Trump: Ex-Prince Andrew arrest is "very sad" and "a shame"

Subscribe to MSNOW Premium on Apple Podcasts for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content to all of MSNOW's original podcasts, including the chart-topping series The Best People with Nicole Wallace, Why Is This Happening, Main Justice, and more. Plus, new episodes of all your favorite MSNOW shows ad-free, and ad-free listening to all of Rachel Maddow's original series, including Rachel Maddow Presents Burn Order. Subscribe to MSNOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hey, everybody. Good evening from Los Angeles. I'm Jacob Soberoff in again for Chris Hayes. Donald Trump is the most powerful man in the world. And all last year, he used that power to try and stop the release of the Epstein files. In fact, you might remember this story from former Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene. One day, I get a phone call from the president since September And he is so mad at me and he's yelling at me and he's angry at me. And the fact that he's like, you're supporting Rand Paul Jr. And he's chewing me out for signing my name on Thomas Massey's discharge petition to release the Epstein files. And I'm trying to tell him, Mr. President, they say you did nothing wrong. This needs to come out. And so we're having this argument. and he tells me on this phone call, he's like, Marjorie, my friends will get hurt. My friends will get hurt. Well, today, the man palling it up with Donald and Melania Trump. In this very photograph, the disgraced former Prince Andrew was arrested in the United Kingdom for misconduct in public office, arrested on his 66th birthday, accused of sharing state secrets with Jeffrey Epstein over email, an alleged crime that came to light only after the release of the Epstein files. Authorities are being tight-lipped, but according to reporting from The Guardian and the BBC, emails inside those files showed that while Andrew was a trade envoy for the United Kingdom, he was forwarding documentation on his work and travels to Epstein. That's a violation of the nation's Official Secrets Act. It's punishable by life in prison. Andrew was seen leaving the police station this evening in the back of a black car. You see him right there. After being questioned for 12 hours by police, King Charles III was reportedly not informed of his brother's arrest ahead of time. But in a statement, this is what the king said, quote, what now follows is the full, fair, and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and cooperation. Let me state clearly, the law must take its course. Andrew has denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, but this is the second time that he has faced public accountability for that relationship. He's no longer a prince, no longer the Duke of York. He now faces trial under the name Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, which he adopted last year when he was stripped of all of his royal titles by his brother, the king, a measure Charles was compelled to take as Andrew grew increasingly defensive about those ties to Epstein. But you were staying at the house of a convicted sex offender. It was a convenient place to stay. Witnesses say they saw many young girls coming and going at the time. There is video footage of Epstein accompanied by young girls, and you were there staying in his house, catching up with friends. I never, I mean, if they were, then I wasn't a party to any of that. I never saw them. One of Epstein's accusers, Virginia Roberts, has made allegations against you. She was very specific about that night. She described dancing with you and you profusely sweating and that she went on to have baths, possibly. There's a slight problem with the sweating because I have a peculiar medical condition, which is that I don't sweat. A peculiar medical condition where he doesn't sweat. Well, as the Sun tabloid in London put it this evening, now he's sweating. Andrew also became a topic in Congress this month after new images of him with an apparently underage girl surfaced in the Epstein files. And Congressman Ted Lieu demanded to know why the Department of Justice did not investigate the former prince or another prominent politician you may know who was mentioned repeatedly in those same files. These two photos, please put the photos back up. But these two photos staring you in the face are evidence of a crime and more than enough evidence to predicate an investigation against former Prince Andrew. So I ask you, Attorney General Pambandi, why did you shut down this investigation last July and why have you not prosecuted former Prince Andrew? I don't believe you asked Merrick Garland these questions when he was Attorney General. Like former Prince Andrew, Donald Trump attended various parties with Jeffrey Epstein. I want to know, were there any underage girls at that party or at any party that Trump attended with Jeffrey Epstein? This is so ridiculous and that they are trying to deflect from all the great things Donald Trump has done. All the great things Donald Trump has done. What a contrast with British law enforcement. as they arrest a royal sibling for the first time since Elizabeth I was arrested by her sister in 1554. And America's top law enforcement official deflects and denies and delays justice for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein. Trump did that too today, fielding a question about Andrew's arrest and making it, guess what, about