← The Rachel Maddow Show
The Rachel Maddow Show
Anti-Trump protests sweep the nation, crossing the threshold of mainstream media attention
00:43:47
Rachel Maddow surveys some of the many "No Kings" protests that took place in cities large and small across the United States against Donald Trump's push toward autocracy, and notes that unlike previous remarkable protest days, this one was given prominent attention by major news outlets.
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- [00:01]
Rachel Maddow
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Jonah
Thanks Jonah for joining us this hour. Really happy to have you here. You know, one thing that was definitely different about this weekend's big day of protest against Trump is that this time the protests got a lot of mainstream media coverage. I don't know if the protests a couple of weeks ago were like a surprise to the headline writers and newsrooms of America's major news outlets, but for whatever reason, a couple of weeks ago that huge day of protest was really kind of played down or just underplayed somehow in the mainstream press. That definitely turned around for the protest this weekend. Headline New York Times Shame Protesters Nationwide rally again to condemn Trump policies Thousands of demonstrators rallied at hundreds of events on Saturday to speak out against the President's handling of immigration, civil liberties, job cuts and many other issues. The Times front page protest photos and protest signs like these ones For Sale Democracy and Resist if Not now when and Arrest the Kidnappers. Headline Washington Post 50:51 Protests rally small towns and big cities against Trump policies. Protesters gathered in hundreds of rallies across the country to denounce President Donald Trump. The Washington Post and its coverage front paged a big crowd in Washington D.C. at the Washington Monument, including this sign front and center, Innocent until proven Guilty Headline the Associated Press Anti Trump protesters rally in New York, Washington and elsewhere across the country. Elsewhere is doing a lot of work in that headline, given how many protests there were. But the AP front page this big banner outside the White House fence Trump must go now next to a sign that says Free Kilmar for Kilmar Abrego Garcia USA Today Nationwide Hands off 5051 protests against Trump continue for second weekend they front PA this upside down American flag in the foreground, hanging of course in a way to signify distress. And then you can see the signs there. No King and Impeach Remove Imprison headlines. CNN Protesters denounced Trump administration in nationwide rallies while supporting impacted communities. Here's the Boston Globe no Kings Anti Trump demonstrations around Boston Invoke American Revolution. Here's the BBC Thousands join anti Trump protests across front paging. This is a good sign. I've only ever seen this once. Don't Piratize Social Security. That's very well done. Here's the Guardian, which is also based in Britain. Protesters filled the streets in cities across the US to denounce Trump agenda. Here's Reuters, the news service. Thousands of protesters rally against Trump across United States. Here's Bloomberg. Anti Trump protesters turnout from New York City to San Francisco and may I suggest everywhere in between. Here's CBS News. Anti Trump rallies held across the U.S. to protest administration's policies. Here's NPR. Protesters unite against Trump in hundreds of rallies across the U.S. no more tariffs on the sign there. Here's the LA Times. Anti Trump protesters rally again in cities across the country. Impeach and remove being spelled out in bodies on the beach. On the front page of the LA Times. This was the lead story on NBC Nightly News on Saturday night. You see the chyron there at the bottom. Massive anti Trump protests across the country tonight. Protests across the country from Denver to midtown Manhattan to right outside the White House. People voicing anger at the Trump administration, including over its recent immigration actions. I don't know if the mainstream media catching up now to what's been going on in the streets. I don't know if it's a big advance for that movement against Trump or not. But it's at least worth noting that it is starting to happen. It really hadn't been happening before and it is now. The coverage is now there. That said, judging from the literally hundreds of protest videos and images that we reviewed over the weekend and compiled, my sense is that the momentum is here and these protests are going to keep happening basically everywhere, regardless of the level of coverage they get, even though they are now getting more coverage. This is, these are hard to put together, but we've done it. Okay, from left to right and then top to bottom. What you're looking at here is ready. Anti Trump protests this weekend in Chicago, Minneapolis, Anchorage. There was a whole bunch of protests in Alaska this weekend. We'll talk about that in a second. But that's Anchorage, third from the left in the middle there on the top row. Then Jacksonville, Florida, Buffalo, New York, Atlanta, Philly, Portland, Oregon, Little Rock, Arkansas, Omaha, of course, New York City. Massive crowds in New York City, den, Houston, Washington, D.C. cleveland, Ohio, Salt Lake City, Boise, Idaho, Hartford, Connecticut. And then the last two there, Indianapolis and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I paused there on Anchorage because they really did have a very big crowd in Anchorage this weekend. Thousands of people turned out in Anchorage and you see some of the signs there. Quite good. Due