Psaki lets loose on Trump's now former press sec. — The Briefing with Jen Psaki Weekly Highlights

[0:00] Okay, I am just going to start tonight by saying something that I never thought I would ever say. [0:09] Caroline Leavitt, wherever you are out there, I miss you. [0:22] Good morning. [0:24] Good morning. [0:25] I am so honored to work for President Trump and the American people as the new White House press secretary. [0:37] I want to thank President Trump for his trust that he has placed in me. [0:43] I have wanted to work for him for a very long time. [0:50] I'm looking forward to working with each of you as well, especially as we are in the middle of the midterm blitz with energy and excitement never seen before in the history of midterms, thanks to President Trump. [1:07] Katie, Katie, Katie, I am so deeply uncomfortable already and I've watched it multiple times today. [1:14] I'm not going to lie, that beginning part was rough. [1:17] It was rough to digest, rough to watch. [1:19] But listen, let's focus on the positives. [1:22] Not an easy job. [1:24] You wished everyone a good morning. [1:26] It was, in fact, morning. [1:27] So good job there. [1:29] Read all those words all by yourself without having to sound anything out, at least not while standing behind the podium, maybe before. [1:36] Bit of a jolting start, I would say, but let's just, let's see, let's see where it went from there. [1:40] Just look no further than last night in Youngstown, Ohio, where President Trump delivered another blockbuster rally out on the trail. [1:53] Attendance is at record highs as enthusiastic, hardworking Americans are lining up and packing arenas to support President Trump and Republicans. [2:04] It's not hard to see why. [2:09] Did you notice where she turned the page and said, read, it's not hard to see why, because that was necessary to read off the page. [2:20] Okay, let's just stay on the positives. [2:23] This is a little bit like a feedback sandwich. [2:25] You were able to turn the page on your script without getting a visible paper cut. [2:30] Good job. [2:31] You got right to Trump's crowd sizes. [2:33] I'm sure he was delighted about that. [2:36] Can't say you get a gold star for accuracy, though. [2:38] I mean, this was Trump's Ohio rally last night. [2:40] Not exactly record attendance, I wouldn't call it that. [2:44] But, you know, it's never stopped any of your predecessors from lying about crowd sizes. [2:49] So on that front, at least you're given a replacement-level performance so far. [2:53] Now, I do think you violated the Hatch Act at least four times at this point, and we're not even that far into the briefing. [2:59] But honestly, you work for a man who ran campaign ads for weeks using taxpayer dollars. [3:04] So don't spend too much time worrying about that part of the feedback. [3:09] After nine minutes, Katie did start taking questions from the press. [3:13] A good sign, given the last White House press briefing was more than six weeks ago. [3:19] This is a president and administration that is looking out for you, the American people. [3:25] And I'm thrilled to officially be part of this incredible journey together. [3:31] And with that, I will take your questions. [3:36] Here in our new media seat, we have Nick Gilbertson from Breitbart. [3:41] Now, the first question from the conservative outlet Breitbart is quite a choice. [3:49] Given their current front page, it currently boasts banner headlines like Kamala Harris addresses criticism of her crazy cackle. [3:57] Now, this is relevant for a few reasons, including the fact that traditionally the first question from a White House press secretary in most briefings, but certainly in the first one, has gone to the Associated Press. [4:08] Why? [4:09] Because it's one of the oldest and most trusted news organizations in the country. [4:13] But of course, her boss Donald Trump has kicked the Associated Press out of the Oval Office, barred them from Air Force One for the incredibly juvenile reason that they won't call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. [4:23] So I guess they aren't currently a bet. They're her best option, shall we say. [4:28] But let's see what kind of hard-hitting question Breitbart asked. [4:32] I mean, there are so many to pick from, right? [4:35] If you get the first question with the press secretary, first time briefing, there hasn't been a briefing in six weeks. [4:41] You could ask about the Iran wards, a million questions there. [4:44] Trump's historic low approval ratings were just a couple weeks out from the elections. [4:47] The easing of Russia's sanctions last Friday, J.D. Vance's freaking weird comments last night about James Tallarico's search history. [4:55] So what did he choose to go with? [4:58] One of the things that your predecessor, Caroline Levitt, did is open this room up to more voices, not less. [5:05] At Breitbart, that's something our founder, Andrew Breitbart, certainly believed in. [5:08] And whether that's adding this new media seat, adding new media voices to the pool. [5:13] Can you tell us what you plan to do to continue to ensure that new media voices continue to be heard here at the White House? [5:20] Yeah, well, firstly, my predecessor, Caroline Levitt, did an incredible job. [5:24] And I