MS NOW Highlights – July 3 — Transcript

In for Ari Melber, we are on the cusp of the nation's 250th birthday, and while it should be the most magnificent celebration of America in our history, it has become a sad punchline. We are left with an underwhelming, overly partisan county fair that no one is going to, and for a time couldn't even if they wanted. That fair was shut down today due to extreme heat. The Capitol looks like a demolition zone from the murky reflecting pool to the crater where the east wing of the White House used to be. And tonight, Donald Trump is speaking at Mount Rushmore, a place he has mused about putting his own face next to some of America's greatest presidents. It is likely a preview of tomorrow night's festivities, when the national fireworks will have to wait until after Trump finishes another long, winding speech. It feels like we are being robbed of a unique moment of national unity. We are being robbed of a unique moment of national unity by a president who cannot fathom a celebration that does not revolve around him. And it comes as we are learning more about the unprecedented extent to which Trump is enriching himself off his public position, a level of wealth the New York Times calls unimaginable for any leader of a liberal democracy, particularly a sitting American president. Frankly, it's almost Putin-esque. And it is not just him. New disclosures reveal that Vice President J.D. It is not just him. New disclosures reveal that Vice President J.D. Vance and First Lady Melania Trump both took in millions more last year than the year before. We also just learned that Trump made 21,000 stock trades last year, including hundreds of stocks that he picked up on his Liberation Day. You know, the day when tariffs sent markets into a tailspin? But guess what? The markets and the president's portfolio shot up in value days later after he announced a pause in most of those tariffs and said, quote, it's a great time to buy. A White House spokeswoman says neither the president nor his family has ever engaged or will ever engage in conflicts of interest. Yeah. What do other Republicans say about all these unprecedented corruption allegations? Well, not much. After each new revelation, those who were once concerned about Hunter Biden selling his paintings, they've remained awfully quiet. And now, the biggest celebration of America's founding, of the first time we stood up and said no king will rule us, is being hijacked by a president who seems obsessed with making a kingly fortune. Joining me now is Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of the Watchdog Group, State Democracy Defenders Fund, and the democracy defender. You're the democracy defender, Norm. You're the best at it. All right. I want to read something here because I think it's really important to, for our viewers to get an idea of just the level of what we're talking about here on corruption. And this is about the financial disclosures that we've seen, a staggering grift on a scale that we've never seen before. You said, quote, make no mistake, his billions in personal profit. You said, quote, make no mistake, his billions in personal profit don't come out of thin air. Every dollar extracted from these schemes comes at a cost imposed directly on the American people, whether through weaker consumer protections, trust sold to the highest bidder or otherwise. Contextualize that for us, because when people see these stories about grift, they go, I don't know if it directly affects me, but it very much does so. We're really seeing the corruption narrative take hold now on this administration, and that is because Donald Trump has monetized the Oval Office to the tune of over $2 billion, Luke. And my point, wearing my Democracy Defenders Action hat in that case, my point was when you look at these enormous When you look at these enormous sums, someone has to be on the other side, and too often it's the American people losing money. Take the Donald Trump meme coin, over $600 million into Donald Trump's pocket. But guess what? The value of that coin has cratered. It's down 95%. People have lost huge sums of money based on that. That's hurting them and benefiting him. And the same thing is true across the full range of these corrupt activities that have landed him with the same public approval rating as Nixon at the very bottom of his corruption scandals. It's so remarkable because I think when you see these numbers that are flying around and people see $2 billion, the president has enriched himself in just the last year, the vice president making millions, the first lady making millions. This is something that is not akin to what we experience in America, especially over the course of our republic here. It's something that is very much more aligned with oligarchs and sort of authoritarian countries where in order to do anything, you have to pay back a bribe to who's in charge. Can you talk about on the founding of our 250th birthday as we approach this, the founding of our country and coming to this 250th birthday, just how uniquely un-American this is. Well, we've never seen anything like this in the history of our country. And indeed, even if you look around the world at dictatorships and despots, you struggle to find this kind of profit-taking out of the public interest and into a president's own pocket. Public interest and into a president's own pockets. Take another example. Part of that windfall for the president is his crypto company, World Liberty Financial. Well, you had an Emirati royal who made a secret investment. And they gave him the jet. Well, the jet is from Qatar. But we will come to the jet. That's bad enough to the U.A.E. makes this secret. Add enough to the UAE makes this secret investment, $500 million in World Liberty Financial. That's a Trump family business, but the cronyism doesn't stop there. To your comparison, how un-American this is, the Whitcoff family, Trump's special envoy, his family is involved in this profit-taking too. So you should not have a president who's regulating, or as the case may be failing to regulate crypto, while himself, his cronies, his families, his associates in and out of government making huge sums. That's not the American idea. I want to switch gears here because we've been fixated in Washington about this story regarding the reflecting pool. And a lot of people at home think it's not that big a deal, but it is a very big deal because it plays into the authoritarian playbook. Essentially that don't believe what your eyes see. I've been down there. I've seen the allergy in there. I've seen that it was a complete. Down there. I've seen the allergy in there. I've seen that it was a complete debacle to try and repaint the bottom of it. The president and his people put a fence around it. And you now have a client who's a former Olympian, a gentleman by the name of David Hearn, who was actually charged because allegedly he took a piece of the bottom of the reflecting pool. Right there, we could put on the screen that Thursday afternoon, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, whose recent prosecutorial track record has been as embarrassing as it is political, announced that Hearn has been charged with one felony. Been as embarrassing as it is political, announced that Hearn has been charged with one felony count of destruction of property in D.C. Superior Court. I know you can't speak too much about this case, but on its face, it looks just as ridiculous as the ham sandwich one from earlier in the year. Well, we'll try the case in court, Luke. I will say Davy Hearn is innocent. These charges are outrageous. It should be alarming to every American that this kind of thing can happen. You have an administration that is trying to shift blame with a concocted narrative. Fortunately, we have a justice system where evidence matters, not these type of press.

