'He wasn’t a victim’: Hayes on Lindsey Graham's bargain with Trump

This is a Monday.com ad. The same Monday.com designed for every team. The same Monday.com with built-in AI, scaling your work from day one. The same Monday.com with an easy and intuitive setup. Go to Monday.com and try it for free. For me, being a part of this place has always been about the people, not about the politics. From the field to the studio, Jacob is finding the heart of the story. Connect with Jacob Soberoff. Weekends at 10 a.m. Eastern on MS now. Tonight on All In. Lindsay has always been there for me, and now I will be there for him. The sister of Lindsey Graham is tapped to fill his seat. He was a great guy, and he was a friend. He would call me all the time. He just, I'd say stop calling me, Lindsay. Tonight, the key to understanding Donald Trump and the Republicans by way of Senator Lindsey Graham. He had one bad moment. That was, you know, the January 6th thing when he stood up. All right. Now I've had it. That's it. I can't do it. And when he called me like about 40 minutes later, he said, did I really say that? I can't believe it. Then my interview with California's Attorney General on his lawsuit to block Paramount's takeover of Timewater. Calling you. Got you have CNN go in a normal path. And we'll do that. Plus, new outrage in Maine at the scene of yet another fatal ice shooting. And Congressman Ro Khanna on his detention in Israel. Many even conservatives have said, how dare they do this to an American passport holder? When all in starts right now.

Good evening from New York. I'm Chris Hayes. Well, a lot has been said about Senator Lindsey Graham in the two days since he died suddenly. And for good reason. He has been one of the most instantly recognizable prominent figures in American politics for decades. Garrulous, entertaining. He was what we call in the business a good talker. But I think everyone is missing the picture. Because Lindsey Graham was not exactly an architect to the MAGA era, but I think he may have been this era's single most emblematic figure in ways I think people don't appreciate. Back in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan used to use a three-legged stool as the metaphor for his era of the Republican Coalition. The legs were religious conservatives, anti-communist national security conservatives, and fiscal conservatives, free market, Milton Friedman types. And that's how he viewed the key components of the Reagan era coalition. In this century, I think the three-legged stool has turned into three architects, three people whose visions define the coalition now. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, longtime Republican leader Mitch McConnell, and, of course, the man there, Donald Trump. And together, they represent the different aspects of conservatism that have all come together to create our current political reality. Now, Lindsey Graham was not one of those architects, but... His trajectory actually explains, I think, the current Republican Party better than almost anyone else, because Lindsey Graham did have a project that he was working on. Because of the rise of the never-Trump movement, a lot of people will point to Trump's 2016 victory as this huge rupture in this party, a moment of radical and irreversible disjuncture. And obviously that's true in many ways. We talk about the program night and night out. But, and this is the most important point and an insight that Graham appreciated earlier than many. there was also, and has been a lot of continuity in the Republican Party. I mean, think about it this way, right? Most of the people who love George W. Bush, who supported George W. Bush and the Iraq War, for instance, Lindsey Graham being one of them, voted for Republicans for the past quarter century are largely still Republicans now. They love W. Now they love Trump. That's basically what the modal Republican voter for a certain age is. There's a straight line of continuity be drawn through the entirety of the 21st century history of the Republican Party. And Lindsey Graham saw that. He understood that. He saw that it was all part of a shared, continuous project conservatives have been after since the 2000, the turn of the millennium, since the war on terror started. And yes, people have been playing the clips in which he talked about Donald Trump as a ridiculous joke. We're going to get annihilated and deserved to. He thought he would lose Republicans the 2016 election. But when it turned out that Trump was able to win, Graham jumped on board with the idea that this was great for the Republican Party. And again, he saw something, right? He saw it allowed the party to reach voters they'd ever had before. And in many ways, Graham was able to continue his advocacy for war and for foreign intervention. In the Bush years, Graham was an enthusiastic backer of the war on terror and the Iraq War in particular, probably one of the most famous of the advocates. And in the Trump years, he was an enthusiastic backer of Israel's war in Gaza and then the Iran War that he has been advocating for for decades. And like anyone thoroughly ideologically committed, he had his wavering moments.

