Transcription
Adam Smith of Washington. He's the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman Smith, thank you very much for joining us tonight.
Uh, what is your reaction to the idea that, uh, the chairman of your committee feels he has completed his investigation?
I strongly disagree with it. I mean, to begin with, the video needs to be released. We need to see this publicly so that everybody can have an opportunity to evaluate it. The reason they will not release that video is because it's incredibly damning to their entire argument. So that needs to happen.
Second, in the conversation with Admiral Holsey, which Mike Rogers and I were sitting next to each other during it, he did not say it had nothing to do, um, with anything going on around these boat strikes, his decision to retire. That is, he said he had a very personal conversation with Secretary Hagsth and Chairman Kaine, chairman of the Chairman Chiefs of Staff, and at the conclusion of that conversation decided that it was in his best interests to resign. That's an entirely different statement than saying it had nothing to do with any concerns he had about what's going on down there.
Also, there was a very confusing explanation of the chain of command on these strikes, who had the authority to decide to target when. I've got a thousand more questions and a lot more investigation needs to be done. And based on what I've seen thus far, um, we need to investigate this for a possible violation of the law. Um, and I again, if they released the video, 95% of the public would agree with me on that point.
Was Admiral Hally himself confused about the chain of command?
Uh, no. Um, I don't think he was confused about it. It's just that it's bounc, it, it apparently bounced around from several different people. Sometimes it was Secretary Hegsath, sometimes it was Admiral Bradley, sometimes it was Admiral Holsey, and confusingly, sometimes apparently it was one of the, the MW commanders, a marine commander of one of the amphibious groups down there.
Based on what, um, and what is the legal underpinning of this, it's also worth noting that the legal document, which again has not been released publicly. We've seen it in a classified setting that supposedly offers up the legal justification for these strikes wasn't even written until September 5th. So, 3 days after the September 2nd strike. And Admiral Bradley testified he didn't see it until November. So what was the legal authority that they were operating under? And what is the point of this entire mission? As I said, I got thousands more questions there. This investigation is far from complete.
It's hard for me to imagine what could be in a legal memo that would have to be classified. Nothing. Nothing. And there's nothing in this video either. Now, now let, let me amend that. The video itself from the beginning of the operation to the end is about 5 and a half hours. Um, that's from before the first strike to the second. They've already released the video of the first strike and they've also released the video of, I think, at least 15 other strikes. So clearly you can release some of these videos without revealing anything sensitive. And that the actual video of, of the, you know, minute or two before the strike, the second strike that hits the two people clinging to the wreckage of this boat, there's nothing classified about that. It, it should be released and the public should be able to see. I mean, they're very anxious to release the rest of the videos. To Senator Rosen's point, um, they seem to like to show that. Um, there's no reason they can't release this and show the public other than the fact that they know it is damning to their entire argument.
If we, uh, had collapsed time and, uh, you were, uh, just a month away from becoming, uh, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, as you may be, uh, a year from now, uh, what would be, what would be happening that would be different in this investigation? What would the Defense Department know? Uh, what would Pete Hegth know was coming, uh, on day one of your chairmanship?
As subpoenas, um, to make sure that they turn over the information to us that they're supposed to turn over to us and that they haven't. Uh, beginning with all this is something as I, I forget if you mentioned it at your broadcast or I heard it somewhere else. You know, we just passed the defense bill where we fence a certain amount of Pete Hex's travel dollars until he turns that information over to us. All the information surrounding these strikes, the videos, but also importantly the documentation supporting it. Who, who made a decision based on what? We should see that documentation and then we would bring in everybody up and down the chain of command.
Look, it's a basic investigation and I don't, I don't trust Hexath. All right? I don't trust him to tell us the truth. So, I'd like to go up and down the chain of command, everyone who was involved in it, and say, "What did you see?" There was a report, I think, in the press today about a later strike in October, the one where two survivors were actually picked up, where there's a whistleblower complaint out there now saying that there was an order given to destroy all of the records and all of the video around those two people being picked up, questioned, and released. So, we'd go up and down the chain of command to try to find what the truth was instead of simply taking the word of Donald Trump and Pete Hegathth for it. And I think the country's owed that, you know, what's going on here and why we're owed an explanation, um, and the legal justification for all of these actions.
