Indepth interviews with leading newsmakers, plus discussions with Americas preeminent political minds. Determine which Party Controls whether you keep your health care. Whether you get tax cuts, or just the rich and big corporations do. Whether polluters will continue to be unleashed to befoul the air and water you breathe and yes, the fate of the Mueller Probe into whether the Trump Campaign colluded with russia when they attacked our election in 2016 with a goal of electing donald trump. Press conference in which five of Donald Trumps own intelligence officials warned the American People about how dangerous the russian threat is to this country and to the upcoming elections. Laid out what the agencies are doing to stop it. And yet, at his rally in pennsylvania, their boss, donald trump, continued to deny russian interference in our elections, didnt happen at all. Calling it a hoax just hours
after his own government said the opposite. Undercutting his administration again. No signs of intention on countering the russian threat. Joining me now is adam elevelev. Legal analyst, paul butler and scholar of authoritarian state and author of view from flyover country. Dispatches from the forgotten america. Everyone is with me as i pop in my chair. Lets start with you adam on the question of the election threat. We saw this press conference. Everybody seemed to tune in. Giving aide and comfort to the
enemy. This is a National Security issue. Theres no blue states, red states, its the United States. There arent good people on both sides. Theres one side. Walk out to camera, one after the other. Take questions. And really make very starkly clear that the threat to our elections is still ongoing. Did you see that as a directive potentially from the president or did you see that as maybe the agency taking matters into their own hands. My sense, even though they said it was a directive from the president. I felt the agency this is their responsibility. Carrying out their responsibility. Doing what they need to do in order to help this country get through this. The real issue is why was this 95 days before the election. Sgra sgra great job on realtime. You talked very bluntly about the threat to our election, about what it means, about what the russians want to do. Talking about the threat. Believe it or not, both from the same day, thursday. We had a great meeting with russia. We had a great meeting with putin. Im not in a position to either understand fully or talk about what happened in helsinki. If i get along with Vladimir Putin, thats a good thing. D san antonio secretary. All come out and say theres a threat. Might be in collusion with russia. I got the impression he was almost asking russia to interfere on that level. The same way he did last year almost this time last year with the russia if youre listening statement. We know of two democratic United States senators who have been already targeted. We have Claire Mccaskill come out and admit one of the lawmakers targeted by russian bad actors. Contacted through staff last november by individual who said he worked for the Foreign Ministry of latvia. Democrats, what does that tell you about whether or not russia is at all deterred . Well, russia is not deterred. Russia has never been deterred. Put man in the white house. Lets say that bluntly. They now have a Working Partner in the president of the United States. The president will not lead on this. Whatever his oath is sworn to, it is not sworn to the constitution of the United States. One last thing about him and the democrats. Every person who is affiliated with the Democratic Party who is one degree of separation from any one of their politicians, you are at risk. They will go to and three degrees of separation from some of these people to go to your emails, even if youre a con stitch went that sent emails because you have to remember the
democratic National Committee was vacuumed clean of all of its mailing list. So do not adam levine will tell you, do not click on anything when it comes into your inbox. Youre amening that. I see you nodding there. The belief is the russian attack also included grabbing from the rnc. N just never released. Still directly focused on democrats. Is there alarm out there. Does seem the russians are trying to do the same thing to try to achieve the same partisan result. People are not worried enough. They havent been all along. Russia has been attacking infrastructure for a number of years. Attacked the state department, dod, rnc, dnc, voters rules. Penetrated voter databases. Weve known this a long time. As pointed out, people havent taken initiatives. Three things im worried about going into the midterms. One is that our election we may be hacked again by russia. Trying to delegitimize those wins. Rhetorical tactic they may well use much as last year they claim the election is going to be rigged. Prompted the democratic to say it cant be rigged which backed them in the a corner after the election. The third thing is that the gop may simply not concede. We need to remember roy moore for example never conceded. This is party not interest instead democracy. Want a one party state to protect the president whose loyalty is not to this country. I think they will go through any means necessary to try to do that. Make sure no vulnerabilities and educating elected and appointed officials in terms of how to protect yourself with fishing, hacking and those kinds of things. Ill ask you, paul, is there some sort of legal remedy for voters if your state is run by a party or entities who just refuse to do any of that. About the russian attacks of democracy, thats also of a piece with why they seem relatively unconcerned with states trying to limit peoples ability to vote in other ways. And so the Supreme Court is considering cases where the states are trying to dilute voting. At the end of the day, we have