process is a right, not a privilege. There's the big one there up on the right that just says, nope. This is a very good one, actually. Only time I've seen this exact phrasing. Only caring about your own rights is exactly how you lose them. That's very good. Orange sign just to the right of that. Nixon and McCarthy weren't this bad. I agree. You may also see another one on the left there that's specific to where this is. Dan and Nick, stand up for the Rule of Law. That's about Republican Senator Dan Sullivan and Republican Congressman Nick Begich, both of whom have been even as Alaska's other Republican representative in Congress, Senator Lisa Murkowski has mildly criticized him. But Dan and Nick, hey, stand up. And I just want to say, for whatever reason, it wasn't just the big turnout they got in Anchorage. There were a ton of protests all over Alaska at this time. Gustavus, Alaska, population 600 something. That's a significant portion of the town. There's only 600 people in the town. Soldotna, Alaska. All along the main drag there, people outside the the autozone. Bethel, Alaska. It was really cold and rainy, but people turned out in Bethel, Alaska. Look at the turnout in Fairbanks, Alaska. Fairbanks had tons of people turn out this weekend at Nome, Alaska. Nome. Nome. Protesters posted up there again at the marker for the end of the Iditarod sled dog race. You see the sign there? Stop disappearing people. A lot of signs along those lines in protests we saw everywhere all over the country. Kodiak, Alaska. Another good turnout there. Lots of American flags. United we stand, divided we fall. Beautiful. Kodiak, Alaska. This was Homer, Alaska. Homer. Head start, 32 years. Keep it going. As Trump says, of course, he wants to eliminate the entire Head Start program everywhere in the country, literally. I mean, was there a single town in Alaska that didn't protest this weekend? I watched local news reports in Alaska. There were protests on Saturday, all simultaneously in Juneau, Seward, Wasilla, Anchorage, Gustavus, Soldatna, Bethel, Fairbanks, Nome, Kodiak, Homer. I might have even missed some. Oh, Petersburg. Petersburg, Alaska as well. Petersburg. Super cute. They call it Little Norway. They turned out to protest in Petersburg, Alaska against Trump this weekend. Hey, Elon. Mars beckons. And that's just a snapshot of one state that's just Alaska that was kind of on fuego this weekend. But, you know, if you want to generalize, I think about how the protests against Trump are evolving now that we're 90 whatever days in, I would say that the media is now covering these protests more and more. And I think that's part because there's a lot of them and they're big. I think it's also maybe because the media is realizing that Trump is only getting less and less popular with each passing day in each new poll. This protest movement to the media, I think seems like a tangible way to see and describe and report on that. In terms of other changes and evolutions in the anti Trump movement, I would say for this weekend in particular, one other change we saw is that in a lot of places, people added food drives and clothing drives and other really practical efforts to build donations for food pantries and other local resources that have been hit so hard by Trump's cuts. And those food drives happened alongside the marches and rallies, which is really construct. I would also say in general that we are, if you want a generalized perception of what's going on in terms of how this movement is changing, I would say we're seeing more protests in red states and in Republican areas of blue or purple states. I mean, that's my impression from looking at all the footage that I have looked at from this weekend's events. Here's some more. Here's Amarillo, Texas, this weekend. Here's the big turnout they got in Atlanta, Georgia, this weekend. Tons of people turned out in Atlanta. Really big turnout in Boise, Idaho, again and again and again has been turning out huge numbers of people in Idaho. Here's Carson City, Nevada. Look how many people turned out in Carson City, including outside the state legislature building there. Carson City, of course, the Capitol. Thousands of people turned out to protest in Chicago. Once again, Chicago definitely showing up. Here's Clarksburg, West Virginia, outside the Harrison county courthouse. Here's Cincinnati on the left side of your screen. Here's Columbus on the right side of your screen. Ohio has been turning out a lot of anti Trump protests throughout this past night. This weekend was no exception in Ohio. Here's Michigan. Here's Detroit on the left side of your screen and Grand Rapids on the right side of your screen. Michigan, like Ohio, has been turning out lots and lots of Trump protests with big crowds. This was Saturday in Detroit and in Grand Rapids. There was big crowd protesting in Denver this weekend. Yet again, Denver, Colorado, also Fargo, North Dakota, turned up this weekend. People along the main drag there in Fargo conquered Massachusetts. They celebrated the 250th anniversary on Saturday of the first battle of the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The anti tyranny, no kings theme dovetailed very well between the commemoration of the American Revolution and the many people who turned out there to protest against Trump at the same time. Let's do a few more of these. This is left to right, top to bottom, that's Huntersville, North Carolina. Really big, impressive turnout in Los Angeles. Morgantown, West Virginia, where they have been hit very hard by Trump destroying agencies. Lower left, that's Mobile, Alabama. Lower center, that's