Congressman Adam Smith, thank you very much for leading off our discussions tonight.
Thanks, Lawrence.
Thank you. And coming up today, a third judge ordered the Epstein files under his jurisdiction to be released, according to the new law passed by Congress unanimously. Congressman Jamie Rascin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, will join us next.
Today, the third federal judge with jurisdiction over portions of the Epstein Files issued an order to release the Epstein files in his jurisdiction, quote, "in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act and with the unequivocal right of Epstein victims to have their identity and privacy protected." Judge Richard Burman said the language of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed unanimously by Congress over Donald Trump's objection, quote, "is crystal clear and should be afforded its ordinary common sense meaning."
Joining us now is Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Uh, Congressman Raskin, this really has been a lesson of government in action. I have never seen, uh, legislation, uh, go from your hands in the House, uh, to the Senate, signed into law, and onto judges' opinions so fast.
Well, and the same judges who refused to waive the 6E protections for those materials are now saying that under the federal law passed by Congress, they must turn it over, uh, with dispatch, without any delay, uh, while protecting the privacy and the confidentiality of the victims. So, these judges are very strictly implementing the legislative intent behind the statute. We're seeing, uh, today Donald Trump try to do run that play again that he tried to run in the Epstein file six months ago, telling reporters, uh, "That story is dead. That story is over." He's trying to do the same thing now with that second missile strike, uh, that some legal experts are calling murder, uh, in the Caribbean.
Yeah, I mean, it's all about self-protection. Um, the same kinds of things he, of course, uh, accused other presidents of doing, he's actually doing. It's a massive projection, and it's the same thing here. I mean, he was the one, uh, who went out with all of his people and said, "We want to see the full Epstein files." They're the ones who promoted the whole QAnon story about a power elite trafficking in children and human flesh. And what do you know? That power elite is the one that Donald Trump knew, uh, intricately well, because he was Jeffrey Epstein's best friend. And the truth is going to come out now under this law. And there is a tremendous momentum behind the disclosure, not just of the grand jury records, but of all of the discovery materials. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of documents that are going to be released.
You know, I keep flashing forward these, these days, and I'm flashing forward a year, which I shouldn't do. I shouldn't try to be predictive, uh, in politics, especially in this era. But with all the polls indicating that the Democrats are going to win, uh, the House of Representatives in the next election, I'm imagining, uh, that year from now, when you're taking over, uh, the chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee, and what you would have the power to investigate, including what is going on with all the contracts that are being awarded, uh, in this, in the immigration sector, and the imprisoning of people involved in all of these immigration maneuvers that the Trump administration is doing. You will be in the position to conduct those investigations.
Well, let's hope so. Of course, I'm out on the road every weekend, Lawrence. I'm in Ohio, Florida, Texas, New Jersey. We're campaigning hard. And these amazing victories you're seeing around the country are just the beginning. They're the ground swell that is going to, uh, hit a tidal wave crest in November of next year. So, we're just building now. But, um, your point is correct. We are documenting all of the outrages and all of the corruption that we're able to find out about, and we are demanding answers now, knowing that they're going to do everything they can to drag their feet and sweep it under the rug. But, uh, you know, $170 billion extra was voted to go to ICE, and that's a huge, big time payoff bonanza for a lot of these government contractors that are very tight, uh, with Mr. Homeman and other officials in the Trump administration. And so we want to know everything about what's taking place with these, uh, homeland security, military, industrial contracts and networks that they've brought into the Trump administration. Everybody saw, um, or at least heard about the $50,000 payoff in the caviar bag, uh, pocketed by Mr. Home in. But that's just chump change compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars that, you know, contractors like GEO are bragging to their investors that they're going to be able to get from the Trump administration.
Well, when you're, uh, chair of Judiciary, I think we're going to find out what happened to that $50,000 in the paper bag. Congressman Jamie Raskin, thank you very much for joining us tonight.
