Security measures. I was called unpatriotic, unamerican and essentially treasonous. And the growing firestorm over the trump adviser trying to fast track Nuclear Technology to saudi arabia. What im going to do is something different. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. The president of the United States is in day four of another racist meltdown. He is Binge Watching trump tv, and its making him feel really racist and he is expressing that, and he cant or wont stop the feedback loop that were all now trapped in. Meanwhile, there are all these official trump defenders on trump running around to vouch for the chess master at work. And then today the president looked into the camera and threw a wrench into that argument. Whats the political strategy here . It seems to be causing the attacks seems to be causing a lot of division. Are you talking with respect to Elijah Cummings . Im talking about your attack against Elijah Cummings. There is no strategy. I have no strategy. There is zero strategy. All it is im pointing out facts. I sit and watch tv and get angry and tweet. There is a strategy. Its not very sophisticated, but it is quite clear. Its not something where trump is anticipating three moves ahead about what the marginal white voter in maria butina wants to hear. Trump is mad at Elijah Cummings. He wants to cause him discomfort and he wants to chief ly discomfort him. Think about this. Just a week ago, Robert Mueller himself said he gave up trying to interview the president because it wasnt worth the protracted legal fight. Here is another one. For the past few months, donald trump has doubled down on his attacks on Federal Reserve chairman germ rojerome powell. Here is what he said this morning. I would like to see a large cut, and i would like to see immediately the quantitative tightening stop. It shouldnt with stopped. Im very disappointed in the fed. I think they acted too quickly by far, and i think ive been proven right. People said i was right. They were wrong. The fed is often wrong. The fed is often wrong. The Federal Reserve widely expected to announce a rate cut tomorrow, even as though trump will be the first to tell you the stock market is at record highs. Unemployment is near record lows. Its hard not to see some correlation when the president has repeatedly berated Jerome Powells decision making. Donald trump has operated this way for 40 years, breaking the law, violating contract, stiffing worker, steamrolling, berating anyone who challenges him. By and large he has again away with. The headlines are filled with him every day. You may hear about jeffrey epstein, seen here at maralago. That was epsteins. Many m. O. The reason why trump is mad at cummings is cummings heads up the Oversight Committee which is leading a slew of investigations into the president and his family. And trump probably shoo should be mad because those investigations are devastating. Just in the past week, trump subpoenaed trumps son and daughterinlaw. Cummings is also looking into the central con of the Trump Campaign embodied by the America First phrase. The whole idea that trump is putting americas interests above all else when from day one it has been clear he has been pursuing foreign interests in his own bottom line. The moscow tower deal trump lied about, that Michael Cohen lied about to Trumps National security adviser Michael Flynn publishing an oped on election day to advance the interests of his turkish client. Now the house Oversight Committee has found that flynn and Trumps Inaugural Committee chairman tom barrack is trying to get sensitive Nuclear Technology to saudi arabia who fear it will be weaponized. If you want the almost overwritten example, here it is. It is trumps America First speech that he gave in 2016 on our energy policy, a speech that thanks to the report released by congressman cummings committee, we know tom barrack submitted to United Arab Emirate officials for review and added their suggestions. Joining me now, a member of the house Oversight Committee conducting the investigations. Joining me krishnamoorthi of illinois. Do you think the president is attacking cummings specifically because of the chairs work on these investigations . Oh, absolutely. I think he is attacking attacking chairman cummings because he is effective. Ill just give you a kpoup of examples. Chairman cummings was the one who led the charge in removing the Citizenship Question from the census. He is the one who has been leading the charge, for instance, on the security clearance issues, including, you know, investigating why the heck Jared Kushner has access to top secret clearance and then last, among other things, hes been leading the charge on the immigration issues on the border and the separation of children and families and also Holding People like Kevin Mcaleenan accountable for the money thats being sent down to help with the humanitarian crisis, a crisis that im actually going down tomorrow to the Mexican Border to view on behalf of the Oversight Committee along with my colleagues. The subpoenas that have been issued for the president s daughter and Jared Kushner, her husband, the president s soninlaw. Yes. Among a few others, what is the substance of those subpoenas . Gosh, as you know, these folks are the subject of various investigations. Everything from security