to wonder how much Americans Care about democracy. Thats the question. Do they want to stop it . No, they dont. Despite everything everyone just said, very good advice, people need no go out and vote anyway. If you value freedom, value democracy, get out and vote. Even if you think they are trying to rig it. One thing may help in our favor is overwhelming turnout. So just be aware. Take precautions and vote. Malcolm, you said vote on paper if you can. Absentee voting make your safer. Yes, this is the year to vote early. And then facilitate other people to vote early. And then if youre not going to be there, vote early on paper. Get your vote in way ahead of time. In terms of early election. Make a statement the democrats are working with republicans look real so they of course could not concede or demand
invalidate the election. Thats the worstcase scenario to me. It is harder to flip an election if the election is not close. Were going to have more on this coming up as we get towards the election. Paul is going to come back later in the show. Adam, malcolm, thank you all very much. Up next, hours before he heads to ohio. Donald trump, calls ohios favorite son dumb. He goes after the king. I dont know that was a wise move. More on that when we come back. Fact is, every Insurance Company hopes you drive safely. But allstate actually helps you drive safely. With drivewise. It lets you know when you go too fast. Trump not only uses sports to divide people. Seems to relish in taking a shot at people of color. In a tweet overnight. Questioned the intelligence of cnn anchor don lemon and nba star lebron james. That would be emmy and edward r Award Winning don lemon and four time league mvp. Trump took that shot at james as he walked don lemon through the New Elementary School for at risk children that he recently opened in his hometown of akron ohio. School where kids receive Free Transportation within two miles. Free bikes with bike helmets. Free uniforms, Food Pantries for family and free tuition at the University Of Akron when they graduate. Makes this claim even more off key. This is probably the most
proactive administration weve got in Urban America and Faith Based Community in my lifetime. Bill 60 years old in december. To be honest, this is probably going to be im going to say at this table, most problack president weve had in our lifetime. Uhhuh. Joining me now is sports contribute for forbes and author of white like me. That pastor is one of the fa favorites of donald trump who claims donald trump is the most p problack president ever. Youre laughing. Why are you laughing . Well, i think its just very obvious and joy, im going to tell you Something Else thats very obvious. This mad tweet he had last night, in it he said he prefers Michael Jordan over lebron james and thats not by coincidence. You remember Old Commercial back in 1990s. Be like mike. Remember those. We have it. We can show a little bit of it. Well, lets see that. Okay. When donald trump says that, he is not referring to that. Michael jordan is the most apolitical athlete of all time and disgusting. Given tall power Michael Jordan may have. Whether or not Michael Jordan made the statement to why hes apolitical. This is not in dispute. Back in the 80s and 90s, when he played for chicago bulls, he had a teammate named craig who tried to get Michael Jordan top join him and other bulls players to talk to youth. Black youth and chicago. And he wouldnt do it. He didnt want that image. Okay. Also not a dispute. Also knows in contrast to that you have lebron james not been outspoken, but become a piper to get other athletes involved in the social activism. And the biggest thing he is also putting money where his mouth is. Big time. He called trump a bum. Exactly. You know he didnt like that. Tim, with a lot of Donald Trumps antipathies whether its against the New York Times or the media or cnn or nbc, theyre always is this element of sort of what looks like underlying anger because he really wanted to be friendly with this sort of Celebrity Aspect of prominent person. He wanted their respect and admiration. Originally a fan of barack obama before he decided to turn on him and go birther. Interesting because donald trump back in 2015 was a stand for lebron james. Tweeting positively. Great king james. Tough competitor delivers under pressure. Then of course came the famous you bum, tweet. In which lebron james was supporting steph curry for not going to the white house Over Charlottesville and other aspects trump said about race. Part of this is about celebrity who were going to show. Here isnt this a little bit about envy. It is partly that. Lets not pretend its just that. Its not just about race and playing to a base of supporters who appreciate it when he attacks black people. Like steve cur with the warriors, former coach of the pist pist pistons. They all went in on donald trump and frankly used language and
