Watch Rachel Maddow Highlights: Jan. 18

but that was not even the craziest press conference Mr Giuliani gave that month just over a week later he held another one which would also go down to political history for something entirely unrelated to the spoken content of the event I'm talking of course about the what's that on his face presser uh the press conference at which Trump lawyer Mr Giuliani appeared to be sort of melting before our eyes I know that is what you remember about that event none of us can ever forget it but what was that event for of event to haunt our dreams till we're dead that event ostensibly was supposed to be a formal presentation by Rudy Giuliani and his legal team about how the election had been stolen from Trump Giuliani told reporters at the hair dye press conference that Trump had won Pennsylvania by 300 000 votes in Michigan by 50 000 votes and he could absolutely prove it I mean not that he had the evidence right then to show reporters that day but he would have the evidence soon and everybody should get ready evidence of all the corruption by the big city Democrats he said he knew crimes were committed he could smell them another member of Trump's legal team Sydney Powell then took the podium and explained if you can call it that uh that the election had been stolen by Communists in Venezuela also Cuba also China and the voting machines had been hacked by uh Hugo Chavez even though he's dead it's complicated but trust us it works out another Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis then got up and yelled at the media who were all there to cover their allegations she yelled at them for not covering their allegations also joining them on stage at that event was a trump campaign advisor named Boris Boris Epstein is the gentleman spot Shadow there on the right side of your screen I'm pointing out all these folks because this evening that whole crew from that cuckoo for Coco Puffs press conference all four of them Rudy Giuliani Sydney Powell Jenna Ellis and Boris Epstein they have all been subpoenaed by the January 6 investigation in Congress all four have been directed to produce documents to the investigation by the first of next month they've all been ordered to appear for depositions a week later because as as ridiculous as their quasi-legal efforts seemed at the time as ridiculous as they seem even now in retrospect the January 6 investigation is subpoenaing them not because they're a joke but quite the contrary I mean from the perspective of the investigation these clownish folks were allegedly involved in the very worst of what was being plotted to overthrow the government and keep Trump in power even after he lost the election as with so many things related to the Trump era Republican party it sort of simultaneously a clown show and a deadly serious threat Giuliani and the rest these guys technically were Trump's legal team and they did bring a number of lawsuits alleging election fraud and malfeasance and they were laughed out of court at every turn in fact Sydney Powell the one with the you know communist plot by dead Hugo Chavez she was actually sanctioned by one court and referred for possible disbarment by the judge because the election lawsuit she brought before that Court was so baseless and full of obvious lies Mr Giuliani has had his own trouble with his own legal license around these same matters but it doesn't appear that the January 6th investigation is subpoenaing this group because it's interested directly in those legal efforts such as they were judging by the letters accompanying the subpoenas tonight the investigation is interested in Mr Giuliani and the legal team because of the ways those guys supported and facilitated the broader plot to try to overturn the election even beyond the courts I'll show you what I mean this is from the letter to Mr Giuliani tonight quote the investigation has revealed credible evidence that you publicly promoted claims that the 2020 election was stolen and participated in attempts to disrupt or delay the certification of the election results based on your allegations remember disrupting or delaying the certification of the results on January 6 that became the main goal of trump and his allies if nothing else so they could buy time to overturn the election either through the courts or more likely given how the legal challenges were going by the Dozen more likely some other way the letters from the investigation tonight specifically mentioned Mr giuliani's attempts often accompanied by Jenna Ellis to convince Republican state legislators that they should falsify the election results in their state since say Trump won when he didn't he did this road show in the weeks after the election trying to get Republican legislators in swing States to declare the election invalid and instead send slates of trump electors to Congress the investigation also claims to have witness testimony about Mr Giuliani quote urging president Trump to direct the seizure of voting machines around the country after being told that the Department of Homeland Security had no lawful authority to do so also quote according to public reporting on January 6 that in the days prior you were in contact this is the letter to Mr Giuliani you were in contact with then president Trump and members of Congress regarding strategies for delaying or overturning the results of the 2020 election we know that Mr Giuliani was on the phone with Republican U.S senators on January 6th even after the mob had stormed the capital still trying to get them to stop or delay the certification of the election they were still that night even after the mob attack on the capitol trying to find a way to falsify the election results and keep Trump in power the investigation's letter to Jenna Ellis specifically mentions two legal members she prepared purporting to explain how vice president Pence should reject or delay accepting the electoral votes from certain States states that had submitted alternate slates of electors false slates of electors they never did succeed in getting Republican state legislatures in States Joe Biden won to send in official alternate slates of electors for Trump but as we have been reporting on the show nevertheless Republicans in multiple states did sign Ford's documents claiming to be the real electors for their state claiming that they were the duly elected electors from their state and that Trump had won which was all bull pucky and may be prosecuted in multiple jurisdictions now as a crime but it all appears to have been part of the same broad plan and the Trump allies subpoenaed today were according to the investigation all over