New Haven, Connecticut. And lower right there, that's Raleigh, North Carolina. They had a really big turnout in Raleigh. Look at that crowd. Here's another group, upper left, that's West Caldwell, New Jersey. Upper center, that's Portland, Maine on the right on the top, that's Newton, New Jersey. Lower left, that's Westmont, Illinois. Mesa, Arizona in the center on the bottom there. And beautiful Livingston, Montana on the lower right. We saw big protests this weekend in Greenville, South Carolina. And in Springfield, Ohio, which you will remember. That's where Donald Trump and J.D. vance attacked Haitian immigrants in perverse terms. Lots of protesters out in San Diego, California. New Orleans, people turned out in the French Quarter to protest. We say no to deportations, protect immigrant rights. Sacramento, California, big turnout in their Trump protest this weekend. Norwalk, Connecticut, Surprise, Arizona. Topeka, Kansas. Here's just a couple more. Look at the big crowd in Topeka. This was Rock Hill, South Carolina. The Easter Bunny says, hop away from fascism. No more rotten eggs in the White House. Here's a look at St. Paul, Minnesota, where they turned out. Just a very look at this very, very large crowd of people to protest against Trump this weekend again in St. Paul. They keep doing this. And I could go on and on and on for a very long time with this. The first 50, 51 protests. And again, 5051 stands for 50 protests in 50 states on one day. The first one that they held was in February. It was mostly at state capitols. They actually had more than 50 protests that day, but less than 100 now in April, in the same month, we had one day with over 1000 simultaneous protests. Another one this weekend with over 900 simultaneous protests. I mean, some of these protests this week, this month, we've seen, we've seen tens of thousands of people. A few that topped 100,000 people. Sounds like the next one of these is not going to be on a Saturday. It's going to be on May day, on Thursday, May 1st. We shall see. But again, I think in general, what we are seeing is that more of the media is figuring out that this is quite a thing. This is not business as usual. This is quite a thing that is happening over and over again at state capitals and on overpasses and on town squares and on street corners and in all sorts of unexpected places, including the reddest of red states. My sense is that as Trump's poll numbers continue to drop, not only are the protests going to grow and spread, but they're going to get more and more attention as well, as the dominant news narrative in the country becomes not just what it has been, which is the failures and mistakes and scandals of the administration, the damage Trump is doing. But I think the dominant narrative in the country is becoming not just that disastrous behavior by Trump, but also the country saying no to him and resisting him more and more and more all the time. And that's not just a vibe or a feeling. That is a granular thing that is happening with these protests that we are seeing all over the fricking country over and over and over again. And on the issues on education tonight, Harvard University has launched its legal counteroffensive against the Trump administration. Harvard tonight bringing a lawsuit against the Trump administration for the way Trump has targeted and essentially tried to take over Harvard. That counter offensive from Harvard comes as faculty at the University of Michigan and the University of Washington have both just voted that those universities should join a mutual academic defense compact with other similarly situated universities so they can all band together to defend themselves as a group when Trump inevitably comes for those institutions as well. The financial markets continue to just reject and repel Trump like he is a magnet turned around the wrong way. Here's part of the lead story at the Wall Street Journal tonight. Quote the Dow Jones industrial average dropped around 972 points today and is on pace for its worst April since 1932. The dollar hit fresh multi year lows against the euro and other major curr yields on long term Treasuries, which rise when bond prices fall, climbed when treasury yields climbed. That's bad. Oil prices slid. Gold rose to a record. Trump's renewed threats to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's job marked a new source of uncertainty for investors who said eroding confidence in the independence of the US Central bank could deal a significant blow to the value of stocks, bonds and the dollar. While Trump made similar threats against the Fed in his prior term. Investors worry that tariffs could rekindle pandemic era inflation, requiring the central bank to keep rates higher, not lower. Some worry that recent declines in stocks, bonds and the dollar, which has become known as the sell America trade, point to a shift in capital flows that undermines the U.S. s longstanding primacy in global markets. In other words, Donald Trump is not just tanking the financial markets. He's potentially destroying America's economic status in an irreversible way. The other headlines on the right wing pages of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page right now also sort of tell the story right now. Quote, america gets Trump Fatigue. This was actually from a few days ago. It's still posted prominently at the opinion page website. America Gets Trump Fatigue. Also, is Trump a tyrant or a savior? Maybe just a bumbler? That counts as good news for Trump right now in the financial press. The Wall Street Journal also warning now appears to be possessed of economic plans