← The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
Lawrence: Trump will surrender and claim victory in his trade war
00:42:47
Tonight on The Last Word: The New York Times reports Donald Trump plans to announce a trade deal with the United Kingdom. Also, Trump’s pick for D.C. U.S. attorney faces GOP opposition. And the GOP North Carolina Supreme Court candidate concedes after a six-month push to overturn the election. Robert Holleyman and Justice Allison Riggs join Lawrence O’Donnell.
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- [00:01]
MSNBC Promo
Stay connected with the MSNBC app bringing you breaking news and analysis anytime, anywhere.
- [00:07]
Lawrence O'Donnell
All the stories that we're covering are live and happening as we speak.
- [00:11]
MSNBC Promo
Watch your favorite shows live.
- [00:13]
Jeffrey Toobin
What's happening right now is a hostile takeover of the US Government.
- [00:17]
MSNBC Promo
Read live blogs and in depth essays and listen to coverage as it unfolds. Go beyond the what to understand the why. Download the app now@msnbc.com app Sir David Frost gave us an intimate look at some of the most compelling personalities of our time.
- [00:36]
David Frost
What makes people tick fascinates me.
- [00:38]
Lawrence O'Donnell
You can't fake interest. You can't fake curiosity.
- [00:43]
MSNBC Promo
MSNBC Films presents a six part documentary series David Frost versus On the next episode, Jane Fonda.
- [00:51]
Lawrence O'Donnell
The war is being escalated in the most tragic, cruel way.
- [00:56]
MSNBC Promo
Sunday at 9:00pm Eastern on MSNBC.
- [01:01]
Jeffrey Toobin
It's time for the Last Word with Lawrence O' Donnell. Hey, Lawrence.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Hey, Jen. It is a big winner night here at the Last Word. And it's not one of Donald Trump's trade negotiators because they have won absolutely nothing yet.
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Alison Riggs
In fact, no deals.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
They've lost every day. It's that Now, I guess, 200 day long contest about resolving that election for Supreme Court in North Carol that is finally resolved by the federal court. There. Justice Allison Riggs was reelected, the Democrat reelected over the Republican who has been fighting this and desperately trying to throw out legitimately cast votes. Alison Riggs is going to join us tonight in the winner's circle. That one is finally decided. Big win for the Democrats.
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Jeffrey Toobin
Big one. And she's a great guest. I mean, she's such a good story about someone who's had to battle through absurdity to get to this point. I can't wait to see what she has to say.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Yeah. And she's, you know, she's had to just allow the process to play out in federal court. Now she's the official winner and she's free to discuss it. She's gonna do that tonight.
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Jeffrey Toobin
That's great. I mean, it's also a reminder of how important jobs like that are. You wouldn't have heard of Alison Riggs necessarily had this not happened. And now she's become sort of a model of what the other side's capable of, you know, in terms of trying to prevent an elected person from taking office.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Yeah. And what was at stake in this fight over these election results and over the legitimacy of these votes is a kind of fight we are surely going to see again mounted by Republicans in other places.
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Jeffrey Toobin
No doubt about it. This is a warning sign in many ways. And I'm sure she's got lots of lessons to share on what to do and what to expect.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Well, that's where I'm going to start with her. Thanks, Jeff. Perfect. Thank you.
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Jeffrey Toobin
Thanks, Lawrence. Have a great show.
