Transcripts For MSNBCW PoliticsNation 20240703 : vimarsana.c

Politicsnation. Tonights lead, stormy days. Tonight more than half a million homes and businesses in and around houston, texas, are still without power after punishing storms slammed into the region yesterday, leaving at least seven people dead and putting intense strain on the infrastructure and power grid. The Lone Star State is weathering political storms as well tonight. Outrage is growing over Governor Greg Abbotts pardon of a white Army Sergeant found guilty of murder found guilty of murdering a black lives matter demonstrator in 2020. Critics are calling the pardon politically motivated. Well be talking about it all with the democrat challenging ted cruz for the senate, congressman cro little allred. Meantime, the white house is hoping to avoid political tempest tomorrow as the president delivers the Commencement Speech at Historically Black Morehouse College. Students and faculty have been divided over bidens support of the war and his presence on their campus. Weve got another big politicsnation show tonight. Lets dive in. Joining me now is congressman colin allred, democrat of texas currently running for the u. S. Senate from that state, challenging that incumbent senator, as i said. Congressman, thank you for being with us. First tonight, many parts of texas, including houston, are recovering from severe storms that slammed the region yesterday leaving more than half a million homes and businesses without power and at least seven people dead. You joined us a few months ago as texans mocked the third anniversary of a winter storm that crippled the states power grid for several days, leading to nearly 250 deaths across east and central texas. Forecasters expect an uncommonly active Hurricane Season and another summer of recordsetting heat driven by climate change. And a city like houston is uniquely vulnerable to flooding, particularly in lowincome areas. Is your states leadership prepared for more climatebased disruptions like these, congressman allred . Rev, thanks for having me on. We are experiencing more Severe Weather event, like you said. And houston seems like it keeps being hit by these freak storms. And my prayers, first of all, go out to all the families affected. I think its been seven confirmed dead so far, and im thankful for our first responders. And your question eis the right one about whether or not the state is ready, but i do think its important to note that at the federal level weve been investing in the infrastructure to help protect houston and some of our Critical Infrastructure around the state of texas and that our governor has been, i think, maybe taken those funds but then not acknowledged, you know, the effort that went into getting that actually passed. And so im glad that, you know, looks like theres good folks on the ground working very hard, but weve got to plan for these extreme weather events. That means planning ahead and investing in infrastructure, something ive always been committed to doing. I certainly join in praying for the families of the seven that has been has died in this storm and weather in texas and pray for others, but i want to go to another different subject thats texas related that bothers me. This week your Governor Greg Abbott pardoned daniel perry, a former Army Sergeant convicted of murdering a black lives matter protester in 2020. The victim, 28yearold garrett foster, was legally carrying a rifle at the time of the incident, but according to witnesses never raised his weapon. Perry claimed he was acting in selfdefense. Although unsealed evidence from the trial shows he made racist and threatening posts about protesters prior to the shooting, so whats your reaction to this pardon, especially coming at at time when we are once again seeing Many Americans engage in demonstrations and protests which we all hope will remain peaceful for everyone involved, whats your reaction to the pardon, congressman . Yeah, well you know, rev, you dont have to guess what happened here. There was a grand jury that convened and that issued an indictment. Mr. Perry got a chance to make his case in front of a jury of his peer, and his peers found him guilty of murder. And as you said, that was without some of the information that the General Public knows from some of these Text Messages in which he basically talked about seeking out violence and seeking out, you know, going to one of these protests in order to engage in violence. And so what you see now, i think, is when, you know, the governor steps in and abuses the pardon power like this, it makes all of us less safe. We are a nation of laws. Texas is a place of laws. But when youre able to violate those laws with impunity if the governor or the person in power likes your politics or thinks its in their political interest, then the entire system starts to come apart. And so to me, this is something that i know its not who we are as texans, but when i think folks when they see, this theyre seeing the extremism that has taken over our state. And thats one of the things we have to Rezekt On November 5th when we vote out ted cruz and give someone else a chance to bring us together as texans and not do these stunts that make us look to the outside world like were something