- 4 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00And thanks, Ruth Holm, for joining us this hour. Happy to have you here. Before we start, I want to
00:03let you know something that we've got sort of eyes on behind the scenes.
00:07We've got something essentially happening in our control room right now that we are keeping eyes on that we're going
00:12to turn around to you as soon as we get it.
00:14At Dover Air Base in Delaware, the dignified transfer is taking place right now for U.S. Army Sergeant Benjamin
00:22Pennington.
00:23He is the seventh U.S. service member to die in combat in President Trump's ongoing war with Iran.
00:31Sergeant Pennington is from Glendale, Kentucky. He was just 26 years old. Sergeant Pennington died yesterday.
00:38U.S. Central Command said the death was caused by injuries after an attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base
00:44in Saudi Arabia on March 1st.
00:46So, again, the attack was March 1st. He succumbed to his injuries yesterday.
00:51Vice President J.D. Vance has been at Dover Air Base to observe tonight's dignified transfer and to meet with
00:57Sergeant Pennington's family.
00:59The way this works is that we do not have live images of that event, that solemn event, as it
01:06happens.
01:07We have a camera there to collect tape of it as it happens, and then that tape has to be
01:13fed to us after the ceremony there is completed.
01:19And so at this point, we are waiting for that tape to be turned around and fed back to us
01:24in our control room.
01:25And then as soon as we have it, we will turn it around and show it to you.
01:29We expect that to happen this hour.
01:33How has Iran been able to hit American military targets in the Middle East, in Saudi Arabia, and other places?
01:40I mean, some targets for them are obvious places that anybody would be able to pick off a map, places
01:46like air bases or even U.S. embassies or consulates.
01:50But for all the damage that has been done to Iran's offensive capabilities in this war thus far, Iran has
01:58somehow also been able to hit things like, reportedly, a CIA facility in Riyadh and a naval command and control
02:06facility in Bahrain
02:08and U.S. radar facilities that are not clearly marked on any map and not obvious locations for anybody.
02:16How has Iran been able to find targets like that so they could aim their missiles and their drones at
02:22American facilities like that with such specificity?
02:26Well, the Washington Post and the Associated Press and us here at MSNOW have all now reported that Iran has
02:34been getting help in targeting American personnel and military facilities,
02:39help from a sophisticated military ally in targeting U.S. personnel and U.S. military capabilities all over the Middle
02:46East.
02:47The Washington Post's report on this was first, and they explained it bluntly and clearly.
02:53Quote, Russia is providing Iran with targeting information to attack American forces in the Middle East.
03:00The assistance signals that the rapidly expanding conflict now features one of America's chief nuclear-armed competitors with exquisite intelligence
03:10capabilities.
03:11Quote, Iran possesses only a handful of military-grade satellites and no satellite constellation of its own,
03:18which would make imagery provided by Russia much more advanced space capabilities highly valuable to the Iranians.
03:30So again, this was first reported by the Washington Post, this reporting then corroborated by the Associated Press and by
03:35us here at MSNOW.
03:36The upshot is that Russia is helping Iran.
03:39Russia specifically is giving them targeting information, giving them very specific locations,
03:45using their own intelligence capabilities to give the Iranians very specific locations
03:51so they know where to attack American troops to try to kill them and where to attack American facilities in
03:59the Middle East.
04:00Russia is giving Iran that information.
04:02What should the United States do about that?
04:06Well, under the leadership of Donald Trump, the United States has decided that under these circumstances,
04:12what our response is going to be is that we're going to ease sanctions on Russia, ease sanctions on Russia.
04:21Trump has moved to give Russia relief from sanctions.
04:26Trump has moved specifically to let Russia sell more of its oil and gas, get around sanctions,
04:33restrictions that might have prevented them from doing that before.
04:38I mean, Russia is allies with Iran, right?
04:41Russia issued a statement of congratulations when Iran chose Khomeini's son to replace him as the country's supreme leader.
04:48Congratulations, Jr. Enjoy your Ayatollah ship.
04:52He's a close relation, a close connection to the radical and powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
05:02Putin sends his personal congratulations.
05:05But, you know, Russia, as much as they might not want to see their ally put in difficult straits,
05:12Russia financially is actually really enjoying this moment.
05:16Because what does Russia have to offer the world?
05:19What does Russia have to offer the world economy?
05:22I mean, if you don't count vodka and potash, Russia basically has two industries,
05:26two things to offer the world, oil and war.
