Updated
Summary
GOP planning to mobilize so-called army of election monitors. Jury awarded the actor Johnny Depp $15 million in damages against ex-wife Amber Heard who`s also getting $2 million from her countersuit against Depp. Sam Seder joins Ari Melber to talk about the Trump-era prosecutor John Durham that loses the first trial. On a recorded interview with Samantha Bee with Ari Melber, they talk about the Supreme Court draft that shows votes to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Transcript
HEILEMANN: That was President Biden earlier today presiding over the Change of Command ceremony for the United States Coast Guard, and as he said, marking an historic first for our country. Admiral Linday Fagan became the new head of the Coast Guard. She is the first woman commandant of any branch of the United States Armed Services in history.
Congratulations, Admiral Fagan. Richly deserved.
Thank you all for being with us on this Wednesday. We are grateful for your time. THE BEAT WITH ARI MELBER starts right now. Aloha, Ari.
ARI MELBER, MSNBC HOST: Aloha, John. It`s always Wu Wednesday when we see you. Good to see you, sir.
I want to welcome everyone to THE BEAT. I am Ari Melber, and we have new details tonight on what Republican operatives are doing in the current midterms and beyond. Reports that they`re recruiting an army to target precinct by precinct how elections work in this country. When you think about the ongoing effort to overthrow the last one, well, this is news you want to know about. “Politico” reports there are tapes, video recordings of Republicans meeting with these grassroots activists to do something that cuts against how elections are supposed to work here because they`re supposed to be nonpartisan at the machinery side in America.
The plan, however, is to install these partisan and party trained volunteers who can challenge voters at places where Democrats tend to vote, what they call Democratic majority polling places, and connect those workers to lawyers, and have a network of party friendly district attorneys.
Now, if you take them at their word, those district attorneys are supposed to be nonpartisan prosecutors who decide who`s arrested or goes to jail. They shouldn`t be involved in something that`s quarterbacked bipartisan operatives.
Now, we don`t know yet which D.A.`s would actually get involved in this. But that`s why it`s important journalistically and otherwise to understand what is leaking out about the process of our democracy. The plan looks at places like Michigan and other swing states. Trump allies had alleged fraud there where basically black people vote. There are other ways to say it, but we try to be as clear as possible. It was a lot of lies, insinuations, and false accusations about Detroit, Michigan.
Now, I mentioned race because that`s part of it. It also overlaps with the voting bloc that has in some cases kept Republicans from winning Michigan, although Trump narrowly did once because Detroit votes typically about 90 percent Democratic. Now the RNC committee says they`re going to put people on the, quote, “frontlines” with poll workers who are going to fight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW SEIFRIED, RNC ELECTION INTEGRITY DIRECTOR, MICHIGAN: Truly, it`s going to be an army, right, we are going to try to recruit lawyers. We`re going to have more lawyers than have ever been recruited because let`s be honest, that`s where it`s going to be fought, right? We`re going to have lawyers that work early to build relationships with different judges so that when that happens, we`re going to have lawyers that have relationships with the police chiefs in the different areas, with the police officers in the different areas. So when that happens, it`s preexisting relationships already established.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: DA`s, judges, police chiefs, this is the Trumpification of openly discussing the abuse of power but putting it out here through the local level. Now let`s be clear because we always try to be fair. Both parties historically have involved lawyers and poll workers and other trainings in what is designed by often both parties saying efforts to protect voters, and they have the partisan impulse to protect their own voters.
What this reporting shows, though, is something different. And it`s not different because you have a feeling or a thought about the Republican Party or even Trump`s impact, which I mentioned. It`s different because you have people saying out loud that they are going to have partisan links or they believe control of the prosecutors and the police. Not OK. Meanwhile, an Arizona Republican is pushing vigilantes to get involved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have been so pleased to hear of all you vigilantes out there that want to camp out at these drop boxes. We`re going to be out there. We`re going to have hidden trail cameras, we`re going to have people parked out there watching you, and they`re going to follow you to your car, and get your license plate. It`s going to happen. So don`t try it. Don`t try it anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: This is more and more out in the open. And it comes amidst a time where the Biden administration in Washington has been struggling to outline exactly everything it`s doing or make progress on big issues, whether that`s the economy, the further spending bill that was stalled, inflation, which is complicated and not any particular politician`s fault, as well as whether they can get any traction on big calls for further gun reform, something we`re going to get into later in the hour.