himself. People in this country at some point, associates of Jeffrey Epstein, will wind up in handcuffs too. Well, you know, I'm the expert in a way because I've been totally exonerated. That's very nice. I can actually speak about it very nicely. I think it's a shame. It's really interesting because nobody used to speak about Epstein when he was alive, but now they speak. But I'm the one that can talk about it because I've been totally exonerated. I did nothing. Oh, man, the King of England's message today was the law must take its course. What was the American president's message today? I did nothing wrong. Stop talking about Epstein already. He fought the release of these files, files that other countries are now using to actually enforce the rule of law. While Trump's government uses selective releases and redactions, along with talking points and performed outrage, seemingly anything to ensure that some people in Epstein's orbit can avoid accountability yet again. Joining me now with the latest is Inez de la Quintara, MSNOW International correspondent. Inez, thanks for joining tonight. The tabloids we saw in that headline about sweating are having quite a field day with this. Bring us up to speed on the latest. Yeah, so, I mean, I will say in many ways it feels like this had been a long time coming. We have known for years about Andrew's ties to Epstein. It's part of the reason the king or it is the reason why the king stripped him of all his royal titles back in the fall, why he was evicted from his royal residence, which was already a really remarkable step. We, you know, I think they're going to be when you look at those front pages from the tabloids, I think there are going to be real questions going forward as to the future of the monarchy and trust in the monarchy and what the king maybe knew and whether the royal family may have protected Andrew. We've seen in recent days the king getting heckled at some events with one man at one point yelling out, you know, how long have you known about Andrew and Epstein? And we did get that remarkable statement from King Charles today saying that the law must take its course. that I think goes to show that the monarchy going forward is going to want to show that it is an accountable institution and that it will be transparent. Now, in terms of what's next for Andrew, we do know he was released after 11 hours. He was released under investigation. So that means he wasn't actually charged, but he hasn't been exonerated either. And basically the investigation continues and he could be charged at a later date. It is honestly, that photo is so extraordinary. The look on his face says it all. These times are so incredibly unprecedented, at least in modern times. It's the first arrest of a senior royal. I said it. You saw in some of those headlines since 1647. What what lies ahead now for former Prince Andrew? I know he's out, but what will the next days and weeks portend? Yeah, I mean, we'll see if he gets charged. That is the big question here. And I will say there had been in recent days calls for him to be treated the same way as Peter Mendelsohn. So that was like the other big scandal engulfing the U.K. and specifically 10 Downing Street. Some real parallels there between everything that's going on with the royal family and what happened recently at 10 Downing Street. The scandal there having to do with Peter Mendelsohn, the former British ambassador to the U.K. He is believed to have potentially leaked market sensitive information to Epstein while he was a business secretary. So allegations that are very similar to what Andrew is being accused of. And Mendelssohn was put under criminal investigation. So there had been calls for Andrew to be treated the same way. We'll see what happens there. But I will say the British prime minister very much feared for his political future because he was responsible for appointing Mendelssohn. And two of his top aides had to resign over the scandal. So we've seen this big push for accountability here in the UK. We even heard it from the British prime minister earlier this week before Andrew was arrested, saying that basically no one is above the law. He says not even Andrew. He called on Andrew to testify before U.S. and U.K. authorities. And I will say this could just be the beginning in the U.K. So we know there are other investigations that are ongoing. There are nine different police forces across the country that are looking into Epstein, his associates and possible crimes they may have committed here in the U.K. And as I heard you say, there are calls for him to testify before authorities here. But is there any indication at all before I let you go that there's any cooperation with the Department of Justice in any of this? Not at the moment and they really have no way of compelling Andrew to testify Right So if he appears before the U Congress it would have to be on a voluntary basis It could be that the public pressure mounts to such an extent that he does decide to do so That would really be remarkable We see if the royal family maybe pressures him to do so, because, again, I think going forward, they're going to want to show transparency, accountability if they are to survive as an institution. So we'll see. But up until now, he has declined those calls for him to testify. All right. MSNOW Zanez de la Quintara, thank you so much for being here. And joining me now is MSNOW senior legal reporter Lisa Rubin. Lisa, oh boy. Let's first