- [02:55]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Thanks. Well, we consider tonight the decline of Donald Trump, the decline of what appears to be his mental acuity, the dramatic decline and his popularity and support among voters, the massive disapproval he now faces, and perhaps most importantly, the decline of Donald Trump's power in Congress, especially in the United States Senate, where Donald Trump is now so weak that he is accepting a Republican senator deciding to defeat his nominee for U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. donald Trump's just accepting that that is a very dramatic decline in power for Donald Trump in the Senate. That really matters. We will get to that later in our discussions tonight. This is the 26th day in a row in which Donald Trump has come out a total loser in the trade war that he launched, which he promised to end by negotiating 90 international trade deals in 90 days. Donald Trump made that promise 26 days ago and has negotiated exactly zero trade deals. Zero. The Trump score has been zero every day of his trade war. Presidential failure could not be more vivid than that. And that's Donald Trump's own scorebook for failure. 90 deals in 90 days. That's what he said. He's got zero. Donald Trump now looks and sounds more exhausted of his own trade war and losing his own trade war every day, just exhausted by it. Losing his trade war seems to be aging him more rapidly than he might otherwise be aging now at 78. And Donald Trump is saying things now that he has never said before. Donald Trump appears to be losing more than his trade war. There are public moments now where he seems to be losing his mind, like when he sits beside the prime Minister of Canada in the Oval Office and he describes his desire to seize control of Canada. We are now in the seventh day of Mental Health Awareness Month. And no one has ever made this country more aware of mental health every day than Donald Trump. Donald Trump is trying to cut over $800 billion from the largest mental health provider in the country, Medicaid. And then, of course, there's Donald Trump's own mental health, which has been called into question since his first presidential campaign, which led a group of 27 psychiatrists to co author a book published in the first year of the Trump presidency titled the Dangerous case of Donald Trump. 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts assess a president. Some of the co authors of that book appeared on this program at that time and told us about what they observed in Donald Trump's public behavior that indicated he was possibly suffering from grave conditions, including malignant, narcissist and sociopath. They warned us at the time, in that first year, year of the first Trump presidency that everything they were seeing and that we were seeing that was problematic in Donald Trump's mental health was only going to get worse. They warned us. They agreed that Donald Trump's mental health could only move in one direction over time in his 70s. They have published new editions of the book in which more and more mental health professionals have joined in the analysis, with the most recent title being the Dangerous case of Donald Trump. 37 psychiatrists and mental health experts assess a president it could have been mental illness on display when Donald Trump said the I don't know heard around the world. That, of course, was on Meet the Press when President When Donald Trump was asked by Kristen Welker, don't you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president? To which he said, I don't know. Every high school student in America is supposed to know the correct answer to that question, which is of course one word. Yes, it is too easy a question to ever have appeared on the SATs. But Donald Trump's answer was I don't know, which could be a sign of mental illness, or it could be a sign of early stage dementia in a 78 year old man, or it could simply be the product of a condition that Donald Trump has been exhibiting throughout his public life since long before he got into politics. And that is of course, Donald Trump's trademark public stupidity. In Donald Trump's case, stupidity is the most innocent explanation for his I don't know. But during Mental Health Month we have a right to consider other possibilities. One of the possibilities that psychiatrists who considered the case of Donald Trump in their book consider a mental health condition is Donald Trump's public pathological lying. And that could be what's at work in one of the I don't knows, Donald Trump said today. Remember when Donald Trump would say anything to avoid saying I don't know, even though I don't know was almost always the correct answer when he was asked about any public policy issue. He is, after all, the most ignorant person who has ever won the most votes in the Electoral College. And he is the most governmentally illiterate person who has ever been relevant in any way to the American governing process. And because Donald Trump always knew how ignorant he has always been about every aspect of government, he has always been desperate not to