“The undoing of critical counterterrorism infrastructure”

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As you know, the Trump administration significantly cut the staff at CP3, which you worked with, which led to your resignation. Is that true? Senator, there is no more office at all. The entire thing was dismantled on the final two people left on September 11th and 12th. So the prevention effort you're describing to us is now no longer funded. That is correct. Are you concerned about the potential rise in attacks that we may see without similar level of inquiries taking place under this administration? Senator, I've given my life to protecting American people. I'm incredibly worried about the rise of targeted violence and terrorism across the ideological spectrum at the same time that we've dismantled the very apparatus that can prevent it. Hi again, everyone. It's now 5 o'clock in the East. That man is William Braniff. He is a counterterrorism scholar who directed that he was the director of the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, or CP3. It was a division of DHS established by the Biden administration and then gutted by Donald Trump soon after he became president for a second term, leading to Braniff's resignation and protest. The cutting of CP3 is among the many actions this administration has taken. that are the focus of a new report by Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which calls out the undoing of critical counterterrorism infrastructure, leaving this country more vulnerable to threats. From that report released by Michigan Senator Gary Peters, quote, since the first day of his second term, President Trump and his administration have dismantled critical national security agencies and programs and diverted significant resources and attention away from the fight against terrorism. These actions are the result of a combination of ideologically motivated firings and realignment of personnel and the wielding of government resources from grants to counterterrorism authorities as a weapon against political opponents. The administration's actions have left Americans far more vulnerable to a potential terrorist attack and left law enforcement officers and agents without the tools to protect our nation. MS Now's reporting of the senator's examination makes note of this, quote, the report says the Justice Department and the FBI have lost more than 15,000 employees, including many experienced national security professionals. Others have been reassigned, including the entire staff of the FBI's domestic terrorism operations section, which provided operational support to all 55 FBI field offices in investigating domestic terrorism threats. MS now has reached out to the White House, the Justice Department, the FBI, and DHS for comment. Meanwhile, this week saw the confirmation of Jay Clayton as the Director of National Intelligence, and then we already know from his congressional testimony will go to great lengths to tell Donald Trump what he wants to hear. And the current DHS secretary, Markwayne Mullin, has a history of comments encouraging violence. During his confirmation hearing in March, he said, dueling was still allowed in the Senate. to which Senator Rand Paul quickly corrected, saying it has been illegal for 170 years, all fitting into a portrait of an administration that does not prioritize safety or American security much at all. As the report summarizes, quote, almost 25 years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Trump administration's misalignment of resources and ideologically driven decision-making.

on what counts as terrorism has created vulnerabilities in America's national security preparedness and in this moment of great threat. ultimately jeopardizes the safety of the American people. That is where we start the hour with some of our favorite reporters and friends. MS Now Justice and Intelligence Reporter, Kendallanian is with us. Also joining us, senior political analyst, host of the runaway country podcast and the author of The Substack, How the Hell with Alex Wagner. Alex Wagner is here and former Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama, now co-host of Pod Save the World. Contributive Ben Rhodes is back. Kendalini, and take us through your reporting. Nicole, you know, as everyone knows, the U.S. government remade itself after the 9-11 attacks and just completely reoriented priorities. The FBI was reimagined, put tons of resources into the fight against terrorism. We made a lot of mistakes. A lot of things we did were imperfect. But 25 years after 9-11, when you look back on what the U.S. government did, There were many successes. The U.S. government essentially defeated al-Qaeda and prevented another catastrophic terror attack, an unravel plot after plot. And the FBI in particular got very good at getting inside terror plots and stopping them before they... metastasized into something that was very dangerous. And what this report says and compiles is what we've been covering as a slow rolling disaster, but this report puts it all together is that the Trump administration has been systematically dismantling a lot of the counterterrorism tools that we've relied on. And it's not even clear that they're doing this intentionally. It's a collection of policies that is resulting in making, as Senator Peters, the author of the report said, making Americans less safe. And it starts with the hemorrhaging of experienced counterterrorism professionals from places like the FBI and DHS and the Justice Department. 38% of the lawyers in the National Security Division. are gone. These are the people who presided over the war on terror who learned how to prosecute these cases and how to handle FISA warrants and do all of the legal intricacies of prosecuting the war on terror while maintaining Americans' rights. And then the other part of this report is it describes the way that the administration is focusing almost entirely in a domestic context on left-wing extremism while completely ignoring and not even mentioning in its latest counterterrorism strategy, the very real problem of right-wing extremism. And that actually has been the more acute terror threat in recent years is homegrown domestic violent extremists. And it really feels like we are leaving ourselves essentially

