00:00Good evening from New York, I'm Chris Hayes.
00:02As No King's Weekend approaches
00:04and millions of people across the country
00:05prepare to gather and say no
00:07to Donald Trump's authoritarian power grab,
00:10his Department of Justice is forging ahead
00:12and going after yet another political critic.
00:15Longtime ultra-conservative hawk John Bolton,
00:18who was Trump's own former National Security Advisor
00:21turned critic, was indicted by a federal grand jury today
00:24on 18 counts related to mishandling
00:27of national security information.
00:28Bolton, of course, the latest target
00:30on Trump's de facto political enemies list
00:33to be indicted by his hand-picked U.S. attorneys
00:36in under a month.
00:37Although I have to say the facts of this case
00:39look different in some crucial respects
00:40than the other ones.
00:42This case against Bolton appears to,
00:44at least at first glance, have some merit.
00:46It wasn't spun entirely out of nothing,
00:49unlike the charges Trump demanded
00:50against James Comey
00:52and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
00:55This case against Bolton also has
00:56incredible background,
00:58that reveals the full extent of Trump's weaponization
01:02of federal prosecutions.
01:03And we've got some exclusive reporting
01:04on that background from Carol Lennig,
01:07who we're going to talk to in just a moment.
01:09But let's remember the context here.
01:11This is the third indictment of a person
01:12Trump considers an enemy in just a few weeks.
01:14The Trump administration seems intent
01:16on pushing as much as they can get away with
01:19in as many places as possible,
01:21as much as they can,
01:23unless and until they meet resistance.
01:25And honestly, the question before us
01:27day in, day out about what kind of country
01:30we will be, what our fate is,
01:31is how much resistance they will meet.
01:33That's it.
01:35The answer to that is becoming more apparent
01:36by the day.
01:37A lot.
01:38A lot more now than just a few months ago.
01:41A lot more than in January.
01:43In just the past few days,
01:44what we've seen,
01:46and we've been trying to keep up with,
01:47a growing number of people
01:49and groups and institutions
01:51who are standing up to Donald Trump
01:52and simply saying no.
01:55It seems like the harder that MAGA
01:57leans into the authoritarianism,
01:59the more people are finding the voice
02:01to push back.
02:03Earlier this month,
02:04Trump offered nine top universities
02:06a deal to keep their federal funding
02:08in exchange for making their campuses
02:10essentially more MAGA.
02:12They would become kind of adjuncts of the state.
02:14So far, three top universities,
02:17MIT, Brown, and Penn,
02:19have told Trump no.
02:21We will not allow our campuses
02:23and our faculties to be held hostage.
02:26They all saw how he picked apart Columbia
02:28after Columbia's trustees cut a deal.
02:31Trump governed like a mafioso
02:33running a protection racket.
02:35You're intimidated into making
02:37a corrupt bargain with him
02:38and you find that the deal
02:39keeps getting worse all the time, right?
02:41There's no backing out once you say yes.
02:44People seem to be realizing
02:45the only way to resist
02:47is to say no en masse.
02:49And again, that is happening
02:50more and more every day,
02:52every look.
02:52In fact, right now,
02:53here's a great story about this.
02:55It's happening in a kind of unlikely place.
02:58It's happening in airports
02:59around the country.
03:02So these airports were told by the TSA
03:04they were ordered to air
03:06this political propaganda message
03:08by the administration.
03:10Secretary of Homeland Security,
03:11Kristi Noem,
03:12blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.
03:14Hi, I'm Kristi Noem,
03:17the United States Secretary of Homeland Security.
03:19It is TSA's top priority
03:21to make sure that you have
03:22the most pleasant and efficient
03:24airport experience as possible
03:25while we keep you safe.
03:27However, Democrats in Congress
03:29refuse to fund the federal government.
03:31And because of this,
03:32many of our operations are impacted.
03:34The chances are that
03:36if you're flying anywhere this week,
03:37you're not seeing that ad.
03:39Administrators at the airport
03:40in Portland, Oregon,
03:41when Noem's agents are tussling
03:43with protesters in frog costumes,
03:45pointed out that her ad
03:45is just an open violation
03:47of the Hatch Act,
03:47which is supposed to prevent
03:49open politicking
03:50by sitting administration officials.
03:52It's still the law of the land.
03:53Not even airports in South Dakota,
03:56where Noem was governor
03:57until January running the ad.
03:59At the state's biggest airport,
04:00Sioux Falls Regional,
04:01and administrator said
04:02the video is not airing
04:04because the airport
04:04does not have monitors
04:06appropriate for the purpose.
04:07He said existing monitors
04:08are devoted
04:09to flight-related information.
04:11Our producers have identified
04:13at least 40 airports
04:14around the country
04:15that are just saying no.
04:16They're refusing to air Noem,
04:17including all the New York area airports,
04:19major hubs in Atlanta,
04:20Chicago, L.A., and Las Vegas.
04:23And we told you earlier this week
04:24about resistance
04:25to the Trump administration
04:26coming from the reporters
04:27who cover the Pentagon
04:29day in, day out.