reveal his ignorance. And so he has always thrown a flurry of words when asked questions to which the true answer really would be, I don't know. He always did anything but say, I don't know. Not anymore. Donald Trump said I don't know a couple of times today. Your administration is sending migrants to Libya. I don't know. You'll have to ask Homeland Security, please. Now, that one could just be Donald Trump's reflexive pathological lying, which the psychiatrists who co authored that book say is a part of mental illness. It is also entirely possible that it is an honest answer, that Donald Trump actually has no idea where he is sending people to prisons around the world. Massachusetts federal Judge Brian Murphy, who was appointed by President Biden, issued an order today to prevent Donald Trump from trying to deport anyone to a prison in Libya. Judge Murphy had already issued an order stopping the new version of Trump deportations to random countries around the world. Lawyers for some immigrants who were told they were going to be sent to a prison in Libya alerted Judge Murphy as news reports were leaking information about the plan. And Judge Murphy issued his order to prevent any deportation flights to Libya. The New York Times reports the filing came after US Officials said on Tuesday that the Trump administration was planning to transfer migrants to Libya on a US Military plane. They said the flight could have left as soon as Wednesday. Amnesty International has called the prison where the immigrants would have been sent in Libya a hellscape. Marco Rubio, who believes his route to the next Republican nomination for president depends on how much cruelty he can publicly exhibit, has said this beyond that, and I say this unapologetically, we are actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries. So we are active, not just El Salvador. We are working with other countries to say we want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries. Will you do that as a favor to us? And the further away from America, the better, so they can't come back across the border. I'm not apologetic about it. We are doing that. No, we get it. You're not apologetic about it. You're trying to play cruel on TV because you believe that's how you will win the Republican nomination. Donald Trump told the reporter who asked about sending immigrants to Libya today that that reporter should ask Homeland Security, and that was it. That was the end of it. Donald Trump didn't have the energy to do a version of his lies about who these people are. Donald Trump didn't bother with the angry retort about all the crimes Donald Trump imagines these people have committed without any evidence or any proof that most of them have ever committed a crime in their lives. Donald Trump didn't have the energy for his own act. Today, in his 26th day in a row of being a total loser in the trade war that he started, Donald Trump is now choosing to say, I don't know when he's asked about toys or anything involving children and his tariffs. Donald Trump, who earned the nickname Donnie Two Dolls on this program last week when he said American children should get used to having just two dolls under the Christmas tree instead of 30. Those were his numbers. Which was yet another proof of Donald Trump's utter obliviousness to how life is lived in the country where he is president, especially the way life is lived by children. Even Donald Trump could understand how bad the public reaction was to his two dolls idiocy. And so in his next attempt with that sort of question, all he did was raise the number of dolls to three or four or five. Those are the numbers he said were possible. And while he was at it, he threw in pencils. No one asked him about pencils, but he said kids should get used to having only five pencils instead of. And again, this is a Trump number, 250pencils. Which again demonstrates Donald Trump's utter obliviousness to the life of the American child. On Meet the Press, Donald Trump was outraged at being asked about the rising price of. Of strollers, tires, strollers, some clothing in the wake of your tariffs. That's peanuts compared to energy. Energy is 60% of the cost.
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Alison Riggs
But, sir, you can.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
You campaigned on a promise to bring prices down on day one. Well, I don't know. When you say strollers are going up, what kind of a thing? And then he changed the subject. Strollers, what kind of a thing? Question mark. Then he changes the subject. It really sounded like he doesn't know what a stroller is. That's what he meant by what kind of a thing, which is entirely possible because even before Donald Trump entered this period of what appears to be possible neurological decline, he lived the kind of rich, ultra self centered, oblivious life that could make him not know what the word stroller means. That's possible. And later on that day on Sunday on Air Force One, it sure sounded like the word stroller really isn't in Donald Trump's vocabulary. Inflation's down, all costs are down, Everything is down.