much less prepared for potential threats. And we won't know it until it happens. That's the really scary part about this. We don't really know how bad this is and how unprepared we are as a government for the threats that exist, Nicole. Tandolini, and it was Christopher Ray who testified before Congress in September, October of 2020, that by far the greatest threat to the homeland was domestic violent extremism. And within that bucket, the largest group was racially motivated white supremacist. So did they go away? Or are we just not tracking them anymore? They're not even mentioned. The white, white supremacists are not even mentioned in the latest Trump administration counterterrorism strategy. And that just shows that this is more about ideology than anything else. And again, look, we all know it's not in Donald Trump's interest as the president for a catastrophic horrific terrorist attack to happen on his watch. But the sum total of the policies that his administration is implementing is making that more of a risk. Professionals across the spectrum. will say that. And in part, it's a blinkered ideology, the idea that government is always bad. And, you know, it started with Doge and coming in and just taking a meat axe to these agencies without regard for the kind of people that they were driving out. And then, of course, the ideologically motivated firearms, a lot of the FBI agents who work the cases against Donald Trump happen to be some of the most experienced counterterrorism and counterintelligence agents, and they're gone now. And you can't replace that kind of expertise. So it's a really bleak picture, Nicole. Alex, you've done some incredible reporting yourself on through the militia movements. Let me show you what a little bit more of what William Braniff said about our vulnerabilities on the extremism front. All of us have vulnerabilities. And if those vulnerabilities go and addressed, we could wind up being manipulated into engaging in violent extremism. We did 1,172 interventions. Think about that. 1,172 interventions for individuals who are exhibiting risks of violence. They were making veiled threats of violence. They were socially isolated. And those into those. interventions were across the ideological spectrum. Some people were flirting with white supremacy. Some people were flirting with anti-government extremism. Some people were just flirting with violence for violence sake. The point is we didn't wait until something terrible happened and then blame the ideology behind it. We actually did a therapeutic intervention. And in 94% of those interventions, the individual got help. And there was no violence. In 6%, they had made a threat to public safety that was imminent or they had crossed a criminal threshold, and they were referred to law enforcement. So we supported those individuals, averted nearly 1,200 potential acts of violence and never sacrificed public safety. I think they described that as staying left of boom. I mean, this suggests that we're all far, far away from any sort of...

environment where that's even the government's aim. Yeah, I mean, in the report from Mike Rogers today is not bedtime reading because it will leave you a freaked out to say the least. In addition to the hemorrhaging of qualified and I think key rules inside the institutions themselves, they're also, they've canceled or. otherwise politicized a billion dollars of federal money that's meant to shore up public safety and national security at the state level, which is often, I mean, that's almost in terms of targeting and really zeroing in on homegrown terror and terror threats. State level monitoring is essential in all of that. And instead, as you just discussed a second ago, they're focused on Antifa and cartel organizations. Antifa, as a domestic team, terror organization does not exist in law, something the report points out, and their war against the drug cartels, which basically amounts to public executions of fishermen in the Caribbean, according to Trump's own DEA, has had no measurable impact on the cocaine trade. They've just killed 226 people in boats since last September and called it a win. I mean, not only are they destroying the institutions from within, those... foolish, idiotic, and misguided efforts that they do engage in are also failures. I mean, it's just like a catastrophic level of failure on every front. You know, Ben, you would know this better than me, but I remember talking to former national security officials who worked alongside you and your old boss and me and my old boss who said that the national security apparatus can hold through one Trump term, but not to. And they were deeply concerned about the chatter and the vulnerabilities for a variety of reasons ahead of Trump's return to office. When you see these well-publicized efforts to take apart the entire post-9-11 security infrastructure carried out by a Republican administration and two Democratic presidents, what does the world say? I mean, it sees the United States literally letting its guard down. And, you know, just one thing on what Alex said, this is happening across the board, right? Cybersecurity. There have been, like, mysterious cuts in... cyber defenses at a time when we're under greater cyber attack than ever before. Election security, despite what Trump says, right? He's dismantled some of the task forces that looked at that. Corruption and money laundering through cryptocurrencies, now add to a counterterrorism, all the kind of nuts and bolts of the work that you have to do to prevent attacks and to keep the American people safe are being hollowed out. And look, I'll say this as someone who's been... quite critical of the excesses of the post 9-11 security state. The reality is Trump is like quadrupling down on the things that most Americans don't like, the foreign war that he's fighting in Iran, that he's fighting in part because they want a consequence of the absence of expertise. He was clearly not listening to any Iran experts because they got rid of those people too, because they didn't tell Trump what he wanted to hear. And so now we're in this dumb war. ICE.