05:28And they're using their war-making abilities, their intelligence and satellite capabilities,
05:34to help Iran kill Americans, to help Iran target and kill Americans in the Middle East.
05:42Also on the war-making front, Russia is obviously enjoying seeing the United States burn up lots and lots and
05:49lots of missiles
05:50and interceptor munitions in the Middle East.
05:52So we'll be less happy and less able to provide those same types of weapons to Ukraine to fight against
05:59Russia.
06:00So on the war-fighting side of things for Russia, this is great for them.
06:06This is a win-win.
06:07And, meanwhile, Russia's other industry, oil and gas, is as happy as it's been in a long time
06:12because of the huge spike in oil and gas prices all over the world,
06:15as Russia's oil and gas competitors in the Persian Gulf all basically get knocked offline.
06:21Right? If Russia can just sell their oil and gas, if they can be allowed to get their oil and
06:26gas to market,
06:27well, Russia's going to be rich again, which they desperately need,
06:32given how they've spent themselves into oblivion in their endless, pointless Ukraine war.
06:37And so we now simultaneously have the U.S. intelligence reports that Russia is helping Iran target American personnel
06:44and military facilities to kill Americans in the Middle East and the news that Trump is cutting sanctions on Russia
06:51to ensure they can sell practically all the oil and gas they want and refill their financial coffers as a
06:58country.
07:02And so what exactly happened today when Trump reportedly called a CBS news reporter and said,
07:10um, the war's pretty much over?
07:13And then Trump called a bizarre and incoherent press conference at one of his golf resorts where he said,
07:18no, no, no, it's, it's, it's not pretty much over. Where, where did you hear that? Who told you that
07:23fake news?
07:24In the middle of that swirling dust devil of nonsense and reversal and double reversal and incoherence and non sequitur
07:30from the president of the United States, what happened in the middle of all that today?
07:35Well, according to the Kremlin, in the middle of all that, President Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin
07:41and talked to him for an hour. And we only learned about that phone call because the Kremlin told us
07:46about it. The White House didn't announce it. The Kremlin did. Did the White House even know Trump was
07:52doing that before the Kremlin told everybody it had happened? Did Trump just call Putin from his flip
07:58phone? Was it while he was playing golf? Was it even in the White House calendar that today was the
08:03day
08:03Trump was supposed to check in with his boss? Gulf War three continues. Gulf War one was because Iraq
08:14invaded Kuwait and we wanted to make them uninvade Kuwait. Gulf War two was because the George W. Bush
08:20administration wanted somewhere else to invade besides Afghanistan. So they made up a fantasy about
08:25Iraq having weapons of mass destruction when they didn't. Gulf War three is now and Donald Trump started
08:31it. But for Gulf War three, there is still no coherent explanation from the president or the
08:37White House as to what exactly this is all for. Not even an obviously pretextual false reason like
08:43we had from George W. Bush. The president did unveil a new purported justification for the war today
08:50in his rambling press conference at his golf thing. He said, quote, we're doing this for the other parts
08:57of the world. We're doing this for the other parts of the world. It's actually hard to argue with that
09:04one. That one might actually be true. The Wall Street Journal is now describing this as the most
09:11severe energy crisis since the 1970s. CNBC calls it the biggest oil supply disruption in history
09:20because there is no way to safely move it to market. Saudi Arabia has now cut its production of oil.
09:27Iraq's production of oil is down to less than one third what it was before Trump started this war.
09:32In Qatar and Kuwait and Bahrain, major energy companies have declared force majeure, which
09:36basically means they're saying, hey, you know, act of God, outside our control, we can no longer be
09:43held to any contracts we previously signed as they all radically, radically scale down their oil and gas
09:50production. And it's not only fuel, it's also food, huge amounts of fertilizer passed through the
09:57Strait of Hormuz, fertilizer bound for ports all over the world, for crops all over the world, for food
10:04stuffs all over the world. Raw materials related to the petroleum industry also being choked off.
10:11A plastics plant north of Tokyo started to scale down production on Friday because they can't get the raw
10:16materials they use in that production process because they're, they're petroleum based products.
10:23It's also aluminum and other commodities like that as facilities like smelters shut down for lack
10:29of fuel. The nation of Bangladesh just closed its universities because they need to conserve energy.