clearance issues to whether or not they are using their personal emails for official business, which would be a violation of the president ial records act. And so these are things that touch intimately obviously on the president s family, but thats obviously something that he has caused himself by appointing these people to such high positions. The Oversight Committees work, the report they just released is quite damning i think in many respects. It traces out the degree to which foreign influence. Yes. Sort of flowed through the campaign. But am i correct that that deal is still being pursued and is a live issue . Thinking particular deal, the issue with regard to the sensitive Nuclear Technologies . Yes. Yes. This is something that theyre actively pursuing. Tom barrack and ip 3 and others. Apparently in december 2017, rick perry actually gave preliminary approval on behalf of the department of energy for transferring this technology. Now, there is something called the section 123 act, section 123 of the Atomic Energy act which requires congressional approval for such transfer, namely, to make sure that there are safeguard such that such technology cannot be used to make a Nuclear Weapon. This is called the quote unquote Gold Standard which tom barrack and ip3 and other Trump Associates want to water down or completely kill in order to basically make sure that the saudis end up purchasing their technology. Do you the president the most consistent through line in the president s Foreign Policy which is even more consistent than his behavior with russia is the saudis. He broke with american tradition to go there as his first act. He has sort of lavished praise on the man who according to u. S. Intelligence agencies sent his goon squad to murder and hack to death with a saw an american newspaper columnist. At every turn, he has backed saudis. The war in yemen, on their iran policy. Are you confident he is doing that because of his Foreign Policy judgment and not because of his bottom line . No, not at all. I think he is totally this is the same issue we see with vladimir putin, okay. There is something in the financial ties between the trump family and the saudis or trump interests or People Associated with trump and the saudis that motives this very strange behavior. And in this particular case, we know that tom barrack is one of his largest donors. He is the chairman of the president s inaugural committee, and hes a confidante. And he is trying his darnedest to try to skirt congressional approval and transfer this technology. But, you know, i got to say, we cant trust the saudis with a bone saw, let alone a Nuclear Weapon. They should never get their hands on a Nuclear Weapon in a region that is basically a tinderbox. I hope that we oppose this on a bipartisan basis in congress. Congressman raja krishnamoorthi, thank you very much. Thank you. Joining me now Zerlina Maxwell and senior director of Progressive Program for siriusxm, and lynette lopez, Senior Correspondent for business insider. This sort of bullying approach, which he clearly is now bringing down upon Elijah Cummings, clearly in a retaliatory fashion, he doesnt like what cummings is doing on oversight. You went through this on the campaign as did 15 other people that faced him in the primaries. What is sort of unnerving about it is how effective it can with. Its effective, but i think there is a distinction when he attacks adam schiff and a black person or person of color. I think that distinction is where we need to focus. When he is attacking somebody who is just conducting oversight, he may call them a pencil neck or give them a cute nickname, but he doesnt go straight to the racism. And he doesnt talk about the district. Its deep inside. And of course its sort of his default position. Yes. He doesnt have a strategy. This is who he is. So you take him at his word when he said that, because i do as well. Correct. I dont even care if it is a strategy because racism is bad and it shouldnt be a part of any serious conversation. He would be able to talk about other things. Right. He had a better than expected gdp number on friday. He should be talking about how great the economy is, obviously. We discussed the fed. Its a little shaky there. But he has other things he can be talking about that he should be out thing to the American People. Its election time. But no, he cannot stop frothing at the mouth at Elijah Cummings. And yeah, maybe its to protect his family. But at the same time, you know, this is not the same thing were getting for adam schiff. And also, can i just say did Jared Kushner not think that middle east peace was a hard enough puzzle . Did he think that maybe giving the saudis the nuke would be would have more on later this show. One of the things ive been thinking about a lot this week is whether weve been talking about whether its a strategy or a tactic or whether its going to work or not work. I dont think its about whether its going work. I think its that he is willing to rip the country completely apart. Yes. In order to win reelection. He doesnt care about the consequences of basically ripping the scab off of White Supremacy and racism in this country, which already is leading to violence, can lead to more violence. Its like a tinderbox. He is basically letting it go free, and he doesnt care if anybody gets