make clear what Inez said as well, that Andrew's been arrested. He hasn't been charged yet. This is arrest that is not about sexual assault or misconduct. It's about allegedly sharing secret information. But, but, but, but, it's a big but. It still comes about because of Andrew's presence in these Epstein files, correct? That's absolutely right. And in that respect, Prince Andrew, or the Andrew formerly known as Prince finds himself in a similar position to many other people, both abroad and here in the U.S., people who initially are looked at because of their social associations with Jeffrey Epstein, only to have other things about them come out upon further examination of the three million pages dumped upon us, Jacob, by the Department of Justice. And this is somewhat of a reversal, right, from 2022 when the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jeffrey Berman, said in his memoir that it was the British authorities that blocked his efforts to investigate Andrew and his Epstein ties here in the United States. Tables are turned now. I asked the same question. What are your sources telling you about if there's any indication or not of cooperation here between the U.S. and British authorities? Well, I want to go back to what you said about Jeff Berman in his memoir, because there are documents in the files that absolutely corroborate what Mr. Berman had said at the time. There were efforts made by the career prosecutors in his office to get a voluntary interview with Prince Andrew, and they engaged in protracted negotiations with UK lawyers representing him. Ultimately, they reached an impasse when those lawyers essentially said, you can appear on a video if you like, but he's not going to answer anything beyond your written questions. And at that point, they tried through diplomatic channels to use something called a mutual legal assistance treaty to compel Prince Andrew to cooperate with the investigation. Ultimately, that broke down because at the time Queen Elizabeth II was still alive. Andrew is, as many of our viewers know, was her favorite son. He was the baby. He was beloved by her. And the diplomatic efforts to get that MLAT to be honored just broke apart between the State Department and the Home Office. Now, of course, we're in a very different scenario where the King of England is willing to allow The arrest of his brother has stripped him of his royal titles. And so I do think that cooperation could be likely on the British side. The question is, does this Department of Justice have the appetite to do it, Jacob? Yeah, I mean, and just based on Pam Bondi's performance in those congressional hearings, or just generally when she talks about this ever, ever, no, I think is the answer. I was going to ask you if it's optimistic to expect anything at all like this to happen in the United States under this administration. I assume your answer is, yeah, be totally, ridiculously, overly optimistic. I think a lot depends on what Congress shows through its own investigation. You know, we have heard repeatedly from members of House Oversight and House Judiciary that they're not done with this. We have seen that they are going to hold a field hearing in Palm Beach, that they are going to continue with depositions. Depending on what those depositions show and further excavation of the files show, there could be such pressure on the Department of Justice to reopen investigations of particular people. But as it stands at this moment right now, I think that's an overly sanguine view of this Department of Justice right now. Lisa, before I let you go, so who would those particular people be? Well, I mean, I think Andrew was certainly one of them. And I think there are other people whose associations with Epstein. You know, Jacob, to my mind, we are all sort of missing a major story here and continuing to focus on the rich and famous. obviously at a time of tremendous economic inequality, there's something very satisfying about focusing on people like Steve Tisch or Peter Mandelson or Prince Andrew. But to my mind, the people in these files who appear to be the most culpable are the network of enablers around Jeffrey Epstein who facilitated his lifestyle for as long as it did. The drivers, the pilots, the secretaries, the interior designers, even the hairdressers at a salon here in New York who routinely saw the girls. New York Magazine had reporting yesterday about a network of gynecologists who routinely saw underage women that he referred to them. Those are the sorts of people that I think we ought to be looking more closely at when we interrogate these documents. They are people whose names are not household names. They are often middle-class people trying to eke out a life for themselves and their families, some of whom are first-generation immigrants. But if deterrence in the criminal justice system means anything, it means we've got to look at those people too. Just extraordinary, honestly, to see these developments out of the United Kingdom today. And I'm so glad to talk about them with you, Lisa Rubin. Appreciate it. Thanks. Thank you. All right, guys, huge night, a lot more to come, including an inside look at that luxury jet that Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski are flying around in. You are not going to believe the pictures. Plus, Stacey Abrams on Trump's election interference in Georgia. I cannot wait to talk to her. But first, Congressman Dave Minn on the new video of the Wexner deposition