10:37They need to conserve electricity used by the universities and they need to reduce the need for
10:43people to drive anywhere. Whole regions in the Philippines, including the capital city of
10:48Manila, just forced the country, just forced employers to institute a four day work week instead
10:54of a five day work week specifically to try to save energy. Gas stations in Vietnam have started to run
11:00out of fuel. They've started to put up sold out signs all over Hanoi. The New York Times reports that
11:08Pakistan's strategy is to hike gas prices so people hopefully stop driving and they're hoping that
11:15will be a protective measure to try to preserve both the supply and the price of diesel for Pakistan's
11:21trucks and buses. Okay. Maybe, maybe, maybe that'll work for some time. Maybe some of that will work
11:28for some time. But why did all this happen? What was all this for?
11:36We're doing this for the other parts of the world.
11:42We're doing this for the other parts of the world. We're doing this for the other parts of the
11:47world. I'm sure they're delighted with that. All right. We've just received in the tape of the,
11:54this is, again, how this works. I mentioned at the show just short time ago, the dignified transfer
11:59took place for U.S. Army Sergeant Benjamin Pennington. He is the seventh U.S. service member
12:04to die in combat in this nation's ongoing war with Iran. The way these things go is that we do
12:10not
12:10bring you these events when they happen live, these dignified transfers at Dover, but we can turn them
12:16around very quickly after they've happened, as soon as we get in that tape. Sergeant Pennington died
12:21yesterday after succumbing to injuries after an attack on the Prince Sultan air base in Saudi
12:26Arabia just over a week ago. Vice President J.D. Vance was at Dover to observe tonight's dignified
12:32transfer and also to meet with Sergeant Pennington's family. We're told that Vice President Vance was
12:37joined by the Defense Secretary and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. And I should just tell you,
12:42we're going to show you this now, but as is customary, the video that we have of this solemn event
12:46is silent. There is no audio that is on purpose. But we've just gotten this in. Let's turn to it
12:51now.
12:52Watch.
21:06And at that time, we had a draft.
21:11And this was not long after the end of the Second World War, when we had 19 million people
21:17in uniform, and everybody knew somebody who had served every household had made a contribution
21:23to the defense of the defense, and we were going to have a volunteer, and we were going to
21:53do this, and I think the defense, and we're going to have a ceremony, and we're going to have
22:19in theло, and we're going to have a pretty good job, because we're going to have a Good one, no,
22:38and we're going to have a good, and it's going to have a name here.
22:42And in the last one, it was going to have a lot of other people, and we're going to have
22:47a lot ofoku and this is going to be, and we're going to have a good job.
22:48public access, such as it is, to these events. But it is limited. As you can tell here from
22:55this footage that we have got, this is not live. This happened just moments ago. We don't take
22:59this footage live. We only take it on a slight delay. Also, we don't air any audio from these
23:07ceremonies. It's very tightly constrained so that we can see it but are also held a little bit at
23:13every move. Do you think those kinds of restrictions are appropriate, given the sort of purpose of us
23:20being able to see this that you were just describing? Well, it's very solemn. And maybe not having
23:24not having audio is is a worthwhile thing to do. You know, you mentioned that the war in Iraq
23:32and we were been in the Middle East for a long, long time fighting. And it's interesting to note
23:38that at the beginning of the war, Secretary Rumsfeld argued strenuously that we should not have any
23:46any press coverage at all of what was happening in the Middle East. And I think it was Torrey Clark,
23:55his press advisor, his communications advisor, I think that that's who it was at the time,
24:02who argued that we needed to have that. And the result was that we wound up with with press embedded
24:09with units. And the argument was, it's vitally important that the American public see what is
24:17done in their name. To be sure, we need to do whatever we can do in order to protect the
24:26United
24:26States, our allies, our interests everywhere around the world. But whatever is done to do that,
24:33it's important that the American public always be informed of what it takes to get it done,
24:41whether or not it's getting done. And when it's over, when it is over, that we've accomplished our
24:47objectives or have not accomplished our objectives. So full and complete disclosure is vitally
24:56important for the health of the republic. But also, it's important for the kids who are out there
25:02fighting. It's important that the public knows who's out there, what they're doing, and the efforts
25:12in service and sacrifice that are made on their behalf, Rachel.
25:18Yeah, made very, very real by these images we've just had tonight. Colonel Jack, it is always an
25:26honor to have you with us whenever you can have time to be here, especially on a night like this.
25:31I appreciate you being here, sir. Thanks for having me on the program.
