trump atwith ivanka the plaza hotel. donald trump was great. they all have faults, good points and bad points. but to take a man's faults and write a book about it is shameful. he revamped the whole city and made a great with giuliani as attorney general. they turn times square from a ghetto into what it is today. host: go in -- go and respond to vivian there. it's not a good connection but i didn't know what she was saying that giuliani should have been attorney general or something, i didn't understand that at all. i wroteioned ivanka and an open letter to ivanka. i told her what she could do and what positive she could bring in a positiveat she was influence on her father. she did nothing. she says she knows what women need. she says she knows what it's like to have a job and make ends meet. she turned out to be a tremendous disappointment. i really don't know what else she wanted me to comment on. host: she was saying she doesn't appreciate the fact that you wrote a book focusing on president trump's bad qualities. focusing on the whole qua

trump. professor laurence tribe is going to join us to ask and answer the question, is it possible for a president's use of the pardon power to absolve crimes to actually become a crime in and of itself? constitutional law professor laurence tribe will analyze for us the possibility of donald trump committing a crime while granting a pardon. that's later in the hour. we've now completed four full days of absolute silence from the president of the united states about a devastating bombing in downtown nashville, tennessee, on christmas morning. and today the president in waiting said this. >> before i begin, i want to say a few words, a few brief words about the explosion that took place friday in nashville, tennessee. federal, state, and local law enforcement working around the clock to gain more information on motive and intent. this bombing was a reminder of the destructive power of an individual or a small group can muster in the need for continuing vigilance across the board. i want to th

media or anti-trump media. >> abby, you were at "the washington post" at the beginning of the trump years and then joined cnn. the post was another outlet a subject of trump's ire. was it different at a newspaper versus a television network? >> yeah, in a lot of ways. we all know that this president is very focused on television and particularly cable tv. and so the degree of scrutiny that he would place on cnn was, i think, pretty unique in a certain way. he also has a pretty significant amount of negativity directed at "the washington post" for all kinds of reasons, but, you know, being on television is, for president trump, often the most important thing, and so he really fixated on what was being said on our air, what was being said from the north lawn, and also his aides. it's almost a little bit of a game within the administration to channel the president's behavior towards news networks like cnn with his senior aides sort of acting out in that way as well. >> jeremy, what were press relations like with the trump white house press shop with the press secretaries and the deputi

is it trump's america? so much focus of our culture and politics on trump that it is his time, and that is why we titled the book "trump's america." host: i want to go back to the nine areas you covered in researching for the book, you mentioned howard county in our. they're places like ridge county, california, yuri county, pennsylvania. how often did you encounter minorities, in particular, african-americans who were trump supporters? guest: quite often. i try to seek out people who are different. i would look for immigrants or people of color and i did find quite a few minorities and immigrants as well who supported trump. we saw in the election results this year, a lot of people were surprised how will trump did relative to previous public and candidates among latinos and asian americans, among black men. do -- a lott had to of reporters and people on the coast are a bit more sensitive to some of the rhetoric that trump -- some of the things he says that can be taken as racist. a lot of people in the co

trump hated that. trump also hated that krebs and his agency put up this really good website, this rumor control website, actively and aggressively debunking conspiracy theories about things being wrong with the election or wrong with the vote count. well, today after trump fired chris krebs and fired krebs' deputy and fired the cybersecurity division chief at that agency, today the guy left standing still running that agency announced that actually, yeah, they're going to keep that rumor control website up and running. they're going to keep it up through the georgia senate elections on january 5th so they can debunk conspiracy theories about the voting system for that election too. oh, no. oh, no, because that of course means trump's going to have to fire even more national security people now. he'll have to find more infowars, mike flynn acolyte screwballs to go move into that agency too, right? better hurry. it's a big government. it's a big national security apparatus. time is running out for you t

trump. and if trump was a knowing party to that crime, legally, he could still face potential prosecution, i mean, technically, he could, because the deadline has not yet run for that kind of campaign finance violation. now, you may recall this whole case, it began with a secret. donald trump paying daniels to hide their encounters which date back to 2006. and the legal problems came when trump and cohen acted around the 2016 election. and there's stronger evidence here than in most stories. that is to say, if you're talking to people about, oh, should trump be charged or not, in some of those stories or cases, even the tax issues, they can be vague. but here, mueller's prosecutors had inside players exposing what was happening. we even heard from some of those key witnesses in realtime. this was during the open mueller probe in our reporting on the beat. >> in your fbi interview with mueller's team, you were asking about payments to women? >> they were asking if i knew anything about it. >>

