Fire, a tidal wave. Los angeles major Eric Garcetti joins me live when all in starts right now. Good evening from new york, im chris hayes, 19 months after the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel in the russia investigation the president of the United States is nearing completion on written answers to questions from the special counsel about possible collusion and may submit those answers as early as this week. This, during a postelection week in which the mueller team appears to be more focused than ever on links between the Trump Campaign and the russianbacked hacking of dnc emails. A source familiar with the matter tells nbc news President Trump met with his legal team yesterday and was expected to do so again today. The questions and answers pertain only to russian interference in the 2016 election, not obstruction of justice. The substance and timing of that president ial testimony is particularly intriguing since far right conspiracy theorist jerome corsi, an associate of roger stone, announced he expects to be indicted by the special counsel on perjury charges, following previous assertions by stone that he too expects to be indicted. Muellers interest in stone, corsi and others reportedly centers on what they may have known ahead of time about those wikileaks email dumps. If muellers team is indeed to trying to establish which Trump Associates may have been a part of the criminal conspiracy the special counsel has already laid out in its indictments it might explain why the special counsel is interested in trump ally nigel farage. Investigators asked about both nigel and ted malick. They went over who was my source with Julian Assange. It appears the net could be closing. On top of that theres also now a real question about who exactly is supervising the mueller investigation, who is running the Justice Department now . The state of maryland asked for a Court Injunction to stop matthew whitaker, in addition to his membership on an Advisory Board of a fraudulent exercise investigated being the fbi, may not be allowed to be the attorney general. The appointment is unlawful, the complaint asks the court to issue a judgment declaring that Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein is the acting attorney general of the United States. I want to bring in anna shecter whose interview with john corsi was abruptly cancelled. He came to rockefeller center, i sent a car for him, he was out on 49th street and his lawyer at the exact same time that he arrived got off the phone with special counsel and shut the entire thing down on advice of counsel, dr. Corsi is cancelling this interview. I invited him to lunch, he declined and thats the end of it. His lawyer was on the phone with the special counsels office . Thats right, 12 30. Confirmed . Confirmed. They had a previously scheduled call. Do we know what happened in that phone call . We dont. But david gray, the attorney, jumped off the call with me to get back on the call with the investigator. So something is moving today. I dont know what it is. So corsis a strange case. We know hes turned over a lot of files and documents, right, to the special counsels office. Hes an associate of roger stones. Hes been in at a talk to them a bunch of times. What is your sense of where he fits in this puzzle . Whats so interesting about him is that weve learned that there were communications between him and roger stone that appear to show that corsi had advance knowledge of the john podesta email dump. Thats the heart of it. Now, did he transfer it to stone and then stone tell Trump Campaign . Thats the big question. We have not connected those dots. But thats where you think investigators are looking with respect to corsi . Absolutely. And i think he has told me that he expects to be charged with perjury because he tripped up somewhere. There was some communication with wikileaks that he doesnt recall and the investigators had evidence of that. So theres an interesting precedent here. Michael cohen gets in trouble, gets raided and indicted, ill take a bullet for mr. Trump. Next thing you know hes cooperating. Paul manafort, raided, indicted, tried, convicted, awaiting a second trial, not going to roll, not going to roll, next thing hes cooperating. Weve seen this time and time again. Theres a question about whether thats the situation corsi might find himself in. He might find himself in that position. Whats interesting about him is hes this bizarre character out of left field whos now front and center in the mueller investigation. Investigators spent two months poring over all of his communications, texts, emails, really focused on what he was talking to stone about. But also potential communications with wikileaks. In some ways hes both bizarre, but also adjacent, he is the father of birtherism, the president made his political bones, got his start in american political life on that conspiracy theory. Thats right. And he has fueled a lot of the far right theories, conspiracy theories, hes written 20 books since 2004. Hes always reminding people of that. 20 books since 2004 . Yes. Thats a lot of books. The linchpin in all of this, they think about, youve got on one side a criminal