completely agree with the choice of new media seat. [5:28] We are absolutely going to keep it and we're going to expand on it to the extent possible. [5:32] Ah, yes, everyone. [5:36] At a time when we are in the middle of a war, when unemployment is skyrocketing, when the president of the United States seems slightly to vary off his rocker on most days, the hard hitting question from Breitbart was, will you welcome in more outlets like Breitbart to the briefing room? [5:54] And the shocking news breaking answer was, yes, yes, we will. [5:58] You know why? [5:59] Because they want questions like that. [6:01] OK, let's see who she takes a question from next. [6:03] Um, well, we will take Peter Doocy. [6:08] Thanks, Katie. [6:11] Ah, yes, Peter Doocy, my favorite sparring partner from the past, the good old days from Fox News. [6:17] Way to go for the hard hitters there, Katie, of all the people in the briefing room. [6:22] So he then asked her a softball question about her new role, which she responded to with, well, let's be honest, another very garbled word salad. [6:29] Not going to prolong the torture by playing it for you. [6:31] You can certainly see it for yourself if you want. [6:33] But to his credit, Fox News' Peter Doocy did follow up with a substantive question, I think one that a lot of serious reporters in the briefing room probably wanted an answer to. [6:43] In fact, it was the only real substantive policy question that she got today, probably because she took questions for five minutes. [6:50] But here's how that question went. [6:54] And I want to ask a policy question. [6:56] Has the U.S. stopped sharing intel with Ukraine? [7:00] I'll have to get back to you on that. [7:03] I'll have to get back to you on that. [7:06] Really, again, it's the one substantive policy question she got all day and a pretty predictable one, I would say. [7:14] OK, so again, feedback will appear, Katie. [7:19] Should you give a second press briefing? [7:21] Should you give one? [7:22] Here are just a couple of basics to just get you started on your prep. [7:25] Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago. [7:27] Despite that, your boss has invited Vladimir Putin back into the world stage and just had a warm and fuzzy sounding call with him last week that ended with Trump lifting sanctions on Russia. [7:36] The Ukrainians are suspicious for good reasons about your boss's intentions and whether or not they're getting the intel they need. [7:43] So, yeah, maybe that one, that should be on the tippy top of the list of topics you're prepared for next time. [7:50] Now, after that, Katie only called on one other journalist, a reporter from the right-leaning Daily Mail, who asked, which happens, felt to me like a pre-planned question to tee up the personnel news that she got to break today. [8:05] The news that Kimberly Guilfoyle would resign her post as ambassador to Grace. [8:09] Of course, that was before the reporter transitioned to another softball about how Katie balances her work and family life. [8:15] And then this happened. [8:19] I adore my family. [8:20] I love them. [8:21] They are my priority. [8:23] I love being with my kids. [8:25] The idea of not spending evenings with my kids is completely unacceptable. [8:31] So my president, excuse me, my husband, that's a good one. [8:36] OK, she loves her family and kids. [8:40] We love all of that. [8:42] Everybody should love all of that. [8:43] But one more note for your briefing book, Katie. [8:46] Try not to confuse your husband with the president, especially in the times we're living in. [8:52] Just ask Natalie Harp. [8:54] Make sure you can tell those two guys apart. [8:57] Draw yourself a little diagram if you have to. [9:00] After all that, after all of that, everyone. [9:02] After talking for nine minutes and then calling on three, one, two, three reporters from right wing outlets, Katie Zachariah ended her first press briefing. [9:13] The whole thing took about 14 minutes. [9:16] I will tell you, I took questions on about 25 topics. [9:20] You can check the tape. [9:21] I'm sure basically everybody who's had the job before me did the same thing. [9:26] And she only spent five minutes of her briefing taking questions from the press, [9:31] much of which seemed either preplanned or very softball-y. [9:39] And the reviews, well, they were brutal, even from inside the Trump administration. [9:43] One White House official told MSNOW, [9:45] getting behind the podium is tough, but she got off on the wrong foot. [9:49] She needs to get much better fast. [9:51] Otherwise, she'll break Scaramucci's record. [9:54] Now, that's, of course, a reference to Anthony Scaramucci, [9:57] the communications director in Trump's first administration, [10:00] who was fired just 11 days into the job. [10:03] After he accidentally, so we think, told a reporter on the record that Steve Bannon sucks his own. [10:11] You know what? [10:12] Just Google that one. [10:13] Now, another White House official called Zachariah's performance rough all around, [10:17] adding the press and the administration are all probably thinking the same thing. [10:21] We miss Caroline. [10:23] When MSNOW asked that official what specifically went wrong, [10:25] they said, I don't know how you single out one thing. [10:29] It