and the arrest of the former Prince Andrew. That's coming up right after a short break. Don't go anywhere. As President Trump continues implementing his ambitious agenda, follow along with the MSNOW newsletter, Project 47. You'll get weekly updates sent straight to your inbox with expert analysis on the administration's latest actions and how they're affecting the American people. The American people are basically telling the president that they are not OK with any of this. Sign up for the Project 47 newsletter at MS.now slash Project 47. On a day when a member of the British monarchy was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office as a result of the release of the Epstein files, We are getting a first look at the deposition of former Epstein associate and benefactor Les Wexner, the billionaire former CEO of Victoria's Secret. Wexner gave closed door testimony to several Democratic members and Republican staffers on the House Oversight Committee as part of its Epstein investigation yesterday. He said he had no knowledge of Epstein's criminal activity and was, quote, duped by a, quote, con man. Questions included whether Wexner had ever spent time with Epstein and Donald Trump together. I would go to some of the Victoria's Secret fashion shows. It was very important to the brand. At some of the fashion shows, Jeffrey was there and some Trump was there. And I remember because Trump would always introduce himself to me. And I always thought it was kind of odd that he was at the fashion show because he had nothing to do with fashion. So the coincidence of them being together at an event, it could have been that, but I have no specific recollection. Congressman Dave Minn is a Democrat of California. He was inside that deposition yesterday, and he joins me now. Congressman, it's great to see you. Thank you so much for being here. I want to talk about Les Wexner and his deposition, but just broadly speaking, what extraordinary news out of the United Kingdom today? What's your reaction to the arrest of former Prince Andrew? I think it's about damn time. And it's good to see that at least one country out there is taking seriously the idea that no one is above the law. And I think that's an important principle, both in the United Kingdom and here in the United States. And as has been said by others, if princes can go to jail, so can presidents. And I think there's a lot of evidence to suggest that at the very least, there ought to be criminal investigations into some of the most powerful people here in the United States, including President Trump. About whether Trump and Epstein, you know, Wexner had seen them together at all. His response to you all was the coincidence of them being together at an event. It could have been that. But I have no specific recollection is what he said in his puffy vest. What were your main takeaways from sitting there across from Les Wexner and his deposition? Look, he's 88 years old, so you give him some benefit of the doubt for not remembering things, but it was just really not credible what he said to us. He repeatedly said that he saw no evil, he heard no evil, that as far as he knew, Jeffrey Epstein was just a man who was in two very serious relationships, first with Ava Anderson and then with Ghislaine Maxwell, and that he'd never seen young women or girls. And yet there was a mountain of evidence, documents that we presented to Mr. Wexner, very clearly illustrating that he should have been aware of young girls, that he knew about Jeffrey Epstein's reputation. And in fact, one document that was presented to Mr. Wexner was an entry that he sent to Jeffrey Epstein's notorious birthday book where he wrote, Dear Jeffrey, I wanted to get you what you want. So here it is. And then he drew a couple of breasts, women's breasts. And he said, Happy birthday, your friend Leslie. Now, for someone who claimed that Jeffrey Epstein was essentially a saint, that is just preposterous. And when we asked him about it, he said something in effect of Jeffrey was a bachelor. I thought it would be something that he'd appreciate. But again, really contradicted what he had said earlier. And it's just hard to believe what Mr. Wexman is saying, given that everyone else out there has said that Jeffrey Epstein was well known to be a player, that he had these massive parties with women and young girls. kind of an open secret. And again, Wexner, I don't know why he took the stand, but it felt very clearly like he was lying to us. I'm glad you brought that message up. But there was another one I want to ask you about. One question that Wexner was asked about was this this email that Bloomberg obtained in which Wexner sent to Epstein, I think, days before he reported the jail in 2008. You see it right here. It reads, Abigail told me the result. All I can say is I feel sorry. You violated your own number one rule. Always be careful. Oof. Yeah. What did he say about that email? Yeah. And I'm recalling here, but I think he said he didn't remember that email. And that was one of the many instances where he just seemed to have forgotten things that were in plain writing. But one thing I'd note about that email, it again contradicted something he told us. he told us that he cut off all contact with Jeffrey Epstein in 2007 and that is one clear instance after 2007 where he communicating directly with Jeffrey Epstein So again it seemed to me that he was lying and lying and lying about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein And whether or not he remembers it or he doesn't remember it, the email reads, I feel sorry you violated your own number one rule. Always be careful. This is about him reporting to prison, to jail. It's right there on your screen. All you got to do is take a look at it. Congressman Dave Minn, I know Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton are coming up. I'm sure we're going to be talking to you a lot more. I appreciate you being here. Thanks so much. