Updated
Summary
Interview with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). Interview with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX).
Transcript
DANYA PERRY, ATTORNEY: But he does — you know, he is outside of the Department of Justice, technically.
So, as with Mueller, who understood when his time was up, hopefully, special counsel Durham will do the same.
CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC HOST, “ALL IN”: All right. Well, Danya Perry, thank you so much for that.
Tip to kids at home, don`t talk to the FBI without a lawyer. Think.
That is “ALL IN” on this Tuesday night.
MSNBC PRIME starts now with Ayman Mohyeldin.
Good evening, Ayman.
AYMAN MOHYELDIN, MSNBC HOST: Chris, I was going to say I love that line about the jurors wanting to get their free lunch. That`s how worthless they thought this trial was, but they`re like, you know what, let`s extend it a few more hours and get a free lunch out of it.
HAYES: Mine as well, mine as well.
MOHYELDIN: It really is bupkis. Chris, thank so much, my friend. It`s good to see you.
HAYES: See you.
MOHYELDIN: And thanks to you at home for joining us this hour.
On a more somber note, the victims were as young as nine years old. Witnesses described frantic people running for cover, amid the gunfire. The shooter was a young man, and one of the people that he tragically shot was a 39 year old woman. She died as a result of those injuries, and that is what happened just this past Sunday in Taft, Oklahoma, where a mass shooter started firing during a Memorial Day festival. Seven people were injured, one woman lost her life.
In Chattanooga, Tennessee, it was six people. Six people were shot in another mass shooting that took place on Saturday. All of them were children. One of them was just 13 years old.
Now, it was reported over the weekend that four of those children were expected to survive, two of them sustained life-threatening injuries, we did not know what condition those two children are as of today.
In Benton Harbor, Michigan, six people injured, 19-year-old, one of them was a 19-year-old, he was killed when gunfire erupted at a liquor store.
Now, in Philadelphia, a 16-year-old girl and a 21-year-old woman were killed, and two others were injured in another mass shooting.
In all, there were 16 mass shootings over the Memorial Day weekend, 16. That is according to the Gun Violence Archive, it`s a nonprofit research group which chronicles mass shootings in which four or more people are injured in this country.
Now, this deadly weekend in America, it follows the horrific killing of 19 school children, and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, which took place just one week ago today. And that tragedy followed a deadly shooting in a Buffalo supermarket, where ten people were killed back on May 14th.
Today, there were funerals held for 10-year-old Amerie Joe Garza, and 10- year-old Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, who were both killed in that shooting. Maite died in her classroom. Amerie died while trying to call 911.
Now, there will be ten more funerals this week and you`ve all day, ten more caskets that will be lowered into the ground in this country, and for now, Uvalde`s two funeral homes do not have enough space to hold all the victims bodies, so several of them have been sent to out of the town funeral homes.
According to “The Associated Press”, at least one family still has not seen the body of their departed loved one.
As Uvalde mourns and mass shootings continue across this nation, people are looking to Washington, D.C. for some kind of action, any kind of action, to try and halt America`s pandemic of gun violence.
And over the weekend, when President Biden and the first lady visited Uvalde, where they were met with chants of “do something”, the president turn to the crowd and said, we will.
Tomorrow, a group of senators will meet by Zoom to continue bipartisan negotiations on gun reform, that actually began last week. And the House is now also set to vote in the coming weeks, on a package of eight different bills aimed at reducing gun violence. Now, these new efforts, they come after decades of congressional inaction, we`ve all seen it before. Congress has tried and failed to get anything done on gun violence, in a closely divided Congress that is repeatedly proven itself incapable of passing major legislation over the past year and a half.
There are many, many good reasons for Americans to be skeptical of the idea that Congress is going to actually do something about this historically intractable issue. But that does as not mean they have stopped looking for inspiration that things can actually change.
This week, New Zealand`s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is in the United States for a meeting with President Biden, and her presence in the U.S. at this particular moment is notable. For advocates of gun violence prayer prevention, because back in 2019, a mass shooter used an AR-15 style rifle to kill 51 people in a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.
