Full transcript
0:00Thanks you at home uh for joining us this hour. Really really happy to have you here tonight.
0:03Do you want to see a beautiful thing? Look at this. Um whether or not you're
0:07like an infrastructure geek, isn't this a nice looking bridge? I think this is just
0:12gorgeous. Um I grew up in the East Bay in uh Northern California. When I was a little kid,
0:17every time we'd drive over the Bay Bridge from the East Bay to San Francisco, I would drive myself
0:22nuts trying to figure out how on earth they could ever build a big long bridge like that.
0:28I think that I I think I have a memory of convincing myself as a little kid that they
0:32must have built the Bay Bridge, the suspension part of they must they must have built it straight
0:36up in the air as if it was a big flat tower and then when it was tall enough they flopped
0:43it down onto the other side of the bay. That's how I believed these things must must be built,
0:48which is not at all how you how you build a bridge. Um, this in fact is how you build a
0:53bridge. This is a time-lapse video uh that shows how this one in particular was built out from each
1:01side of the span. Both sides building toward the middle and then when they get to the middle, look,
1:06it just knits together and presto, it's a bridge. Just just beautiful stuff. Really impressive. This
1:13bridge cost nearly $5 billion to build. They built it to stand for more than a century.
1:20Um and and this this bridge has taken years, but it is ready to go after years of construction and
1:26all the design and effort that went into this. This beautiful bridge is good to go. It is ready
1:32for cars and trucks. Um it's even got a lane for bikes or people walking. Let's go. It is ready.
1:41But of course, there's a reason I'm not showing you pictures of cars and trucks and bikes and
1:47walkers on that bridge. Because let's not go after all. Even though this thing is ready to be used,
1:53even though it is done, even though the ribbon cutting and the opening ceremony were set for this
1:59past Friday, which could have meant that people could be walking and driving and cycling across
2:04that bridge right now as I speak. Nevertheless, it is still closed. It is totally done and ready, but
2:10it is still closed because guess why? Or should I say guess who headline Donald Trump can't open
2:19the Straight of Hormuz. So instead, he's blocking the straight of Detroit. That's a headline from
2:26the Globe and Mail, the Canadian newspaper. Um the big beautiful new bridge that Trump is
2:31not allowing us to use is a bridge that crosses the Detroit River. It goes from from Michigan,
2:37from Detroit across the Detroit River to Canada to Windsor, Ontario. Um, Canada fully financed and
2:45paid for this bridge. It is ready to be opened. It will be the biggest US border crossing in Canada.
2:52It will be one of the most important routes for trade in the entire world, the single most
2:57important one with one of our two most important trading partners, Canada. But Trump won't let
3:02anybody use it even though it's ready ready to be driven on. See, this is this is why we can't have
3:08nice things. When you have a corrupt government, you don't just have the embarrassment and the,
3:16you know, the sort of depravity of the president giving out pardons after people write him checks
3:23to get those pardons. You don't just have the president's sons and his son-in-laws, their
3:27their companies collecting hundreds of millions of dollars, even billions of dollars from foreign
3:32governments that then get favorable treatment from the president and his administration. You don't
3:36just get a trust for the president buying stock in a private company and then the president hosting
3:41an event for that private company at the White House and doing everything he can as president
3:46to boost the value of that company in which he holds stock. While the White House insists
3:51that categorically just because he's president, he can't have a conflict of interest. It's like
3:57dividing by zero doesn't make sense. Sure. I mean, with a profoundly and really shamelessly
4:06corrupt president, you do get all of those things I just described, but you also get very practical
4:13consequences. You get a perfectly good, totally useful bridge that you're not allowed to use.
4:20It was supposed to open Friday. It is not open because Trump says he doesn't want
4:24it open. When this bridge does open someday, if Trump ever lets it open, you should know
4:30that there is a competing bridge a little way down the river, a privatelyowned, very old,
4:36very congested toll bridge that will likely lose some of its traffic because of competition. It
4:44will lose some of its traffic to this pretty brand new bridge that has just been built.
4:49The family that operates the competing old bridge earlier this year made a $1 million donation to
4:57Donald Trump's super PAC. In short order, member of that family then got an in-person meeting with
5:02Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Letic. The White House and the pack say that was just
5:06a coincidence, no co connection at all. But after the million-doll donation, he gets this meeting.
5:12And then the same day of the meeting, Howard Letic calls President Donald Trump. And that night,
5:16Trump suddenly discovers new supposedly trade related reasons why he is now against this bridge,
5:23even though previously he had been for it. The one family in the world that will financially
5:33not benefit from this bridge being open pays Donald Trump's super PAC a million dollars.