ICE is part of the excess of the post-911 security state. He has tens of billions of dollars to throw at ICE to deport people who've been here for decades, who are welcomed in their communities, but he can't fund these basic divisions inside the Justice Department or the Department of Homeland Security. And so make no mistake, these are the cost-efficient ways of keeping us safe. They're not huge price tags to these kinds of offices that are being shuttered. And if you think that we're sleeping better because, you know, Kash Patel is on the case, there's nobody who's kind of qualified to run these agencies either. So we're kind of taking away the things that we need on terrorism, on cybersecurity, on domestic extremism that are the relatively cost-efficient ways to protect Americans. Meanwhile, we're throwing tens of billions of dollars at a dumb war in the Middle East and at ICE doing things that most Americans don't want it to do. I have a lot of regard for FBI agents, but I don't even think most FBI agents would describe themselves as expert immigration enforcers. But that's what they're being asked to do. This report says this, quote. In May of 25, the FBI ordered agents to prioritize immigration enforcement and deprioritize other types of cases, impacting 45% of all agents in the 25 largest FBI field offices and drawing them away from longstanding FBI priorities like counterterrorism, counter espionage, fraud, and violent crime. After the June 2025 U.S. airstrikes in Iran, the FBI, realizing it had undercut its ability to respond to terrorism, shifted some agents back to their counterterror responsibilities that have concerned for potential Iranian influence attacks in the U.S. If you have trained. Encounter terrorism linguistically and logistically and security wise, you are probably not the best person to carry out ice raids. I mean, Kendallanian, just talk about what has happened when half of the FBI has been turned into backups for ice. Yeah, and I've been reporting on this for a long time. Really, this started at the very beginning of the administration, Nicole, and I've been talking to people inside the FBI and former officials who talk to their friends. And this is one of the things that bothers them the most. Not only do they not want to do this work, they feel like... They're not even being consulted in many cases about the security of a particular rate. They have entirely different standards for how they operate in the field than ICE does. And so I've heard horror stories about FBI agents being asked to...

to go someplace and they didn't have a security plan and sometimes they balk and sometimes they're just not allowed to say no and they have to go. And, you know, particular field offices where agents have to do one day a week on immigration rates. And the FBI is not that large an agency to begin with. And then it's been decimated by these cuts, these, you know, some people forced into retirement, others fired, others just resigned under pressure. So 15,000 down. And so. you know, they can only work on so many cases at once and something's got to give. And so if an agent who has a panoply of cases, they, you know, they may have counterterrorism cases and also fraud cases and other kinds of cases. In some field offices, you know, agents are multitaskers. But if they are diverted to immigration... then that's one less day they're working on the stuff that we really expect the FBI to be doing. And that's happening at a huge scale. And when you talk FBI, that's the thing, one of the things they are most upset about, Nicole. Ben, you get the last word. I just say the biggest problem with this is, yes, you're immediately not safe. But there's a long tail to this, right? Plots can take years to unfold. Threats can take years to unfold. And we're going to be living with these cuts well past Donald Trump. He doesn't care what comes next. So if he completely decimates the government's defenses on things like counterterrorism, on things like cybersecurity, we're going to be dealing with that five years from now, not just right now. And that's why it's so important to catalog all this, because we have to know what capabilities of the government are being taken apart and being lost because you're going to have to be rebuilt right quick when we get on the other side of this. I love all the people thinking about the other side. Candelani and Ben Rhodes, thank you for starting us off. Alex sticks around with me. When we come back, Senator Cory Booker will join us on how Democrats are campaigning against all of this and against a president who is damaging the security of our country, destroying its rule of law and making billions of dollars while he's at it. Senator Cory Booker is our next guest. Also ahead, how Ohio MAGA senator Bernie Moreno can go off on Dr. Anthony Fauci, yet not call for the resignation of his ex-son-in-law, a Republican congressman. accused of violently and horrifically attacking and abusing Marino's daughter and grandchild, the latest on that growing scandal that could hurt the GOP in November, and the Republican cowards too frightened to speak out about it or put a stop to it. Deadlin White House continues after a quick break. Don't go anywhere. Welcome back to the dry eye sufferer in the wild. Ah, here we have Randy, who's walked away from her screen and is flushing her eyes in the office sink. Sequo! Oh, is that the soothing call of the sure-footed Sikwa user? The Sika solution is proven to start helping repair damage in as little as two weeks. Sikwa is a prescription topical solution for dry eye disease that helps to increase the production of natural tears in your eye. The most common side effects include eye pain and redness. Don't touch vial tip to anything. Use as directed, then discard. Wait 15 minutes before reinserting contacts. Don't use if you're allergic to Sikwa. Sikwa! There it is again.