[21:05:01]
Now, after that shooting, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, led an effort to ban assault rifles across all of New Zealand. And take a look at what happened when this prime minister, Prime Minister Ardern, brought up that measure in front of an American audience, while giving a college commencement speech just this weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARDERN: In the past ten years, we have passed the laws that include everything from the introduction of gay marriage, and the banning of conversion therapy, right through to embedding a 1.5-degree climate change target into law, banning military style semi-automatic and assault rifles – –
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOHYELDIN: A standing ovation.
Now, contrary to what many people believe, America is not the only country where mass shootings have happened. But, we are the only nation that consistently does nothing about it, when they do happen, even when it happens in schools, and claims the lives of young children.
Is this time going to be different? That is the question everybody wants to know.
Joining us now is Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat from Connecticut, and one of the leaders of a bipartisan group of senators discussing gun reform legislation.
Senator Blumenthal, it`s great to see you again. Thank you so much for making time for us this evening.
You have said, sir, that you are more hopeful than you have been since Sandy Hook about the prospect of real progress on guns, right now. As one of the senators involved in this process, talk to me about the bipartisan proposals that are in front of, you and in front of your colleagues.
Why are you more optimistic now? Why is there now any reason to believe that Republicans are negotiating in good faith on gun reform?
SEN.RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): I am more hopeful, thank you for having me. But we need to be very clear eyed about the history, here I`ve been working on this history for the entire time, 12 years that I`ve been in the United States Senate. And before that service, as attorney general of the state of Connecticut.
But this time, it really does feel different, because of those shouts. Do something. I`ve heard them for the last three days, four days that I`ve been in Connecticut, as I watched Memorial Day ceremonies in parades. There is something about how America has reacted, and how shaken my colleagues have been.
We`ve never before had five Democrats and five Republicans, as we do right now, talking seriously about substantive and meaningful efforts and proposals, that will make America safer, and save lives.
MOHYELDIN: Sir, we know that this group began the talks last week, there was a plan to continue the talks remotely today, can you just give us a general sense of what the conversations are? Like how did today`s meeting go? What were some of the proposals that are being batted around?
BLUMENTHAL: The main proposals, from my standpoint, involve red flag laws. I`ve written a law, with Senator Graham — Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Republican, and I have a statute that we have proposed, which would separate people from guns, if they say they`re going to kill themselves, or somebody else, if they`re dangerous. And an extension of background checks would be very meaningful. Likewise, save storage laws.
Connecticut has an Ethan`s law named after a young teenager, who was killed because a weapon was unsecured in a neighbor`s home where he was playing. Likewise, these kind of proposals that involves school security, mental health, all of them are on the table, and the substantive discussions are serious.
So, I think it`s important that we continue to pursue it. I`m hopeful. I couldn`t come to work in a morning if I weren`t hopeful.
MOHYELDIN: No, fair enough. I think, some of us who are following politics know, we`ve seen a lot of attempts — bipartisan attempts, but not necessarily good faith negotiations from the Republicans. I respect your optimism, but I want to ask you about one of the excuses that Republicans have used.
You take a senator like Senator Cornyn here. He`s one of the many Republican lawmakers who have suggested that are improving access to mental health treatments might be a faceted tackling the country`s gun violence epidemic. We`ve heard that a lot over the past couple of days.
I mean, the whole nation could likely benefit from increased access to mental health, I agree with, that is not really the key issue when it comes to gun violence? Because I know there`s a 2018 FBI report, on active shooters, they found only 25 percent of active shooters from 2000 to 2013 had confirmed, diagnosed-able mental illness.
[21:10:03]
Do you consider the topic of mental health in these talks about gun reform, a red herring?
BLUMENTHAL: Not a red herring because the country needs more mental health care. We are in a mental health crisis right now, partly as a result of the pandemic and partly because of factors that you just said before. But our children, particularly, need more behavioral health care.
Alone, mental health care just isn`t the answer. And we are going to go as far as we can to try to save lives, that`s the metric for me that is important. But common sense, sensible measures to save lives are what`s important.