Famously, on the evening of January 6, 2021, he exhaustedly took to the lectern to denounce the Capitol riot to overthrow the election. Trump and I, we've had a hell of a journey. I hate it then this way. Oh, my God, I hate it. From my point of view, he's been a consequential president. But today, first thing you'll see, all I can say is count me out. Enough is enough is enough. Count me out. Enough is enough. I remember watching those words at the time. And that, again, in the way that Lindsey Graham understood something about the nature of the party and the coalition he was part of, that was the feeling of most Republicans that day. So according to Donald Trump, that sentiment was a little short-lived. Now, he had one bad moment. That was, you know, the January 6th thing when he stood up. All right. Now I've had it. That's it. I can't do it. And he called me like about 40 minutes later. He said, did I really say that? I can't believe it. And he took it back. So I give him a 99 instead of a 100. Regardless, what cram did end up. did ended up being more adrenaline than real belief. Because just five weeks later, Graham, like most Republicans, voted to acquit Trump during his second impeachment, one of the most, probably the most consequential vote of this entire era, right? And then, like most Republicans, Graham came to see that actually Trump could win again, that he was a powerful and important figure, and that he would further the Republican Party shared goals, conclusions that both Mitch McConnell and I think Justice John Roberts, though he wouldn't admit it, have come to in their own way. And so Graham reembraced Trump, attacking the few Republicans that broke ranks, and voicing a conclusion that turned out to be grounded very firmly in an astute understanding of political reality. Can we move forward without President Trump? The answer is no. I've always liked Liz Cheney, but she's made a determination that the Republican Party can't grow with President Trump. I've determined we can't grow without him. Lindsey Graham wasn't a victim or a mark. He wasn't weak. He didn't flip-flop. No, he was a man who had his own project he was pursuing, and he viewed Trump as crucial to that project. He says it right there. Graham has been one of the president's staunches allies, particularly in the second term. He's managed to focus and execute what he is viewed as the pillars of the Republican Party's priorities, something he succinctly, if cheek, articulated back in 2025 as he spoke before the Republican Jewish Coalition Leadership Summit. I just want to say, I feel good about the Republican Party. I feel good about where we're going as a nation. We're killing all the right people and we're cutting your taxes. We're killing all the right people and we're cutting your taxes. Now, Graham was known for being a pretty funny guy, one of the things that endeared him to his colleagues. And that's kind of a joke. People laugh, but...

Only kind of kidding on the square, right? Right there, Graham's saying it, the central continuity of the last 20 years for the Republican Party, the reason that I think Graham stayed at the center the whole time. What has kept people in the tent? The two pillars he articulated, killing all the right people and cutting your taxes. That's what the project was. In Lizzie Graham's own words, that's what he looked to his party to deliver. It's what he wanted it to live. He was committed to that vision. And it was able to do so through Donald Trump. Graham died just hours before he was set to go out underneath the press, where he would most likely continue to advocate for continuing the war against Iran that he had been advocating for 20 years. That was one of the central projects that he was engaged in. And today, Trump gave his first speech since Graham's passing, although one has to note that he didn't bother to give him a mention. What an honor. And we have that great music. We love great music. We have Roger with me, 120, Indianapolis, 500s. That's not bad. He was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by me when he won 17, and he just kept winning. Trump did recommend on social media today that Lindsey Graham's sister should serve out his term. Sure enough, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, announced that his sister, that Graham's sister, a mother of two, who's never held elected office, would be appointed to temporarily take her deceased brother's seat. Now, a special primary election for that seat will be held on August 11th. But Graham's passing has also made the intense math of the Republican Senate that much harder for leader John Thune, particularly at a moment when Donald Trump sort of at war with the Republicans in the Senate. Remember, Lindsey Graham sat as a crucial vote on the Judiciary Committee, where Trump's pick for Attorney General, his former criminal defense lawyer, Todd Blanche, is set to appear on Wednesday. That's a hearing the Senate leadership says we'll go ahead as planned. Meanwhile, Senator Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized. He's unable to vote. They issued a photo today showing him with his wife and he's recovering. And there are a number of senators who are, for lack of a better word, free agents. from Maine, Susan Collins, who is desperately itching to show her independence from her party in her very hard-fought re-election fight in Maine, where the voters voted for Kamala Harris last time around. You've got Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, who recently voted with Democrats to limit Trump's ability to wage war in Iran, retiring North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, who blocked Donald Trump's Fed Chair nominee until the DOJ's investigation to outgoing chair Jerome Powell was dropped. And of course, there's now a pair of senators who lost their primaries thanks to Trump. Louisiana's Bill Cassidy and Texas is John Cornyn. Senator Chris Van Hollen is a Democrat of Maryland, member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and he joins me now. Senator, you do have a strange situation right now. Obviously, you just lost a colleague in Lindsey Graham very suddenly. You have the Republican president kind of at war with the Republican senators, assuring people that Graham was on his side before his untimely passing. And a math. that seems to me fairly imposing, particularly as you head towards this plan sharing this week. What's your read?