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Robert Holyman
Other than, as Tristan said, the thing that you carry the babies around in, but that's up 3%.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
The thing that you carry the babies around in. That's what he just said. It's going up a lot more than 3%. By the way, the thing that you carry the babies around in. Donald Trump wants you to pay more than double for a stroller, 150% more, 145% if it's imported from China. So if you're pregnant right now, tonight, you might not be able to afford a stroller when you really need one. And even if you can't afford one, no matter what the price turns out to be, you might not be able to get one in this country thanks to Donald Trump. The Washington Post reports virtually every car seat, stroller, bassinet and changing table sold in the US Is made in China, making the children's products industry among the most vulnerable to fast rising costs and shortages. But with new tariffs more than doubling the cost of Chinese imports, prices on baby necessities are rising fast and manufacturers and retailers are suddenly slamming on the brakes, halting months worth of shipments that economists warn will lead to shortages of strollers, cribs and other necessities as early as this month. If you're pregnant and your due date is in June or later, Donald Trump is going to make your life more difficult. Infant furniture sold in the US now faces average tariffs of about 129%, according to an analysis by S and P Global Market Intelligence. Other highly Taxed items include toys 113% and infant clothing, 41%. S&P found. Delta Children, the country's largest crib and children's furniture brand, paused nearly all shipments from China early last month. We're going to end up with bare shelves in another couple of months if things don't change, said Joseph Chami, the president of Delta Children. Bare shelves, so no car seat for your infant born this summer. We're not talking any longer about the most expensive car seat in history. Yes, that's going to happen. It'll be the most expensive car seat in history. What we're talking about now is running out of them in this country because of Donald Trump's tariffs and no other reason. If Donald Trump had the slightest interest in the needs of the pregnant mothers of America tonight, or the new mothers, or the mothers of three year olds who are growing out of their car seat into the next size car seat. Donald Trump could reassure all of them. He could reassure all of us and say everything for babies and children is exempt from the Trump tariffs. But you know what he said to those mothers and those fathers? You know what he actually said about this? Donald Trump once again said I don't know.
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Alison Riggs
The Treasury Secretary just told lawmakers that a tariff exemption for certain baby items like car seats is under consideration. Will you exempt some products that families rely on?
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Lawrence O'Donnell
I don't know. I'll think about it. I don't know. I really don't. That is a beaten man. I don't know. He's giving up. I don't know. He's giving up. His performative act of having an answer for everything. Now he's just the I don't know president. And these are very simple questions. It's impossible to ask a president simpler questions than these. Donald Trump's answers are I don't know. Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant, is now on record as having said the most inane things ever said by a Secretary of the treasury, beginning with our first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Alexander Hamilton, who completely disagrees with Donald Trump on tariffs. Scott Besant said something on television last night about explaining tariffs to a girl who might be required to have only two dolls this Christmas, thanks to Donald Trump's tariffs. Scott Bessant's answer is one of those parody answers about how to talk to children. It is absurd from start to finish, but as you listen to it, it's worth noting that Scott Besant and his husband are the fathers of two young children, both of whom were in the front row of his confirmation hearing. So this is an experienced father talking here. Here's how Scott Bessant tried to repair the damage his boss, Donnie Two Dolls has done.
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David Frost
This reporter behind me was quite snarky the other day when President Trump talked about the girl having two dolls. And he said, well, what? President didn't take the question, but he said, what would you tell that girl? I said, I would tell that young girl that you will have a better life than your parents. You, that you and your family, thanks to President Trump, can now be confident again that you will have a better life than your parents. Which working class Americans had abandoned that idea. Your family will own a home. You will be able to advance. You will have a good education. You will have economic freedom. That's what we are advancing.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Okay, Scott, your family will own a home. Great. But what about the little girls who think the dolls are coming from Santa Claus? How would you talk to them? How would you explain the tariffs to them? We know how this is going to end. Donald Trump is going to surrender in his trade war and declare victory. Donald Trump is claiming that at the White House tomorrow they will announce, quote, a major trade deal with representatives of a big and highly respected country. So on day 27, when Donald is supposed to have completed 27 trade deals, he's now claiming he will have completed one. And that will not even be true. Whatever is announced in the Oval Office tomorrow will not be a trade deal. An actual trade deal like NAFTA or the World Trade Agreement or any of the trade deals this country has entered into, including, by the way, Donald Trump's administration's rewrite of NAFTA in Donald Trump's first presidency are all extremely detailed, lengthy documents in which everything is specified and all of it has to be voted on and approved by Congress. That is what a trade deal is and that is not what's going to be announced tomorrow. Donald Trump is Losing the Trade War Every country in the world knows Donald Trump is losing the trade war. Every country in the world knows that Donald Trump's tariffs are being challenged in American courts right now. And every country in the world knows they do not have to negotiate a full trade deal with Donald Trump to get Donald Trump to surrender, because virtually all of Donald Trump's tariffs could be on their way to being thrown out by federal courts. Donald Trump has lost every day of his trade war and he will lose again tomorrow. But he will surely get the more simple minded sections of the news media to fall for whatever stunt he announces tomorrow. But if anyone asks him what's actually in the so called deal that he's going to announce tomorrow, don't be surprised if his answer amounts to some variation on I don't know. Coming up, what we might hear in the Trump announcement tomorrow and why federal courts might find the Trump tariffs are unconstitutional and throw them out. That's next.