And I am very clear-eyed about the history here. I am far from optimistic in any Pollyannaish way, let me be blunt, it`s put up or shut up time for Republicans because, they have a job. It is United States senator, and if you failed to do your job and vote on a common sense solutions, then they ought to be out of a job. And, ultimately, gun violence protection is going to be on the ballot this November.
MOHYELDIN: Okay, so really quickly, Senator, I know most legislation obviously needs 60 votes to get past the filibuster in the Senate. That means the new gun legislation you guys are working on would require ten Republican votes.
Do you really think you will be able to get those ten votes? Because, we`ve seen this where something comes out of bipartisan negotiations, where there`s a group of five Republicans, but they can`t even sell it to their own caucus to get an additional five, if those five initially agree on it.
BLUMENTHAL: We are attempting to frame this legislation, red flag laws, which are now enforce in 19 states. They need the funds to implement and enforce effectively. Our red flag law, that Lindsey Graham and I have forged, can get 60 votes.
Likewise, the safe storage measures, that we know save lives. There`s evidence in Connecticut, from the laws that we championed, that they prevent gun violence deaths. And domestic violence is another one that is involved.
So I think we can get to 60 votes, but obviously we`re not going to do as much as we want. There are going to have to be compromises.
MOHYELDIN: We certainly hope you can get it done before another mass shooting, or even before an election.
Senator Richard Blumenthal — sir, thank you so much for your time, a Democrat from Connecticut, and one of the leaders of this bipartisan group of senators discussing gun reform legislation. Thanks again, sir, for making time for us this evening.
BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.
MOHYELDIN: And questions about the police response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School last week, they have grown daily since. The detailed timeline that law enforcement officials released just on Friday, it added to the list of questions. For example, if there were multiple children calling 911 many times from inside the connected classrooms where the gunman was stationed all begging for help. One of the immediate questions where why weren`t the 19 officers waiting in the hallway made aware?
When reporters asked the Texas Department of Public Safety director that very question on Friday, he said he did not yet know whether that information was, in fact, relayed from the 911 operator, or dispatch, to those officers in the hallway.
Well, today, ABC News obtained video and audio from that day, and it appears to show a 911 dispatcher telling officers that children were calling from inside the classrooms, where the gunman was. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DISPATCHER: You do have a child on the line. Room 12. Are we able to — is anybody hidden inside the building?
Child is advising he is in the room full of victims. Full of victims at this moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOHYELDIN: That was at 12:13 pm that day. At 12:16, the child called back to say, eight or nine children were still alive in that room. The dispatcher apparently relayed that to the police. But officers did not enter the classroom to shoot the gunman until 12:50 p.m.
On Sunday, the Justice Department announced it would, in fact, conduct what is called a critical incidents review of the police response there in Uvalde, Texas.
Joining me now is Cedric Alexander. He`s a former DeKalb County, Georgia, police chief and former member of President Obama`s task force on 21st century policing.
Mr. Alexander, it`s great to see you again. Thanks for making time for us.
What do you make of this video from ABC News that now shows that 911 dispatchers apparently relayed the information from the children trapped inside that classroom to the police on scene? How does that challenge or change our understanding of what has transpired?
[21:15:02]
CEDRIC ALEXANDER, MSNBC LAW ENFORCEMENT: Well, first of all, good evening, Ayman.
Here`s my thought on this, we`ve been knowing about this for the last few days. We heard witness statements in — and we`ve heard a number of people who had been on the scene, who were there — but we`re finding out, and more and more inquiries that to happen in and around that particular day, in that hallway, is just going to further confirm what we already know, is that there was some gross negligence and incompetence that took place, in terms of entering and making themselves the target, and taking that attention away from those children, who were totally defenseless.
I think the country is pretty much come to absolve around this, in terms of what took place. And this information was just obtained by ABC News, is this going to continue to validate it and think more information is going to continue to validate what we already knew. In all, fairness there needs to be an investigation from A to Z, not that anyone notes of, any notes that have been gathered, or any investigation, but really, hopefully, the feds going in from ground zero to conduct their own investigation because here`s what else is problematic, is when the Texas state police first of their press conference, they gave a lot of information that turned out within 24 to 48 hours to be totally misleading, to the embarrassment of their own governor, supposedly.