5:38And wouldn't you know it, Donald Trump suddenly decides that he has reasons for taking their side
5:44and opposing the opening of the bridge, which again he used he he used to support. That all
5:50happened in February. Now it's June. The bridge really was supposed to open. Uh it it was going to
5:56open. The invitations had gone out for Friday's ribbon cutting and Friday's opening ceremony.
6:01They had already put together and and put out to the public the video instructions telling you how
6:06to put the toll ticket for the new bridge on your windshield. Or if you drive a commercial truck,
6:11you can put it on the license plate frame of your truck. Or if you drive a motorcycle,
6:16you can put the toll sticker thing on the headlight of your motorcycle. I had no idea.
6:21They've put on all these instructions. They're ready to cut the ribbon. They are ready to go.
6:26The bridge is ready for traffic, but nope. Donald Trump says no. Headline in Ontario
6:32construction news. Gordy how international bridge opening delayed again. No date in sight.
6:39Trump administration is insisting that this bridge should not be allowed to open because
6:45heaven forbid a MAGA donor be inconvenienced. one billionaire family that donates to Donald Trump,
6:53heaven forbid they be inconvenienced because that to a corrupt administration, that is way
6:59worse than literally tens of thousands of people a day being deprived of the use of this fully built,
7:05fully paid for, ready to open, state-of-the-art, brand new, beautiful bridge. This is why we can't
7:13have nice things. Corruption. Corruption is why we can't have nice things.
7:21Speaking of toll crossings, uh looks like there's now going to be tolls for anybody who wants to
7:27cross the street of Hormuz. Now, technically, I guess it's illegal to call them tolls,
7:32but according to new reporting tonight in the New York Times, Iran apparently thinks that the
7:38outcome of this war they just won against the United States is going to include Iran having
7:42the ability for the first time to charge everyone fees to transit the straight of Hormuz. You're not
7:49allowed to call it a toll. So, they're calling it a fee, but it sort of amounts to the same thing.
7:53And this is something they didn't do before, but now they're going to start. Why are they going to
7:57start doing this? They're gonna start doing this because they just won a war with the United States
8:05of America. Donald Trump started a war with Iran and he then lost the war. The war was supposedly
8:14for regime change, right? The regime in Iran is now the same theocratic regime they had before,
8:21just with a younger, more radical Mullah in charge. Now, the Iranian Revolutionary
8:26Guard Corps is in a position with regard to the government that is as strong, if not stronger,
8:31than it was before. Iran's nuclear program, that was another supposed reason for the war,
8:37that is still very much in place. Iran's stockpiles of enriched uranium still very
8:43much in place. Trump said he wanted regime change. He said he wanted to end their nuclear program.
8:49He wanted to seize their stockpiles of enriched uranium. He did none of these things. He said he
8:54wanted to decimate Iran's military capability. Indeed, he says he did so, but you know,
8:59somehow Iran maintained enough military capability to keep the straight of Hormuz closed all this
9:04time. And as recently as this past week, they were able to shoot down an American Apache helicopter.
9:14We're apparently not allowed to see the supposed deal that Trump just signed with Iran. We'll get
9:19some expert help with that in just a moment. But bottom line, it does just seem to be Donald Trump
9:24surrendering on behalf of the American government, agreeing to cease all of our military operations
9:29there, potentially agreeing to pay Iran in the form of lifting previous sanctions or
9:36unfreezing previously frozen Iranian assets. And in exchange for us paying them, we get a return
9:45to most of the conditions that existed before the war, except things are now worse for us and
9:51better for them. That's basically the definition of losing a war. Thanks to Donald Trump starting
9:58and then losing this war, Iran is going to be richer and more influential. Its ruling regime
10:05is definitely more radical and more entrenched than ever. It can be infinitely more confident
10:09in its nuclear ambitions now that they know that the most powerful country and the most powerful
10:14military in the world couldn't do anything to end those ambitions even at the cost of a war.
10:21I mean really the only difference for Iran now materially is that they may be able to start
10:27charging fees for ships that want to transit the straight of Hormuz, which is something they were
10:32never able to do before. But hey, to the victor go the spoils, right? Meanwhile, American families
10:39are poorer thanks to the spike in energy prices and related inflation that Trump's war caused.
10:45That may not even level out anytime soon thanks to the damage. That's not even considering the
10:51economic impact of what we spent in terms of military material and the American lives lost.