- [23:14]
MSNBC Promo
Stay connected with the MSNBC app bringing you breaking news and analysis anytime, anywhere.
- [23:20]
Lawrence O'Donnell
All the stories that we're covering are.
- [23:22]
Jeffrey Toobin
Live and happening as we speak.
- [23:24]
MSNBC Promo
Watch your favorite shows live.
- [23:26]
Jeffrey Toobin
What's happening right now is a hostile takeover of the US Government.
- [23:30]
MSNBC Promo
Read live blogs and in depth essays and listen to coverage as it unfolds. Go beyond the what to understand the why. Download the app now@msnbc.com app.
- [23:46]
Lawrence O'Donnell
The breaking news of the hour is that the New York Times is reporting that Donald Trump will announce a so called trade deal with the United Kingdom. The Times reports President Trump is expected to announce on Thursday that the United States will strike a trade agreement with with Britain, according to three people familiar with the plans. A spokesperson for the White House declined to comment beyond Mr. Trump's post. A spokesman for the British Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for Comment. Here is the Secretary of the treasury last night trying to explain the art of no deals.
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David Frost
President Trump has also said, if it.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Turns out we don't have a deal, that's okay.
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David Frost
He's fine with no deal. In game theory, it's called strategic uncertainty, what you're talking about. Nobody does it better than President Trump.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Joining us now is Robert Holyman. He served as the Deputy United States Trade Representative in the Obama administration, also served on the staff of the United States Senate, with experience in the real world of international trade. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. You know how long it takes to negotiate a real trade deal, how complex that is, how much interaction each country actually requires with their parliament or Congress because they all have to approve them. What are you actually expecting? Assuming there's something to announce between the United Kingdom and the United States tomorrow, what are you expecting that might look like or sound like?
- [25:22]
Robert Holyman
So big deals in trade take time because they involve important trade offs. What we're likely to see tomorrow, if the press accounts are correct, is sort of the framework of what a potential agreement might be between the US and the UK the details won't be fleshed out. It won't be legally binding. It'll be a basis on which to have further discussions, but it won't be a trade deal. It won't be a trade agreement in any conventional sense.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
And it could also, just politically, from Donald Trump's perspective, be the thing that allows him to step away from the trade war with that particular country.
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Robert Holyman
Yeah, countries want to be able to give the President, give the United States something that the US can claim is a victory, but the devil's really in the details. And what we've seen in past trade agreements is that they involve a lot of give and take. The ones that are the most meaningful to the US Are the ones that are the most difficult for our trading partner to do. That requires them to consult domestically, retires them to get parliamentary or legislative approval, requires them to make tough decisions. I've never seen a case where a country is prepared to make a tough domestic decision on a short time basis. What we're likely to see is a good framework, an interesting framework, but it's going to be far from a binding, durable trade agreement.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Yeah, it'll be a piece of paper. And maybe then Donald Trump will drop the tariffs with the UK to the issue that's kind of unique in this situation. These tariffs are being very strongly challenged in federal court. Donald Trump is claiming that everything is a national security issue, that importing baby Strollers is a national security issue. And there are lawsuits going after the underlying rationales of and the legal justification Donald Trump has invoked in these various tariff announcements that he's made. And there's a strategy here that countries could employ, which is just wait for the federal courts to knock out these tariffs.
