That was busier than i expected. Im going to hand this to my friend joe for a minute. You have yourself a fantastic rest of the day and a great party tonight. Ali velshi starts now. Good morning, it is go saturday, april 27th. Donald trump goes by many names and titles these days. He is at once the former president of the United States d and the Presumptive Republican nominee. If you were in a Monastic Courtroom Where His First Criminal Trial Strapped Its second week, you may have heard him referred to as the defendant. That is a first for a former president of the United States. To the Nine Supreme Court t justices this week, he was known as the petitioner, asking them to grant him immunity for criminal prosecution. We can now add one more child to that list. Unindicted coconspirator. That is the title donald trump has been given in two cases brought against loyalists who allegedly participated in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The latest indictment comes out of arizona, where this woman, the attorney general, chris mays, pressed charges against 18 people for their roles in that states the Collectors Scheme. They include rudy giuliani, parker meadows, and other me prominent trump allies, and, notably, lawyers. The indictment alleges those 18 defendants, schemed to prevent unlawful transfer of the presidency to keep unindicted coconspirator one, donald trump, in office against the nd will of arizonas voters. That news dropped in the middle of a very busy week for the former president and his attorneys. Trump was also separately named an unindicted coconspirator in michigans investigation into the Collectors Scheme. 16 people have been charged tii michigans case. Comes we can begin with Opening Statements on monday in a criminal trial in there, which was followed by the prosecution calling its first witness, the former ceo of American Media er inc. , the pleasure of the National Enquirer and other tabloids and magazines. Over the course of four days, david pecker testified about a crucial meeting between himself, trump, and trumps the personal and fixer michael cohen. Prosecutors allege it was at that meeting that the trio hashed out a plan to help Donald Trumps political chances by suppressing potentially scandalous stories about him. The strategy came to be known as catch and kill. Catch a story and kill it. It may not seem like there are any similarities between trumps trial in new york and that the Collectors Scheme about, for one thing, both of them involve the falsification of documents and records. Both cases alleged the former president worked with others ind furtherance of a crime. In addition to the 18 people charged in arizona this week, as i mentioned, 16 people in michigan were charged with felonies last year for their roles in the fake elector effort in that state. Six others in nevada have been charged and in georgia last summer, the Fulton CountyDistrict AttorneyRest Racketeering charges against trump and 18 others, a charge typically used to take down organized crime. Four of those defendants have since reached the agreements with the prosecutors. Fulton county is the only jurisdiction prosecuting trump himself in this matter but that case is bogged down. Fulton county and arizona are c the two jurisdictions pursuing prosecutions against close trump allies and those indictments are worth reading. The Fulton County indictment lists 161 instances prosecutors described as, overt act in ri furtherance of the conspiracy. Meanwhile, the arizona sp indictment provides Additional Details that give a fuller zoil picture of trumps teams multistate effort to subvert democracy in 2020. Georges indictment, for example, mentions a man named greg safsten. Greg safsten is now one of the 18 defendants in arizona accused of helping to organize the meeting of the fake collectors and serving as a ec fake elector himself. Similarly, arizonas indictment lays out the extensive Pressure Campaign to coerce rusty ai bowers, speaker of the Arizona House of representatives, to call a Special Session to unlawfully appoint trump collectors. Soon after, bowers was getting hundreds of emails demanding he do his constitutional duty and appoint trump loyal electors. No fewer than six the defendants contacted rusty bowers either privately or publicly on social media to get him to cooperate. Georges indictment completes that the chair. It adds that trump was also part of that Pressure Campaign. He himself, donald trump, called rusty bowers at least twice during that same time frame, including once or twice around Christmas Day to get him on board with the unlawful plan. He told thenpresident trump, i voted for you,. It worked f you, i campaigned for you, i just wont do anything illegal for you. Joining me now is the Democratic Victory of state of arizona, adrian fontes. In his previous role as the Maricopa County recorder, he oversaw the administration of the 2020 elections in arizonas largest county and witnessed the threats against Election Workers and against democracy. Secretary adrian fontes, good to see you, thank you for being with us. Thank you so much for having me, how are you doing this morning question i am well, thank you. You were on the floor front lines of seeing how this is happening in terms of voting. The thing about this case that is so interesting, like when you read the georgia case, to go from thinking this was a bumbling band of fools trying to get things their way into g something that seems much more sophisticated. That is what this arizona indictment outlines. Yes, i think one of the