← The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
Lawrence: Trump humiliated on the world stage as France's Macron instantly corrects his Ukraine lie
00:38:17
Tonight on The Last Word: The U.S. sides with Vladimir Putin and votes against the UN resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Also, Donald Trump fires 6,700 IRS employees during tax season. Plus, a federal judge appoints outside counsel in the New York City Mayor Eric Adams corruption case. And a right-wing podcaster is tapped as the next FBI deputy director. Timothy Snyder, Rep. Brendan Boyle, and Andrew Weissmann join Lawrence O’Donnell.
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- [00:00]
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- [00:29]
MSNBC Host
Subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts New episodes of all your favorite MSNBC shows now ad free plus ad free listening to all of Rachel Maddow's original series, Ultra Bagman and Deja News and all MSNBC original podcasts are available ad free and with bonus content including why is this Happening? Felshey Band Book Club and more. Subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts.
- [00:59]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Well, Donald Trump made history today. And so today became a day that will live in infamy in presidential history. Because today, Donald Trump formally rejected the position that every American president has held since Franklin Delano Roosevelt masterminded the American victory in World War II. Leader of the Free World. That is what Franklin Roosevelt turned the job of the presidency into during World War II. Every subsequent president until Donald Trump fulfilled that role, especially at the United Nations. The United nations began in the imagination of President Roosevelt. While President Roosevelt was making the key strategic decisions leading to victory In World War II, he was also planning the aftermath of the war. He was planning the peace. That's the way he talked about it. Planning the peace. During the war, he sometimes referred to America and its allies in the war as the United Nations. He didn't live to see his design of the United nations come true. But when the United nations was organized after World War II, it was basically the Franklin Roosevelt design. And every day at the United nations throughout its history, the American President's ambassador to the United nations always stood on the side of freedom. The United States of America and the United nations voted with the free nations of the world against the cruelest dictatorships in the world, which almost always meant voting against the Soviet Union in the 21st century, as Russian President Vladimir Putin began turning the Russian government into a dictatorship again, the United States leadership of the free world at the United nations meant standing against Russian aggression. Since Russia invaded Ukraine exactly three years ago. On this day, the United nations passed six resolutions against the Russian attack on Ukraine, and the United States voted with the free world against the Russian war on Ukraine. Every single time until today. The United nations once again today approved a resolution condemning Russia's war against Ukraine. And for the first time in history, the United States did not stand on the side of freedom in the United Nations. The United States, for the first time in history, voted with the dictator against the free world. Donald Trump voted with Vladimir Putin in the United Nations. And so it's official. It really is, as of today, if there's a leader of the free world, it is not the President of the United States. It might be the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who played an important role in presidential history today, making Donald Trump the first president in history who had to be interrupted and corrected by an ally when the President of the United States was lying and lying about that ally. General Charles de Gaulle, who became the President of France after World War II, may have been the most egotistical elected president anywhere in the world. Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt couldn't stand de Gaulle during World War II, but they knew they had to deal with him and they never had public disagreements with General Charles de Gaulle. Emmanuel Macron may be one of the least egotistical French presidents in history, but today it was the mild mannered French President who had to interrupt the blustering President of the United States when the President of the United States was lying. And it fell to the French President to correct the American president in a way we have never seen an American president corrected before by another head of state or by anyone. Donald Trump did his standard lie about Europe's aid to Ukraine. The lie that Europe has loaned money to Ukraine and it's a loan and Ukraine has to pay it back. Donald Trump became the first American president in history fully humiliated on the world stage by instantly getting caught in and corrected in his lie.
- [06:00]
Donald Trump
Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine. They get their money back.
- [06:04]
Emmanuel Macron
No, in fact, to be frank, we paid, we paid 60% of the total default. And it was through like the US loans, guarantee grants, and we provided real money. To be clear, we have 230 billion frozen assets in Europe, Russian assets, but this is not as a collateral of a loan because this is not our belonging. So they are frozen. If at the end of the day in the negotiation we will have with Russia, they're ready to give, to give it to us. Super. It will be loan at the end of the day and Russia would have paid for that.