was all tough. [10:31] The whole performance was so bad that not one, but not two, but four separate sources [10:39] felt the need to leak to the Washington Post that Trump bypassed his chief of staff, [10:44] Susie Wiles, when he decided to appoint Zachariah. [10:48] So maybe this whole White House press secretary thing isn't really for Katie. [10:52] It's not for everybody. [10:53] Maybe it's just not the job she was meant for. [10:56] That's okay, right? [10:58] I mean, she could always go back to the job she had before all of this, which was, [11:01] what was that again? [11:04] I'm a lawyer. [11:05] I went to Pepperdine, Pepperdine Law. [11:07] I practiced corporate law. [11:08] I was a corporate lawyer. [11:09] I practiced corporate law. [11:11] And practiced law as a corporate lawyer. [11:14] Practiced corporate law, especially as a lawyer and a former corporate lawyer. [11:18] I mean, I am a lawyer and I'm a rigorous researcher. [11:24] Rigorous researcher, I don't know. [11:25] But anyway, so she says she's a lawyer, a corporate lawyer, [11:28] which would be a great career to fall back on, right? [11:31] Except that new reporting from Judd LeJume at Popular Info revealed today that Katie Zachariah [11:37] is not listed as a member of the State Bar of California, the state where she lives, [11:41] nor is she listed as a member of the State Bar of Texas or as a member of the D.C. Bar, [11:45] the two other places where she worked. [11:48] The Washington Post followed up with their own investigation into Katie Zachariah's legal [11:51] credentials and could not find any active or expired bar emissions under her married or maiden name, [11:57] which is which is pretty odd, especially when you consider that her LinkedIn account claims [12:02] that she was once the general counsel of a conservative nonprofit called Fix California. [12:08] Now, Trump himself even referred to her as an attorney when announcing his decision to appoint [12:12] her as his press secretary. [12:15] So where exactly is Katie Zachariah licensed to practice law? [12:18] It is a very weird mystery, right? [12:20] Well, she was asked again today about that while standing with the president outside the White House. [12:25] And here's what she said. [12:29] Pass the bar exam. [12:32] Pass the bar exam. [12:33] Which state? [12:34] Which state? [12:34] Tell us. [12:35] It's a little hard to hear there. [12:40] We tried to do some captions for you just in case. [12:43] But she's asked a very straightforward question about where she passed the bar, right? [12:47] It's very straightforward. [12:49] And she seems to respond, when I moved to China. [12:53] Now, when asked to clarify, a White House spokesperson later told reporters Katie moved to China with [12:58] her husband after graduating because of his job at an American private equity firm while [13:02] she worked on international transaction law, which is totally fine. [13:06] You move with your husband by all means. [13:08] But it definitely does not in any way answer the very simple question about where she passed [13:12] the bar. [13:13] As one legal expert told The Washington Post, she could not have passed the Chinese bar [13:17] exam either, since you have to be a Chinese national to take it. [13:22] So Donald Trump appears to have chosen as his White House press secretary a potentially fake [13:27] lawyer. [13:28] I don't know. [13:29] I mean, she could answer the questions and provide clarity, who only seems to take questions [13:33] from friendly reporters and still cannot get through a 14-minute briefing without stumbling [13:36] over her notes. [13:39] But the whole thing, let's be honest, is objectively funny. [13:42] OK, we've had some fun with it. [13:45] But it's also quite serious. [13:47] I mean, no one has ever done the job perfectly. [13:49] No one has done it perfectly every day at all either. [13:51] But for decades, the White House press secretary, through presidents who are Democrats and presidents [13:56] who are Republicans, has been a vehicle for providing information to the American public. [14:00] For answering tough questions, for showing the world that the United States values the [14:04] role of a free press. [14:06] And having a forum for reporters, real reporters, to ask tough questions of the White House is [14:12] also an important part of a healthy democracy. [14:14] Every country does not have this in the world. [14:17] So is giving reporters access to the White House, by the way. [14:20] You can't just gesture at the idea of press freedom by putting a figure like Katie Zachariah [14:25] behind the White House podium and say you're doing briefings. [14:27] But Donald Trump has been slowly and systematically hacking away at the kind of press freedom [14:34] that is necessary to cover a presidential administration. [14:37] He's lowered our expectations for what a functioning press office looks like, for what [14:41] a press secretary should be able to do from behind the podium, to be honest. [14:46] Well, at the same time, he tries to ban legitimate press outlets from the White House grounds and [14:50] from the press pool and from access to places you need to be if you're going to cover the White [14:54] House. [14:54] It's all related. [14:55] It's not separate