Summary
As Donald Trump Jr. gets his date with the January 6 Committee,
there is now new reporting on how Republican leaders left Democrats to deal
with Donald Trump`s role in the insurrection. Donald Trump endorses
loyalists to oversee elections in crucial states. President Joe Biden
announced another $800 million aid package for Ukraine to help fight off
the Russian invasion, plus another $500 million in direct economic
assistance to the Ukrainian government. A new poll shows that 56 percent of
adults are in favor of requiring masks on public transportation compared to
just 24 percent who oppose it.
Transcript
JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: That was pretty cool, right? So, thank you, Randy
Rainbow. You`re amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I definitely
want to hang out with you and maybe we can sing a song together. It will be
great.
That is tonight`s "REIDOUT." Ooh, Randy Rainbow. ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES
starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AYMAN MOHYELDIN, MSNBC ANCHOR (voiceover): Tonight on ALL IN. As Donald
Trump Jr. gets his date with the January 6 Committee, there is now new
reporting on how Republican leaders left Democrats to deal with Trump. And
why the big lie faces its first big test in Michigan this wee? Then --
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To modernize Teddy Roosevelt`s
famous advice, sometimes he will speak softly and carry a large javelin.
MOHYELDIN: What the new U.S. shipment of arms to Ukraine means for the
ongoing war. And Florida canceled math textbooks for allegedly
indoctrinating youth with critical race theory and refused to provide any
evidence. Tonight, a reporter who tracked down those books. And you will be
shocked to learn what`s not in them.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): We don`t want things like math to have, you know,
some of these other concepts introduced.
MOHYELDIN: ALL IN starts right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOHYELDIN: Good evening, everyone from New York. I`m Ayman Mohyeldin in for
Chris Hayes. Every day, we are learning more and more about how a number of
sitting members of Congress try to help Donald Trump`s avert the will of
the American voter and steal the election.
We know that Republican Congressman Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Jim
Jordan of Ohio both coordinated with Trump insiders to spread the big lie
of election fraud. We know that Jordan also forwarded then Chief of Staff
Mark Meadows advice on how to overturn Biden`s victory on January 6. And we
just learned that Senator Mike Lee of Utah was also sending text messages
to Meadows with advice on how to overturn the election, like this exchange
from January 4th referring to the plot to get state legislators to appoint
new slates of electors for Donald Trump in states that he lost.
Senator Lee writes, "I`ve been calling state legislators for hours today
and I`m going to spend hours doing the same tomorrow. We need something
from state legislators to make this legitimate and to have any hope of
winning."
Now, just think about that for a quick second. Mike Lee is one of 100
senators, one of two that represent the state of Utah. And instead of
actually doing his job working for his Utah constituents, he is texting
Mark Meadows about how he is calling state legislators for hours trying to
basically find a loophole to help overturn a free and fair election.
So, facing mounting public pressure, Senator Lee agreed to sit down with a
local paper, the oldest daily paper in Utah, the Desert News, where he
confessed his complicity in an attempted coup. From the outset of this, I
spent an enormous amount of my time doing my job with only one objective in
mind. Particularly once the electoral votes were cast, my objective was to
figure out what if any role Congress had. This is according to Lee.
Now, Lee acknowledges that he encouraged the Trump campaign to explore
legal options to challenge the election results, including recounts and
audits and that the time to raise those claims was limited. What Senator
Lee is describing, and let`s be clear about it was the coup attempt. The
plan was always to use the levers of power through Republicans in Congress
to overturn the results.
Now, the phony recounts and audits Lee worked on only serve to give
Congress and Mike Pence a pretext to throw out Biden`s victory on January
6. And just to be absolutely clear, Senator Mike Lee did not work in the
White House. No. His constitutional duty on that day was to represent the
interests of the voters in Utah, not to represent Donald Trump.