that are, quote, an even dumber idea than tariffs. That's what the way they put it in the headline amid the markets just rejecting everything Trump is doing and sloshing into the muddy depths again today, the automobile company that is owned by the President's top campaign donor that's doing particularly poorly even against a market that itself is doing very poorly. Here's the Journal again tonight. Quote, the past few months have been particularly punishing for Tesla which fell about 5.8% today. Tesla's shares have plummeted 44% in 2025 so far. Today Tesla dropped outside the largest 10 US companies by market value for the first time since June 2024. Tesla is grappling with slower sales and a damaged brand with Chief Executive Elon Musk's prominent role in the Trump administration alienating some customers. The company is set to report earnings tomorrow Tuesday. Analysts are expecting a year over year drop in Tesla profits. The Washington Post reports that Elon Musk may be heading toward the end of his time in Washington. That first corner earnings report that his car company is due to give tomorrow. It does look like it's not going to be good and that may give him a bit business excuse that he might be looking for to get out of Washington. After all, his time in Washington kind of started bad and has just been has been scuttling worse and worse all the time. His Department of Government efficiency Doge thing is a mix of embarrassment for its errors and its palpable confusion and horror and anger for how much damage it is doing to the US Government with really nothing positive to show for itself at all. Even if the whole idea of DOGE was cutting spending, the Trump administration is spending more on a daily basis than the Biden administration was. So even if the whole good idea of Doge is less government spending, it has absolutely failed at that with Trump spending more than Biden did. Musk's cocky assertions about 150 year olds getting Social Security were immediately debunked and showed him to just not understand the data he was looking at, which is very embarrassing for a man whose whole brand is, look how smart I am. Musk's time in Washington has been marked by White House officials snarking anonymously to the press, like Rolling Stone magazine, about the perception by some in the White House that Mr. Musk appears to be high all the time. Also that he's possibly the most annoying person on the planet. I keep using the word annoying, but the word doesn't do the situation justice. Musk apparently tried to get a top secret briefing from the Pentagon on China war plans that was promptly reported in the New York Times, which led President Trump to show that he was both absolutely unaware that his top had arranged this for himself. Trump then very, very quickly made clear that he didn't think something like that should happen. And so it was canceled and Elon had to eat that, too. Musk then tried to get back into the money and politics game where he'd done so well getting Trump into the White House in the first place. He very went, he went very publicly all in with massive spending, ostentatious spending, and personal appearances to try to sway the Wisconsin State Supreme Court election. Elon Musk's candidate then lost by double digits in an election that was universally branded as a referendum on Elon Musk. Musk then installed his own choice as acting IRS commissioner. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant then complained to Trump and uninstalled the guy two days later. Musk then took a loud public stance against Donald Trump's tariffs. Trump has ignored his loud public stance against them and kept the tariffs and all their disastrous implications, including for Musk's own car company. Musk then started a loud public beef with Trump advisor Peter Navarro. Trump decided quite obviously to keep Peter Navarro, and we haven't heard much from Elon Musk ever since. Now, the Washington Post reports this weekend that Elon Musk's signature move in Washington, that whole tell me five things you did last week or you'll be fired government email. That email goes out sometimes weekly now to government employees, but people just ignore it. It's being ignored by multiple, if not most, agencies in the government because. Because Elon Musk no longer really seems to have the juice to do anything about it. Musk no longer appears to be running stuff, let alone personally wielding some kind of ax over every government employee in every government agency. All of that on top of the massive public revulsion at his role in Donald Trump's administration. And in American politics, the massive public revulsion for Elon Musk's role in Washington has made the Tesla brand toxic, not to mention his own personal brand. So we'll see tomorrow how things go on that Tesla first quarter earnings call. We'll see how it goes for Tesla. We'll see how it goes in terms of telling us what's about to happen to Elon Musk and his sojourn in Washington. We've got more ahead tonight on the meltdown at the Pentagon, the disputed report today that Pete Hegseth is on his way out at the Pentagon, and the panicked pushback from Hegseth himself from the Pentagon and now from the White House. We've also got the latest on the Trump administration turning around buses while they were apparently driving more men to the airport to apparently take yet more of them to El Salvador. We'll talk with the attorney tonight who who appears to have caused those buses to turn around. One if by land, two if by D.C. i see you, Huntington, West Virginia. I see you everywhere. I've got so much to get to tonight. Stay with us.
