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tv   Inside With Jen Psaki  MSNBC  April 14, 2024 9:00am-10:01am PDT

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her uncle's unhappy. i'm sensing an underlying issue. it's t-mobile. it started when we tried to get him under a new plan. but they they unexpectedly unraveled their “price lock” guarantee. which has made him, a bit... unruly. you called yourself the “un-carrier”. you sing about “price lock” on those commercials. “the price lock, the price lock...” so, if you could change the price, change the name! it's not a lock, i know a lock. so how can we undo the damage? we could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. their connection is unreal. and we could all un-experience this whole session. okay, that's uncalled for. >> welcome back to our breaking news coverage in washington. we have a lot to get to this
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hour, including john kirby who is sitting here at the table ready for me to ask him questions about the iranian attack on israelever overnight. as we count down to the first criminal trial of a former president, leanny davis will join me later in the hour. he's a legal adviser to michael cohen. jamie raskin is here as well. i want to start with the breaking news out of the middle east. overnight, iran carried out an hour long airborne attack inside israel marching more than 300 missiles and drones. 99% of the incoming fire was intercepted. thanks to the iron dome and defense systems funded by the united states and a coordinated effort. only a few of the missiles launched actually entered israel causing minor damage at
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an israeli air base. a young girl was injured biochip fell, but no reports of other casualties. iran says it was in retaliation for the israeli strike on a building in damascus syria that killed several commanders earlier this month. now, despite being adversaries for more than 40 years, this marks the first time iran launched a direct attack on israel from inside their own territory. and for that reason, it is unprecedented. it's important to remember that. iran also made clear last night, through a statement issued by the u.n. mission that they were done. stating quote, the matter can be deemed concluded. indicating iran has no interest, at least that's how i read it. i'll ask john kirby in a moment in an escalating war with israel. it had a warning to the united states saying it is a conflict between iran and the rogue israeli regime, from which the u.s. must stay away.
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the big question is, what happens now? last night the defense minister made clear the campaign is not yet over. the war cabinet is meeting as we speak, and we'll bring you any update ifs that over the next hour. president biden and u.s. officials played a significant role in protecting israel against the strikes from iran last night, new reporting makes clear patience from the president is not unlimited. as nbc news reports, there's concern among top u.s. officials that israel could respond too quickly without thinking through the potential fallout. there's also been private frustration with israel's decision to strike the consulate in syria earlier this month. the israelis don't always make the best strategic decisions. the president told netanyahu in their phone call to quote take the win. and israel should not retaliate against iran. adding that the u.s. won't
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participate in offensive operations against iran. it remains to be seen whether netanyahu will show the restraint biden is calling for. he hasn't listened to all the warnings by the united states and he has his own domestic audience to consider, especially as he's under pressure to call early elections. this further escalates tensions in the region. or it could. at a time when proxies like hezbollah are attacking israel. including last night. at a time there's a war happening between israel and hamas, one that has killed tens of thousands inside gaza and left many others starving, hamas again rejected a cease fire deal overnight. the question now is whether iran's response will trigger additional military action from israel that could escalate into an uncontrollable cycle of violence. what the white house and president biden can do to deescalate tension this is a volatile region. joining me is john kirby. there's no one better at explaining all of this.
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we'll see what you're going to share with me. we're trying to help people understand the dynamics here. let me start with the israeli war cabinet meeting, which is ongoing right now. they're discussing a response to the attack. we haven't heard what they're going to say. i did just quote the israeli defense minister from last night. it seems like from the reporting, the ideal is to of course deescalate the tensions here. there's a lot going on in the region. is the hope from the united states even as israel makes their own decisions that they don't do it? >> the hope is to deescalate the tensions. that's what the president has been trying to do, jen. from october 7th on, everything he's done. all the movements of military assetes to the region. all the diplomacy, both public and private has been designed to take the tensions down. he doesn't want to see a major war in the middle east. he's not looking for a conflict with iran. if you look at last night, jen. an incredibly successful
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evening. not only did it demonstrate israel can feel they're not alone and they're not. they have superior capability to defend themselveses and their citizens. one of the messages the president delivered is be proud of what you were able to accomplish last night. that sent a strong signal. not just to iran but to every other bad actor in the region. >> there was a call a couple weeks ago the president made with president netanyahu where there was an impact from the call. it was a stern call after the death of some aid workers. there was a call yesterday. there hasn't been retaliatory action yet from israel. the war cabinet is meeting. is there any evidence you've seen they've pulled back, held back or not moved forward from the retaliation from the call? >> we haven't seen anything in terms of movement or even frankly anything that would indicate they arrived at a decision. as you said, the war cabinet is meeting. obviously we'll see what they end up coming out of that doing and sigh. the president's message was we got your back and we did.