MOHYELDIN: Right.
ALEXANDER: But let me say this: the American people are angry, people in that community are hurting and angry, and there really needs to be some — some report, hopefully delivered very soon that brings us all together to help with what we already know.
MOHYELDIN: And speaking of that investigation, NBC News is now reporting that the Texas school police chief has actually not responded to state investigators about the Uvalde shooting, in days. I mean, he was the commander on the ground that day, to his said to have incorrectly labeled the shooter a barricaded suspect, and ordering officers not to enter the classroom. He reportedly participated in that initial interview with officials, but has since failed to respond to requests for a follow-up, or any other sit-down interviews.
What do you make of that development alone? That this individual, who made that decision on the ground, made that call that day is reportedly not cooperating with state investigators.
ALEXANDER: I want to make a guess here, based on my own experience, is that he`s been probably advised by their own city council not to say anything at this point, because anything at this point certainly can be used against him later on. So, that`s what I expect is taking place.
But here`s the sad part, to people in this small community, and people across the country who looked at him for leadership, he has now been muffled, unable or unwilling to say anything, and that certainly doesn`t build any confidence. It certainly doesn`t help the law enforcement community there, in and around that community.
So, it really doesn`t make for any kind of relationship of people feeling like they can trust anything that that chief says or anything else that is said for that matter. So, it is going to be a very, very difficult load for them in that community going forward. Because a lack of trust, the sense of illegitimacy, all of those issues are committing to play. And people are very angry, very hurt, as a community as they bury their children starting today.
MOHYELDIN: All right. Cedric Alexander, former DeKalb County, Georgia, police chief, former member of President Obama`s task force on 21st century policing — sir, thank you so much, for making sometime for us. Really appreciate it.
ALEXANDER: Thank you for having me.
MOHYELDIN: Up next, the House Judiciary Committee is planning to hold an emergency meeting this week to advance a whole range of control measures, but one of the pieces of legislation that is reportedly being left on the table might surprise you.
Stay with us.
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[21:23:40]
MOHYELDIN: So last time Congress took serious action on assault weapons, Congress passed a bill that would actually ban the manufacturer of assault weapons in large capacity magazines for a decade. And in September of 1994, then President Bill Clinton signed the federal assault weapons ban into law, as part of the Violent Crime Control Act and Law Enforcement Act. And the effectiveness of the federal assault weapons ban has been debated since 2004 when Congress actually let expire. But the frequency at which mass shootings occur has ticked upward ever since.
And President Biden says that mass shooting deaths tripled after that law expired. “The Washington Post” reports that he is citing a mass shooting death data from the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery.
In the wake of the Uvalde shooting, the House Judiciary Committee plans to hold an emergency session to prepare a package of eight gun related bills that actually include raising the age of buying semiautomatic white rifles, to banning the manufacture or sale of large capacity ammunition.
Now one thing that is reportedly not included is a bill on banning assault rifles entirely. The reason? Well, according to reporting from “Punchbowl News”, House Democrats don`t have enough votes to pass that right now, even though they have the majority.
[21:25:05]
Joining us now is Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas. She is also a member of the House Judiciary Committee and one of the lead cosponsors on that package, the Protect Kids Act, that package of legislation as I mentioned that was introduced today.
Congresswoman Lee, thank you so much for joining us tonight.
Let me just get your reaction to the reporting that Democratic leadership cannot find the votes to pass an assault rifle ban. Is that correct? Can you set the record straight for us on that?
REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D-TX): Well, first of all, thank you for having me and let me just say that, we`ve got to do everything we can to stop the war on our children, the killing of our children, the slaughter of our children, the carnage of our children. It is because of Democrats that we are even where we are today, which is this massive package, this ominous bill that we should be addressing this coming week.
The question of the assault weapons ban is not off the table. It frankly if we are moving towards having the votes that we need. I have a committed over the years, having introduced bills dealing with the ban on assault weapons, post-2004, as you well know, Ayman, that is when it ended.