conspiracy thats been established in indictments by Robert Mueller on the russian side, youve got a question about did anyone on the american side, were they a party to that criminal conspiracy . And the person that seems the most likely to end up in that nexus is roger stone. Absolutely. Well, he is the american who, in that gru indictment, they refer to an american who was in communication with wikileaks. So we know roger stone was tweeting with wikileaks. We dont know if he actually got advance knowledge. John podestas emails are coming. Stones defense is, hey, Julian Assange went on television in june 2016 and told the world he had damaging emails, emails that would damage hillary clinton. And i just guessed right. Also the jerome corsi line, correct . He looked at the july dump of dnc emails, noticed there were very few podesta emails, and he figured out thats got to be the october surprise. Well, dr. Corsi, author of 20 books, dont put much past him. Im joined by mimi rocah, former federal prosecutor in new york, elliott williams, worked in the Justice Department in the obama administration. Start with you, mimi, the speculation swirling around about the mueller team whirring back to life. There was a period they were quiet because of the election, theres the corsi stuff. What i guess sort of procedural question is like, when would they choose to indict people . Do they have to wait until certain dates . Could there be sealed indictments . What do we know about that . The answer is, theres no formula. Really. I mean, theyre going to indict people one when they have necessary evidence. So one thing i think people have to keep in mind and its so easy to lose sight of in this environment. Because of the great reporting we get from all of you we learn so much through the media. What we learn in the media may not be provable evidence that someone can put in court. This is a really important point. Mueller is not going to charge people, you know, trump is going come out with his version of the facts. Giuliani has already said that. Muellers version of the facts is going to be as close to the truth as you can get because its going to be based on evidence admissible in court. And thats a very high standard. I think people forget that, oh, well we already know this, that roger stone knew about the podesta dump. But how you prove that is a very different thing. Thats something i hope people can keep in mind. So i think, one, when they have the evidence. And two, my hunch is that hes not going to indict one person alone, but hes going to indict a group of people. And so it may be that hes still working on building, you know, assuming anyones going to be indicted, but it seems that the signs point that way, that hes working on indicting a group of people together for similar conduct. There are two people who have said on the record i expect to be indicted. Its not a crazy thing were pulling out of thin air. Elliott, the reporting today, the president was sitting with his legal team on the written questions, six months back and forth, the president once said id love to answer questions, walked back by the lawyers, they keep lucying the football, moving it and moving it. Hes sitting down and writing it. Whats the significance . One, its clear they do not want the president to sit down with mueller or anyone from his team. He would be a truly disastrous witness. I know mimi has dealt with witnesses like this, i have as well. Its the mr. I alone can fix it. It might work well at a Republican Convention but it doesnt work well as a witness. So thats point one. Point two is that they dont you know, he i lost my train of thought. The hold on one second. Ill come back to you. I want to ask about that question. Theres a thought that this is the capstone that the Mueller Report, whatever the final work product is, cant happen until theres something from the president , what do you think of that thinking . I absolutely think that. I think that, you know, because of the way that giuliani and trump and company work, if mueller doesnt give trump some opportunity to put his version out there on the record with him, you know, you will never hear the end of that once the Mueller Report comes out. Almost political as much as a legal matter. Look, i think mueller would like to interview him and i think he has good reason to want to and need to interview him. But if trump isnt going to do that this may be a way to say, okay, fine put your story on the record. It does lock him is in to a certain extent. I dont think its valuable. Its not nearly as valuable for all the reasons, you know, i think people know at this point as an in person interview but it does sort of cage trump in a little bit in terms of how much he can shift his story afterwards, or at least his lawyers who care about that. But its a way to get things done so that he cant later say, well, i didnt get a chance to tell my version. Right. Elliott, can i ask you about the whitaker situation . Theres a real question about were in this youve got this guy whitaker whos the acting attorney general whos supervising the mueller investigation. He says hes going to consult the Ethics Office of doj about recusal and maryland