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Rachel Maddow
Stay connected with the MSNBC app bringing you breaking news and analysis anytime, anywhere.
- [23:50]
Jonah
All the stories that we're covering are live and happening as we speak.
- [23:54]
Rachel Maddow
Watch your favorite shows live.
- [23:55]
Jonah
What's happening right now is a hostile takeover of the US Government.
- [24:00]
Rachel Maddow
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 stay up to date on the biggest issues of the day with the MSNBC Daily newsletter. Each morning you'll get analysis by experts you trust, video highlights from your favorite shows.
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Jonah
I do think it's worth being very clear eyed, very realistic about what's going on here.
- [24:28]
Rachel Maddow
Previews of our podcasts and documentaries, plus written perspectives from the newsmakers themselves, all sent directly to your inbox each morning. Get the best of MSNBC all in one place. Sign up for MSNBC Daily at msnbc.com Sir David Frost gave us a front row seat to history. Now we discover his most iconic, iconic interviews. MSNBC Films presents a six part documentary series, David Frost Versus beginning Sunday at 9pm Eastern on MSNBC.
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Jonah
We've had a lot of secretaries of defense in this country and lots of those defense secretaries have had lots of scandals over the years. You know, we've had good defense secretaries, we've had bad ones. We've had some real bad ones. But you know, there's always room for something new under the sun for all the things that defense secretaries in the United States have ever done wrong, I'm not sure we've ever had a secretary of defense rope his spouse into a sensitive national security conversations. I feel like of all the things we've seen at the Pentagon, this might count as a new problem. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Trump's Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, quote, brought his wife, a former Fox News producer, to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed, including Ukraine defense contact group at NATO and one very delicate meeting with the British Defense secretary. Why did he need to bring his wife to those meetings? Dunno. But now there is new reporting in the New York Times that Secretary Hegseth also allegedly shared detailed information about forthcoming military strikes with his wife on a group chat on the messaging app Signal. Two sources have now confirmed that for NBC News. And yes, this is the second Signal group chat we know of featuring sensitive military information that Pete Hegseth has been involved in. The first one Hegseth was included on after it was started by Trump National Security Adviser Michael Waltz. You might remember he inexplicably also included a reporter in that chat. This second one was reportedly started by Hegseth himself and included a whole bunch of people who would not seem to have any clearance, let alone any need to know about the details of an imminent military strike. Sources telling the Times that what Hegseth shared with his wife in this second group chat was essentially the same attack plans that were shared in the first Signal chat on the same day, including precise flight schedules for U.S. air Force jets that were about to launch a strike in Yemen. Again, Secretary Hegseth's wife is a former Fox News producer who does not work for the Defense Department or any other part of the US government, which is fine. Nothing against Mrs. Hegseth here. I'm sure she's great. But one does struggle to imagine a compelling reason why she, as the Defense Secretary's wife, would need to know the specific timing of US Bombings in Yemen that were about to start. And obviously, there's the question of why sensitive information about military attack plans would be shared with anybody, by anybody, on a group chat on a commercial, non government messaging app. In response to this latest reporting, a Pentagon spokesman didn't deny the existence of Hegseth's second Signal chat with his wife and others. The spokesperson claimed only that there was no classified information on any Signal chat. Okay, like I said, we've had good defense secretaries and bad ones, but I'm not sure we've ever had one pile up the headlines quite like this guy. There really does appear to be expanding chaos at Pete Hegseth's Pentagon. His chief of staff is leaving his post. Three other top officials were fired on Friday, though the three men then said in an unusual joint statement that they have no idea why were fired. The Pentagon's former top spokesman resigned last week. He published an opinion piece this weekend in which he said, quote, the last month has been a full blown meltdown at the Pentagon. It is becoming a real problem for the administration. Today the Trump administration is denying reporting from NPR that the White House has begun the process of looking for a new defense secretary to replace the embattled Pete Hegseth. Mr. Hegseth was confirmed to his post by the narrowest Senate vote of any defense secretary ever. He has since spent his time in office seeming to prove his most trenchant critics correct. Joining us now is Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. He is the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. He wrote this today. Quote, he said secretary of defense is too critical of a role to be done by someone this incompetent. It is past time for Hegseth to resign or be fought. Senator Warner, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate your time tonight.