At the time, there were a few Republicans in Congress who actually
understood that they did not work for Trump, including, believe it or not,
some party leaders like Kevin McCarthy of California and Mitch McConnell of
Kentucky. Both of whom took to the floor to call out Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): There`s no question, none, that President
Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of
the day. No question about it. President Trump is still liable for
everything he did while he was in office. We have a criminal justice system
in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not
immune from being accountable by either one.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): The President bears responsibility for
Wednesday`s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately
denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require
immediate action by President Trump. Accept his share of responsibility,
quell the brewing unrest, and ensure President-elect Biden is able to
successfully begin his term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:21]
MOHYELDIN: The President bears responsibility for Wednesday`s attack on
Congress by mob rioters. And while those words were the strongest public
condemnation of Trump we saw from Republican leaders after the coup, and
they have all largely since changed their tone for some reason. In fact, a
new book sheds light on what those two men McCarthy and McConnell were
reportedly saying in private.
In a preview of their upcoming book, journalists Alexander Burns and
Jonathan Martin report, "On a phone call with several other top House
Republicans on January 8, McCarthy said Trump`s conduct on January 6 had
been atrocious and totally wrong. He faulted the president for inciting
people to attack the Capitol saying that Trump`s remarks at a rally on the
National Mall that day were not right by any shape or any form."
Now, during that conversation, McCarthy enquired about the mechanism for
invoking the 25th Amendment, the process whereby the Vice President and
members of the cabinet can remove a sitting president from office. As for
McConnell, the report on a lunch conversation with key advisors in Kentucky
over Chick fil A sandwiches debating what to do about Trump, after it
became clear that the Democrats were impeaching Trump in the house,
McConnell said and I am quoting here, the Democrats are going to take care
of the son of a bitch for us.
Now, in the intervening year, both men have fled right back to Donald
Trump`s side with McCarthy infamously making the trek down to Florida to
kiss Trump`s ring and earn His forgiveness. But here`s the thing, and don`t
forget this. Mitch McConnell was wrong. Democrats were not able to take
care of Trump for Republicans. And that`s for a number of reasons,
including a seemingly inability to form a functioning governing coalition
in the Senate as well as though, and let`s be clear about it, Republican
obstruction.
Congressional Republicans have done absolutely nothing to strengthen our
laws in this country to prevent a second attempted coup from happening.
Now, there have been no structural changes to stop someone from stealing
the next election. The same rules are still in place. And this highlights
the real difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party
since the end of the last election.
Where Republicans are in power like in a number of state legislators and
Secretary of State offices, they are working around the clock to make it
easier to steal the next election. They realize that they got pretty close
last time within inches, and they want to help grease the wheels for their
next attempt.
On the other side, House Democrats with the help of two Republicans are
doing excellent and critical and vital work investigating the coup,
including a planned meeting with the ex-President`s son Don Jr., who is
reportedly actually planning on answering questions before the committee
voluntarily. But believe me, if the Republicans take Congress in November,
Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy and the rest of them, they will do
everything in their power to help Donald Trump, the man they want spoke so
forcefully against, get back into power.
Betsy Woodruff Swan is the national correspondent for Politico where she
has extensively covered Congress`s investigation into January 6. Her latest
piece is titled January 6 Panel Piecing Together Details of Final Trump-
Pence Call. And she joins me now.
Betsy, it`s great to see you again. Thank you for making time for us
tonight. Let`s start with Donald Trump Jr. here for a moment. He has
appeared to be from what we`ve learned so far from the reporting out there,
a linchpin to a lot of the communication that was taking place around that
day in his dad`s position in office and Mark Meadows.
What do we know about this potential meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and
the January 6 Committee? What are they keen on trying to piece together?
BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: We expect the
meeting to happen at some point in the coming weeks. Donald Trump Jr., of
course, is at least the third member of Trump`s family who`s going to
voluntarily appear before the Select Committee. That just shows the extent
to which Trump World resistance to this panel is pretty rapidly melting
away.
Six months ago, I would have been shocked if you told me that Don Jr. was
going to voluntarily cooperate. But based on all our reporting, he is. What
we`ve recently learned specifically about him is that he was weighing in
during the January 6 attack directly to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. The
Select Committee has released texts showing that he texted Meadows during
the attack, saying that a tweet that Trump issued calling for the --
calling for the people attacking the Capitol to "remain peaceful or stay
peaceful was not enough."