Well, Chris, I think you're right on all the votes that you just went through, starting with the Todd Blanche hearing and vote in judiciary and then some of the war powers resolutions on the floor of the Senate. But I would like to go back to the point you made in your monologue because I thought it was a really important point about Lindsey Graham, who essentially decided to go all in with Donald Trump. Donald Trump, of course, ran in the last election saying no wars. And we are now in a big war with Iran. And Lindsey Graham is a very big part of that story, along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And as you know, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lindsey Graham are very close. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Lindsey Graham's great work just upon his passing. And so I just want to say amen to the storyline you put together. I'm not sure we knew. exactly how much influence Lindsey Graham would have, but by my reading at the end of the day, he did push hard in this 20-year project that both he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to go to war with Iran. Yes, and I think a lot of times people think like, oh, there's a lot of sort of condescension around Graham. But my point there is a senator is an extremely smart and extremely capable operator with a set of things that he actually believed in and pursued. And we are living in the world that that brought about. I mean, today the White House has sent official notification to Congress that there is now another war with Iran, if I'm not mistaken. They have under the War Powers Act basically said there's now a new war. The memo of understanding, memorandum of understanding is dead. And now you have been notified, per the War Powers Act, that basically it's a new war on the clock starts ticking. What do you think about that? Well, that's right. It's a complete game playing with the timeline. And, you know, the really terrible thing is that Senate Republicans have been complicit in allowing this president just to run roughshot over the Constitution, completely ignoring their own constitutional duties. Because, you know, the president says, okay, we'll have a ceasefire today. And so the war powers resolution clock starts again tomorrow. It's obviously a way for a president to completely circumvent the Congress and the law. I will say, Chris, that it hasn't gotten much attention, but tomorrow we will have a vote in the Senate on what's called a motion to proceed to the National Defense Authorization Bill, which is a request for well over a trillion dollars, a huge increase in defense spending. And I hope that my Democratic Senate colleagues will join me and others in blocking that from moving forward because... Right now, in my view, it essentially would be a de facto recognition or support for the war in Iran if we just let let that go through. So I did want to flag that for you to be watching along with the Todd Blanche hearings and everything else.

That is, we should just note that's not a special supplemental. That's the sort of normal process of natural defense authorization, the NDAA. It's considered usually a must-pass bill. And there's a huge new ask in terms of the amount of money that the Trump administration wants from that as well. Do you get the sense? that this, the falling apart of the memo of understanding, memorandum of understanding changes things on Capitol Hill. Again, no one I think puts much credence in the Democrats able to get three or four defectors from the Republican side. But I do wonder if gas prices spiking again, which many people think is going to happen. And us sort of being back where we were three or four weeks ago does change the complexion of what's happening on Capitol Hill. I think it does, because as you say, you know, what could possibly go wrong now, right? Donald Trump has now said he's going to charge a 20% fee on traffic going through the straight. Iran, of course, has now said the straight is closed again. No doubt we'll see oil and gas prices go up if that standoff and that fight continues. And so, yes, I do think that will have an impact on. on Republicans when we continue to push for the war powers resolution votes. You mentioned, we talked about Todd Blanche and that of the votes this week, I do think, again, even before everything's happened with the health of Mitch McConnell, who appears to be convalescing, although we don't know the timeline, obviously Lindsey Graham's sudden passing, he'll be, I think, replaced by his sister very quickly. I think she'll be sworn in on Wednesday, if I'm not mistaken. But, I mean, on the merits, this seems like a no-brainer, obviously not up to me. But what do you, I mean, do you think that's a winnable vote? I mean, is it winnable for Democrats to block him? I guess it's my question.