is saying hes not the real ag. Two pope situation. How serious a challenge is that . Its very game of thrones. Its very serious, incredibly difficult legal question and theres merit to that lawsuit. He is in charge of the Justice Department, the acting attorney general now, but hes working and living under a cloud. He can really only be in the position for 210 days, under the vacancy reform act which you and i have talked about in the past. The problem is that thats not a lot of time and his entire period in the Justice Department is going to be characterized by litigation challenging his legitimacy. A lot of very, very smart people who devote their lives to these constitutional questions are thinking long and hard about this and no ones ever really established it. Odds are it may very well end up in the Supreme Court. But again, of all the attorneys in the United States, of all the attorneys in the United States department of justice, why did they pick the one guy with a long chain of personal conflicts, a long chain of, you know, of conflicts of interest with the president of the United States . We know why, and we know what goal they were trying to effectuate. But again, theyve created a mess, and its sort of leaving the Justice Department without leadership. Its particularly striking today in the news as were hearing about the secretary of Homeland Security about to be fired as well where department of Homeland Security, department of justice and maybe the department of defense may not have Senate Confirmed leadership by the end of the month, or whatever. Thats a good point. Its a Major National security crisis, whos in charge . Its a shame what theyve done to doj there. If youre thinking about how mueller and the team and rosenstein are managing this visavis whitaker, what are your thoughts about how that works . Theres a lot we dont know thats going on. Theres rosenstein and his Deputy Callahan meeting with sessions and trying to convince him to stay on. There are probably a lot of things going on. Behind the scenes, strange statement with them saying whitaker is a superb choice. A lot of people believe that rosenstein is trying to hold the fort down. I think that, you know, mueller is look, hes been doing what hes doing for a long time. Its not like this is starting today. If whitaker tries to, you know, stop it in some way i do think we will hear about it. I dont know that well hear about it in realtime. And just the one thing the way in which these two stories are sort of connected, this idea of what muellers doing and whitaker, is, you know, i mean, why doesnt trump want us to have faith, right, in what mueller finds . If even if he finds no conspiracy, no collusion, how do we have faith in that now with whitaker there . Thats a great point. Mimi rocah, and elliott williams, thank you for joining me tonight. The really dangerous partisan fight over whether or not to count every vote in the midterms, the lengths republicans are going to to undermine the democratic process right after this. I am a family man. I am a techie dad. I believe the best technology should feel effortless. Like magic. At comcast, its my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. My name is mike, im in Product Development at comcast. Were working to make things simple, easy and awesome. We have seen a dangerous new partisan divide. The issue whether to count every vote cast in an election. Democrats have been on the side of counting every ballot, even when it might not benefit them like for instance utahs fourth Congressional District where new votes just counted have narrowed the lead for democrat ben mcadams over mia love. As love might actually take the seat, democrats have not cried foul, not said theres a great theft going on. In contrast, republicans have been launching baseless accusations of fraud in close election after close election they might not win. Its gone so far that a state senator in georgia today was arrested and taken away by police for demonstrating in favor of simply counting outstanding ballots in georgia. Thats what democrats want in florida, to count every vote and then to go through the recount. Even if theres been a conservative attempt to sow doubt about the legit masy. Martha mcsally is graciously conceding her race instead of making up fraud allegations. To talk about this, ron klain, and former chief counsel and Senate Judiciary committee, and david becker, a Voting Rights attorney at the department of justice and the executive director for the center of election innovation and research. Ron, start with you. Fights about recounts have been happening, the florida recount, the norm mcdonald, al franken recount was litigated. But it does seem to me theres something new going on here, what do you think . Theres something worse going on here. If i told you, christ, that we had an election where someone was both the chief election officer and a candidate in the election, and he knocked 10 of the voters off the rolls, refused to process 50,000 applications to vote, and urged youd say lets send in the u. N. Observers. That happened not in the republic of georgia, but in the state of georgia, next door to the recount in florida. Theres more partisanship in how the elections are run and republicans have the playbook of attacking merely the counting of votes as somehow election fraud, election theft, governor scott, who is both the candidate and the chief Law Enforcement officer in florida has made this allegation. Its been disproven. Its been knocked down by republican appointed judges, its been knocked down by republican appointed Election Officials. Its just an effort to sow doubt in partisanship into a process that should be nonpartisan and professional. Richard hassan has a piece in slate, writing about election rights and Voting Rights and the voting war. He said whats happening in florida is a nightmare. 