection, may lead to a serious outcome and may require intervention. The Urolift system may be an alternative to medications or invasive surgery. Go to helpbphnow.com to learn more and find a UroLift system trained doctor near you. Senate Republicans are not following Donald Trump's orders Three weeks ago, Donald Trump gave an Order to Senate Republicans. No more judges confirmed before Inauguration Day. Donald Trump wrote on November 19. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer got two more Biden appointed federal judges confirmed in the Senate tonight. That makes five federal judges confirmed just this week and a total of 12 confirmed since Donald Trump ordered Republicans to somehow stop the confirmation process. And dozens of Republican senators have been voting for some of these nominees. The Hill reports two federal judges appointed by Presidents Obama and Clinton decided not to retire after the presidential election. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is back with us. Senator, I take this as a very interesting sign about the Republican capacity in the Senate to defy Donald Trump. Yeah. And also particularly with respect to Mitch McConnell's reaction to those two circuit judges who said they were not going to take senior status to engage in some pretty ironic and cynical behav getting himself in a lather about the prospect of there being politicization of the judiciary. Oh, my lord, Mitch McConnell. Who could imagine such a thing? So, yeah, but we are punching through the judges. We are getting some Republican support for the judges, either from Republicans who take a walk so they don't have to vote against them or who actually affirmatively vote aye. And we're kind of moving through that business on a regular basis. A big surprise. The New York Times has reported inside the Supreme Court that when they were considering, when the justices were considering a new ethics code, the three justices appointed by Democratic presidents wanted a strong enforceable code. And of course, the people who couldn't survive such a code, which is to say that the six judges appointed by Republicans prevailed, or at least some of them. I have a strong suspicion that Alito and Thomas were leading the charge against any kind of fact finding or enforcement mechanism. But what's interesting, as we just showed in a report that I put out this week, you know, you've heard the complaints from Republicans and from the court. Oh, this is complicated. Oh, there's separation of powers issues. Oh, what do you do in Junior judges are making administrative rulings about the ethical misconduct of high court judges. That's also difficult. Well, it turns out it's not difficult at all. It turns out that every single One of our 50 states has figured it out and has a process for fact finding and for adjudication of legitimate ethics complaints. And so it really puts a spotlight on how willful this particular set of justices is at protecting itself from essential elements of rule of law like fact finding and independent evaluation of the facts. And I think it's, you know, it's pretty telling that they were, they made so much noise about these arguments without bothering to check first whether maybe every single state has figured out this problem for its own sovereign highest court. And it really gives the lie to a lot of the concerns that have been coming out of the court that we can't do this or we shouldn't do this or this is a problem, they can do this, they should do it. There's no excuse for not doing it. Every other court figured out enough. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Thank you. Coming up today, Democrats won the final House election in California. That got them to 215, but they should be in the majority if it weren't for gerrymandering. That's next. Today the final votes were counted in the one remaining House Representatives election in the 13th congressional district in California where the Democrats flipped that seat from a Republican seat to a Democratic seat in the next Congress with Democrat Adam Gray beating an incumbent Republican to bring the total number of Democrats in the House of representatives to 215next year. For the first few months of the Congress next year there will only be 217 Republican members of the House because Donald Trump chose three Republicans from the House to serve in his administration. Special elections will need to be held to fill those vacancies, which could take months. The final count of Republicans in the House later next year could go up to 220 versus 215. North Carolina Democratic Congressman Wiley Nicol believes gerrymandering in North Carolina prevented the Democrats from winning the House this time. He writes the Republican controlled legislature's latest gerrymandered election maps did more than just silence voters in North Carolina. They reshaped the balance of power in Washington, D.C. costing Democrats control of the House of Representatives. They threw fairness out the window, forcing through a mid decade map that handed Republicans an unfair 10 to 4 advantage in the next Congress. That's 71% of North Carolina's seats in the U.S. house going to Republicans. My district along with the districts of Jeff Jackson and Kathy Manning were turned into safe Republican seats where Democrats had zero chance to win. Had North Carolina sent the third three of us