- [06:37]
Donald Trump
If you believe that, it's okay with me. But they get their money back. We don't and now we do. But you know, that's only fair.
- [06:46]
Lawrence O'Donnell
He actually reached Out President of France reached out, grabbed the arm of the American president to stop him from telling a lie about France and the rest of the countries of Europe. So Donald Trump's response to being corrected on his lie was to simply tell the lie again. They get their money back. When President Macron finished speaking, Donald Trump just told the lie again. So on the day when Donald Trump officially sinks the presidency on the international stage, lower than it has ever been, by not only surrendering leadership of the free world at the United nations, but standing against the free world, then right there in the Oval Office, Donald Trump is humiliated and exposed in a way that no previous president ever could be, because no previous president would be pathological enough to try to tell a lie like that right in front of the person he's lying about. And no previous president could possibly be stupid enough to try to tell a lie like that. But as our first guest tonight has written, quote, the divide in politics today is between unreality and reality. Yale professor Timothy Snyder wrote that Donald Trump constantly represents unreality. His followers constantly prove they share that same unreality with Donald Trump. They are unreachable by reality. They are unreachable by the reality presented today by the French President. Trump's followers will never see what the French president did to Donald Trump in the Oval Office today. And if they did see it, they wouldn't understand it. Donald Trump knows that, which is why, after the French president catches him in a lie, Donald Trump just tells the lie again. President Macron tried to break through to Trump followers by appearing on Fox at the end of the day.
- [09:09]
Emmanuel Macron
Today is clearly the anniversary of the beginning of the aggression war of Russia and Ukraine. They invaded Ukraine three years ago. We want peace. And I think the initiative of President Trump is a very positive one. But my message was to say, be careful because we need something substantial for Ukraine, but for the security of Europe and France. And second, let's work together on the future to preserve security guarantees, meaning to be sure that this peace will be respected by Russia.
- [09:45]
Lawrence O'Donnell
The now powerless Republican senior senator, Mitch McConnell, who, when he was in the Senate leadership enabled Donald Trump in every way that he possibly could, issued a statement today saying, refusing to acknowledge Russia as the undeniable and unprovoked aggressor is more than an unseemly moral equivalency. It reflects a gross misunderstanding of the nature of negotiations and leverage. Blame for this human catastrophe rests solely on Vladimir Putin. Here's how we know if Russian forces laid down their arms, Europe would be at Peace. If Ukrainian forces laid down theirs, Putin's aims would not stop with Kyiv. Mistaking this fact is as embarrassing as it is costly. Without a clear and resolute commitment to the leadership and order that underpins our prosperity and security, America's adversaries will receive exactly what they hope for. There is no question the entire world is watching. Speaking of embarrassing, in the joint press conference with President Macron, Donald Trump was asked about his threatened tariffs against Canada and Mexico.
- [11:02]
Donald Trump
The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule. This is an abuse that took place for many, many years. And I'm not even blaming the other countries that did this. I blame our leadership for allowing it to happen. I mean, you know, who can blame them if they made these great deals with the United States, took advantage of the United States on manufacturing, on just about everything, every aspect that you can imagine, they took advantage of. I look at some of these agreements, I'd read them at night and I'd say, who would ever sign a thing like this?
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Yeah, that's a good question. Who? Who would sign something so bad for America? I think the control room actually has a picture of who signed it. Let's see. Ah, yeah, there he is. That's the guy who signed the current trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. He did it the first time he was president. And I think we've got him holding up. Yeah, there he is, holding up his very proud signature. Look at how proud he is of that signature on what he called then the greatest trade deal in history.