2020 could be so much worse. The new voting war has threat tond undermine the foundation of american democracy that Election Officials can fairly and accurately count ballots and they can declare winners who we accept as legitimate. As elections are are getting closer, especially in florida, its ray sr. Thin margins, we have the stakes are so high. And we have to be careful not codelegitimize our democracy while we wait to determine the outcome. The most important thing in all of these elections is to get the outcome right. We want to find out who the voters chose. We have to give Election Officials time to do that. There are millions of ballots still being counted nationwide and we have to let officials do their jobs so we know who accurately won. In california, youve got this its striking to me, two republican candidates, young kim, in the 39th district of california and a republican named mimi walters in the 45th district who slipped behind her democratic runner katy porter, we know votes come in late in california, we know that. In both cases, theyre both alleging fraud, simply because california takes a while to count votes. Well, not only does california take a while to count votes. But we shouldnt forget the day after veterans day that we have statutes that say that military voters, all voters overseas, most of them tend to be military voters get ten days after the election for their ballots to come back from overseas, and be counted. And if were going to stand up for military rights and veterans rights and taking the time to get their ballots in and make sure theyre counted seems like the least we could do as a democracy for the men and women defending us overseas. Yeah, i do think this new playbook the republicans have of trying to say that the normally orderly process thats frustratingly long, but the process that makes it right, that that process is fraudulent or contrary to democracy, that is a dangerous trend, and i think rick hassan is right, we are seeing a preview of the playbook trump may run in 2020 if instead of narrowly winning wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania, he narrowly loses those three states. The nonsense we see coming out the president now could be what we see in two years. How much does it rest on the shared sense of legitimacy as opposed to the final say of courts . Well, i think weve become more divisive as a society. And more and more partisans are only concerned with winning and not concerned with the longterm implications for our democracy. And it didnt used to be this way. I still remember when Vice President gore conceded in 2000, when norm coleman conceded after a long recount in the 2008 Minnesota Senate race. It used to be that we had more of a sense of the longterm importance of trusting our institutions in democracy. I will say that norm coleman, that litigation extended, if not mistaken, six months, it robbed the democrats an opportunity to seat 60 senators to get over the filibuster. And ron, you were in florida in 2000, that was as much of a dog fight as anything ive ever seen, the Supreme Court ends up stopping the recount on a 54 decision they themselves disavowed in the decision. Yeah, but to davids point, look, that is true, and the Supreme Court decision in the bush v gore is an outrage, historic outrage, with even not recovered from that and never will in some ways. Al gore went on national tv that night and said the Supreme Court has spoken. I encourage all my supporters to accept that outcome as final. And i think, again, the danger we see, particularly from President Trump is, he is so little invested in democracy, so little committed to our system that if he were to lose in 2020 what he would do about that, thats something we should all be concerned about. Great point. Ron klain and david becker, thank you both for your time. Coming up the midwest can be tough for democratic candidates. Senator Sherrod Brown has it figured out for a 2020 run, after this. For democrats some of the best news to come out of Election Night came from the industrial midwest. Democrats conseven out of eight marquee statewide a ises in wisconsin, michigan, ohio and pennsylvania, all states, of course, the president won two years ago putting them in the white house. The one democratic loss came in ohio where Richard Cordray fell four points short. Ohios democrats make it challenging for democrats, particularly in this era. Trump won by eight points. When democrats do well in ohio, people pay attention. Joining me now the