You bet. And coming up today, the chairman of the Federal Reserve confirmed Donald Trump's tariffs are causing inflation. Obviously, some consumers are facing 100% inflation on their health insurance premiums, thanks entirely to Donald Trump and the Republicans. That's next with Senator Amy Clolobashar.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell explained today why people are feeling sharply increasing inflation. Now, these readings are higher than earlier in the year, as inflation for goods has picked up, reflecting the effects of tariffs. The story with inflation and, uh, you know, we're well aware that this is a story at this point, is that if you get away from tariffs, inflation is in the low twos, right? So, it's really tariffs and that that's causing the most of the inflation overshoot.
But people struggling to pay for health insurance this year are facing something much more dramatic and painful than inflation. American households, including self-employed business owners, freelancers, and early retirees, have five more days to sign up for health insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace to ensure coverage beginning in January. But without an extension of the subsidies people receive to pay for their health insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace, those people will be facing health insurance premiums that on average will at least double. That's an inflation rate of 100%. Six Republicans in the House of Representatives have broken with their party to file a discharge petition to force a vote in the House on extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies, very much against the wishes of their Republican leader, Speaker Mike Johnson. The Senate will be voting on the Democratic plan advanced by Senator Chuck Schumer to extend the subsidies for three years. And now, Republicans say they will offer their own healthcare proposal for a vote tomorrow. When the Schumer plan comes up for a vote, the Republican Senate proposal is to give people $80 a month to buy health insurance. Yes, health insurance for $80 a month. Today, Senator Schumer said this.
I want to be very clear about what this Republican bill represents. Junk insurance. Let me tell my Republican colleagues, it's dead on arrival. The proposal does nothing to bring down high sky-high premiums. It doesn't extend the ACA premiums by a single day. Instead, Republicans want to send people $80 a month and pretend that's going to fix everything. It's a, you're on your own bill. You got a sick kid and you have cancer. You need a complete top-to-bottom checkup because something's ailing you. The Republicans are telling you Americans, you're on your own.
Joining us now is Democratic Senator Amy Clolobashar of Minnesota. She's a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee. She's the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee. Senator, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Um, I, I, I have to say, um, where did the Republicans get the idea that, uh, $80 a month could even pay for anyone's, you know, gasoline for a car for a month?
You mean while they're sending $20 billion to Argentina, um, they, they come up with this for the American people. And I really appreciated, Lawrence, that you put this in the context of all of the costs. The fact that the Federal Reserve chair today said these tariffs are ex costing people money. They're contributing to inflation. It is literally $2,000 every year, uh, for a family that they're experiencing right now. But these healthcare premiums, our colleagues, and Donald Trump doesn't want anyone to notice this vote tomorrow, but it is happening. They have an opportunity to stop this madness and allow the people of America to get these tax credits that will greatly help them because these premiums, it's not January, it's not February, it's now. They're doubling, they're tripling, and it's happening now. And they can stop it with this vote tomorrow.
And so the, we're going to have the vote. Democrats, we know how the Democrats are going to vote. There's a possibility of picking up at least some Republicans. Uh, to win, you'd need to get to 60. Is there any chance?
You know, if you followed what they say behind closed doors as opposed to when they're worried about Donald Trump and rubber stamping him, you might think there was, but right now they do not seem to be listening to their constituents. They're certainly not listening to the electorate. When you look at what happened when we have the first, um, Democratic mayor of Miami in decades, or when we've got, uh, that seat that flipped in the state legislature in Georgia, a literally two to one flip, unbelievable things are going around the country where the people are just saying, "We've had it. We need help with our premiums. We're tired of this $2,000 a year Trump tariff tax." But they're not listening. They're more afraid of him and what he's going to say. It's some rally on what he claims is affordability. And then he decides to say affordability is a hoax. If the polls show it, the electorate shows it, and certainly they know when 75% of the people on these healthcare plans are in states that Donald Trump won, they are well aware what this means. This vote tomorrow, where they're basically saying, "We'll give you 80 bucks, but we're not going to do anything to help you with your premiums."
The, I just want to go back to what the Fed chair said. He, he said, "Listen, inflation without the Trump tariffs would be perfectly reasonable. We at the Fed have really good control over inflation." And they do. They've done a remarkable job with it over the last few decades. He said they'd have no problem controlling it down below two, but it's the Trump tariffs that is making inflation as high as it is.