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Senator Mark Warner
Thank you.
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Jonah
Rachel, is this a cumulative effect in terms of Mr. Hegseth's tenure in office that led to you today calling for his resignation, or is it something specific about these latest revelations?
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Senator Mark Warner
Well, Rachel, you didn't even give the full story on this latest revelation. It was not only his wife but his brother who's been put in a cushy job at the Pentagon, his personal lawyer who's been put in. This is a reflection of the kind of nepotism that spreads all across this Trump administration. We've had two reports now. Anybody who follows the intelligence community or the defense community would know if a normal military officer or CIA officer had let this information out while our jets were flying to hit the hooties, they would be fired immediately. And what I'd like Pete exactly do is I want him to go down to Naval Station Norfolk, which is the home port of the aircraft carrier Truman. The Truman is the aircraft carrier in the eastern med where these jets were launched from. And I want him to talk to the men and women who know people on the Truman explain that this was not classified, that if this information had gotten out, they know their loved ones would have been potentially taken down by the Houthis defense. The arrogance of this crowd and the incompetence is breathtaking and it has caused not only morale in the DoD, morale in the intelligence community, and making all our friends and allies across the world say, man, we can't trust this crowd with any kind of classified information.
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Jonah
We are also now seeing officials who are close to Mr. Hegseth, people who are operating in political appointed positions at the top echelons of the Pentagon, who are all now being sort of flung out. Do you have any insight into what's going on at the top ranks there? By my count, at least five top officials have resigned or been transferred or been fired just in the last few days with very little explanation as to why. And some of those people who have been fired or removed saying they themselves don't know why they've been taken out.
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Senator Mark Warner
I think some of the folks were probably actually competent, but this guy is so far beyond his skis, so far beyond the ability to manage frankly, what's the biggest operation in our whole government. And it's we all who opposed him knew this was coming. We shouldn't be surprised. But when you put somebody of this incompetence at this level, and then his careless treatment of classified information, and again, going back to this most recent exposure on the signal chat, the fact that he's got not just his wife, but a brother and his personal lawyer, that is not the way the Defense Department operates. This is beyond the pale. And what I worry about is how many other good people that serve to keep our nation safe are going to say, we can't follow this guy. So I do hope that he would. I don't expect the honorable thing. He would quit. And I'm not sure that Mr. Trump will ever hold anybody accountable. But what's remarkable as well, Rachel, is we don't know have any of these folks who are on this chat, have they have any of them had their phones checked for malware put on the bad guys? If they follow one of these conversations, can put malware on your phone, phone without holding your phone. This is basic CyberSecurity and Intel 101. And these folks have got no notion or any kind of understanding of how important this information is.
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Jonah
You know, Senator Warner, the first revelation about the first Signal Group chat, about those war plans, I think shocked people legitimately, even people who didn't have high expectations for the competence of this administration. It resonated deeply with the public. We know that in part from public polling on the subject where people overwhelmingly said that people should have been fired over that and they thought that it was overwhelmingly very serious, despite the fact that we had the White House and the Hegseth crowd sort of pushing back and saying it was no big deal. Now that there has been a second revelation of yet another instance like this, I wonder if we're approaching a point where some of your Republican colleagues in the Senate might join with you and in a bipartisan way might approach the White House, might say, listen, this was a narrow confirmation. A lot of us had doubts about him. Our doubts are beaten, proven correct. This is the guy you need to move out of here, Rachel.
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Senator Mark Warner
You got it. I mean, we've always felt the Intelligence Committee, the Armed Services Committee, we've always been prided ourselves on being bipartisan. Will any of my Republican friends find their voice and say, this is a bridge too far? When we are deteriorating, putting our armed forces in harm's way, potentially, when we're pissing off all our allies, when we're undermining the confidence of the men and women serve in our armed forces or in the intelligence community, what will be finally the breaking point? I hope and pray this is it. Because, you know, we are making our country less safe every day this guy stays in that office.
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Jonah
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. Sir, thank you so much for your time. I know you're a busy man right now, and I really appreciate you being here.