So against that backdrop, you have the right wing here talking about war, talking about police involved in voting, and Steve Bannon who has been such a ring leader for all of this is talking about going local and getting people to really get involved in a way that may cross lines.
[18:05:13]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE BANNON, FORMER TRUMP ADVISER: We`re taking action. And that action is we`re taking over school boards, we`re taking over the Republican Party, the precinct committee strategy. We`re taking over all the elections.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: They think they`re on offense and some of them are talking in ways that make you think they already have the relationships with those people using authority, and we saw what they tried to do with authority when Donald Trump would not leave office without trying to overthrow an election. That`s the context going into these midterms, and we have two special guests right now, that we have selected exactly for this conversation.
Senator Claire McCaskill is someone we all know well, former senator from Missouri, a former prosecutor with experience on that part of this, and MSNBC analyst for us, and someone that, well, you know who he works for. If you don`t know him, Cameron Trimble was more behind the scenes, but we know him because he was working in the Biden White House until recently, director of Digital Engagement, which these days is an important job, as you see, and working with all kinds of people here with the vice president and all sort of other heavy weights there, the late John Lewis.
Thanks for making your BEAT debut, sir.
CAMERON TRIMBLE, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT: Thank you for having me, Ari, and as you can see, I`m rapping (PH) Wu Wednesday.
MELBER: OK, Wu Wednesday, we gave you a nice intro because I`m excited for your debut. But you`ve been around Washington. I don`t think it will be a surprise to you that we`re going to begin with our experienced person who has tenure here.
Senator, your response to everything we just heard.
CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), FORMER MISSOURI SENATOR: Well, listen, if they raised the specter of fraud in elections, it undermines people`s faith in elections, and that damage has been done, and they want to continue to do that damage, and that is something we all need to worry about. But let me caution against overreacting to this kind of stuff.
I was a prosecutor, and we had elections when I was a prosecutor, and we had a squad of assistant prosecutors who were on call, on standby, driving around during the day to make sure they could address any issues of voter suppression. And the areas they`re talking about trying to impact have elected prosecutors, Ari. They can`t go in and recruit or rent a prosecutor that is going to do their bidding.
These are people who have been elected by the people of Detroit, by that county. They are not going to go in and do what Steve Bannon tells them to do. What they`re going to do is they`re going to enforce the law and make sure people have a right to vote, and the stopgap here is a judge because there have been a few instances that I have seen personally in elections where judges have let the polling places stay open because of disruptions or because the election authorities didn`t have enough ballots or because there was some snafu with machines.
So at the end of the day, what I really think we should be focused on is our enthusiasm to vote. If we have enthusiasm to vote, if we go after extremism instead of what they are going after is let`s change things, and we all show up. If we don`t get frustrated that things aren`t as perfect as we want them to be right now, then this will fail and it will fail badly.
MELBER: Yes, appreciate your nuance of both drawing on your experience as you mentioned from the Senate to the prosecutorial side and how that works. I want to play — here`s an RNC official in Michigan again, same state, who was talking to potential poll worker recruits last year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT YOSAITIS, RNC STATE DIRECTOR, MICHIGAN: I understand that we are upset with the 2020 results, but we cannot just look at the 2020 results or else the exact same thing will happen in 2022. We need volunteers on the ground, on election day, ahead of election day, working so that that fraud does not happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: This is something we`re getting from the tapes. Giuliani called a partner in the effort to overturn Biden`s win here. This lawyer said basically remember we`re trying to build a nationwide D.A. network. Your local D.A. is more powerful than your congressman. They can seat a grand jury, they can start an investigation, issue subpoenas, to make sure that records are retained, which speaks to the approach here.
Cameron, factoring in the senator`s points, what do you think, though, of how much this feels like a retread, perhaps fantasy football, to the senator`s point, but a retread of what they try to do to stop your former boss, President Biden, from coming into office?