10:59And then there's the fact that the US government has been humiliated on the world stage, reducing
11:05itself to precisely one international ally, one Israel. As even as the president himself cannot
11:13even speak anymore about Israel's leader without using four-letter words, even in public. Remember
11:20when Donald Trump said the only way this war would end would be unconditional surrender? He
11:26maybe should have specified which country he meant by that. He also said the war would result in a
11:31great civilization being destroyed. Remember that. And again, maybe he should have been more specific
11:36as to what he meant by that. But I'm just saying this is what he had happening at the White House,
11:40the actual White House, as he got ready to sign the supposed agreement with Iran, crying uncle,
11:46and agreeing that he lost the war he himself started. Motorcycle circus at the White House.
11:54So, the president spent $14 million um on a no bid contract to make the reflecting pool on the
12:04National Mall um be blue. He did that during the war. He spent $14 million in a no bid contract
12:12to make the reflecting pool blue. It is already not blue anymore. There's no filter here. This
12:18is just what it looks like as of today. The reflecting pool is green again. Bright green,
12:24electric green. It is covered in very healthy blooming algae. Trump only reopened the reflecting
12:33pool last week to great fanfare. Look, I made it blue. Aren't you glad I spent millions of taxpayer
12:38dollars to make it blue? Blue only lasted a couple of days. As of today, it is covered in slimy,
12:45huge green algae blooms all over again. This is what the Kennedy Center looks like now.
12:52I guess permanently. This is like a a permanent little suit that Kennedy Center is going to wear
12:58indefinitely now. Trump, of course, as you know, was ordered to take his name off of the Kennedy
13:03Center building this weekend. That reportedly did happen, but they are apparently keeping the whole
13:08facade of the building covered up with a circus tent. Like a a circus tent pattern tarper. kind
13:15of looks like those things that you used to get in elementary school to teach you how to write
13:19cursive but on the side where one line was dotted and the rest were solid lines. Kind of looks like
13:23that. Anyway, that's what the Kennedy Center looks like now. It's the John Irming Arts building with
13:28a circus tent in the middle cuz he wouldn't want you to see that his name has been taken down.
13:36How else are things going? Well, after he put an antivaccine quack conspiracy theorist in charge
13:41of healthc care for the federal government, we are now about to lose our elimination status
13:46for measles as one of our many interconnected raging measles outbreaks. This this one in Utah
13:52approaches one year length, one year in length. That is one of the triggers for a nation losing
13:58elimination status for measles. After Trump let his top campaign donor randomly cut things out of
14:05the government that he didn't understand, turns out we're all learning now why it's
14:09a bad idea to cut out the screworm monitoring systems that Elon Musk cut from the government.
14:16We're learning that now as a potentially devastating screwworm infestation starts
14:21making its way through Texas cattle herds after Trump put a string of his personal
14:28lawyers in charge at the US Justice Department and instructed them publicly instructed them to
14:33start investigating and arresting his political rivals and critics. Today we have learned that
14:37California's Democratic governor and likely top tier Democratic presidential contender Gavin
14:42Newsome has had his family targeted by Trump's Justice Department. Here's some of Governor
14:48Nuome's response tonight. One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up
14:56on his hit list. And today I proudly join that list. After calling for my arrest last year,
15:04Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me. And just in the last week,
15:10I've learned that his campaign has reached my own home to get me. He's coming after my wife, Jen.
15:16To Donald Trump, who I know is watching because he watches everything. I have a message for you.
15:23You can subpoena my records. You can investigate me. You can harass me. put my name on every and
15:30any enemies list you have, but leave my wife and family out of your personal vendetta that Donald
15:37Trump, this country, this country does not belong to you. It does not belong to your cronies. And
15:44we're going to fight your lawlessness. And we're going to continue to remind the people of this
15:49country of your corruption. that same corruption our founders warned us against. As we move to
15:56celebrate our 250th anniversary, I'm going to keep reminding Americans of what they warned would
16:03happen if a man with no character ever held the office of presidency. So, let me say it again. Mr.