county fair that no one is going to, and for a time couldn't even if they wanted. That fair was shut down today due to extreme heat. The Capitol looks like a demolition zone from the murky reflecting pool.

to the crater where the east wing of the White House used to be. And tonight, Donald Trump is speaking at Mount Rushmore, a place he has mused about putting his own face next to some of America's greatest president. It is likely a preview

of tomorrow night's festivities, when the national fireworks will have to wait until after Trump finishes another long, winding speech. It feels like we are being robbed of a unique moment of national unity. We are being robbed of a unique

moment of national unity by a president who cannot fathom a celebration that does not revolve around him. And it comes as we are learning more about the unprecedented extent to which Trump is enriching himself off his public position, a level of wealth the

New York Times calls unimaginable for any leader of a liberal democracy, particularly a sitting American president. Frankly, it's almost Putin -esque. And it is not just him.

New disclosures reveal that Vice President J .D. It is not just him. New disclosures reveal that Vice President J .D. Vance and First Lady Melania Trump both took in millions more last year than the year before. We also just learned that Trump made

21 ,000 stock trades last year, including hundreds of stocks that he picked up on his Liberation Day. You know the day when tariffs sent markets into a tailspin? But guess what? The markets and the president's portfolio shot up

in value data. markets in the president's portfolio shot up in value days later after he announced a pause in most of those tariffs and said, quote, it's a great time to buy. A White House spokeswoman says neither the president nor

his family has ever engaged or will ever engage in conflicts of interest. Yeah. What do other Republicans say about all these unprecedented corruption allegations? Well, not much. After and corruption allegations. Well, not much. After each new revelation, those who were once concerned about Hunter Biden selling his paintings,

they've remained awfully quiet. And now, the biggest celebration of America's founding, of the first time we stood up and said no king will rule us, is being hijacked by a president who seems obsessed with making a kingly fortune. Joining

me now is Norm Eisen, co -founder and executive chair of the Watchdog. Group, State Democracy Defenders Fund, and the democracy defender. You're the democracy defender, Norm. You're the best at it. All right. I want to read something here because

I think it's really important to, for our viewers to get an idea of just the level of what we're talking about here on corruption. And this is about the financial disclosures that we've seen, a staggering grift on a scale that we've never seen

before. You said, quote, make no mistake, his billions in personal profit. You said, quote, make no mistake, his billions in personal profit don't come out of thin air. Every dollar extracted from these schemes comes at a cost imposed directly on the American people,

whether through weaker consumer protections, trust sold to the highest bidder or otherwise. Contextualize that for us, because when people see these stories about grift, they go, I don't know if it directly affects me, but it very much does so. We're really

seeing the corruption narrative take hold now on this. administration, and that is because Donald Trump has monetized the Oval Office to the tune of over $2 billion, Luke. And my point, wearing my Democracy Defenders Action hat in that case, my

point was when you look at these enormous When you look at these enormous sums, someone has to be on the other side, and too often it's the American people losing money. Take the Donald Trump meme coin, over $600 million into Donald Trump's pocket. But guess what? The value of that

coin has cratered. It's down 95%. People have lost huge sums of money based on that. That's hurting them and benefiting him. And the same thing is true across the full range of these corrupt activities that have landed him with the same public approval rating as Nixon

at the very bottom of his corruption scandals. It's so remarkable because I think when you see these numbers that are flying around and people see $2 billion, the president has enriched himself in just the last year, the vice president making millions, the first

lady making millions. This is something that is not akin to what we experience in America, especially over the course of our republic here. It's something that is very much more aligned with oligarchs and sort of authoritarian countries where in order to do anything, you

have to pay back a bribe to who's in charge. Can you talk about on the founding of our 250th birthday as we approach this, the founding of our country and coming to this 250th? birthday, just how uniquely un -American this is. Well, we've never seen anything like this

in the history of our country. And indeed, even if you look around the world at dictatorships and despots, you struggle to find this kind of profit -taking out of the public interest and into a president's own pocket. public interest

and into a president's own pockets. Take another example. Part of that windfall for the president is his crypto company, World Liberty Financial. Well, you had an Emirati royal who made a secret investment. And they gave him the jet. Well, the jet is from Qatar.

But we will come to the jet. That's bad enough to the U .A .E.

makes this secret. Add enough to the UAE makes this secret investment, $500 million in World Liberty Financial. That's a Trump family business, but the cronyism doesn't stop there. To your comparison, how un -American this is, the Whitcoff family, Trump's special envoy, his family is involved in this profit -taking too.