hurt. Thats the scary part for me. The story that he is hiding is that his son soninlaw. Soninlaw got together with an american billionaire to profit from selling secrets of Nuclear Secrets to a murderous Foreign Government. In the most dangerous part of the world in possible violation possible circumvention of the guard rails that are supposed to be put in place. This is what jack bauer is supposed to stop. This is bond villain stuff. Right. And it seems to be, to me, that he will stop at nothing. And if that means exploding racism in the United States, thats what were going to do. And thats what were all going to have to live through. I think its also the case, and that is important, physically, its got to roll. This is who he is. When he says its not a strategy, it is who he is, and it is going to get worse over time. Yes. And in some ways, the most sort of there are a lot of effects that are horrible. But one is watching him march the line forward and watching everyone else fall into line to defend it. Everyone should stop expecting that delaney will stop doing anything that he is doing. At what part am i supposed to stop believing that the Republican Party is for me . The republicans are completely invisible. Theyre absent. They go along with whatever he says. I dont see the racism as simply a debate or a conversation about strategy. I think its a threat. Yes. He is basically threatening us with going full racist, which can lead to violence in order to win reelection. Because certain people like Elijah Cummings are looking into the corruption in his administration, and he is afraid of that. And there is right. The part of it when the anonymous folks go out to tell reporters that he likes it or whatever, it is a little like nice country you have. It would be a shame if something oh, you think this is bad . There is a threat. Wait until he really throws his back into it. Wait until were eight months from now or a year from now. The kids to the cages new. He cannot deescalate. I dont think there is. We have hit bottom, america, we are just going to dig from here. Sorry to tell you. Well, there is also, whether question have hit bottom or not, we have 15 more months. There is a long way to go here, and they have the other thing is what will happen on the oversight side is there will be more oversight. There will be more investigations. And thats only going to precipitate more. It seems like there are too many leaks in the ship. Youve got new york state demanding tax returns. Youve got california passing legislation here. That will reveal more financial information. Youve got guys like tom barrack who are going to start being investigated who has a very shady long history on wall street. Right. Youve got wilbur ross who is maybe on his way out. Falling asleep at meetings, but who was also in these meetings. They had rick perry minding the nuclear store. Why, america . Why . Rick perry of dancing with the stars fame. This is what happens before the dissteppian future. I think with we have to be vigilant in this moment because this can go bad really fast. Thank you both. Coming up there is a lot more to talk about regarding the story of the trump adviser who tried to use his connection in the white house to push a Saudi Nuclear deal. Details about the Ongoing Investigation in two minutes. Sts its show time. Lets cowboy up exhilarating speed. Woo precision control. Woo maximum reliability. Access denied. [ repeats ] access denied. If its not xfinity xfi, its not good enough. For wifi with super powers, get xfinity xfi. And go see, fast furious presents, hobbs shaw. August 2. On january 20th, 2017, as donald trump stood in front of the American People and delivered his first inaugural address, his soon to be National Security adviser Michael Flynn was reportedly texting a Business Partner about a multibillion plan to build Nuclear Reactors in the arab world. According to a whistleblower who spoke to the house Oversight Committee in 2017, flynn texts his associate to let them know their nuclear plan was good to go now that donald trump was president. Michael flynn was not the only member of the Trump Campaign who was pushing for the potentially lucrative, though possibly rather dangerous middle east nuclear project. We now know that the chairman of the trump inaugural committee, tom barrack, alongtime friend and adviser to the president , was also pushing a plan to help saudi arabia acquire Nuclear Reactors. We know all this thanks to the aforementioned 50page house overcommittee report that detailed how barrack used to push for this new power plant deal with the saudis. He was quoted as advocating on behalf of foreign interests seeking to obtain this u. S. Nuclear technology. Those foreign interests happen to be saudi arabia, specifically, helping the country develop its Nuclear Program by going around a longstanding u. S. Policy that prevents them from doing just that. Much to the alarm of proliferation experts. Now questions about whether or not tom barrack was working on behalf of a foreign power did come up in the special counsels investigation. In fact, we know that Robert Mueller referred that investigation into barracks ties to the middle east to the u. S. Attorneys office in brooklyn, which right now has an open and Ongoing Investigation on that topic. America first indeed. Joining me n