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we proved it. the president ordered u.s. forces in the active defense of israel. we've sent the same message to iran. we'll do what we have to do to defend israel and our troops in the region. >> there are, i know you're not going to get into private phone calls. i've been in your spot before. in the reporting, wildly spread that the president conveying to the prime minister, take the win. that's what he said to him in the call last night. do you think, i mean, what is the u.s. do? what are the discussions like internally? if israel retaliates, what additional levers does the u.s. have here? the u.s. wants israel to be protected. what can they do in prime minister netanyahu says i'll do additional action? >> that will be his call. he's the elected prime minister of israel. he'll have to make the decisions in concert with the war cabinet. what we need to do and what we will continue to do, the president will do is make sure we have the resources in the
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region to defend israel. as we did last night and have we done since the 7th of october. and to make sure and it's easy to about the troops in iraq and syria and the threats from the proxies and those are real. we have broader national security interests and the president is keenly focused on making sure the iranians know we take those interests as well. we'll do what we have to do and told iran appropriately accountable. the last three years 500 sanctions against iran and their destabilizing activity. everything from merry time piracy to beating up on the protesters. we'll keep the options open. one of the things the president is doing while the war cabinet is doing is convened a meeting of the g7. >> about a response. >> to talk about a diplomatic response. there are lots of options here to continue to old iran. >> what does that look like? what does he hope will come out of that? is it sanctions?
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is it punishmentes to iran? is it something else? >> the first big step for getting them together is to come out with a concerted statement of condemnation for what iran did last night. and a common path forward on how we're going to deal with this. i wouldn't expect, and i'm sure we'll see a read soon. i wouldn't expect specific sanctions. i'm not saying we're taking economic pressure off the table for iran. we'll have to do this in unison. i think the president wanted to get the g7 leaders together. some of our most important allies and partners to see what's in the realm of possible. >> you referenced the proxies. there's a lot of dynamics going only. people are tuning in, it's important to understand. iran has a significant role in guiding, advising. you can define it any way you want. proxies like hezbollah. hezbollah attacked israel last night. even as iran through the u.n. mission said we're done here. how do you hold iran
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accountable for the actions of their proxy this is do you and the second part of this is do you worry the conflict could give greater cover for the proxies to escalate their attack this is. >> the second question, yes, of course. the proxies, as you know, yes, they are supported by iran. there's varying levels of direction they get from the supreme leader depending on where they are and the circumstances. clearly, iran is supporting them, resourcing them, training them and in fact, in some cases giving them direction. they can run off on their own. we're worried about what the proxies might do. they got involved to a limited degree last night. more symbolic but it is an example of what iran was trying to accomplish. this wasn't just iran going after israel, but that these other groups were joining it. it was a bigger effort. clearly, though, the most important thing was that it was coming from iranian territory for the first time on israel. >> there have been a number of
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republican elected officials, far too many in my view, over the last 24 hours who have called on the president to do proactive attacks against iran. a couple of senators. help us understand why that is damaging. i mean, there are u.s. military bases under the world who are a bit under threat now. iran mentioned them. the iranians did in their statement. give me a response to those statements calling for retaliation. action from the united states directly at iran. >> i don't think it's in our interest or the american people's interest, the president doesn't believe to have another war in the middle east. where you've got thousands and thousands of american troops involved on the ground. everything he's been doing, as i said, since the 7th of october has been to try to prevent that outcome. i would ask the critics to take a look at last night. my goodness. more than 300 drones and missiles fired at israel from iran, and how many made it
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through? what damage did they cause? it was an utter failure from a military perspective. an incredible success from an israeli perspective. we've got to keep coming back to the end result last night. what was shown in the world was iran is not 10 feet tall and israel has friends and extraordinary capability. as you said in your opening, one of the reasons they have that capability, a big reason is the united states. our approach is working. >> let me ask you before i let you go. back to your day. how this impacts between the war between israel and hamas. nestically here, there's growing calls for conditioning aid. obviously some of the same diplomats are dealing with israel on a range of issues. ben roads who has spent time in the white house says it makes it harder to work on that and towards a deal. what is your assessment of that? >> if you really believe in israel's future security, then you have to believe in a two