- [12:17]
Donald Trump
For the first time in American history, we have replaced a disastrous trade deal that rewarded outsourcing with a truly fair and reciprocal trade deal that will keep jobs, wealth and growth right here in America. And in a true sense, it's also a partnership with Mexico and Canada and ourselves against the world. It's really a trade partnership, if you look at it that way. And it's a day of great celebration in all three countries.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Great celebration in all three countries. The perfect trade deal. Canada, Mexico and the United States, all three countries. And nothing changed between that day and today. The Biden administration did not change one word of the Donald Trump signed trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. So imagine an elderly president who says, who would ever sign anything like this? And then you produce the pictures of him signing it. Wouldn't the Washington press corps just scream about the cognitive decline of that president? Wouldn't the White House press corps ask screaming questions about the President's mental capacity? Two presidents shamed and embarrassed Donald Trump today. The first was the president of France the second was the president of the United States. Today, Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this war has deep meaning. It is a fight for independence. It is the kind that many nations have gone through. Those who fight survive. Those who surrender are erased by history. And we Ukrainians exist and we always will. Leading off our discussion tonight is Timothy Snyder, professor of history at Yale University. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers on freedom and on Tyranny. Professor Snyder, thank you very much for joining us on this important night. Marking the three years to the day when Vladimir Putin started the first land war in Europe Since World War II, is it fair to characterize today as the American president's formal surrender of the role of leader of the free world?
- [14:52]
Timothy Snyder
Well, I agree with you, Lawrence, when you say that the middle of the Second World War was the moment when American leadership began and a certain historical era, era began. And I agree with you. This may be the moment when that era is coming to an end. What happened today, or in a way, what's been happening these last few days, is a bit like if we think back to 1940 or 1941, it's a bit like the Americans switching sides and deciding that they're going to support the Nazis in the middle of the war on some kind of strange economic reasoning. It really is quite astonishing. And then if we compare it to the Cold War, as you also did, it would be unusual for the United States during the Cold War to be voting with North Korea, to be voting with Russia, to be voting with China. And we did all of those things today, and we did them against the whole slate of our allies or former democratic allies in Europe and in Asia, all of them, we voted with Russia, we voted with North Korea. And then if we think to the present and the kinds of claims the Trump administration makes about itself, their whole self image is that they're the ones who are going toe to toe with the dictators. But it's, it's more like, you know, cheek to cheek. I mean, what they're doing is they are creating a world in which life is going to be much easier for dictators and much harder for countries like Ukraine that are trying to be democracies and trying to hold their own.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
I think we have video of question today to Donald Trump about why did the United States vote the way it did in the UN let's take a look at that. Can you explain the rationale in having.
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MSNBC Host
The US Vote against the UN Resolutions.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
That Ukraine proposed and also the US proposed.
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Donald Trump
I would rather not explain it now. But it's sort of self evident. I think so.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Professor Schneider, he refused to answer the question of why the United States voted the way it did in the UN Saying that it's self evident. Is it self evident to you?
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Timothy Snyder
Foreign it's only self evident if you take for granted that the basic position of the United States now is as a kind of supporter of Russian foreign policy. What really struck me about the US Sponsored resolution was that it was basically a Russian resolution. We were acting like the communist satellite states did in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, where we officially sponsored some language which was clearly the language which in fact Moscow wanted. So the only way it's self evident is if you think it's self evident that we and the Russians are together or that we and the Russians and the Chinese are fundamentally together. I would submit, though, that for most Americans and even for quite a few Republicans, that's a rather surprising proposition and ought to be considered soberly.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Let's listen to what President Zelensky said Today at the G7, talking about a possible economic agreement with the United States. Let's listen to this.
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Emmanuel Macron
Our teams are already working productively with the US on economic agreement which we hope to sign in Washington. And President Trump, we would really like to hear from you because all of our people, all of us, our families are very worried. Will there be support from America? Will America be the leader of the free world? And I want to be worried, honest, very honest with you, for our people, for life in general, it's so important that American support, American assistance remains.
- [18:37]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Professor Snyder, this deal of possibly coming up with some sort of arrangement where the rare earth minerals that Ukraine has a rich supply of could be something that the United States gets to acquire. Not exactly clear how, but if something like that were to occur, does that lock the United States into supporting Ukraine?
