← The Rachel Maddow Show
The Rachel Maddow Show
Maddow: Trump's clown car Cabinet now an alarming liability as threat from Iran spikes
00:42:56
"They're not sending their best." Rachel Maddow reviews how the collection of unqualified culture warriors Donald Trump has put in charge of key facets of the United States national security apparatus is much worse than merely incompetent now that Trump has started a war with Iran and stoked a new level of threat against Americans and American interests.
Loading summary
Transcript51 lines
- [00:00]
Commercial Narrator
Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start.
- [00:04]
Rachel Maddow
Thumbtack knows homes so you don't have to don't know the difference between matte,
- [00:08]
Commercial Narrator
paint, finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro, you just have to hire one.
- [00:15]
Rachel Maddow
You can hire top rated pros, see
- [00:17]
Commercial Narrator
price estimates and read reviews all on the app. Download Today Imagine relying on a dozen different software programs to run your business, none of which are connected, and each one more expensive and more complicated than the last. It can be pretty stressful. Now imagine Odoo. Odoo has all the programs you'll ever need, and they're all connected on one platform. Doesn't Odoo sound amazing? Let Odoo harmonize your business with simple, efficient software that can handle everything for a fraction of the price. Sign up today@odoo.com that's o d o o.com all right.
- [00:52]
Rachel Maddow
She was born in Texas, in El Paso. She went to the University of Maryland. She joined the Air Force. In the Air Force, she studied languages and intelligence. She ended up spending more than a decade in US Military intelligence. And then she left the military for the private sector. In the private sector, she continued military intelligence work, including on some very sensitive stuff, while she worked as a U.S. defense contractor. And then in the midst of that very highly sensitive US Military intelligence career, she defected to Iran. She had converted to Islam. She learned Farsi. She had reportedly become enthralled with the Iranian regime and in particular with their anti American propaganda, despite the fact that she was a US service member who was born in Texas. In 2019, she was indicted in federal court in the United States for allegedly revealing details to the Iranian government of a highly classified U.S. intelligence program. She was charged with allegedly allegedly also outing one particular US Spy to the Iranian government. She was also accused of helping the Iranian government's intelligence agencies target the United States. Specifically, the indictment said she conducted research about people in the US Intelligence community she had previously known and worked with. She used that information on her former colleagues to draft target packages against these U.S. agents for the Iranians. And then using that information that she gave them, the Iranian security services launched cyber attacks specifically targeting those Americans, those American personnel from the US intelligence community. She was indicted in 2019. Her name is Monica Witt. She was indicted, but she was never arrested. She's still at large today. They never caught her because she defected to Iran, but they were able to figure out what she had done. They were able to expose the plot she was part of. They were able to bring this indictment against her. They were able to do all of that thanks to the counterintelligence unit at the FBI that specializes in threats emanating from Iran. So that was 2019. They had that pretty spectacular indictment of that former US military intelligence officer. Less than a year later, January 2020, the United States used a drone strike to assassinate a very high profile general in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, Qasem Soleimani. You'll remember that the Iranians, in response, you might recall, attacked two U.S. military bases, two U.S. bases in Iraq. Dozens of American service members were inj in that retaliatory attack. You might remember the U.S. president at the time, Donald Trump, during his first term, you might remember him mocking and deriding the injuries of those American troops, saying US Troops who had traumatic brain injuries because of that Iranian retaliatory attack, they weren't really injured because he didn't think traumatic brain injury was real. He didn't think it was serious. At least wasn't anything serious, you know, like, you know, bone spurs or something. At the time U.S. forces killed Soleimani and there was that retaliatory attack. We didn't exactly know if Iran was going to do anything further to retaliate for that very high profile assassination of a very high profile figure in their government. It soon became clear though what the Iranians plan was. It was that retaliatory attack on those US bases. And Iran also decided that the way they would retaliate for the US assassinating that high profile general from the Revolutionary Guard, what they were going to do in response was they were going to kill US Government officials. They were going to get their own high profile assassinations of American public officials. And this was not just Iran boasting that they would like to kill American government officials in response. This is something they have real capability in. This is a field of specialty for them. I mean, Trump's State Department at the time, in Trump's first term, they released a big report at the time warning about how the Iranians are really good at this. They're really known for this kind of thing. Quote, the Iranian regime has been implicated in assassinations, terrorist plots and terrorist attacks in more than 40 countries. Iran's global campaign of terror has included as many as 360 targeted assassinations in other countries. Quote, Iran engaged in these assassinations and other attacks primarily through the Revolutionary Guard, Quds Force and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security. But Also via third parties and proxies like Hezbollah. Quote, Iranian diplomatic personnel have repeatedly been implicated in