Finally, i have to ask you about something that has got and lot of attention this week. What were you thinking . I didnt realize that the pictures were public. Whoops. Welcome back to kasie d. C. I want to welcome in paul singer, Jonathan Swan, former rnc executive director and gop strategy and principle, kevin glauflirn and ashley parker. Thank you all for being here tonight. Lets start with, we were all sort of watching mark short say over and over and over again, the voters of alabama will decide. Kevin, i have to ask you this, first, because you used to be in charge of electing republicans to the senate. And probably everybody you have worked with has basically said, we dont want anything to do with this guy. Absolutely. But at this point, what is there to be done . I dont think theres much to be done. But President Trump won alabama by 28 points, and here we are neck and neck. Its a neck and neck race, the democrat might win in alabama. If you had told me that a month ago, i would have said youre crazy. I think the damage is done. I dont see it Getting Better for roy moore. Have republicans concluded that theres nothing else to be done here . Theres no way to force him off the ballot . They were talking about a different kind of election, resignation, yada, yada. There was this burst of momentum and a real desire to get this convoluted process of getting Luther Strange to step down and the governor to put the election until next year. And it ended with were stuck with this guy. I saw that polling. I dont know if i believe it, frankly. You dont believe it. No, i dont know if i do. This is another example of, you know, a state where youre talking to people about a guy whos been accused of pedophilia. Im not sure if people are responding to polls necessarily 100 of the time going to admit that theyre probably going to turn up and vote for an accused pedophiler. I think thats an interesting polling question. Youre laughing. Yeah, i mean it seems to me, it is a lot of new information to process in some ways. Were inching closer to this election for this open seat. Doug jones hit his opponent roy moore who is surrounded by controversy after multiple women have come forward with claims that in his 30s he harassed and assaulted them while they were in their teens. This race, there could be not greater contrast, and this was long before things started unraveling last week. The differences between me and roy moore could not be greater. And thats because i am not someone who wants to divide this state. I am someone who wants to unify this state. [ applause ] and heres republican governor kay ivy on friday. Do you believe any of the women who have brought accusations against roy moore . I certainly have no reason to disbelieve any of them. We need to have a republican in the United States senate to vote on things Like Supreme Court justice, other appointments that the senate has to confirm and make major decision. Thats what i plan to do is vote for the republican nominee, roy moore. In a new piece in the new york times, several people in gadsden, alabama say theyre not at all surprised by the allegations against him. Somebody saying, quote, it was a known fact roy moore liked young girls said a retired police officer. It was treated like a joke. Thats just the way it was. And according to a local store manager at the local mall, the mall guard asked him to let security know whenever he saw mr. Moore there. Quote, i cant believe theres such an outcry now about something that everybody knew. Moore declined to comment. Joining us now from montgomery, alabama, vaughn hilliard, who has been tireless in covering this story. Its great to see you. Reporter hey, kasie. Lets get down to the facts here in montgomery. No, go ahead. Im told you have new reporting to share with us tonight. Reporter well, the young republicans of alabama, kasie voted this weekend were just learning, to pull their support from roy moore, they said unless hes able to provide a clear and convincing answer as to these allegations that have come forward. Theyre asking him to step aside. These are the young republicans, executive committee here in alabama. Its part of that conversation, you heard from kay ivy the governor here, but from mo brooks who said, who gave a similar response to the governor when he was asked about his support, saying its more about the republican agenda at this point. This is what he said over in huntsville on saturday morning. All these personal accusations that are out there, a little bit on the humorous side. Just remember, he was a democrat back then. There are much bigger issues facing our country. Supreme court justices, deficit and debt issues. Border security. We need to make sure that we keep the big picture. In our minds as we vote on december 12th. Reporter kasie, as we head into tomorrow into this week, these are the questions that are going to continue to be posed. Tomorrow morning on the today show, the original 14 year old named in that article will be interviewed. It is jeff flake who is over the past year put forward, in order to advance the republican agenda, do we sign onto individuals like donald trump or roy moore. And he said the other day, jeff flake said that hed rather vote for a democrat than roy moore. Do you have individuals like the young republicans or governor kay ivy and mo brooks to pull enough support to defeat doug jones. Vaughn hilliard in montgomery, alabama. I want to ask you about this. The polling afterward in 2016, we learned that there were women who were willing to support President Trump despite all the allegations against him. Is this different enough, have times changed enough . Is the fact that this is roy moore is not donald trump going to matter . Sure, so i agree with john that polling you cant necessarily totally trust it, and im always a little skeptical when i see someone neck and neck in a deep red state like that. But there is nothing analogous to donald trump. Donald trump is donald trump. He is the only person who has so consistently refuted the laws of political gravity. Roy moore may be able to do it potentially, but one thing that was striking to me