donald trump, eric trump and ivanka trump, as well as her husband, jared kushner, a white house senior adviser. the white house hasn't commented on the reporting and a source tells nbc news trump is considering the pardons because he feels embattled, not because he thinks his family has done anything illegal. each has faced potential exposure in at least one criminal investigation since trump's presidency began. we should all keep in mind that this is the very president said to be operating like a criminal begrade by andrew mccabe, then the number two at the fbi who was so alarmed by the conduct he witnessed in trump's earliest weeks in office that he opened a counterintelligence probe into the president of the united states. mccabe in his book likens the vibe inside trump world to the russian mobsters he'd investigated. the message, quote, this is a dangerous business and it's a bad neighborhood. if you want my protection, i can protect you. and it is in that vein that another bombshell drops since we were last on the air. a court filing unsealed yesterday revealed for the very first

they will be trying to challenge trump and move past trump wherever possible. host: let's talk to richard, who is calling from maryland on the democratic line. caller: good morning. where theon as to republican party will go after trump, i think it will not go anywhere higher than where it has been. a party that runs for power. jobs.0, the rent on -- they ran on jobs. it never came about. they ran on the same thing in 2014 -- jobs, jobs, infrastructure, never a bill introduced. when you go back to when obama was elected in 2008, newt leaderh, the minority republican from california, he -- against the president. after thed himself people killing our sons and daughters. it will never be anything other than gimmicks. reagan and bush started us on this downfall. i firmly believe republicans do not have the executive ability or honesty to handle the executive branch, as exhibited by reagan, bush and the second bush. each time it was a democrat that pulled our country back onto the right path against all kinds of opposition. where republicans go, it should be identif

he supported trump. analyzing and investigating the investigations he misrepresented as you said in the mueller investigation. he has been at every place and i'm among those thousands of prosecutors who said he should resign while he has belatedly but not for the reasons i said. he said something else. as he's going out the door, he was compromising the convictions. he was compromising our free and fair elections by these bogus statements he made about we found this fraud and somewhere along the line, it seems like there must have been an intervention, somebody, maybe a good criminal defense lawyer or someone concerned about the ethics by which he could retain his bar license said do you have any idea what you're doing? do you want to be standing next to the guy when he's flying for the inauguration or whatever he does between now and january 5th or january 6th or january 20th? trump inhales the souls of people and gets them to do things that are their worst possible performances. and he's done that with

trump's logic. special counsel investigations are supposed to happen if there's some sort of circumstance that suggests that the department of justice should step aside. that's why we have those regulations. do we need a special counsel for hunter biden right now? obviously not. how do we know? because an investigation has already been opened on him. he's being investigated right now by agents and prosecutors. there's no reason for a recusal for this justice department. the only reason to do it is to try and stick it to an incoming president. it may be the occasion with a new attorney general that you would want to appoint a special counsel, because there would be a conflict. but right now, no. it's already open. this is a political ploy, and a transparent one. >> and just to be clear, jonathan, donald trump isn't interested in a special counsel as anything other than a punitive tool that he would wield against a political opponent in his eyes, joe biden and his son. i want to press on this, because

campaign for future trump and a financial engine, i guess, for future trump as well. but this will end. the new president is on deck. covid team, communications team, economic team, national security team all getting off the blocks. and lots of news upon us tonight about just how hard the task is ahead for them. stay with us. lots to get to tonight. copd. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ it's a new dawn... if you've been taking copd sitting down, it's time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your

trump. and how i became -- i'm not the one who had the affair. he did. i'm not the -- i am the dummy who paid $130,000 to keep it quiet, but this was my conversation with mr. trump, with allen weisselberg, and others, and i did it in order to protect him. and i guess the thank you that i got from my loyal boss was, michael cohen should, as i once said, take a bullet for him and lose everything, lose my freedom, my company, my law license, my family's happiness, everything. i'm with you. i don't understand it. >> the president is at least, though, named as "individual 1" by prosecutors and you, in your allocution, made very clear what you just made clear here, the fact that this was directed by him, for his benefit, and you were acting out his wishes, and so he's therefore the most culpable person. you make a point as almost the very last thing you say in the book, which i wanted to ask you about, because i think it may relate to this. the president is named as individual 1. you went to priso