Well, it's winnable, but only if senators like Susan Collins and others decide that the political price of voting for him is too high. But as we've often said, you know, Susan Collins votes with the Trump administration except for when it doesn't count. And if they need her vote on Todd Blanche, she's very likely to deliver it. So. This is why I'm pretty cautious, Chris, about sort of saying that, you know, Lindsey Graham's sudden passing and the Mitch McConnell situation will necessarily have a significant outcome on the votes because at the end of the day, so many of these members ended up doing what Donald Trump tells them to do. Now, maybe that will be different, but experience does not tell us that. Yeah, it's a fair point. Senator Chris Van Hollen. Thank you very much for your time tonight. Coming up, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced today he's suing to block Paramount's takeover Warner Brothers. He's here to explain why. That's next. This is a Monday.com ad. The same Monday.com helping people worldwide getting work done faster and better. The same Monday.com designed for every team and every industry. The same Monday.com with built-in AI. Scaling your work from day one. The same Monday.com that your team will actually love using. The same Monday.com with an easy and intuitive setup. Go to Monday.com and try it for free. Yes, the same Monday.com. For almost two months, a group of anarchists camped out in a tiny park in New York City and turned it into an anti-capitalist village. You might know it as Occupy Wall Street. But that was 15 years ago. And today, we return to that park to ask, what happens when ordinary people harness collective power and try to change the world? From future hindsight, this is Occupy, an unfinished uprising. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Today, a coalition of 12 states sued to stop what would be one of the biggest media murders ever. Their goal is to block the $100 billion acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery by Paramount, a company, of course, run by Trump's billionaire buddy Larry Ellison and his son. The deal would turn Paramount into a behemoth, giving one company control over two major news networks, CBS and CNN, two of the country's biggest movie studios, and two of the largest streaming services. As California Attorney General Rob Bonta said while announcing the lawsuit, this deal would extinguish competition. It would result in higher prices, lower content quality, and fewer movies and TV shows. This merger will mean fewer journalists informing the electorate. It'll mean fewer opportunities for Americans to hear the full breadth of information and opinions on a subject and then come to their own conclusions. Antitrust enforcement is a check on billionaires.

currying favor with the president, a check on a president who's trying to handpick winners and losers. Now, Donald Trump has been really open about his desire to put some on the scale in newsrooms. In fact, there were subpoenas just issued to New York Times reporters over the weekend. And this is something this deal could help do. He said it over and over, including on the phone to Jake Tapper interview just yesterday. We would love to have you back sometime because I do have a lot of other questions for you, sir. Sure. We'll do that. We'll do that. Thank you for calling in. We're trying to have CNN go in a normal path, and we'll do that. Joining us now is Rob Bonta to the Attorney General of California who's leading this lawsuit. I read a commentary of an ex-FTC commissioner who read your complaint and said this is a no frills, no novel legal theory, straightforward complaint. What's your case here?