assassinations abroad. In other words, they're really good at this. They can reach all around the globe to kill people when they want to, and they have done it. And so the U.S. government was aware that Iran wanted to kill U.S. officials. They knew Iran was capable of doing that kind of thing. They knew Iran is very experienced in that sort of thing. They've killed or tried to kill their own dissidents and whistleblowers and political opponents. Not, not only just over, you know, all over the Middle east, but throughout Europe. They have killed people. They've even tried to kill people here in the United States before. Their security services have reached all around the world to kill people. And they have done it sometimes by finding turncoats like that Air Force intelligence officer. They've done it sometimes by just sending out their own agents into the world. They have done it even by partnering with just straight up criminals, by partnering with mobsters and drug gangs in order to carry out targeted killings for the Iranian regime. And they have done it for decades. I mean, you think Russia is good at flinging people out of windows and dosing people with exotic poisons all over the world? The Russians are pikers at this sort of thing compared to the Iranians, who have not only been doing it for decades, they have been very good at it for decades. And so in the wake of that 2020 US drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the US government soon became aware that the Iranians were plotting to assassinate US Government officials in response. And who exactly were they going to assassinate? Turns out they were going to assassinate President Donald Trump's national security adviser at the time, John Bolton. The Iranians also tried to assassinate Trump's Secretary of State at the time, Mike Pompeo, and Pompeo's senior advisor, a man named Brian Hook. But the US Government, at least, was on it. They were aware of it. They knew about these plots and these specific threats. And who was being targeted. Bolton and Pompeo and Hook, among other things, were all given round the clock security details to protect them from these very live assassination plots. In 2022, a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps was formally charged in the United States with the assassination attempt against John Bolton. It also emerged that the Iranians had put together an assassination plot targeting President Donald Trump himself. They were able to bring criminal charges. The federal criminal trial in that case, in the Trump assassination case. That trial actually just started last week in Federal court in New York. I mean, for everything else Iran is, Iran is a big country, more than 90 million people. And they are a powerful country with a sophisticated, intensively resourced, world class, ruthless set of intelligence and security services, which of course target their own people at home to disastrous, murderous effect, particularly recently. But those security services and intelligence services also have tentacles all around the world. And they have used them to target the regime's perceived enemies all over the world, including in the United States of America. Luckily, the US Government has been all over them on this. They know what the Iranians are capable of. They know what they've been trying to do. Among other things, the United States government has specialist counterintelligence agents in the FBI who specialize in these kind of threats, specifically emanating from Iran.
- [09:53]
Carol Leonig
Right.
- [09:53]
Rachel Maddow
We know what we are up against with Iran. And, you know, obviously China and Russia, they also pose major threats along these same lines. Russia and China have their own dedicated counterintelligence specialists inside the United States government. But those, the China and Russia specialists are separate from the Iran specialist FBI counterintelligence team that works on this specifically, that guards against this particularly pointed threat from this particularly capable adverse adversary. It's a group at the FBI. It's a unit called CI12. CI for counterintelligence, CI12. And thank God we've got them now, right now that we just killed Iran's supreme leader and started a huge new war with Iran with apparently no idea what the consequences would be of us doing that, at least here at home, even if we're just going to be selfish in terms of the risk to us. Well, thank God we've got a unit like CI12 that really, uniquely knows this stuff that's on it. The group that got that Air Force intelligence spy who defected to Iran, that got the people who tried to assassinate John Bolton and discovered the plots to kill Mike Pompeo and Brian Hook and even the plot to kill Donald Trump. Thank God we've got this group, CI12, right? Last week, FBI Director Kash Patel, while he was coming off a wave of terrible press about US Taxpayers paying him to fly to Italy so he could go to a hockey game and chug beer in a locker room while he was heading into a whole new round of fresh reporting about how he has ordered an elite FBI SWAT team to be personal bodyguards and basically a chauffeur service for his girlfriend, in the middle of that bittersweet symphony of competence, last week, FBI Director Kash Patel fired a dozen FBI agents and staff in the elite Counterespionage and Counterintelligence Unit CI12,
- [11:50]
Carol Leonig
the
- [11:50]
Rachel Maddow
