President joe biden just touched down making remarks at a September 11th Remembrance at the Military Base in anchorage. Well bring the remarks to you as soon as they get under way. The Memorials Today A Reminder of the moment of National Unity that took place in the aftermath of the brutes September 11th attacks. As the attacks revealed humanitys capacity for pure evil. The ability to inflict almost unspeakable horrors on other humans. What happens after 9 11 reveals best of humanity. Never forget the images, allhands on deck effort and the National Effort to support First Responders and victims and all their families and the pledge to never forget. The attacks also fundamentally changed washington, d. C. For a moment. Officials of both parties along with former officials of both parties were in Public Office at the time of the attacks attended events today to mark that. It is an echo of how americans were, for a while, able to set aside all differences, political and otherwise. And just a question we ask today 2, 2 years later. Are we still that country . Can we still do that . Are we capable of that kind of National Unity . 22 years later, the republic faces something he didnt have to deal with back then. A grave let that comes from within. According to Government Officials of both political parties, the gravest threat to our homeland right now today does not come from abroad anymore. It is instead, domestic violent extremism and these officials tell us it is on the rise. Fbi director Christopher Wray appointed by donald trump last year called Political Violence a 365day phenomenon. New reporting today on alarming gaps in the way we handle has is becoming a major focus on the domestic violent extremists themselves. Attacks on our power grids. So how do americans contend with this threat . Today . In this country . How do we grapple with the fact that the threats we face, the threats to our homeland could come from somebody living right next door, from our fellow americans . Making the situation more complicated for all of us the fact that our politics are now intertwined with the threat. The freeflow of violent and dangerous rhetoric on one side of the political spectrum means the possibility that that rhetoric could proceed or lead to a sudden burst of violence, that looms over us at every moment. A moment of reflexes on the state of the country 22 years after the September 11th attacks. Where we start today. Mary mccourty National Security decision here. Andrew weissmann, back. Former Justice Department and fbi at the table for the hour, former u. S. Senator Claire Mccaskill and my schmitt. Mary, start with you. Regardless where the threat emanated from, your body of work for your career. What are your thoughts today . Well, you know, what i reflect on, on 9 11, is that attacking Critical Infrastructure, you know, that was what 9 11 was. Mass transportation is part of our Critical Infrastructure, and weve seen attacks not only in the u. S. , of course, with 9 11, buttalswhere, trying to inflict mass casualties and create really psychological trauma by foreign terrorist organizations. Thats what al qaeda was doing on 9 11 and what other Foreign Terrorists groups, particularly islamist extremist groups have done elsewhere in the world. Attacks here in recent years, theres a significant uptick documented, tend to be not so much on our Mass Transportation or intended to inflict mass casualties when theyre committed by domestic extremists, but this rise in attacks on our electrical grids, also part of our Critical Infrastructure and also characterized as a federal crime of terrorism, done often times to create chaos, to deepen societal divides by trying to suggest to americans that their government cant protect things, basics like their power grid and used by skellerists to accelerate towards societal collapse so in their minds, means whats could emerge from that a White Supremacist state. A white nationalist, christian nationalist country. And so, you know, attacks on Critical Infrastructure arent new. Used by terrorists for decades, but the motivation is different, and it is pretty, its really sobering to reflect on where weve come over these 22 years. From mostly looking outward at the signs of danger, and concern, and banding together as you indicated, to trying to protect against that foreign terroristic threat. Sometimes you know, very, in a way like, that you prayed, americans coming together, sometimes in a way unfortunately targeted our muslim neighbors. And i dont mean neighbors outside this country, although i mean them as well, but neighbors right here inside this country in our own communities. You know, now weve come at a very, in a very different direction. As you indicate, the perpetrator of an attack on our power grid sometimes it doesnt cause a lot of injury. Sometimes it leaves thousands of people without power for days, and it has been attributed to some deaths. This threat could come just right, you know, from anyone. Domestically, who has bought into disinformation, who is, you know, becoming more of an adherent to this idea of White Christian national im, because they feel, perhaps, they have something theyre losing as we become a multicultural country and dont want to lose something and the way, one way preventing that, in their minds, engage in these kind of attacks. So ive never imagined on 9 11 that we would be 22 years later talking about this threat at home. Yeah. I mean, i think andrew weissmann, its sort of trauma on top of tragedy on top of trauma on top of tragedy. Right . Trauma of 9 11. I still, when i see the local footage of the