Don Jr. basically told Meadows that Trump needed to do more, needed to take
stronger steps to try to quell the violence. He`s in a really interesting
spot because he was never an administration official, but he was very
closely connected to Trump`s political operation, very closely connected to
the grassroots and that donor communities that supported Trump, really has
his finger on the pulse.
And the fact that during the attack, he was weighing in that way and
watching things as closely as he was means he`s going to have a lot of
unique insights. The question is just how candid, how forthcoming, how open
is he with the panel.
[20:10:43]
MOHYELDIN: So, quick question on why he`s doing this voluntarily. Do you
have any insight as to why Donald Trump Jr. agreed to this questioning
voluntarily?
SWAN: That`s a good question. Unfortunately, I don`t know specifically why
he chose to go in voluntarily.
MOHYELDIN: Fair enough.
SWAN: But I would assume it`s for the same reasons that Ivanka Trump and
Jared Kushner went in. They don`t want to get subpoenaed.
MOHYELDIN: I know that you`ve reported on one of the latest targets for the
committee, in part writing, "In recent weeks, they`ve learned even more
from several high profile witnesses who were in the Oval Office while Trump
berated Pence for refusing to overturn the election. Yet one crucial gap
remains. Top pence aide say the former Vice President was in his residence
when the call came in. He then left the room and was out of earshot for
about 15 to 20 minutes."
Critical timeline there, Betsy. What is the committee hoping to learn from
that phone call?
SWAN: What they want to know is more about the level of pressure that Trump
put on Pence and then the ways that Pence grappled with that episode. What
we`ve reported in this piece is that some of the longtime Trump aides who
were in the room listening just to Trump side of the conversation were
shocked when they realized that Pence, for the first time that they`ve ever
experienced, was actually putting his foot down and was actually pushing
back against President Trump.
For the entirety of the Trump administration, Pence was seen as somebody
who was pretty much always on board with everything. That phone call, at
least for some of the listeners in the room with Trump was the first time
they ever really heard him push back. And it was an extraordinary moment
for him. That said, even that pushback, even then Pence tried to do it in
the most deferential way possible.
We also learned that his team tried to wait until the latest possible
moment on January 6 to say publicly that he was going to refuse to do what
Trump wanted him to do and to certify the Electoral College results. But
still, Pence got as close to that line as he could, but he didn`t cross it
and had historic consequences.
MOHYELDIN: All right, Betsy Woodruff Swan. Betsy, as always, great
reporting. Thank you so much for joining us this evening with all those
details. I greatly appreciate it.
Rick Hasen is an election law expert and founder of Election Law blog. He
is the author of cheap speech, how disinformation poisons our politics and
how to cure it. And he just wrote an analysis, excuse me, of how to
identify and minimize the risk of stolen elections at for the Harvard Law
Review.
Rick, it`s great to see you again. Thank you for joining us. I wanted to
talk to you tonight because of the big question not about what happened in
2020, but what has happened since 2020. What are the risks of a successful
coup attempt within the next few election cycles in this country? Have we
done anything to shore up our elections to prevent a repeat of 2020
successfully?
RICK HASEN, FOUNDER, ELECTION LAW BLOG: Well, the first thing I`d say is
that I`m not so worried about 2022 as I am about 2024, because the United
States presidential election is uniquely open to manipulation. And the
reason for that is there are so many steps between people voting and
Congress ultimately determining who the winner is that there`s lots of room
for people to act in bad faith.
We saw the attempts in 2020 to get people to do that, to get state
legislatures to declare alternative slates of electors, to get Secretaries
of State to overturn the results of state elections. None of that happened,
but in 2022, there are going to be new people put in place who are
potentially going to be ready in 2024 to steal an election should that be
necessary.
So, no, I don`t think we`ve done nearly enough to deal with the risks that
our election system faces, very serious risks coming up for 2024.
MOHYELDIN: Yes. And let`s speak specifically about some of those risks. As
part of your analysis, you write, "Congress must amend or replace the 1887
Electoral Count Act not only to confirm that the Vice President has no
unilateral authority to accept or reject Electoral College votes, but also
to make it harder for senators or representatives to raise frivolous
objections to Electoral College vote counts.
There was some talk of a bipartisan compromise on the Electoral Count Act
that seems to have as everything else in Washington these days fizzled out.