04:29These are not ideological folks.
04:31A lot of these work
04:32at mainstream news outlets.
04:34They don't have any sort
04:35of bias here, right?
04:37They're just trying
04:38to do their jobs.
04:38And this was them yesterday.
04:40This is the scene.
04:41It's virtually everyone
04:42in the Pentagon press corps, right?
04:44Across the court
04:44of sort of spectrum
04:45turned in their access badges,
04:47emptied out their workspaces,
04:49and vacated the building.
04:51Rather than agree
04:51to the administration's
04:52new restrictions,
04:54they were essentially told
04:55to act as stenographers
04:56they wanted to keep
04:57their access, right?
04:58Basically,
04:59authorized reporting only.
05:01And everyone refused,
05:03except for the far-right
05:04One America News Network.
05:05But just them.
05:06I mean, Newsmax said no.
05:08There was refusal
05:08from Fox News,
05:10Secretary of Defense
05:10Pete Hegsess,
05:11former employer.
05:14It's also happening
05:15in federal grand juries
05:16where regular citizens
05:17are refusing to indict
05:19their peers with charges
05:20trumped up
05:21by this administration.
05:22Like a young woman in D.C.
05:24who was accused
05:25of assaulting an FBI agent
05:26during a protest
05:28against immigration officials.
05:29Now, the office,
05:30Trump's hand-pecked
05:31U.S. attorney,
05:32Janine Pirro,
05:32tried three times
05:33to indict her on a felony
05:35with, like,
05:36serious jail time attached, right?
05:37They failed every time.
05:38So then they got her
05:39indicted on a misdemeanor.
05:40And late this evening,
05:41listen to this,
05:42after a brief trial
05:43and less than two hours
05:44of deliberation,
05:45jurors returned
05:46a not guilty verdict.
05:49These jurors
05:50and reporters
05:51and airport administrators
05:53and university presidents,
05:55right,
05:55join a Democratic Congress
05:57that seems to have found
05:57its backbone now
05:59nine months into this,
06:00saying no to a president
06:01killing health care subsidies,
06:03illegally impounding funds,
06:05creating new funds
06:06out of thin air
06:07that he's not legally
06:08allowed to access.
06:09And they join
06:10a growing number of judges
06:12saying in no uncertain terms,
06:14and again,
06:15across the ideological spectrum,
06:16appointed by presidents
06:17Democrat and Republican,
06:19no.
06:20No,
06:20you can't put American troops
06:22on city streets.
06:23You can't have armed agents
06:24wearing masks
06:25and refusing to identify yourselves
06:26and violating people's
06:28Fourth Amendment rights,
06:30just pulling them over,
06:31grabbing them,
06:32detaining them.
06:32They join thousands
06:33of Americans
06:34who are monitoring ICE
06:35in their neighborhoods,
06:37documenting raids,
06:38in many cases,
06:39preventing illegal arrests
06:40through just nonviolent witness.
06:44All of this is different
06:45than those first few months
06:47of the administration, right?
06:48I mean,
06:48then it was like this snowball
06:51just rolling down a mountain.
06:53It's like so fast.
06:55And you saw law firms
06:56saying yes
06:57and universities saying yes
06:59and everyone kind of
07:00not sure what to do.
07:01But everywhere you look now,
07:02the no's are piling up.
07:03They are.
07:05And all of those no's
07:07are coming
07:07as we approach a weekend
07:08where millions of people,
07:10millions,
07:11will take the streets
07:12in thousands of communities
07:13across the country
07:14as part of the No Kings March.
07:17Ezra Levin is the co-founder
07:18and co-executive director
07:19of Indivisible,
07:20one of the key organizers
07:21of the No Kings protest.
07:23George Conway is a conservative
07:24attorney,
07:24president of the Society
07:25for the Rule of Law,
07:26and they both join me now.
07:29Ezra,
07:29so many people
07:30have energy
07:32they want to put
07:33somewhere right now.
07:34And I think so many people
07:35also had that same feeling
07:37early on
07:38of watching
07:39institutions they trusted
07:41or people they trusted
07:43not saying no,
07:45saying like,
07:46well, yes for now
07:47or maybe or
07:47do you also feel
07:50that there is an uptick
07:52in this energy
07:54to resist,
07:55to say no,
07:56and that no is a complete sentence
07:58and people are understanding that?
08:01Chris,
08:02it's been incredible
08:02to watch this change.
08:04Eleven months ago,
08:05the conventional wisdom
08:05was that Trump
08:06was all powerful.
08:08He was rolling in
08:08with a trifecta.
08:09There was no point
08:10in organizing to stop him.
08:12That's what we heard
08:12from institution
08:13after institution,
08:14universities,
08:15law firms,
08:16media institutions.
08:16You said it.
08:17And look at where we are now.
08:19On Saturday,
08:20there will be
08:21the largest peaceful protest
08:23in modern American history.
08:25Yeah,
08:25we'll be in Chicago,
08:26we'll be in New York,
08:27we'll be in D.C.,
08:28we'll be in L.A.,
08:29but Gus,
08:29we'll be in East Glacier Park
08:32in Montana.