- [19:04]
Timothy Snyder
That's a wonderful question. I mean, the way the Americans came into this deal, if you want to call it that, is that they essentially told the Ukrainians that they had to surrender forever a good deal of their national wealth, not just the, the rare earths, but also other mineral resources and even income for port from ports. 50% of all of that, in essence, forever, with the United States having a le on it, with Ukrainians getting nothing, just nothing in return. That was the American lead position. So in effect, we were telling a country whose existence was threatened by an invasion that we're not going to help you. We might withdraw our help unless you become our economic colony. So naturally, the Ukrainians rejected that and have tried to couch this in a more reasonable way. The value of this whole thing, obviously, has to be reduced. The Ukrainians have to get something on the other side of it. But I think the crucial question is the one you raised. Is there any way that the Americans are actually locked into supporting Ukraine? I kind of doubt that. I doubt they'll be able to achieve that. I think the best hope is that this becomes an arrangement where some goodwill is generated and where at least the status quo of American support for Ukraine can be preserved. But that's very much up in the air because very little the Trump people have said is consistent with supporting Ukraine, whether this deal goes through or not.
- [20:29]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Yeah, I mean, that's one of the most difficult things about trying to even watch this is there's consistency is not something you can latch onto in any way here with the Trump administration. But the only thing that seems most consistent is Donald Trump in any way he possibly can, leaning toward and protecting Vladimir Putin.
- [20:54]
Timothy Snyder
Yeah, I mean, it's like every day is a new day, and the only thing we care about is making money, and we're not even sure for whom. You know, is it for. It's. Is it. It can't be for the US Government? Is it for Musk personally? Who is it even for? But it's very striking, right? If. If you're. So the whole context of this is that the Americans are saying they're going to try to bring about peace. Okay. If you want to bring about peace, you have to create a situation where the aggressor, Russia, will not want to fight anymore and where the defender, Ukraine, can defend itself. And the United States hasn't done anything in that direction. Th least all of its pushes have been in the opposite direction. To affirm Russia, to make all kinds of concessions to Russia in advance, essentially to surrender pretty much every point you could think of surrendering NATO, Ukrainian territory, Russian isolation, all of that stuff the Americans have tried to put off the table. So if this is a logic of negotiation, it's a very strange one. It's really like we're negotiating not with the Russians. Russians, but on the side of the Russians.
- [21:56]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Yale Professor Timothy Snyder, thank you very much for starting off our discussions tonight.
- [22:01]
Timothy Snyder
My pleasure.
- [22:02]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Thank you. And coming up today, as you heard from Rachel, a fake video, I want to stress fake. A fake video of Donald Trump kissing Elon Musk's feet played on the TV screens at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That's after Elon Musk's weekend of crazed emails to federal government employees. We're going to take a commercial break now so you can go on the World Wide Web. Find the feet video. Watch it there because you ain't going to see it here. That's next.
- [22:41]
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- [23:12]
MSNBC Host
First 100 days, and MSNBC's Alex Wagner will be covering it all from the front lines. What issue matters to you the most? Join her as she travels the country to talk to the people at the center of the President's policies and promises.
- [23:25]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Do you think now that he's pardoned everybody, he can count on this group of people again?
- [23:30]
MSNBC Host
Search for Trumpland with Alex Wagner wherever you're listening and follow subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts to Listen ad free. MSNBC presents a new original podcast hosted by Jen Psaki. Each week she and her guests explore how the Democratic Party is facing this political moment and where it's headed next.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
There's probably both messaging and policy issues, but as you look to kind of where the Democratic Party is, do you think it's more a messaging issue, more a policy issue?
- [24:02]
MSNBC Host
The Blueprint with Jen Psaki. Subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts for ad free listening and bonus content.