memorials, i cry through all of them. But theres the tragedy on top of the trauma which is this question we have to ask. Right . I want to play, again, this is not a program posing this question. These are what Government Officials throughout the last i think three aministrations articulated represents the greatest threat to the homeland. Let me play some of them. Secretary majorca, last year you se domestic vile rcht extremism poses the most lethal and persistent terrorismrelated threat to our country today. Is that still true . Mr. Chairman, that continues to be our assessment in the department of Homeland Security. That domestic violent extremism, particularly through lone actors, or small groups, loosely affiliated, are spurred to violence by ideologists of hate, ant government sentiments, personal grievances and other narratives, propagated on online platforms. Since the spring of 2020, so the past 16, 18 months or so, we have more than doubled our domestic terrorism caseload from about 1,000 to around 2,700 investigations. And weve surged personnel to match more than doubles the am of week working that threat from the year before. We have a growing fear of domestic violent extremism and domestic terrorism, and both of those keep me up at night, every morning virtually every morning, i get a briefing from the fbi and one or the other or both areas. Andrew, by design our country, people, protecting our country like those three individuals, have fewer tools to combat domestic violent terrorism, but i wonder if you think that we are structurally in a place that that should get more attention . Well, first, nicolle, on personal level, started out, i still to this day remember driving my father to work and hearing the first plane overhead, and we thought it was going to the airport. Not to attack the world trade center, and then i saw the second plane and then from my office, the u. S. Trade office watched people as they jumped from the tower which is its still to this day, unimaginable. When you think about the trajectory that you and mary talked about, that, you know, i think in many ways is embodied by rudy giuliani, that was the day which was his finest moment, and he was a statesman and held the country together, not just the city, and when you see sort of, what has happened to him it is very much an embodiment of in many ways insanity that has gripped our country, and, you know, one way in which i think people are combating this is not just the Department Of Justice where you see many people held to account for engaging in domestic terrorism, as they should be, but i also think when you see an image of joe biden visiting a memorial for john mccain, from a different party, and being able to be an american and human and decent first, that models the behavior that you want to see from a president , regardless of politics, and i think, unfortunately, i think that the tools we have are not ones where you look just to the criminal Justice System. I think the Intelligence Community and the criminal Justice System are capable of dealing with this. It does pose unique challenges, because of the domestic context, as you noted, and because of the roles, but i think that, because its a deeper problem that it really has to be addressed in terms of Modeling Behavior and values that we need to instill in people, because we really are very, very lost from where we were 22 years ago. Yeah. And claire, i think, andrews right, and joe bidens bet is that the most he can do is to fight in ways that are not at least detectable for the institutions and the norms that he reveres, and so far, hes been right. Right . He won in 2020. I feel that sometimes those fights are asymmetrical in ways that make them, like, marching up a hill with 1,000 pound bolder strapped to your back, one hand tied beyond your back and in high heels, its so difficult. But he believes the best antidote to everything he sees in the system, cleave off the extremes, make peace with the rest. I mean, he was, i think, the first Public Official to give Mitch Mcconnell a clear back after Mitch Mcconnells doctor, but my question for you is, is that is that a symmetry going to catch up with him . Do you think that the fight is still fair, in the political arena . Well i dont know thats fair, but its winnable. Hmm. You know, andrew mentioned rudy giuliani. 22 years ago, his Approval Rating was about 72 in america. A poll take an few days, his Approval Rating was 16 . And who are they . Tell you who they are. Calcified epicenter of trumpism. And i want to, in this somber reflection of what our country went through and how we united after that moment, i want to lay blame clearly and simply at fact for the first time in america we had a leader that had no desire to unite the country. I mean, george bush wanted to unite the country. Sometimes he wanted to do it in ways i disagreed with. Bill clinton wanted to unite the country. George bushs father wanted to unite the country, john mccain wanted to unite the country. Joe biden wants to unite theres only one outlier here. Donald trump wanted to drive a wedge of grievance between americas most vaulted institutions and the American People. And that grievance is his political coin in the realm. And it is making people angry and cynical, not all americans. I think most americans are weighing in on rudy giuliani, exactly right. They want us to get back to a time where its not all aboutpo. That we can come together and i think thats joe biden strongest case for reelection, stronger than any policy. Its the ideals of this countries and the extremism were not prevail. We have a lot of challenges