unit specifically that specializes in international threats from Iran, including their potential reach here in the United States. Kash Patel just fired his way through that unit last week. MSNOW's Carol Leonig reporting tonight on Monday, meaning today people inside the FBI are bracing for the possibility that Patel will fire more agents and staff on CI12. Carol Lennig is going to join us live here in just a moment on that new story. You might also recall that right after Trump was sworn in for his second term, one of the first things he did was take away the security details that had been assigned to Mike Pompeo and Brian Hook and John Bolton because, yeah, sure, maybe the Iranian plans to assassinate them were still live. But if you're Trump, who cares? I mean, the Iranians targeted Trump, too, but he has Secret Service protection. What does he care if they knock off anybody else? He'll be fine. We don't know why Donald Trump just started this war in Iran, Washington Post reported this weekend. And the New York Times reported today that Trump did it basically as a favor, that there was no US Intelligence that Iran posed any imminent threat to us. But Saudi Arabia and Israel told Trump to do it. And so he did it because, hey, you know, America first strongman, we're just going to put our military at the disposal of other countries because they can tell Trump what to do with it. Quote, the attack came despite U.S. intelligence assessments that Iran's forces were unlikely to pose an immediate threat to the US Mainland within the next decade. But he did it anyway because Israel and Saudi Arabia told him to. And he apparently does what they say. And now six American service members are known to have been killed and many more injured. There's also new reporting tonight that the US Embassy in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia has been hit by two drones. The Washington Post is now also reporting that two Defense Department employees, U.S. defense Department employees have been wounded in an Iranian drone attack on a hotel in Bahrain. And I mean, in terms of what we are heading into and the kind of risk we're heading into, these are the sort of headlines that we're seeing tonight. Quote, earthquake in the Gulf, Iran war expands to a dozen countries in 72 hours. Just 72 hours after the US and Israel began bombing Iran, the war has already consumed nearly the entire Middle east, reached the gates of Europe and raised new fears of attacks on American soil. This was the front page of the New York Times. What we woke up to today, US Troops killed as blasts jolt Mideast Fear of wider war after Iran's response. Reuters Dueling headlines here. Iran conflict widens to Lebanon. Kuwait mistakenly downs US Jets. They're right next to Iran. Says Strait of Hormuz closed, warns it will attack ships trying to pass. And indeed, just on the global energy front, we have seen natural gas prices spike by 50% in Europe. One of the world's largest exporters of natural gas is Qatar. Qatar now says they have stopped all production of natural gas. And indeed, Iran says it has closed the Strait of Hormuz through which passes 30% of the world's oil and 20% of the world's natural gas. They say it is closed. Here's the headline at the Washington Post. Trump pursues Iranian decapitation without a plan for what comes next. Quote, security officials in the Middle east and in Europe have raised concerns that the US Is unleashing forces that could spill across borders, disrupt global trade, and lead to asymmetric terrorist attack reprisals, all with no certainty that the remaining Islamic hardliners won't ultimately retain their hold on power anyway. Spill across borders, disrupt global trade, lead to asymmetric terrorist attack reprisals. Given those kinds of threats that Trump has just unleashed with this war that he started for reasons he still cannot clearly articulate, given those kind of threats, given that Pandora's box that has just been opened, do you feel like we've got all our national security ducks in a row here in this country now that we started this thing? Do you feel like our leaders in the US Government are really on the ball right now when it comes to national security, when it comes even just to domestic national security, when it comes to managing potential fallout from this thing that Donald Trump has just unleashed, I mean, you can start with our secretary of defense, right? I mean, his immediate previous job before Donald Trump gave him the keys to the U.S. defense Department, was that he was the weekend co host on the cable news show Fox and Friends. Now we're at war with Iran. Six US Service members killed so far, many more wounded. Hegseth also apparently just lost three F15 fighter jets to friendly fire because the US military did not deconflict with our allies in Kuwait. So Kuwait shot down our planes. Great. Here at home, we're, of course, protected by the FBI. Yeah, about that again, we'll have more on that with Carol Lenning in just a moment. We're also protected by the Department of Homeland Security, which is run by this person, Kristi Noem, who you will remember took the Coast Guard commandant's house for herself. Who has been mostly focused, who's been focused most intently during her time in office on sending militarized mask federal troops all over the United States to kill and terrorize people here at home. Kristi Noem is currently trying to stand up a huge new network of prison camps for Donald Trump to send people to without trial. So far, that effort is not going great. Here's 1,000 people that turned out in Romulus, Michigan just a few days ago vowing to do whatever it takes to stop Kristi Noem and Trump from putting one of their prison camps in Romulus, Michigan. Everybody from the Romulus mayor to the unanimous city council there, to the local congressmen there, to their state reps, to their state senators, to the Michigan attorney general, to both Michigan U.S. senators, all saying they will fight Trump tooth and nail on him and Kristi Noem trying to put a prison camp in Romulus, Michigan. Here's hundreds and hundreds of people turning out for the same reason in Roxbury, New Jersey, this weekend. Roxbury, New Jersey, where they are rabidly opposed to Trump. The Trump prison camp that they're trying to put in that community. It's a company called Dalfen D A L F E N that owns the warehouse where they want to put that Trump prison camp in Roxbury, New Jersey. Dalfen is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. And so this is really tactically interesting. Now people are protesting not only in Roxbury, New Jersey, where they want to open up that prison camp, but also in Dallas, Texas, where the Dolphin Company is headquartered. That's why you're seeing signs like this in Dallas, quote, coming soon, concentration camp Dolphin in Roxbury, New Jersey. People working together in two states to stop that. More protests against Kristi Noem