- [24:13]
Lawrence O'Donnell
The Revolution Will be Televised the revolution inside the government against Elon Musk and Donald Trump was televised today at the Department of Housing and Urban development in Washington, D.C. a fake, I stress fake video of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, apparently generated by artificial intelligence, if you can call that intelligence, depicted Donald Trump kissing Elon Musk's feet, captioned with the words Long live the real King. The video, which is fake, is still far too disgusting to show on a family show like this at this hour. But finding it online, as I said, is very easy. And that's where to go if you really have to see it. Or wait for the rerun of Rachel's show tonight because she actually showed the thing today. Seven former IRS commissioners, four Republicans and three Democrats co wrote an article in the New York Times after Elon Musk and Donald Trump fired 6,700 IRS employees. They wrote. Aggressive cuts to our nation's accounts receivable function will reduce the amount of tax revenue coming in, which will in turn increase our nation's deficit and add to our $36 trillion debt. Aggressive reductions in the IRS's resources will only render our government less effective and less efficient in collecting the taxes Congress has imposed. It will shift the burden of funding the government from people who shirk their taxes to the honest people who pay them. And it will impede efforts by the IRS to modernize customer service and simplify the tax fil filing process for everyone. Nearly 200 million Americans are in the process of completing their tax returns. We urge caution in initiating major changes to IRS operations during the filing season. But even after filing season ends, and we believe that the successful chief executives across the country would concur that making drastic cuts to accounts receivable as a way to improve cost efficiency just doesn't add up. Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania. He is the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee and a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. Congressman Boyle, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Just right off the bat, I'm not gonna ask you whether you have seen the fake video of Donald Trump licking the toes of Elon Musk. Not gonna ask you anything about that. If you wanna talk about it, I'm sure Rachel might talk about it. Show. But the irs, this is just. These are the federal workers, all of whom return a profit. They return a profit and they especially deliver a profit to the federal government during tax filing season when historically we've always hired extra workers at IRS the way big department stores hire extra workers at Christmas time.
- [27:34]
Brendan Boyle
Lawrence, there are so many jokes I want to say right now, but I'm being on my best behavior to just move on from the video and say that as you pointed out, more than 6,700 workers at IRS showed up late last week and as they arrived, found out they had received an email that suddenly, without any notice and for no apparent reason, they were being fired. That includes more than 400 at the IRS office right in my district in Philadelphia. To do that at the beginning of tax season is completely insane. You know, one of the most important things we did as House Democrats when we had the majority a couple years ago, was that we finally found funds in order to beef up staffing at the irs. We did it for two reasons. First, we did it because the number one constituent service complaint that I would get in my office and Most of my colleagues would get in their offices was with the irs. They were so understaffed that we would have constituents calling the customer service line, staying on the phone for two hours and never getting through. Today, if you call the IRS customer service number, the average wait time is three minutes. So that's been a real success. But the second reason we did it is we realized that especially when you're talking about the top 1% of earners, there is such a shortfall in terms of the tax that is actually owed by them versus the tax that's paid, that any dollar you spend in beefing up IRS staff brings back 2, 3, $4 or more in increased revenue. And sure enough, the numbers have borne that out over the last couple years.
- [29:19]
Lawrence O'Donnell
And for tax filers, most tax filers itemize their deductions. The taxes are taken out of their paychecks automatically every week, every two weeks, the taxes are already done. So filing is really just filling out a form that reconciles it. For a lot of people, the government is going to send them money back. And so when you cut tax personnel, you are cutting the ability to enforce the tax laws on the higher end taxpayers. They're the people who are going to get away with something when you cut employees at the irs.
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Brendan Boyle
That's exactly right. And you know, the fact that you have seven former IRS commissioners, four of whom are Republicans, come out and say just how crazy it is to do these firings because this will not save us money for the reasons you outlined. This is actually going to cost us billions of dollars in terms of lost revenue. This is going to add to our deficit and debt. But the one group of people who will benefit from it are those who are in the richest 1% who are now able to avoid audits they otherwise would be receiving.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Congressman Brendan Boyle, tax expert on the House Ways and Means Committee, thank you very much for joining us tonight.
- [30:43]
Brendan Boyle
Thank you.