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Take care. You got it. Guys, a very, very special tour of that luxury government jet I was telling you about. The Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski are taking across the country. You are not going to want to miss it. It's coming up next. OK, I'm excited about this one. We've got new reporting tonight from our MSNOW colleagues, Carol Ennig and Ken Delaney, and that Donald Trump's high flying FBI director, Kash Patel, who has been known to take the Bureau's Gulfstream super fancy jet around the country. He took off today bound for the Winter Olympics in Milan, quote, to watch one of his favorite sports, men's ice hockey. And based on the hourly flight costs, quote, Patel's trip to Milan is likely to cost as much as $75,000. And that certainly seems like a hefty tab for American taxpayers to pick up, but oh man, it is peanuts compared to the plain Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, the one she wants to buy. We told you last week about Noem's use of what's called a luxury 737 Max jet with a private cabin in back, leased by the government that she and her deputy, Trump confidant and accused sexual harasser, Corey Lewandowski, have been using to fly around. NBC News reports that ICE, quote, is seeking approval to purchase the plane for $70 million, saying, quote, it would be used for deportations and travel for cabinet officials, according to two officials involved in the request. All right, check this out. We are getting a look inside the jet thanks to a virtual tour link that we've been able to get. So let's take a look. That's the outside of the plane. Welcome aboard the VVIP 737-8 Max Jet. Let's go into the hallway here. We're going to do this together, guys. Paneling is quite nice. This is, I think, maybe a powder room on the left-hand side that the secretary may use. Somebody said there are bidets on board. I don't know if you flip up the toilet seat there, that's a bidet or just a toilet seat, but nice looking either way. And I don't know if it's real wood or laminate or whatever, but pretty fancy looking. This is the kitchen, the galley kitchen. When you go in here, Perfect stainless steel appliances. Are those mixed nuts up there? There's a microwave. I don't even have a microwave in my house. I swear to God. Two fridges, it looks like. Let's go back out into the hallway here and head back towards the back of the plane. Those are all captain's chairs. They look like nice leather. I don't think it's pleather. If there are deportees there, I don't think they're going to be using the wet bar that is in the corner of the aircraft. There's a couple of high stools there. that maybe they'll sit on. But these captain's chairs are quite luxurious. When they lay down, I think that they're seating for 18 sleeps, 14 people, if I have this right. Yeah, for 70 million bucks. That's what you get. You also get some of those pillows, which are nice. Those are nice pillows. They got tables there to play cards or have meetings. Nice big TV. Check out the painting on the wall. What does it say? Jet baby. Okay. Another bathroom. Is this a bidet? No, that's a toilet. But there's a shower. By the way, somebody told me the First Lady plane until recently didn't even have a single shower in it. There's one. What's in this room? Oh, this is bedroom number one with a throw blanket and some more nice pillows. I think this is the master bedroom. Welcome to Kristi Noem's bedroom, guys. Didn't ever think that I would say that on national television. Another throw blanket. I do not know what the thread count of the sheets are, but I do know, look at that, that's a little reading lamp next to the bed in case there's a shower. official business to be done there, and someone can sit there in that chair and hang out with her. And then I guess, third bathroom? Third bathroom. What's in this one? Another shower. So the old first ladies didn't get a single one. Kristi Noem gets two, ladies and gentlemen. That is the plane that Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski have been flying all around the world in to visit exotic locales for boat rides and camel rides and whatever else they are doing. And they want you to believe they need it for deportations. I think we know by now what Gnome's word is worth, and it is a lot less than 70 million taxpayer dollars. Subscribe to MS Now Premium on Apple Podcasts for early access, add free listening and bonus content to all of MS Now's original podcasts, including the chart topping series, The Best People with Nicole Wallace, Why Is This Happening, Main Justice, and more. Plus new episodes of all your favorite MS Now shows add free and add free listening to all of Rachel Maddow's original series, including Rachel Maddow presents Burn Order. Subscribe to MS Now Premium on Apple Podcasts. We are now just 257 days from the midterm elections, and Donald Trump hit the campaign trail today in Georgia with two main themes. First theme, my