and Trump's planned prison camps this weekend in Lindenwold, New Jersey, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in East Lansing, Michigan. Salt Lake City, Utah, is one of the places where locals were successful in blocking Kristi Noem and Donald Trump from building one of their prison camps there. Salt Lake City, as of the last few days, they've just started doing trainings there to try to help other communities around the country replicate their success in stopping Trump prison camps wherever they are trying to build them. So, yeah, Kristi Noem at the Department of Homeland Security has at least succeeded in galvanizing and mobilizing and organizing huge swaths of the country against her department and against her and against Donald Trump. She has succeeded in making, for example, the people of Minneapolis national heroes for the way they stood up against Kristi Noem and Donald Trump and in fact, turn back Homeland Security agents from their city. So, yeah, Kristi Noem, already doing great. She is in charge of our homeland security right now at this incredibly fraught, stupid, dangerous time, now that Trump has started this war. Specifically, I should mention that also means that Kristi Noem is in charge of our cyber defense. I mentioned that Iran's security services and intelligence services are pretty sophisticated and well resourced, and they're thought of as having a pretty wide international reach. One of the things they're best at and most ambitious at is cyber warfare. While Kristi Noem, in her infinite wisdom, put who in charge of America's cyber defense? It's this gentleman. Politico just profiled him. You see the headline there? Canceled contracts, a failed polygraph, and personal disputes inside the turbulent tenure of Kristi Noem's former cyber czar. It's former. He's only been former since Thursday, cuz they finally kicked him out of that job on Thursday. The nation's top cybersecurity official lost his job on Thursday, less than 48 hours before the Trump administration started a war with Iran, a particularly adept cyber rival. I mean, this is the Homeland Security Department's premier cybersecurity division. And who is this guy? Quote, he had no prior experience in the federal government before Kristi Noem appointed him to leave the agency last May. But he had served a 10 month stint under then Governor Noem as South Dakota's Chief Information officer. Okay. Quote, in August, he triggered a DHS wide damage assessment by uploading sensitive, sensitive agency contracting documents into a public version of ChatGPT information that other staff at the agency weren't permitted to use for security reasons. He also failed a counterintelligence polygraph exam last July. He failed the polygraph? Yes. Homeland Security later dismissed the polygraph as, quote, unsanctioned and accused staff of, quote, misleading him about the need for the test. So to be clear, Christine put this guy in charge of, of cybersecurity for the country. He then failed a counterintelligence polygraph exam. And Kristi Noem's response to that was, well, you shouldn't have made him take that test. And she kept him on in the job. Well, he was fine in South Dakota. You can just imagine the kind of brilliance we have had at the helm of the nation's top cybersecurity agency in the United States, a particularly key job now that Trump has started a war with Iran. What else do you need to know about him? Well, there's this? Well, last summer, he temporarily suspended a CISA employee who had flashed a middle finger at his Tesla cybertruck while it sat unoccupied in an agency parking lot. Footage of the incident was captured by the car's onboard camera. The director had the CISA security office identify the employee. The employee did not appear to know whose car it was at the time he or she flipped off the vehicle. The employee was frustrated because the truck had been left in a shared electric vehicle charging port for days at a time. So this employee gives the cybertruck the finger in the parking lot, and this guy goes into his dash cam footage and figures out who gave his truck the finger, and then has that employee, who works at the nation's premier cybersecurity agency, suspended from his or her job because that person had the temerity to flip off his truck while he was not in it. That's who Kristi Noem put in charge of America's cybersecurity. And he only got relieved of his responsibilities in that job on Thursday. How did he last so long in that job? According to Politico's reporting today, quote, Noem was hesitant to remove him until recently because she and Homeland Security Department Special Advisor Corey Lewandowski feared that firing him would, quote, reflect poorly on her. Okay. Homeland Security also oversees Customs and Border Patrol, which accidentally shut down the airspace over El Paso a couple of weeks ago because Customs and Border Patrol used a military laser to shoot down Happy Valentine's Day Mylar party balloons. Oops. Then last week, some other Texas airspace had to be shut down because this time it was Pete Hegseth's Fox and Friends Defense Department also using a laser gun to shoot down a drone this time. Whose drone was it? Oh, it was a drone from Customs and Border Protection because this Punch yourself in the face. Staggering genius is the level of talent we have handling our national security right now. As President Donald Trump, for no reason he can articulate, sets off what may end up being a worldwide conflagration with one of the most capable and unpredictable adversaries the United States has faced off against in generations. Yeah, it's a good thing we've got people of the caliber of Kristi Noem attacking, I mean, defending the homeland. And geniuses like Kash Patel at the FBI instead of the experienced Iran specialist counterintelligence agents who Kash Patel just fired literally last week right before we started bombing Iran. They are not sending their best,
- [26:19]
Carol Leonig
but
- [26:20]
Rachel Maddow
we have a lot to get to tonight. Carol Leonig is here with her new reporting Iraq War combat veteran and Democratic US Senator Tammy Duckworth is here with us live tonight. Stay with us.