08:33We'll be in Homer, Alaska,
08:35the little town
08:36that I grew up
08:37in rural Texas.
08:37There are three
08:38in that county.
08:39This is in red states,
08:40blue states,
08:41purple states,
08:42rural areas,
08:43suburban areas,
08:44urban areas,
08:45and it's led by
08:46normal,
08:46everyday people.
08:47I think what we're
08:48seeing right now,
08:49it's something
08:50we've heard a lot,
08:51but what we're seeing
08:52in real time,
08:53in front of our own eyes,
08:54is this basic idea,
08:56courage is contagious,
08:58and it's spreading
08:59all over the country
09:00right now.
09:01George,
09:01I want to,
09:02the case of this woman,
09:03Sidney Reed,
09:04is so remarkable to me,
09:05and as a lawyer
09:06who's practiced
09:06in federal court,
09:08you'll appreciate it.
09:09I mean,
09:10you know,
09:10prosecutors can go
09:11their whole career
09:12and never get a no bill
09:13from a grand jury.
09:14I mean,
09:14it basically is,
09:16it essentially is
09:17a rubber stamp.
09:18It's a little bit
09:18of check,
09:19a little bit of process,
09:20but it's a very easy
09:21bar to clear.
09:22You got three no bills
09:23from one grand jury.
09:24Then they go down
09:25to the misdemeanor,
09:26and they're like,
09:27we're going to try you
09:27for misdemeanor.
09:28She gets acquitted.
09:29Here's the statement
09:30from Sidney Reed today.
09:31I feel sorry
09:33for the prosecutors,
09:34really,
09:34who must be burdened
09:35by Trump's irrational
09:36and unfounded hatred
09:37for his fellow man.
09:39Knowing that I can stand
09:40in front of 12
09:41of my fellow citizens
09:42and be found not guilty
09:43for standing up
09:44for basic human rights
09:45makes me feel like
09:46despite the scary times
09:47we live in,
09:48we have hope
09:49for the future.
09:50And this,
09:50to me,
09:51is just such a remarkable
09:52example of the system
09:54holding in so many
09:55places it hasn't,
09:56but we've got due process
09:58for a reason,
09:58and here's what it looks like.
10:01I totally agree with you,
10:05and all I want to do
10:06is just applaud
10:06what you just read.
10:09I think it's absolutely right
10:10that courage is contagious.
10:12I think that what happens
10:13is everybody looks
10:14for somebody else
10:15to stand up
10:16and to defy
10:17the authoritarianism,
10:20but once you get
10:21enough people doing it,
10:24it becomes safe to do it.
10:26You become excited
10:27about doing it,
10:28and I think that's
10:28what's going to happen
10:29this weekend
10:29with the No Kings rally.
10:30Do you feel, Ezra,
10:32they've been hammering
10:34this message
10:35about the, you know,
10:36this is a hate America rally,
10:38and they've actually
10:38been giving it
10:39a lot of publicity,
10:40which I think is sort of
10:40a somewhat strange
10:41tactical choice.
10:43I want to show
10:45what Scott Besant
10:46said about it.
10:47Take a listen
10:47to his remarks.
10:50I believe
10:51that the Democrats
10:52will come to their senses soon.
10:54Maybe it's after
10:54this No Kings thing,
10:56but no Kings
10:57equal no paychecks.
10:58If, in fact,
10:59they are waiting
11:00for this No Kings
11:01protest,
11:02you know,
11:02No Kings
11:03means no paychecks.
11:04No paychecks
11:05and no government.
11:07I'm not quite sure
11:08the point.
11:09What do you make
11:10of their tactical decision
11:11to highlight
11:13these protests
11:13as much as they have?
11:17Chris,
11:17I want to be
11:18100% clear
11:19for everybody
11:20watching this.
11:20We did not pay
11:22one single dime
11:23to these Republicans
11:24to give us
11:24all this publicity.
11:25I am thankful,
11:27somewhat confused,
11:28but they are choosing
11:30to highlight it
11:31and what we are seeing
11:32is just skyrocketing
11:34RSVPs
11:35and event registrations.
11:37So, you know,
11:37my first reaction
11:38is I laughed.
11:39Do you know
11:40how we closed out
11:41the Philly No Kings rally
11:42in June?
11:43Leah, my spouse,
11:44and I,
11:44we closed it out.
11:45100,000 people
11:46waving American flags
11:47and reciting
11:48the Pledge of Allegiance.
11:50That's what these rallies
11:51look like.
11:52They are joyful.
11:53They are boisterous.
11:53They are patriotic.
11:54and anybody
11:55with any passing knowledge
11:56knows that.
11:57And the Republicans
11:58feel trapped.
11:59They're losing
12:00this shutdown fight.
12:01They are losing
12:02popular support.
12:04People are reacting
12:04negatively
12:05all across the country.
12:06And so they're looking
12:07for what to do.
12:08You'd almost feel
12:09sorry for them
12:10if they weren't
12:10systematically trying
12:11to undermine
12:11the American Republic.
12:24of the country.
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