So you should not have a president who's regulating, or as the case may be failing to regulate crypto, while himself, his cronies, his families, his associates in and out of government making huge sums.

That's not the American idea. I want to switch gears here because we've been fixated in Washington about this story regarding the reflecting pool. And a lot of people at home think it's not that big a deal, but it is a very big deal

because it plays into the authoritarian playbook. Essentially that don't believe what your eyes see.

I've been down there. I've seen the allergy in there. I've seen that it was a complete. down there. I've seen the allergy in there. I've seen that it was a complete debacle to try and repaint the bottom of it. The president and his

people put a fence around it. And you now have a client who's a former Olympian, a gentleman by the name of David Hearn, who was actually charged because allegedly he took a piece of the bottom of the reflecting pool. Right there,

we could put on the screen that Thursday afternoon, U .S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, whose recent prosecutorial track record has been as embarrassing as it is political, announced that Hearn has been charged with one felony. been as embarrassing as it is political, announced that

Hearn has been charged with one felony count of destruction of property in D .C.

Superior Court. I know you can't speak too much about this case, but on its face, it looks just as ridiculous as the ham sandwich one from earlier in the year. Well, we'll try the case in court, Luke.

I will say Davy Hearn is innocent. These charges are outrageous. It should be alarming to every American that this kind of thing can happen. You have an administration that is trying to shift blame with a concocted narrative. Fortunately, we have a justice system where evidence matters,

not these type of press conferences that we saw. And that's really all I can say about it. Just to correct one thing. that we saw. And that's really all I can say about it. Just to correct one thing,

even Jeanine Pirro does not say he took anything out of that reflecting pool. OK, that's good to hear. Well, Norm, you've had a heck of a week. You saved birthright citizenship and you're saving a poor guy who's getting charged with trying to

take that part of the reflecting pool. What a spectrum you're working on. Thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. Have a great Fourth of July weekend.

Here's the headline of just one of the stories Eric Lipton published this week. Quote, Trump cut a billion dollar money. Eric Lipton published this week, quote, Trump cut a billion -dollar mining deal his son's stand to profit. Now, the Trump organization has since

demanded that The New York Times retract that story, calling it libelous and saying that Don Jr. and Eric were not involved in and did not seek to influence the awarding of that mining contract. The Times, I should say, stands by its reporting. I'll

talk with Eric Lipton about that in just a moment. But big picture here, whether it's crypto or mining or even just the defense industry, Don Jr. and Eric are making a lot of money. Trump's eldest sons are linked. Eric and Eric are making

a lot of money. Trump's eldest sons are linked to investments in at least 10 defense firms that have drawn some $3 .7 billion in federal funds since Trump took office. And while spokespeople for Eric and Don Jr. say the two play no role

in awarding or managing those contracts and don't interface with the federal government, clearly the Trump family has done very, very, very well for themselves in the past year and a half. We know that from the financial disclosure and all sorts of great reporting.

Joining me now is Eric Lipton, investigative reporter. for The New York Times. It's great to see you. Thank you for being here.

Thank you. You've had a slew of stories even in just the last week, some of them just putting into perspective the totality of what we're seeing here. And you've been reporting on these financial deals for quite some time. So let me start there.

Can you help us understand kind of how unprecedented, as you look at this financial disclosure and you look at these investments and dive into them, And you look at these investments and dive into them. How unprecedented is it, a president and his family

making this amount of money? Yeah, there was a question that was in my mind, and I spent time earlier this week speaking with a number of the most prominent American historians that have studied presidencies all the way back to George Washington. And every

single one of them said this is completely unprecedented. There's never been anything like this.

The amount of money that Trump has made in one year when he was in office, it just completely blows away. in one year when he was in office, it just completely blows away any other appearance or real conflict of interest. I mean, the

only kind of similar situations they could come up with as examples were, for example, Warren Harding. For decades, his family had owned a newspaper in Ohio, and he felt like he felt he was under pressure because it happened to be a newspaper his

family owned. And so he decided to actually sell it, but he died right around that time. And I mean, you know, LBJ, when he became president, because of Kennedy's assassination, his wife owns radio stations and they turned over the radio

stations to a lawyer. There was a lot of attention on that. But these things are just so trivial compared to a president starting a crypto company just as he was going into office, then appointing the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission and

adopting policies that supercharged his crypto business and passed rules that actually accelerated its ability to make money.

and then him making $600 million on just one of those two crypto companies. There's just nothing. It blows every other ethical kind of minefield and scandal out of the water completely. I talked with Norm Eisen this week about when they advised President Obama against

refinancing his home at the time, which is quite quaint. There was an avalanche of reporting. A lot of it was your reporting this week.

What stuck out to you the most? What do you hope people pay attention to?

I'm pretty amazed at this. Firstly, for the last year and a half, we've been writing stories about all these business operations, and I'm still just in shock about the size of the income to the president. It just is even way beyond what I

thought was possible, how much money he made in 2025. I thought it was possible, how much money he made in 2025. And the second thing that's really sort of just startling to me is the amount of money that people who's followed his advice

and bought his crypto have lost. I mean, we're talking like, you know, billions of dollars. These are people, followers of his, who he said, you know, listen to me.