25:35All right. That dignified transfer, again, for Sergeant Benjamin N. Pennington, 26 years old,
25:41of Glendale, Kentucky. We'll be right back. Stay with us.
25:51A classified report by the National Intelligence Council, quote, found that even a large-scale
25:57assault on Iran launched by the United States would be unlikely to oust the Islamic Republic's
26:05regime. A sobering assessment as the Trump administration raises the specter of an extended
26:18military campaign. The findings were confirmed to The Washington Post by three people familiar
26:22with the report's contents. They raised doubts about President Trump's declared plan to, quote,
26:26clean out Iran's leadership structure and install a ruler of his choosing.
26:31So this is a Trump administration intelligence product. This is an analysis produced for Donald
26:38Trump by the National Intelligence Council, which is veteran intelligence analysts who are in charge
26:42of crafting intelligence assessments for all 18 of the U.S. government's 18 different intelligence
26:48agencies. And the National Intelligence Council has advised the Trump administration, has advised the
26:55White House that even a large-scale assault on Iran launched by the United States will not be
27:01likely to oust Iran's regime. Why are we doing this, anyway? Joining us now is Congressman Jim Himes,
27:09Democrat of Connecticut. He is the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman,
27:13it's really nice of you to make time to be here this evening. Thank you.
27:17Good to be with you, Reginald.
27:19So we've just seen the images from that solemn event at Dover Air Base, that dignified transfer
27:27of the remains of the seventh U.S. service member to have been killed in this war. We have just
27:33spent
27:33the last few days, the weekend, including today, watching the economic shock of this war and its
27:41repercussions. Repercussions resonate all around the world in ways very large and very small in multiple
27:48countries all over the world, if not every country in the world. The ramifications of what we're doing
27:54are deadly and very, very wildly serious. Do you think you understand why we have done this,
28:02why Trump started this war? Well, we finally got a consistent rationale from the Secretary of State,
28:10from Marco Rubio. I first heard it in a Gang of Eight meeting on the Tuesday prior to the attack.
28:17We heard it as the attack was underway, and we've heard it a variety of times since. And the problem
28:22is it's a profoundly dissatisfying rationale. So what did Marco Rubio tell us? He said that we were
28:27sure that the Israelis were about to launch an attack. We were sure that when the Israelis launched
28:34that attack that the Iranians would retaliate against us, and therefore we had to join the
28:40Israelis. And, Rachel, it's on the face of it. So it's as though we're Liechtenstein, as though we
28:47have no leverage over the players in the region. And, of course, we do have rather substantial leverage
28:53leverage, or at least partnership with Israel. And there were all sorts of options. But that was
29:00the rationale. And then, of course, we got the president freelancing his own rationales,
29:05which it was about the attempts to kill him or the nuclear facilities, which we were told were
29:10obliterated. But nonetheless, if you go with the Secretary of State's explanation, which he's repeated
29:15multiple times, we were passive and reactive bystanders in the single most serious thing
29:23that we can do, i.e., get involved in a war and a war in the Middle East. And I
29:28don't need to
29:28punctuate that point, because we all just watched the dignified transfer of the remains of a young
29:35soldier, Sergeant Pennington, who was with us a week ago and who is no longer with us. And that
29:42just punctuates why this is probably the most serious decision a president can make, taken
29:49completely unseriously.
29:52Do you believe Marco Rubio when he gave you that explanation? I mean, I hear you that it's
29:59at least somewhat consistent and that at least he might be the one person of the administration
30:04who said the same thing twice rather than iterating some new version of an explanation every single
30:11time they're asked for an answer about it. But does it strike you as plausible that that is the
30:17reason that we did it? As bad a reason as that is, do you think it's true?
30:21First of all, I don't spend a lot of time with Donald Trump, but I can only imagine what it's
30:25like to be in his war council, right? Because my suspicion is that, you know, every hour or so,
30:30the rationale and the emotional temperature and the objectives change. You just need to watch
30:36Donald Trump in a news conference to know that that is most likely true. So my best guess is that
30:42the president realized that Iran was imminent danger notwithstanding, because that explanation,
30:50of course, is both wrong, a lie, and insane, considering that Iran, as vicious and as dangerous
30:57as they are, are weaker today, relatively speaking, than they have been for a very long time because
31:03of the 12-day war of June and because of the bombing of their nuclear infrastructure. My guess
31:08is that Donald Trump, probably listening to Prime Minister Netanyahu, who, for 40 years,
31:16this has been his primary objective, decided that he could secure a role in history. And my guess is
31:21that the secretary of state—and I do emphasize that these are my guesses, because I wasn't in the room—my
31:26guess is that the secretary of state was doing a lot of backfilling, and not particularly well. Again,
31:31his explanation makes it sound as though we are reactive and passive bystanders rather than,
31:36you know, a superpower.