Yeah, well, we appreciate that commentary on our case. We think it's a clean case. We think it's a clear case. We have set forth an argument that in three particular markets, whether it be wide release theatrical films or top grossing theatrical films or blockbusters or the third market is the licensing of cable channels to cable companies, in those three marketplaces, when Paramount and Warner Brothers merge, should they merge, it will create a market concentration that is presumptively illegal. And it's clean that the data doesn't lie. And we believe that we have demonstrated very clearly in our complaint filed today in federal court that this proposed merger is presumptively unlawful and violates antitrust law, specifically the Jay Clayton Act, Section 7, been around for over a century making sure our markets are free and fair instead of rigged. So we have a very strong case and grateful for that comment by an observer. Yeah, I mean, there's different ways antitrust enforcement happens. There's the FTC. There's the DOJ as an antitrust division. I think effectively there is no federal regulatory enforcement of antitrust at this point, particularly if you're a buddy of Donald Trump. There might be enforcement if you're an enemy of his, actually. But even as those are gutted, it's still the case that other entities can sue. This isn't like a complete lark, right? It actually has been the case that entities have successfully sued to stop big mergers before. Absolutely, including very recently, when we, a group of states, bipartisan, by the way, sued ticket master Live Nation for anti-competitive conduct. We sued recently to block the next-star Tegna merger, and we have a preliminary injunction in place right now as we speak. That's a bipartisan group of states as well. So you're right that the FTC and the USDAJ traditionally through Republican and Democratic administrations have played a key role to enforce antitrust law, Only now are they MIA not doing the job they should be doing, but they are doing harm affirmatively. They are picking winners and losers. They are acting in ways that appear to be and likely are corrupt. The White House is telling career attorneys in the antitrust division of the USDAJ that they're not going to do what those attorneys recommend. They're going to do what the boss Donald Trump wants. And it's wrong. That's why people are so upset with this rigged economy that's making their life more. unaffordable. We're here to make sure that the rules of the road are followed, that no one is cheating, that the marketplace is free and fair, and that you can succeed based on the quality of your product by being good, by being better, not just by being bigger, and using that size to squeeze out competition. So we're very proud of our complaint. We think we have a very strong case. We have 12 states that have banded together in the absence of Donald Trump's USDOJ and FTC to make sure that that we protect consumers across the country and across California make sure their lives are affordable. This is not, again, your lawsuit is sort of a straightforward antitrust lawsuit under the Jay Clayton Act. But part of the context here is that it seems very clear this entire process was essentially rigged by Donald Trump for a sort of friendly oligarch, lack of a better phrase. Netflix originally won this competition, right? They announced a bid.

Ted Serendos had a meeting at the White House, and then that was canceled abruptly where you didn't get to meet the president. And then Netflix announced they were out of the bid and that Paramount was going to take over. We've got reporting that people were preparing for Bari Weiss to take over CNN. I mean, what are the implications for our democracy, not just markets, but our democracy, if you essentially kind of start to roll up more and more media under the aegis of a one billionaire family that is very explicitly supportive of the president? It is harmful to democracy. And we have no oligarchs in government or the economy. And that is a fundamental principle of being in the United States of America. And when Trump is trying to pick winners and losers and consolidate more power in the hands of less people, That is bad for democracy. And when you have fewer perspectives, fewer viewpoints, fewer truth seekers and truth tellers who are sharing information, facts with the public so that they can consider all the different perspectives and come to a decision of their own. When there's fewer of those, it's bad for democracy. People need to get different sources of information. They need to be critical thinkers. They need a diversity of perspectives in art. and in news. And this consolidation that we're seeing being proposed here is bad for democracy and very clearly violates antitrust law in our opinion as our complaint sets forth. California Attorney General Robbanta, one of the AGs on that lawsuit. Thanks for your time. Thanks for having me, Chris. Great to be with you. All right, there's another painful scene playing out in Maine tonight. Once again, another fatal ice shooting. We'll go there, bring you the details. That's next. For the second time in less than a week, ice officers have shot and killed a motorist in the middle of the street. For the second time in less than a week, the man they shot dead was not their intended target. For the second time in less than a week, an entire community is in mourning. This time it happened in Maine. At 7.15 this morning, residents in Bitterford about 20 miles south of Portland woke up to the sounds of reported gunfire when a federal immigration agent shot into the small white car that 26-year-old Colombian immigrant John Sebastian Guerrero was driving. Immigrant rights groups say Guerrero was authorized to work in the United States and had been issued a social security number. One eyewitness told the Portland Press Herald, he saw an unmarked SUV trying to ram a small white car at an intersection downtown. Moments later, agents in vests stopped the car and pulled the driver out. The witness said the driver was, at that point, quote, bleeding profusely from the head. He was talking. He said, I tried to stop. Senator from Maine, Angus King, says Secretary of Homeland Security. Markwayne Mullin told him Guerrero was shot after he had, quote, weaponized the vehicle against the officers. That's something that we've heard ICE say about many other shootings. But then less than two hours ago, we should note this. DHS released a statement officially saying the officer shot Guerrero and they said out of fear of public safety when he attempted to flee the scene. So they are not claiming in this case that he attempted to weaponize his vehicle. And they are not claiming that the officer feared for his own life.