tariffs are amazing. You're welcome. And we need to stop Democrats from voting so Republicans can stay in power for 50 years. Trump, whose popularity is as low as ever in his second term, knows he has got a big problem on the issue of affordability. And in Georgia, he visited a factory and a local business to try and rally the faithful, all while harping on, you guessed it, his conspiracy theory about the 2020 election. This coming after his FBI raided and seized ballots from the election office of the state's largest county, Fulton County, and after Trump suggested that the state should take over elections in that county. This is the campaign message he delivered at the Varsity Restaurant today in Rome, Georgia. And they came in, they took all those ballots, all those crooked ballots were taken. Let's see what happens. And the Democrats are fighting like hell. They don't want anyone to see those ballots. Did you see that? Let's see what happens. It's a disgrace, but what are you going to do? We're cleaning it up. Who likes voter ID? Stacey Abrams is a former Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia. She is the founder, of Fair Fight Action and the host of Crooked Media's podcast, Assembly Required. And she joins me now. Stacey, it's so good to see you. Your name came up. We've been watching this thing pretty closely at the Fulton County Election Board meeting when one of the members aligned with Donald Trump said, and this is a quote, we are here because our election has been in question for a long time. And she brought up your run for governor in 2018. Your reaction to what's been going on at the Board of Elections? I think it's important for us to understand that this is not about 2020. This is a pretext. The 2020 election has been investigated by Democrats, Republicans, by every department you can imagine. They know that election was free and fair, but what they think they can do is use this as a pretext to seize records to which the federal government is not entitled. And they will use those records to challenge voters, to intimidate them and to preemptively disqualify them because Georgia has one of the preeminent Senate races in 2026. This is also a test run for what they've tried to do across the country, which is force states to abandon their constitutional responsibility for managing elections and give that information to a federal government that is in the midst of an authoritarian takeover. And so while they will use the easy layup of saying something about 2020, this is all about 26 and 28 and their attempt to destroy democracy. Yeah, you're so right. What he said today, again, they came in and they took all those ballots. All those crooked ballots were taken. They love a pretext. They loved a pretext when they went out to all these different cities and said that they needed to invoke potentially the Insurrection Act because riotous mobs were in the streets protesting over immigration policies. I saw myself that that was a complete fallacy. As it comes to elections in Georgia, there's been concern that the state board was going to try to take over, at the president's suggestion, Fulton County's elections board. But that didn't actually happen today. What's your level of concern that that potentially could still happen? Well, Jacob, what you just laid out is an important piece of knowledge for us to all hold. This is a country that is in the midst of an authoritarian takeover. There are 10 steps to authoritarianism, and we have hit all 10 steps. But step 10 is destroying democracy for everyone. And you do that by changing the rules, by redistricting. You do that by intimidating voters, by disqualifying voters. You do that by seizing the operations of elections. And while they may have failed today to take over Fulton County's elections, they're not going to stop. But I think it's important for people to see Georgia not as a singularity, but as an example. Georgia has had this level of voter suppression attempted before. And we have been able to fight it back, which is why they're so angry. But it's also why Pam Bondi said to Governor Tim Walz, if you will just hand over your voting records, we'll pull ICE out. We have a program that we call the 10 Steps Campaign. And we encourage people to go to 10stepscampaign.org because this is all of a piece. You don't need to declare martial law. You just need to break our election system if you want to stay in power. And this is the entire goal of this administration and this Republican regime. There was this extraordinary reporting yesterday from our colleagues here at MS Now about the fact that they could end up having DHS agents, you know, long rumored. But now it appears to be a plan that is in at least potentially in motion outside of polling places at locations around the country during the midterm elections. It was something that every one of these Democratic governors had said to me that they were concerned about as I went from state to state during the ICE raids. It's so interesting to see how it's been playing out in Georgia. All of those people showing up at that John Ossoff rally after the Fulton County raids was really an extraordinary thing to witness I wonder what you looking at now as we get closer to these midterms And, you know, to me, it certainly looks like people all these days out are showing up because of what's happening in Fulton County at this very minute. It's what we saw in 2018 when we added 800,000 voters who had not previously