- [26:30]
Commercial Narrator
Imagine relying on a dozen different software programs to run your business, none of which are connected, and each one more expensive and more complicated than the last. It can be pretty stressful. Now imagine Odoo. Odoo has all the programs you'll ever need, and they're all connected on one platform. Doesn't Odoo sound amazing? Let Odoo harmonize your business with simple, efficient software that can handle everything for a fraction of the price. Sign up today@odoo.com that's o d o
- [27:00]
Rachel Maddow
o.com Mom, Dad, I'm not throwing shade, but the whole New Year's resolution thing, kinda slippin. No offense. Anyway, my best friend Jenny's dad crushing it. He uses Blue Apron. He says he ordered one pan assemble
- [27:12]
Senator Tammy Duckworth
and bake meals and these things called meal kits. They're all super easy to make.
- [27:17]
Rachel Maddow
He keeps yelling, protein and fiber, baby.
- [27:19]
Senator Tammy Duckworth
Also the food.
- [27:20]
Rachel Maddow
We tried it so good so maybe check it out or whatever. Blue Apron. Get $50 off your first two orders, plus free shipping with code STIR50 Terms and conditions apply. Visit blueapron.com terms for more a Better
- [27:32]
Carol Leonig
Help ad International Women's Day is this March, time to celebrate all women, the leaders, the caregivers, the problem solvers, the hype friends, the how do you do it? All types therapy can be a space to reflect, reset and reconnect. And BetterHelp makes it simple by matching you with a qualified therapist based on your needs and preferences. No pressure, no guesswork. Visit betterhelp.com for 10% off
- [28:01]
Rachel Maddow
about 12 hours after President Donald Trump started this new war with Iran, his FBI director, Kash Patel, took to social media to reassure the American public about safety here at home. He said, quote, last night I instructed our counterterrorism and intelligence teams to be on high alert and mobilize all assisting security assets needed. While the military handles force protection overseas, the FBI remains at the forefront of deterring attacks here at home. At the forefront, he says. At the forefront. That is the idea. That said, New reporting from MSNOW's Carol Leonig tonight says this, quote, When FBI Director Kash Patel fired a dozen FBI agents and staff last week, he targeted an elite counterespionage unit that investigates threats from foreign adversaries and specializes in Iran, according to more than a half dozen sources with knowledge of the firings. The unit that Patel gutted, known as CI12, conducts investigations of illegal media leaks and mishandling of classified documents and also has veteran agents trained on threats and spy operations with a special focus on the Middle east, including Iran and its proxies. Some of this was first reported by the New York Sun. I will tell you that Carol Lening is also reporting tonight that at the FBI today and tonight people there are bracing for potentially more firings in this unit. The FBI is denying that it has done anything to hamper the agency's counterintelligence capabilities. But as I said, Carol Leonig reporting tonight that people inside the FBI are, quote, bracing for the possibility that Patel will fire more, more agents and staff, specifically on CI12. Joining us now is Carol Lennick. Ms. Now senior investigative correspondent. Carol, I really appreciate you making time to be here. I know it's a really busy time for you.
- [29:51]
Carol Leonig
Thanks for focusing on this. It's really important.
- [29:54]
Rachel Maddow
What does CI12 do?