and so president trump got nothing. all he did was hurt the american people who are depending on aid. what he also does is put republicans in a tough spot right now because as you mentioned, the house voting tonight on this $2,000 aid, increasing the payments from $600 to $2,000. president trump had said that this $600 was not adequate. he called it ridiculously low. nancy pelosi said great, let's have that vote. let's bring it to congress. and let's see how congress weighs in on this. now, house democrats -- >> let me bring your point to the house floor, in fact, i think we have live pictures we were just monitoring this moments ago. if we look at the house floor, we have them going forward, and you can see the vote totals here, libby. your view on what it means for folks catching up here between the holidays, what is speaker pelosi doing here, what does this vote do as we track it? >> so, the house has passed it. so they had to get a two third majority here. they have eked that through. so that is now through the hous

but president trump has delivered. when president trump ran for office, he promised to open a new chapter for working families. of failedt years policies that concentrated wealth and optimism among the lucky few, prosperity was going to flow to all kinds of workers in all kinds of communities, he said. that is exactly what happened. before this pandemic spread from china and world, we had to slam on the brakes, the american people had the best job market in living memory. with help from the policies of president trump and republicans in congress, american workers dynamited the stagnation experts said was the new normal. unemployment hit a 50 year low, capital markets hit record highs , and this time, all kinds of americans got to share in the gains. we saw earnings go faster for workers than managers, faster for the bottom 25 than the top 25. partsuccess was fueled in by the policy leadership of president trump. this administration pursued bold regulatory changes. once in a generation tax reform had eluded prior leader

trump leaves washington in limbo. no one in the white house or on capitol hill appears to know what trump's plan is or even if there is one. the quote there, "complete cluster --," is from a house republican staffer, a congressional staffer on the republican side. ah, the holiday season. ah, leadership. the president did, in fact, leave washington tonight. and if you listen to people who know these things, there's a not unreasonable chance he's never coming back. nobody's making any promises that president trump will ever return from mar-a-lago after the holidays. absolutely no one is expecting him to be there for the inauguration of his successor on january 20th, so it's possible that this was the last time we will see him in washington. could be. it's not quite nixon getting into the helicopter with the big two-handed "v" for vamoose and the terrible, awkward smile that didn't reach his eyes, but this maybe is as close as we're going to get. we shall see. not knowing where the president of the united states is going

barr shielded trump. he's put out a misleading summery of one of the most important consequential pieces, the famed mueller report. he was with trump at that infamous photo op when protesters who were peaceful were being tear gassed, something our military privately objected to and barr is under fire. rudy giuliani looking at a pardon saying there isn't semblance of a doj investigation and barr's opinion isn't without knowledge. trump ally and fox news host dobbs questioning barr's mental state. >> for the attorney general of the united states to make that statement, he's either a liar or a fool or both. he may be perhaps compromised. he may be simply unprincipaled or he may be personally distraught or ill. >> again, that was all in response to barr repeating a truth that has been established everywhere including by trump's lawyers under oath in court there is no systemic voter fraud and there is roger stone famously personally helped to a great degree by the documented medaling by bill barr in what barr

>> trump, trump, trump! >> laura: if you can believe it, after his second marathon rally of the day, president made his way to rochester, minnesota. the story at that evented was the disgusting and the transparent effort by the democratic leaders in the state to limit trump's fans from coming out to see him. they cappedded the event at 250 -- capped the event at 250. this is outdoors at an airport. okay? the governor tim walls and attorney general did their best to blunt the president's momentum. guess what? it didn't work. >> these are the people who are not allowed by the governor wall to actually enter the rally. look at how long it goes. [applause] the president came out to see them. >> 25,000 people. dis enfranchised. get out and vote, okay? [applause] >> thank you very much. [applause] >> four more years. four more years. four more years. >> laura: i have been in politics for 30 years. i have never seen anything like. this never. not for obama. not clinton. not bush. not even president reagan. just nev