stories. [14:56] It's about cutting off the right of the public to know what is happening in the White House, [15:00] to know what the president is up to every day. [15:05] Well, today, Donald Trump delivered what I would consider his most unhinged performance [15:11] at a political rally I have seen to date. [15:16] I don't say that lightly. [15:18] Look, I understand how easy it is to dismiss whatever nonsense falls out of Trump's mouth [15:23] on a given day, right? [15:24] There's so much that falls out of his mouth on a given day. [15:27] The nonsense is, after all, part of the strategy. [15:30] He wants all of us to be distracted by it, which is why we try to be very selective about [15:35] what we play for you and what we don't, and why we try to be very super thoughtful about [15:41] what we think is newsworthy and what's not, because so often the noise is just that. [15:46] It's noise. [15:47] But tonight is not one of those times, because at every one of these rallies, Donald Trump [15:53] is telling voters to pretend he's on the ballot this November. [15:55] He says it every stop he makes, nearly every time. [16:00] And so tonight, 20 days out from this hugely consequential election day, I happen to think [16:06] that every single Republican in every single race in the country should have to answer [16:10] for the things Donald Trump is saying right now. [16:13] Every single Republican candidate for office that is telling voters they support this guy [16:18] should have to explain to those voters where they stand on this madness. [16:23] They should be asked about a range of things that Trump said in Bullhead City, Arizona [16:27] today, including what he said in an apparent reference to the first strikes Trump ordered [16:32] on Iran in the summer of 2025 and the subsequent reporting that came out of the Pentagon. [16:40] You know, somebody leaked some sleazebag. [16:42] They ought to go to jail and be shot for the rest of their life. [16:44] They should be in jail. [16:45] Leakers should be, in my opinion, leakers should be shot. [16:49] They should be shot. [16:52] In the old days, we used to shoot leakers, you know. [16:54] Leakers should be dealt with very, very strongly. [16:57] They're real. [16:58] To me, they're the scum of the earth. [17:00] The leakers are the scum of the earth. [17:02] This is not the most important detail, but there were no leaks before the first strikes [17:07] on Iran. [17:08] But Donald Trump says leakers should be shot. [17:12] They should be shot. [17:14] Question every Republican candidate should be asked between now and November is, do you [17:18] agree with Donald Trump that leakers should be shot? [17:21] Everybody should be asked that question. [17:23] Do you agree with Donald Trump that the U.S. [17:25] government should shoot anyone who leaks information to the media? [17:29] A simple yes or no answer would suffice for everybody. [17:33] The leader of your party thinks they should be. [17:35] Do you agree? [17:37] Perhaps we might get a clearer answer on something a little less violent. [17:43] And you saw the brand new 747 Air Force One. [17:46] It was about time. [17:48] It was about time. [17:50] I actually, you know, when you're giving gifts, you take them, right? [17:55] When they give you a 747, you say two words. [17:59] Thank you. [18:01] Again, any Republican candidate, every single one of them out there, if they support Donald [18:07] Trump, should be asked, are you OK with the president of the United States gladly, happily, [18:12] gleefully accepting a $400 million gift from a foreign country that probably wants something [18:17] in return? [18:18] A gift that I should add raised several national security and counterintelligence concerns and [18:23] is an open violation of the Constitution and also, to add to it, cost taxpayers hundreds [18:28] of millions of dollars to retrofit, according to estimates. [18:33] Do you think that should be allowed? [18:34] Do you think that's a good idea? [18:36] Do you think the only acceptable answer to a gift like that from a foreign country is [18:39] thank you? [18:40] Are you worried about what Qatar or any other country may want in return? [18:44] Or at the bare minimum, do you think it is appropriate when so many Americans are struggling [18:47] to put food on the table or fill their gas tanks because everything is so freaking expensive [18:51] thanks to Trump's war with Iran? [18:54] And when we see stats like this showing 2026 having more days with the average gas price [19:00] at over $4 a gallon than ever before, Trump is on stage in Arizona bragging about the fact [19:06] that the price of oil is so high. [19:09] Our country is making more money than it's ever made because of the fact that oil is so [19:18] high. [19:18] Now, they're going to say, isn't it terrible? [19:21] He talked about the fact that he doesn't care about the little person. [19:27] I care about the little person like crazy. [19:29] But the fact is, because of the price of oil, Texas and Oklahoma, North Dakota and all these [19:36] places, we're making a fortune. [19:40] We're making a fortune. [19:41] Making a fortune. [19:43] Exactly. [19:45] Who? [19:46] Republican candidates should have to answer that question. [19:48] They should have to tell voters whether