around that, but it cannot prevail, and donald trump has people that totally bought in, but not majority of this great country. And something reptilian about what trump set out to do for a second and third. Fundamentally alter the way people viewed institutions in which mary and andrew worked. Fundamentally change the way people held the nonpolitical nature of the Justice Department and the fbi. You sort of touched on this in the intro, but how would you country react today if 9 11 happened . How would the country really came together. Do you really think if Something Like that happened, that there would be that unity . I think thats hard to imagine. And i cant help but think as i ask that question about september 11, 2012. Height of obamas election. That terrible attack in benghazi, and his opponent, mitt romney, but out a statement that day trying to appeal to the far right of the party, and accuses obama of being on the side of the attackers, saying that the u. S. Response had been empathetic, kicking up this stuff about benghazi that goes on for years and years. Its a slide. We make a mistake if we think it started i forgot that. Its not over. Hold him up as good guy. The storys not over. Benghazi becomes a huge issue on fox news, and on the far right and go on and on and on and on and turns into pressure to investigate the Benghazi Attacks because getting so much, you know, presure frafromthat part of the party. That Committee Sends subpoenas to the State Department asking for a lot of documents, and in those documents are the emails that showed Hillary Clinton used her personal email account. Look how are things connected, not connected . Its just an example of how romney in trying to to appeal to that part of the party. Yeah. Created this notion that went on and on for several years, until it achieved significant damage that the republicans hoped it would. Kevin mccarthy said that on the record. It is amazing, and it is important and it shouldnt take our slowing ourselves down on a day like today, mary to get to it, but the slide towards political extremism certainly predates trump. I guess the distinction is that boehner was leader and as mikes describes, he bends to the pressure. What happens now is that trump directs the pressure at the Department Of Justice and the fbi. I think thats right, and, you know, beyond even whats happening with government, and, you know, this, now, of course, we have congressmember jordan way whole series of hearings on the weaponization of the Department Of Justice. Almost like theres, not almost like. Reality is, there is a, a very vocal, very active portion of our elected officials in congress who are, you know, actively at war with institutions like the Department Of Justice. And constantly politicizing everything. Certainly politicizing the investigations of donald trump as being political persecution, even when, you know, the evidence is there and the evidence we all can see for ourselves. But the infection isnt just sort of within the politics at that level. The infection, you know harks gotten out there into the american psyche all over the country because i think youre right. Its not new there would be political divides. Its not new there would be White Supremacist, supremacism, those analogies have never gone way in america and sprang up really with the genesis of america. Hundreds of years of historical roots in this country, but they had been tamped down. They had been kind of put under a rock, and what has happened in the current moment, and i think mikes reflection back on 2012 is apt. I was criminal chief in the u. S. Attorney Generals Office when the Benghazi Attack happened and eventually prosecuted people for that attack. Seeing that, that evolution since, in the last 10, 11 years is pretty remarkable. But what going on that has started maybe then but really amped up with donald trump is people being willing to just come out and be very public about their white supremacy. Superior publicable their Christian Nationalism and make it seem like it is actually politically mainstreamed and an acceptable ideology in the country and perfectly fine to engage in intimidation, threats, even acts of violence based on your ideology. I mean, look. I think, andrew, brings us back to this big question. Right . So still take your shoes off at the airport. Unless you have your tsa precard and a lane is open. Other than, you know, a passenger annoyed, you dont see anyone refusing to do that, when after 9 11, they put up the metal detectors, republicans refused to go through them and or give up their guns. You know how an inability to concede any personal prerogative for the security of the whole, and i guess thats where the questions about who are we, if we get attacked again, emanate from. You know, listening to mike, thinking another example of that sense of division and victimization came with covid, where it was a national and global problem that you would think any other normal administration, republican or democrat, you would have a unifying effect of the country and of the globe. Over how to deal with this, and it was used, instead, in this divisionive way, and so you, as a friend of mine said, who was sort of a bush republican, said he does not have a party anymore. Uhhuh. Because youve got such you know, youve got attack that is completely about division and playing all sorts of cards, race, national origin, sex, class, homophobia and antisemitism. You name it. All of that is part and parcel of a way of maintaining power of sort of the maga far right, and so, you know, that is a part of who we have become, as mary said. It