every aspect of it Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis trying to get state legislators to falsify the election results in the states Ms Ellis writing legal justifications for vice president Pence to overturn the results and not accept the Electoral count if that didn't work Giuliani and Sydney Powell were trying to get president Trump to seize voting machines around the country and overturn the election himself with some sort of claims of military or executive power Morris Epstein was at the Willard Hotel at the so-called Command Center on January 6th allegedly talking by phone with President Trump about how they could stop certifying the election that day somehow one way or another they were determined to make it happen and so it's no surprise that the January 6 investigation wants to talk to them plans to compel them to talk by subpoena so Florida's Republican Governor um Ron DeSantis has just submitted a proposed new map for congressional districts in his State what he proposes is that Florida should cut in half the number of congressional districts that are majority black okay Texas's largest counties are now starting to report on the real world impact of the voting restrictions that Texas Republicans passed this past year as many as half the ballot requests they're getting from voters in the state's largest counties are now being rejected by the state because the new voting rights restrictions they just passed requires that those ballot requests be rejected half the ballot requests being turned away in Wisconsin where Republican legislators have been moving aggressively to restrict all sorts of voting methods a state court judge just sided with them and ruled that Wisconsin can in fact remove its drop boxes that people use to drop off their ballots for the election Wisconsin's next election is less than a month from now so they are rushing to rip out the drop boxes and give people fewer places to vote with less than a month ago gotta hurry people found it very safe very secure very convenient to vote that way as recently as the last election the next one's coming up quick that must be stopped today in Washington DC conservative Democratic senator Joe manchin appeared before reporters uh I'll tell you he was wearing like kind of a gym suit as like a tunic of some kind I'm only saying that just so you're not Jarred by his appearance in this next clip he was at the U.S Capitol but he was wearing this like sporty outfit I don't know anyway um he told reporters sort of scornfully while he was answering their questions that he and Senator Kirsten Cinema working with Republicans to block Federal voting rights protections that will in no way result in people not being able to vote in the next election he said that won't happen in the next election because the government won't allow it I know you don't know what that could possibly mean I know you think I'm paraphrasing him in a way that is obscuring what he must have meant but honestly that's what we've got that's what he said right I'm not there's no obstruction whatsoever there are a lot of people out there who are saying that you're making it so that they're not going to be able to vote in the next election the the Law's there the rules are there basically the government the government will stand behind them to make sure they have a right to vote we have that the government will stand in the way the government will do that it's the exact phrase he used there the laws there the rules are there basically the government the government will stand behind them so they have the right to vote we have that who's the government in this Construction Senator Joe manchin actually has it in his personal hands whether or not the government will stand behind people to protect their right to vote I mean right now thanks to him it is the government in places like Florida places like Texas places like Wisconsin places like Georgia it is the government in those places the state government controlled by Republicans that in fact is making it so people can't vote or can't have their votes counted or have their vote diluted to such an extent that their votes basically don't count no matter how potently and completely they and their cohort votes for their chosen representative the existing Federal Voting Rights Act was gutted by the United States Supreme Court by Republican appointed judges the restrictions on voting rights we're now seeing like this this one this one in Texas they can't be blocked anymore by the federal government right this new law in Texas that's having the state required by law to throw out half the ballot applications it's law it is new law they made in Texas it is in effect it's not being blocked by anything the state government has radically rescinded voting rights there and no one's coming to the rescue because of Joe manchin I mean the federal government can only help in those instances if Congress acts if Congress passes legislation to let the federal government step in and establish federal minimum standards in terms of voting rights in the election and the administration of Elections it's Joe manchin and Kirsten Cinema in the United States Senate who are working with Republican Senators to stop that from happening Senator mentioned says you know don't worry he's sure that this is all overblown the government will fix it somehow as if it's not the government that is blocking people from voting the republican-led state government that is blocking people from voting in these states and as if he's not the government as if he's not the reason that the federal government can't step in to fix this stuff federal government could step in and fix this stuff it is those two senators working with Republicans that are blocking that from happening in the great state of Georgia today where the Republican leadership in that state has also this past year radically restricted the voting rights of Georgia residents Republicans have just moved another one of their own officials into position so they can use the new powers they just gave themselves to get rid of the election Sports in mostly Democratic counties and instead have all Republican officials oversee the vote in those Democratic areas today's move by Georgia Republicans was their next major step toward taking over Fulton County Georgia where more democratic votes are cast in that state than in any other County Republicans are kicking out the local elections officials and taking it over for themselves why do you think they'd want to do that but don't worry Senator Joe manchin said surely the government will help in a case like this surely the government won't let this happen this is the