And we saw the seismic increase of carnage across America using automatic weapons and in the instance of buffalo, and the instance of Uvalde, having gone there on Sunday, meeting with and just listening to the sheer desperation of families and children. That was an AR-15 as well.
So, I believe that we are on the right track. Democrats will get it done. And we look for our friends in the United States Senate to have a sense of humanity and decency, and courage to move our legislation forward.
MOHYELDIN: So are you hearing reservations from your colleagues on the assault rapidly ban? How awful optimistic are you that you can actually get a package of gun related bills pass through the House? That includes an assault rifle ban?
LEE: I believe that any path concerns are dissipated at this point. I don`t know how anyone, no matter what your party affiliation is, can look at what is happening in Buffalo, and of late, and of course the mishap in carnage that occurred in Uvalde. If they look into the faces of the children still live as I did on Sunday. Going around each little gathering of children, they were 11, and nine, and ten years old.
The sheer, pity that they were showing for the condition that they are in, no one will in fact be able to not vote going forward. But we have to do in Congress as you well know, it`s gather votes. Are any Republican votes for this?
But I know that we have the ability to gather the votes for an assault weapons banned, it`s moving concerns of the years and three years ago that are not to get there today. We believe, and in fact I think there is a great deal of support that I found in Uvalde. For a seven-day waiting period for even purchasing an assault weapon if necessary, because there are other automatic weapons as well.
So there is a gathering around recognizing that assault weapons kill, they killed 19 children and two teachers. And besides the package that we have that is a very strong package, filled with ammunition and gun trafficking, we are putting red flags on the four of the house, bills dealing with raising the age, storage bills, at the point of purchase which is so very important.
Telling people, you can`t purchase or you must have a storage plan, a storage device, before you purchase. We know so many guns were taken by children to schools and killed people. So we have a real strong package to protect our kids. And no, I don`t think that we are far away from putting the assault weapon bans on the floor.
I think the question has to be, what is the Senate going to do? And can we find a bipartisan pathway forward? Which I will join with Senator Murphy. I am begging, I am begging for that to happen in the United States Senate.
And by the way, you know, that we have no gun laws of consequence here in the state of Texas. And that we have had 1984, 12 mass murders, 151 dead, 183 injured. We are completely at the knees and the governance of the United States of America.
[21:30:01]
We need laws to protect people in Texas, federal laws to protect them in Texas.
MOHYELDIN: And let`s hope we get those laws before another mass shooting rips another community and tears families apart.
Texas Congressman Sheila Jackson Lee, thank you so much for being here with us tonight. Greatly appreciate your time.
Up next, for years, President Donald Trump has been hyping an investigation that he said, would somehow prove the Mueller probe was a hoax. Well, today, we`ve got some very big news on that front, but not what the former president was actually hoping for.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:35:08]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: I look forward to Bill Durham`s report, that`s the one I look forward to.
(CHEERS)
You know what happened to Durham? Where is Durham?
And by the way, where`s Durham? What happened? Where is he? He disappeared.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
MOHYELDIN: All right. So for the second half of his presidency, as you saw there, even after he was out of office, it`s safe to say that Donald Trump was obsessed with a man named John Durham. He was obsessed because John Durham, this prosecutor that was handpicked by Trump`s attorney general, was the guy. He was supposed to be the guy who was going to prove once and for all, that the entire Trump Russian investigation was a hoax. Just like Trump had always said time and time again.
In fact, Trump`s allies and right wing media, they were obsessed to. Durham was going to pull the layoff off this whole, Russian hoax conspiracy. People are going to go to jail. People like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Barack Obama. They would be locked up. That`s what they wanted. That`s what they thought was going to happen.
But the months and then the years, they just ticked by. Durham, he didn`t really produce anything, I mean, literally produced nothing.
More than two months after leaving office, Donald Trump sent out an official statement reading quotes, where is John Durham? Is he a living, breathing, human being? Will there ever be a Durham report?
John Durham`s investigation has now lasted far longer than the thing he supposedly looking into. The original Mueller investigation, and we should note, the Mueller investigation actually produced 34 indictments, it produced multiple convictions, and guilty pleas to show for its work.