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Robert Holyman
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the President is using a statute that was passed in 1977 to deal with restricting a president's power to act in the case of an economic emergency. Importantly, the statute that he's relying on, the International Economic Emergencies act, does not mention the word tariffs. And it's never been used to deal with tariffs. And under the Constitution, as you know well, Lawrence, tariff authority resides with the Congress. So the courts will be looking at this issue. And certainly countries that are negotiating with the United States are very aware of the fact that these courts might decide that the President has exceeded his authority. I think they will decide that. And many of these tariffs, not all, but many of them, could fall as a result.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Yeah, there's a veryit's such a limited authority for the President to use that I have to confess, I can confess to you as a former Senate staffer, that when I was the chief of staff of the Senate Finance Committee, I actually didn't know this provision existed because it was never used. And so we were legislating changes in tariffs in NAFTA and in the World Trade Agreement, and we were doing it, you know, what I guess we could now call the old fashioned way, in other words, the constitutional way. And you and I have both lived with the actual complexity of what that looks like and the time it takes and how much consultation it takes. And so it is just so stunning to see these tariffs go into place on that legal basis that as it seems to me, I agree with you, that it seems completely successfully challengeable in court.
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Robert Holyman
Well, I work for the Senator Russell Long from Louisiana, who was the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee when this statute passed in 1977. I didn't work for him at that time, but he was a strong chairman, it was a strong committee. They never even considered the legislation that the President's now using, and they are the Tariff and Trade authority in the U.S. senate. Same thing for the House Ways and Means. They didn't come out of those committees. So I think the legislative history, in addition to the absolute silence in the statute, really shows that what the President was trying to do is use an untested theory to get out there as fast as possible to get countries to pay attention. But those countries, in paying attention, know that the underlying authority for most of his tariff taxes is highly questionable. They may be thrown out of the courts. And of course, Congress that will affect what countries do and what they put on the table for the United States because they don't know that the deals are going to be lasting and durable. And by the way, as you incorrectly note, they completely go around Congress. None of these agreements will be presented to Congress in any way, shape or form. And so they're not durable even beyond the current administration.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Robert Holyman, you know, there's nothing I appreciate more than someone who has been in the room with the real governing a, especially on something as complex as international trade. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it.
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Robert Holyman
Thank you.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
And coming up, the dramatic decline in Donald Trump's power in the Republican Senate. With Republican Senate leadership now admitting that they don't have the votes to get an important Trump confirmation candidate through the Senate Judiciary Committee. And today, Donald Trump just publicly gave up. The losing Trump nominee, who has publicly embraced a Hitler worshipper, has exposed Donald Trump's new weakness among Republicans in the Senate. The decline of Donald Trump continues. Next.
- [31:39]
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- [31:56]
Jeffrey Toobin
The American people are basically telling the President that they are not okay with any of this.
- [32:00]
MSNBC Promo
Sign up for the Project 47 newsletter@msnbc.com Project 47 Sir David Frost gave us an intimate look at some of the most compelling personalities of our time.
- [32:15]
David Frost
What makes people tick fascinates me.
- [32:17]
Lawrence O'Donnell
You can't fake interest. You can't fake curiosity.
- [32:21]
MSNBC Promo
MSNBC Films presents a six part documentary series David Frost versus On the next episode, Jane Fonda.
- [32:29]
Lawrence O'Donnell
The war is being escalated in the most tragic, cruel way.
- [32:35]
MSNBC Promo
Sunday at 9pm Eastern on MSNBC.