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state solution. you have to believe in getting to that vision. if you believe in that, as the president does, then you've got to believe in the power of trying to get the temporary cease fire in place to get the hostages out and more humanitarian assistance in and it doesn't become a situation where israel's reputation on the world stage is damage today the point and their credibility is damage today the point where this become as generational struggle. that's what we're trying to get at. there's a deal on the table. hamas should take it immediately. it would get dozens of these most at risk hostages out. it would get more aid in and give six weeks of peace and calm in gaza to work on something enduring. the president still believes in that. he believes that's the best answer. not just for the future of the palestinian people, of course. for the future of the israel people. >> john kirby, i know you didn't get a lot of sleep last night. i appreciate you being here and
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helping us understand what's happening behind the scenes. thank you for joining me. coming up, congresswoman alyssa is standing by. she knows what all the players involved are weighing. later, we'll shift our focus to what is a hayes today tomorrow in a different way. as donald trump's first criminal trial kicks off in new york city. we're just getting started this hour. we'll be right back after a quick break. quick break. nothing dims my light like a migraine.
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>> iran's attack against israel is sparking new urgency to pass an aid package to help israel. and it could happen this week. in a post last night, house majority leader steve scalise said in light of the attack, the house will move from the previously announced legislative schedule to consider legislation that supports our ally israel and holds iran and its terrorist proxies accountable. he didn't offer specifics about the legislation. it's unclear what that will mean for the $95 billion package passed in february that includes aid for israel as well as ukraine. joining me is someone who knows firsthand how global conflicts are discussed in the halls of congress and in the situation room, michigan congresswoman elissa slotkin. she served three tour this is iraq and worked in the department of defense and on the national security council. i'm so grateful for you being with me this morning.
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i want to start there with the expected vote that congressman scalise announced on aid for israel. he didn't give specifics. you may have more. mitch mcconnell urged the house to take up the senate passed foreign aid package that includes aid for ukraine and taiwan. speaker johnson said this morning the house will send its own package. help us understand how this will all play out. >> yeah. honestly i think my republican colleagues in the senate need to have a conversation with the republican colleagues in the house. the fastest way to get any of this done is to have the senate package that is already passed on a bipartisan basis in the u.s. senate that is sitting on mike johnson's desk. just bring it to a vote. we know it will pass. there are enough democrats and republicans that will support it that will it pass the second he puts it on the floor. he's been reluctant to do that because he had marjorie taylor greene threatening his job over
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ukraine funding. he's going to have to put on his big boy pants and bring it to the floor and let us vote on it this week. we're hoping mr. mcconnell has that conversation with mr. johnson. >> put on the big boy pants. there's still a war with ukraine happening. you heard it from congresswoman slotkin. let me ask you what we've seen over the last 48 hours. a lot of events happening. my colleagues have some new reporting about concern among some top u.s. officials that israel could do something hastily. the war cabinet is meeting right now and could do something to escalate. there are reports over the past week that defense secretary lloyd austin was yep set he wasn't given a heads up about the decision to strike the embassy. especially the support the u.s. gives. i want to help people understand the dynamics going on. it was a success, a military success overnight to deflect all of these attacks from iran. the u.s. played a role in that. do you share this frustration
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or concern about this potentially escalating from israel at this point in time? and causing a larger global conflict in the region? >> well, look, iran's response, i think we need to start with basic facts here. which is iran's response from israel is fundamentally different than what we've seen in any other previous attack on rigc officers, including when the united states of america took out the head of the organization a few years ago. iran did a combined attack with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones. over 300 of them. this is just not something we've seen before. this is a different chapter. the only other country doing that complex attacks with those three, two different types of missiles and drones is russia and ukraine, by the way. they're clearly sharing tactics and sharing battlefield information. but that was absolutely an escalation by the iranians. that is something we have not