31:39What do you make of the reports that Russia has been providing targeting information to Iran to help
31:46them in killing American service members and targeting American military and other infrastructure
31:51in the Middle East? Yeah, I've obviously got to be a little careful about talking about said reports,
31:56if they exist, given my role on the Intelligence Committee. But one way to think about this is,
32:03duh, the United States has been making no secret of its effort, halting though it may be to help the
32:11Ukrainians. And you can imagine what Vladimir Putin thinks now that we have a substantial
32:22portion of our military capability exposed in the region. So, I mean, I'll just—I'll leave it at that.
32:30Democratic Congressman Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Sir,
32:34thank you for your time this evening. It's really good to have you here.
32:37Thank you, Rachel.
32:38All right. We've got much more news ahead here tonight. Stay with us.
32:46This was Texas Today, a delegation of Democratic members of Congress, Congressman Joaquin Castro of
32:52Texas, California Congresswoman Nanette Barragun, Julia Brownlee and Sarah Jacobs, Massachusetts Democratic
32:59members of Congress, Catherine Clark and Jim McGovern, and Congresswoman Madeline Dean of Pennsylvania.
33:05They were all in Texas today. They all specifically went to the Dilley Immigrant Prison in Texas today.
33:12Dilley is about an hour outside of San Antonio. These members of Congress went there to get
33:16the Gomez-Cuellar family out of that prison. The Gomez-Cuellar family is a family from Texas.
33:23They have two teenage sons who are part of an award-winning band at their high school.
33:29Because of that band membership, they were invited to Washington, D.C. by their Republican Congresswoman,
33:36Monica de la Cruz. They and their band visited the White House and they performed in Washington.
33:41And then after they got home, the two brothers from that family and their parents were arrested
33:46by Trump's federal agents. One of the brothers and the parents were locked up in that hellhole,
33:53that family prison in Dilley, Texas. The older brother, the one who's 18, he was separated from
33:59his younger brother and his mom and dad. He was locked up on his own three and a half hours
34:04further
34:05south in Texas, in Raymondville, Texas. But all members of the family got out today after a lot
34:12of news coverage about what has been done to this family. And after these seven, seven members of
34:17Congress got into Dilley to get them out. The other facility that was just holding the older
34:24of the two teenage brothers, the older of the two high school boys in this family,
34:28this was Raymondville, Texas, this weekend. Local folks there rallying for the older teenage son in
34:34that family who was separated from his family and locked up there all alone. Today, he got out from
34:40Raymondville as his mom and his dad and his younger brother got out from Dilley. And Congressman Castro
34:44is now helping the whole family get home. The largest ICE prison anywhere in the country is
34:51also in Texas. It's way out in West Texas on the Fort Bliss military base. They call it Camp East
34:57Montana. They only opened Camp East Montana in August. Already, at least three people have died there,
35:05including one whose death was ruled a homicide by the county medical examiner, a homicide at the hands of
35:12staff at that facility. They wanted Camp East Montana to hold 5,000 people, but they never
35:19got the numbers there close to it. What with the people dying there and the measles outbreak there
35:25and the freaking tuberculosis there. Seriously. They've now reduced the number of people held at Camp
35:33East Montana to roughly 1,500 people. Within the past few days, there have been reports that they may
35:38be closing East Camp Montana, Camp East Montana altogether. And of course, it's all quite opaque.
35:44The Washington Post reporting that it looks like Camp East Montana is closing down. The El Paso Times
35:49obtaining an internal email that suggests, OK, maybe it's not closing down. But you know, it's clear,
35:55even from their inability to fill that facility, that that facility, their largest facility thus far,
36:01has been a failure for them thus far. I mean, just in terms of the scale of this thing,
36:06the largest federal prison, like real prison in the United States, holds 4,000 people.
36:12Why did they think that under the wise, experienced leadership of Kristi Noem, they'd be instantly able
36:18to stand up a massive facility even larger than the largest federal prison in the United States?
36:24And it wouldn't just be one. They want to stand up massive facilities all over the country,
36:29all of which will hold way more people than the largest federal prison in America.