Elected officials across Maine are calling for an investigation to what exactly happened, but we know this from one witness who spoke to the Portland Press Herald after the gunshots. There were dozens of cars, officers, and a body on the ground. What bothered that witness most was the body of the victim was on that sidewalk for the next five hours. Guerrero leaves behind a wife and young daughter. So far, the shooting sounds like a story we've heard too many times. We saw it in Minneapolis with Renee Good, Chicago with Silvio Villegas Van Zalas just last Tuesday in Houston with Lorenzo Salgado O'Rajal. And now today in Maine, another family that's just lost their loved one and another young child who just lost her dad. Congresswoman Shelley Pingree represents Maine's first congressional district, which includes Bitterford, and she joins me now. Congressman, I know it's been a very difficult and busy day for you, so I appreciate you making time for us. And I guess because we're trying to get our arms around what happened, you've been in touch with authorities, you've been in touch with people in the community. Do you have a sense of what happened this morning? Yeah, it was obviously a horrendous incident. We've had a chance to talk to some of the neighbors. I visited the crime scene, and I was down there today around noon when there was already a protest and a vigil going on, and there's another one there tonight. People in Maine are significantly upset, really so angry that ICE has this continued presence in our state. And my basic feeling is that no one should leave their home at seven in the morning going to work. and fear that they might be shot and never see their three-year-old daughter again. The justification originally for the person they said they were going after, I think was utter bullshit. And then the fact that they shot the wrong person who is now no longer there for his three-year-old daughter and wife is beyond horrendous. This is a case of ICE having way too much money, quotas to pick up as many people as they possibly can. And while we thought perhaps this ended after the... catch of the day, as they called it when they were in our state several months ago, it certainly hasn't. I have an office in Portland, Maine, and my office has a steady stream of people. who are targeted by ICE officers, generally all legally here in this country, just as the man they targeted today was, and members of families who come to us and say, we can't find someone who's been detained or people who are afraid to leave their home and go to work because of incidents like this. Now they're going to be afraid that they will get shot if they leave their house. Senator King, who has been working on this as well, also said that he was told that this was not the intended target. So it does seem like we don't know if they were tailing the car or they pull it over. I also just want to read this detail from the reporting. You said he left behind a daughter. And I don't know if we have confirmation of this individual is his daughter. But in the Portland Press Herald, which I have to say has done great reporting today to thank the local reporter today.

A neighbor said she saw a girl she believes with the victim's daughter. She couldn't have been older than three. She was still in her bluey pajamas. Do we know the status of his family and if they're being taken care of? They have asked for privacy, but as we understand, they are currently working with one of the advocacy groups, and we have reached out to them, and as soon as we have a chance, we will do whatever we can to assist the family. And I know all of Maine will be reaching out to help this family, particularly since, as it was confirmed by Markwayne Mullin, to Angus King, they shot the wrong victim. I mean, they shot the wrong individual, who is a victim? There's also, you know, The statement that DHS put out was notable to me, having covered now multiple of these. They have used this phrase attempting to ram our officer, fear for the safety, weaponizing the vehicle. We've seen it time and time again. And time and time again, we've seen it essentially refuted, belied by the video evidence. They're not even saying that right here. And my reaction is, I don't think it's legitimate protocol to fire into a vehicle that's trying to flee. I think this is actually something that's been litigated up to Supreme Court. I mean, what's your reaction to hearing them not even make that claim here? Yeah, I was completely shocked. Remember, this incident happened at 7 o'clock in the morning, and this was just released an hour ago. After multiple stories had said that this was a weaponized vehicle. But as you said, they were fleeing the scene. They said it was a public safety concern. There's no accounts that this person had a gun or was attacking anybody else. And four shots went through the windshield. We've seen pictures of that. So to say that the ripple was struck, when this person was shot in the head through the windshield, it's just unconscionable. And I agree with you. This does not sound like any kind of protocol that any of our other public safety officers would be allowed to do. And what we've seen time after time is that ICE follows no traditional procedures. We've learned that there are no body cameras on this individual. And my understanding is that while we've pressed ICE to use body cameras, they have yet to be distributed throughout the country. So why they hadn't arrived in Maine by now, why these ICE officers continue to target our state, you know, we're a very low crime state. We know the immigrants in our state generally to be our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers. I have an individual currently can't leave his home. He's an ICU nurse because he is targeted by ICE, but he knows the day he steps out, even though he's legally there, he will be detained under these false pretenses that they use are stretching immigration law, saying you overstayed a visa when, frankly, you're waiting for your asylum claim to be determined. I mean...