I'm your leader. Follow my lead. You know, I'm a successful business person. It sort of reminds me of Trump University, you know, in which he suggested that, you know, you could become rich. you know, in which he, you know, he suggested that, you

know, you could become rich by studying my formula. And then people similarly bought a cryptocurrency meme coin thinking, you know, even though in small print at the bottom of it, they said, this is not an investment. This is a, you know, this is

just a collectible. But everyone knew that what it was really about, it was to try to raise, you know, try to make money. And hundreds of thousands of people followed him. And almost all of them lost money, except for the insiders who got

in early and sold to the suckers who came. who got in early and sold to the suckers who came in behind them. And it's just it's sort of startling to see the scale of the losses that these people have suffered. Yeah. I mean,

people who may have looked at him and said, he's got money. I'm going to invest here. If they thought that and make money myself, I mentioned and it happened.

It was earlier this week, the mining story that that I referenced in the in the opening of the show. The Trump Organization is trying to get The New York Times to retract your story about how Trump's son is trying to get the New

York Times to retract your story about how Trump's son stand to profit from a billion -dollar mining deal Trump cut. For people who haven't read the story, tell us, help us understand what the deal was, more about the specifics there. So in

September of 2025, the president and the commerce secretary were both involved in negotiations to grant this tiny company access to Tungsten Mine in Kazakhstan. It was potentially a mine which they thought they had $80 billion worth of Tungsten.

It's an enormously important metal that's used for military purposes and all kinds of other manufacturing that the United States needs. China controls the supply. Really good policy to try to increase U .S. access to tungsten. The Biden administration was working on it. Smart

idea. And the Trump administrations continue to work on it. But the Trump administration has decided to put more than $100 billion worth of financing to try to accelerate access to these things. But what we found out in our investigation was that there are

14 companies. But what we found out in our investigation was that there are 14 companies that are linked to the Lutnik or Trump families that have a financial connection to the Commerce Secretary's sons or to the Trump sons that are in line to

get as much as $8 .9 billion worth of that federal funding. And one of the companies is this mining company seeking access to the tungsten in Kazakhstan. And we have very clear documents, unambiguous, that show that the Trump sons, in between

September, when they were... negotiating it and November when they finalized the deals, the Trump sons with their partners went in and took an investment in that company. And our reporting is bulletproof.

The New York Post and the Wall Street Journal wrote editorials comparing them to Hunter Biden. I know that that really upset Eric Trump in particular. And they're trying to take the story down by writing letters that suggest the story is inaccurate. It's 100

percent accurate. You sound pretty. is inaccurate. It's 100 % accurate. You sound pretty solidly confident that it's unimpeachable. It is. Let me ask you about crypto. I mean, I did my best to lay out and there's been so much

reporting. So obviously we kind of skimmed the surface of some of it. You're reporting about how Trump got rich, as you just said, while investors lost money. When it comes to crypto earnings, like what do we know about the $800 million he made

from World Liberty Financial? Help people understand that because that also made from world liberty financial help people understand that because that also feels like a very sketchy is the best way to describe it part of the financial entanglement here it's sort of impossible

to imagine that a president of the united states is earning money by creating a let's call this you know through his sons a stable coin which is a type of a cryptocurrency that it's supposed to be like a mutual fund where it keeps

a dollar to dollar value and but that he is he promoted and signed legislation that created a rate He promoted and signed legislation that created a regulatory standard around stablecoins for the first time in 2025. So he promotes and

signs the, quote, the Genius Act that for the first time creates a regulatory system around it. But then his sons now run one of the largest stablecoin operations in the world. But most of the money in that stablecoin operation actually comes from the

government of the United Arab Emirates, $2 billion of the approximately $4 billion that's in the World Liberty stablecoin. of the approximately $4 billion that's in the World Liberty stablecoin came from the United Arab Emirates. And that money came at the same time as

they were seeking access to some of the most important technological advances that humans have ever made. NVIDIA AI chips. And the Trump people were negotiating access by UAE to those chips while $2 billion of the UAE money was going

into the Trump's family business. And he was getting richer from that. And so how is that possible? That I mean, that's like, that is not a merely an appearance of a conflict of interest that that is a conflict of interest. And as a reporter, I mean, I'm going to call

it as I see it. That is a conflict of interest. It's unambiguous. And and again, nothing like that has ever happened in American history where a president has been so deeply involved in a business that that creates these kinds of conflicts. And their

family and his family is massively benefiting and his sons. This week, you wrote about this to financial disclosure, which also showed us more more about the millions. You wrote about this too, financial disclosures, also showed us more about the millions of dollars that

Melania Trump made last year. It kind of pales, I guess, in comparison to all the things we've been talking about here, but it is kind of interesting. What can you tell us about that? Well, Melania, you know, her income also went up massively,

although it's, you know, it's like small dollars compared to her husband. But her income mostly went up because of Jeff Bezos and Amazon. And the movie. that they made about her, the documentary. And the movie and the movie that they made about her,

the documentary that ran on, you know, on Amazon Prime, I guess, on the Amazon stations. And that so most of her the biggest increase in her income came from that movie, which, you know, the amount that she was paid for that was was

very unusual. And the amount that was put in to produce that documentary was also very unusual. But, you know, Jeff Bezos and Amazon made that choice to put that money into her at the same time as he needs, you know, Blue Origin needs

rocket contracts. you know, Blue Origin needs rocket contracts from the Department of Defense. There's an antitrust investigation of Amazon. I mean, there's huge things on the table for Jeff Bezos as he tries to become more friendly with the president.

