TARGET FORMER VICE PRESIDENT PENCE, SPECIFICALLY. AND OF COURSE, WE KNOW, FROM READING THE LAST INDICTMENT IN THIS ELECTION CASE, THAT PENCE IS LIKELY COOPERATING, APPEARS TO HAVE TURNED OVER HIS NOTES TO THE GRAND JURY, AND MAY BE A STAR WITNESS IN THE CASE. SO, THIS IS ONLY JUST BEGUN AND I THINK THAT THE JUDGE CHUTKAN, IN THIS CASE, IS GOING TO REALLY HAVE TO RULE WITH AN IRON FIST. SHE'S GOING TO HAVE TO MAKE IT QUITE CLEAR, WITH A STERN WARNING, AND THEN THE VERY NEXT VIOLATION THAT LOOKS LIKE IT'S INTIMIDATING A WITNESS OR THREATENING A PROSECUTOR, IS GOING TO RESULT IN SEVERE ACTION, EVEN BEING HELD AND DETAINED, AS HAS BEEN WARNED PREVIOUSLY. BUT YOU ARE RAISING THE QUESTION IN THIS ENVIRONMENT OF AN EVEN LARGER ISSUE, WHICH IS, IN THIS HIGH RISK, THREAT ENVIRONMENT THAT THE NATION IS GOING TO HAVE TO GO THROUGH NOW, LAW ENFORCEMENT REALLY HAVING TO GET IT RIGHT EVERY SINGLE TIME, WHERE A FORMER PRESIDENT, CURRENTLY A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT, IS GOING TO BE CALLING OUT WITNESSES, CALLING, INCITING FOR VIOLENCE. WE ARE IN AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE WE'VE ALREADY SEEN, AS REPORTED BY ROLLING STONE JUST A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO, A GROUP, A WEBSITE CALLED THE DONALD, THAT WAS ACTUALLY WHERE FOLKS GATHERED ONLINE TO PLAN VIOLENCE FOR JANUARY 6TH. NOW IT RESURFACED, NOW CALLING FOR KILLING OF GRAND JURORS IN THE ELECTION CASE. ARMED VIOLENCE AGAINST JACK SMITH AND PROSECUTORS. SO, HOW DO WE PROTECT THE ELECTION, THE 2024 ELECTION IN THIS ENVIRONMENT? WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY. >> HERE'S THE THING. THERE IS WHAT WE IMAGINE CAN HAPPEN AND THEN THERE IS WHAT WE KNOW IS ALREADY HAPPENING. THIS WEEK, YOU HAD GEORGIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY FANI WILLIS OPENING UP ABOUT THE THREATS SHE'S RECEIVED, ALREADY, FOR INVESTIGATING TRUMP. TAKE A LISTEN. >> ALL OF THE TYPICAL RACIAL SLURS THAT YOU CAN IMAGINE. THEY ARE VERY GROTESQUE THINGS. YOU KNOW, WE ARE ON FAMILY TELEVISION, I DON'T EVEN KNOW THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SAY ALL OF THEM, BUT SLAVE HORROR IS ONE OF THEM. BUT I PROBABLY CALLED BEEN CALLED THE N-WORD THE LAST TIME IN THE LAST TWO AND A HALF YEARS THAN MOST 100 PEOPLE COMBINED. >> YOU SORT OF KNOW IT'S HAPPENING WHEN YOU HEAR IT FROM THE PERSON. IT IS DIRECTED AT AND YOU UNDERSTAND THE CHILLING EFFECT THAT IT'S INTENDED TO HAVE, THE WAY THAT THE HARASSMENT IS INTENDED TO COMPLICATE THE PROCESS OF HOLDING TRUMP ACCOUNTABLE. MY QUESTION FOR YOU, AS I WATCHED THAT WAS, IF YOU ARE THE FBI, RIGHT? TO WHAT EXTENT ARE YOU TRACKING SOME OF THIS LANGUAGE, SOME OF THIS RHETORIC, SOME OF THESE THREATS? AND THEN AT WHAT POINT DO THOSE VERBAL THREATS ESCALATE TO SOMETHING EVEN WORSE? >> YEAH, GREAT QUESTION. SO, TO THE EXTENT THEY CAN, LAW ENFORCEMENT, LED BY THE FBI, IS ABSOLUTELY TRYING TO MONITOR -- VIOLENT EXTREMIST GROUPS, RIGHT? WE ARE STILL FACING THIS UNDERSTANDABLE DILEMMA BETWEEN FREE SPEECH AND CIVIL LIBERTIES, WHICH WE MUST PRESERVE. YET, FINDING THE NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK, THE GUY OR GAL WHO IS MOVING FROM ASPIRATIONAL TO WANTING TO EXECUTE ON WHAT HE OR SHE IS SAYING ONLINE. REALLY DIFFICULT TASK, BUT A COUPLE OF THINGS. CONSEQUENCES MUST COME TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE CROSSING THAT LINE AND THEY MUST BE SWIFT AND SEVERE. SO, DON'T BE SURPRISED IF WE START SEEING, IN THE WEEKS AHEAD, PEOPLE ARRESTED FOR VIOLENT THREATS AGAINST PROSECUTORS, THE A'S, JURY MEMBERS, AND WITNESSES. WE NEED THAT TO HAPPEN AND ALSO, I EXPECT THE FBI TO ENGAGE IN WHAT THEY CALL KNOCK AND TALKS. A LOT OF KNOCKING ON DOORS OF PEOPLE SAYING, LOOK, WE ARE ON TO YOU, WE UNDERSTAND YOU ARE TALKING VIOLENTLY ONLINE HERE