participated. That wasn't all voter registration. We had an increase in voter registration, but at 800,000 new people who voted in the Democratic side of the tally in 2018, those were people who watched the governor, then secretary of state, attempt to throttle their vote. Voter suppression has three parts. Can you register and stay on the rolls? Can you cast a ballot? And does that ballot get counted? And the more we watch this Republican authoritarian regime try to take away the right to vote, the more people are going to fight to use it. And I think it's really important that they do three things. One, call your senators and tell them to vote against the SAVE Act, especially if you live in Maine. Susan Collins, who knows better, has now signaled that she is willing to support a law that would disenfranchise millions of voters and put the responsibility on voters instead of the government. Number two, we need folks to support voting rights organizations wherever they are. And number three, make sure you vote in primaries. They're not going to wait until November to try to steal elections. They're not going to wait until November to break the machinery. They're going to practice during primaries. So we've got to show up in force every time there's a vote so we can make certain they hear our voices. Well, I'll be doing my part. I'll be out there at the Texas primary election in a couple of weeks time. And, you know, we'll be watching that very closely. Stacey Abrams, it's so good to see you. Thanks for being here. Thank you, Jacob. Stacy's podcast, Assembly Required, is available now from Crooked Media. And by the way, everybody, starting February 28th on this very network, you will be able to find the best of Crooked podcasts right here on MS Now. I'm so stoked about this. Saturday is 9 p.m. Eastern time. Be sure to catch it. And just next hour, by the way, the family of Virginia Guffrey, the Elaine Epstein accuser who said she was trafficked to former Prince Andrew, will join Jen Psaki. Do not miss that. But first, Ben Rhodes is coming up right here on All In on Trump's Board of Peace speech. That's next. Donald Trump's so-called Board of Peace held its first meeting in Washington today, and somebody was certainly bored. The president appeared to snooze through a large portion of the proceedings, which was at least a little surprising, considering the whole endeavor was this guy's idea. It is basically Trump's attempt to counter-program the United Nations, where foreign leaders are invited to Washington to kiss his ring. And yet the president only really perked up when it was time for the meet and greet portion of all of this, set to, what else? YMCA by the village people. And of course, of course, when it was his turn to speak, too. President Pena of Paraguay is here. President. President, thank you very much. Young, handsome guy. It's always nice to be young and handsome. Doesn't mean we have to like you. I don't like young, handsome men. Women, I like. Men, I don't have any interest. I don't like young, handsome men. Women, I like. Man, I don't have any interest. To be fair, there was some actual substance today. Trump took the opportunity to do a little more saber-rattling as he inches towards a potentially disastrous and illegal war with Iran. Iran is a hotspot right now. They're meeting and they have a good relationship with the representatives of Iran. And, you know, good talks are being had. it's proven to be over the years not easy to make a meaningful deal with her. We have to make a meaningful deal. Otherwise, bad things happen. But we have to make a meaningful deal. Nobody could have had, you couldn't have peace in the Middle East. So now we may have to take it a step further or we may not. Maybe we're going to make a deal. You're going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days. Ben Rhodes served as Deputy National Security Advisor under President Obama. He is now the co-host of Pod Save the World from Crooked Media, and he joins me now. OK, wow, Ben. Trump keeps I could talk to you about his preferences, men or women or whatever, but let's talk about Iran. He keeps talking about this deal. We had a deal before. He tore the deal up. I'm sorry to ask, but do you have any idea what the White House is even asking for? No. The only people who've been clear about their asking for is Bibi Netanyahu when he came to see Trump and he basically demanded that Iran get rid of its entire nuclear program, all of its ballistic missile program, all of its support for various groups across the Middle East, which are things that the Iranians have said that they're not going to do. Look, what we do know is that the United States has a massive amount of U.S. military force in the region poised to strike Iran. I'd say it's ironic, but it's kind of perfectly on the nose for the Trump foreign policy that he's convening a board of peace comprised of a bunch of leaders who are autocratic or who are corrupt and in some kind of business with his family at the precise time that he's preparing to potentially launch a war. And this could be of a larger scale than even his bombing of Iran last year. And really, Jacob, as you point out, this would be illegal. There's been no debate in Congress about this. He has not explained to the American people why he might be about to bomb Iran, why we're spending billions of dollars to have that military force mass in the Middle East. It's all just kind of open question here. And