And he essentially writes an $8 million check to Melania. So, I mean, again, it's a conflict of interest. It didn't exactly break records for selling tickets at the box office, but they probably could have predicted that one. Eric Lipton, thank you for all

of your reporting. I'm sure people watching, read your reporting. They should if they want.

Thank you for all of your reporting. I'm sure people watching read your reporting. They should if they want to get smart on corruption and what is happening in this administration. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much. We are more than a

week into Donald Trump's self -aggrandizing 250th Great American Fair. And it is safe to say things are not going very well for him. From the sparse attendance, to put it generously, to the many canceled events, today's delayed opening due to the

heat and the fair breaking down. opening due to the heat and the fair breaking down literally. New footage from the Daily Beast captures a portion of the event stage collapsing during rehearsals for tomorrow's performance. Spokesperson for Freedom 250 says that everyone is safe and that additional safeguards have been put in place.

That is on top of Trump's triumphal arc oozing on unidentified yellow substance. Not sure exactly what that is as Trump's fair crumbles before independence.

Day has even begun, we are learning more about what that decaying facade is masking.

A new congressional report details how the Trump team has potentially engaged in criminal fraud in order to hijack what was supposed to be a nonpartisan celebration of America.

Well, the report, authored by Democratic congressional staff, is titled From Vanity to Insanity, How the White House Cheated the American People Out of Their 250th Birthday.

Here is some of what that report says. Quote, under President Donald Trump, this anniversary has been hijacked and perverted into a hotbed of corruption and self -enrichment. This interim report documents how the machinery built for a national commemoration was converted deliberately and over

a period of months into an apparatus for raising and spending money in service of the president's ego, political ideology and pet projects. political ideology, and pet projects. The White House first attempted to bend America 250 to its purposes when America 250 would not yield. The White House created a replacement, Freedom

250 LLC, a shadow organization capable of infiltrating the celebrations and injecting America's 250th with Trump's extreme partisan agenda. The new entity could exploit the credibility and donor relationships of a beloved public charity while operating outside the transparency and accountability requirements. while operating outside the transparency and accountability requirements,

Congress wrote. The authors of the report noted that the organization may have broken the law in order to change the nature of the event. They add this, Freedom 250 may have conducted wire fraud by luring unsuspecting donors who intended to support the congressionally

chartered foundation and giving them Freedom 250 bank information instead. Presidential access was sold to those willing to pay for it. A spokesperson for Freedom 250. to those willing to pay for it. A spokesperson for Freedom 250 called the

claims in the report quote, categorically false and a quote, partisan smear. I want to bring into this conversation our political panel, political analyst and host of the Bulwark podcast, Tim Miller is here, also joining us, host of Politics Nation

and president of the National Action Network, Reverend Al Sharpton. But let's start with a member of the committee that actually released that report, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan.

Congresswoman, it's great to have you with us. This report of Michigan. Congresswoman, it's great to have you with us. This report is actually quite shocking. I don't think many Americans saw this. You know, there's not been a lot of reporting in the lead

up to this that I've seen. Walk us through what you found and what you've concluded. Well, what the staff did that did the work in this and the committee found, there are two committees. In 2016, Congress passed the America

250th Committee, which was a bipartisan effort so that all of us can celebrate this. partisan efforts so that all of us can celebrate this. It is a very important and significant date. When the president returned and became president again, he tried to fire four people that were part of that commission. He

didn't succeed. And then set up what is also known as Freedom 250, a separate committee. But they set up the funding of it through the National Park Foundation, which is a well -established foundation that has worked hard. which is

a well -established foundation that has worked hard to build its own credibility and support the public parks over the years. And in addition, Congress had appropriated $150 million for the America 250 Commission. And in the end, keeping this long report short, instead of getting $150,

that commission got $25 million, and the other 125 has gone other places. We don't know how the money is being spent. There are donors that thought they were giving to a bipartisan effort that ended up giving to Freedom 250. And there are many other stories of what's happened in

Washington, and you've been showing some of it on MS this week. Yeah, you mentioned the donors in all this, and I want to kind of hone in on that just for a moment because I want to read a section about potentially defrauding those

donors in the report. It says about potentially defrauding those donors in the report. It says, quote, donors who intended to donate to America 250 were instead given wire instructions with Freedom 250's banking information so that contributions would instead flow to Freedom

250. A gift solicited in the name of the nation's nonpartisan birthday commission could thus be redirected without the donor's knowledge by an entity created to serve the president's priorities. If true, such actions could constitute violations of priorities. If true,

such actions could constitute violations of several laws ranging from potential wire fraud and charitable solicitation fraud under federal law to charitable solicitation violations under the laws of the District of Columbia, where Freedom 250 is registered and operates as an LLC.

