Transcripts For MSNBCW The Rachel Maddow Show 20220119 : vim

MSNBCW The Rachel Maddow Show January 19, 2022

0 control but -- also federal standards, and to make sure that the system is not being abused. -- and now we are here, senator tim kaine of virginia. thank you so much for your time tonight. >> chris, it's going to be an important i'm excited about it. >> we will keep our eyes on it. that is "all in" on this tuesday night. rachel maddow show starts right now. good evening, rachel. thank you very much. thanks to you at home for joining us. florida's republican governor, ron desantis, submitted a new map for congressional districts. in his state. what he proposes is that florida should cut in half the number of congressional districts that are majority black. okay. texas's largest counties are starting to report on the real world impact of the voting restrictions that texas republicans passed this past year. as many as half the ballot requests they are getting from voters in the state's largest counties are now being rejected by the states, because the new voting rights restrictions they just passed requires that those ballot requests be rejected. half the ballot requests being turned away. in wisconsin, where republican legislators have been moving aggressively to restrict all sorts of voting methods, a state court judge sided with them and ruled that wisconsin can, in fact, remove its drop boxes that people use to drop off their ballots for the election. wisconsin's next election is less than a month from now. they are rushing to rip out the drop boxes and give people fewer places to vote with less than a month to go. gotta hurry. people found it safe, secure to vote that way. as recently as the last election. next one is coming up quick. that must be stopped. today in washington, d.c., conservative democratic senator joe manchin appeared before reporters -- he was wearing a gym suit, a tunic, i'm only saying that so you're not jarred by his appearance in the next clip. he was at the capitol but he was wearing this sporty outfit. he told reporters scornfully while answering questions that he and senator sinema working with republicans to block federal voting rights protections. that will in no way result in people not being able to vote in the next election. he said that won't happen in the next election because the government won't allow it. i know you don't know what that could possibly mean. i know you think i'm paraphrasing him in a way that's obscuring what he must have meant. honestly, that's what we have got. that's what he said. >> senator manchin, what will you say to voters of color that your inability, your obstruction of voting rights -- >> there's no obstruction whatsoever. >> the government will stand behind them so they have the right to vote. >> the government will stand in the way. the government will do that. that's the phrase he used that. the law is there. the rules are there. basically, the government will stand behind them so they have the right to vote. we have that. who is the government in this construction? senator joe manchin actually has it in his personal hands, whether or not the government will stand behind people to protect their right to vote. right now, thanks to him, it is the government in places like florida, places like texas, places like wisconsins with, places like georgia, it's the government in those places, the state government controlled by republicans, that, in fact, is making it so people can't vote or can't have their vote counted or have their vote diluted to the extent that their vote doesn't count no matter how potently and completely they and their cohort votes foyer their chosen representative. the existing federal voting rights act was gutted by the united states supreme court by republican appointed judges. the restrictions on voting rights we are seeing, like this in texas, they can't be blocked anymore by the federal government. this new law in texas, that's having the state required by law to throw out half the ballot applications, it's law. it is new law they made in texas. it's in effect. it's not being blocked by anything. the state government has radically rescinded voting rights there. no one is coming to the rescue because of joe manchin. the federal government can only help in those instances if congress acts, if congress passes legislation to let the federal government step in and establish federal minimum standards in terms of voting rights in the election -- and the administration of elections. it's joe manchin and kyrsten sinema in the senate who are working with republican senators to stop that from happening. senator manchin says, don't worry. he is sure the government will fix it somehow. as if it's not the government that's blocking people from voting, the republican-led state government that's blocking people from voting in these states. as if he is not the government. as if he is not the reason that the federal government can't step in to fix this stuff. a federal government could step in and fix this. it's those two senators working with republicans that are blocking that from happening. the great state of georgia today, where the republican leadership in that state has this past year radically restricted the voting rights of, georgia residents, republicans have moved another one of their own officials into position so they can use the new powers they gave themselves to get rid of the elections boards in democratic counties and have republican officials oversee the vote in the democratic areas. today's move by georgia republicans was their next major step toward taking over fulton county, georgia, where more democratic votes are cast in that state than any other county. republicans are kicking out the local elections officials and taking it over for themselves. why do you think they would want to do that? don't worry, senator joe manchin said surely the government will help in a case like this. surely, the government won't let this happen. this is the government. this is the republican-led state government of georgia moving radically to rescind voting rights. we do not have federal standards to block this sort of thing because of senator kyrsten sinema and joe manchin working with republican senators to make sure nothing gets in the way in whatever the republican-led states want to do. today was just -- scenes from a country trying to save itself. we will get to it tonight. it's farce at a lot of levels when you look at the arguments being made by senator sinema and senator manchin as to why they feel comfortable siding with republicans to prevent the government from doing anything on this issue. senators at this