At this point what should Democrats do? Is their time for them to act
unilaterally while they still have the majority of both the House, the
Senate, and the White House?
[20:15:12]
HASEN: I think the best hope of getting something through is not going to
be unilateral action by Democrats. Democrats tried for over a year to pass
the Freedom to Vote Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. They
can`t do it because Joe Manchin and a few other senators won`t blow up the
filibuster to do it.
So, the only hope of passing legislation to deal with problems with the
Electoral Count Act and other risks of election subversion is for there to
be a bipartisan deal. And from what I understand, there are still
conversations going on with Joe Manchin, Susan Collins, and others. And so
I don`t think that effort is quite dead, although we haven`t heard much
about it over the last few months.
I think -- I think there`s a realization that if it doesn`t happen soon,
it`s not going to happen in the next Congress if Kevin McCarthy is in
charge of the House of Representatives. There`s no way that a Trump flunky
like that is going to pass laws to make it harder to steal an election.
MOHYELDIN: So, let me see if I can ask it another way, which is between now
and 2024, which is the moment that you are and I think a lot of Americans,
including myself, are concerned about of a potential repeat, what other
actions can be taken either Congress, Executive Order, outside of either of
those branches on a state legislative level that can shore up election
security and integrity in this country?
HASEN: There`s a lot that can be done even if Congress doesn`t act. Only
Congress can fix the Electoral Count Act, but there are things that can be
done in each state. For example, make sure that every state is using not
wholly electronic voting machines. There`s a piece of paper that can be
recounted. Push in your local areas for transparency and how votes are
going to be counted. Because what if someone who embraces the big lie is
the one who`s in charge of elections next time?
And ultimately, we have to be prepared to organize civil society, the
center of society, church groups, corporations, labor unions, come
together. They may disagree about a lot of things, but agree that we need
to have free and fair elections and comply with the rule of law. And it may
take the American people going out into the streets to assure that we can
have a free and fair election in 2024.
MOHYELDIN: Yes. And I was going to say, we`re going to be speaking to
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel precisely about that coming up later
in the show. Rick Hasen, it`s great to see you. Thank you as always for
your insights.
HASEN: Thank you.
MOHYELDIN: And coming up, to that point, how much will the big lie
influence our next elections? The Michigan race that tests the staying
power of Trump`s big legacy just ahead.
And later, remember those math books that Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida
said would "indoctrinate students?" Tonight, Judd Legum track them down.
He`s going to show us what he found ahead. It is a great story. Trust me.
You do not want to miss that one.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:20:00]
MOHYELDIN: In 2020, Michigan was ground zero for Donald Trump`s big lie of
a stolen election. Trump lost that state to Joe Biden by over 150,000
votes, but he actually refused to accept that outcome. Instead, Trump
claimed that Democrats stole the election and he summoned Michigan State
lawmakers to the White House to try to convince him of such.
Trump then sent Rudy Giuliani on his behalf to Michigan where he pressed
false claims of voter fraud to the State House Oversight Committee. You
might remember this woman, Melissa Carone, who testified to Giuliani that
day watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELISSA CARONE, GIULIANI`S WITNESS: The poll book is completely off,
completely off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Off for 30,000?
CARONE: I`d say, that poll book is off by over 100,000. How many registered
voters are on there? Did you -- do you even know the answer to that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I guess -- I`m trying to get to the bottom of this
here.
CARONE: Zero, zero. There`s zero.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, my question then, is if the --
CARONE: Guess how many -- wait. What about -- what about -- what about the
turnout rate, 120 percent?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why -- we`re not seeing the poll book off by 30,000
votes. That`s not the case.
CARONE: What -- did you guys take it and do something crazy to it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOHYELDIN: Now, of course, there was no fraud. Trump lost in Michigan. And
all of those crazy claims that you heard there and elsewhere, they have
been widely debunked. But to secure that the coup works the next time
around, Trump has now endorsed two candidates for office to run the state`s
elections in 2024.
He has picked for Secretary of State Kristina Karamo and for Attorney
General Matt Deperno. Both of them are big believers in the big lie. And
all this comes to a head this weekend because on Saturday, at the
Republican Convention in Michigan, the first early test to see how much the
big lie is driving the race will be on display.