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Explored in that Senate report on counterterrorism that we just covered is how the Trump administration has downplayed certain threats when they view them as politically inconvenient. Also from that report, quote, the second Trump administration has so far demonstrated a similar approach to his first administration in terms of obscuring and politicizing the terrorist threat. Its first annual intelligence community threat assessment, the guiding document for the intelligence community, failed to mention domestic terrorism. a notable omission that is inconsistent with previous years of reporting. This action represented a wider effort to limit the amount of information tracked or acknowledged by the government about domestic terrorism threats. For example, the administration quietly removed a DOJ study from its website showing that since 1990, far-right extremist attacks have outpaced all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism. On the other hand, the Trump administration was quick to label two protesters who were killed in Minneapolis at the hands of immigration enforcement officials as, quote, domestic terrorists despite a lack of evidence. Let's bring into our coverage, Senator Cory Booker, Democrat from New Jersey, and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Thank you for being here. Thank you for sounding the alarm on something that should concern every American. I mean, I remember when Chris Wright in September, October of 2020 was, I don't remember if you were before your committee, but he said under oath that by far the greatest threat to the homeland is domestic violent extremism. And within that bucket, the largest group of threats of individuals are ideologically driven. And in that bucket, the biggest ideology that houses domestic violent extremists is white supremacist. And I wonder what you think they think they're going to achieve by dusting it under the rug. Yeah, look, the biggest killer of Americans is gun violence. And we're seeing these mass shootings expand in our country. We've even seen terrorists abroad talking about go get a gun. It's easy to buy one in America and do horrible things. This is the greatest threat to life and to our children in our country. And this administration has starved agencies like the ATF, literally starved them and transferred their agents. into their immigration efforts, which have resulted in over 70% of the people of them rounding up, have no criminal backgrounds whatsoever. So this is an administration that says on one hand, we're all about public safety, but in reality, they are unraveling our national security apparatus and undermining the very law enforcement we need to protect Americans from the greatest threats. What do you make of how the confirmation hearings for Todd Blanche have gone? I know that in this bleak political moment, it counts as a win, that there's a temporary delay from John Cornyn and Thom Tillis because they're looking for something in writing about the slush fund for violent insurrectionists. But what is your sense of where the bar is for Republicans, that they're even considering confirming someone who is very publicly and proudly bragging about, quote, canning?