they think the high price of oil is a good thing, [19:53] like Donald Trump, the leader of their party, does. [19:56] Trump has said versions of all of this before, of course. [19:58] But what's notable now is that he's unraveling at a pace we haven't really seen. [20:05] Now he's making less and less sense, like in this moment, when for some reason during [20:09] this Arizona rally, Trump went on a bizarre tangent about the doctors he travels with and [20:14] somehow implied they would let someone die. [20:19] I travel with more doctors than any human being. [20:22] If people get sick in the audience, they don't, they leave them alone. [20:25] You know what they call them? [20:26] Collateral damage. [20:29] If that person right over there, a friend of mine, he looks like shit, actually. [20:33] He looks, he looks like he's ready to have a heart attack. [20:36] If he actually had a heart attack, you know what my doctors would do that follow the president, [20:40] all presidents? [20:41] They would leave him alone. [20:43] I say, please help him. [20:44] No, sir, we can't leave your side. [20:45] I say, but he's dying of a heart attack, sir. [20:48] He's collateral damage. [20:49] Can you believe it? [20:51] I'm sorry, what? [20:53] What? [20:54] Also, that's not what they would do. [20:56] But believe it or not, Trump said all of that as he was trying to attack the intellect [21:01] of Arizona's Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs. [21:05] Stupid Katie Hobbs, a low IQ individual, in my opinion. [21:12] That's only my opinion. [21:14] But remember, I'm the only one that took the test. [21:17] You know, I took the aptitude test or whatever the hell they call it. [21:19] They say, sir, we're going to give you five words. [21:23] We would like you to repeat those words, preferably in order. [21:28] And what they don't say is at the end of the test, a half hour later, they do it again. [21:33] So you don't know that. [21:35] Five words, sir. [21:36] Hat, hair, logo, white, black. [21:46] Sir, would you please repeat those words? [21:48] You will get points if you get them all. [21:51] You will get points. [21:52] But if you can put them in order, you get a lot of points. [21:57] Go hat, hair, logo, white, black. [22:04] And they go, holy shit. [22:07] Nobody, no, nobody can do that. [22:10] When I told the fake news about that, oh, that's so easy. [22:14] Nobody can do that. [22:15] Very few people can do that. [22:16] And very few. [22:17] They say very few people can do it. [22:19] But almost none can do them in order like that. [22:21] But I can. [22:22] You know why? [22:23] Because I'm a freaking genius as well. [22:27] Republicans up for office, running for office. [22:30] Do you think Donald Trump is a genius? [22:33] Do you think the person you saw in that clip is fit for office should be just left unchecked, unfettered? [22:42] Are you comfortable with that person having control of the nuclear codes? [22:45] We know what they'll say, but they should still be asked. [22:48] And the craziest part is Donald Trump seems to actually think he's helping these Republican candidates. [22:53] Here's what he said just after that rally in Arizona. [22:58] I think these rallies have changed everything. [23:00] It changed. [23:00] A lot of things have changed. [23:02] I think a lot of people that maybe were having trouble won't have so much trouble. [23:05] But I feel I owe it to the Republican Party. [23:10] Donald Trump thinks the rallies have changed everything. [23:13] We had to give you a taste there just to remind you of what's at stake here in this elections. [23:17] And he might be right that they've changed everything, but just not in the way that Donald Trump thinks it has. [23:23] At your job, have you ever had to do IT security training? [23:28] Probably. [23:29] I mean, we have to do it every year here at MSNOW, a little refresher on best practices to keep your electronics secure. [23:36] So things like how to spot phishing emails, don't download unknown files, keep your password secure. [23:42] And this one is important. [23:43] If you find or someone gives you a mysterious thumb drive, a USB drive, do not plug it into your computer because you don't know what is on there. [23:51] So a couple of days ago, officials in California received a letter from the Trump Justice Department asserting that there were people in California who were sent ballots for next month's midterm elections who were likely not citizens, according to the description they gave, and therefore ineligible to vote. [24:07] The DOJ told California that they had 48 hours to investigate these people, whose names they said could be found on a thumb drive included with the letter. [24:16] Now, Donald Trump's federal government is, of course, a stickler for security, as we all know, so the thumb drive was password protected. [24:24] The California Secretary of State's office says the password was handwritten on a sticky note slapped onto the thumb drive. [24:31] And so California officials, who clearly were paying attention during their IT security course, said, basically, we don't know what's on this thumb drive. [24:37] You've given us no details about what it contains, and the whole password on a sticky note thing does not inspire confidence. [24:44] So