Inside with jen psaki starts now. Okay. This may come as a shock to you but donald trump actually didnt spend the day in court today. But, not to worry, he will be back in court tomorrow. Plenty to watch, im sure. When it comes to the case in manhattan, he is, of course, innocent until proven guilty. That is how it works. He has already been found liable for Business Fraud and for sexual abuse. He is still facing criminal charges in washington, d. C. And in florida. And, in georgia. He was also just named and unindicted coconspirator in arizona and in michigan. Right now, the basic thrust of his Campaign Message is that president s should be immune from prosecution so they can attempt a coup and commit crimes at will. That is basically where we are right now. And yet the leaders in the Republican Party are closing ranks around their likely nominee, including many who clearly know better. Consider this. Just a few months ago, Florida Governor ron desantis basically mock people who bend the knee and kissed trumps ring. You can be the strongest, most dynamic, successful republican and conservative in america if you dont kiss that ring, he will try to trash you. You know what . You deserve a nominee thats going to put you first not himself first. Turns out that one didnt exactly age well. Just this weekend, Governor Ron Desantis went down to miami to do the exact thing he roundly mocked Once Upon A Time not that long ago. He reportedly met with trump to bury the hatchet and discuss fundraising for the upcoming general election campaign. That is just the most recent example of a leading republican, who at one point called out trump for being the uniquely immoral figure that he is before falling right back in line. Take for example trumps a former Attorney General, bill barr, who at one point and more than willing to tell it like it is. He has a lot of people who follow him stubbornly and one of the interesting things is people that have worked with him, have seen him, have seen him behind the scenes, not many of them are supporting him. Here is the thing, apparently there are a lot of republicans who seem to be tolerant of behavior they dont think its appropriate for the chief executive, including, apparently now you, mr. Bill barr. Just to be clear, you are voting for someone who you believe tried to subvert the peaceful transfer of power, that cant even achieve his own policies, that light about the election, even after his Attorney General told him that the election wasnt stolen, and as the former chief Law Enforcement officer in this country, you will vote for someone who is facing 88 criminal counts question the answer to any question is yes. The answer to the question is yes . That was almost hard to watch. How about New Hampshire governor chris sununu, who had this to say about trump on our show. You support him for president , even though you believe he contributed to an instruction, you support him for president even though you believe hes lying about the last election, you support him for president even if hes convicted in the manhattan case . The answer to that is yes, correct . Me and 51 of america. Okay, governor. You were once capable of speaking truth about the leader of the party you remain in. That seemed to be the governor just a few weeks ago. What is a popular governor, who isnt even running for reelection supposed to do . What could you possibly do . Lots of things is the answer. Of course, there is Mitch Mcconnell, the longestserving republican leader in senate history, who, in the week of january 6, spoke powerfully about who exactly was to blame about the brazen attack on our democracy. It was very powerful. President trumps is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. That was Mitch Mcconnell on the floor of the senate. That was him then. This is rich mcconnell now. As the republican leader of the senate, obviously, i am going to support the nominee of our party. You have taken stands on issues you feel are of Strong National security interests and morally imperative. What kind of influence what i have had question you are one of the most powerful republicans beat i am the republican leader of the senate. What we do here is try to make law. Senator Mitch Mcconnell, give yourself a little more credit. You are the Senate Minority leader. You are quite powerful. You arent a powerless observer of history sitting on the sidelines. Some, what have we learned through all of this . Well, we have learned that people like Mitch Mcconnell, chris sununu, bill barr, and ron desantis know better. They have said it out loud indefinitely privately. They know who donald trump is, they know what hes done, they know what hes capable of. Yet, they will still give him their full throated support in november. From time to time, you may find yourself wondering how donald trump continues to survive through indictments and Criminal Trials and insurrections and everything else. Well, enablers like the ones i just mentioned are a big reason why. Sarah matthews is the former White House DeputyPress Secretary for donald trump, Mckay Comments is a staff writer for the atlanta, who has written extensively about trumps enablers in the Republican Party. Thank you for taking the time. Sir, i want to start with you. As we are watching that, you have spoken out, and consistently spoken out, what goes to your head when you see people who know better defending trump, as they just did . It is really frustrating because, as you noted, some of the things i have said publicly about donald trump are horrible and then they are going on and endorsing