was there was an editorial in a local paper down there, and i dont kid myself that any voters go to the polls based on what a newspaper tells them to do. But that meets the point, they just said these allegations on women in and of themselves should be disqualified, but it went well beyond that, right . It said if you are voting for roy moore you are saying not just this message to victims of sexual abuse, but this is how we should treatment muslims and catholics and gay people. And they said dont listen to the national party, because the National Republicans have abandoned him. But they said we are the people of alabama. This is what we should stand for. So i do think you have seen this making it a bigger issue. That editorial was interesting. It was the fact that they went to those other issues i thought was the mistake. If you are saying what the newspaper wants to say, what think want to say is never mind the issues, its we cant accept this kind of behavior. This is the horrible thing. Whatever the issues are, maybe we disagree on abortion or the muslims. Were not going to talk about that. What we really want to talk about if im the editorial writer, we cant have a pedophile in the u. S. Senate, but they turned to the issue, the muslims or gays, we dont want to say those people are not welcome in alabama, but some people in alabama obviously do. You know, theyve known about this for a long time. And roy moores already won statewide elections there. The issues are not new. The editorial made the point about the faustian view, you might be getting someone who wields more clout in the senate with a twovote margin, he would be there with that bucket of money trying to get what he wants for alabama. Hold that thought. Joining me now is the last democrat to hold statewide office as governor in alabama. Don segallman. Thank you for taking the time to join us, we enjoyed the video you shared with us of your ankle bracelet. What is your view here of what the people of alabama can accept in this race . I think we can expect two things to emerge as a result of the revelation and the good reporting about the sexual misconduct, the sexual crimes that, you know, if everything from bill cosby to al franken. I think were going to see women rise up and take their fair share of power in this country. Also believe that men are getting the message. I think that we will see a paradigm shift. I think well see a change in attitude. I think we will begin to see men value women for their intellect instead of other physical attributes. I think were going to see both Political Parties to make an effort to recruit women to run from everything from city council to congress in 2018. With that will come the election of more women. And with that, i think well continue to see this attitude of, that is obviously pervasive begin to change. So i think theres some good things that are going to come of this. Whats going to happen in this alabama election is really anybodys guess. And the reason for that, despite all of the negative publicity that roy moore has received, you have to keep in mind that, id keep in mind anyway from an academic standpoint, that donald trump got 1,318,0000 votes. Have you been surprised by the evangelicals support . I think there are two things here. Youre seeing some of judge moores support erode, but i think youre also seeing some of it solidify and intensify. I dont think that its necessarily going to grow, but i do think he is going to turn out his fair share of votes. Now let me say this. I think every democrat alive and many who are not are going to try to make it to the polls on election day. So they are, they are fired up. And democrats are active in every part of the state. If theres a chance to win a seat, its probably in this election. This is the last best chance for a democratic senator in alabama. Thank you for your time tonight. Appreciate it. Thank you. Lets break this down. Just a little bit. It looks like democrats are going to ultimately probably outspend roy moore for the final weeks of this race, but i do wonder about that dynamic. Roy moore has shifted in strategy in the past couple days, having his wife speak, with women behind her digging in saying dont believe this, believe me. And read the line from the president of the United States. This comes from the top. The white house said the difference between the franken charges and the roy moore charges is that al franken admitted and roy moore didnt. In other words, if you dont admit it, it didnt happen, and they cant hold it against you, and thats basically what the supporters are saying is well as long as he has never admitted it, were just going to stand with him. Do you think this man becomes a senator at the end of the day . I think he does. Hell win an election. Im sorry. Thats okay. I think hell win on december 12th. The special elections are always special. Theyre always goofy, but this is alabama. So im going to leave it at that. One thing, too, in changing his strategy, one woman, okay, maybe its a witch hunt and a partisan witch hunt. There are eight women who have come forward. This guy worked out at the ymca with no shirt on and no one stopped that. This is the weirdest story ive heard of. Its officially bizarro world. I have no idea what to tell you. Thank you. While were on the topic of Sexual Harassment in congress, i want to turn to that. Its a conversation weve been having this week. The house and Senate Approved mandatory Sexual Harassment prevention training for all congress men and staffers, but many say this does not go far enough, gee, and pointed to a problem in staffing. Im going to walk you through this process. Its very convoluted. If you are a victim, you have 180 days to bring a complaint to the office of compliance. This assumes that you are aware it exists. Only one in ten women staffers only know its there. Once the complaint is processed, you have to go through up to 30 days of mandatory counseling and then 30 days to decide when you want to go to mediation. If you dont want to go to mediation youre out of options. If you do go forward, the law says you are bound by confidentiality. You continue