But this month, when John Durham finally took the case to trial for the first time in three years, it wasn`t to charge members of the Obama administration or the FBI for doing dastardly things to Trump. No. Quite the opposite.
He lodge the single charge against the lawyer connected to Hillary Clinton`s 2016 campaign, one extreme, extremely tenuous charge of lying to the FBI. And today, it took the jury just six hours to unanimously acquit that lawyer of any wrongdoing.
John Durham finally had his moments in court, and he lost. Badly. The jury forewoman told reporters outside the courthouse quote, I think we could have spent our time more wisely. Ouch.
As the investigation into Trump`s imagined enemy sputters, the investigation into Trump and his allies appears to actually be gaining steam. Former Trump advisor Peter Navarro has revealed that he was served with a federal grand jury subpoena last week related to the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Now, Peter Navarro has already received one subpoena related to the insurrection, a subpoena from the January six investigation in Congress.
Navarro was found in contempt of Congress for defying that subpoena. He faces a potential criminal contempt charge from the Justice Department. Last week, according to Navarro, two FBI special agents bag loudly on his door in the early morning hours, and presented him a new subpoena from federal prosecutors, demanding any documents related to that earlier subpoena, including, and this is important, any communications with former President Trump or Trump`s lawyers.
And while we know a lot about the January six investigation in congress, we know a lot less about the justice department probe that is also underway and federal prosecutors are getting subpoenaed for a top White House adviser for his communication about January the 6th, would that could suggest that the criminal investigation is both broader, and further along than what we actually knew.
Joining us now is Dan Goldman, former assistant U.S. attorney and the Democratic lead counsel on Donald Trump`s first impeachment.
Dan, it`s great to see you again. Thank you for making time for us this evening.
Help us unpack this a little bit here. Peter Navarro is facing a possible federal can criminal contempt charge for defying a subpoena from the January six investigation, in congress. Could this new grand jury subpoena just be about his contempt for all? Or is there a reason to think that he is being subpoenaed as part of the broader justice department investigation of January the 6th?
DAN GOLDMAN, MSNBC LEGAL ANALYST: I got to t tell you, Ayman, I don`t know the answer, ordinarily you would not have a target of an investigation subpoenaed with a grand jury subpoena. And there`s no question he is a target of the criminal contempt because that was referred, he was referred by Congress to the department of justice, for potential prosecution for contempt of congress.
But, on the other hand, that is a very unusual charge.
[21:40:02]
And the Department of Justice may want to get to the bottom of whether or not Donald Trump did instruct him not to testify based on the executive privilege, which is Donald Trump`s privilege, not Peter Navarro`s privilege.
Of course, it`s a bogus claim of privilege, but Peter Navarro is not necessarily in a place or in a position where he can determine whether it`s bogus or not. So that is possible, it`s also possible that as we know there are expanding their investigation beyond January 6th. Peter Navarro is essentially emitted on MSNBC that he was an architect of a scheme to overturn the election.
MOHYELDIN: Right.
GOLDMAN: So he has not been shy of about what his role was, and how he went about doing this. That would obviously trigger some interest from the Department of Justice as they expand their investigation. It could be either, or, or both.
MOHYELDIN: And given the fact that he did, as you mentioned, both about the role he played, what does it tell you about the federal criminal investigation that they are apparently asking for Peter Navarro`s communications with Trump or Trump`s lawyers. As you mentioned that the privilege at the former president would have. Not Peter Navarro.
GOLDMAN: Right, I mean the issue that Peter Navarro would probably argue is, how can you charge me with a crime when I am not a court who can determine whether or not Donald Trump`s claim of executive privilege is illegitimate or not? He — whether we can sit here and opine, but our opinion also doesn`t matter. In court, we`ll have to determine that or they would have to be some agreement between Trump and the committee.
But Navarro is not the run to make that determination. That would be his arguments. The problem is, there is a lot of persuasive authority that would say it`s a relative and whether Donald Trump says that executive privilege applies. You still have to show up. You can claim executive privilege, but you don`t have immunity from showing up.