16:11President, come after me. I'm not going anywhere. And the country is watching. I'm going to keep
16:18reminding Americans of what they warned would happen if a man with no character ever held the
16:24office of the president. Governor Gavin Newsome speaking tonight as he announces that the Trump
16:29administration has started some sort of criminal investigation into his family. Just in case you
16:35needed a window into who the Trump administration is worried about as a potential Democratic
16:39presidential candidate for 2028, I would say that reported criminal investigation is probably as
16:45good an indication as any. You might remember the last time Trump was president during the conduct
16:52of a presidential election. You might remember Republicans working on his behalf drew up fake
16:58certifications claiming that Trump had won a bunch of states that he actually had lost. Remember the
17:03fake electors? Joe Biden had won these states. Republicans said those states had actually elected
17:09Trump. They had picked Trump electors to send to the electoral college. And then they tried
17:14to pass off those fake electors as if they were real. Well, if you want a a real window,
17:20a really nice split screen window into what to expect from the next elections in our country,
17:25consider this split screen that's going to happen tomorrow. Tomorrow in Madison, Wisconsin,
17:30three proTrump lawyers who helped hatch the fake electors scheme in that state are going to be
17:36arraigned on 11 counts of forgery in state court in Wisconsin in Madison. While simultaneously also
17:44tomorrow, one of the people who was a fake elector from the great state of Georgia will tomorrow be
17:50on the ballot to try to become the Republican party's nominee for Georgia governor. His name
17:55is Bert Jones. He actually was one of the fake electors in that forgery scheme that even tomorrow
18:02is resulting in a criminal forgery arraignment in a courtroom in Wisconsin. But in Georgia, he
18:08has the endorsement of Donald Trump and Republican Governor Brian Kemp to become the next Republican
18:14candidate for governor in Georgia. And what do you think the consequences of that will be if he's the
18:20nominee or if indeed he wins the election against Kesha Lance Bottoms in November? You think they'd
18:26ever try the fake elector thing again in Georgia? Think they're more likely or less likely to try
18:32it again if one of the actual fake electors from 2020 is the sitting governor of Georgia.
18:41But the push back against the worst of what Trump is trying to do keeps coming
18:45from more and more unexpected places. Uh in Utah, in Salt Lake City, Utah,
18:49the city and county there have now just sued to stop Trump from trying to build one of those huge
18:55Trump prison camps at a Salt Lake City warehouse site. San Diego, California. This is a protest
19:02this weekend outside the Otay Mesa immigrant prison in San Diego. This comes after the county
19:08of San Diego sued and a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to allow local officials and
19:13local health inspectors into that facility where they are holding immigrants. Another federal judge
19:19has ordered the Trump administration to reinstate all the history exhibits and history plaqueards
19:25and signs that Trump had ordered be taken down from national park sites all across the country.
19:31The judge ordered specifically that those materials needed to be reinstated and put back
19:35up by July 3rd, 2026 in time for the 250th birthday of our country the following day.
19:47We are living in a time of profound profound corruption in our national government. And so it's
19:56a it's a time I mean just ask the communities on either side of the Gordy how international bridge
20:02which is closed for no reason at all. I mean we are in a time because of that corruption when we
20:08really cannot have nice things that we really ought to have. That said, the American people
20:14do appear to be acutely aware of how corrupt these times are and how worthy an endeavor it is to try
20:20to stop as much of this nonsense as possible. And that includes a new concerted high-level effort
20:27to try to anticipate and fight and thereby try to stop what Trump may be trying to do to mess
20:33with the elections later this year. We've got a really interesting reporting on that report
20:38on that coming up in just a few minutes. We've got more on the American government
20:42essentially admitting defeat in the Iran war that Trump started. And we've got news on something
20:47that you ought to be watching out for in the news coming up on Friday of this week, right at the end
20:51of this week. We got a lot to get to tonight. Stay with us. Really happy to have you here.
21:02So, imagine this scenario. Election day is approaching. The White House is fear-mongering
21:07about supposed election fraud. Right? This is not hard to imagine. White House is fear-mongering
21:13about election fraud. But then they decide they're going to encourage vigilantes to
21:18take action to stop this supposed fraud. So, Trump supporters decide that they're going to
21:22do citizen patrols of polling places because the Trump White House has been messaging that
21:28they should do that. And Trump supporters start showing up to do these patrols with guns. So,
21:35now we're getting reports of armed vigilantes at polling places and obviously protests
21:41against them and probably confrontations with them. In response to those reports,
21:46Trump announces that he must keep the peace. he must send armed federal agents to polling places
21:52to protect the election. That's one scenario. What would we do in that scenario? Here's another
22:00scenario. Some foreign country, say um Iran or Russia or China, whoever, some foreign country,
22:07uh decides to unleash a wave of AI generated deep fake videos of of candidates and other
22:14people in American politics. And these are fake videos, but they're good. They're good quality
22:18and people don't always recognize that they are fake. These fakes are designed to hurt Democratic
22:24candidates and Trump critics. They're designed to confuse voters and muddy the waters in terms
22:29of what's going on in the election. When news organizations start reporting on the deep fakes,
22:34the Trump administration goes ballistic and starts threatening all news organizations that
22:39report on the deep fakes. They start telling news organizations that they have to censor
22:44any coverage of this foreign influence operation as a matter of national security. That's a second
22:51scenario. What What would we do then? Here's a third scenario. Voting's over. But before
22:59the states can certify the results of the vote, Trump's Justice Department sends FBI agents out
23:05to go seize the ballots, supposedly to investigate irregularities in election administration. They
23:12seize the ballots before the results are final. That's a third scenario. What would we do then?