all of the prosecutors and agents who were involved in the January 6 cases. Yeah, I mean, there has been the firing and then the mass exodus of so much talent, so much depth, so much experience from the Department of Justice of people that are not refusing to work there or have been fired for trivial things. You've said this in your reporting that we are seeing a Department of Justice. that is supposed to be fighting against crypto crimes, Medicare fraud, is supposed to be keeping us safe from international drug cartels, sex trafficking, and yet it's being hollowed out in a way that should send alarm bells through all Americans who are concerned about our public safety. And so this guy has finally tuned the Department of Justice not to protect us, not to pursue justice, but to do the will of Donald Trump. It's not an independent law enforcement agency anymore that focuses on defending the Constitution and the country, but it is a Donald Trump wing that's focused on protecting him from scrutiny and going after his adversaries. What are you planning or what do Democrats think they can do differently if they take control of the Senate in terms of reining in the abuses of power at the Department of Justice? Well, I think the most important thing I've learned from the time I was mayor is transparency and sunshine. Like, we know there's so much going on that we don't know about, the corruption in the Trump administration that we are. we are listing and detailing is only the tip of an iceberg in terms of how are we seeing all of these no bid contracts going out, what is really going on in terms of the kind of fraud and abuse of the system that they seem to be not only allowing but inviting. But I also want to just, I'll be one of those voices of Democrats to say, let's also. really hone in on the pain points of Americans. Because while public safety must be the number one focus in many ways of leaders in our country, the other thing has got to be economic justice. And remember, Todd Blanche oversees so many of these big corporate mergers that are concentrating economic power, eliminating jobs, raising our prices. And there's a lot of corruption there that actually could help lower prices for Americans if we do not allow the kind of pay for play that Trump seems to be allowing for corporations that are doing, I think, untoward, unjust and unjustifiable things. What is your sense from being out campaigning around the country of what the Republicans are doing? I mean, people are screaming at the top of their lungs that they care about, the same things they cared about in the presidential election of 2024, the price of everything, gas, groceries, housing, everything in the cart at Walmart, everything at cost to raise a family. And he keeps screaming about the only election that was rigged was the one that he was in charge of in 2020.

humiliating themselves by harassing Anthony Fauci. I mean, what is your sense of what their midterm political strategy is for dealing with people's economic strain? Yeah, I mean, Donald Trump is giving the country a master's class and how to screw up elections, not only in the things he's doing overtly in terms of the security of our elections, but also just to his own party. I mean, to literally say when it comes to the war in Iran, I don't care about the economic well-being of citizens of America. I'm going to go headlong into this war, further get into this morass that's only going to drive up your prices. So American people... know who he is. That's why he is hitting all-time lows in popularity. They know the mistakes he's making from chaotic tariffs to a quagmire in Iran. The question is, is are we going to be able to mobilize and organize enough people to realize that there is so much more on the ballot than just a referendum on him? We have got to take back this accountability that is critical for Congress when it comes to our national security, when it comes to our economic security, when it comes to some of the most... important principles that we hold dear in America. You have been, I think, answering that hunger from Democrats to be seen as fighting. You did the filibuster early in second term. What are you hearing from voters that people appreciate most from Democrats right now? Well, I think it's truth telling. And it's even being willing to criticize your own party. Look. A lot of this problems that we're seeing right now that enable Donald Trump to even get into office, it's a road that was paved in part by Democrats, failing to show the kind of strength and leadership that we need right now. We have been feckless in ways that really frustrate me. In other words, we've allowed corruption to creep into Washington, D.C. at levels that are stunning. I mean... the way corporate PACs are playing right now, the way money in politics, it's why over a decade ago I said, I'm not going to take corporate PAC money. I've given up now all PAC money when it comes to these issue area packs. We have a country who's... Supreme Court is overly influenced by billionaires as they accept lavish gifts with no consequence. We have a president who's clearly the most corrupt in history and we have a Congress on both sides of the aisle from stock trading to the way corporations and large billionaires play. It's unjust. And so I think voters want to hear leaders are saying we are going to make it central to restoring trust in our democracy by ending this kind of corruption that's been normalized and by focusing on the issues that you're concerned with. which is unrigging the system and making it work for working families. This is a conversation that we should continue to have. I mean, you just don't hear anybody in their real lives at a baseball game or at the grocery store at Costco talking about golden arches. But that is what Trump is brought to Washington. It's crazy. It's crazy. Senator Cory Booker, thank you. Go ahead. Go ahead.

No, I'm just saying like sometimes I think we live in this strange dystopic movie that we're all going to wake up for and said, no, we did not have a president that wants to put his name on our money, on our passports, that wants to build a... testimonies to himself, whether it's arches or ballrooms. I mean, this guy is really out of some villainous movie as he makes billions and the rest of us are paying more in our supermarkets or our gas pumps and for raising our kids. This can't be real, but the only way we end this nightmare is by more people getting up, organizing, mobilizing, and making these November elections really turn the tide here in America. Yeah, and making sure on the other side that to your point, we deal with some of the structural impediments to adjust politics and adjust economy. Thank you so much for starting the conversation with us today. Thank you. Thank you. Your coverage has been excellent. Thank you. Oh, thank you for saying that. Thank you. When we come back, the growing scandal surrounding a maggot congressman from Ohio accused of violently attacking his ex-wife and their very, very young daughter, in the silence of some very prominent figures in the Republican Party about those attacks.