we're waiting on tinderhooks to see what one man Donald Trump decides to do when he finishes his board of peace meeting. Is he going to get us into another war? If he wakes up from the meeting. And I am glad, actually, that you mentioned this, Ben. The administration has, of course, already they have already struck Iran. and he claimed again today that he eliminated their capabilities to produce a nuclear weapon. What's your read on the reality of that? Jacob, if he eliminated their capabilities to produce a nuclear weapon, then why are we negotiating with them about their nuclear program? And this is what's so absurd about this. He fired the intelligence analyst who reported that he did not destroy the nuclear program in that strike. And look, I mean, I will say when we negotiated the nuclear deal in the Obama years, one of the things we said is this is a better way to verifiably eliminate Iran's ability to build a nuclear weapon. You can do that better through diplomacy than by bombing them. Bombing them cannot destroy all of their nuclear infrastructure. It incentivizes them to not allow inspections into their country. Now, here we are back at the drawing board. But again, what's so complicated about this, Jacob, is he said he was doing this weeks ago. He said when there are protests, help is on the way. And he framed it as military force that would be in support of protesters. Then thousands of protesters got killed. We hear nothing about protesters anymore. We just hear about nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles. We have no idea why he's doing this or what the objectives would be. If he removes the Iranian regime, you could have millions of refugees. You could have an implosion in that country. And we still just don't know what this is all about. And to be clear, what he threatened at this event about, quote unquote, peace is war with Iran. And yet there is no articulation of goals. There is no articulation of strategy. They are not even been bothering to lie to the public about it. No, they're not even bothering to kind of, you know, compass some pretext or, you know, cook up some intelligence or anything. They're just massing an enormous amount of military force. And this, where's Congress? I mean, under the Constitution, they're supposed to have the authority to take us to war or to approve the president taking this kind of military action. This has become so routinized that the U.S. military is kind of the personal extension of Donald Trump's power that it's not even unusual that we are having no debate about this. But I hope people in Congress step up and force this debate because we could look up in a few weeks here and be involved in Iran is much bigger than Iraq was. Right. Iran is a country of 90 million people. And so, you know, the Board of Peace, I think, is exposed to be the kind of vanity project that it is, that it has nothing to do, by the way, with these Iran negotiations either. It's not somehow playing some role in support of those negotiations. It's just kind of a venue for Donald Trump to live out his fantasy camp of being the leader of the world. And you have such a unique vantage point on all this because the Obama administration of which you were a part inherited two regime change wars in the Middle East and the consequences, I think, catastrophic. You were there. What are the lessons that you learned then that that administration learned that this administration is ignoring at this very minute? The lessons are that the consequences of military action can be very unpredictable and almost certainly go beyond what you expect at the outset. Right. And sometimes these things can look good at the beginning. So when we invaded Iraq under the Bush administration, you know, first few months, maybe it looks like this is going well. We knocked over Saddam Hussein. Well, we were still there 10 years later during the Obama administration. And then even when we withdrew from there, we had to go back in because ISIS, which was, you know, an outgrowth of the insurgency in that country against U.S. presidents in part, became a terrorist threat. And so if you remove the Iranian regime militarily, I don't like the Iranian regime. I would like to see the Iranian people change their own government. But if we remove that militarily, what takes its place? Even the supporters of the war, the Lindsey Graham's of this world cannot explain what is the government that is going to take the place of the Iranian regime in a country of 90 million people? Because what you could have is civil war. What you could have is implosion. What you could have is millions of refugees destabilizing that region even more than it is. And we're not having that conversation right now. All we're seeing is aircraft carriers, U.S. military moving to the region without an understanding of what they're there to do. Ben Rhodes, thank you, man. It's great to see you tonight. I appreciate you being here. Good to see you. Ben's podcast, Pod Save the World, is available wherever you get your podcasts. And as I mentioned earlier, starting on February 28th, they will also be available right here on MSNOW MS Now when we bring you the very best from Crooked Media, Saturday nights at 9 p.m. Eastern. That is all in on this Thursday night. Start your day with the MS Now daily newsletter. Sharp insights from voices you trust, standout moments from your favorite shows, and fresh perspectives from experts shaping the news. Sign up at MS.now.