we're not plugging this thing into our state government computers in a way. [24:47] And so today, the Trump administration has sued California, asking a judge to block the state from counting any ballots from the supposedly illegal voters they say are on that thumb drive. [24:58] The lawsuit says there are 20,000 names on the drive. [25:01] And this is all California's fault for not investigating all 20,000 of them in the last 48 hours. [25:08] But here's the thing. There's always a thing. [25:10] Based on the Trump administration's own track record on this stuff, there is every reason to be skeptical of their claims about these voters. [25:16] For one thing, just a few months ago, the Trump administration was saying there were nearly 10 times that many non-citizen voters registered in California. [25:24] So they've already had to revise their numbers down by 90%. [25:27] You may recall that the Trump administration recently made similar claims in Nevada, alleging that there were nearly 16,000 non-citizens on that state's voter rolls. [25:37] They then revised that number down to just 185 supposed non-citizen registered voters. [25:43] Nevada investigated and found that all 185 of those people, every single one, are in fact citizens. [25:51] So when the federal government claimed Nevada had 16,000 potentially illegal voters, they were only off by 16,000. [25:58] What are the chances they got it right this time? [26:02] Last month, Trump's Justice Department proudly announced that since Trump returned to office, their whole-of-government multi-agency blitz to track down illegal voters had resulted in charges against 70 people. [26:13] And even if all those charges hold up, a tall order with the COJ. [26:17] That is 70 people out of more than 211 million registered voters in this country. [26:23] I can't even do the percentages for you there. [26:27] Joining us now is Congressman Jamie Raskin. [26:29] He's the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. [26:33] Congressman, thank you so much for being here with me tonight. [26:36] I just want to start by asking you about the DOJ's actions here. [26:40] And I don't know how else to describe it other than it's a cartoonish way they went about making their demands to California election officials, providing a thumb drive with a handwritten password on a sticky note. [26:51] I mean, nobody would do that. [26:54] But what would you make of this whole setup of events? [26:59] Well, it's cartoonish and it's clownish, but it's also completely lawless. [27:05] And there was actually a federal district court decision handed down today in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by Judge Sukunanan, I think is pronounced properly. [27:17] Forgive me if I got it wrong. [27:18] But in any event, it's a great decision because, you know, 20 more than 20 states have won when the Trump DOJ has tried to get them to turn over their voter rolls. [27:30] And all of those courts said the federal government has absolutely no authority to do that. [27:35] This decision today from the D.C. District Court went further and said they don't even have power to compile this list, much less compel the states and conscript them to participate in this federal program. [27:47] The program itself is lawless. Why? Because it's not rooted in any federal statute. [27:54] As you know, the federal government only has the specifically delegated powers to it under the Constitution and the states have power over voting. [28:04] Now, Congress can act under our powers to regulate the time, place, manner of voting to supplement what the states are doing. [28:11] But the judge found that we although we passed things like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and we created the Election Assistance Commission. [28:23] Never did we give the power, much less the duty to the executive branch of government to compile a list of undocumented or illegal voters in the country and then to either compel the states to participate in this matching program or simply to send it out there to try to contradict what the states are doing. [28:46] So it's a completely lawless venture that they're involved in. And as you're saying, it's a completely slapstick comedy at this point with them sending out USB drives. [28:56] When I read that, I thought to myself, every time somebody sends me a USB drive, there's a warning that says, please do not open this if you cannot trust the person sending it to you. [29:05] And I think that's the case around the country. I mean, the post it with the password, it's like, what is happening here? [29:12] My 11 year old would know not to do that. I mean, there are so many answers to that goes to one other serious question, Jed, which is simply that they have sacked the Justice Department. [29:22] They've gotten rid of the best attorneys, the most senior attorneys, the staff people, the investigators. [29:28] It's it's an absolute horror show over there in the way they've demolished what used to be, you know, the crown jewel of the executive branch of government. [29:38] We are 19 days out from Election Day. [29:41] They could have a myriad of goals here to scare people, to intimidate voters, to use resources from elections offices. [29:52] What do you think this is the goal is