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about a woman who's likely terrified right now. And for every woman who speaks up about domestic violence, there are countless others who don't or feel like they can't. And rarely do any women speak up about domestic violence unless their lives are in danger and their children's. And these are the alleged facts here. Miller has not been charged with any crime. He has denied all the allegations, and he has sued his ex-wife for defamation over the allegations. We should also note that Senator Bernie Moreno has been publicly critical of his former son-in-law, whoever he has stopped short on calling on his son-in-law, former son-in-law Miller to resign. Let all that sink in. If your heart doesn't ache for this mother. and this very young child, but it ache for the tragic indifference of too many Americans to the issue of domestic violence. New polling in Politico shows that the MAGA voter simply does not care about the moral character, the candidates. According to those findings, 72% of MAGA Trump voters say they'd stick with the GOP candidate accused of domestic violence. 66% of MAGA voters say they would stick with the GOP candidate accused of sexual assault. It's higher than either Democrats or other Republicans. It's a personal note, and MAGA, I know you're watching. Look over it's your wife and your kids and decide to stop being these people. Make a different choice while you still can. Journey our coverage, writer and editor for Protect Democracy, Amanda Carpenter's here, Alex Wagner's here as well. I struggle with whether to platform these stories because domestic violence is Ah... I think is almost always terrifying for the woman. And it's only ever public if, again, she's afraid for her life or her children's life. And this person, Max Miller, was previously accused of abusing another woman. I want to read this also from the New York Times. Ms. Moreno is not the first woman to level domestic abuse allegations against Mr. Miller. In her memoir, Stephanie Grisham, the former White House press secretary, wrote that she dated someone else in the administration who was physically abusive. She later acknowledged she had refers to Mr. Miller. Mr. Miller denied her allegations and sued her for defamation, claiming she was trying to ruin his campaign for Congress. Alex, your thoughts. I mean, I got a lot. We talk a lot about the net effect of the Trump years. And we certainly, they're not over, right? But we also have not begun to wrap our arms around how he has changed the body politic. But polling like this that shows how he has lowered the bar dramatically in terms of character and integrity to the degree that a majority of MAGA supporters would support someone.

who was allegedly a sexual assaulter, had made anti-Semitic comments, worn blackface. I mean, the degradation of soul, the degradation of principle and character that Donald Trump represents is not. It is not isolated to Donald Trump. He has infected thousands, tens of thousands of Americans with a worldview that, that, you know, is, degrades women, degrades people of color, sees them as subhuman and sees abusers of those people as, you know, just one of them. I mean, it is, it is frightening to me when I read polling like that. And in this particular case, for talking about Max Miller and Emily Moreno, what is. I think appalling upon being morally bereft is the idea that the reason you're not hearing much from Republican corners, you're not hearing indignation and calls for Max Miller's ouster from the race on the part of, I don't know, Bernie Moreno is because Republicans are worried they might lose the House seat. I mean, that is such naked. primal calculation that power is worth more than character, even when it's your own daughter and her child's life on the line. That is, I don't think we've seen math like that in my lifetime, Nicole. And I think, you know, it's hard to platform stories about domestic violence, but this is, I think, bigger than that because it's about, truly, it's about ethical and moral degradation and how much it's found a home in the Republican Party. Bernie Moreno had time to abuse Anthony Fauci yesterday. Let me show you that, Amanda. It was about six years ago today that I decided I'm going to give up my businesses, sell them all, run for office, run through the United States Senate. Here I am sitting in front of you six years later saying, who the hell do you think you were for doing that? It is a total disgrace what you did to this country. So, I mean, I haven't spent a ton of time down the rabbit hole lately, but I think what they think Anthony Fauci did to the country was what Trump signed off on, which were the shutdowns of the spring of 2020. So I show you that because Moreno does have the ability to get worked up about some things. Yeah, I mean, this whole story of domestic violence, I mean, it is a tragedy, like you said, but we can have the broader discussion about why accountability only goes one way. in this environment and why these politicians can turn it on so hard against somebody like Dr. Anthony Fauci, but not only doesn't have a word to say about his family, but doesn't have a word to say about the multiple Trump transgressions over the years. Like, are we surprised that MAGA voters would vote for people with all these scandals after they have stood by Trump during all this time? Absolutely not. This just confirms the reality that we've all been living it.