36:34I mean, Camp East Montana is the biggest one they've tried to operate yet.
36:38At 5,000 beds, right? It is already a catastrophic failure and is limping along now with multiple
36:45disease outbreaks and multiple deaths. And it's only at roughly 30 percent of its 5,000 person capacity.
36:52So tell me how it's going to go when they try to open these new facilities they're trying to build
36:57in these
36:57warehouses to hold, not 5,000 people, but 7,000 people, 8,000 people, 10,000 people, 14,000 to
37:0416,000 people
37:05are the highest numbers they have proposed for some of what they're calling these mega facilities.
37:09You think they're capable of running those? Looks like they're about to close the one they tried to
37:15build for 5,000 people, the first one they tried. This is a protest this weekend in Georgia
37:21against plans to build a 10,000 person Trump prison camp in Social Circle Georgia. Donald Trump is
37:28telling the people of Social Circle Georgia that it doesn't matter that they don't want it,
37:32doesn't matter that their sewer system can't handle it, doesn't matter that their water system can't
37:36handle it. That little Republican voting Georgia town is going to be forced to take a 10,000 person
37:42Trump prison camp that will triple the population of their town to hold people indefinitely without
37:48trial and without access to lawyers. And I say that because I mean it specifically. The New York
37:53Times notes today that in the blueprints that have been made available for that facility in Social
37:57Circle Georgia, among other problems in the blueprints, there do not appear to be any facilities
38:02whatsoever for the people being held there to meet with lawyers there. And that's because this is,
38:09honestly, this is a black site prison to hold people without trial and without access to legal
38:14representation indefinitely. That is what all of these places are that they are trying to build.
38:20There were protests this weekend in 13 states, more than 70 different protests in 13 states this
38:27weekend, all targeting Citizens Bank, Citizens Bank headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.
38:33Citizens Bank is being targeted because activists say they provide financing to the private companies that
38:39have been running Trump's immigrant prisons thus far. Citizens Bank, as I say, headquartered in Rhode
38:44Island. That meant that a lot of these protests this weekend were in New England, but they were all
38:48over. They were all over. You see the sign here at Concord, Massachusetts on the left-hand side,
38:55boycott Citizens Bank. And the overpass sign on the right there, Akron, Ohio. Citizens Bank funds ice camps.
39:04National Boycott's national boycott's effort now for a bank purported to be financing Trump's immigrant
39:10prisons. There was also this protest this weekend in New Mexico at the site of Jeffrey Epstein's former
39:18ranch. People protesting at the site of that ranch for full disclosure and for full accountability for
39:24people involved in Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of girls and women and his sex trafficking ring.
39:31I should tell you that ranch in New Mexico, Jeffrey Epstein's ranch in New Mexico has a new owner now.
39:37That ranch was bought secretly just a couple of years ago by a Texas Republican named Don Huffines,
39:44H-U-F-F-I-N-E-S, Huffines. You might have seen his name in headlines this week because
39:50he was just
39:50nominated by Texas Republicans last week to be their nominee for state comptroller. Honestly,
39:57Texas Republicans just nominated for statewide office the proud new owner of Jeffrey Epstein's ranch.
40:07Mr. Huffines has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein's crimes,
40:12but Texas Republicans must just be so proud they own Epstein's ranch. I'm sure they got a great deal.
40:19Speaking of Republicans core message to voters for the election this year in Arizona today,
40:25we learned that the Trump administration subpoenaed records from the 2020 election from Maricopa County,
40:32which is where Phoenix is in Arizona. You might remember after the 2020 election,
40:37which Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden, both nationwide and specifically in Arizona. You might remember
40:41after that election, the Republican controlled Arizona Senate contracted, seriously, with a company
40:49that called itself Cyber Ninjas. And they spent taxpayer money on that contract to do a bizarre circus of an
41:01audit of the Maricopa County ballots from the 2020 presidential election. And at that audit,
41:07among the things they did was they checked the ballot paper to see if it might have bamboo fibers in
41:15it,
41:15because that would mean China did it. China stole the election. Cyber Ninjas, sadly and surprisingly,
41:23went out of business not long after their bizarre audit adventure with Maricopa County's ballots.
41:29But today we learned that the same Republican controlled Arizona Senate that contracted with Cyber Ninjas to do
41:36that to their 2020 ballots. Today, we learned they also have happily complied with a Trump administration
41:43subpoena of some kind to hand over all the Maricopa County elections data that still exists from 2020.