where is donald trump? at the end of 2020, nation is facing multiple catastrophic crises and donald trump is awol. where is donald trump? more than 13,000 americans have died from the coronavirus, including 11,000 people in the last week alone. where is donald trump? today mike pence got a covid vaccine on live television. it could have been a true educational moment for those who fear the vaccine. but it wasn't. because the president didn't show. where is donald trump? millions of unemployed americans are on the brink of economic ruin, and there's still no guarantee of a deal on a relief package. where is donald trump? this is far worse than his usual laziness. his absence is unacceptable and unforgivable. he's missing in action when our nation is suffering. in the more than 50 tweets trump sent this week, he said nothing about the hack or the relief package or the surge in covid deaths. so where is donald trump? he's focused on the one thing he cares about, the one thing he's obsessed with more than anyth

trump was a corrosive. what humanity corroded was social trust, the most important element in any successful society. elaborate on that. bret: i think this is an important point. in many of my conversations with some of my old conservative friends who are more indulgent of the president and of his record, they will say, look, you know, you anti-trumpeters said we would have thermonuclear war, said we would walk out of nato, that vladimir putin would basically run the country, that we would never have another election in this country, and in of that happened. that means you are hysterical. that was the argument. the point that i made in this column is not one i was making for the first time. in the beginning, my real fear word trump was that corrosion, which is that he was downng down the -- sanding the invisible aspects of the structure of american politics to the point that you would never quite know when they were to theft. important thing for any successful society or political enterprise is this thing w

trump also protects mr. pence, the most foundational precept of tour government would be gravely undermined. in america, we, the people, not we, the vice president, control our destiny. the surrender, again, of a political party to its leader who just lost re-election is where we start this hour with some of our favorite reporters and friends. the aforementioned neil, nbc legal analyst, law professor at georgetown university, and former acting u.s. solicitor general is back. also joining us, elizabeth newman, former assistant secretary for threat prevention and security policy for the department of homeland security, now an advisor to the group defending democracy together is here. and mark, "new york times" chief national correspondent and msnbc contributor is also back. mark, take me through how this landed today. because my understanding is that where we were before today is you had congressman gohmert, who was suing and had agreed to carry this out in the house, but one of the defining features of mitch

trump. professor lawrence tribe is going to join us to ask and answer the question, is it possible for a president's use of the pardon power to absolve crimes, to actually become a crime in and of itself? constitutional law professor lawrence tribe will analyze for us the possibility of donald trump committing a crime while granting a pardon. that's later in the hour. >>> we've now completed four full days of absolute silence from the president of the united states about a devastating bombing in downtown nashville, tennessee, on christmas morning. and today the president in waiting said this. >> before i begin, i want to say a few words, a few brief words about the explosion that took place friday in nashville, tennessee. federal, state and local law enforcement working around the clock to gain more information on motive and intent, this bombing was a reminder of the destructive power of an individual or a small group can muster in the need for continuing vigilance across the board. i want t

for his three elder children, donald trump jr., eric trump and ivanka trump. the trump kids, along with tiffany trump spent thanksgiving at camp david, the rustic maryland presidential retreat not often used during this administration. a far cry from opulent family thanksgivings at mar-a-lago or the white house where president trump dined with melania trump. the use of taxpayer dollars for a thanksgiving just for the kids with secret service protection and camp david staff called into work the visit smacks of the privileges they have enjoyed and will shortly lose. each trump child now faces a different future path than the one they were on pre-white house. donald trump jr. before in the shadows of trump's public appearances. now a republican fire brand. >> i'm outraged about them exporting your and my american dream to countries that hate our guts for the sake of pc nonsense. >> reporter: one source telling cnn junior is quote the future of the base. sources tell cnn trump jr. will also return to his day job at the trump organization to try to expand global pr

, trump, trump. for her it's her family, her mother, her father and bayern, i very tight group and very few other penetrate and really know the real inner person. i think the relationship clearly has hit rocks at different times, and a pedantic they been together for 22 years. i have a lot in the book about this, but she was furious about the revelations about his infidelity, embarrassed to no end as she was reading about stormy daniels and karen mcdougal and "access hollywood." but she has an extraordinary capacity to kind of figured okay, what is my next best move? somebody who's known her for a long time with saying she always thinks that way. she does anything in hurry and did she get more from walking away from trouble staying with him? that's how she thinks. >> host: do you think those disclosures, there were certainly embarrassing 50 think they were surprising to her? >> several key people told me that she learned new details from all those press reports. she did not know the details -- i find