him. I can only imagine that the things they say privately. Ive talked with a lot of republicans high up, elected officials and things like that who will pass them privately but many of them will not even same it publicly. And once bashed him publicly. These folks have bashed him publicly and still Going Forward and supporting him. A lot of times what they often say is that they are supporting him because of the policies, that they want the conservative agenda. And, where i get frustrated is that they are treating this like it is a normal election, a normal republican candidate and a normal democratic candidate. This could be anything further from the case. With donald trump, you have a candidate who try to overturn the last election, who spread Conspiracy Theories because he couldnt accept the fact that he lost the last election. Those theories helped inspire an insurrection on our nations capitol. To this day, donald trump refuses to admit that he lost that election and has not shown any remorse for what happened on january 6th. So, of course, i would love for us to be having a debate of policy ideas in the 2024 election. But, when we have a candidate on the ballot who will not uphold the constitution, then i feel like i have to put policy aside and i want to support the person who is best suited to defeat donald trump. One thing i will note very quickly, on bill barr specifically in that interview that you should, he mentions this about policies and that is why he is supporting trump, even though he says he shouldnt be anywhere near the oval office. I wrote down a quote that i found from Bill Barr In May of 2023 where he said that if trump reclaimed the white house in 2024, you may want his policies but trump will not deliver trump policies. He will deliver chaos. If anything, lead to a backlash that will set his policies much further back than they otherwise would be. Even if you want a conservative agenda, trump is not the person to deliver that. Heard the mouth of bill barr. Let me ask you, he did a bunch of interviews of this weekend. What struck me is when Mitch Mcconnell seems to be quite passive and hes not a passive person. He has temped more people to the Supreme Court than any Minority Leader in history. But, he also had very strong words about donald trump after january 6, to sarahs point. Hes not going to be the leader anymore, hes not running. He doesnt have a Big Political Future here. Youve covered the Republican Party. What does he have to lose at this point . Watching that, i was thinking about a story that romney told me about Mitch Mcconnell when i was writing my viagra 300 romney. He said during the first Senate Impeachment trial, Mitch Mcconnell took mitt romney aside and leaned on him to join the rest of his republican colleagues to shutdown the trial, bring a quick end to it. Mitt romney was a am going to keep an open mind, i want to see the evidence. What he said was that Mitch Mcconnell, when he made his argument, didnt even bother to try to convince mitt romney that trump wasnt guilty of what he was being accused of. What is that he did was make this, he laid out this catastrophic scenario where he said, look, if we dont all circle around our guy, democrats are going to win the white house, they are going to win the senate, they are going to push through a radical agenda, the green new deal, he listed off the critic parities that he was scared of. And, i think that that helps you understand the psychology of somebody like Mitch Mcconnell. Yes, there are Craven Political Copulations being made by a lot of the people you just showed. Yes, there are people who have taught themselves into the idea that they can do more good if they are reelected and so they are just kind of making that calculation. Then there are people like Mitch Mcconnell, maybe bill barr falls into this category, who basically talk themselves into this idea that they just cannot let democrats have power , that as bad as trump is, as dangerous as he is, as authoritarian as he might be, giving power to democrats is even worse. I do think there is this partisan mindset that frankly is present on both parties but especially right now in the trump era gop where it is so hard to break out of this idea that giving up power to the other side is the worst thing you can possibly do. It is really, youve made this point. The fear of gas stoves, being more afraid of that and what could and democracy, that defines where bill barr is coming from, right . I tweeted about that. That was something bill barr cited in that interview. He talked about conservative things Like Clean Energy regulations from the biden administration, such as wanting to restrict gas stoves or electric vehicles, things like that. I dont agree with Biden Policies on that. Im a republican. But, at the end of the day, to try to equate those things to Something Like the end of our constitutional republic, in my eyes, if trump is elected in 2024, it is absurd. It is partisanship. I think that ultimately, i have said that i will put my country over my party. Ive never voted for a democrat a date in my life. If my choices are donald trump and joe biden, i have no choice but to support biden because i cannot support someone like trump. The threats to democracy a good sunday threat of gas stove being taken away. Mckay, you have written a lot about this and he wrote a piece earlier this year in the atlantic, about what would happen with these enablers in an administration. There was a quote from hogan gately that stood out to me in this piece i think its going to be a concerted cultivated