- [29:58]
Carol Leonig
CI12 is casually known. That's its kind of code name, but it's casually known as a global espionage squad of the FBI. It's got a combination of agents, analysts and also support staff based out of the Washington field office. It's been involved in a really interesting panorama of cases, Rachel, some of which you've covered extensively here. It worked on the case involving classified documents involving Donald Trump hoarding and concealing hundreds and hundreds of top secret records at his home in Mar a Lago. It also investigated leak investigations. It investigated John Bolton even and classified records that were found at his home or classified information, forgive me, that was found at his home. And it also, with the exception of Russia and China, looks at espionage and other threat information from foreign adversaries in other countries. This is important when it comes to their specialty in the Middle east because they've been involved in essentially catching people on US Soil who are operatives of foreign governments, and that includes Iran.
- [31:14]
Rachel Maddow
Iran has a long and terrible history of assassinating people in other countries, not just in the Middle east, but throughout Europe, even making attempts here in the United States. I mean, going back decades, you look at in the 80s and 90s what they call the chain murders, where there were literally dozens of Iranian dissidents and opposition figures who were killed mysteriously all over the world. Turned out to be an Iranian intelligence and security services plot that did that. It does seem like this is for everything else that Iran is and isn't. It does seem like they've invested a lot in their ability to kind of reach around the world and affect the kind of change that the regime wants, specifically with assassinations and other kinds of sabotage plots. Is that why the FBI sort of has this unit that works on it from Iran, and they separate it from, for example, what China and Russia do and some of the other big adversaries that we've got along those lines.
- [32:15]
Carol Leonig
You're on the right track. The reason Russia and China are separate is because they're such behemoths. Right. That they need their own teams, essentially their own specialists. But the Middle east is a great concern, and Iran is chief among them. I mean, we all have, I hope, are all aware that when Donald Trump in his first presidency, ordered the drone strike that killed a Revolutionary Guard general, a very beloved one there, Qassem Soleimani, when that happened, it spurred literally multiple murder for hire operations. One that I wrote a lot about involved a fellow named Asif Merchant, who the FBI found here in Houston and also in New York, offering to meet former convicts, former releasees from prison, and saying that he had up to a million dollars to offer people if they would help him kill Donald Trump. And let's put that in some scary context. He had done so much reconnaissance. The FBI discovered that he had basically reviewed the Secret Service protocol for Donald Trump, and he reported back with pictures how many agents surrounded Donald Trump at a time on the campaign trail after he'd left the presidency and was running again for reelection and had tracked, you know, how could you Pierce essentially that circle that bubble around Donald Trump?
- [33:43]
Rachel Maddow
Wow. And that again, the trial in that case, the trial, you know, that's ongoing. I mean, the federal prosecution around this is something that we owe to the counterintelligence work and the Justice Department work to bring those things, to bring those things into federal court and air them out and firing the FBI agents who work on this kind of stuff at this time, it's just, it's hard to get our head around. Emma's now senior investigative yeah, go ahead, Carol.
- [34:11]
Carol Leonig
Sorry, I was just going to say one more line, which is, I mean, this is only the latest, right. We know of dozens of FBI agents who've been removed from the field, either forced out or resigning in, you know, disconsolate at what they've been ordered to do and uncomfortable doing it. But we have lost, you know, centuries as Americans, we have learned, lost centuries worth of experience in the FBI to protect us from this threat and many, many others.
- [34:42]
Rachel Maddow
Yeah. Heck of a time for it. Ms. Now senior investigative correspondent Carol Lening. So grateful for your time tonight and for your reporting. Carol, thank you. It's great to have you here.
- [34:51]
Carol Leonig
Thank you, Rachel.
- [34:52]
Rachel Maddow
Much more news ahead. Stay with us.
- [34:56]
Commercial Narrator
Imagine relying on a dozen different software programs to run your business, none of which are connected and each one more expensive and more complicated than the last. It can be pretty stressful. Now imagine Odoo. Odoo has all the programs you'll ever need and are all connected on one platform. Doesn't Odoo sound amazing? Let Odoo harmonize your business with simple, efficient software that can handle everything for a fraction of the price. Sign up today@odoo.com that's o d o o dot com.
- [35:27]
Rachel Maddow
You open the fridge, there's nothing there. So what's it gonna be? Greasy pizza? Sad Drive thru Burgers? Dish by Blue Apron is for nights like that. These are the pre made meals of your dreams. At least 20 grams of protein. No artificial flavors or colors. No chopping, no cleanup. No guilt. Keep the flavor. Ditch the subscription. Get 20% off your first two orders with code APRON20. Terms and conditions apply. Visit blueapron.com terms for more.