trump. she admires his connection to people and that is because it's hard for her to do public speaking in russia is not. >> * after the milania trump like many europeans is fluent in multiple languages and say that's possibly not correct. >> there is no evidence of that but that was a key part of her resume because he wanted documents because of even asked the white house there are a couple of tapes online machines in italy and another in france where she speaks for a very short time with little kids like toddlers and says things like bambino and hello. i said i cannot find anything online can you send it? and she does have a lot of foreign troops and opportunities and she traveled as first lady she met another figures in the french president and his wife. and then to have private conversations with her in a lease and nobody says that she did those interviews can i say that but it is very very noticeable there is no evidence of that. maybe for iphones made it easy to have video, you can fin

is it trump's america? so much focus of our culture and politics on trump that it is his time, and that is why we titled the book "trump's america." host: i want to go back to the nine areas you covered in researching for the book, you mentioned howard county in our. they're places like ridge county, california, yuri county, pennsylvania. how often did you encounter minorities, in particular, african-americans who were trump supporters? guest: quite often. i try to seek out people who are different. i would look for immigrants or people of color and i did find quite a few minorities and immigrants as well who supported trump. we saw in the election results this year, a lot of people were surprised how will trump did relative to previous public and candidates among latinos and asian americans, among black men. do -- a lott had to of reporters and people on the coast are a bit more sensitive to some of the rhetoric that trump -- some of the things he says that can be taken as racist. a lot of people in the co

trump's presidency. it will be an extraordinary responsibility for a man who has no prosecutorial experience and who has participated in several decisions in which the department took steps that favored the president's friends or punished his perceived enemies. i would add to that steps that benefitted the president directly against serious allegations of criminal behavior. but the litany of things rosen's been involved in is amazing. among other things it was jeffrey rosen who tried to force an indictment of andrew mccabe, who was the acting fbi director who took over the fbi after trump fired comey. mccabe had overseen the important parts of the russia investigation. president trump demanded that mccabe be prosecuted and locked up. it was jeffrey rosen who tried to insist mccabe must be indicted, he must be prosecuted against the views of career prosecutors. it was also jeffrey rosen who was put in charge of reviewing the work of career prosecutors who took on the case of roger stone. the result of ros

i love my donald trump. for our last president, obama, even though i did not like the man or what he stood for. i didn't do anything to hurt or say anything nasty about him. even though i didn't like him. host: elizabeth from connecticut, democratic collar. caller: good morning, thanks for taking my call. i listened it to the other collars and i try to learn about other people's points of view. it hurts me when i hear them say nasty things about the democrats. altogether we represent this country, and the things they are claiming about democrats are the same things we feel about republicans. himselfrump has proven to be corrupt, selfish, narcissistic, and if you want to talk about pork one about all the money he directs to his personal business is? what about all the money he spends on golfing? what about the money we don't know about? divisiveness,t this country is so divided and to hear them say these nasty comments about democrats is really hurtful. i take it personally, and i don't know how this country

is it trump's america? so much focus of our culture and politics on trump that it is his time, and that is why we titled the book "trump's america." host: i want to go back to the nine areas you covered in researching for the book, you mentioned howard county in our. they're places like ridge county, california, yuri county, pennsylvania. how often did you encounter minorities, in particular, african-americans who were trump supporters? guest: quite often. i try to seek out people who are different. i would look for immigrants or people of color and i did find quite a few minorities and immigrants as well who supported trump. we saw in the election results this year, a lot of people were surprised how will trump did relative to previous public and candidates among latinos and asian americans, among black men. do -- a lott had to of reporters and people on the coast are a bit more sensitive to some of the rhetoric that trump -- some of the things he says that can be taken as racist. a lot of people in the co

joe biden can't be president it was a long awaited speech by donald trump supporters donald trump himself said it was the most important speech ever in a 46 minute address donald trump repeated his longstanding allegations of fraud and argued that essentially the u.s. presidential election was not valid that there were millions of illegal votes cast he called for the u.s. supreme court to step in and overturn the election results in several key states it is a travesty that in the year 2020 we do not have any means of verifying the eligibility of those who cast ballots and an election and such an important election it is or determining who they are whether they live in the state or whether they are even american citizens. we have no idea donald trump repeated the allegation that there were irregularities and anomalies when it came to dominion voting systems this is a voting machine company he also raised the allegation that people who died were registered to vote and people voted in their places furthermore he accused democrat run cities of having widespread corruption and said the democra