hour are still debating the voting rights protections that senator manchin and senator sinema are blocking. we will check in a little later with one key moderate senator who has become passionate on this issue. while senator joe manchin and kyrsten sinema apparently can't seem to wrap their heads around it, the cold reality of it shivering all over the news today. in michigan, the attorney general answered questions from local reporters about her reasoning in asking the u.s. attorney's office in michigan to bring a federal criminal investigation of 16 republicans who signed and submitted a forged document. she reiterated the argument she made the day she made the referral to federal prosecutors saying she believes this makes the most sense as a federal investigation. but interestingly, speaking with local reporters today, she also clarified that if the federal u.s. justice department chooses newt pursue a prosecution in this case, her office does absolutely believe there's plenty enough evidence to prosecute these 16 republicans under michigan state law. >> at this point, do you think there's enough evidence, if you wanted to, to bring charges against these electors under state law. >> absolutely. >> absolutely. okay. >> and then second question, have you interviewed, or are any of these individuals cooperating with your investigation of what you've done so far? >> yeah. i didn't comment on the investigation at this point. i will say again, i feel confident we have enough evidence to charge. if we decide to pursue that. again, i want to make it clear, i haven't ruled it out, but for all of the reasons i stated, i think it's a better idea for the feds to pursue this. but technically, it is an ongoing investigation, even though we have given everything we have to the feds so that they will have that information, should they wish to pursue it. it is not we have needed it a determine that we are certainly not going to charge. i am just waiting to see what it is that they will decide to do. these 16 individuals could be prosecuted under state law. i'm not denying that at all. i'm saying that if one of your goals is to find out who orchestrated this -- again, seemingly, there's a conspiracy that occurred here between multiple states. so, if what your ultimate goal is not just to prosecute these 16 individuals, but to find out, you know, who put them up to this? is this part of a bigger conspiracy at play in order to undermine the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election not just in michigan but nationally? it's going to involve interviews in other states, and it's going to involve possible prosecutions in other places. >> michigan attorney general dana nessel speaking with reporters in michigan today. making the case that the part of the republican plot to try to overthrow the government and keep donald trump in power, after he lost the election, the part of that that involves coordinated effort to have republicans in multiple states forge documents saying they were the state's electors when they were not, her office believes that can be charged as a crime under michigan law. they have absolutely enough evidence to do so. but she said they believe the larger scheme should be pursued by the federal government, because it wasn't just in michigan. it was in multiple states. that was the attorney general of michigan speaking with reporters today. i have to tell you, just before we got on the air, we got news that yet another state is investigating this matter as a potential crime. we have this federal referral from the attorney general in michigan that she was describing there with local reporters as we reported here last night. the attorney general in the state of new mexico, the attorney general hector he says, he, too, is referring this matter to the u.s. attorney in new mexico for potential prosecution as a federal crime. now there's this from the attorney general in the state of nevada. again, to recap, in michigan, the state attorney general referred those republicans who signed the fake electoral my office cannot and will not accept any efforts to overturn a free and fair election. voting rights are fundamental to our democratic republic and we will continue to protect them. again, to recap, in michigan, the state attorney general referred those republicans who signed the fake electoral documents, referred them to federal prosecutors for potential federal prosecution. the same thing has happened in new mexico, the attorney general in the state of new mexico made a similar referral to federal prosecutors. now, in the state of nevada, we've got the statement from the attorney general saying we cannot confirm or deny the existence of an investigation but rest assured that this matter is on our radar. we don't know what that means in legal terms but you there have it. we do know the january 6 investigation in congress is looking broadly at this part of the plot by which republicans in at least five different states filled out these forged documents pretending to be electors. and those documents were went into congress. so, we know that the january 6th investigation is looking at it. that, in fact, is some of the way that we were able to find out some of the reporting -- some of the reporting trails that everybody was able to follow in order to figure out that these documents existed, that they were similar, part of a coordinated effort and the january 6 investigation is looking at them. we know the january 6 investigators are on this at least in some way. now we know the u.s. justice department has formally been asked in at least two states to contend with it as well. do you remember how right after the election, president trump's lawyer, rudy giuliani, held a couple of press conferences? you may well remember these because these press conferences were memorable for all the wrong reasons. there was the four seasons total landscaping conference arranged at a gardening business just off the interstate in philly. near an adult bookstore and crematorium. why was it held there? certainly to be the subject of political science dissertations for years to come. mr. giuliani at that event claimed to be investigating election irregularities that would show president trump did win re-election. the event was interrupted by all the networks calling the actual presidential election for joe biden. that was not even the craziest press conference mr. giuliani gave that month. just over a week later, he held another one which would go down in political history for something entirely unrelated to the spoken content of the event. i'm talking about the, what's that on his face? the press conference at which