Exactly. And we have said this from the very beginning. They are literally taking these tariffs, putting them on countries like Canada, countries that are our allies, countries that we have great trading relationships with in the past. We can always get trade agreements to improve, uh, what that ratio is. But right now, these across the board tariffs are hurting Americans. As one of my farmers said, it's a perfect storm of ugly. Input costs are way up. Of course, healthcare premiums are up since 24% of farmers are on these plans. And then you've got markets that are drying up all over the world. So when you look at this from a kind of big economic standpoint and what it means for our supply chain, what it means for parts in cars and parts in farm equipment, it's really been quite a disaster. Manufacturing jobs, the thing that he really hung his hat on. They've gone down every single month, Lauren, since he got into office. That's the status of the economy. That's what the Federal Reserve chair was talking about today. Um, and all of it. We could be in a much better glide path right now coming out of this, working on housing and child care, maybe doing something about the debt, Donald Trump, but instead he's gone the opposite.
Senator Amy Clolobishar, thank you very much for joining us.
It's great to be on. Watch the Vote tomorrow because these guys don't want you to.
We will be watching. Thank you, Senator.
Thank you.
Coming up, Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles was ruled illegal today by a federal judge. Jacob Soof was on the streets of Los Angeles covering the National Guard deployment, and he was on the streets of New York today where he interviewed the next mayor of New York and asked the mayor-elect what he will do if Donald Trump sends the National Guard to New York City. Jacob Soberof will join us next.
Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles was not just an unnecessary and ridiculous stunt for the cameras. It was also against the law. According to federal judge Charles Brier, who issued his ruling on the case that Governor Gavin Nuome filed against Donald Trump and the Trump administration today, saying, "The judge said, 'The founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances. Defendants, however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one.'" Six months after they first federalized the California National Guard, defendants still retain control of approximately 300 Guardsmen, despite no evidence that execution of federal law is impeded in any way, let alone significantly. What's more, defendants have sent California Guardsmen into other states, effectively creating a national police force made up of state troops in response to plaintiff's motion to enjoin this conduct. Defendants take the position that after a valid initial federalization, all subsequent referralizations are completely and forever unreable by the courts. Defendants' position is contrary to law. Accordingly, the court enjoins defendants' federalization of California National Guard troops." Enjoins meaning forbids. The judge issued this order to Donald Trump and his administration. Defendants are directed to return control of the California National Guard to Governor Nuome. Gavin Nuome just beat Donald Trump. Crushed Donald Trump.
Jacob Soberof was on the streets of Los Angeles when the National Guard arrived and proceeded to do absolutely nothing in Los Angeles. The National Guard did today. Jacob Soberof was on the streets of New York City with mayor-elect Zoron Mdani.
What are you going to do if Greg Bevino shows up with the Border Patrol agents and goes down into the subway? You know how important the subway is to all working-class people in this city and the chill factor that it would, uh, send? Um, what do you do in response to something like that?
Well, my, my responsibility is to do the work necessary to ensure that that doesn't take place.
That he doesn't even make it into the subway.
Well, to have that hypothetical not come to bear here in New York City. And what I mean by that is by making the case to the federal administration that these kinds of actions do not serve the interests, even the ones they are actually putting forward. That what New Yorkers need from a federal administration is the kind of partnership that will actually keep New Yorkers safe in this city. And that what I also told the president is we have the NYPD here. We trust the NYP to deliver that public safety. We do not need ICE and the National Guard to make that same case.
So your message to the president if he's considering sending in the National Guard troops to New York City or sending in those massed armed federal agents on a wide scale like we saw in LA or in Chicago and Charlotte is what?
That we do not need them here. And what we have here is the NYPD that can provide that public safety. And that what we are looking to do is to build a city that is focused on the affordability crisis and understands that the cornerstone of that affordability agenda is the provision of public safety. And that was actually the core of the conversation I had with the president, what I would be looking to do and what we would be looking to deliver.