government this is the republican-led state government of Georgia moving radically to rescind voting rights we do not have Federal standards to block this kind of thing because of Senator Joe manchin and Senator Kirsten Cinema working with Republican Senators to make sure nothing gets in the way of whatever the republican-led states want to do today was just you know scene after seen seems from a country that is trying to save itself in Michigan today the Attorney General Dana nessel answered questions from local reporters about her reasoning in asking the U.S attorney's Office in Michigan to bring a federal criminal investigation of 16 Republicans who signed and submitted a forged document claiming to be the state's electors after the last election when in fact they were not she reiterated the argument that she made the day that she made the referral to Federal prosecutors saying that she believes this makes the most sense as a federal investigation but interestingly speaking with local reporters today she also clarified that if the federal U.S justice department chooses not to pursue a prosecution in this case her office does absolutely believe there's plenty enough evidence to prosecute these 16 Republicans under Michigan state law foreign at this point do you think that there is enough evidence if you wanted to to bring charges against these electors under state law absolutely absolutely okay and then second question have you interviewed or are any of these individuals cooperating with your investigation of what you've done so far yeah I can't comment on the investigation at this point uh I will say that again I feel confident that we have enough evidence to charge should we decide to pursue that again I want to make it clear I haven't ruled it out but for all the reasons I stated I think that it's a better idea for the feds to pursue this um but technically it is an ongoing investigation even though we have given everything that we have to the feds so that they will have that information should they wish to pursue it um it is not as though we have made a determination that we are certainly not going to charge so I am just sort of waiting to see what it is that um that they'll decide to do these 16 individuals could be prosecuted under state law I'm not denying that at all I'm saying that if one of your goals is to find out who orchestrated this again seemingly there's a conspiracy that occurred between multiple States so if what your ultimate goal is is not just to prosecute these 16 individuals but to find out you know who put them up to this uh is this part of a bigger conspiracy at play in order to undermine the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election not just in Michigan but nationally it's going to involve interviews in other states uh and it's going to involve possible prosecutions uh in other places Michigan attorney general Dana nessel speaking with reporters in Michigan today making the case that the part of the Republican plot to try to overthrow the government and keep Donald Trump in power after he lost the last election the part of that that involves some sort of coordinated effort to have Republicans in multiple States Forge documents saying that they were their State's electors when they were not attorney general Nestle says her office believes that that can be charged as a crime under Michigan law and they have absolutely enough evidence to do so but she said they believe the larger scheme should be pursued by the federal government because it wasn't just in Michigan it was in multiple States again that was the Attorney General of the great state of Michigan Dana nessel speaking with reporters today and I have to tell you tonight just before we got on the air we got news that yet another state is investigating this matter as a potential crime we have this Federal referral from the attorney general in Michigan that she was just describing there with local reporters as we reported here last night the attorney general in the state of New Mexico attorney general Hector balderas he says that he too is referring this matter to the U.S attorney in New Mexico for potential prosecution as a federal crime and now there's this from the attorney general in the state of Nevada Aaron Ford quote our office has received numerous inquiries regarding some members of the state Republican party attempting to award fake electoral votes to former president Donald Trump after the 2020 election while we cannot confirm or deny the existence of an investigation rest assured that this matter is on our radar and we take seriously any efforts to Rob nevadans of their votes there's been a sustained effort to invalidate the 2020 election and to downplay the shocking actions that took place afterward my office cannot and will not accept any efforts to overturn a free and fair election voting rights are fundamental to our Democratic Republic and we will continue to protect them again so to recap in Michigan the state attorney general has referred those Republicans who signed the fake electoral documents referred them to Federal prosecutors for potential Federal Criminal prosecution the same thing has happened in the state of New Mexico or the attorney general in the state of New Mexico has made a similar referral to Federal prosecutors now in the state of Nevada we've got the statement from the attorney general saying we cannot confirm or deny the existence of an investigation but Rust Assured this matter is on our radar and what that means in legal terms but there you have it uh we do know the January 6th investigation in Congress is looking at least broadly at this part of the plot by which Republicans in at least five different states filled out these forged documents pertaining pretending to be electors and those documents were sent into Congress that the January 6 investigation is looking at it that in fact is some of the way that we were able to find out some of the reported some of the sort of reporting trails that everybody was able to follow in order to figure out that these documents existed that they were all similar they were all part of a coordinated effort and that the January 6 investigation is looking at them so we know the January 6 investigators are on this at least in some way now we know the U.S justice department has formally been asked in at least two states to contend with it as well [Music]

Channel: MSNBC

Views: 397,336

Keywords: MSNBC, MSNBC latest, Politics, News, giuliani, rudy giuliani, fake electors, electors, trump, january 6, maddow, rachel maddow

Id: tOfwIqqfqqk

Length: 20min 20sec (1220 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 19 2022