newly reelected senator Sherrod Brown, reelected last week by more than six points. Senator, all right, you outperformed the democratic president ial candidate two years ago by about 14 points generally in the state. What did you figure out . What did you do . Well, i think its pretty simple. I mean, its all on whose side are you on . If you love your country you fight for people who make it work, whether you punch a clock or swipe a badge, or work for tips or work on a salary, whether youre raising kids or caring for an aging parent. To me its about the dignity of work, its about who had side youre on. I dont look at white bourquers and black workers and la know workers, i look for workers. That shows in election time, the way you should govern and run for office. Richard cordray who you endorsed, an ally of yours, he was at cfpb, hes got a similar populist politics, vision of politics as you, not able to pull it out against mike dewine, do you have thoughts about that . It is a tough state for democrats. It is a tough state. Its moving weve won a total of two statewide elections in the last decade. These two races for the senate in 12 and 18. Its i mean, i think its i mean, its a you know, we talked about we talked about republican interest groups. We talked about made the contrast on health care and taxes that talked about patriot corporation, active companies, pay decent wages and provide good benefits and make their products in the United States, get a lower tax rate, we talked about the corporate free loader act, if youre a Large Company and you pay you pay 8 or 10 or 12 an hour, and your workers rely on medicaid and housing vouchers, and earned income tax credit, and food stamps, then you pay a corporate free loader fee, you pay a higher rate. And that i think that voters in the end think youre on their side because i am on those kinds of issues. I think that matters. You know, there was yours was a state where donald trump came to rally for jim ranacey, the congressman opposing you, and hes got a very specific tactic here, theres a lot of talk about the Central American migrants, did that stuff cash out . Did that work . Did you see it work . Did it fall flat . I think it did. I think that voters turned out in huge numbers around ohio on the democratic side, particularly in the big urban areas, they turned out in huge numbers, motivated by 18 months of a very divisive president who engaged in racist demagogic rhetoric who always tried to divide people, thats how hes been successful by turning people hes got this fake populism. But populists, you know, real populism is not racist, its not antisemitic, its not pushing people down so others can do well. Its not turning against each other. Its about work and about those who work hard and play by the rules ought to be able to get ahead. Those who work their whole lives ought to have a secure retirement or medicare and Social Security in spite of efforts in washington to cut those programs or raise the eligibility age or they will be there. Its a covenant between the public and their government. You have said, your wife said you guys are thinking about your possibility of running for president in 2020. What are you thinking about . We werent much before the election. I mean, people think ohio is progressive. As you know, chris, from lots of conversations, i didnt as a kid dream of being president. I dreamed about playing center field for the cleveland indians. Ive finally given up on that dream. Weve heard from an overwhelming number of people who have said i should consider it in large part because of our message and my longtime commitment to the dignity of work. If you stand for workers, it means never compromising on civil rights and womens rights and lgbt rights, it means never caving to wall street or the gun lobby or donald trump. And i think that makes thats, i think, why people of large numbers across the country have begun to approach me. Its interesting. You said two statewide races, 2012 race, 2018 race, a state trending in a republican direction, do you want to be president of the United States . Well, i dont know yet. I dont know if i have the i mean, a lot of my colleagues have thought about wanting to be president for a long time. And i really havent until this election. I mean, people have asked me. Ive thought a little bit about it. But its not been a lifelong dream. And Emily Elizabeth and caitlin and andy have to sit down and figure that out, what we want to do. Im not committed to doing it. Were having the conversation now. Like you are, chris, im worried about my country. Im worried about longtime young federal judges he puts on the bench, im worried longterm about Climate Change. Im worried about the hate speech coming out of the white house. And thats given license for people to engage in racist or worse racist rhetoric or worse, or antisemitic rhetoric or worse. I was at a meeting with a jewish group today in cleveland and talking to talking to them about the security they now theyve always had good security in most of their synagogues in cleveland. Now theyre stepping it up, at great expense, because they think they need to. I dont put that all at the feet of donald trump but