TRIMBLE: Thank you, Ari, and thank you for having me on. I totally agree, and this has been kind of a bait and switch. While we were distracted in the media and online by what the former president and his legion of followers around these outrageous claims of voter fraud, the Republican Party has been amassing this network to do what they do best, disenfranchise voters.
[18:10:12]
So I think this is another example of how you have two parties who play two different math games. Democrats try to win elections by addition while the Republicans are always focused on subtraction. So this is — and it feels like a retread of intimidation, not even just from the 2020 election but we can go back 50, 60, 70 years, and as you stated at the top, this is definitely something that really focuses on black people and black and brown communities as well.
MELBER: And Senator, how do you view all of this and we show them feeling like they`re going on offense, too. What I mentioned which is Biden has head winds. They may not be his fault as I mentioned, trying to be accurate about how macroeconomics and inflation works, but I think in any reality- based view is they`re tough and where does that fit in to him having a big — strong message in the midterms when historically incumbent parties don`t do as well?
MCCASKILL: Well, I think we have to be honest that this is tough this year. Inflation is brutal, and it`s real to people. I mean, Ari, there`s a tendency of sometimes, and I can speak from experience of the Washington bubble of consultants all talking to each other and they`re not really out talking to people in the grocery stores. I am. And I will tell you, even though they are very upset with the extremism of the Republican Party, and some of the jokes that have been out there in terms of conspiracies and frauds around the last election, they`re hurting, and they want something different.
And it`s always hard for the party in power when there is a bad economy and people want change. So we`ve got to fight that change message with the extremism, the fact that they are trying to tell women in America if you are raped you must carry your baby — that pregnancy to term. If you — we cannot limit high-capacity magazines, and we want to go ahead and have the slaughter of innocent children in school rooms. We`ve got to turn this narrative to things that will make our voters enthusiastic, and if we do that, we will have poll watchers, too.
There will be judges and prosecutors that will be making sure they`re calling balls and strikes. We have clerks, we have professional election workers. We have a lot of different layers of election security. I`m not saying we shouldn`t be aware of this, and we shouldn`t be concerned. We should be more concerned about how we`re going to get our voters out there.
MELBER: Yes. All fair points. Cameron, I want to ask you about something, it`s your first time on THE BEAT, but, you know, we try to do real talk here, so you`ll do real talk with me, right?
TRIMBLE: Yes, I got you.
MELBER: Not — OK. Not every story is all roses, and I want to make sure that we`re getting thought from the source here because I mentioned something of what Biden is up against. And sometimes I will say that the stories about staffing and staffers in Washington can get overplayed, but we did want to get your view on this for I think some people would be interested, this report about a, quote-unquote, “exodus” of staffers out of the White House.
So that`s writ large an issue, specifically “Politico” reporting, 21 black staffers leaving since late last year or planning to leave. Some say that they`re not getting support from superiors, there aren`t chances for promotion. The article name checks you. It doesn`t say you were disgruntled but you`re also in it, and here we are on the news, so, number one, is there anything to the idea of Biden team dithering larger than usual exodus, and two, is there anything to what in this report at least refers to race being a component? Your chance to respond, sir.
TRIMBLE: No, I would say two points there. One, this is just the natural, if you look at the White Houses from previous administrations, this is like a national time. I personally was on the campaign, inauguration, and in the White House, and you`re talking about this during the extreme times of COVID and quarantine, so you can add on an extra six, nine, 10 months of what that felt like to do so much of that work right here from my house.
So this is just kind of a natural timing for folks to leave. And also this reporting there, that story specifically was a little disingenuous in that there were more than a dozen other staffers and former staffers who also submitted a comment on the record that weren`t used or focused on talking about all the different support. I know I can definitely speak to the support that —
MELBER: So you felt — I`m going to jump in because, you know, I mentioned earlier, you`re digital, which is part of media. You`re savvy, I think it`s fair to say. Bottom line, you felt that was written in sort of search of a narrative, but it`s not your lived experience?