So that would be the argument that the department of justice would have. But I do think aim in, regardless of what`s happening with Peter Navarro, what we are seeing is the acceleration and expansion of the department of justice investigation into the coup, into the effort to overturn the election. I think the request of the January six committee is an indication of that. Some of the subpoenas that we have heard about related to the fake electors, they are ramping up their investigation.
MOHYELDIN: Yeah, it certainly seems like that even from outside observers like myself.
Dan, can I get just — I want your take really quickly on today`s not guilty verdict in this first trial to come out of the Durham investigation, as a laid out there, John Durham for the right wing in this country. Supposedly prove the Russian Trump investigation was a hoax. It seems to have come up empty handed, is it safe to characterize it after what we saw today so far?
GOLDMAN: I think that is an understatement. This is an embarrassment and humiliation, and a total travesty, a waste of resources, a waste of time. If the purpose was to uncover wrongdoing by law enforcement that initiated the Russia investigation, this trial had absolutely nothing to do with that. It was connected to whether or not a lawyer lies to the FBI mattered, really when it came down to the FBI.
Of course, it didn`t. The FBI didn`t need this information. It wasn`t really related to the Russia investigation.
So not only was this charge unrelated to the original purpose of John Durham`s investigation, but he got creams. He got an acquittal in a few hours. That is really, really humiliating.
So I think what it shows us is what`s, you know, those of us like myself who spent a lot of times focused on the Mueller investigation. I investigated it when I was in Congress, working for Adam Schiff and the House Intelligence Committee, there was collusion. That Donald Trump`s campaign welcomes the assistance from Russia, used it, and benefited from it, even if they did not actively conspire with them. They still received knowingly received, the benefits. And that is collusion.
So whatever you want to hear on the right wing, it`s all a charade and the destruction. At the end of the day, there was collusion, there were no charges, it didn`t rise to a criminal level of conspiracy. But there was collusion and this John Durham investigation was a complete waste of time.
MOHYELDIN: Couldn`t agree with you more. Daniel Goldman, great to see you. Former attorney, assistant former attorney, and Democratically led counsel and the first impeachment of Donald Trump. It`s good to see you. Thank you so much, Daniel.
GOLDMAN: You, too.
MOHYELDIN: Still ahead, year after year, Democrats have been losing a key part of their base term Republicans. Coming up, we`re going to take a look at a special report that is investigating that massive shift and what can be done to reverse it.
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[21:49:40]
MOHYELDIN: If you turned on your local news this memorial day weekend, it was hard to miss story after story by gas prices hitting record highs. And that coverage really is not misplaced. I mean, this is a huge issue for Americans. It hits them in the pocketbook and could easily impact their decisions in the voting booth come November.
I also think that it is the context in which we should be looking at the news out of Europe, late last night.
[21:50:04]
The European Union has agreed to ban nearly all Russian oil imports by the end of this year, as punishment for Russia`s invasion of Ukraine. Now take the impact that will have on Germany for instance. The average price of a gallon of gas in Germany yesterday, was $8.79. That is nearly double, nearly double the national average here in the U.S.
And according to Germany`s export agency last year, 34 percent of Germany`s crude oil imports came from Russia. Could you imagine just for a second, could you imagine if the United States and its gas prices were doubled? But there are right now and we made the decision to go even further, to cut off our biggest energy supplier to support the war in Ukraine? What that would do to our gas prices?
That is the sacrifice Germany just agreed to make last night. And they aren`t even the most Russian oil dependent country in the EU. You got Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Finland, Lithuania, they all even get more of their energy imports from Russia. So they will have a greater impact after this decision.
Now as much as this move will further raise prices in Europe, and even have an effect here in the United States, the idea is that because Russia`s economy is entirely centered around their export of oil and gas, that this ban should hurt them even more, even if it hurts them in Europe. But it is really worth appreciating how they are sacrificing being made by the recipients to make this impactful decision happen.
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[21:55:42]
MOHYELDIN: So, as the 2022 midterms approach, Latino voters are defecting to the GOP increasingly worrying numbers for Democrats. Journalist Paola Ramos explores the rightward shift of Latino voters in a new series, “Field Report with Paola Ramos”.