23:20What are the options really practically speaking? What are the options for protecting our elections
23:25from our own federal government? That was the question at the center of a wargaming
23:30session that was held just a few days ago by 10 Democratic US senators, including the Democratic
23:35leader Chuck Schumer. Um, plus several election experts. Those three scenarios I just described,
23:41they gamed those out. Those three very specific and not at all unimaginable scenarios. Politico
23:47reported that in these tabletop drills, quote, "They game planned legal injunctions to bar armed
23:52federal agents or armed citizens from voting sites and lawsuits to force the Trump administration
23:57to return ballots if they're confiscated in key contests that could decide control of Congress.
24:02They also choreographed communication strategies across elected leaders and campaigns and advocacy
24:07groups to combat misinformation and disinformation designed to seow distrust in the results."
24:14Senator Schumer told Politico that another one of these exercises is planned for next month.
24:19He said, quote, "We're going to be prepared for anything that Trump throws at us." Being prepared
24:26for anything is a necessity of living in these political times. Donald Trump, of course, has
24:31called for nationalizing elections. He's talked about sending immigration agents, ICE agents,
24:37or the National Guard or somebody else with a gun to voting sites. His justice department has
24:42seized ballots already from the 2020 election, as well as election records from counties in Georgia
24:47and Arizona. On Thursday, Trump's agents served search warrants on a voter registration group in
24:53Ohio. Now, the White House is absurdly threatening that the US Post Office won't deliver mail ballots
24:59anymore in any states that refuse to turn over their voter roles to the Trump administration.
25:06I mean, it's one thing to think about foreign governments trying to interfere in our elections,
25:10right? Or sort of bad actors or criminals, but if it's the federal government who you have to defend
25:15the elections against, who does that? And and how? I mean, specifically, what specific people
25:22do it? And what do they actually do? Who has the authority to stand up for elections and to plan
25:28around these kinds of scenarios? It's not crazy for it to be high-ranking elected officials from
25:34the opposition party, from the Democratic party. Joining Senator Schumer at this strategy session
25:38were members of an election protection task force he has set up, including Senators Mark Warner,
25:44Dick Durban, Adam Schiff, Raphael Waro, and Alex Padilla. They brought in a crew of heavy hitters
25:49to offer expertise, including former attorney general Eric Holder, election law expert Norm
25:54Eisen, the heads of the legal group Democracy Forward, and the nonprofit Protect Democracy.
26:00They also brought in the tireless, hard charging election attorney Mark Elias, who has beaten
26:06Donald Trump in court on these issues dozens of times. Joining us now is election attorney Mark
26:11Elias. He's the founder of Democracy Docket. Uh Mr. Elias, thank you very much for being here. I
26:15really appreciate you making the time. Thanks for having me. Did I explain that um accurately? Did I
26:23um miss anything important about these tabletop exercises and what they were about? No,
26:27I think you got it exactly right. I mean these are important to do because you know Donald Trump
26:33is posing a threat that we have not seen before. Uh as you say it is one thing to be prepared for
26:39what happens if right-wing vigilantes do things. For example, you mentioned uh you know guns uh or
26:46armed people around polls. We actually dealt with that in 2020. My law firm and I we sued uh people
26:52uh in Arizona who were staking out dropboxes in Maricopa County. But it is quite another thing,
26:56Rachel, when the person with the gun or the people trying to seize the ballots or the people trying
27:02to spread disinformation is actually the federal government led by the Department of Justice.
27:07And so these uh tabletop exercises and other things we do to prepare are really important.