Do you intend on investigating this? Do you know if you've spoken to or reached out to any law enforcement agencies who might have oversight into or jurisdiction into where these laws may have been? agencies who might have oversight into or jurisdiction into where

these laws may have been broken, like D .C., for example? So let's be very candid here. Jared Hoffman, who is the ranking member, is leading the effort here. And we know that based on what has happened, it would likely be the Justice Department

that would have a responsibility over it. And I suspect we would not see action out of this Justice Department right now. We have a November election.

right now. We have a November election. Elections have consequences. And I think that you will see oversight of many issues if and when the Democrats do win the majority, which I believe we will in November. Tim, this section from the introduction

almost feels like a summary of the way the Trump administration operates writ large. Quote, licensing protocols let Freedom 250 brand deeply racist merchandise under the government's banner, an organization that was once responsible for planning events surrounding the January 6th insurrection has now been contracted for America's 250th

celebrations. Taxpayer dollars were funneled to the president's preferred contractors. Americans' private personal information has been harvested by Trump's allies for political purposes. And so my question to you is, what does it say about how things stand in this country that

an organizers or the organizers of the violent January 6th insurrection on our Capitol are now the ones organizing? The 26th insurrection on our Capitol are now the ones organizing this nation's 250th celebration. Yeah, it says the country's a racket right now,

and it's run no different from any type of banana republic that's run by a corrupt oligarchy at the top. Usually those types of governments combine rather corruption with comic incompetence, and that's what we're seeing on the National Mall. You know, you just can go back and watch the archive

video or. On the National Mall, you know, you just can go back and watch the archive video or Art Mesa. My co -panels were there at the 200th anniversary 50 years ago. And, you know, it was not at a time without political controversy

in the country in 1976 or coming off of Vietnam, coming off of Watergate. But yet it was a celebration for everybody, no matter what their party was, no matter what their religion was, to, you know, come and honor the people that had served

America and the traditions of America that we're trying. honor the people that have served America and the traditions of America that we're trying to aspire to. And like, that's not what this is. This is just like partisan hackery, you know, combined with, you

know, like the Trump casino grift. Like that's all that's left here. And it's no wonder that not many people want to attend that. And there is something a little bit more dangerous to this, Rev. The report also highlights the connection between white

nationalists and this event. And I'm going to read a part of it. It said, quote, the White House nationalists and this event, and I'm going to read a part of it. It said, quote, the White House set out to refashion the semi -quincentennial

into a mouthpiece for those who want to break down the firewall between church and state and enshrine their preferred kind of Christianity as the de facto national religion. Their agenda fuses Christian white supremacist identity with history revisionism, insisting that the

nation's founding its laws and our fundamental rights are rooted in the Christian Bible. The White House paired its extreme religious doctrine with the Christian Bible, the White House parried its extreme religious doctrine with a sustained effort to erase from public memory the parts

of American history the president would rather forget, including slavery. Talk to us about that, Rev, how emboldened they have become under the Trump administration to try and exclude that part of our history. Well, they've become emboldened because they have a

president that will back them up and give them all the support they need to and give them all the support they need to in fact act as if being bigoted, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, or in many cases misogynist, is being patriotic. The fact of the matter is

that the stated goals, July 4th, 1776, talked about freedom of religion, talked about why they were breaking with the monarchy, though they did not live up to many of those goals then.

the celebration of this country is that there never was a time we were not stopping and moving toward fulfilling it. So even though my people were slaves in 1776 and then faced segregation and then faced a second -class

citizenship, people kept fighting, black and white, the way we got the right to vote.

We eventually elected black president and reelected that black and a black woman vice president.

and reelected that black and a black woman vice president. So the celebration is the evolution of America around stated goals. This administration has been the one to declare war on the progress made in terms of making this country, as Dr. King said, live up to the true meaning of his creed.

And there being grifters at the same time is not enough just to be a supremacist and being a distorter. You also have to be a hustler at the same time.

And we start with that breaking news. As America gears up for the 4th of July holiday, dozens of intelligence officials are being told they are now out of a job. Their firings, which they were informed about just yesterday, are part of an effort

ushered in by the new acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte. An intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the potential for reprisal told MSNOW these officials are being dismissed because leadership believes that they have withheld intelligence. That allegation, one former official refers to as,

quote, absurd. It comes as former special counsel Jack Smith is breaking his nearly year and a half long silence, warning the country's rule of law is under unprecedented attack.

In an exclusive interview with MSNOW's Nicole Wallace, Smith said everything that we've seen from the weaponization of the DOJ to the firings like the ones that we just learned.

about could just be a preview of what we might see come the midterms. I'm very concerned of what's going to happen in the next election, absolutely. My personal view is I think the state attorney generals have a tremendous role to play here.

They can make sure the rule of law functions in their state. And I would also say that I think a thing that all of us can do is support election workers and election officials. is support election workers and election officials.

The last time around, we saw that those people stood firm, and they were, in many cases, the difference. It's clear to me, anyways, that what I've seen publicly, that those people are going to be put under great pressure. I would be ready to

litigate everything. I would brainstorm, and I think they are, I get that sense, every possible permutation, and don't let reason be a limitation.