important things we need to an realize here is, one of the complaints is this has come to slow. At the end of the day, the attorney general, chris mays in arizona, is a very thoughtful and careful prosecutor. She and her team across and all the ts and dotting the is to make sure these criminal defendants are going to have their rights upheld. They are presumed innocent until proven guilty. But, at the same time, the grand jurors were presented with sufficient evidence to bring these charges. This was not a decision by some prosecutor, there were somewhere between 16 and 23 grand jurors who decided to return a true bill and start the criminal prosecution in arizona, which, as you have on indicated, is connected in many ways to a lot of what else happened across the country, the pattern and practice. The really important thing here is that the process be preserved. Americans depend on their elections the way they depend on their Criminal Justice system. To process is what is essentially american and we have to preserve these processes with integrity. This is your job, you are the second highest elected statewide official. You are also responsible for overseeing elections. A lot of the people involved in this, not named as Co Conspirators but a lot of the a people involved in telling you that the election was fake in arizona and michigan and those consequences are still in power, and was still very active in politics in arizona. This isnt about the past, they still are active in what looks like the misrepresentation of democracy in your state. Some of them are in our state legislature. This is a frustratingly slow process, again, for many people. And, i get that. Bottom line is this. If we are going to fight to preserve and protect our democracy, and more importantly the rule of law generally, we have to take the circumstances t for what they are, we have to be thoughtful, we have to be thorough, and we have to practice what we preach. We cannot let emotion or politics get in the weight of these things. Again, remember, these are processes laid out ahead of time. They have been thoroughly vetted through the regular judicial segment of our democracy that is the grand jury process, the criminal defendants will be afforded all of their rights and it doesnt matter who is involved and what level of government or what part of power. In the United States, the person is above the law and that is the principle that we need to continue to practice, not just preach. Heres a thing that i am worried about in arizona, where all these races were remarkably tight. And some of your other candidates who won statewide office did so, in fact, with the help of some republicans who said we are not setting up for this nonsense that the Republican Party of arizona is involved in. However, this, the trump people would have you believe that the separate states of electors with her in case they want an audit or they won a court case, they would be in a position to east advanced Donald Trumps claim for the presidency. That is not what it became. It became a thing in which people who knew they were not electors said they were electors, in which people who knew otherwise convinced others to sign letters and documents to say that they are electors. How do you prevent this from happening again in this years election in a place like ti arizona . That, again, will fall to you to some degree. Will, we prevent it by doing exactly what we are doing right now. We work closely with the proper authorities, in this case the attorney general, and we move forward with the kinds of cases and the kinds of prosecutions that are appropriate under the law. We stay steady, we stay firm. At the end of the day, democracy will prevail. Look, people are being held accountable. We have outstanding indictments at this time against some county officials, who refused to certify elections. Heres the deal. If you want to mess around and find out, go ahead but you are going to be facing the rule of law, you will be facing some sober prosecutions. Isnt this what americans really want . We want that normalcy, we want a predictable process, regardless of who wins and who loses at the end of the day, we want to get back to the business of america. That is what we are presenting, that is what we are trying to make sure people understand as a deterrent to this kind of wackiness in the future. The arizona codefendant, unindicted coconspirator number three is your opponent the 2022 arizona Secretary Of State grace, he is an election denier, as were other top candidates for top State Offices in arizona in 2022. You and i were there just before the election talking about this. Is there ioa Reckoning Inside T arizona Republican Party about this . I know there was some reckoning because a lot of those people want and supported you and other people who were not election deniers, that was there on protest. But, that wasnt a structural reckoning within the party. Is that happening, as far as you know . We do know there have been rough times in the arizona h Republican Party. Im not going to wax on the politics of it but they do have a new party chair because of a little controversy that happened very recently. And, there is, you know, a little bit of infighting over there. The reality is this. Im not concerned with the politics, im not concerned with the actual outcomes of the candidate races in our elections. My team and i, across the entire state, are focused on , making sure that our opinions, whether they are political or not, are separated from our duties, which are duties to es every single