27:13Democratic senators convening this sort of an exercise is is of interest to me because I'm
27:18realizing now that while we all have a sense of what kinds of responses we want the country to
27:23have. We're close enough to these elections and we're deep enough into this primary season that
27:28we got to start getting specific about who the country is and what the response should actually
27:32amount to in terms of who should do what. Do you feel like Democratic uh that elected Democrats
27:39in the Senate, in the House, in in important statewide positions um sort of understand their
27:45roles and what their individual parts will be to play if any of these scenarios come to pass? Yeah,
27:51I think there's been a lot of work and uh and understanding in the last few months. You know,
27:57I I've been doing this a very long time, Rachel. the first time I was involved in a post-election
28:03matter. It involved the Louisiana Senate seat that Mary Landrew won back in 1996. I did Harry
28:08Reid's recount in 1998. Uh I did Al Franken's recount in 2008. Uh I could go on and on and
28:15never have I seen the Democratic Party as prepared as they are today. And that includes, by the way,
28:20the work I did to help Joe Biden and the Democrats beat Donald Trump 60 times in the post-election in
28:252020. So there are a lot of people involved in in preparing. We need to stay focused
28:31on the task at hand. It is a very daunting challenge, not like one we've seen before,
28:36but I do think the Democratic party is prepared. With these sites these sorts of exercises and that
28:42type of planning happening within the Democratic party and among Democratic elected officials, what
28:48should the public expect their role to be? I think that a lot of Americans who think of themselves
28:52just as voters and citizens, maybe they've been to a protest here or there sometime in their life
28:57or maybe they never have, are nevertheless pretty invested in making sure that our democracy gives
29:03us free and fair elections in November and that the results of those elections are abided by in
29:08this country. What will the public be called upon to do? What should the public be thinking about
29:14organizing to do in advance of those elections? Yeah, I think three things. I think number one,
29:18they need to be prepared to vote, right? They need to understand that the rules may have changed.
29:22Their registration may be being challenged. We're seeing Donald Trump uh do that. And so,
29:26everyone needs to understand the rules and they need to have a plan to vote. Even if they voted
29:31before, they need to make out a plan about how they're going to vote this time and make sure
29:35they are prepared. Number two is they need to be educated. I mean, I'm I'm thrilled, Rachel,
29:41that you are doing this uh episode tonight with your enormous audience and people paying attention
29:46because it is educating people about the threats that are coming so that they won't be quite as
29:52scary. They won't seem quite as out of the blue. So, people need to get educated and to share
29:57that information with others. I started democracy docket actually to be a resource that people could
30:02share information from. There are lots of good sources of information to share. And then finally,
30:08if we get down to the place where Republicans or Donald Trump are trying to interfere in the
30:13election, then we're going to need people to mobilize. We're going to need them to mobilize
30:17peacefully. We're going to need to them to mobilize within the law, but we're going to need
30:21uh the public to be prepared to be active in protesting any efforts by the Republicans to to to
30:29overturn the will of the voters. Look, the lawyers are going to do a lot of heavy lifting here. the
30:34political professionals to do a lot of lea heavy lifting here, but it is ultimately on the people
30:39of the United States to really do their job. And if that happens, I think we'll be fine. Yeah. And
30:46I think that the organizing toward that potential eventuality uh needs to happen now, needs to
30:52happen now during the primary season with eyes on November being ready. And may may it be a power
30:56that we never have to use, but the American people need to be ready. Um election attorney Mark Elias,
31:01the founder of Democracy Docket. Mark, it's always a pleasure to have you here. Uh, but in particular
31:05on this story, it's really invaluable. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we got a lot more news here
31:11to get back. Sorry, the host glitched. We have a lot more news to get to tonight. Stay with us.
31:24Here's the headline in the New York Times tonight on Trump's efforts to end the war in Iran. quote,
31:30"Trump winds down the war he started with goals unmet." That's a nice way to put it. Uh,
31:36here's another from the Washington Post. Trump sought to break Iran's regime. He settled for
31:42reopening Hormuz. Here's one from Politico. Quote, "Trump promised no Iranian nukes. His deal may
31:50never do that." You know, it's kind of weird. We we still don't know exactly what's in the supposed
31:55deal that Donald Trump negotiated with Iran to end the war. Based on what little we do know,
32:01it sort of looks like Donald Trump is just agreeing to give in and lose the war because
32:05he doesn't have any good military options left and he apparently had no other ideas or plans about
32:10how to meet any of his stated goals. That also is a very nice way of saying that Donald Trump
32:16is admitting he lost the war. MS Now reports that under the agreement, quote, Iran will be allowed
32:22to have a civilian nuclear power program, a key demand from the Iranians that hardliners in the US
32:28and Israel have long opposed. Both Trump officials and Iran say that under this new agreement,
32:34Iran and the US will just continue to talk about the future of Iran's nuclear program, which is
32:40exactly what they were doing before Trump launched the war. Experts also tell MS Now that based on
32:47what little information we have, the nuclear deal Iran offered the US before the war appears to have
32:53been better than the deal they are offering Trump now, which kind of makes sense when you consider
32:59that they won the war. Trump said the goal of this war was to destroy Iran's missile capabilities.