- [35:57]
Carol Leonig
A Better Help ad International Women's Day is this March time to celebrate all women. The leaders, the caregivers, the problem solvers, the hype friends, the how do you do it all types. Therapy can be a space to reflect, reset and reconnect. And BetterHelp makes it simple by matching you with a qualified therapist based on your needs and preferences. No pressure, no guesswork. Visit betterhelp.com for 10% off
- [36:27]
Rachel Maddow
in the Senate tonight, Democratic lawmakers have been calling for President Trump and his administration to make the short term trip down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to Congress to come explain why it is that Donald Trump has just started this war with Iran to at least try to persuade Congress that there is good reason to have done what he has done. One of the senators who spoke tonight is a decorated US Combat veteran. Senator Tammy Duckworth lost most of her right leg and much of her left one when her Black Hawk helicopter was hit by enemy fire in Iraq. Tonight, Senator Duckworth issued a stark assessment of what she has heard so far from the Trump administration and from the President himself about Trump's somewhat inexplicable new war in Iran.
- [37:17]
Senator Tammy Duckworth
You know, I am proud of every mission that I completed in Iraq, but I would never wish another needless, endless, unjustified war like the one that I served in. On anyone else, for no real reason he can explain, Trump is marching us closer and closer to another costly, bloody, protracted conflict. A war without any defined end state and even without a concept of a plan for how to prevent the chaos and instability that will come next. Look, I believe there are certain solemn, urgent times when our military must be caught on to defend us. There are certain moments when the threat in question is significant and imminent, instances when military force is the most effective tool at hand and that using it is necessary to protect America and her interests. The thing is, from what little information Trump has shared publicly so far, this is not one of those times.
- [38:15]
Rachel Maddow
Joining us now live is Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat of Illinois, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee. She's the recipient of a Purple Heart. Senator Duckworth, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate having you here tonight of all nights.
- [38:30]
Senator Tammy Duckworth
Thanks for having me on.
- [38:31]
Rachel Maddow
Rachel, do you understand tonight as we're sitting here talking live, do you understand why the President started this war? Do you understand what the rationale for starting this war was?
- [38:43]
Senator Tammy Duckworth
Are you asking me if I understand what they're telling me or what I think they're doing?
- [38:48]
Rachel Maddow
Yes, the answer is yes.
- [38:50]
Senator Tammy Duckworth
There's two different things, right? What they're telling me makes absolutely no sense. I mean, briefing that Rubio gave today, basically he said, well, we knew that they would hit us if somebody else hit them, so we're going to hit them first so that they don't hit us second. I mean, it's just a circular logic. And remember that earlier, just a couple of days ago, Trump said, oh, they have, they're going to develop their nuclear weapons. And this was just a couple weeks after he said, oh, no, we destroyed their nuclear program. We annihilated it.
- [39:19]
Rachel Maddow
So what is it?
- [39:20]
Senator Tammy Duckworth
What is the imminent threat under Article 1 of our Constitution that justifies him doing this? What do I think he's trying to do? This is Trump pumping his chest. I think this is him playing to his oil interests, and I think this is him trying to distract the American people from the economy and from the Epstein files. That's what he's doing. And he's using the lives of our brave men and women in uniform to do it.
- [39:44]
Rachel Maddow
What is your sense of your colleagues in the Senate, both on the Democratic side, but also across the aisle, in terms of whether or not people are buying one of the self contradictory rationales that they've offered for this fight, whether they believe that this is something that the Congress should retroactively authorize if and when there's a vote on it?
- [40:09]
Senator Tammy Duckworth
Well, Rachel, I don't know if my Republican colleagues are going to grow a spine anytime soon. They've all become invertebrates. They're hiding in their shells. I hope they do in this case. We've already lost six American service members lives. And so many more are in harm's way right now. I hope that they hold their oath of office dearer to their hearts than they do Donald Trump. I will talk to as many of my colleagues as possible to say, hey, bring them to the, you know, let's have this debate on the floor. Let's talk about what, what are the reasons and then we'll have that vote. The least we can do is our job. We certainly are expecting our servicemen and women to do their job. Then we in Congress should have that debate. And then let's take the vote.
- [40:52]
Rachel Maddow
In terms of what has been set off already, here we are seeing Iran making retaliatory strikes throughout the region in multiple countries. Saudi Arabia is reporting tonight that the US Embassy in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia has been hit by two Iranian drones. The headlines tonight are just stark in terms of this having spread already to a dozen countries, to nobody really understanding the reach that this might have or what the ricochet effects of this might be, both in terms of direct military action action, but also in terms of economic consequences, refugee flows, energy availability. What is your sense, just in a national security sense in terms of how big this conflagration might become and whether or not the Trump administration understands the scope of what they might have set in motion?