Joining me now is the current attorney general of Michigan, Democrat Dana
Nessel. Madam Attorney General, thank you so much for joining us. It`s
great to see you again. As I was mentioning this Saturday, it`s not the
official nomination process, but it does act like a party endorsement or a
precursor, if you will, for later this year. Do you think the big lie will
propel Trump`s candidate to the top of this race?
DANA NESSEL, ATTORNEY GENERAL, MICHIGAN: Well, I guess that`s the big
question that everybody wants to see how it`s answered. You know, Trump has
a stranglehold on the Republican Party in this state. There`s no doubt
about that. And you know, his support is very real within the base of the
party.
[20:25:08]
Now, that doesn`t mean that amongst the general public that`s true, but it
certainly is among Republicans. And Trump has endorsed this man who`s, you
know, running to replace me over and over and over again. I just beat him
in court again today in Antrim County where he filed this vexatious case
indicating that there was fraud in the 2020 election in Michigan, which has
been proven to be false over and over and over again.
But the former president has hand-picked him and selected him. And he went
so far as to say, elect Matt Deperno as A.G. and you`ll never have to worry
about whether -- about me winning in 2024. And I mean, what is -- what is
the subtext to that, right?
Clearly, that the reason why he`s supporting these individuals to be the
chief elections officer in our state, and the chief law enforcement officer
in the state, is to ensure that he can manipulate the election. And as
opposed to our electoral votes going to whoever wins the election and to
defend the will of the people, it will be -- there`ll be beholden to one
man and one man only and that`s Donald Trump.
MOHYELDIN: You bring up a really good point, and I wanted to ask you
specifically about it, which is the broader implications for this country,
not just about Michigan. And the Associated Press is reporting that on a
call just yesterday, Trump said, "This choice is not just about 2022. This
is about ensuring the state of Michigan cannot be stolen from Republicans
in 2024 or ever again.
How much power could a state attorney general wield when it comes to the
outcome of a presidential election in a given state? Because those are
pretty alarming words from the -- from the president reported yesterday.
NESSEL: The Attorney General has substantial power. He represent the state
of Michigan in all of the lawsuits and we represent the Secretary of State
and the governor. And if you recall, we had lawsuit after lawsuit after
lawsuit attempting to decertify the election in Michigan and in several
other states.
We had lawsuits from Sidney Powell. We have lawsuits from Attorney General
Ken Paxton from Texas attempting to decertify our elections, something that
really there`s no lawful ability to decertify election -- an election of a
state after the state has already certified. But yet they tried.
But it was up to me and my department to defend the state of Michigan in
those lawsuits. If you have an attorney general that just throws in the
towel and says, you know what, I stipulate to this. Go ahead, Texas, or go
ahead, Sidney Powell, and decertify our election and does not contest those
lawsuits, or behind the scenes tries to manipulate things like what happens
at the State Board of canvassers or county boards of canvassers and does
not fight vigorously in order to ensure that the will of the people
prevails, then certainly, we will not have democracy in the state of
Michigan. And we won`t have democracy in any of those states where you have
Secretaries of State and attorneys general that are beholden to Donald
Trump instead of being beholden to the Constitution.
MOHYELDIN: All right, Michigan, State Attorney General Dana Nessel, Madam
Attorney General, thank you so much for your time. We`re going to be
watching what happens this weekend and continue the conversation in the
weeks and months ahead. Thank you so much for your time.
NESSEL: Thanks for it. Next, Russia has moved operations from Kyiv. And
now, President Biden is announcing another wave of military aid for
Ukraine. My interview with a former Russian Foreign Minister about Putin`s
position in the war and what his next move might be right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, I`m announcing another
$800 million to further augment Ukraine`s ability to fight in the east in
the Donbas region. This package includes heavy artillery weapons, dozens of
howitzers, and 144,000 rounds of ammunition to go with those howitzers. It
also includes more tactical drones.
