That has been in the making for nearly 100 years. Paying it ford ward is just the icing on the cake. It is a beautiful story. Maybe it is one that the world needs to hear. Reporter elwyn lopez, nbc news, california. It absolutely is a story the world needs to hear. And it goes to show you that you never know how the amazing Ripple Effect of one act of bravery, what it can produce. On that extraordinary note, i wish you a very goodnight. I told you i was giving you sweet dreams. For all of our colleagues, thanks for staying up late with me. See you at the end of tomorrow. In the summer of 2004, The War In Iraq was raging. Fighting had intensified and evidence of american torture at the prison had just come to light. Democrats were promising a new direction for the war. And to make their case, they had just nominated a decorated war veteran to be their nominee. A man who had been awarded the silver star, the bronze star, and three Purple Hearts for valor and combat. Thank you. Im john kerry and im reporting for duty. Senator john kerry made his Military Service in vietnam a central part of his campaign. In the weeks after he accepted the democratic nomination, he consistently led george w. Bush in the polls. Then in august, everything changed. That was when these campaign ads started airing. I served with john kerry. I served with john kerry. John kerry has not be honest about what happened in vietnam. He is lying about his record. It is a central image of john kerrys campaign. The candidate literally wrapping his arms around his vietnam crew mates but now republicans are challenging his war record with a tv ad featuring other vietnam veterans. None of whom served on kerrys boat. Claiming kerry did not earn his medals. They were the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth ads and they were one of if not the most impactful and most dishonest ad campaigns in president ial history. Eventually it was revealed the swift boat veteran stories did not line up with the official record. But by that point, the damage had been done. The ads had aired across multiple swing states. President bush opened up a wide lead in the polls and kerrys Campaign Never recovered. The phrase Swift Boating has become a verb to describe untrue and unfair political attacks but the impact of that ad, the impact of that. Campaign went well beyond electing george bush. Because the people behind that campaign continued to test the boundaries of conservative politics and shape them years to come. Among the top contributors to the campaign were the late bob perry instrumental in turning the movement into a conservative voting base. And harlan crow who has been in the news for his lavish patronage of clarence thomas. Vacations, private plane flights and questionable real estate purchases. Two players were john oneal and jarome coursey, they coauthored the book unfit for command. That would become the main source for many of the false or misleading accusations against senator kerry. John oneal went onto become the director of one of the conservative movements most antiislam groups. The horowitz center. Jarome corsey went onto become one of the birther conspiracies that claimed barack obama was not born in the United States. He later became a bureau chief for alex jones info wars. But of all the controversial conservatives involved in the smear, there is one man credited with being the master mind. His name is Chris Lacecita who turned it into a campaign. Funded by millions of dollars in shadowy contributions. And where is he today . Where is he . Well, he is running pretty much everything. Chris lacivita serves as trumps political adviser. Lacivita was the brains behind the Trump Campaigns efforts to smother ron desantis Political Campaign while it was in its infancy. Now in addition to his prominent role on that Trump Campaign, mr. Lacivita has a new job leading trumps take over as the Republican National committee. According to the Republican National post, trumps team led by lacivita is running on the political equivalent of shock and awe. The leadership has been replaced or reassigned while dozens of lower ranking officials including State Directors were fired or told to reapply for their jobs. The firings were done by lacivita. Among the people he has hired is lawyer Christina Bobb. She is on the left there. A former reporter for The News Channel Oan and outspoken election denier. She will now be the Republican Partys Senior Council for Election Integrity. The rights preferred vehicle for engaging in Voter Intimidation and claims of voter fraud. Those are some of the changes we know of at this moment. But what does it mean that the guy behind the Swift Boat Smears is now running another president ial campaign . New York Magazine suggests that mr. Lacivitas past filled with trickery and lies shows a Testimony Plat for how he will go after joe biden and the democrats. Not attacking bidens weaknesses but his strengths. Joining me now is michael, National Political reporter for the national post. And former rnc chair and the cohost of the weekend. Of course on msnbc. Michael steele. Great to have you here. Michael steele, let me first ask you about the appointment of chris famous for the swift boat campaign. And subsequent very intense conservative campaigns. What do you think the practical effect that will be on the Trump Campaign as we enter the general election . It is less the practical effect on the Trump Campaign. But the practical effect the Trump Campaign has on everything else. And, it is the shock and awe. Creating damage that will come in short bursts and longer bursts. That cannot be contained. It is an asymmetrical gain which i have been telling folks these guys have been playing. And now it will come to fruition in the cycle because it all matters right now. It all has to work right now. Because when they get the power back, that is how the rest of it is done. It is a way to have him sort of straddle two universes. Have his role in the campaign diminished obviously because of the requirements by law. Having his ear and his hands on the tail and the lever inside the Republican National committee. To make sure that the money, the structure, the organization and most essentially, the personnel are the people doing what the design is. And that design, asymmetrical means you dont know it will be the same tomorrow this is not 2016, folks. And not 2020. Trust me. Yeah. And i want to get back to that. This sort of, the importance of what is happening at the rnc, michael, which you reported