president trump owns party. there is no real republican establishment there is different that is going to somehow have the political capital to speak to the grassroots and urge them into a different direction. so there is no real talk in the republican party right now before having some sort of autopsy. you'll hear voices in the coming months like larry hogan of maryland that will say let's move to the center but they're not dominant voices. >> if recent history is any guide, robert costa will be breaking most of the stories on this front as today joe biden makes it official going over that 270 electoral vote threshold with the votes, the 55 votes in the state of california. bob costa, thank you for spending time with us today on this historic day. joining our conversation now, john meachham, author of the soul of america and we should point out today that john unofficially advises president-elect biden. he is expected to address the nation tonight at 7:30 p.m. and to remark on the values and the sort of attract

trump has not forgotten that. it is not over yet, but it is over. >> of course, another story breaking coincidentally at the same time, the departure from trump's inner circle, yet another one, while trump's own departure is imminent. >> it is interesting timing. this is a circumstantial trump analysis that has to go on. when california put biden over the 270 threshold with their 55 votes, we get tweets from trump saying my lovely attorney general is leaving now and he tweets that the resignation letter from barr, which is full of praise for donald trump, they had a close relationship but perhaps this had to do more with trump than barr. he is a great believer in the power of the executive, but that suited trump well especially during congressional investigations. barr said they had no legal authority and trump loved that. he didn't like that after the election, barr didn't get behind the allegations of fraud. barr saying there was no evidence of fraud as far as the doj was concerned. in the last few days, it was

if it is donald trump's party, if it's the trump gop, does that mean the 2024 candidate will be a trump, if not donald himself, then don junior or ivanka? >> that's a difficult question to answer. obviously if the presidential candidate is trump, the president is 100% -- the republican p republican party is going to have to fall behind him because there is no one else who can establish themselves behind him. if he does run, it is going to be difficult for anyone to take on the party of trump without trump himself, saying i give my blessing. who knows if that's going to happen. but you can see all these other republicans who have stepped in and in their own senate races and house races and say i am super-duper pro trump. i support all these trumpian policies. i'm even going to emulate trump. if trump decides he doesn't like them at one moment, trump's base immediately turns against them. you saw it with kelly leffler. you saw it with the senate race now, where the two candidates are trying so hard to do the right trumpian things, and maga supporters who think they were the beneficiaries

lara trump joins me. there seems to be a little tension between the president and governor kemp which i find curious given the fact that governor kemp was nowhere, he was in a primary that called for a runoff. after the president came in he moved up 45 or 50 points. and the president continued to support him even when barack obama, oprah winfrey and michelle obama came in and supported him. but he won't do what he has the power to do while there is an emergency in the form of a pandemic in the state of georgia. >> governor kemp owes his position as governor to donald trump. it would be nice if he reciprocated in some way not just to make sure this goes the way we know it should for the president. but for the american people. he owes it to all of us to do the right thing to make sure we are calling out this fraud and this election is a legitimate election. we have seen so many outrageous voter fraud, especially in the state of georgia. i can see why the president is anoid with the way he sees things go the

potentially donald trump can use save america to pay himself a salary and rent out the trump hotel and put tiffany or advantage ka ivanka on the payroll. >> reporter: a donor has to contribute $5,000 to "save america" before a single penny is going to trump's account. >> trump is raising millions of dollars for his leadership pact, "save america." it can be used as a slush fund to benefit himself personally and benefit his family financially. the campaign did not respond to our request for comment. last month the campaign spokesperson told cnn trump wants to create a leadership pack to combat voter fraud, what's still unclear if they found any. randy kay, cnn, palm beach florida. >> with trump's vodka, you get a bottle of some liquid. joining us now is timothy o'brien. are you at all surprised given the tactics he's deploying? it seems like it is straight from his play book? >> donald trump has been a human billboard his entire career. he sold the idea that his name stands for a series of meyths about his business success or about his wealth that he had success which he didn't and he w

it's not donald trump. it frightens me that those people hate democracy so much, those people have been so swayed by a fascist leader that they now are actively calling for the overturning of millions and millions of votes -- >> and will risk getting sick. >> at the risk of getting sick, yeah. >> and what is is a coup. >> the head of state has been able to lure them into this. they feel protected because he's the head of state, but the fact is what is motivating this anti-institutional societal kind of structure that they're now totally swept up in to wiping away. i think you're absolutely right and the point is that they have gotten to such a level to where they will rip the face mask off their face and risk their own health. i mean, what gets you out there? you are the ones fighting the people that did that in the '60s. you have become the opposite side of that, to what end? i really think that you're right. the disturbing part is who is in the crowd that is going for that even when you have a senate cand