effort to ensure that the people that he puts in his next administration, they dont have to share his worldview, exactly, but they have to implement it. His defenders will argue, i assume, that is what staffers do. How is this different . I think that is a fair point. I do think you should expect that a president S Administration is more or less going to advance the agenda of the men who is elected. The difference is that donald trump doesnt have a totally coherent ideology. What trump cares about is obedience. That was, in reporting that piece, the thing i heard time and time again talking to people in trumps orbit was that he feels burned from his First Administration by people who tried to thwart him, that he would have some kind of fleeting policy idea, something he wanted to do and his staff would get in the way. Or they would resign or they would leave the white house and write books about him that were unflattering. So, this time around, hes not going to bother with the adults in the room, hes not going to get the well credentialed republicans like frankly bill barr. Hes going to focus on people who are absolutely obedient to him, lapdogs, cronies, people who he knows he can control. And, i do think that will mean a substantive difference between the first trump administration, which was defined by chaos and upheaval and infighting and leaking and a second trump administration, which could have a lot of those things but could also just have a lot of people in lockstep with him. Depending on what you think of donald trump, that could be a lot more dangerous. Sarah, these aldermen could learn a lot from you being consistently outspoken. I am grateful you are here. Mckay, your book on mitt romney is excellent. People should read it to help understand the Republican Party here to thank you both so much for joining me today. Appreciate it. Congressman adam schiff is standing by in the studio. I will ask him about the new indictments facing trump allies and the former president a brazen call for absolute immunity. That conversation is coming up in just 60 seconds. Stay right where you are. Are. Power e trades easy touse tools make complex trading less complicated. Custom scans help you find new trading opportunities, while an Earnings Tool helps you plan your trades and stay on top of the market. E trade from Morgan Stanley okay. Here is a sign of the times we are living in. One day before Donald Trumps lawyers made the preposterous claim he is immune from prosecution for trying to steal the election, we learned is also an unindicted Co Conspirator for trying to do the same thing in two states, two pretty important ones. Arizona and michigan. That is not too much and he has also been charged for the same scheme in georgia. As my next guest notes, all of these charged acts came together in the january 6th insurrection, and insurrection that trump incited to disrupt the a full count of electoral votes, and attempt to hold onto power propelled by the slides of illegal fake electors. Yet, here we are at a point where it will be up to the Justice System to decide if she somehow is above the law. As our friend Andrew Weissman reminded me yesterday, the fact that we are at this point meets our democracy is in a very perilous place. I know it sounds like hyperbole but i think your opening is so correct that we are essentially as neil put it, one vote away from the end of democracy as we know it, with checks and balances. A stark reminder. Joining me now, Democratic Congress men adam schiff of california. He is also a u. S. Senate candidate. That week i read was part of a longer thread you posted about the Immunity Case and ended it with, if the Justice System sends the case back to the lower court as a means of calling, the flock is not with the constitution or the court itself but with the character of the justices serving on the court. Theres a lot packed in there. Talk to me about what you mean by that. What i mean is the justices know exactly what they are doing. They know the danger of the argument of immunity. Essentially if a president is helping him from committing crimes and particular crimes while in office that are designed to hold onto power after losing that is the end. They cant go there. But, what they can do, if they have just a political focus on this, as they can delay. They can send this back to the lower court, they have already delayed, they have shown in the past they can move at great speed when they want to. When i want to make sure he could appear on ballots. Based on the ability of Secretary Of State to take him off the ballot they can move fast when i want to, they can delay when they want to. Here, it seems they are very purposeful in their delay. I also found it quite ironic, i dont know if this point was brought to the justices attention, during the first impeachment trial, trumps lawyers argued that any act he undertook while in office that he believed was in the National Interest or his own interest, for that matter, could not be impeached. He had to be prosecuted instead. Here they are making exactly the opposite argument in the court. It is really, the character, the reference to character and the delay i think is so important for people to understand. Trump is, we were listening to the hearings. Trump supporters suggested the president could not be prosecuted for assassinating a political rival, and assassination would be an official act. His lawyer said a president could be immune after ordering a coup. There were a lot of hypotheticals the justices presented and trumps legal team seemed to suggest it was