filter across the state of arizona. Election officials in the United States of america followed the same sort of mantra. We are okay with seeing the political fights happening around us. The problem is when we get dragged in with false accusations, with lies, and with Conspiracy Theories accusing us of things that we did not do, like mark finchem did. Some of the races in arizona were narrow, let me remind you, my victory against mark finchem was not. You and i talked right after that because yours was decided quite quickly. You have been in this business for a while, you know it, you do with the threats feel like , you know how to handle them. There are lots of people in your state and around this country who are volunteers or, they are not officeholders, they are not notable people in society but they are holding up democracy on their own, how do you see that unfolding in arizona . There are a lot of people involved in the demonstration of elections last election is that i dont want to get involved with this anymore, this is absolute nonsense. Im very encouraged by e,the way that folks have stepped into some of these offices. We lost senior Election Officials in 12 out of our 15 counties, representing almost 92 of our voters in the last several years. But, the folks who have come in have come in wideeyed. They understand the nature of the possible threats that they will be facing. We have trained them from the secretary of States Office in such a direct way that we really know how to do it. As you mentioned, i am a prior Election Administrator at Maricopa County. Knowing the lingo, knowing the process as well, we are giving them the support that they needt and they are stepping up. While i am concerned with their safety, and i do hope the fbi and doj and all Law Enforcement continue to aggressively prosecute and pursue these folks who will issue these threats, the folks who are doing the work are standing up. They know the work is so important to our democracy. They understand their value, even if most of the American Public doesnt ever see them or hear them. So, im really encouraged. I think they are doing phenomenally well and we are gearing up for a good solid 2024 Election Cycle on the administration side. But the politics be what they are. You made me think we really have to highlight these people t more. We really have to make them into the euros that they are because we take for granted elections just get run but they dont, as we see. Real people run them. Thank you, sir, good to see you as always. Adrian fontes, Secretary Of State of arizona, good to have you on the store so. America is facing a free speech reckoning. I will speak with penn and erica ceo about the protests that her organization is facing. I will also speak to to go authors on the other side of the controversy improving the literary world. Than with a history of h social movements on College Campuses going back decades. G. Turn shipping to your advantage. Keep it simple. With clear, upfront pricing. With usps ground advantage®. Sometimes, the lows of Bipolar Depression feel darkest before dawn. With caplyta, theres a chance to let in the lyte™. Caplyta is proven to deliver significant relief across Bipolar Depression. Unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta treats both bipolar i and ii depression. And in clinical trials, Movement Disorders and weight gain were not common. Call your doctor about sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants may increase these risks in young adults. Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements which may be life threatening or permanent. These arent all the serious side effects. Caplyta can help you let in the lyte™. Ask your doctor about caplyta. Find savings and support at caplyta. Com screams bleeding gums are serious, jamie. Dr. Garcia . Woah. Theyre a sign of bacterial infection. Crest gum detoxifys antibacterial fluoride works below the gumline to help heal gums and stop bleeding. Crest saves the day. Crest. woman ugh, of course it stops loading at the best part. tony hale i wasnt eavesdropping, yes i was. You need verizon. Get their crazy powerful network out here, and get six months of disney bundle on them and it is all good. vo thats right, stream on the go, with six months of disney bundle on us. All your favorite content from hulu, disney plus and espn plus is all yours, and watch it all on the new galaxy s24 , also on us. Only on verizon. Her uncles unhappy. Im sensing an underlying issue. Its tmobile. It started when we tried to get him under a new plan. But they they unexpectedly unraveled their price lock guarantee. Which has made him, a bit. Unruly. You called yourself the uncarrier. You sing about price lock on those commercials. the price lock, the price lock. so, if you could change the price, change the name its not a lock, i know a lock. So how can we undo the damage . We could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. Their connection is unreal. And we could all unexperience this whole session. Okay, thats uncalled for. When others divide. We unite. With Real Solutions to help our kids. Like community schools. Neighborhood hubs that provide everything from Mental Health services to food pantries. Academic tutoring to prom dresses. Healthcare to after care. Community schools can wrap so much around public schools. And through meaningful partnerships with families, they become centers of their communities. Real solutions for kids and communities at aft. Org hundreds of people, mostly students, have been arrested on College Campuses t