[18:15:03]
TRIMBLE: Very much so. I think it was in search of a narrative. There`s some other reporting out there that showcases a lot of the various on the record statements that overwhelming amount of black staff was there. And just to reiterate the point that black people are throughout the administration, throughout the White House from entry level all the way to the most senior folks around the president, the vice president, and have been brought to the table on every issue, not just black issues but every issue that affects the American people. And that is a lived experience.
MELBER: Yes. Appreciate that. You know, call it old school if you want but we try to go to the source, and then people can make up their own mind. So appreciate you weighing on that.
I`m running over on time but we`re going back to the big shot of you because you said you`re at home. I see you`re repping Vice President Harris and the administration you serve, but I also see B.I.G. behind you. Tell us about that before I let you go.
TRIMBLE: It`s always been my focus of trying to really mobilize the political power of the hip-hop generation. I think that`s the greatest untapped resource we have in politics is really getting involved in hip- hop, and not just from artists to people, I mean, my favorite rapper is 50, but some of the top rappers are still in their 20s. It`s a multigenerational, multiethnic culture that has something to say.
MELBER: Didn`t know you`d have that behind you. So I`m learning about it on live TV. Love hearing that. Senator McCaskill and Cameron Trimble, first time, hopefully not the last time. Thanks to both of you.
We do have some more legal news tat`s late breaking, so I`m going to it right now. There were six weeks of testimony, late today, a jury issued this verdict in the civil defamation case by Johnny Depp against his ex- wife Amber Heard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you find that Mr. Depp has proven all the elements of defamation? Answer, yes. Do you find that Mr. Depp has proven by clear and convincing evidence that Miss Heard acted with actual malice? Answer, yes. We the jury award compensatory damages in the amount of $10 million. As against Amber Heard, we the jury award punitive damages in the amount of $5 million.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: A major ruling there. Heard had written about being a, quote, “public figure representing domestic abuse.” This was after they separated in a 2018 article. Depp awarded those millions in damages. The jury also found Heard defamed him intentionally so that is a very negative view by the jury of her as the defendant, but it also found for her on one of the points in her counter suit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Against John C. Depp II, we the jury award compensatory damages in the amount of $2 million.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Heard now says that she is heartbroken that what she views as the, quote, “mountain of evidence was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence and sway of Depp.”
While he says the ruling will give his life back, his lawyers had argued winning the case would allow him to return to acting.
This is not a case that we have covered previous to today on THE BEAT, not because it doesn`t raise some important issues but as you probably know from watching the news, there have been many, many other important issues also going on in the country. Here is just some briefly of what we heard from witnesses in the case as well as how fans were reacting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Poured yourself a mega pint of red wine. Correct?
JOHNNY DEPP, ACTOR: A mega pint?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I kid you not, alpacas that have a sign that says “Justice for Johnny.”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s going through a lot right now, so I just thought it might cheer him up. That`s pretty much it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: May I clarify what occurred so that we can stop talking about the muffins?
KATE MOSS, JOHNNY DEPP`S EX-GIRLFRIEND: He came running back to help me and carried me to my room and got me medical attention.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you explain how you were aware of that?
ELLEN BARKIN, ACTRESS: He was drunk all the time, most, a lot of the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: And now that case is over.
Coming up, there is new scrutiny on Uvalde police and how they responded. A story changing again, and the police union seeming to go right after Republican Governor Greg Abbott, but, first, with Durham lose that big case, the Russia do-over collapsing, what does it tell us about conspiracy politics in America? We have a breakdown with a special guest. And tonight, I want you to hear it from me.
Comedian Samantha Bee makes her BEAT debut from politics to pop culture, she has been on everything.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMANTHA BEE, COMEDIAN: Let`s talk about the war in Iraq. Who do you think God wants to win?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, wow.
[18:20:01]
BEE: Is tonight the night that they exploit 9/11 or is tonight inspired empty promises for the future?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Samantha Bee is here tonight on THE BEAT. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MELBER: The legal and political world continues reacting to a huge setback for Trump deep staters. Barr appointed special counsel, that`s Trump`s former attorney general of course, Bill Barr, John Durham, who you see on the screen, lost his first trial. Many people on the right had been vowing for literally years that Durham would find this evidence that there was a Russia witch hunt which was designed to unfairly frame Republicans.