on. So hopefully today is the Blood Letting has been swift. And it has been vicious. And it is trump at all costs. I understand that. But what about the Republican Party . Not everybody has the last name trump. Why the implications here for other republicans who are running this year . Two important things to know. It is top down, organized. They have a plan, they know what they are doing. There is not the Personnel Turnover we saw in both of the last cycles. And, they went through the primaries very smoothly. Chris, with susie wiles has been a key part of that. The defining feature of Chris Lacivita is he is a combatant. He wants to be in the fight and he is fighting hard. Remember it is normal for a presumptive nominee to take over the National Party at this point. But chris went in and cleared house in a dramatic way. Made a lot of people in the building upset. There is concern about down ballot republicans having the same benefitsment one of the things he did, he is Closing Community centers and some communities. And, reassigning that money and effort to be more focused on trump. Lacivita will say trump is at the top of the ticket. When trump wins, republicans will win up and down the ballot. Thats the most important thing. What we dont know is how it will affect at the state level and how the senate and the house campaigns come along with these changes. I want to talk about that. Ending early voting out reach. It fits in line with what republicans have been advocating under the banner of donald trump. How much of a goal is that . It is all of that. Put everything behind the presidency. What about candidates in purple districts . How did they navigate a toxic candidate at the top of the ticket like donald trump . Well you know that candidate will need democratic and independent voters. To support them. But now, all the focus and emphasis is on trump. Who do you think those candidates are going to be talking about . And so, it is a strategy about one person. That is how donald trump wants it to be. That is why his daughterinlaw is runing the rnc. The other side of the scenario is that when trump loses this election, or if trump loses this election, you are going to have the Psalm Narrative around stolen election, rigged election, all of that. And he will have the bodies in place to prosecute that place better and more effectively from that point forward. People actually believed the constitutional oath they took and their responsibility to the country to uphold the Election Results and that got in the way. Trump has largely cleared the way and the cost will be to the rnc. And the candidates running across the country. In various state races that are going to have to figure out how to find the resources and infrastructure they need. If it ant about trump, it certainly wont be about them. Michael steele makes a great point. When you are talking about Election Integrity, that is about Voter Intimidation. It is an Insurance Policy against a lost election. We can claim voter fraud and he has the ambassadors in place. Christina bobb chief among them at the rnc. Can you give me a sense of what those Election Integrity efforts on a practical matter might entail and or the expectations that Christina Bobb will be an effective general on that front . I think it will be the the front person on the front. She will be on tv carrying the president s message which as we have known for three now is any election that he is not performing well in is a fraud. I think there is a real effort here to do what a lot of republicans feel the rnc did not do well in 2020 up to the election day. Up to the election day. They were just wiped out and questions of early voting. Questions about signature verification. They want, there is not much time left but the rnc wants to relitigate that stuff. There was a lawsuit filed in michigan which which the rnc is asking michigan to clear the voter rolls saying there are too many old names on the rolls. They brought in charlie spies, he is one of the most respected republican Election Lawyers who was the guy behind jeb bushs superpac and Ron Desantis Campaign and mitt romneys superpac and i think he is being brought in because they believe that he actually knows how to do this well. She is well known among the base. I will leave everybody with a quote from the new york analysis. The Trump Campaign was a sham bollic operation. You had a more professional operation but it was trumps web designer until the home stretch. Now you see what happens when you get the most rude calculating and ruthless operators. An experiment on stage. Thank you guys. Thank you. We have much more ahead this evening including how are you going to learn the moves for beyonces texas dance if Congress Bans tiktok . What are the implications for American Politics if that Communication Line goes dead . But first, the Fulton County district attorneys Sprawling Election interference case got a little more narrow. 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It is also a central part of the sprawlg Election Conspiracy Case brought by the Fulton County district attorney. But today that case got a little less sprawling when judge scott mcafee dismissed six of its 41 counts citing lack of detail. And one of those counts is the one that specifically calls out trump and his Chief Of Staff mark meadows for that january 2nd call to brad raffensberger. This doesnt mean trump is out of the woods. 35 of those criminal counts are very much intact but all of this is happening as we await Judge Mcafee East ruling on whether the da will be disqualified from her own case. He hope to rule on that matter by friday. Msnbc legal analyst Melissa Redman joins me now. Thanks for joining me tonight. Im really eager to get your professional opinion on whether these charges seemed overly broad or lacking definition in your mind when they were first charged. Does mcafees dismissal seem unusual to you . It is a bit unusual in that of those filed in criminal cases, they are rarely granted. So basically, the defense has to show that the crime has not been alleged be enough for them to be on notice. These defenses all of which involve solicitation of violation of the Oath Of Office by public official, there is not enough information in the oath for the state to allege how the conduct violated that personal term of the oath. So Public Officials in georgia have different oaths so some are more specific than others. And it just so happens that the oaths taken by the house, the representatives and the senators i