In the past two months, we move weapons and equipment to Ukraine at record
speed. We`ve sent thousands of anti-armor and anti-missile helicopters,
drones, grenade launchers, machine guns, rifles radar systems. More than 50
million rounds of ammunition had already been sent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOHYELDIN: So, today, President Joe Biden announced another $800 million
aid package for Ukraine to help fight off the Russian invasion, plus
another $500 million in direct economic assistance to the Ukrainian
government. And all of this comes just one week after the U.S. gave Ukraine
another $800 million military aid package.
So, when you look at the totality of it, almost two months into this,
Russia`s military has largely pulled out of the Kyiv region focusing its
efforts now on the south and west of the country where the fighting there
remains intense. The U.S. and the West continue to support the Ukrainian
government and military.
Andrei Kozyrev served as the Russian Foreign Minister from 1991 to 96. He
was the first person to serve in that role in the post-Soviet era. He was a
member of Russia`s legislator, it`s lower house, the Duma until the year
2000, and he`s also the author of the Firebird: The Elusive Fate of Russian
Democracy. He joins us live now.
[20:35:06]
Thank you so much for joining us. It`s great to see you again. I know this
is the second enormous military aid package from the U.S. in the last two
weeks, as I was saying there. Two questions, what message does that send to
Vladimir Putin and is it enough?
ANDREI KOZYREV, FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER, RUSSIA: Well, I think this package
is actually much better than the previous ones. Because it seems that
finally, President Biden and the White House, probably Pentagon, crossed
the line from defensive -- you know, defensive weapons.
It`s not enough in any military confrontation. You cannot win a small
skirmish, you cannot win especially large war like the one in Ukraine only
being defensive. You need a shield, but you need sword. And now, it looks
like they start to supply the Ukrainians with swords. And that`s very
important. And that will send a decisive message to Kremlin.
MOHYELDIN: Do you think that all of this and what your assessment is, your
analysis of these types of weapons, plus the sanctions will actually --
you`re saying it`s sending a decisive message to Vladimir Putin. Will it
get Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table or even better get him to
withdraw?
KOZYREV: Well, if the next package, the next tranche will be also like
offensive weapons or heavy artillery or heavy weapons, which could cross
farther than the small, you know, weapons which are good only for defensive
operations, then the Ukrainian army will be able to advance not only to
code the night, which is important and which was -- and these very
courageous from their side. And of course, America have played a
tremendously important and generous role to provide them with defensive
weapons.
But if they -- this will be the first step actually, in providing
considerable amounts of not only defensive but attack weapons, if you will,
or heavy weapons, then the next rounds might change the situation really on
the ground.
And Putin and Kremlin regime understands on the force. What they will do
when they actually meet with defeat, not only with resistance but defeat
like in around Kyiv where they`re defeated. But in that new terrain, you
need much more powerful artillery, much more powerful attack weapons. So,
only defeat might cure them. You know, they tend to be mere people, but
they are not.
MOHYELDIN: Let me play for you this video. Vladimir Putin had this strange
meeting today with his defense minister. You`ve probably seen it where he
announced success in Mariupol despite Ukrainian forces remaining in one
sprawling steel plant. I want to play for you and our viewers a moment of
this exchange. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT, UKRAINE (through translator): I consider the
proposed storming of the industrial zone unnecessary. I order you to cancel
it. This is a case where we must -- I mean, we always must think of but in
this case more so about preserving the life and health of our soldiers and
officers. There`s no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl on the
ground through these industrial facilities. Block off this industrial area
so that a flag cannot pass.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOHYELDIN: What do you make of that? I mean, why would he, first of all,
do that in front of the cameras? And why would he just call off this attack
that has been building up -- building up for the last week that has caught
so much of the world`s attention?
KOZYREV: As I said, if they meet with courageous resistance and when they
see that they cannot achieve their goals, all of their goals, they start to
pretend first. He will declare a victory. He will declare success. In any
case, you know, even if they tomorrow are booted out from Ukraine
altogether in a in the Ukrainian regional frontiers or borders, which were
by the way, recognized in the Budapest Memorandum, which I co-authored with
the American counterparts.
[20:40:28]
And so, even in that case, he will tell Russian people and the propaganda
will echoed there and will defend that he had success. But also the second
part is that he again demonstrated how ruthless and how barbaric is his
war. Because Putin wants them to die probably out of hunger there.