- [34:39]
Senator Mark Warner
Thank you. Thank you, Rachel.
- [34:41]
Jonah
All right, we got much more news ahead here tonight. Stay with us. Busy night.
- [34:47]
Rachel Maddow
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.
- [35:06]
Jonah
We're seeing a really radical effort to change the American system of government.
- [35:10]
Rachel Maddow
Sign up for Trump's first 100 days at msnbc.com trump100citizens since we each upgraded to Xfinity, in our homes, the WI fi has been booming. It's fair to say our town has officially become a boom town.
- [35:26]
Jonah
Mayor, will I be able to drop into multiplayer gaming battles with low lag? The lag won't be an issue. But your questionable skills may be. And what if I have hundreds of devices on the WI Fi? Purely hypothetical. Seems like a lot, but sure, hundreds of devices, all booming together with the Xfinity Gateway. Yes, friends and neighbors, with Xfinity, the WI fi is booming. Restrictions apply.
- [35:50]
Chris Van Hollen
We're here because we believe that the rule of law should be followed by everyone, including the President of the United States. And we're in a situation where the administration, administration has sent someone here to El Salvador by mistake, admitted to it. A Supreme Court decision has come down to say, you need to facilitate the return of this man back to the United States so he can go through due process. And the administration is saying, no, we're not going to do it. We got to be clear, this isn't just about him. This is also about every single person in the United States. The Constitution applies to all people in our country. Due process applies to all people in our country. It's one of the things that sets our country apart from other places across the entire world.
- [36:35]
Jonah
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen was the first, but he was just the start. Four more members of Congress went to El Salvador today, including Democrats Maxwell Frost, who you saw speaking there, Robert Garcia, Maxime Dexter, and Yassamine Ansari, all to demand the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man the Trump administration sent to a mega prison in that country without any due process. In court, the administration admitted that sending him to that prison was what they called an administrative error. But it's not just him. The Trump administration has sent hundreds of people to that prison with little to no due process. The legal battle over that policy took a significant turn over the weekend. You might remember Friday night show we talked about early reports that the Trump administration might have been trying to send a whole new group of people to El Salvador from the Bluebonnet Detention center in Anson, Texas. On Friday night, we got in this footage of a bus full of people leaving that immigration prison in Texas, bound for parts unknown. Well, NBC News now reports there were as many as 28 people on that bus, most of them men from Venezuela. NBC News also now reporting that some of them on board were told they were being deported to El Salvador. And we showed you that video of that bus leaving the Bluebonnet Detention center in Anson, Texas, but we didn't show you what happened next. What happened next is pretty remarkable. This is footage taken by NBC News of that bus getting on the highway heading toward an airport in North Texas. There's a caravan of about 15 law enforcement vehicles traveling with the bus. But the bus and that huge caravan of law enforcement passes the exit for the airport. They drive past it. They abruptly turn around and loop back and came back to where they started, came back to the detention center in Anson. Now, we do not know exactly why that bus and that huge caravan abruptly drove to the airport, drove past it, turned around and came back. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security would not comment to NBC News about why the bus was turned around, but it may have something to do with herculean efforts made by the ACLU and specifically by the ACLU's Lee Gelern, who's one of the lawyers who is leading the legal defight, the legal fight against these deportations and against this policy of shipping people to a foreign forever prison. That night, as that bus was leaving that prison in Texas, it was Legalernt and his team who rushed to three separate courts within five hours to try to stop yet another group of people from being sent by Donald Trump to Alabama, El Salvador, presumably with no way back and potentially including the people on that bus. Again, three different courts in five hours to try to stop this from happening. Among other things that led to this extraordinary order from the United States Supreme Court issued in the dead of night at 1:00am Eastern Time, Friday night, Saturday morning, quote, the government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this court. In other words, by direct order of the United States Supreme Court. Using clearer language this time, the Trump administration has been told they cannot send people out of the country on flights like this until the Supreme Court can weigh in further. Seven Supreme Court justices signed on to that decision. Thomas and Alito dissented. But the ACLU lawyer whose swift action led to that bus turning around, we believe led to that dramatic decision of the Supreme Court. He joins us here next to talk about what's coming next. Next. Stay with us. I was made to sign a detention and deportation order to a country we don't even know. That's a piece of video NBC News obtained from the family of one man. The Trump administration almost flew out of the country this weekend, we think before an emergency order from the United States Supreme Court appears to have stopped them. The Supreme Court was able to intervene in this case because of swift action from the ACLU and their lead attorney on this matter, Lee Gelert. Lee and his team rushed to three separate federal courts within five hours on Friday night to try to stop the Trump administration from sending yet another group of men out of the country and presumably to that mega prison in El Salvador. Joining us now is Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU immigrants rights project. Mr. Gelert, thank you for joining us again. I appreciate you being here. So, Lee, is this what it appears? Were they about to send more men to El Salvador on Friday, but that was stopped because of you and your team rushing to those three separate courts on Friday afternoon? And Evening.