back to Washington under fair maps, then New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries would be our next speaker of the house with a one seat Democratic majority at 218 to 217. Joining our discussion now, Democratic Congressman Wiley Nicol of North Carolina. He's a former North Carolina state senator. Congressman Nicol, this is really a stunning turn in the effect of gerrymandering to actually have end up deciding control of The House? Absolutely. You know, Hakeem Jeffries ought to be speaker right now. Democrats ought to have a seat at the table with Donald Trump. And that's what gerrymandering has cost our nation. It has literally changed the course of our nation's history. The three seats that Republicans gerrymandered with surgical precision in North Carolina are the difference in control of the next Congress. It's a big deal. And it is something that I think as we're talking about this Congress, it's important to point out they don't have a mandate from the American public. They have a gerrymander that put them in power. Yeah. This is the kind of thing that cannot happen in California, for example, the state with the most congressional districts, because they have taken redistricting out of politics and given it to an independent body to do it. Yeah, no, we gotta get the power to draw maps out of the hands of politicians and have independent redistricting commissions. I have a bill for that. And, you know, you hear folks about like me talk about, you know, voters are the ones who should be choosing their politicians, not the other way around. But I want to give you a name and I want to put a face on this in North Carolina. You know, I'm going to be leaving Congress because of gerrymandering. But Tim Moore, the North Carolina speaker of the House, is going to be coming to Washington. He's a Republican. As speaker of the House, he literally drew himself a district in Congress and wiped out the three of the Democratic districts to get there. That is incredibly wrong. And it's reshaped the balance of power in Congress. It's wrong and we've got to end this practice. Carson, Wiley, Nicol, thank you for enlightening us about it. Thank you for joining us tonight. Thanks so much for having me. Tonight's last word is next. President Biden spent his third and final day in Angola today, the first American president to ever visit that African country. The president announced an additional $600 million to fund a multi country railway project that is the most important infrastructure project in Angola and the southwest region of Africa. President Biden said this. I think we're at one of those transition points in world history. What we do in the next several years is going to affect what the next six, seven, eight decades looks like. I think this is one of those milestones. And Africa has been left behind for much too long beyond that. But not anymore. Africa is the future. Last night we introduced you to Chemomwe Dowdy, who is part of Africa's future. She's a seventh grader in Malawi who is now sitting at a desk in her classroom for the first time. Thanks entirely to your generous support of the KIND Fund Kids in Need of Desks, a partnership I created with MSNBC and UNICEF to deliver desks to schools in Malawi where the students at those schools have never seen desks. We got a surge of support and contributions last night. Jamie posted. Just saw your piece on KIND today. Those kids excitement at something we take for granted is inspired, inspiring and heartbreaking. Let's give them a jump ahead folks. It's the most basic thing and remember the kids coming up behind them. Benefit and community produced. Jamie's right. One desk will help hundreds of students over time. Stacy posted. Just watch the end of your show. Hard to donate through my tears, but I am happy to donate towards a girls scholarship to attend high school. The KIND Fund also provides scholarships for girls to attend high school in Malawi where public high school is not free and the girl's high school graduation rate is less than half the boys graduation rate. You can help students in Malawi by going to lastworddesks.msnbc.com you can make a contribution any amount. You can designate that your contribution is for desks or for girls scholarships and you can make that gift in the name of anyone on your holiday gift list and UNICEF will send them an announcement of your gift. Flo posted. 13 years ago we bought desks. Our annual contribution to desks or scholarships is now a tradition. Tonight's is in memory of my beloved husband. I feel Joe smiling as I write. Thank you Flo. I think I can feel Joe smiling now too. Annual contributions have become a family tradition for thousands of families, many of whom even need an annual reminder from me during the holiday season. So thanks to Flo and all the families out there who are so dedicated to supporting kids in need of desks. I hope Flo's beloved husband Joe can hear the kids singing their thanks. Finding the music you love shouldn't be hard. That's why Pandora makes it easy to explore all your favorites and discover new artists and genres you'll love. Enjoy a personalized listening experience simply by selecting any song or album and we'll make a station crafted just for you. Best of all, you can listen for free. Download Pandora on the Apple App Store or Google Play and start hearing the soundtrack to your life.