that were not. And when you see Something Like this while we have so many of us trying to deal with the bringing together people and dealing with peoples right to protest but also respecting people, i mean, its just blatant. If a black governor if wes moore pardoned somebody in maryland that had shot and killed somebody and had made racist statements and said he was going to do violence, you would never hear the end of it on other right wing cable news. This is outrageous and should not be just something thats considered a oneday story. Let me go to this, we learned this week that the Texas Universities have cut hundreds of jobs, contracts, and training since january to comply with the states Ban On Diversity programs on college campuses. Signed into law by, again, Governor Abbott last summer. Still state republican lawmakers claim that texas colleges are not fully compliant with the law. Last year Congressman Mark and Joaquin Castro responded to the ban with a resolution championing Diversity Initiatives in Higher Education, what more can your states democratic lawmakers do to deal with these Diversity Programs . Yeah, rev, you know, this is just another example of an attack on our Higher Education institutions, an attack on our strengths here in texas. Its a strength for us that were an incredibly diverse state. Were diverse in every single sense of the word, and our Public School systems are excellent. But theyve been under attack for some time by a culture war thats trying to enforce its will on these universities, whether its a statewide abortion ban, making it harder to recruit and retain top talent to come teach in our universities or folks that want to apply or come to our universities or things like this dei ban now thats leading, you know, leading faculty to consider leaving our state and, in fact, that a poll showed i think a number of a very High Percentage of University Of Texas System faculty are considering leaving the state of texas. Then its an attack on our Higher Education. What these folks should be focused on, in my opinion, is trying to low ter cost of education, trying to give folks the ladders of opportunity into these engines of opportunity, like these schools are, but theyre so consumed by these culture wars. This is getting in the way of the progress we need to be making as a state. You know as the president of the National Action network im knee deep fighting those that are trying to stop dei. Lets turn to your own senate race against republican senator ted cruz, who youve outpaced in fundraising in the First Quarter of this year, raising nearly 10 million. And this week your Campaign Launched an early ad Campaign Casting you as the moderate who will stand up to extremists in both parties. Still no democrat has won statewide office in texas in 30 years, whats the plan to make sure that money translates into a victory this time around, congressman . Well, im excited that were up there having a chance to tell my story to texans in english and spanish across the state. I was raised by a single mom in dallas. I made it to baylor, the nfl. I served in congress in a way that brought folks together. What im trying so to say there is that this extrialism thats hijacked our state, and is too often consuming what we do in washington as well, is putting at risk this great story that we have in texas, and thats not who we are. And we dont have to be embarrassed by our senator, we can get a new one. So i think that what weve been seeing already is a great reaction to it but also the texans are ready, i think, to go in a different direction. Theyre ready for fresh ideas, new leadership, to move on from ted cruz. And we need help for every texan out there to get involved but also for folks watching this who want to make sure that 30 million texans have a senator who carings about them. Go to colinallred. Com. I want to get your thoughts about President Bidens Commencement Speech at Morehouse College tomorrow. The president s support for israel without drawing the kind of protests that have royaled colleges nationwide, what are your expectation, congressman . Well, rev, you know im a civil rights lawyer, and i know that everybody has a right to protest. And i know that that right has limits. Those limits, of course, hate speech and other things. And i hope that, you know, folks will give President Biden a chance to talk about what hes been doing and where he wants to go. And i think thats what well see at morehouse, by and large. There could be some protest, and thats just the story of young people on campus. Weve been having that in the United States for a long time. I think we shouldnt overreact to it. But i do think that we should talk about the work that weve been doing to try and make it easier for African American, Young African americans, to access the ladders of opportunity so that then its up to us not to take advantage of it. And thats something ive always been focused on. And i agree. Ive always supported nonviolent speech and protests, led many myself, gone to jail for it. Only thing im confused about, congressman, ill deal with this another night, is donald trump is to the right of biden, and theres been no demonstrations at his rally. I really dont understand how we only have a partisan concern