- [30:44]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Coming up on Friday, a federal judge did something that judges just about never do. You could hang around courthouses your whole life and not see this happen. A judge refused a prosecutor's request to dismiss federal charges against Mayor Eric Adams of New York City. That judge has now appointed a lawyer to argue against the federal prosecutor's request, at Donald Trump's direction, to dismiss those charges. Andrew Weissman will join us next. How the Eric Adams criminal case is resolved could not be more important to the rule of law in America. Those are the words of our next guest, Andrew Weissman, in a new article posted on just security.com. the judge in the case of United States of America v. Eric Adams seems to agree that something very important is at stake in Donald Trump's Justice Department's attempt to dismiss the criminal charges against Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, including charges of bribery, after seven federal prosecutors in New York City and Washington, D.C. quit because they said they could not walk into a federal courtroom and honestly tell a judge that the case against Mayor Eric Adams should be dismissed. Federal prosecutors cannot dismiss charges on their own. They have to recommend to a judge that the charges be dismissed. And more than 99% of the time, those charges are routinely and instantaneously dismissed. But not this time. Federal Judge Dale Ho in Manhattan was extremely polite to Donald Trump's acting deputy Attorney general, who used to be Donald Trump's criminal defense lawyer, Emil Bove. When Emil Bove appeared in court last week asking that the charges be dismissed, the acting deputy Attorney General traveled up from Washington, D.C. to appear in a Manhattan courtroom, something that deputy attorneys general never do. But it didn't work. Judge Ho refused to dismiss the charges Wednesday, and then on Friday, he appointed a highly experienced lawyer to argue the case against the dismissal. Judge Ho did this because the lawyers on both sides of the case, prosecution and defense, agreed that the charges should be dismissed in such a way that would allow Donald Trump's prosecutors to reinstate the charges literally whenever they felt like it, presumably whenever Mayor Adams said or did anything that Donald Trump disagrees with. The Acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, resigned from her post because she believed she actually witnessed witnessed in a meeting. Emile Beauvais offer a quid pro quo to Eric Adams lawyers. The deal was, if the mayor helps Donald Trump with mass deportation, then we will dismiss the charges. Danielle Sassoon put that in writing in her resignation letter, a letter that Judge Ho has read. Judge Ho appointed Paul Clement, quote, to present arguments on the government's motion to dismiss. Paul Clement served as Republican President George W. Bush's solicitor general for eight years and argued more than 100 cases before the United States Supreme Court. Joining us now is Andrew Weissman, former FBI General counsel, former chief of the Criminal Division in the Eastern District of New York. He's also an MSNBC legal analyst. And so, Andrew, we talked about this as a possibility that in a situation where both sides of the case are agreeing on a controversial motion, the judge just might decide to hear from someone else arguing the other point of view on this. And that seems to be where we are now.
- [34:39]
Andrew Weissman
That's right. And to put a fine point on what you were saying, Larns, it is extremely unusual, as you have noted in the past, for the government to ever be moving to dismiss criminal charges without there being some real problem in facts or law. But that's not what happened here. It also, as you correctly noted, is extremely unusual for a court to resist that because the law is very favorable to the government. The only other time in recent history is Trump 1.0 where Emmett Sullivan, a federal judge in D.C. did exactly the same thing. And Dale Ho, the judge here in the Eric Adams case, cited that where again, a federal judge resisted what was essentially, in his view, a type of collusion and wanted to hear from the other side. So this is extraordinarily unusual to say the least. But the key issue for me is not so much Eric Adams, and I'm a New Yorker, so I care about justice in this city and justice with respect to having the charges against our sitting mayor be adjudicated. But the real issue is the Department of Justice saying that it's totally appropriate to have this kind of choke chain on the mayor of the city of New York and have this kind of bludgeon over him where he has to do their bidding. That, to me, is the much, much bigger picture here than just Eric Adams, because if this is allowed here, this is going to be the weapon of choice for the Trump administration to get people to bend to their will.
- [36:19]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Andrew, we have to squeeze in a commercial break here. When we come back, I want to ask you about the latest talk show host appointed to the FBI. We'll be right back with Andrew Weissman.
- [36:31]
MSNBC Host
It's President Trump's first 100 days, and MSNBC's Alex Wagner will be covering it all from the front lines. What issue matters to you the most? Join her as she travels the country to talk to the people at the center of the president's policies and promises.
- [36:46]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Do you think now that he's pardoned everybody he can count on this group of people?
- [36:50]
MSNBC Host
Search for Trumpland with Alex Wagner wherever you're listening and follow subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen ad free. The first 100 days, bills are passed, executive orders are signed, and presidencies are defined. And for Donald Trump's first 100 days, Rachel Maddow is on MSNBC five nights a week.