Reason be a limitation. Imagine everything that could possibly be tried. That Trump will do.

Yeah. I want to bring in MSNOW's Vaughn Hilliard, who helped break the news about the firings within the intelligence community, and two MSNOW legal analysts, former Manhattan Assistant DA Catherine Christian and former U .S. Attorney Barbara McQuaid. Vaughn, starting with you, I want

to start with what you've learned about these firings in the intel establishment. What more can you tell us here? Right, Ariel. This is new reporting into MSNOW from David Roode and myself here. We're told Reporting into MS Now from David Roode and myself

here, we're told that dozens of intelligence officials began receiving termination notices yesterday and that more are expected here in the days ahead. And this decision is coming directly from acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, who, of course, came

into this role just this last month after Tulsi Gabbard left her post as director of national intelligence. He does not have intelligence history himself, but Bill Pulte, who was a house. intelligence history himself. But Bill Pulte, who was a housing agency

director under the Trump administration for the last year, came into this position at the direction of President Trump. He is going to be in this post over the course of at least likely the next 200 days or so in this acting capacity. And

he made clear that he would move forward in this sort of position to do the work of the Trump administration. And now what we are learning from an intelligence official is that those individuals who are being removed from their post are believed by

leadership to be members of the quote, deep state. Of course, this is calling into question across these 15 different intelligence agencies, exactly what we could expect Bill Pulte to do in terms of potential declassification of intel material. We heard

from President Trump just this week say that he wanted Pulte to declassify election -related material that he had in his possession from these more than 15 intelligence agencies. We know that these firings are coming just two weeks after there were six political appointees who had served under Tulsi Gabbard who were

fired by Pulte himself. So exactly what type of information and intelligence was being withheld from Bill Pulte. I think that is was being withheld from Bill Pulte. I think there's more to that question because former intelligence officials that spoke to David Rode suggest that they

have never heard of a situation in which individuals in the intel community explicitly withhold certain information as requested from them by agency heads or the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. And of course, we have not seen specific

allegations made by the ODNI. as it relates to any of these officials that are receiving these termination notices here.

But it is significant in its own right that these, including career officials, are being fired here over the last 24 hours. And we are told by an intelligence official who is not going on the record out of a potential reprisal that there are

more expected firings across the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the days ahead. across the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the Days Ahead area.

All right, Vaughn, stay close, please. I know you will stay on top of that, and we're going to speak to you soon on a totally different topic. But Barb, what's your reaction to Bill Pulte coming in and firing all of these intelligence officials

for allegedly being part, as Vaughn reported, of the deep state? I think it's incredibly dangerous, and I think it is a reflection of how partisan politics has infected our government. You know, there's no deep state. I worked as a national security prosecutor.

I worked with some of these intelligence agencies. They are there to provide their independent, objective, nonpartisan analysis of what they are seeing from raw intelligence to leaders. They don't care who is in the White House. What they care

about is protecting the safety of the United States by sharing this information. And so what we see is Bill Pulte, with no background in intelligence, come in. He did not study the situation. If he had been there for months, did an assessment and concluded that there were individuals who were improperly

working there or who were just too many, whatever, too much top -down bureaucracy, that would be one thing. But he shows up and immediately fires people. And we heard Donald Trump say this, that he would be unshackled to

do exactly that. It seems to be that's what his mandate is. I submit that America is less safe today. to be that's what his mandate is. I submit that America is less safe today than we were yesterday. Back to Jack Smith. In his

first live television interview since resigning from the DOJ, the former special counsel sat down exclusively with our friend MSNOW's Nicole Wallace for that wide -ranging conversation yesterday.

Before he stepped down from the DOJ back in 2025, Smith brought two cases against Donald Trump, one on election interference and the other related to classified documents. interference, and the other related to classified documents. Both were dropped because Trump then won the

presidency in 2024. Smith defended his investigations and also weighed in on the rule of law, as well as his concerns about the upcoming midterm elections.

I have investigated cases focusing on the facts and the law throughout my career. We did this case the same way, under the same standards. And the thing that's, I think, important for your viewers to know And, you know, the thing that's, I think,

important for your viewers to know is those standards are not meant to change from one administration to the next. And in my experience, until now, they haven't. And so, you know, I think we are facing an attack on the rule of law that

is different in kind and scope to anything I've seen in my lifetime. One of the problems right today, besides the retribution prosecutions, is that the Justice Department can't do its job, right? If you go to court, well, if you go to court and the judges don't trust you,

can't do the basic things that you need to do to represent the American people in court. And we have seen judges across the country say they can't trust prosecutors anymore. And that has such a cascading effect on any sort of case. And,

you know, I can't count how many opinions, but one opinion like that in my career would have been seismic. People could not... like that in my career would have been seismic. People would not know what to do if a court said

trust that's been built over generations has been lost in days, right? And that's happening every day. And so regardless of what you think politically, they're just not effective at doing their job anymore. Well, let me ask you first, do you agree that we

are covering in real time an assault on our elections, the upcoming ones? I'm very concerned of what's going to happen in the next election. Absolutely. It's a different situation now based on, you know, the people who perpetrated January 6th. They probably learned from how they did that. My personal view is