The way they are using immigration law is unconscionable. The fact that somebody was potentially murdered by an ICE officer today and certainly questionably shot is very concerning to all of us. The senior senator from your state, Susan Collins, who of course is running for re-election this year, tweeted that the Department of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, has informed me the Boston office of the DHS Inspector General has taken over the investigation of the Bitterford shooting in cooperation with the FBI. We've seen the FBI in the Department of Justice being incredibly non-cooperative with other authorities in other investigations, including in Minnesota and other places. Do you have confidence? that they will cooperate here and that actually a real investigation can be undertaken by DHS's own investigators? Well, the delegation will certainly be pressing for a real investigation. And one of the things we've been emphasizing today is unlike what happened in Minnesota, we want to make sure that the state of Maine has the full ability to examine the evidence. I mean, it did. appear today that the crime scene had been secured and that there were multiple agencies working there today. But I don't know that for a fact. I know that our governor and our attorney general have been pressing to have full access to all of the materials, make sure that all of the evidence is protected. As you know, in Minnesota, they didn't do that. And perhaps this will be a legitimate investigation, but we certainly were going to need one. Congresswoman Schilly Pingree of Maine, and thanks for making time on a really harrowing day. I appreciate it. I appreciate you having us. All right, Silicon. Congressman Ro Khanna on his detention by armed Israeli settlers. Next. This is a Monday.com ad. The same Monday.com designed for every team. The same Monday.com with built-in AI, scaling your work from day one. The same Monday.com with an easy and intuitive setup. Go to Monday.com and try it for free. Hey, everyone, it's Chris Hayes. This week on my podcast, Wise is happening. What really happened with the border during the Biden administration? Asylum at the border needs to be changed. And that was part of the legislation supported by President Biden. And that's what got killed by Donald Trump because he wanted the crisis to live for political benefit. So what has happened is there are many fewer migrants presenting themselves of the border. The Supreme Court just basically shut that down and allowed the administration to do what it wants. That's this week on Wise. is happening. Search for Wise is happening wherever you're listening right now and follow. The U.S. Congressman is speaking out after he says he was detained by Israeli military and settlers armed with U.S. made rifles this past week. Last Wednesday, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna visited the West Bank for three days to speak directly with Palestinians about life under Israeli occupation. That visited included a trip to a village and school that Israeli settlers destroyed. On his way out of the village, Israeli settlers surrounded his group's van, wielding M4 rifles. They taunting Ro Khanna and his team. They were later joined by Israeli soldiers. Now, the congressman, several other Americans who were on the trip, were barred from leaving. In fact, the New York Times says one of its photographers has actually witnessed the incident. After 90 minutes, the congressman was finally released, following calls the U.S. Embassy and Israeli police.

Kano told the New York Times, quote, I felt powerless in that situation, which is not an easy thing, as I have a lot of privilege in life. Imagine how people every day, Palestinians at our occupation, feel if they could make an American congressperson feel powerless for 90 minutes. The Israeli military issued a statement saying, quote, upon receiving the report, IDF troops were dispatched the scene, quickly dispersed the Israeli civilians, and reopened the blocked road. The IDF soldiers operating in the area did not take part in any part in blocking the road. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked about the incident over the weekend. We're a country of laws and people who break the law. We take them to court. I don't want vigilantes of any kind. And we are working to put them under the law. But I think if we put things in perspective, we should see that we have thousands of attacks. And some, few, but obvious, breaking of the law, then we apply the full measure of the law against them. Israel, unlike our neighbors. is a democracy and a country of law, and we act against those who break the law. And Congressman Ro Khanna joins us now. Congressman, I've watched sort of interviews you've done about this incident, but I want to start with just asking what motivated you to go there to begin with, what stories you wanted to hear and did hear there about the folks who are living in the West Bank during a period in which I think it's fairly well documented, both in the Israeli press and human rights organizations, that there has been a real uptick in vigilante settler harassment of violence. I appreciate your leading with that, Chris, because this is far less about what happened to me and the Americans and far more about wanting to tell Palestinian story. I have been to Israel three times. I've done the trips where you meet the prime minister and the ministers, and then you go to Ramallah and you meet. President Abbas and a few business leaders. And people said to me, why don't you go see the real Palestine? Why don't you actually see Palestinian stories? So we went on a Palestinian-led trip and they're just... Two things I want to talk about. One, in Hebron, on the streets in Hebron, on the Palestinian side, above the shop owners are cages. And the settlers throw rotten vegetables. They throw metal parts. And then they urinate or throw acid down. I mean, this is daily life. The water, the Palestinians get 50 liters, which is less than the U.N. standard, whereas the Israeli settlers get 400 liters. One more incident.