here? They keep losing in court, to your point. [29:57] Yeah, I mean, they're throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if something will stick. [30:02] They're trying to scare people, obviously. They're trying to intimidate people. [30:05] But I got to say, traveling around the country, Jen, it's having the reverse effect. [30:10] I mean, you tell a self-respecting Democratic populace like the people of the United States that somehow they've got a report to the president of the United States or to Todd Blanche. [30:23] How they're going to vote or who they're going to vote for or what voting system their state representatives have settled on and what their state government is doing. [30:31] And they're going to tell them to get lost. And that's what's happening. [30:35] I think it's having the reverse effect. It's boomeranging on them. [30:37] A new Fox News poll out this week asked voters what their top concern is ahead of this election. [30:46] And the results, quite frankly, might surprise you. [30:49] Now, we've heard over and over again how voters are worried about inflation and high gas prices. [30:54] And there are those issues that rank very high on the list. [30:58] But there is one issue that voters say is even more concerning. [31:02] Corruption in government. [31:04] Now, why has corruption suddenly jumped to the top of the list? [31:07] Maybe it has something to do with the constant stream of headlines about this administration's apparent corruption. [31:14] But I think an even bigger reason might be the Democratic candidates have finally found a way to connect that corruption to the struggles that everyday Americans are facing. [31:25] When it costs more than any time in American history to power your home, stock your fridge, fill up your truck. [31:36] Donald Trump is enriching himself and his family to the tune of billions of dollars. [31:40] Billionaires have bought Congress and everyday people can't afford to buy them back. [31:45] Iowans deserve better. [31:46] They deserve someone to go up there and address this corruption crisis because it's being paid for off the backs of the average Iowan. [31:53] Straight up, it's messages like those that have helped drive Democratic support. [31:59] Politico reports that new FEC filings show that Democrats are absolutely walloping their opponents in the fundraising race. [32:07] The top 10 Democratic candidates have raised a collective $230 million in the last quarter. [32:13] Their Republican opponents have raised just $43 million. [32:16] But even that massive advantage might not be enough. [32:20] Because this week, we also learned that during that same period, Elon Musk has given $289 million to help support Republicans. [32:30] The question is, will all that billionaire money help Republicans close the gap? [32:35] Or will it just feed into a corruption narrative that is already defining this election? [32:40] Joining me now is Chuck Rocha, Democratic strategist and senior advisor to James Tallarico's Senate campaign in Texas. [32:49] Also with me is Rob Flaherty, former deputy campaign manager for Kamala Harris. [32:54] We got the big dogs out tonight. [32:56] Co-host of the Nobody Knows Anything podcast. [33:00] Welcome, gentlemen, to the table. [33:02] Rob, let's start with you. [33:04] This corruption narrative, it seems to have kind of caught on. [33:10] I remember back in the first quarter of this year having conversations and thinking that if there's the way, if you want to turn the corner, you've got to bring it around so that as the economy begins to hit people in their wallets, they can tie it to something. [33:26] Didn't know exactly what that would have been. [33:28] Affordability was the initial argument out of the gate. [33:31] Now it's corruption. [33:32] Talk about that arc and how it landed us here and how voters are saying, yeah, that's my number one. [33:38] Yeah, well, look, when you look at that poll, you see corruption, cost of living, gas prices. [33:42] I think voters see that as all part of the same thing. [33:44] It is a system that is making their life worse and helping a few people at the top get rich. [33:48] And there's no better exemplar of that than Donald Trump, who is both incredibly corrupt and incredibly good at putting attention on himself. [33:56] And so, you know, I do think it is a important thing for Democrats to be thinking about going forward is that voters are feeling this corruption message because they feel like the system is broken and it's going to be on us to to clean it up when we get back into office. [34:09] So, my friend, money, money, money, money, right? [34:14] A lot of money raised. [34:17] And, you know, we were talking about some of the ads that you and your team have placed out there. [34:22] But you still have Elon Musk, one hundred and fifty eight million dollars of that he's raised appears to have been funneled into supporting Ken Paxton in the state of Texas out of that two hundred and eighty nine. [34:36] Why? Why is he having to put so much money into the race right now? [34:41] And what's the impact and effect of it? [34:44] Let's go back to corruption. [34:45] And Rob is exactly right. [34:47] And why does he care so much about Texas? [34:48] It's almost like Elon Musk has a bunch of rockets