I think the state attorney generals have a tremendous role to play here. They can make sure the rule of law functions in their state. And I would also say that I think a thing that all of us can do is support election workers

and election officials. The last time around, we saw that those people stood firm and they were in many cases the difference. I saw that those people stood firm, and they were, in many cases, the difference. It's clear to me, anyways, that what

I've seen publicly, that those people are going to be put under great pressure. And my experience, not only just the special counsel, but, you know, I was the chief of the public integrity section at the Department of Justice for five years, had a

number of cases with election officials. These are people also, they're not tooting their own horn. They're not self -promoters. They just care about our democracy. We need to show that. self -promoters. They just care about our democracy. We need to show them that

we have their back. If you were, if you took the name of our country off it and you were just examining the state of the rule of law in America, is it dead? I don't think so at all. And for the reasons I

said earlier, there are legions of career prosecutors, people just like me, you just don't know their name, who are, want to do the right thing. They're in the Justice Department. They want to serve. They're in the Justice Department. They want to serve. We have a lot of challenges in front of

us, and the rehabilitation of the department is not going to be any mean feat.

You know, recovering character is a lot harder than gaining it in the first place.

But I think we're totally capable of doing that. I'm completely optimistic. Ali Vitale, an extraordinary interview there. Finally hearing from Jack Smith and I think a stark assessment of, of course, what what happened, why his cases.

vanished, but also his fears, though he voted, you know, he suggests the rule of law, he believes still is alive, and well here in the United States. But his fears about this upcoming election and beyond. Well, I think that there needs to be

a dose of some optimism in that. Otherwise, the entire tone and tenor of the interview is from dire warning to all out. We are in flames. And so you still need somewhere to go. Right. And I think that's why what happened. are in

flames. And so you still need somewhere to go, right? And I think that's why what happens in November is so important. I mean, I can't tell you the number of phone calls that I get from, you know, Democratic operatives looking at various parts

of our election systems and wondering, OK, where could they be exploited and what could we do to plug that hole in advance of that? And I think the early answer is that you just sort of have to wait to file these things in

court until something happens. And so you've just got legions of people who understand our election systems trying to figure out the ways that something might go wrong.

Nevertheless, I think it's a dire assessment from Jack Smith, someone who has been loath to come out in the media, who, when he was hauled in front of Congress, immediately wanted to do so in the public eye because he had never been given

a chance to present his public findings. And the thing that I really keep in the back of my mind is that the foundation of Jack Smith coming forward right now, Eugene, is that he is someone who felt he could have successfully prosecuted the

current president of the United States on not just keep prosecuted the current president of the united states on not just keeping classified documents after leaving office but on meddling with and trying to corrupt american election results after he lost the 2020 presidential election

and the thing that's changed since then is that the american public saw january 6th they watched the next few years and then they said you know what let's put that person back in office again and so i wonder how you make sense of

the jack smith warnings the work that he did the knowledge that he brings to the table and the fact that the american public he did, the knowledge that he brings to the table, and the fact that the American public still said, this is

the person we want in the Oval. Yeah, there's probably no one more frustrated about that than Jack Smith, right? He is someone who understands more intimately than any of us do about what happened and what the Trump team was doing, what their allies

were doing. A lot of it happened in plain view, right? The phone call in Georgia, et cetera. But there are things that he knows that none of us, we may never know now because of the judges. What I took from the interview the

most was that ever known now because of the judges. What I took from the interview the most was that, one, he is someone who doesn't want to speak up, like you said. We've had folks that have worked for him on our show. You

probably have them on yours. And the thing that they said over and over is like, this is not a guy who wants to be out front talking to reporters.

He doesn't want to do two blocks on any show, let alone a show as amazing with an amazing journalist like Nicole Wallace. But he's doing it, they say, because he is so concerned. And the hope is that, one, maybe because he is so

concerned. And the hope is that, one, maybe not MAGA Republicans, but people will watch that and say, OK, since this is a guy who knows all of this, maybe there is something there as we get close. Maybe I should rethink the way that

we're thinking about this. And most importantly, he doesn't sound unhinged or crazy or full of hate like Donald Trump and some Republicans have tried to paint him. So it's also about making clear to folks like he's just kind of a normal guy who's

a prosecutor, very measured, who knows a lot of information. guy who's a prosecutor, very measured, who knows a lot of information and wants people to be concerned about what's going to happen. Eugene, I had the same feeling. Listening to Jack Smith, I

was reminded this is a career prosecutor. He's talking about how to rehabilitate, how to rebuild the Justice Department. He's talking about the career attorneys who are still there trying to do their jobs. He says, I was for five years the head of the

public integrity section, prosecuting Republicans, Democrats, everybody. I stand for, he's an ineffect. Republicans, Democrats, everybody, I stand for, he's in effect telling us, the rule of law, and we're going to rebuild that. He's not a defeated guy, he's facing enormous pressure

himself, but his thoughts were with his colleagues, were with the country, were with the rule of law. So Jonathan, that interview is pretty powerful, but I think we got a sense of who Jack Smith is in his comments under pressure.

That's pretty interesting. This is not a kind of snarling anti -Trump guy that we've been led to believe. This is a career public prosecutor trying to do his job.

An important voice to hear from right now.