[18:25:05]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: I do think the big report to wait for is going to be the Durham report.
The crime was committed on the other side and we`ll find out about that. We have a great attorney general who`s looking at it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Durham team has been working very aggressively to move forward.
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX HOST: We may finally, finally be close to learning just how far the Clintons and their allies went, and all their efforts to destroy Donald Trump, his campaign and his presidency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Finally, as you heard there on FOX, this trial that just ended yesterday was going to give the answer unless they don`t like the answer. Now suddenly FOX News has people comically, desperately, thirstily moving the goal posts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, FOX HOST: My problem is with the judge who allowed a jury pool from the very liberal Washington sewer and swamp. He was always a small player in this, as we have been telling you, there were major red flags with the jury pool from the very start. This is a preview of coming attractions. Forget about Sussman, it`s the system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Forget it, forget it. Forget about the three years, forget about what then President Trump said. Forget about what Hannity and FOX said, forget about the three years, heck, forget about a couple of days ago when on FOX, this trial was touted as the answer. And that`s the difference between news, analysis, insights, whatever you might get from people who can use the facts and add to it and then people who can`t deal with the facts, who can`t handle the truth, to use the old movie quote.
Hannity, Ingram, Carlson, Trump, everyone who has cheered on this trial can`t handle the truth that was found in this trial which as we point out last night ended in a tough way because prosecutors virtually always win these kinds of cases when they go to trial, which is why most of them don`t, because the lawyers tell their client, plea out for a lesser charge.
Well, here it went to trial, and they lost badly, so their response is telling, and it tells you something about how to deal with these issues going forward because the trick and the ploy and the playbook, that part is not going away. So we`re bringing in someone in one minute, Sam Cedar, who knows all about this, and how to deal with it when we`re back in 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MELBER: We`re back with “Majority Report” host Sam Seder covering this loss by Trump`s special prosecutor trying to redo the Russia probe.
Sam, do you know why we thought of you for this segment?
SAM SEDER, HOST, “THE MAJORITY REPORT”: I can only imagine, Ari.
MELBER: Well, imagine away, it`s because you`ve spent years dealing with right-wing propaganda, and you haven`t been deeply embedded in the traditional media, which sometimes, I got to be honest, falls for these traps, which is the reward for some of these games, so with that in mind, we turn to you, we put together a brief comparison here that shows the issues given that the right-wing doesn`t like that they lost the big trial they have been selling. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We could be hours away from the verdict in the trial of Michael Sussmann.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An acquittal could raise doubts about the legal merits of Durham`s entire investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was pre-dispositioned to have a not guilty verdict and here we are once again, another black eye for the justice system.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It really had enormous ramifications and there`s more to come.
HANNITY: There were major red flags with the jury pool from the very start.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spending millions of taxpayer dollars on an investigation into these false claims all to score political points and there`s just no accountability, no one being held accountable for this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Sam?
[18:30:00]
SEDER: Yes, well, I mean, I think we have, you know, achieved to terminal velocity, as it were. I mean, this has been going on for years — particularly in right-wing radio, and it has now migrated and they have been able to create an entire ecosystem for themselves. And it`s fascinating, I mean, the case, this has been going on for three, we`re now in the fourth year.
And we were told two years ago in the run-up to the 2020 election, that we were going to get information that was going to be huge here. And in some ways, you know, I wish I could say that it is — there`s a way to sort of break this cycle, or break into the bubble that they have created for themselves and for their listeners and their viewers. But, you know, when I was in college, I studied doomsday cults.
And it was fascinating to watch how, essentially, these cults would pick a day that the world was going to end, the day would show up, June 1st shows up, that world does not end. And the reaction of the members of the cult was generally to actually become more adamant that it was going to end in the future. They just got the math wrong or they had misread something.