Joining us now is Jacob Sooff, MS Now senior political and national reporter. And Jacob, uh, thanks for bringing the California warmer weather today. I was just thinking like if you had to do that outdoors yesterday, you would have been so 19 degrees is no good for me. This is this is a much better day for it. Um, so, uh, that was such an interesting exchange and it is it is a mirror to what he was doing in the Oval Office with Donald Trump where you saw basically he he went in there as a lion tamer and and that was the lion tamer there saying he's going to talk Donald Trump through this when when and if this comes up and he has succeeded in his first attempt at it. I thought it was so fascinating to talk to him today because when you watch them in that Oval Office exchange, they were short on specifics and Donald Trump essentially said, "We're going to work out all the details about immigration in New York, um, later." But what the mayor-like said to me today is, "I have been thinking a lot about this." Not only that we don't need the National Guard here, and we don't want these masked, heavily armed federal agents on the streets. But I am prepared to be arrested by standing in between, uh, the federal troops and the citizens of New York. And not only that, I am prepared to have the New York Police Department, if these federal troops, these ICE agents, these masked armed people on the streets of the city break our laws, to be arrested, uh, themselves. It's not something that he hadn't said before, but you know this better than anybody. The closer you get to walking in the steps of City Hall, uh, the second most difficult job in American politics, as John Lindsay said, this stuff gets really real quickly. And he is prepared, I think, to do what JB Pritsker has said he would do, Gavin Newsome has said he would do, is stand up in the face of all of this.
Yeah. I mean, the whole interview from start to finish is is worth it. Uh, I just wanted to go in the time we have to that spot where it's the what if? And that's what we're all kind of wondering in the Oval Office. What if this happened? Uh, but he does seem ready for it. He's seen enough. There's been enough for him rehearsals around the country from Los Angeles, now, uh, that, and with the outcome in Los Angeles today with the judge, it has to build some confidence in the mayor.
Yeah. I everybody should watch the full thing. You can scan that QR code on the bottom part of the screen. But what he has said is this is happening in 26 Federal Plaza in New York City already. We are watching this play out. There's a six-year-old Chinese boy and his father who have been separated. That boy is in OR custody. The father's in a detention center here in Orange County, only because this is already happening on the streets of New York. And he says if they want to ramp it up exponentially, our response in New York will ramp up exponentially as well.
Yeah. And what New York needs in this situation to try to diffuse this with Donald Trump is someone who knows how to talk to Donald Trump. Like that's that's that's the first thing. And it turns out, uh, it seems very clear now, this was the best candidate for that point of being able to talk to Donald Trump. This is better than what Cuomo could have done.
The mayor-elect of New York has been arrested himself, uh, standing up for the rights of people in the city of New York as a state assembly member. He's prepared to do it again as the mayor of New York City. I was an advanced guy to Mayor Bloomberg. I know the importance of the relationship between the city of New York and the White House. He's prepared to put it on the line to defend New Yorkers right now.
It is just a great interview. People really have to see the whole thing. Jacob Soof, thank you very much for joining us tonight.
Tonight's last word is next. Dampson Senzani, the head teacher at the Chapita Primary School in Malawi, told us when we delivered desks like this one to his school last month that he never saw a desk when he was in elementary school.
I did not expect to have desks in primary school. And what I was thinking then was that desks are only for secondary school education because a lot of primary schools during my time had no desks.
I asked Damson how he felt when he heard we would be delivering desks to his 800 students who have been sitting on the floor.
I was overwhelmed. In fact, I was very happy when I heard that, uh, I received the visitors from Uly. The highlight of my year is always delivering these desks to schools in Malawi that don't have desks and seeing the joy it brings to those kids who don't have anything. Seeing how it changes them, energizes them as students. They take possession of those desks proudly sitting at their new desks. You can help by going to lastwords.ms.now and contributing any amount. No contribution is too small. You can designate that your contribution is for desks or for scholarships for girls to attend high school in Malawi where public high school is not free. There are thousands of girls who are in high school now and in college now in Malawi, thanks entirely to your generosity. And you have lifted hundreds of thousands of children off the floor in their elementary schools. And they all sing their thanks. I EI Stephanie Rule starts now.