for the palestinians. Were not pressing the republicans. Maybe maybe im missing something. Thank you, congressman colin allred of texas. Now to the dramatic Hush Money Trial of former president donald trump. Joining me now is msnbc legal analyst catherine christian. She is a former assistant District Attorney at the manhattan d. A. s office. Lets start with this, after much anticipation, trumps former fixer, his former attorney Michael Cohen, took the stand this week and helped prosecutors further corroborate their case. How do you think cohens testimony helped the prosecutions case . If the goal of the Defense Attorneys were to destroy him, he hasnt been destroyed. He the jury already knew, because the prosecutors told them in jury selection, told them throughout their witnesses that this was a floored person, this was a person who has lied in the past and just for the fact that he worked for donald trump would make him a flawed person anyway. So they were prepared for that. The only inroads that maybe the defense made was the last day that they were mr. Cohen was on Cross Examination when he either was untruthful or he was mistaken about when he had a conversation with donald trump about stormy daniels, and we will find out from the prosecutors when they redirect whether that was a mistake, which jurors will understand, or was he untruthful with them. Cohen faced a tough Cross Examination. Almost immediately he was asked whether he had recently gone on tiktok and called the defense lawyer todd blanche a derogatory term. Cohen was also yelled at by trumps Defense Attorney saying his claim about a 2016 phone call that he issued in the trial was, quote, a lie. Do you think this Cross Examination was damaging and could cohens Credibility Problems sway jurors not to convict trump . Its damaging if the prosecutors cant, on redirect, give an explanation for it. Was he just mistaken or was it untruthful . That could be damaging. Because remember, they want an acquittal. Thats the goal for Defense Attorney, but they will be ecstatic if just one juror says not guilty and theres a hung jury. Now, Michael Cohens Cross Examination is still underway. Trumps team will resume questioning cohen on monday. What do you think we can expect next weekend potentially from Closing Arguments barring any lastminute witnesses. There should be Closing Arguments. If there are not, well, i dont believe in any world donald trump will testify, but if they call defense witness, if they do call defense witnesses, that will be a gift to prosecutors. Prosecutors cant comment on the defendant not testifying. Prosecutors cant comment on there not being defense witness, but once you call them, the prosecutors can talk to the jury and say, they called these incredible people. So assuming there are no defense witnesses, summations should be on tuesday. Defense goes first, prosecutors go last. And thats where youll hear the defense talk about the lying Michael Cohen who went rogue with Allen Weisselberg and dont believe this case. And then youll hear the prosecutors talk about all of the circumstantial evidence that goes to guilt and the corroboration of Michael Cohen. Switching gears, while i have you, the New York Times obtained a photo of an American Flag flying upside down, reportedly at Supreme Court Justice Samuel alitos home. In the days just after the january 6th capitol hill riot, alito has said that the flag was briefly flown by his wife amid a dispute with neighbor, and he had no part in it. There are now new calls from democrats on the hill for Justice Alito to recuse himself from trump cases. Now, this adds fuel to the concerns about a Supreme Court thats becoming increasingly partisan and lacking in strict ethical guidelines over making politically charged statements outside of the court. What are your thoughts about this . Well, what is the definition of brief . When he says it was briefly flown. He lives with her. He knew it was flying. When did he take it down. Its similar to Justice Thomas whose wife was part of stop the steal. It erodes confidence in the Supreme Court by the public when you have two justices on there who live with people who are clearly partisan. Obviously, they have a right to have their independent politics, but it just doesnt look right. Its not only independent politic, he lives in the house with the flag hanging outside his house. Right. When was it taken down . What does brief mean . Another former trump lawyer, rudy giuliani, was served a notice late last night of his arizona indictment in the alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 president ial Election Results in President Trumps favor per the State Attorney General this. Came as giuliani was celebrating his 80th Birthday Party in west palm beach. The former mayor of new york livestreamed it, put it cut it off before the papers were served. The announcement also came less than two hours after giuliani taunted the arizona ag in a now deleted social media post for failing to deliver his indictment. Before i let you go, what is your thoughts on this . Well, you and i are both native new yorkers, so you have a former United States attorney for the Southern District a former mayor whos now been indicted in two different jurisdictions. Thats a very sad state