to go to work. And theres no investigation or attempt to change the workplace environment. So you may be seeing this person every day at work. When mediation gets involved, a lawyer representing the congressmans office gets involved. They are paid with taxpayer money. You, the victim, may or may not have a lawyer in this phase. If you dont reach a settlement with this person, theres a mandatory 30 day coolingoff period before a victim can file a lawsuit or request a hearing. You have to wait a month of about you can take anyone to court. Thats right. If a settlement is reached, you typically have to sign a nondisclosure agreement. This prevents from you reporting the act to any ethicscommitees, you cant talk to your therapist or your family or your friends. And it is paid for with taxpayer money. If you are someone who works on capitol hill, you are a victim of harassment or sexual abuse. Taxpayers pay the lawyers that fight your claim. And then if you settle with that member, tax payers pay that settlement and then you are not allowed to speak publicly about it, is that right . You got it right. Who wrote the rules . You guessed it. Congress. So lets talk about this. Paul singer, you are something of an expert in these arcane workings of the various Ethics Committees and ways and means in which Congress People can be held accountable. Our researchers have called, they wont even turn some of this information over to members of congress. So what needs to change here . Keep in mind, this is progress. The office of compliance was created in 1995. The creation of the office was progress. Until that time, there were no workplace protections, none. This was an innovation, lets create this office that will be able to enforce workplace standards in congress. Congress write the laws and exempt themselves, so now you have a situation where you have a process in place. Theres a lot of data floating around about the 15 million taxpayers have paid on settlements, but this office covers not just Sexual Harassment but other workforce complaints, disability complaints. Theres a whole series of workplace protections that this office manages, and youre right it all comes out of the taxpayer fund. How you get at that is a challenge, because congress doesnt want to be treated like a regular company. They dont function like a rig regular company. They function like 500 companies. Is that something that has had teeth in the past . They have reported zero punishments against any senator, they have written six memos to Congress People saying you should not have done this. This is the larry craig memo. He was busted for conduct in an airport. But what the Ethics Committee said was you shouldnt have pulled out your Business Card and said im a senator, you cant arrest me, and that is what he did. Thats the punishment. You shouldnt have done it. He said he was going to resign. But they let him stay in congress until the end of his term, another year later, and that was that. Still to come, werary going to take a look at the big news driving the day. And rethinking the controversial way democrats hold their primaries, i have scar tissue from covering that. You are watching kasie d. C. Thursday is thanksgiving. And there is so much to be thankful for this year unless youre a human woman. Is now a good time to refinance . Yes Mortgage Rates are historically low. The time to refinance your home is right now. Get started at lendingtree. Com. The only place you can compare up to five real offers, side by side, for free. Our average customer can significantly lower their monthly bills. Quick. Beat the feds next rate hike. Do not miss this window. Are you sure you have the best rate . It only takes 3 minutes to find out. Go to lendingtree. Com right now. Earlier this week, senator jeff flake made a classic washington mistake. He told the truth. Here he is in a clip that aired on good morning, america, caught on an open mic. Become the party of roy moore and donald trump. We are toast. Youre the guy that could think how much fun this could be. And to point out what an idiot this guy is. Anyway. Im going to take the liberty of saying most people dont find it that much fun. He quoted no news here. Trump just responded to flakes comment on twitter, saying quote, senator jeff flaky who is unelectable in the great state of arizona was caught on mic saying bad things about your favorite president. Hell be a no on tax cuts because his political career anyway is toast. And christian conservatives were told, those two sides of the party, both of them are unpersuasives to moms and dads in iowa and nebraska who are thinking about what kind of country they want to give their kids in ten to 20 years. Do you think this is the kind of thing that will get Republican Voters excited in iowa . What has he ever won . Can anyone ever tell me what hes won . Hes 0 for life. And everybodys sayings going hes going to be this player. I think trump would be happy enough to give steve bannon as happy as he is to give anybody else credit. Even since hes left the white house, bannons saying what a great guy he is. It would be sad that Paul Manafort or steve bannon won that race for him. He says, whoa, whoa, whoa, i ran that race. He came on quite late. So i think hes reluctant to give credit to anyone other than himself trump, someone made sure that trump was aware of the joshua green book. Some people consider glorify bannon as the architect of a lot of this stuff. Trump went into a complete, this is a joke, who is this guy . No one knows him. He came this late. So indeed. Every night, Jonathan Swan previews the week ahead in washington with his axio newsletter. What do you have . One story thats interesting, were going to be talking about tax reform and a spending bill, but theres this big sleeper story that is happening and not getting a lot of attention. Next week when Congress Returns after thanksgiving, mcconnell will likely confirm his ninth federal judge so far this year. These are lifetime appointments. This is a lifetime appointment. This is going to have a much bigger impact on the future of this country than any of this spending bill discussion.