ive called at him, i spoke to the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society right after pittsburgh, a Columbus Group after the pittsburgh shooting and they theyre concerned about all this and we all called on the president to try to heal and unify. I dont blame him for this stuff, but he has made he has emboldened far too many people to do things that are just awful. Senator Sherrod Brown, entering his third term, thanks for being here tonight. The mayor of los angeles on the deadly california fires and why the first lady publicly called for the firing of a top security official, that story next. We been expecting personnel turnover in the west wing following midterm elections. Reports of a bizarre personnel situation in which the east wing, the office of the first lady has become involved. A senior National Security official pictured here with the president at the white house today is expected to be fired according to the wall street journal following this unbelievable statement. It is the position of the office of the first lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this white house. The position of the office of the first lady. That is a new one, publicly calling for someone to be fired. Nbc news reports that ricardel repeatedly angering the east wing, demanding nsc staff have seats on the first ladys plane during her trip to africa last month. People familiar with the disagreement said. When asked for a response to the statement from the office of the first lady, a senior white house official told nbc news the east wing speaks for the east wing. Bebest everyone. Today hundreds of protesters we just got married. Were all under one roof now. Congratulations. Thank you. How many kids . My two. His three. Along with two dogs and jake, our new parrot. That is quite the family. Quite a lot of colleges to pay for though. A lot of colleges. You get any Financial Advice . Yeah, but im pretty sure its the same plan they sold me before. Well your situations totally changed now. Right, right. How bout a plan that works for 5 kids, 2 dogs and jake over here . That would be great. That would be great. That okay with you, jake . Get a portfolio that works for you now and as your needs change from Td Ameritrade investment management. Today hundreds of protesters joined by congresswoman elect alexandria cortez gathered in Nancy Pelosis office, chanting 12 years, demanding pelosi draft an action plan to cut carbon emissions, the goal set forth by the Government Panel on Climate Change to avoid catastrophic Climate Change. Cutting missions in half, if that seems ambitious, it is. If you want a sense of the stakes in this entire thing, when you look no further than the state of california. Of course, californias death toll now looking to be around 44 or wildfires continue to rage, and they continue to burn across the state tonight. Joining me now for the latest is the mayor of los angeles Eric Garcetti. Mayor, how are things out there this evening . Well, theyve turned a pretty good corner thanks to the heroes out there, firefighters on the line, mutual aid throughout the state. And all our volunteers. Even purveyors of politics cant kill the fact that Americans Care ff each other after times of need. After a shooting in thousand oaks, the firing breaking out here in Southern California, but a lot of hard work and love has turned the corner were optimistic. But then of course a long rebuilding. I appreciate what you said in the leadin. Cutting carbon emissions, its not about forest mismanagement, its about earth mismanagement. Here in Southern California were showing you can cut emissions while growing an economy, investing and facing reality. We need that sort of leadership coming out of washington, d. C. And around the country that we see at the local level right now. Even california, which is cutting emissions, and which is sort of one of the most ambitious states in the union isnt sutting it enough to meet those ipcc goals, is california prepared, is the country prepared for what it needs to do so that what youre seeing on the right of your screen does not become more common place . Absolutely. From those fires in california, to my friend in houston rebuilding a town devastated by par vee, to the florida panhandle, locals know this is real. Weve been able to measure this, our emissions by 11 in a single year. At the same time we cut our Unemployment Rate by 14 . Were creating green jobs, a prosperous middle class economy that people can do from solar, to water, to other things at the same moment were facing the reality. And quite honestly, chris, we have no other choice. I lead climate mayor is a group i cofounded of mayors across the country. When donald trump said he was going to withdraw from the paris climate accords, we have in 47 states 409 cities that have said if hes out, were in, were the only centralized country meeting the goals. And some of us are accelerating, doing it now, promised 100 Renewable Energy in california, and that is the pathway to the future to save the earth. How huh thinking theres 44 people, the majority in Northern California, but there are many missing, down in Southern California, you have more control