And the social structure that`s developed there, ends up having these people become more adamant that the world is going to end in the future. And I think that`s more or less what we`re going to see on the right, I think this — I think Durham could be doing this for decades, and they would lose no belief that he was ultimately going to find something.
MELBER: Have you seen Midsommar?
SEDER: No, I haven`t.
MELBER: It`s a weird horror movie about the end of days and cultish thinking, which made me think of that, but when you look at that, and you describe it, and we`ve had people were experts, nonpartisan experts, like in the QAnon just a virtual cult. How important is it to have reality intercede? There`s a world where people said Durham shouldn`t have been appointed if his record stays this poor.
It certainly doesn`t look like he needed yours to do his special probe the way Mueller did, again, just on the evidence we can put on the screen there their conviction records, speak to that legally, I`m not talking politics, I`m talking about legally. But do you think it`s better that this exists to prove that or there really shouldn`t have been a probe in the first place?
SEDER: I just think that it`s one less thing that Trump and the — those who would push this narrative have to rely on. And I think on some level it — the — you know, I don`t think it disproves anything for anyone. I don`t think that there`s anyone out there who is following and waiting on this Durham result, who comes back and says, oh, boy, maybe this makes me rethink the entire narrative.
But I do think it just makes it that much harder for the Trump and that world essentially to create this thing. They will come up with some other tentpole. They will come up with something else to hang on the clothesline as it were. But, you know, they have to reach a little bit further and, in some respects, you know, I worry about the concept of that, you know, they are going to use this as an attack on the justice system writ large.
But I think ultimately, they can absorb this and they could also have a dealt with it. I think the absence of a win probably hurts but not in and of itself. Maybe in the aggregate but down the road. I just don`t think there`s a lot of people going — I don`t buy the Durham investigation anymore.
MELBER: Right. Well, say — you are often poetic with turns of phrase, Sean Hannity`s memoir might be called the absence of a win.
SEDER: There you go. Or maybe we`ll get him — wait until next year. Exactly.
MELBER: Or yes, or yes. I mean, the titles right themselves. Wait till the next, next, next special counsel probe, I promise. That`s a longer title. Good to see you, Sam.
SEDER: Nice to see you too, Ari.
MELBER: Appreciate it. I tell people, we always welcome you to watch the whole BEAT, the whole show but if there`s ever a night to finish this episode of THE BEAT, it`s Samantha Bee`s debut from The Daily Show to Full Frontal, she has been at the leading force and leading-edge. A political comedy and she`s here tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMANTHA BEE, HOST, TBS: Boo, I almost lost my company that sells foot due vase (PH) and Tommy Bahama Euro sham. I could have made a bundle, and I didn`t. Oh, man.
JON STEWART, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL: Why do people agree to talk to us?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:39:18]
MELBER: June is when the Supreme Court usually finishes its term which means that draft ruling overturning Roe could come out this month. And that would potentially overturn 50 years of precedent on women`s rights. And the draft has a major warning. It is defined against what we`ve heard from many people, from lawyers, to policy experts, to people across the culture who sounded an alarm that this is exactly what justices would do if they got on the court despite contrary pledges during their Senate hearings.
And the first woman to host a late-night satire show Samantha Bee has been on that forefront with comedy and facts. She was of course on The Daily Show and then hosts Full Frontal with Samantha Bee on TBS.
[18:40:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEE: She made — I`m sorry, what is the decision? The decision? There`s another word I`m looking for. It rhymes of — I think it rhymes with voice. We have a lot of options. You just select one. What`s the word I`m looking for? What is the word?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Adoption is one —
BEE: Self-appointed soldiers of god have visited abortion providers with 185 incidents of arson, 42 bombings, 100 acid attacks, 26 attempted murders, and 11 actual murders. You know, pro-life stuff. Plus —
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER (voiceover): Samantha Bee continued to shape this — OK, sorry. Pardon me. Samantha Bee continued to shape this conversation with her show focusing on women`s health.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEE: Hi, welcome to Full Frontal, I`m Samantha Bee. And if you`re like me, you`re just a few weeks away from having fewer human rights. Fun. I think we can limit precedents that control human bodies to after the same century that Genghis Khan did this thing. Reproductive decisions made by men who as best I can tell believe women lay eggs. As if they`re taking away our right to choose fighting is the only choice we`ve got left. We`ll be right back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELBER: Today, we are joined by an Emmy Award-winning comedian and writer Samantha Bee, host and creator of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Welcome.