- [37:13]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Now is the time, so we're gonna do it.
- [37:15]
MSNBC Host
Providing her unique insight and analysis during this critical time.
- [37:19]
Lawrence O'Donnell
How do we strategically align ourselves to this moment of information, this moment of transition in our country?
- [37:25]
MSNBC Host
The Rachel Maddow show, weeknights at 9pm Eastern on MSNBC. Get the all new CNBC Sport newsletter. Alex Sherman brings you exclusive interviews and the biggest news impacting the world of sports, business and media, all straight to your inbox. Sign up for free at cnbc.com sportnewsletter.
- [37:49]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Andrew Weissman is back with us, a former general counsel of the FBI. And today you got what I'm sure is the unwelcome news that the podcaster Dan Bongino is going to be the deputy director of the FBI. So Donald Trump is putting genuinely crazy person in that job to watch the genuinely crazy person who he got confirmed as director of the FBI.
- [38:16]
Andrew Weissman
Lawrence, I've said this before, but having been in the intelligence community and Donald Trump served for four years, he saw the work and the vital importance of the people in the intelligence community and criminal law enforcement. The idea that you are not picking the very, very best person for the job is something that just needs to be recalled and reminded to people leave aside that they have not collectively the two leaders of the FBI now have not spent a single day working at the FBI. But I just don't think that it's remotely responsible to be putting people in positions where they're going to learn on the job. It's so outlandish that it makes you really suspect that what's going on is they actually don't want them to be doing the job for the American people. It is a disgrace for the men and women at the bureau, but it's really horrendous in terms of safety of Americans in terms of criminal law and, you know, the domestic and international terrorism work that the FBI does.
- [39:22]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Yeah. And during the Patel confirmation hearings for FBI directors, this information of course, could not be really if they had said, oh, and as the deputy director, we're going to have a crazy person who spends his life in podcasts talking about deep states and denying who wins presidential elections. That would have added extra weight to the Patel nomination. Maybe, maybe would have lost enough Republican votes in the Senate to not be confirmed. But, but holding it back to after Patel is confirmed. Now we turn over the other card. The other card is just as crazy as the first card.
- [40:04]
Andrew Weissman
In fact, the reports are that not only did they do that, but they actually gave some assurances that there would be a career FBI agent as the deputy director, which would serve to, I think, allay at least some concerns on the part of some senators as to the proper functioning of the FBI. It is worth remembering that Todd Blanch, the deputy attorney general, who the FBI director and the deputy FBI director report to is not yet in place. So there is an opportunity for senators who care to, you know, call him, recall him and ask questions about this because this is really playing very fast and loose with safety of America.
- [40:47]
Lawrence O'Donnell
And that is, of course, Donald Trump's criminal defense lawyer who he's trying to make the deputy attorney general. Andrew Weissman, thank you very much for joining us tonight.
- [40:57]
Emmanuel Macron
You're welcome.
- [40:58]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Thank you. Tonight's Last Word is next. If you want to if, like me, you want to hear more from Joy Reid, there is a way you can do it right now. Buy this book or better still, buy the audiobook and you will hear Joy in her own voice telling you this story. Medgar and Merle Medgar Evers and the Love Story that Awakened America. Every page of this book had details about the civil rights movement that I did not know. This is a book of serious scholarship by Joy Reid, graduate of Harvard University, who is going to be turning out more books like this that you should also support, not as a kindness to Joy, but because you will learn something. You will learn as much as I have learned from Joy Reid in so many ways by reading her books. This really is something very, very special. Joy Reid gets tonight's last word on this program.
- [42:00]
MSNBC Host
As President Donald Trump returns to the White House, what will the first 100 days of the presidency bring? Follow along as his agenda takes shape with the new MSNBC newsletter, Trump's first 100 days, weekly updates sent straight to your inbox and expert insight on the key issues and figures defining this second term.
- [42:20]
Lawrence O'Donnell
We're seeing a really radical effort to change the American system of government.
- [42:24]
MSNBC Host
Sign up for Trump's first 100 days@msnbc.com TRUMP100.