over the fire now than they did 48 hours ago, how are you thinking about the relief efforts, what people need, and how do you think about rebuilding . Well, were going to have to have help for people in their homes, we have to first find the dead throughout the state and anybody who has lost the places where they live. But, you know, i think its a sobering message when you see this, that the last Climate Change deniers tell that to a firefighters on the line, tell that to somebody whos lost their loved one to a fire who has died, tell that to somebody who longer has a home. Despite what you hear from national politics, our local officials and federal officials at the departmental level deal with each other with incredibly good will, the federal money is coming, some people want to distract us with the politics of this, or the crazy north side ideas they have, but we have work to do. We have people to feed, weve got people who have to get back into their homes, firefighters on the line, we have people still living in shelters tonight, here in Southern California, and obviously up north. We will put all hands, not just for this fight, but for the months to come, to make sure people can come back and rebuild. There are thousands of units, thousands of home and thousands of units of Residential Housing taken out. Theres going to be a tremendous cost here. No question. Especially up in Northern California where we see thousands of structures that have probably been destroyed. But even down here in Southern California, were going to be working extremely hard to make sure people can get back, can build new housing and that we do everything we can to protect. We cant keep denying this is happening. This is a new normal, and this drought that is here that causes these fires requires federal leadership that we hope will come soon. All right, Eric Garcetti as the major of los angeles, many thanks. Thank you, chris. After the break, senator Tammy Duckworth, the president sent thousands to the border without any real mission, after this. About 5,000 migrants from Central America are now heading to san diego, where they plan to ask the u. S. Government for asylum at the legal port of entry. And in anticipation of that, customs and Border Protection officials have shut down several lanes from tijuana into san diego, one of the busiest border crossings in america. Now they did that today, as you can see from the traffic, even though according to the san diego tribune, as of last night, most members of the caravan remain more than 1500 miles from tijuana. While the 5,000 plus troops the president sent to defend the border, well, most of them are hundreds of miles away from tijuana, stationed instead in texas near the rio grande valley. Its an absurd situation that iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth pointed out to me is also a waste of resources. There is no real mission for the troops there. And this is at the cost of im hearing figures as high as 200 million. You know, this president has done everything he can to politicize our military, and thats completely wrong. So we have 5,000 troops under title 10 which means under posse comitatus, theyre not allowed to do any Law Enforcement functions. Theyre basically sitting out in the desert building fences and latrines for each other, eating mres with no real mission. It is a waste of resources and a real misuse of our brave men and women in uniform, and theyre going to be there over thanksgiving. A way from their families. You were tweeting yesterday, if im not mistaken on the day that folks were observing veterans day about the anniversary of what you called your alive day, the day that your helicopter was shot down. Tell me about what it was like to sort of recollect about that day. Well, yesterday was the 14year anniversary of my alive day. Its a tradition out the to us by the vietnam veterans. I would look at the day i was shot down as a very sad day or as a second birthday, and i choose to celebrate it. And so for me every year, its my gut check. Its my moral compass. I dont ever want to live my life in a way in any day of my life that the men who saved me would ever be ashamed of what i do. Its my moral compass here in congress. Every day im in the senate, i dont want them to regret, ever, ever regret saving my life. And try to do everything i can to support our troops, to support our veterans, to live by the ideals that they lived by when they saved me that day in that dusty field in iraq. In terms of supporting veterans, there is a story that i really am still scratching my head about. 