BEE: Thank you so much for having me.
MELBER: Let`s look at some of this coverage of women`s right — women`s rights and row.
BEE: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEE: Have you thought about regulating the safety of back alleys because that`s where a lot of women will be having their (INAUDIBLE) now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t believe it.
BEE: You don`t?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
BEE: This bill has been rejected twice before in 2013 and 2015. It just keeps coming back to torment us every couple of years, like Transformers movies. What`s the word I`m looking for? Alternative?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A different choice.
BEE: Choice? Yes, exactly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEE: So better (INAUDIBLE). I feel emotional actually watching that.
MELBER: What makes it emotional for you?
BEE: I don`t know, it`s just — it`s been a really long journey, that choice piece I did. It was one of at the last set of conventions that I went to when I was working at The Daily Show. And that piece was really meaningful to me. Because it was like going out on the floor and talking to people. I mean, I spoke to people for two full days to make that piece. And it was like, you know, I`m not saying that this happened. But it was like the word choice had been erased from everybody`s vocabulary on purpose.
Nobody would say the word there. Nobody would say the word of the convention. And I talked to probably 100 people, nobody would say the word until the very end. It was just — you could have — I mean, I will never forget watching that piece down. We had a huge live audience that day. And that piece had been so hard to do, like had been chased — people were — and I wasn`t even saying anything. I actually wasn`t even asking people difficult questions, but they figured out what I was getting at.
And I did get chased through the halls of the convention center. It was really, really difficult to film. And you could hear a pin drop in the audience when it was — when we were just watching people struggle with what they knew I wanted them to say, but they wouldn`t say the word choice. They just would not say it, they would not be on camera saying that word. And then finally, we got a few people to say it — the audience erupted. Like we just — it was really, it was really a moment.
MELBER: Was that more meaningful to you than laughter?
BEE: Ah, you know, I — It just — that level of catharsis meant a lot to me. It wasn`t — yes, it wasn`t laughter. But it was meaningful to me. In that time,
MELBER: Justice Alito`s draft opinion leaks.
BEE: Sure.
MELBER: Would fully overturn Roe. How`d you feel when you —
BEE: You know, shocked but not surprised. Shocked, but not surprised. That`s all I can really say. It`s devastating — I mean, it`s devastating. It`s devastating. Everyone around me is — you know, people are texting me, they`re like, what are we going to do? I`m like — I actually don`t know. I`m so sorry. I actually don`t — I really don`t know. I really don`t know.
MELBER: Can I read to you from the opinion?
BEE: Sure. Yes, great.
MELBER: OK. Let`s go.
BEE: We`re having fun today.
MELBER: He cites a 17th-century treatise.
BEE: That`s right.
MELBER: Saying, quote, the abortion of a quick child was a great misprision if the child dieth in her body, and quote. Also, he notes, as legal support for overturning Roe and this right, that in 1732, a woman was sentenced to three years in prison for, quote, destroying the fetus in the womb, and quote. Do you think that`s persuasive for how rights should be established today?
[18:45:00]
BEE: No, I do not. No way. I really do not.
MELBER: And what do you think we`re dealing with? I mean, that`s the foundation. That`s the reasoning. That`s the actual — people can read it. The leak has been debated for many reasons. But sooner or later the opinions come out. You read the reasoning. That`s the reasoning that in the early 1700s, a woman who had an abortion before this country existed was in prison for it.
BEE: I mean, I don`t even know how to respond. I mean, obviously, I think it`s like, wildly unreasonable, wildly out of touch. I mean, I feel — I don`t even know how to encapsulate, how I feel when you read that to me in a moment. We`re going to talk, you know — we`re going to talk about it on the show this week, of course, we`ll be talking about it for years to come. I imagine.