Palestinian whose son was killed. Palestinian American son killed. He said, yes, my son threw rocks, but the IDF shot him 21 times for doing that. And we haven't changed the bedroom in our room. We miss our son. And no one is investigating it. It was just gut-wrenching the stories that I heard. You've received criticism from some colleagues. Josh Gottheimer said this was a publicity stunt, as well as the head of the Democratic majority for Israel. I do want to say that. I think some people, you tease the fact that maybe you're running for president. And I do wonder if you feel like that cheapens going there if people perceive it as essentially a kind of savvy or even cynical means of cultivating some kind of base in a Democratic primary electorate that is quite concerned about the state of things in occupied West Bank. Well, I was asked a direct question, whether I would run. I just said the same thing I always do. I'm considering it. But that was certainly not the purpose of the story. The story was about it. armed settlers who detained us for 20 minutes, and then the IDF came and further block things. Now, the IDF put out a statement saying that they did not block us and that they dispersed the settlers. It turns out the Jerusalem Post, which is a center-right paper in Israel, announced an investigation, and they came out with a finding where everyone can read, saying that the IDF actually did not disperse the violent settlers. They sat there. and perpetuated the detention. They also found that we were allowed to be in looking at the Zanuda village. First, the IDF claimed that it was some kind of military zone. They found that was false. So you have two instances of the IDF actually covering it up and by their own paper being false. And we still haven't received an apology for how they treated Americans. Imagine what they do to Palestinians. You've also been, obviously, one of the sort of leaving voices on the Epstein files. It was you and Thomas Massie, who co-authored that legislation that ended up being successful in passing. Todd Blanche is going to come before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his hearings this week. He, of course, an instrumental figure in the Epstein files. I want to just play a PSA that some of the survivors, the Epstein survivors have put together. in advance of Todd Blanche's hearing, and then ask what you would like to, what kind of questions you'd like to see him face in this rare opportunity for him to face questions. Take a listen. Todd Blanche had a duty to protect us. Instead, he protected the people who committed crimes against us. 30 years, 1,200 victims, and 6 million files. A mountain of evidence. But Todd Blanche says there are no investigative leads. Todd Blanche failed us. He failed victims everywhere. We deserve better. Our country deserves better. Vote no on Todd Blanche for Attorney General. Vote no. No. No. No. Vote no. Vote no on Todd Blanche.

for Attorney General. Are you hoping to get some explanation from him about the Epstein files and particularly whether the government is in compliance with the law that you helped pass? Well, first, I so admired the survivors. It's why we got the Epstein files released, and they're showing great courage now by holding Todd Blanche accountable. The judge has already found a federal judge that the Department of Justice is not in compliance with the Epstein Transparency Act. They found that they're holding three million documents. And senators need to ask Todd Blanche two questions. Are you going to be committed to actually releasing those three million documents and following the judge's? order? And second, are you going to begin investigations into a lot of these men who have a very serious accusations of sexual abuse or sexual trafficking? There have not opened a single investigation, Chris, even with all the reports of the abuse, even with all the resignations, all of the scandal, not a single investigation has been open. And that really needs to be the focus of the Epstein part of the Todd Blanche hearings. Congressman Ro Khanna, thanks for your time, I appreciate it. Thank you. Stay tuned after the latest ice shooting in Maine today. Rachel takes a look at the rash of killings by federal officials. We'll be right back.

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