82,000. Yes. Beneficiaries of the gi bill are awaiting on housing payments. A and this appears to be a Technical Glitch that was known for quite some time. Why is this not fixed . Incompetence. Incompetence from this trump administration. There is still not a chief Information Officer for the v. A. Two years in, the second Largest Agency in the United States government with 300,000 employees that are serving tens and millions of veterans, they do not have a cio. So their Computer System crashed, basically, and now 80,000 young men and women who are going to school on a gi bill that they earned thanks to their military service, protecting and defending us are not going to get money for their housing allowance. Many of them have gone too little money. Some have been paid as little as 800 less than they should have been paid. Theyre going to get kicked out of their apartments, their dormitories at a time when theyre trying to move on with their lives. And this president cant he is spending 200 million on sending 500,000 troops to the boarder where they have nothing to do, and yet he is going to leave 80,000 veterans who have already done their job, who have already performed their missions out there with no place to live because theyre not getting the housing allowance. It is shameful. You worked in the veterans administration. In some ways, its one of the most sprawling, complicated bureaucracies in the federal government, and also vital and important. The president hammered on the v. A. In his campaign. What grade do you give the performance of that agency under his stewardship . Well, you know, i think that hes done an f. I give him an f rating when it comes to the v. A. Many of the folks in the v. A. Are trying as hard as they can. But when you dont have a cio, you cant overhaul that Computer System. Let me ask you one sec. So is that a Senate Confirmed position . Or is that just a political appointment . Its a Senate Confirmed political appointment. So they just havent nominated someone . They havent nominated someone. In two years . Yeah, to be the chief Information Officer for the v. A. At a time when theyre trying to integrate the v. A. And the dods Electronic Medical record and theyve left 80,000 veterans throughout with no forms of payment. Something similar happened when we first put in the gi bill, post 9 11 gi bill when i was under secretary shinseki. There was a glitch then. But secretary shinseki blew up at the cio at the time and said i dont care. Were going fix it and cut checks tomorrow. So he went out and we cut checks to all the veterans who are not getting their payments. This president is leaving these guys to get thrown out on to the streets. They can fix this. They can do emergency payments to make sure they get the money to pay their rent and housing bills for their dormitories and theyre not doing it. Final question about the representation in this congress. Youre someone who comes from a different background than a lot of your fellow senators. Obviously youre a veteran. Youre a woman of color. You have a sevenmonthold daughter who you are mothering right now as you are in the capitol. There is a whole wave of new folks who are going to be taking office, two new women who will be joining you as democratic colleagues in the senate. Dozens of women who have been elected in the house. How does that change the atmosphere and the leadership structures and representation on capitol hill . Well, we need more women in leadership positions all across this nation, not just here in capitol hill, but in boardrooms as well, all across america. Remember, we also lost two women. Well lost Claire Mccaskill and heidi heitkamp. In the senate, at least on the democratic side, we havent gained any more women. You recall afghanistan, their parliament has 25 female representation, and were sitting at 22 in the United States. So were not doing as well as afghanistan is. And that says something about how much more we have to do and how much long were have to go. Until we get 50 of the Senate Occupied by women, were not at true and quell representation of the american people. All right. Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth, thank you so much for making some time. Thank you. All right. I want to thank everyone that already bought tickets to our first ever live recording of why this happened, our weekly podcast out tuesdays. That event is now sold out. But heres the thing. Hopefully it will not be our very last live show. We are thinking about maybe making this a thing. We dont know if its going to be a thing, but were thinking about making it a think. Well see how this one goes. So you should keep your eyes out. Watch the space. If youre not able to make it out sunday we have good news. We have a brandnew episode up today. And that is about the Lasting Legacy of slavery on southern politics, and its way more complicated and way more enduring and fascinating than you might imagine. Its also our first ever episode with two guests, maya sen and matthew blackwell. You can download it wherever you get your podcasts. Dont forget to rate and review. That is all in for this evening. The 11th hour with Brian Williams starts now. Tonight, the first ladys extraordinary call for a senior white house staff tore be fired saying she no longer deserves the honor of serving there. And tonight, reports of an even bigger shakeup sparked by a president described as furious and brooding in a cocoon of bitterness. On the russia investigation front, will written questions for this white house even matter in the end . Plus the president dismissing reports that hes getting played by north korea. An update on those troops at our southern Border Guarding against that caravan. And trump on the defensive over hisy
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