critiques for more biting than what lebron said. Yet donald trump says nothing about white coaches who criticize him why because they doesnt pay the same cachet as attacking black folks. Whether Trump Administration white nba or whether its people like lebron in the nba. So i think we have to recognize theres a very deliberate pattern and also notice the kind of critique. He criticizes a lot of people because what better to do at 4 30 in the morning when your president of the United States than rage tweet, but what he does is he specifically attacks black peoples intelligence, whether its don lemon, whether its lebron, whether its Maxine Waters. Likes to use low iq slur. For white folks he uses other types of attacks. Im not saying he never attacks white folks. Hes very specific about the kinds of attacks that he uses on black people and thats not a
coincidence. I just to that very point, dan rather made a similar point. Apparently what the president of the United States feels he needs to share with the world at which should be long past his bedtime. Its the product of petty, but dangerous hatred. To that very point, donald trump as used that Intelligence Slur on other black folks as well. Congress woman Maxine Waters long time elected official, obviously very intelligent woman. Heres donald trump attacking her on just thursday in pennsylvania. You know who the new leader is, Maxine Waters. Very low iq. Low iq. And then here is donald trump attacking president obama, barack obama back in 2011. I heard hes a bad student. How does a bad student then go to columbia and then go to harvard . How does this happen . Hes a bad student, gets into columbia, top school. Gets into harvard, top, top, top school. Hes a bad student. How does this happen . Reinforcing your point, tim. This is a buy the who graduated magna couple lawdy from harvard law. Head of law review. Dont give that out for the hell of it. Donald trump has always realized he himself got into penn because the dean felt sorry for dead brother. He didnt get in the traditional way at Ivy League School himself. This is a lot of projection on his part. Constantly claiming black people dont deserve what they have. The attacks on ballplayers, message to his base is how dare these powerful wealthy black people criticize the country because for black people who have been successful to do so is seen by a lot of white folks on the right as ungrateful. When rich white people like
donald trump criticize america in front of Vladimir Putin and the press. Or criticize on the campaign trail, make America Great again. That is apparently okay. God forbid a black person take a knee and protest a racism in the Justice System because then theyre being ungrateful. Part of a long standing and ultimately race resentful and racist pattern. Heres the thing. Go on. Yes. Because think about something tim said earlier. Probably the greatest coach right now. San Antonio Spurs and been extremely outspoken against donald trump. Ripped him to shreds. I had a conversation this past nba season and i pulled him aside and talked about the donald trump thing. I asked him how many times have you been tweeted against by donald trump . How many times have you been called out by donald trump . How many times has donald trump called you personally or anybody around you to say he disliked the things you said and popivic did this. 0. 0 times. So tim is on to something there. To piggyback on the black thing about how he is attacking these black athletes or just blacks in general, thats why i love lebron james. Okay. Lebron james will not be intimidated by this guy. He cant stand donald trump. Lebron james, you look at his background to where he came from In Akron Ohio to where he is right now, its a phenomenal story and for this guy to be this brilliant spokesperson, very strong and doesnt back down, those are the type of guys that donald trump attacks so in a weird way, this is a huge compliment not only to lebron james, but anybody who is africanamerican who dare to stand up and tell the truth about this guy. Hes heading to ohio for a rally. The school is incredible. Lebron james is putting his money where his mouth is. Educated. Very wealthy and very popular. Cant make donald trump happy. Thank you guys very much. Appreciate you both. Meanwhile, the Manafort Trial continues. We will bring you the latest details next. They were very saggy. Its getting in the way of our camping trips. But with new sizes, depend fitflex is made for me. Introducing more sizes for better comfort. New depend fitflex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. With pg e in the sierras. And im an arborist since the onset of the drought, more than 129 Million Trees have died in california. Pg e prunes and removes over a Million Trees every year to ensure that Hazardous Trees cant impact power lines. And since the onset of the drought weve doubled our efforts. I grew up in the forests out in this area and honestly its heartbreaking to see all these trees dying. What guides me is ensuring that the public is going to be safer and that these forests can be sustained and enjoyed by the community in the future. Long before the election took place. He was only there a short period of time. Paul manafort is a nice guy. Worked for me for a very short period of time. Literally like, what, a couple of months. Little period of time. Manafort has nothing to do with our campaign. Paul manafort the former Trump Campaign chair whose role trump spent months trying to down play went on trial in virginia for tax and bank fraud charges. So far prosecutors outline what they say was lavish lifestyle. He seemed to be a particular fan of rare bird costumes. Allegedly financed with some of the more than 60 million he raked in working for a pro russia Political Party. Made a significant percentage of the earnings from the irs. While on friday, manaforts
bookkeeper testified she not only knew about his tax