that launch out of Texas and he needs to make sure that everybody. [34:55] Now, let me tell you about Ken Paxton. [34:56] The reason that this all lines up perfectly for one James Tallarico is Ken Paxton had one house and a job that made him one hundred fifty three thousand dollars when he started as a G 12 years ago. [35:06] Well, now Ken Paxton owns 15 houses and it's worth about twenty five million dollars. [35:11] Now, when we tell people that they automatically think, how did that happen in the government job with one hundred fifty three? [35:16] It automatically reeks of corruptions. [35:19] I'm not saying anybody's done broken any laws, but his own party impeached him in their house of representatives. [35:24] So these things all line up. [35:26] And then the money you talked about, this is really, really important, is that money matters. [35:31] Me and Rob know since the time we started running campaigns that a lot of money usually moves numbers. [35:35] But if you wait for the last three weeks in a race where everybody's pissed off as the establishment, it just don't go as far as it used to go. [35:43] Yeah, that's that's an important point, because I think a lot of folks, Rob, I think a lot of people just kind of outweigh the value of money in campaigns. [35:53] Now, don't get me wrong. [35:54] OK, folks out there write the checks. [35:57] Yeah, absolutely starving. [36:00] But there's also the reality, as I would like to remind people, I when I ran for the U.S. [36:09] Senate in 2006, I raised more money than my Democratic opponent and he whipped my behind. [36:15] Right. But I also, as national chairman, have worked with races and this county and state chairman worked with races that the candidate had the least amount of money or the ballot initiative that had the least amount of money prevailed. [36:28] In some cases, two to one over over the opponents. Talk about the how how the voters should look at this piece of it. [36:38] Yes, we want your money. Yes, everybody needs to play in some way. [36:43] But at the end of the day, those dollars ultimately go to the ground game and the support network that's going to turn out the vote to help win that election. [36:50] It's not just with all due respect to my friend Chuck about the TV ad that they see on television. [36:55] There's a whole back end operation as well, which makes those dollars valuable. [37:00] And why the Elon Musk is not getting the biggest bang for the buck is that those dollars likely aren't going on that ground game. [37:08] Yeah. Well, there's there's two things here, which is one, you know, you think about the top funder on the Republican side. [37:12] It's Elon Musk. Number two is Mark Andreessen. [37:14] And that money is pushing Republicans towards incredibly unpopular positions on the substance, right, on tech, on taxes for the wealthy. [37:20] So you have that problem. On the other side of it, if you look at it, we have that advantage that you showed on hard dollars. [37:25] That is a measure of enthusiasm. That is a measure of small dollars coming in and saying we want our candidates to win. [37:31] Like money can't buy you love, ultimately. [37:33] I've heard that somewhere. [37:35] And so that's a sign of enthusiasm. [37:36] Let me also get really nerdy with you on that money. [37:39] There was a there was a law that was passed that said that folks that the hard side, the candidates get the lowest TV station. [37:47] Y'all should know this. Have to give the candidate that money that he showed you in the beginning, low dollars, the lowest rate possible. [37:53] Yeah. When the super PAC comes in, their money gets the highest rate no matter what. [37:57] So even though you saw those big bars that still put up the ones above the others, that's not really apples to apples when it comes to spending dollars for us ad buyers. [38:06] Right. They're spending five dollars to every Democrats one dollars because we have grassroots dollars that were given directly to the campaign, not just a billionaire writing a check. [38:14] So just a final point on that. So is that the way you counter the onslaught of big dollars that that the Republicans do show, you know, with the Elon Musk's of the world? [38:24] Or how does that work in the ad? [38:26] It works that for all you Democratic donors who give five dollars a week or go out and get 20 bucks, 27 dollars, as my old boss, Bernie Sanders would say, it goes so much further. [38:35] And you're really fighting back against the billionaires when you give that 10 or 15 dollars, because that 10 or 15 dollars, if you look at a super PAC, is worth a thousand dollars of their dollars. [38:44] Interesting. All right. These two know, folks. And write the checks. [38:48] Write the checks. [38:48] We're starving to death. [38:50] Chuck, Chuck, Rob. Thank you both very much. [38:52] Hey, it's Rachel. I am so glad to see you at the end of that clip, because this is where I get to tell you about a new way to watch all our clips and all of our shows and everything on MSNOW on your phone or your tablet or your laptop. [39:06] You can watch things live or recorded. Plus, you can ask me and all the other hosts and reporters questions in our weekly live chats. [39:13] You can go to MS.NOW slash membership or just click below. Thanks.