33:04He said their missiles would be quote totally obliterated. So far, the administration has
33:08not indicated that this deal in any way limits Iran's missile stockpile. The New York Times has
33:13reported that Iran still maintains about 70% of its pre-war missile stockpile. There's no reason
33:19to believe they won't now just build it back up just as strong or stronger than it was before.
33:24Trump also said this war would ensure Iran's proxy forces can quote no longer destabilize the region.
33:32But there's no indication that this deal will do anything to stop any of that either. The one thing
33:37the Trump administration says this deal will do is reopen the Straight of Hormuz. The only
33:42reason the straight was closed in the first place was because Trump launched this war. And today,
33:47Iran's foreign ministry is reportedly saying that the deal will allow Iran for the first time to
33:52charge fees to ships navigating the strait, fees they never charged before. As I said earlier in
33:59the show, to the victor go the spoils. Is this essentially just Trump admitting that he lost
34:06this war that he started? I mean, the White House certainly wouldn't describe it using those words,
34:12but there really appears to be nothing that the United States has quote unquote won in this war.
34:21If anything, if anybody won anything, it was Iran. This really does appear to just be Trump crying
34:27uncle. Joining us now is Aean Mohaldin. He's the co-host of the weekend prime time on MS Now. Aean,
34:33it's great to see you, my friend. Thanks very much for being here tonight. Great to be with you,
34:36Rachel. Um, let me just ask you to let me invite you to to push back on the way that
34:42I'm characterizing this. Is it fair to say at this point that we don't know of anything and in this
34:47deal that puts the US in a better position than we were before Trump started the war? Absolutely
34:53not. Um, that's the short answer to it. There is nothing that you can demonstraably say is making
34:57America better off today than it was on February 27th. And you've gone through the entire list very
35:03accurately. And two things that I would add to that. You know, JD Vance was on CNBC this morning,
35:08the vice president saying very proudly that the US had destroyed Iran's military and its capabilities
35:15uh somewhat to project power in the region. and he seems to have forgotten that just a few days ago,
35:21Iran shot down a US Apache helicopter that we had to go rescue the two pilots that uh were
35:28evacuated out of that situation. On top of that, Iran hit a civilian airport in Kuwait last week,
35:34killing one person. And on top of that, Iran managed to also fire ballistic missiles at Israel,
35:41which they were able to shoot down. So if JD Vance on the eve of this signing of this deal
35:46that we don't know anything about is coming on American TV and telling the American public we
35:51destroyed Iran's capabilities where Iran is still inflicting this kind of damage on our Arab allies,
35:57on Israel, on our own troops, then the definition of destroyed has been completely flipped upside
36:05down. And we're living in a very dystopian world where he can just come on TV and make those types
36:09of assertions and expect everyone just to go along with it. Yeah. And exactly right. Not to mention
36:15the fact that they certainly have sufficient military power to keep the street of Hormuz closed
36:22um which they have and which they've shown the ability to do indefinitely. And in in that that
36:27issue I I I do want to ask you and I recognize this may be something on which uh we don't get
36:32reporting on for a while. So, I'm sort of just asking for your take on this. I hope that's not
36:37unfair. But why do you think this is happening right now? Why ag why announce this agreement
36:43now? This is I think my estimation of this is this is Trump admitting that he has lost this war and
36:49therefore wants to get out of it. In terms of why why do that now? Like why give that to yourself as
36:54a birthday present? If I had to guess, I would say that it may be the these these increasingly hair
37:00on fire warnings that the oil industry has been issuing both publicly and apparently specifically
37:05to the president, to the White House about oil reserves dwindling, that potentially leading not
37:11just a continued high oil prices, but a huge huge new spike in oil prices that would come
37:16soon. I mean, I think that may be what's driving the timing, but I wanted to get your take on that,
37:21too. No, that is a very important part of it. And one thing that you know for an American audience,
37:26we know Donald Trump is is if there is one thing that he does well, it is he's a master of optics,
37:31right? And he's a master of the theatrical because he always wants to make everything look big and
37:35look theatrical uh in terms of how he delivers it to the American people and try to claim it as
37:40a win. But one thing that I have actually learned from my sources in the region, which I think has
37:44probably trickled its way to the president, Rachel, through our intelligence agencies,
37:49is that the American intelligence gathering capabilities in Iran have probably learned what
37:54other Arab allies and and intelligence services in the regions have learned is that Iran has
37:58consolidated its power in the revolutionary guard corps. There are very sophisticated intelligence
38:04gathering operations inside of Iran and they are probably learning that the regime in Iran
38:08is now more hardened, less likely to compromise, more willing to go to war and that the situation
38:14is not going to get any better given the new reality inside Iran. Does that mean that the
38:19president is making his determination based on that intelligence? It's hard to know because we
38:23don't we don't even know if the president reads these intelligence briefings. But from what I've
38:27heard from sources in the region is that their own assessments of where Iran is today is a regime
38:32that is more consolidated with the revolutionary guard, alienating more of the people that might
38:38be perceived as moderates within the regime and consolidating power more with the kind of
38:43theological military center of the regime in Iran that is more hardlined, less likely to compromise
38:49and that has posed a challenge for the Americans and what they can actually achieve militarily.