MOHYELDIN: Former Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, sir, thank you
so much for joining us and making time for us this evening. I greatly
appreciate your insights.
KOZYREV: Thank you.
MOHYELDIN: Coming up, what was inside those math books that Florida
officials found too dangerous to teach in classrooms. Judd Legum track some
of them down and you`ll never guess what he found in them. He joins me
straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:45:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSE WATTERS, HOST, FOX NEWS: The left hooked on masks and pandemic
powers. Democrats are drunk with power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The masking is all about power and control.
STEPHANIE LUNDQUIST ARORA, FAIRFAX COUNTY PARENT: I think this is about
tyranny versus freedom. I think the mask symbolizes control now.
REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Joe Biden wants to wants control. That`s what
the mask mandate is.
TOMI LAHREN, HOST, FOX NATION: The masks have become a control mechanism. I
think that liberals take special joy in seeing people cover their face,
lose their identity.
LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST, FOX NEWS: They love controlling you right down to
mask-wearing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOHYELDIN: All right, so that has been the nonstop chorus on Fox News ever
since mask mandates went into effect nearly two years ago. Masks are
tyranny. The libs, they just want to control you. They want to mask your
identity.
Now, I`m not sure anyone loves masks or wants to wear them forever for the
sake of it. But we do know, and if you believe in science, the masks do
work. They reduce the spread of the virus, which is what you actually want
to do in the middle of a deadly global pandemic.
Don`t take my word for it. Numerous studies, including this very large
scale won by researchers at Yale and Stanford involving nearly 350,000
people have shown that masks are effective. And yet on Monday, a single
federal judge in Florida got rid of the mask mandate on public
transportation in one fell swoop. She alone made a public health decision
impacting hundreds of millions of people and their lives.
Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle is a former clerk for conservative Supreme
Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She was nominated to the bench by Donald
Trump in 2020 at the age of 33. The American Bar Association deemed her not
qualified for the lifetime appointment because she did not have enough
experience.
Now, the Biden administration is actually appealing her ruling and that
should be celebrated because the Centers for Disease Control believes that
the mandate is still necessary to protect public health. But as we await
that impending court battle, at least one person on Fox News is having a
grand old time gleefully celebrating the end of masks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: A federal district judge in Tampa has vacated by the CDC national
mask mandate for planes and other modes of public transportation. We`re
going to have more on this monumental ruling -- I`m ruling for freedom and
just a bit, but for now, sayonara, sucker.
Look, if they want to pass a law mandating masks on planes, I suggest they
pass the law. Let`s actually do that or try to do that and see how that
rolls are the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOHYELDIN: Well, the American people actually would agree with that because
a new poll shows that 56 percent of adults are in favor of requiring masks
on public transportation compared to just 24 percent who oppose it. So,
this Trump-appointed judge has brought us right back to the Trump years
when we had a tyranny of the minority.
A minority of Americans voted for Donald Trump, a minority of Americans
approved of his mishandling of the pandemic, and the minority of Americans
support dropping masks on public transport while hundreds of people are
still dying from this virus each day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:50:00]
MOHYELDIN: One of the major Republican campaigns over the last year has
been to ban whatever they deem as "critical race theory" in public schools.
Now, of course, they have been -- they haven`t been able to point to any
examples of such esoteric college-level theory actually being taught in K
through 12, but that hasn`t actually stopped them from trying to weed out
anything that might teach kids that racism actually exists in this country.
Last week, Florida`s Department of Education rejected 54 math textbooks,
more than 40 percent of the books that were submitted for review. Now, 28
of those were rejected because they "incorporate prohibited topics or
unsolicited strategies, including critical race theory."
Again, these are math books for kids. In fact, the highest number of
rejections were for books for kids in grades K through five where 71
percent of the material was rejected. Now, Republican Florida Governor Ron
DeSantis defended the decision saying there is no room for feelings when it
comes math.
[20:55:02]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Math is about getting the right answer. And we
want kids to learn to think so they get the right answer. It`s not about
how you feel about the problem or to introduce some of these other things.