lies that predate the trump era, but that increased in number and in consequence while trump was in office. these are the companies that promoted racist birther conspiracies about president obama, the nonexistent death panels tucked into the affordable care act. they made hillary clinton so heinous that you would want to imprison her on the spot. they jumped on trump's bandwagon early and often about the coronavirus. those lies actually killed people and they're still telling the same lies. there's no remorse. but there might finally be some consequences. if you have not tuned in to these networks for a while, and why would you, you might have missed an interesting development. fox and fox business actually aired real fact checks in prim time. last week fox business ran a pre-taped segment during lou dobbs show that appeared to debunk lies that he himself told about voting machines in the general election. >> have you seen any evidence that smartatic software was used to flip votes in the u.s. in this election? >> i have not seen any evidence that smartatic software was used to delete, cha

because donald trump said so. this is the definition of an autocracy and once you understand that the gop itself has become an autocracy, it becomes easy to understand a lot of what is going on. an autocratic gop all in on donald trump's attempt to wreck our democracy is where we start this hour with our most favorite friends. former rnc chairman michael steele is here, also joining us former democratic congresswoman donna edwards. michael steele, i know we're ten train stops past the prize, but where is the condemnation from anyone who wants to continue to say that they govern in a democracy. >> well, they're not governing in this democracy. they haven't been governing for a while now. they've ceded that. you're talking about a party that has no ideology morings that couldn't sit in a room to come up with a platform to decide and define for the country who we would be and what we would say to the country in this most previous election cycle. so, the realities are one of, you know, as the secretary of state said,

trump. >> michelle? >> you know, i'd like to think that some of these republicans are going along with tlurump's attempt to -- even a failed and coup attempt, that's what donald trump is trying to do, illegally stay in power. he's asking members of state g legislatur legislatures, some are ready to go along, not all, thank god to overturn the will of the state's electors and i would like to think more republicans aren't speaking out because they are afraid but it's entirely possible there are plenty of republicans that lost faith in democracy and not interested in a democracy that is a true democracy would consign republicans to a permanent minority party. democrats at this point have won seven out of the last eight elections in the popular vote. the republicans are a minority party and they can only enforce, they can only be in power through increasing minority rule, through disenfranchising the majority of the country. if you -- if they had to face the majority of the country, they would be afraid to g

trump-centered show here tonight. in terms of the run-out election coming up, most folks i talked to say they plan to vote, but they also acknowledge that they think their system is flawed. they think their system is rigged. i talked to one young woman who told me she totally understands the argument republicans shouldn't vote because it's so fraudulent and the system is rigged. but she also feels she wants her voice to be heard in any way, shape and form. there is some talk republicans going become to paper ballots. that's something really important to them. but overall again, that mixed messaging coming from voters as well. >> deepa, i would be remiss if i did not comment on the soundtrack behind you, which i believe is "memories" from the andrew lloyd weber rock musical "cats" which really sets the phone, renato. what is the legality of what president trump is even asking governor kemp to do here? >> it's impossible, as she just mentioned. absolutely impossible for them to do, because they separate the envelopes fr

for use of the trump hotel in d.c. now the attorney general in the district of columbia has the ability to investigate whether a nonprofit uses its funds for the intents of its purpose. there are people like melania's friend who kept logs of emails and recorded conversations and kept paper trails. there are papers about how specifically ivanka trump was involved in the pricing of the trump hotel and what the lawsuit says for a similar nonprofit that booked the ballroom in the trump hotel they charged the inaugural committee 30 times more than the other ballroom. >> donna, the idea that this family has done anything other than grift off of the inaugural committee or the american tax payer in the case of having government officials stay at trump hotels or moving events to their hotels, that's something that not even the republican party for as low as it's fallen should normalize. this is the exact opposite of what every single ethics lesson, ethics official and ethics law holds for anyone. how do we level set this? untan