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seen. we were successful in sort of coalition way in defending israel. but that doesn't mean this isn't a new chapter in that kind of conversation. now, no one wants a wider regional war, but israel has the right to self-defense. any country has the right to self-defense. and so i think that while we want thoughtful, strategic thinking by all players, particularly the israelis who we have a day-to-day relationship with, because that's who we can talk to, i think we have to understand that iran has taken this to a new place and that was of their choosing. >> it's very important context. i hope you know you provided a lot of an overview at the top of the show. it's important for people to understand the history and the back and forth. i did want to ask. everybody wants deescalation. most people. there have been a number of calls over the past 24 hours from some of your republican
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colleagues, including congresswoman elise who wrote on x or twitter, joe biden's weakness on the world stage and the failure to support israel -- he reversed the maximum pressure campaign on iran and less than six months ago he allowed critical international sanctions on the programs to expire empowering them to launch the massive strike. there's a lot of revision history in there. it struck me that the statement was put out on a night when, as you noted, there was a coalition of countries in the region and the united states that helped israel defend against these strikes. what did you make of that statement or statements similar to that that we've seen come out from your republican colleagues? >> well, i hadn't seen that statement in particular. and as someone who elise used to work for president bush and had a lot of different views on foreign policies under
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recently. you know, trump, he did a bunch of very aggressive things towards iran, and they're still shooting at u.s. forces, shooting and providing money against israelis. that campaign didn't create the changes that they said it would create anyways. iran is a malign actor. they are a bad actor. they have been badly behaving for at this point 30, 40 years. and it's going to take more than just one strike or one statement from donald trump in order to get them to change their behavior. what i think we don't want to lose sight of is they change the conversation overnight. and to me, it's going to take some thoughtful leadership here in order to make sure we don't see this rise into something that's a it for tat war like situation. with all due respect to leaders in the other side of the aisle, the results that they say they
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produced with trump's policy, i don't see them. i don't see what they're talking about. it's to be continued. i think if she wants to help her party bring the aid package to the floor of the house for ukraine, for israel, for taiwan, for all the things we want to be able to vote on and debate. >> congresswoman elissa slotkin, a perfect place to end. there is action to be taken to help these countries. i appreciate you joining me this afternoon. all of donald trump's efforts to delay the criminal trial have come and gone. this time tomorrow, he'll be watching jury selection unfold right in front of him in the courtroom. lonnie davis is going to join me here in studio. jamie raskin is going to weigh in later as well. we're back after a quick break. break.
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first criminal trial of a former president in u.s. history, the only one. starts tomorrow. now, unlike a defendant who desperately wants his day in court to clear his name. if you're innocent, you typically would. trump has thrown hail mary after hail mary to try and prevent his trial from happening. this week alone, his team filed three emergency appeals over the course of just three days. of course, none of them worked. but we should expect more delay tactics this week. along the way, we've also seen trump attack nearly every one involved in the case. this weekend he's been up on true social attacking the judge and the star witness, michael cohen. he's going after alvin bragg and the judge's daughter. he's planting the seeds of doubt so if he is convicted, he can claim the game was rigged. that is simply a side show. and now, starting tomorrow, it is time for the actual trial. because starting tomorrow, this
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case is not about the prosecutor or the judge or the judge's daughter. it is about the jurors who will be selected over the next days and weeks in court. made up of men and women serving their civic duty and about the potential witnesses. some of the people closest to donald trump who saw a lot. the prosecution didn't select these people to spend time around donald trump. he did. they've been called to testify against him. among them is michael cohen, who was trump's lawyer. his partner in crime who facilitated the hush money payment at the heart of his case and then paid the price himself in prison time. he's no doubt the star witness. importantly, he is far from the only one crab rating the story. we'll likely hear from stormy daniel, the stormer cult film star who slept with trump and received payments in exchange from her silence and karen macdougal. she was paid to keep it quiet.