41:50No word on if that included any test strands of bamboo or maybe ninja outfits.
41:57This comes on the heels of a number of luminaries from the QAnon movement starting to explain to various
42:03podcasters that they themselves have drafted an executive order that Trump is going to sign to
42:10proclaim a national emergency of some kind over the 2026 midterm elections. QAnon celebrities say
42:16they've written the executive order and they're now just waiting for him to sign it.
42:23So, I mean, that's that's about how it's going, right? I mean, job creation under Donald Trump was
42:29literally negative last month. The U.S. economy under Donald Trump lost 92,000 jobs last month.
42:35Over the past year, while Trump's been in office, the country has lost nearly 100,000 manufacturing jobs
42:42specifically because remember how his tariffs were supposed to save U.S. manufacturing?
42:46He's finally had to fire his homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem. There are three, four,
42:51five hour waits at some airports now for airport security because that's Kristi Noem's department.
42:55So that's going great. His efforts to build himself a huge new network of massive prisons where he can
43:00hold people without trial and without access to lawyers. Those efforts appear to be either floundering
43:06or revealed as just patently insane everywhere he's trying to do it. Local residents and voters
43:11and politicians of both parties rejecting those Trump prison camps outright in every single place
43:16he is trying to put them. Gas prices have now spiked as high as they've ever been while he has
43:22been
43:22president with the worst still to come as the war he started for no discernible reason causes the worst
43:28energy world shock in at least 50 years. The Trump era is really rising up to its full height right
43:36now.
43:38With Republicans in Washington today starting to crater in a whole new way. And that story is next. Stay with
43:46us.
43:51I mentioned a moment ago one awkward situation playing out for Republicans heading into this
43:56November's elections. The statewide candidate for Texas state comptroller turns out to have secretly
44:02bought the New Mexico ranch that was owned by notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. He bought
44:08the Epstein ranch and now he's the Republican Party's candidate for statewide office for state comptroller
44:13in Texas. Must have a great head for numbers this guy who secretly bought Jeffrey Epstein's ranch.
44:20It has made for awkward headlines already. Even though Don Huffines has not been accused of any
44:26wrongdoing in the Epstein case. Even though he says any request from law enforcement to search the
44:31property will be met with immediate access and full cooperation. It's still going to be awkward for
44:36Texas Republicans all the time when his ownership of Jeffrey Epstein's ranch keeps coming up over and over
44:42again during the course of 2026 heading into the November election. Just today New Mexico
44:49investigators began a new search of the property. A good reminder to all Texas Republicans that that's
44:55their guy. The Jeffrey Epstein ranch owner guy. It's expected to be a difficult election season for
45:02Republicans for a lot of reasons. Their biggest challenge will likely be keeping control of
45:05Congress in November. Already the Republican majority is slow is so slim in the House they can afford to
45:11lose only one vote on any party line issue. Well today California Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley
45:17announced that he's leaving the Republican Party. He wants to serve his swing district as an independent
45:23from here on out. Congressman Kiley says he will still caucus with the Republicans but of course he now has
45:28every political reason to try to distance himself from his party on any high profile vote he has to
45:33take. Meanwhile several other House Republicans have essentially become very lame ducks say Texas
45:40Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw who lost his primary. He's going to be out of office next year.
45:45Does he have to show up between now and the end of his term? It's up to him. Texas Republican
45:50Congressman Wesley Hunt also gave up his seat in the House to come in third in the Texas Senate race.
45:56Congressman Hunt already had a terrible attendance record in Congress. What reason does he have to
46:02show up now now that he's given up his seat? Texas Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez. How about him?
46:07He agreed not to seek reelection after an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide. If Tony
46:13Gonzalez remains in the House, which he says he plans to do, he'll have to face an ethics investigation.
46:19What's the likelihood that he's going to keep showing up? If he quits, the ethics investigation just goes
46:24away. See also Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina who has recently bucked
46:29her party specifically on the issue of Jeffrey Epstein. Congresswoman Mace is also giving up
46:34her seat to run for governor. So what incentive does she have to stick around in the meantime?
46:39She is also facing a House ethics investigation over an alleged misuse of taxpayer dollars. She denies
46:44that wrongdoing, but any investigation would go away if she were to step down before her term is finished.
46:53Republicans knew to expect a fight for control of the House in November. I'm not sure they expected
46:58this much of a fight for control right now, like Monday, today, and from here on out.
Comments