And the first episode debuting tomorrow night, she talks with several Latino voters in Florida who are embracing the Republican Party for a bunch of different reasons. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s the best damn president in U.S. history.
PAOLA RAMOS, MSNBC FIELD REPORT WITH PAOLA RAMOS: Do you believe that the 2020 election was stolen?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I believe that president Trump won that election and I do believe that voter fraud occurred.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me, 2020 was the political awakening.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your children are not safe in the school system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me, ma`am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t have anything against the LGBTQ community at all. I don`t think the kids should have it pushed on them.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: All right, Lana Lee (ph), wonderful, that was so good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated): There are people that this country to change, and become a socialist system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s always socialism, socialism, socialism. It makes people that were once not extreme, extreme.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOHYELDIN: All right. Joining us now is Paola Ramos, host of “Field Report with Paola Ramos”.
Paola, it`s great to see you. Thank you so much for making time for us.
So, that clip that we just played, it ended on a guy I believe, he says is a disinformation expert talking about the world socialism as a motivating force for Latino votes in the 2020 election. But tell us a little bit more about that and do you see that continuing as we approach the midterms.
RAMOS: Yeah, Ayman, socialism is still the story today, right? I think what we found in Florida is that the 2020 story of the Latino voter in Florida, which was a story centered around the fear of socialism, that story is slowly evolving into a story of radicalization, right? When you look at the polarized environment that we were in, what we found is that, disinformation, the cultural wars and the extremism, all of that is speeding off of that fear of socialism, communism, that we knew and we saw and looked at in 2020.
That combination of those cultural wars and that socialism, that is very dangerous. We met people that, because of the fear of socialism, that is now awakening that leads to cultural wars. We saw that because of the sphere of socialism that is leading some Latinos to storm the Capitol. That`s what let some to mutually dry miles to go to Washington, D.C., to participate in the insurrection. We saw that because of that socialism fear, ordinary voters are now believing in these extremist conspiracy theories about, rolled new order seeking place in the United States.
I think that`s the pattern that we have to understand, the 2020 socialism story is now evolving into something that is perhaps a lot more dangerous that we`re realizing.
MOHYELDIN: Listen, we are almost out of, time I want to ask you really quickly, do you see any hopes for Democrats peeling back some of these Latinos that are swinging over to Republicans?
RAMOS: I`ll tell you this, almost every single person we talk to, every single one was a former Democrat, formerly had voted for Barack Obama, and now some describe themselves as an orphan of the Democratic Party.
So I think Democrats have to listen to that and have to understand that if Republicans weaponized that socialism message in 2020, what they are doing now in this polarized environment, again, can peel many, many more voters that they are counting.
MOHYELDIN: And can I ask you about the tragedy that we saw in Texas whether that plays a factor? And did you get a sense, I know you were in Florida. Florida has its history of mass shootings as well. You get a sense that the Latino voters having experienced that tragedy, you know you see that turning into a political issue, ahead of the 2020 midterms?
RAMOS: I think that`s the question right. I think the question now is, how does that tragedy sort of turn into a political will, and political action, specifically towards gun control?
But again the story is, there is a tendency to believe that Latinos in this county, that had been affected by this tragedy, will somehow drive towards the Democratic party. But if you zoom into the numbers in Uvalde County, you look at those numbers and you see that in 2020, actually, Donald Trump won 60 percent of Uvalde County. In fact, he did six points better in 2020 than in 2016.
So again the story here, and with this “Field Report” is the Latino community is very nuanced, right? There is no rights and wrong answer. There is no black and white answer here. Everything is extremely nuanced.
And so, the answer is yes. There are some victims that are for gun control, and some that I have heard, want more teachers to be armed. What we need to do is start answering and having these honest conversations with Latino voters, breaking these stereotypes.
MOHYELDIN: Paola Ramos, it`s great to see you. Fascinating conversation. Looking for to “Field Reports with Paola Ramos”. It debuts tomorrow right here on MSNBC, at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. It will also stream on Peacock.
All right. That does it for me tonight. We will see you again tomorrow.
Now, it`s time for “THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O`DONNELL.”
Good evening, Lawrence.