But I am increasingly like you look at what happened on Capitol Hill this week and you see all of this fire and brimstone going at Dr. Anthony Fauci. And I think that Republican voters, because I mean, this is a study of Republican voters. We can keep talking about Donald Trump doing this and the chicken their egg, but this is where Republican voters have landed. And I think a big part of it. is that they are permitted by their party to look the other way, but someone has to force them to go back and look at these issues. And I am actually seeing a bit of a silver lining when it comes to what's happened with the Todd Blanche nomination, because after January 6th, there was a question about whether we were going to pursue accountability, whether there was going to be congressional hearings, and whether it matter. Right? And maybe, you know, it didn't turn out how the pro-democracy reformers wanted. But we're not letting that issue go. People are not letting that issue go. And when you put it before, Republicans like John Cornyn, like Thom Tillis, they say, yeah, there's something wrong with that. We're not going to do that. So we have to keep centering these issues so people can't look away from the domestic violence, the corruption, the no-bid contracts, the pay-for-play pardons, the list goes on and on. If they can do this to Anthony Fauci in a hearing, we need to put these big issues under the microscope and the lights and not let it go. Amen. All right. We'll do just that. I have to sneak in a quick break. We'll be back on the other side.

Democrats dished ran platinum from their ballot after sexual assault allegations. Two members of the conference, Max Miller and Fort Nell's face domestic violence allegations. Why would do Republicans keep them in the conference, whereas Democrats are dropping somebody accuses criminally because of sexual harassment? Well, the key word there is allegation. We have a process here. The House Ethics Committee works on those things. I mean, Amanda, to your point, The history of this time will be recorded. And I'm increasingly aware of the fact when I see people like Peter Carr, the former spokesperson in DOJ, testify, everything will come out. Everything will come out. It will be known what Mike Johnson knew about these allegations, just how credible they were, who went to him, who told him about it, when he first heard about the violent domestic behavior of two members of his own caucus. Your thoughts? I mean, Speaker Mike Johnson has gone before the cameras and said that he views it as his role to be a MAGA protector for Trump in Congress. He wants to protect Trump's MAGA majority from any kinds of accountability. And that is exactly what you saw on camera there. Alex. I mean, this is the party that thinks, you know, testosterone shots are necessary for every man and has a very confused, or every soldier over the age of 30. They have a very confused idea, ideas about masculinity. And you see that borne out in their attitudes towards both sexual assault and domestic violence and just the aging process. I mean, I think the Republican Party needs to do a long, hard look in the masculinity mirror. I think you're right. Amanda Carpenter, thank you. Alex Wegener, thank you for spending the whole hour with us. Quick break for me. We'll be right back.

My guest this week on The Best People podcast is Sue Gordon. She spent decades of her career at the CIA and then at the office of the director of national intelligence dealing with some of the country's thornyest, most alarming problems. And now while she's out of government, she's speaking out about the threats to our democracy posed by this president. And she's doing it while dealing with some serious health problems. I asked her how she does that. Listen to what she says. What about fighting? for your country while you're fighting for your good health. is different. I mean, you are different since you've been fighting both battles at the same time. You are even clearer. I would say your warnings are more urgent, but your love or what you're willing to say about your love for the country, more public and more open, you're sort of less guarded. What is it about being on both battlefronts at the same time that we should understand? What a great question. I think I'm kinder. And I thought I was a kind person before, but, man, you know, illness will take away any pretense of privilege. And boy, the people are so good, and they will rally. And so I think one of the things change is I am more profoundly committed. to people than I was before because they are good and they want good, regardless of their political views, they are, and I want to do my part for them. So that's one. I don't think I have as much time as I thought I was going to have. And so I better get on my horse if there's something that I want to do and say. So I'm feeling... I'm feeling the clock ticking on that. So I'm trying to be better. People ask me all the time how I stare at the news every day. And the answer is from that person, Sue Gordon, in what she had to say in this conversation. To listen to the whole thing, scan the QR code on your screen or download the best people wherever you get your podcast. One more break. We'll be right back.

Thank you so much for letting us into your homes tonight. We are grateful. Hey, take a breath. You've been moving all day, scrolling, answering, landing. But for the next few seconds, you get quiet. Now imagine warm light, a place where your shoulders finally drop and you feel like a kid again. Never lose that feeling. Never lose your splash. Visit Lauderdale.