trumps judges, some of them appointed by trump -- trump's judges, some of them appointed by trump, throwing out the lawsuits. people are calling and giving their opinions. just because you give your opinion does not make it a fact. i would like us to get back to truth. several yearsaid ago truth is not truth. you have one person quoting giuliani, that massachusetts caller, and so-called facts that there's fraud? come on. this is ridiculous. there was no fraud. they have not proven it in the court of law. they can have all the hearings they want in hotels, hotel rooms, and they get in front of the judge -- when they get in front of the judge, their tune changes. thank you. host: thank you for calling. he is the atlanta journal-constitution homepage. trump tells gop to vote in rigged election. we have a call from peg in michigan now. you are on our yes line. tell us why. caller: i am on your -- yes i am. i am from michigan. my brother is the sheriff of my county. i am very familiar with what went on in antrim county. and the reason i know it is true is because i talked to my brother and i kno

the second year of the trump presidency, i compared what we are seeing in the trump white house to the brilliant defictpin of an insane head of state, and flow, now the trump white house admits that that is what we have been living through. the "washington post" reports after his election defeat, wageful and at times delirious, and at times, trump was like mad king george, muttering, i won, i won, i won. there is not a single legal process any where in america monday that can change the outcome of an election in a sing the state. let alone the majority of the elect electoral challenge, and everything they are following around trump rrnd aing it's to help trick naive people to respond to the emails trump sends every day begging them for money that he claims will be used to fight the election, and can be used for other purposes. tugs jut another trump money fraund. the results of the election are locked in and the incoming administration continues to add key players to the publicly announced team. jennifer socky will be the white house press secretary. kate bettingfield will become the w

and donald trump. is this destined to be paralysed with division? chris, in new york, welcome to heart talk. —— acro one. donald trump has not yet conceded and is your newsmax network not prepared to acknowledgejoe biden did win the election, he is the president—elect? biden did win the election, he is the president-elect? yes. and it has been our consistent statement all along on election night when the president was in a very close contest in six states where it is 1% or less, two of the states were half percent in georgia was a quarter of a percent, we said that we should allow the president to contest these legally through recount some of the challenges and he has been doing that and we would accept the state certifications in each case to declare the winner because the race was so close and most of the media did this backin and most of the media did this back in the 2000 elections with al gore and theyjust decided they wanted to anointjoe biden and and we have been we have been sticking with

trump too. that's the trump era. that's steve stockman tonight, who is now enjoying his pardon. he was a trump supporter all the while, regardless of whatever else was going on with him and his criminal record. he's got his pardon tonight too. president trump has pardoned two people convicted in the russian investigation. george papadopoulos on the left. he pled guilty to lying to federal investigations about his communications with a person who told him that the russian government had dirt on hillary clinton that it might want to provide to the trump campaign. he lied to federal investigators about that. he pled guilty to lying to them about that. he served a short prison sentence for that guilty plea. george papadopoulos has just been pardoned by trump tonight. alex van der zwaan has been pardoned tonight. he's the son-in-law of a powerful russian oligarch. he pled guilty to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with a russian intelligence officer to whom the trump campaign secretl

trump is all in it for the chaos. but he won't be successful in overturning the results of this election, the american people have spoken. trump can at worst be a nasty spoiler that creates uncertainty and makes the smooth transfer of power but he's lost here. >> so i'm just curious looking forward, joyce, in the future is he damaging the democracy in a way that makes it harder for future president, future transitions of power to go back to respectful, peaceful transitions of power? >> that will depend upon us and upon the kind of politicians that we elect and look, we're a divided country. we are a country where the rule of law isn't appreciated the way it should be and where this tradition of the smooth transfer of power seems to not be held in high esteem so it will be critical our leaders, our politicians and really each of us in our homes and our spears of influence that we bring americans back around to understanding that this is what separates our country from other countries. we're used to seeing other countri

the critics derided him, but president trump has delivered. when president trump ran for office, he promised to help open a new chapter for working families. after eight years of failed policies that concentrated wealth and optimism among the lucky few, prosperity was going to flow to all kinds of workers in all kinds of communities he said, and that's exactly what happened. before this pandemic spread from china and the world had to slam on the brakes, the american people had the best job market in living memory. with help of the policies from president trump and republicans in congress, american workers dynamited the stagnation that experts had said was the new normal. unemployment hit a 50-year low, capital markets hit record highs. at this time all kinds of americans got to share in the gains. we saw earnings grow faster for workers than for managers, faster for the bottom 25 than for the top 25. this success was fueled in part by the policy leadership of president trump. this administration pursued bold regulatory changes. once in a gener