You just can`t imagine this kind of like minority rule where the vast majority of the country wants something and is very comfortable with something and they`re still living with this precedent for 50 odd years. To take it away is such a disgrace, and an injustice, imposing this kind of — anyway, you know how I feel about it. It`s obvious, right? It`s — I`m so sad. I`m so sad about it. I`m so sad about it.
MELBER: You know, who says it`s not minority rule? Justice Alito.
BEE: Right.
MELBER: May I read you one more excerpt from the opinion?
BEE: Yes. But will it make me smile? Is it a comedy part?
MELBER: It`s — I don`t think it`s a comedy.
BEE: I don`t think so.
MELBER: Quote, women affect the legislative process and vote at consistently higher rates than the percentage of men who do so. In November 2020, he notes that in Mississippi, quote, women constituted 55 percent of the voters who cast ballots, and he reasons that those women can unite to keep abortion legal in any state if they choose to.
BEE: They have to do something about the filibuster, OK. Because we don`t – – suddenly is going to be done about it in the future, and it`s not going to be in our favor, it`s going to get much worse, so might as well do it now. OK? You know, we`ve been talking about Roe v. Wade, falling since the beginning of the show, you know, for seven years, we`re in season seven now, and look where we are now.
So, you hate that you — that wasn`t wrong about that, but I wasn`t. And here we are. And it`s very, very dire. We need to feel better about the world we live in or at least we need to, like, express it if we`re not going to feel better about it. You know, I often interview people. I often interview people with, you know, it was just like the bleakest possible point of view and I feel better at the end of it, because I`m like, thank you for going there with me. OK, like we went there.
MELBER: Samantha Bee. Thanks for joining us.
BEE: Thank you for having me. This was very delightful and very high- pressure. Reading to me Supreme Court documents.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:52:42]
MELBER: Turning to an update on the fallout from the Uvalde mass shooting, including this open probe that reports the police are not cooperating with the investigation reviewing their response to police chief at the center of the probe dodging investigators. He apparently was the one who made the order that had officers waiting outside that classroom for nearly an hour. He hasn`t responded to a request investigators sent days ago during this emergency for a special follow-up interview.
And now we`re seeing something unusual pushback from the largest police union in Texas, which is a big state. And here`s what it`s saying. One, that the police should cooperate, not run or dodge from this inquiry, and two, their calling out top law enforcement officials and elected Republican leadership in Texas, saying in a new statement out today that false information is coming from the highest levels of government and law enforcement.
Well, there`s no higher-level official in Texas than Republican Governor Abbott. He`s taking criticism really from all sides for his refusal to even consider background checks and gun safety issues. People are saying this is a dereliction of duty in the wake of the state`s worst child murder spree ever. As funerals for those children continue today. There are many — you see some of that here.
There are many, many different issues facing Governor Abbott including the factual response. Why so much misinformation was put out, and why now, of course, you have the police union, typically more conservative going at this Republican governor. The larger questions are even bigger than that.
They`re about why the weapons of war used in these kinds of attacks are so readily available and why it is considered controversial to even hold votes on whether that should or should not be policy in Texas and around the nation given what we are seeing in our schools or malls or public squares as we live through this gun epidemic. We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:58:59]
MELBER: Other news updates, there`s a new phase in the criminal probe into Trump`s election efforts. A grand jury in Georgia now hearing testimony today in the probe into efforts to overturn the election which centered on that state by Trump including the then president`s demands and state officials commit massive voter fraud to get him 11,000 more votes.
This is the beginning of a process that could take weeks but reflects the seriousness of the case. We`re also tracking breaking news right now out of Tulsa, Oklahoma where police say a man with a rifle has entered a local hospital and began firing on people. Three to four people are reported to be dead. We`re tracking the numbers in the injuries.
This is part of the nationwide gun epidemic we`ve been reporting on but breaking news, the shooter is down. We don`t have confirmation at this moment about his status or whether he`s deceased or information about a motive, but that`s a breaking news update that will continue to follow for you here on MSNBC.
That does it for us. “THE REIDOUT WITH JOY REID” starts now.
JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: Good evening, everyone. More than a week after the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, the community and the nation continue to grieve.