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and david the former ceo of american media who admitted to having negative stories to help get elected. they're all central figures and we may hear from them soon. there are also the people who are not only central to the case but people who have been incredibly close to donald trump himself. like madaline, the former personal secretary at the white house. she was his gate keeper. madaline is the key to get to trump. you had to go through madaline. at the time he was reimbursing michael cohen for the payments and for context, i spent time. the person in her job has the desk closest to the oval office. they say everyone who goes in and out and knows about every conversation that happens. and then there's hope hicks. one of his most trusted advisers for years. she was there from the jump. serving as press secretary
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during the 2016 campaign when he was working to catch and kill the allegations of his affairs. so trump can attack the credibility of the da and the judge all he wants and he may continue to. however, his unfounded attacks are tough given good luck trying to attack the credibility of the people literally by his side every step of the way who will be testifying. the trial is going to be about them. it's going to be about a jury of 12 ordinary people. starting tomorrow, a perspective pool of hundreds will begin to field questions until their windowelled down to a group of impartial jurors. they will decide trump's fate. not alvin bragg or the judge's daughter. the jury. that is what trump is facing tomorrow. testimony from some of the closest confidants and 12 people. leanny davis is standing by and joins me after a quick break. a
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>> we are counting down to the start of donald trump's first criminal trial, tomorrow in new york. joining me now is legal adviser to the case's star witness, michael cohen, lenny davis. thank you so much for joining me onset. i appreciate it. lenny, we've seen this movie before. you could argue you were in the first movie, as some might say. the charges are different but the underlying facts, of course, in cohen's federal case are essentially the same facts now. why is that, what are the parallels tell us? >> first that federal prosecutors who worked for donald trump's justice department found that he directed michael cohen to do the crime, paying money for political reasons right towards the end of 2016 election. that makes it a crime. the federal prosecutors in new york who work for his justice department found that he directed, that's the word he used, cohen to do the crime.
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somebody who directs somebody to do a crime that federal prosecutors say those facts are true, of course they have to be introduced into evidence with the same facts, must be guilty of the same crime. >> hard to imagine not. as a nonrecall. but you're a recall telling me that. trump, i just started out talking about this. trump has been attacking everyone involved including michael cohen. he attacked him yesterday. it seems like it's a violation of the gag order. what should judge merchan do in this particular case? >> i think the judge has handled this as all the judges who have been attacked by mr. trump by virtually ignoring and trying to impose a gag order, which is not possible. >> because trump can't be gagged? >> he would be a very difficult to put in jail. an ex-president. i would not favor that. it's hard to discipline him. our jury system isn't perfect. there may be biased jurors one way or the other. we've lived with the system
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going back to england before we became a country. this jury system will determine the facts based on the evidence. he's entitled to the presumption of innocent. he's innocent until 12 people say he's guilty. the facts are the facts. mr. trump has a hard time with facts. he denies facts, but he can't in a courtroom, 12 people will hear the facts. >> jury of his peers. that's how the legal system works. i want to dig into the specifics here. you're an expert and familiar. we'll be talking about this case for the next several weeks. a key component of the da's case is trump's reimbursement for the payoff to daniels which were payments for legal fees. he agreed in 2018 that trump did agree to reimburse cohen and then falsely accounted for these payments as legal expenses. essentially calling him out for his bluff, lie, whatever you want to call it there. do you think trump's defense team will try to argue this again?