- [32:42]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Today we got a breathtaking demonstration of the new weakness of Donald Trump in the Republican controlled United States Senate. Here's Donald Trump responding to this question. This is what you're about to see as a response to this question. Senator Tillis has come out against ed Martin as U.S. attorney. Do you have any response to that? And Donald Trump's response, which you're about to see, was stunning. I know Eddie's very talented, but that's really up to the senators. If they, you know, feel that way. They have to vote the way they vote. They have to follow their heart and they have to follow their Mind, it's up to the senators. They have to follow their hearts. Since when? When Thom Tillis was toying with voting against Pete Hegseth, the most incompetent and unprepared defense secretary in history, Donald Trump, brought damnation down on Senator Tillis, so that Senator Tillis finally, during the roll call vote on the Senate floor, decided to vote for the most incompetent and unqualified Secretary of Defense in history. Donald Trump does not have the power in the United States Senate tonight that he had in January or even February. And now, thanks to Donald Trump's weakness in the United States Senate, Republicans do not have the votes to confirm Donald Trump's choice for U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. and that is a very important turning point in Donald Trump's power in the United States Senate. Our understanding is his nomination is not.
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Jeffrey Toobin
Going to mark up this week.
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Lawrence O'Donnell
Can you explain why that's happening? Yeah. The process is pretty much the same for all nominees. I want president nominees to be successful, and that means we put on people that have the votes. That isn't the end of it, but that's where we are right now.
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David Frost
But do you plan to have a vote on Martin?
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Lawrence O'Donnell
I think I've said all I can say on this subject. You heard what I said. Well, that's all he had to say. That's the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the oldest member of the Senate, Republican Chuck Grassley, saying we do not have the votes to confirm Donald Trump's choice, Ed Martin to be the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. we have shown you the video of Ed Martin praising Timothy Hale, who himself has praised Adolf Hitler and was sentenced to prison for his participation in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Here is that condemning video of Donald Trump's choice to be U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. ed Martin.
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Thom Tillis
One guy is named Timothy hale. Tim served three plus years in prison based almost entirely on the 1512 fraudulent charge. In prison, he did the things that he'd done in his life before, which is he thought a lot and read a lot and been a writer and a thinker. He's the nephew of our own Cynthia Hughes, who's done so much for so many of us, but he's an extraordinary man, extraordinary leader now have of those who have survived January 6th. And I think he's resisted this, but I don't care because I have the mind. I bought this, my microphone, and I want him to come up and say at least a few moments, a few minutes of thoughts and have you encourage him with a round of applause. Timothy Hale, Tim.
- [36:29]
Lawrence O'Donnell
And here's Senator Thom Tillis explaining his opposition to the nomination. I have no tolerance for anybody who entered the building on January 6th. And that's probably where most of the friction was at this point. I've indicated to the White House I wouldn't say support his nomination. For Thom Tillis to say that publicly won't support his nomination and for Donald Trump to just meekly accept it as he has, means that the Trump White House has given up, no longer trying to get the votes for Ed Martin's nomination. It takes four Republican votes in the Senate floor to defeat a nomination. But only one Republican vote against the nominee in the committee would end the nomination right there at the committee stage. The Republican Senate Majority Leader, John Thune said this about Thom Tillis opposing the nomination. Quote, I think that would suggest that he's not probably going to get out of the committee. Correct. John Thune is a very careful speaker who would only say that if he himself has given up on that nomination. And he said that publicly before Donald Trump gave up on the nomination publicly. Thom Tillis is facing reelection next year in North Carolina where he won his last election by 1.8% of the vote. With Donald Trump suffering now from the worst hundred day approval polls in the history of presidential polling, and with Donald Trump telling Thom Tillis constituents in North Carolina that they will have to settle for less this Christmas and their children will have to settle for much less this Christmas and they might not be able to buy strollers or car seats. Senator Tillis apparently sees enough weakness in Donald Trump tonight to be willing to publicly oppose a Trump nomination and not just oppose the nomination, but deliver the decisive vote that will defeat that nomination in the committee. And Donald Trump is now publicly and meekly accepting that defeat of that nomination, suddenly adopting the principle that it's up to the senators. That is tonight's report on the declining political power of Donald Trump in the United States Senate. Coming up, a Republican's six month long attempt to overturn an election in North Carolina has ended in failure. The Democrat who won that election, Alison Riggs, will join us next. A big win for Democrats today in an important election that took six months to resolve. After what Democrats called an assault on reality by Republicans, a federal judge issued a final ruling Monday against Republican Jefferson Griffin's legal challenge to tens of thousands of ballots and ordered the North Carolina Board of Elections to certify Democrat Alison Riggs 734 vote Victory in the election for the North Carolina Supreme Court where she was running for Reelection Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said, this is a righteous victory for democracy and a clear defeat for political gamesmanship. For 200 days, Republicans in North Carolina sought to overturn the will of the people, hijack a state Supreme Court seat and systematically undermine basic faith in our elections. Jefferson Griffin's relentless assault on reality has come to an end. And Justice Alison Riggs will finally take her rightful place on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Joining us now is North Carolina State Supreme Court Justice Alison Riggs. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. What do you believe was at stake for North Carolina in the counting of these votes? Votes.