It`s there`s a right answer and there`s a wrong answer. And we want all our
students getting the right answers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOHYELDIN: All right, so what exactly was in these math books that made
them to dangerously touchy-feely for Governor DeSantis and Florida
Republicans to be used? Journalist Judd Legum and his team at the Popular
Information Newsletter got their hands on some of those banned books. And
Judd joins me now.
Judd, it`s great to have you with us. So, let`s go through these -- some of
these really quickly. How many of these rejected books did you and your
team read?
JUDD LEGUM, AUTHOR, POPULAR INFORMATION: We were able to get our hands on
eight of them.
MOHYELDIN: OK, and how much evidence of critical race theory did you find
in those books?
LEGUM: Nothing, absolutely nothing. And in fact, we didn`t really find
anything that could even arguably be close to critical race theory in any
of these textbooks.
MOHYELDIN: So, then, tell us what did you find in those math textbooks that
reference race that has the Republicans so worried?
LEGUM: Well, it`s interesting. And as you mentioned, most of the textbooks
that were rejected were for elementary school students. We obtained four of
the rejected textbooks for elementary school students. And in all of those
textbooks, we couldn`t find any mention of race in any context, even just
in passing.
In the middle school textbook that we obtained, there was only one that was
rejected, and we got our hands on it. We did find some very brief
biographies in the margins of the book about famous mathematicians. And
some of those mathematicians were African-American. For instance, they had
a brief biography of Elbert Cox, the first African American to earn his
Ph.D. But they had many biographies of people of all different races from
different countries. So, there certainly wasn`t an emphasis on any
particular one.
In the high school texts, there wasn`t acknowledgement at times. And then
this is very brief mentions, but among hundreds thousands of problems, some
of the problems as part of the factual predicate for a math problem would
talk about racial disparities.
For instance, there was a problem that dealt with sickle cell anemia. And
they discussed it how it was more prevalent in African-Americans, much more
prevalent than in whites. There were some other problems where they did a
survey about racial prejudice among different age groups. But this was all
just a setup for math problems.
These are math books, and there wasn`t any discussion of critical race
theory. And there wasn`t anything about racial essentialism, which is what
DeSantis claimed. They were very typical math books.
MOHYELDIN: And even more surprisingly is that Ron DeSantis said he banned a
lot of these books for being too much about feelings, not enough about
math. I`m just wondering, what does that even mean that there`s too much
about feelings, not enough about math?
LEGUM: Well, what happened on the right, they were very exercised about
critical race theory. But as you mentioned in your intro, that`s not
discussed in K through 12 education. So, what they`ve decided is that
social-emotional learning, SEL, is the same as critical race theory. But
it`s really not.
It`s a concept that most people will be familiar with. It`s about teaching
kids emotional skills, teaching them competence, teaching them to get along
well with others. And that`s the kind of material that he used in order to
reject a lot of the books, particularly in the on the elementary school
level.
MOHYELDIN: I know that earlier today, the Florida Department of Education
finally gave you a few examples of what they rejected. What were they?
LEGUM: Well, some of it was just what I was talking about, this issue of
social-emotional learning passages where they`re telling kids to be kind to
others, to treat other people with respect, to have confidence. Other
examples of one of which I recognize from one of the texts that we
reviewed, were these high school texts where as a predicate, one of the
examples for instance, talked about a test that was given about implicit
bias and racial prejudice.
And -- but really just looking at looking at that question not to discuss
racism or anything else, just to talk about a math problem in an equation
that the students would then work through. And even more importantly, it`s
important to understand that this is just one problem of hundreds of in
some cases, thousands of problems in these -- in these texts.
MOHYELDIN: Yes, it started with critical race theory, and now it is
spreading to math. And there`s no doubt about it, if Republicans have their
way, it is going to spread into other textbooks in this country. Judd
Legum, thank you so much for joining us. I greatly appreciate your time.
Thank you for doing the good work on these books and much more.
That is ALL IN on this Thursday night. Don`t forget, you can catch me
Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, Sundays at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on
MSNBC. You can stream new original episodes of my show "AYMAN" on Fridays
on Peacock.
"THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW" starts right now. Good evening, Rachel.