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the same argument? >> impossible. the facts are the facts. number one, trump's lawyer told the truth on fox and said they were reimbursements of illegal payments. the word illegal is my word. they were motivated at the end of election. rudy giuliani said reimbursements. apart from that, they did an ample investigation and found in writing in a public document. they were reimbursements for what they found to be illegal politically motivated payments. one other point, jen. people disparage this case about sex and hush money. what did federal prosecutors say? this case is about impairing democracy. because allowing, this is out of their memorandum. allowing wealthy people to prevent information, the american people need to vote for a president is what happened here. it's about democracy. it's not about hush money. >> this is such an important point. it was holding back information from the american public at a
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pivotal time. trump claimed over the past couple of days, yesterday, i think, that he's willing to testify. to the point of your earlier point about the payments. trump admitted in a tweet the payments to cohen were reimbursements related to a nondisclosure agreement. do you think there's a scenario he actually testifies? is that basically a gift to the prosecutor this is. >> let me get this straight, he said publicly i would testify. and then someone said he didn't say will testify. we saw him on air force 1 at the time that michael cohen was first involved in this matter saying he's just my lawyer. i don't know anything. so the record for donald trump telling the truth, let's hope now he's telling the truth. his supporters out there heard him. i would say please, mr. trump, testify. >> you know trump's defense team is going to attack michael cohen's credibility. there's a lot of other witnesses here. who is most interesting to you?
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who is most impactful for the prosecution? >> david michael cohen's credibility was tested under different lawyers but the same trump advocates. cross examined in new york state supreme court. brutal cross-examination. the judge heard everything and found michael cohen to tell the truth. so he's already passed that test. but david is a second witness. the federal prosecutors vote that david the publisher of national inquirer met with mr. trump and reached an agreement. he would pay $150,000 to karen mckuball, former play mate of the month so the american people wouldn't know about that affair and said and met with trump that trump promised to repay him. it's a separate narrative that the american people weren't affair of. they only know about michael cohen. mr. trump has not attacked his close friend. >> he has not.
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that's interesting to note. before i let you know, if prison time is on the table. there are sentencing guidelines. i would note that judge merchan said he regretted to agreeing a five month sentence for trump company ceo saying he would have imposed a harsher punishment. we never know what a judge will decide. you know that well. is it conceivable for people watching if he's convicted he'll go to jail for this? >> he most certainly will. if he's elected president, i hope that won't take place. he says he can pardon himself and he will probably try. he cannot pardon a criminal conviction by a jury of a state crime. he must go to jail. i would not favor putting him behind bars. i would favor a house arrest. something less than behind bars because he's an ex-president. there's no question he will be incarcerated either on house arrest or behind bars if he's convicted. >> lenny davis, thank you for
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bringing all your knowledge about this case to us this afternoon. i really appreciate you joining me. congressman jamie raskin is standing by to continue this conversation and talk about it even more. we're back after a quick break. break.
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save with drivewise and get a rate based on you. you're in good hands with allstate. >> i know, i know. we've also seen this movie before. but right now, house speaker mike johnson is fighting to hang on to his gavel as the far right flank threatens to take it away. it says a lot about the
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republican party. that the one person speaker johnson believed could get him out of the pickle he's in is donald trump. it says more about the republican party that the one issue they figured everyone could rally around is what they're calling election integrity. which i'm putting in quotes because it actually means peddling conspiracy issue. that's the glue that's keeping this party together. this time they pushed a bill to keep noncitizens from voting. that's already illegal, just so everyone knows and very rare. that should be good news to the men so concerned about it. of course that's not really about this bill. it's about once again, laying the ground work ahead of the election to challenge the results if trump doesn't like them. this focus on election interference really is so rich coming from mike johnson who himself was an enabler in trying to overturn the 2020 election coming from donald trump who is going on trial tomorrow for his efforts to interfere in the election.