- [41:46]
Senator Tammy Duckworth
Well, you know, Rachel, we have the least qualified secretary of defense in our nation's history. I don't think they understand what they have done here. They've created a power vacuum in Iran. They have now basically enabled our adversaries like the PRC and Russia and, you know, all of these organized terrorist organizations now have an opening the way we created a power vacuum for ISIS to rise in Iraq. Now we're at a place where Iran has lost its leadership. You know, I don't mourn Khamenei at all. I'm glad he's dead. But now there's this instability in leadership there and there's a power vacuum. Unfortunately, the democracy protesters are not an organized group. And so this is, as you're seeing, spreading very, very quickly. Our so called friends and allies in the region are being hit. Now we've got oil tankers being hit. This is going to and has already started spiraling out of the, out of control.
- [42:46]
Rachel Maddow
Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. Senator, it's a real pleasure to have you. Anytime we can get you here on the show, but particularly tonight in the midst of all this. Thank you so much for making time to be with us.
- [42:56]
Senator Tammy Duckworth
Thank you.
- [42:57]
Rachel Maddow
All right, we'll be right back. Stay with us. This is the Los Cactus restaurant, which is in the Minneapolis area. It's a local immigrant owned restaurant, Mexican restaurant, really popular place. Owners of that restaurant were forced to close their doors for two weeks after the Trump administration's immigration raids in Minneapolis made workers there and a lot of people who eat there too afraid to come to work and too afraid to show up at a restaurant like that. Well, this week, local members of the Minneapolis community decided they would pack into Los Cactus and four other immigrant owned restaurants affected by the ICE attack on that city. People just made a big concerted effort to come out to patronize immigrant owned businesses and restaurants at Los Cactus. They got a nice hot meal in their bellies and then they headed right back out into the cold Minneapolis weather that same day to protest what the Trump administration has been doing to their city and others when it comes to the backlash against ice. We obviously on this show have been keeping a close eye on protests, particularly on protests now against the new Trump prison camps which they are trying to build all over the country. Our reporting on that continues even when we're not on the air talking about it. We're working on it. But I also want to tell you about something to keep an eye on tomorrow morning. We've been watching what really feels like a sort of growing revolt in the judiciary against the Trump administration, particularly against the Trump administration defying court orders when it comes to the way they are treating immigrants. We've seen judge after judge of all different ideological stripes repeatedly now lambasting the administration for breaking court orders, specifically in the way they are treating immigrants and the tactics of their federal immigration agents. We've seen it from liberal and conservative judges in states all over the country, including really conservative places like West Virginia. But now here's something to watch for specifically tomorrow morning. This is fascinating. A federal judge in Minnesota has demanded that tomorrow morning The Trump appointed U.S. attorney from Minneapolis and the civil division chief from that office and a representative from ICE, all need to show up in court in person to explain why Trump administration officials shouldn't be held in contempt for violating that judge's orders. And the case here is not just a general case about ICE tactics and how they've been treating people this past year. It's really specific. This case is where they're being told to show up in person and they're facing contempt charges. This case is about ICE stealing stuff. It's about ice's repeated tactic of essentially stealing property from immigrants when they detain them, taking cash, cell phones, jewelry, driver's licenses, IDs, passports, and then never giving them back. What is ICE doing with these people's jewelry? The judge in this case says the U.S. government has until 9am Central Time tomorrow to return all of that stolen property that ICE has taken from immigrants they have arrested. Or the judge says he will consider holding those Trump administration officials in contempt and he wants them in his courtroom tomorrow to look him in the eye when he does it. That hearing expected to happen at 9am Central Time tomorrow. We will be watching. Watch this space. I'll see you tomorrow. Tomorrow the midterms kick off. It's Election Day tomorrow in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas. We'll have network coverage throughout the day. Then I will be here starting at 7pm Eastern tomorrow night, joined by the whole team with Ali Velshi at the Big Board. So rest up. We got another big day to come tomorrow. I will see you tomorrow night again starting at 7 Eastern.
- [46:46]
Commercial Narrator
Imagine relying on a dozen different software programs to run your business, none of which are connected, and each one more expensive and more complicated than the last. It can be pretty stressful. Now imagine Odoo. Odoo has all the programs you'll ever need and are all connected on one platform. Doesn't Odoo sound amazing? Let Odoo harmonize your business with simple, efficient software that can handle everything for a fraction of the price. Sign up today@odoo.com that's o d o o dot com.