- [40:20]
Alison Riggs
What was at stake for North Carolina was really what was at stake for Americans. It's this idea of when we have elections, do candidates who lose respect the outcome of those elections or do they engage in gamesmanship to try and change the rules after the election? Today, voters in North Carolina won again. It shouldn't have had to happen this way. Six months and two days, millions of dollars spent, 68,000 voters who were afraid and scared and confused and just really put through the wringer, including military voters. That's what it took here to get my opponent to concede. And I think we need to be clear eyed about the fact that we keep having these near misses on constitutional crises. This is happening more and more and we cannot keep stress testing our democracy this way. So I have been standing hand in hand with Americans all, all across the country, certainly North Carolinians fighting for this bigger cause. But we need to not forget about it. We need to not move on, because this is going to keep happening again and again until we elect people who are willing to put constitution and country over party and personal political ambition.
- [41:54]
Lawrence O'Donnell
This 200 days did get the national attention that it deserves. And it's so extraordinary that we've come to a point where an election for a judicial position in North Carolina becomes a national issue because of the way the Republicans went after what everyone, what the courts decided were completely legitimately cast votes.
- [42:21]
Alison Riggs
Yeah, I mean, 68,000 voters who followed every rule. I think, you know, we worked hard to make sure that people knew about this fight. I worry that people, people in power, folks in D.C. were like, well, let's just see if we can build out our playbook for selectively overturning elections in this relatively low profile state Supreme Court race. And I just, I have to remind people that we want government that inspires us. We don't want this to be the new normal, treating it like garden variety rough and tumble politics. There are real people who are at the receiving end of this kind of insidious gamesmanship. And we need to remember that those people deserve to have a voice that is heard in the political process. Those people get to decide who wins in elect wins an election. And I think I'm eager to continue the work that I've been doing to make sure that when we run elections in the state and in this country that we are electing people, in my case, good judges with strong constitutional convictions who will be independent and uphold the law regardless of whether they like the political outcomes. So we're fighting for something big. It was a win for voters today, but it would be a mistake to think this is over here and now.
- [44:00]
Lawrence O'Donnell
North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Tonight's Last word is next. Donnie Tudall's previously favorite hometown newspaper ran this report with the headline mattel to hike prices on Barbie Hot Wheels and other toys to offset Trump tariff costs. With the price of Barbies going up, here once again is the campaign interview that has suddenly become the most relevant campaign interview to the Trump trade war. NBC News correspondent Shaq Brewster, with the full support and encouragement of their father, interviewed two girls named Stella and Maeve at a Trump campaign event last September.
- [44:51]
Jeffrey Toobin
What do you want him to do?
- [44:52]
Lawrence O'Donnell
What do you want him to say today? I want him.
- [44:58]
Alison Riggs
I want him to lower prices and lower the taxes and make Barbies cheaper.
- [45:07]
Lawrence O'Donnell
Make Barbies cheaper. Yeah. Tell me more about that. Have they gotten expensive? Yeah.
- [45:12]
Alison Riggs
And Polly pockets, all my favorite toys are so expensive.
- [45:16]
Lawrence O'Donnell
And that is tonight's last word. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With usaa, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a'@usaa.com bundle restrictions apply.