- [41:53]
Lee Gelernt
Yes. Sorry, Rachel. Yeah, they, they were in real danger. Absolutely real danger. We had been hearing the night before that they were getting these notices and that they would be removed that night or the next day. And then we found out they were on buses. So we did what we could do. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court stepped in. What was remarkable is that the government had been going around the country saying, we get that. The Supreme Court said we have to give notice and we will give reasonable notice. I think we were even shocked that it turned out that the government was giving them notice 12 to 24 hours in advance, unrepresented people, a form only in English, that did not tell them they had a right to contest what was happening, much less how long they had to do it or how to do it. Under no conceivable understanding of what the Supreme Court said when it said these individuals are entitled to due process and notice. Was this, was this sufficient? I don't. The administration is just going about trying to evade judicial review in any way they can, notwithstanding even Supreme Court ruling.
- [43:08]
Jonah
And to be clear, I mean, for anybody watching who's not a lawyer and who doesn't necessarily understand what due process means in this case in detail, the basic concept of. Is very simple, right? The basic concept, as I understand it, is that the Trump administration is saying we claim the right to send these men to an out of country prison from which they may never, ever leave. And we do that on the basis of our assessment that these guys are terrible gang members, members of a particularly terrible gang, and that's why we think we can do this. The notice that the Supreme Court has said these men must get is notice to give them enough time to say, hey, I'm not a gang member like that. I'm not one of these people who's part of this class that you claim the right to treat this way. And so the substance of what they're being, how they're being noticed, how they're being given advance word that this stuff is going to happen really matters, because it's the only chance they may ever have to protect themselves from what will otherwise be lawless imprisonment, potentially for life. Life.
- [44:10]
Lee Gelernt
You're absolutely right, Rachel. I mean, the one core part of due process is you will get notice of what the government's trying to do to you and the ability to contest it. And the Supreme Court was really clear on April 7, the first time this issue was up there, it said the notice must be sufficient to actually, the Supreme Court put in the word actually, actually get into court to contest what's happening at this point, These are just unilateral allegations by our government. Government that you should spend the rest of your life potentially in a foreign prison. These are Venezuelans being sent to El Salvador potentially for the rest of their lives and not having the ability to contest what's going on. The United States government, if they feel like what they're doing is lawful, should have no problem putting it before a court and letting a court decide. Yet every single chance they get, they're trying to evade judicial review. We are filing all over the country because they will never tell us who they're going to try and do this to or give advance notice in complete defiance of what the Supreme Court has said.
- [45:15]
Jonah
Lee, I spent the weekend and today looking through protest footage of people protesting in all 50 states in the country. There was not a single protest that I looked at, even the little tiny ones, even in the most remote places in this country where people were not talking about this case and not talking about due process and the need to not disappear people, and the unjustness of our administration sending people to some prison in El Salvador. I know that you're in the trenches of this, working every day, but the country is paying a lot of attention to what you're doing. It really matters to people.
- [45:45]
Lee Gelernt
Well, well, that's great. And because, you know, one of the things that I think is now starting to resonate with people is they say, well, I'm not a gang member. I can't be sent. But if there's no due process and they pick you up and you have no chance to contest it, then anybody literally can end up for the rest of their life in El Salvador. And I think that's why due process is so important for everyone. Everyone needs to be paying attention to the Trump administration, eliminating basic bedrocks that have been a part of this country over 200 years.
- [46:19]
Jonah
Legal from the ACLU Immigrants Rights Project. Thank you, Lee. We'll be right back.
- [46:22]
Lee Gelernt
Thanks, Rachel.
- [46:28]
Jonah
All right, that does it for me for now. I'll see you again tomorrow and every night this week at 9pm Eastern.
- [46:33]
Senator Mark Warner
The last thing you want to hear.
- [46:34]
Rachel Maddow
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