38:55Yeah. and and another important component of what it means to lose this war about how how
39:01the American public, the American government, the American infrastructure around supporting the oil
39:06industry, around um our intelligence and military interests in the region, how all of those things
39:12are war are are are worse off um now because of Iran essentially outmaneuvering Trump throughout
39:19this war. Aean Mahaldin, co-host of the weekend prime time on MS Now. Uh so good to have you here,
39:24my friend. Thank you so much for being here. Same. All right, we'll be right back.
39:32Do you ever sign anything electronically? I know it's a really common thing now, but I always find
39:36it a little unsettling. You get a link to click and you like type in your name and then it turns
39:42that into a pixelated cursive font. So, it kind of looks like you signed the agreement by hand even
39:47though you really didn't. It feels so dodgy. Um, but I know that is often how we sign things today.
39:53And maybe that dodgy gambit is is what's going on with the new deal that President Trump and
39:58Vice President Vance have reportedly signed electronically um with Iran to end Trump's war
40:05in Iran. I mean, first of all, I did not know you could conduct diplomacy by docuign. So,
40:10that's one weird thing about it. Another weird thing about it, as Aean just noted
40:14here on our air, is is that this thing that they have signed, electronically signed,
40:21is a secret. Neither side has shown anyone what is actually in this thing that they have signed. Now,
40:27the reports of the content of this deal make it sound essentially just like an American
40:32surrender offered by Donald Trump, but we don't technically know because they won't show anybody
40:37the document. Not yet. They're not going to do that until Friday. The White House says on
40:42Friday there's going to be a ceremonial signing of the deal in Switzerland and then after that
40:48they will show people what's in it. Now, why do they need to do a ceremonial signing? Maybe
40:53they want commemorative pens or something. I don't know. If the deal is already all signed,
40:59as Trump said today after they electronically signed it, then why are they not showing everybody
41:04what's in it today? Why wait four more days after today for that second ceremonial wet ink signing
41:10on Friday before they show anybody what's in it? Why wait till Friday to make that news?
41:17What else on Friday might they have in mind in terms of their thinking about the news cycle?
41:23Is there anything going on on Friday that Trump might want to distract attention from? You know,
41:29I I don't have any idea if this is related. Maybe it's not. But I would remiss not to mention that
41:33on Friday, it's Junth federal holiday. It's also the official opening day of the brand new Barack
41:39Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. All former living presidents except Trump were invited to
41:44the grand opening ceremony on Thursday. But then on Friday, the Obama Presidential Center opens to
41:50the general public. And who knows, maybe that's important context as to why the White House is
41:56going to release the terms of the Iran surrender on Friday. I should tell you here at MS Now,
42:01we will have live coverage from Chicago all day this Thursday for the ceremony at the
42:06Obama Presidential Center. And then on Friday, the day it opens to the public, we're going to
42:10have a two-hour special hosted by our colleague Michelle Norris, who not only got an early look
42:14inside the center, but she also spoke exclusively with President and Mrs. Obama. That special starts
42:20at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on Friday night. You will not want to miss it. More ahead tonight. Stay with us.
42:31All right, that's going to do it for me tonight. So good to have you here with us.