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joining me is jamie raskin of maryland. he's the ranking democrat on the house oversight committee. i don't know how to start other than when you were watching, if you watched or saw clips of mike johnson standing next to donald trump spouting lies about election integrity. what was going through your head? >> it reminded me of kevin mccarthy's journey south to the $18 million home trump was bragging about. where he was on bended knee begging for trump's support in raising money. johnson is on life support in the house because under the rules, anybody can move to vacate the chair and basically topple the leadership just by unilateral direction. marjorie taylor greene can do it, matt gates, jim jordan can do it. trump likes having johnson over the barrel because he controls him. so, for example, on ukraine aid, which is so central, trump
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can keep johnson from bringing ukraine to the floor. we are begging johnson to bring ukraine. >> and it would pass. >> it would pass overwhelmingly with 60 or 70% of the votes. so it means that donald trump is basically steering the bus and of course, the person who is steering donald trump is vladimir putin. it's like trump is the fourth branch of government and putin is the fifth branch of government. the republicans can't do anything, unless trump approves it and trump can't do anything if putin doesn't want him to. >> which exactly why it's not in the package that may move itself to the house this week. >> we've been wanting to vote for $61 billion in aid to the ukrainian people who are under the gun and outgunned and they need artillery. it's a very dangerous situation right now. >> i'm sure you get asked this a lot. to calm people's nerves out there paying attention to this and saw mike johnson and donald trump standing next to each other. there have been changes to the
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electoral count act to put in place important measures. for people freaked out. mike johnson is the speaker of the house. he's standing by trump and is willing to help him challenge the outcome of the election. what do you tell them? >> first of all, vice president harris is vice president and not pence or pence's substitute. remember, they were going to try and oust pence and put somebody else in there. that helps. it's an extremely narrow majority that they have. it's basically a one or two vote majority at this point. who knows. it could flip before then. they would basically need to get every republican to try to vote against a legitimate electoral college and start rejecting electoral college votes, which is what they did last time. we're taking it seriously and preparing for all of it. look, they tried fraud in 2020.
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they tried violence in 2020. they tried cohearse and everything. we've got to be ready for every category of attack on the election. we know the vast majority of the people are on the side of the democracy and joe biden beat him by seven and a half million votes. we're adding ten or 12 million new young voters in 2024. if we do our job right, it will be an even bigger margin in 2024. we've got to defend the election. >> and protect it and prepare for it. i want to play something your colleague said about her fears surrounding what a republican majority might do after the november election. let's get your thoughts on it. >> if democrats do not retake the house in november, i do not have confidence that a republican majority would certify the results of a presidential election. the threat is very real and
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very serious. >> so, she's clearly quite concerned about what could happen here. does your level of concern match yours? >> well, i think we are going to win. a big majority in the house. that's of course who is going to be in place on january the 6th. and so that's one guarantee we've got. if we can turn out the vote and win the house back. also, the certificates of ascertainment are sent by the governors of the states and by the state legislatures that approve the popular vote in those states. we know that trump tried to interfere like brad in georgia. so far, those people have demonstrated respect indifference to the popular will as expressed through the electoral college. although eventually and i hope soon, we'll get rid of the electoral college and just have a popular vote and elect the president the way we elect governors and representatives
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and senators. until then, we have to defend every part of this antique system we have against fraud and violence. >> we only have a minute left. you are the best framer of history in the moments we're in. as we look to this week, a criminal trial starting tomorrow. how should we think about this moment in history? >> trump's people would like to triflize and diminish the meaning of this trial. in fact, it's like the others out there. they're all about electoral interference and manipulation. they tried it with violence. we're going to see that in the d.c. case. they tried it with fraud. we'll see that in the georgia case. here they tried it with payoffs and cooking the books. financial manipulation. that's what it's about. it's a very serious case. i think the trump people are going to be shocked how tuned in america is to what's going on here. >> congressman jamie raskin, thank you. placing the moment of history to wrap us up.
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up next, news about what we're working about for tomorrow's night show following the first day of donald trump's criminal trial. we'll be right back. back. (sfx: deoderant being sprayed) secret whole body deodorant. (screams) bleeding gums are serious, jamie. dr. garcia? woah. they're a sign of bacterial infection. crest gum detoxify's antibacterial fluoride works below the gumline to help heal gums and stop bleeding. crest saves the day. crest.
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>> that does it for me today. we're gearing up for a very busy day tomorrow when donald trump's first criminal trial kicks off in new york city. we have a great lineup of guests. congressman dan goldman is joining me and lead council former u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york preet bhara is joining me and more. for now, stay right where you are. there's much more news coming up on msnbc. up on msnbc. on the eve of history. in just hours, donald trump will walk into a new york city courtroom, where for the first time, a former president will be tried in a cour

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