trump lawyer mr. giuliani appeared to be sort of melting before our eyes. i know that is what you remember about that event. none of us can forget it. what was that event for other than to haunt our dreams? other than to haunt dreams until we're dead. that event was supposed to be a formal presentation by rudy giuliani and the legal team about how the election had been stolen from trump. giuliani told reporters at the hair dye press conference that trump had won pennsylvania by 300,000 votes and michigan by 50,000 votes. he could absolutely prove it. not that he had the evidence right then to show reporters that day, but he would have the evidence soon. everybody should get ready. evidence of all the corruption by the big city democrats. he said he knew crimes were committed. he could smell them. another member of trump's legal team sidney powell then took the podium and explained, if you can call it that, that the election has been stolen by communists in venezuela, also cuba, also china. the voting machines had been hacked by hugo chavez, even though he is dead. trust us, it works out. someone else got up. also joining them on stage was a trump campaign advisor named boris epstein. he's the gentleman spot-shadowed there on the right side of your screen. pointing out these folks because that crew from that cuckoo for coco puffs, they have been subpoenaed for the january 6 investigation. they have been directed to produce documents to the investigation by the 1st of next month. they've all been ordered to appear for depositions a week later. because as ridiculous as their quasilegal efforts seemed at the time, as ridiculous as they seem now in retrospect, the january 6th investigation is subpoenaing them, not because they're a joke, but quite the contrary. from the perspective of the investigation, these clownish folks were allegedly involved in the worst of what was being plotted to keep trump in power even after he lost the election. as with so many things related to the trump era republican party, it's simultaneously a clown show and a deadly serious threat. giuliani and the rest of the guys technically were trump's legal team. they did bring a number of lawsuits alleging election fraud. and malfeasance, and they were laughed out of court at every turn. in fact, sidney powell, the one with the communist plot by dead hugo chavez, she was actually sanctioned by one court and referred for disbarment by the judge because of the election lawsuit she brought before that court was so basil and fuel of obvious lies. mr. giuliani had his own trouble with his own legal license around the same matters. it doesn't appear the january 6 investigation is subpoenaing this group because it's interested in those legal efforts such as they were. judging by the letters accompanying the subpoenas tonight, the investigation is interested in mr. giuliani and the legal team because of the ways those guys supported and facilitated the broader plot to try to overturn the election, even beyond the courts. i will show you what i mean. the letter to mr. giuliani tonight. quote, the investigation has revealed credible evidence that you publicly promoted claims that the 2020 election was stolen and participated in attempts to disrupt or delay the certification of the election results based on your allegations. remember, disrupting or delaying the certification of the results of january 6, that became the main goal of trump and his allies, if nothing else, so they could buy time to overturn the election. either through the courts or more likely given how the legal challenges were going by the dozen, more likely some other way. the letters from the investigation tonight specifically mention mr. giuliani's attempts, often accompanied by jenna ellis to convince republican state legislators that they should falsify election results in their states to say trump won when he didn't. he did this road show in the weeks after the election trying to get republican legislators in swing states say it was invalid. instead, send slates of trump electors to congress. the investigation also claims to have witness testimony about mr. giuliani, quote, urging president trump to direct the seizure of voting machines around the country after being told that the department of homeland security had no lawful authority to do so. also, quote, according to public reporting on january 6 and the days prior, you were in contact -- this is the letter to mr. giuliani. you were in contact with then president trump and members of congress regarding strategies for delaying or overturning the results of the 2020 election. we know that mr. giuliani was on the phone with republican u.s. senators on january 6, even after the mob stormed the capitol, still trying to get them to stop or delay the certification of the election. they were still that night even after the mob attack on the capitol trying to find a way to falsify the election results and keep trump in power. the investigation's letter to jenna ellis specifically mentions two legal memos she prepared reportedly to show how vice president pence should reject or delay accepting the electoral votes from certain states. states that had submits false slates of electors. they never did succeed in getting republican state legislatures and states joe biden won to send in official alternate slates of electors for trump. as we've been reporting on this show, nevertheless, republicans in multiple states did sign forged documents claiming to be the real elector, claiming they were the duly elected electors from their state and that trump won. which was all bull and may be prosecuted now as a crime. it all appears to have been part of the same broad plan. the trump allies subpoenaed today were, according to the investigation, all over ever aspect of it. rudy giuliani and jenna ellis trying to get state legislators to falsify in that state. ms. ellis writing legal authorizations to overturn the count. if that didn't work, giuliani and powell were trying to get trump to seize voting machines around the country and overturn the election himself with some sort of claims of military or executive power. boris epstein was at the willard holt command center talking with trump about how they could stop certifying the election that day, one way or another. they were determined to make it happen. it's no surprise that the january 6 investigation wants to talk to them, plans to compel them to talk by subpoena. meanwhile, like i said, today is just like scenes of a country trying to save itself. there is new reporting from cnn -- i should tell you right up front, nbc news ha

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