Josh Hawley Confronts Scientist for Engaging in ‘Propaganda Effort’ to Cast Doubt on Covid-19 Lab Leak Theory
HAWLEY: “Dr. Garry, you were part of this propaganda effort. I mean, you are right at the center of it. It’s astounding. You wrote this piece, this ‘Nature’ magazine piece or whatever it was that we’ve heard testimony here today. ‘Nature Medicine,’ March 17th, 2020. We’ve heard testimony here today from other scientists on the panel that it’s basically an opinion piece. You said at the time, that definitively SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct, is not a laboratory construct. Of course, our own government key agencies have concluded otherwise. And on the basis of this, Dr. Fauci and others cited this — this piece and went out to use it to mobilize our own government to censor people who asked questions about it. People lost their jobs because of this. They lost their jobs, they lost their standing, they were kicked off Facebook, they were kicked off Twitter. Do you regret being part of this effort, this propaganda effort?”
GARRY: “Sir, I — I was — I was simply just writing a paper about our scientific opinions about where this virus came from.”
HAWLEY: “Oh, no, you weren’t. You said in an email that we now have, that you tried to withhold that the we have, February 2nd 2020, you wrote, ‘I really can’t think of a plausible, natural scenario where you can get from the bat virus, or one very similar to it, to this.’ I’m quoting you, ‘I just can’t figure out how this gets accomplished in nature. It’s stunning.’ Of course, in the lab, it would be easy.”“
GARRY: “Of course. And I actually figured it out. That’s the whole point of that.”
HAWLEY: “You figured it out. You — you wrote this while you were writing your propaganda piece, while you were writing the paper.”
GARRY: “I wrote that somewhere around February 2nd.”
HAWLEY: “Yeah, it was exactly February 2nd, and you’ve testified that you were writing your proximal origin paper in early February. So you’re saying that what? Did it come to you overnight?”
GARRY: “There was new data that came —”
HAWLEY: “Like a — a revelation from God.”
GARRY: “No. [crosstalk]”
HAWLEY: “Overnight, you concluded, I got it. I got it. I figured it out. I’ve figured it out. And now I can definitively rule out. It’s amazing. Is that what happened?”
GARRY: “It’s just the scientific method —”
HAWLEY: “Oh it’s just — oh it’s the scientific method that happened at lightning speed, and then was used to propagandize and lie to and shut down. As a scientist who’s supposed to follow facts, do you regret the fact that your work was used to censor your fellow scientists? It was used to censor ordinary Americans who ask questions about the virus. Do you — do you regret that?”
GARRY: “Yeah. When — when you write a paper, I mean, you get it in the journal. We can’t control what happens after — [crosstalk]”
HAWLEY: “Oh, I see. So you’re not responsible at all. This is — it’s amazing. Nobody who was involved in any of this is responsible. Never. They’re not responsible. People have lost their jobs.”
GARRY: “Yeah.”
HAWLEY: “People have lost probably their healthcare associated with their jobs. People have been run out of public, available and polite society. You can’t show your face because my gosh, you question —”
GARRY: “Yeah.”
HAWLEY: “— but you, you don’t have anything to do with it. Why have so many of your papers, your other papers been retracted or subjected to formal expressions of concern?”
GARRY: “Yeah. Well —”
HAWLEY: “Why is that?”
GARRY: “— there — there’s a long story behind that. Those — those —”
HAWLEY: “Four of them, right. I mean, you’ve — you’ve had in — in July 26th 2021, Virology retracted a paper of yours. Also in 2021, the Journal of General Virology retracted another of your papers. In March of 2022 an expression of concern was added by an editor of yet another journal to another of your papers. In April 4th of 2024 a third scientific paper of yours was retracted from the Journal of Medical Virology.”
GARRY: “Yeah.”
HAWLEY: “Is this normal?”
GARRY: “Those papers didn’t come from my lab. But you know, I’m certainly helping —”
HAWLEY: “They’re not yours?”
GARRY: “They’re not mine. Yeah.”
HAWLEY: “So — so your — your work is —”
GARRY: “I’m on the paper but they did not come from my lab.”
HAWLEY: “The work that — that God gave you and a flash of inspiration remains absolutely unimpeachable. Unimpeached.”
GARRY: “We stand by that.”
HAWLEY: “Do you stand by your — your assertion in your nature piece that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct? Could not be. [crosstalk]”
GARRY: “We do. And that’s exactly the same —”
HAWLEY: “Couldn’t possibly be.”
GARRY: “— conclusion that the intelligence community came to.”
HAWLEY: “Oh, no, that is a lie. Let’s stop right there. That is a lie. I have read the intelligence — the intelligence community did not come to that conclusion. Multiple intelligence community agents and components have concluded it was likely a lab leak. And they concluded that at the same time that you and your people were propagandizing the American public and using the channels and influence of the American government to censor ordinary Americans. That is the truth. I’m not going to sit here and allow you to lie any further.”
GARRY: “I’m not —”
HAWLEY: “Dr. Garry —”
GARRY: “— I’m not lying, sir.”
HAWLEY: “— you have disgracefully participated in shameful propaganda that has been one of the worst chapters in this country’s history with the government propagandizing its own people. And you know what? You may be right about the lab — I’m not a scientist, I don’t know. But what I do know is — what I do know is, it is wrong, it is wrong to censor and lie to the American public. It is wrong to withhold critical information from them. And it is wrong to countenance that and to say, ‘Oh, I just had nothing to do with it. Gee, I wish we could have done better.’ You should have done better, sir. You should have done better. And because you didn’t people have suffered. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”
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Scarborough: Not Only the RNC Is Lying, But Also the Main Stream Media Outlets Are All in on the Lies
SCARBOROUGH: “Michael Steele, I disagree. They will have a chance. In fact, if you look at Donald Trump’s track record, and Donald Trump’s Republican Party, over the last seven years, they’re 0-7. So, yeah, maybe the Biden team’s gonna have to work harder, maybe the Democrats are gonna have to work harder. Maybe people who actually like American democracy will work harder, but they just have to work harder and get the word out that these people are lying. Not only is the RNC lying, but also mainstream media outlets are now all in on the lies.”
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Good Samaritans Protect an Old Jewish Guy from Anti-Semite Yelling ‘Free Palestine’
UNKNOWN PERSON 1: “What are you trying to do?”
UNKNOWN PERSON 2: “Get the hell away from me!”
UNKNOWN PERSON 1: “What are you trying to do, man? Get out of here! You’re a loser, get out of here! What’s wrong with you? Look at you! Look at you! Now you’re scared! Now you’re scared!”
UNKNOWN PERSON 2: “Go!”
UNKNOWN PERSON 1: “Leave! Leave! Oh, you’re smiling? Congratulations. Get out of here!”
UNKNOWN PERSON 3: “Free Palestine!”
UNKNOWN PERSON 1: “What do you — how do you free Palestine right now? All you’re doing is harassing people. Get out! Go! Leave! No one’s gonna do anything to you, just leave. Get out of here!”
UNKNOWN PERSON 2: “Give me a big smile.”
UNKNOWN PERSON: “Free Palestine.”
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‘Morning Joe’ Defends Biden’s Fitness: Everything You See with Your Own Eyes Is ‘Debunked’ Misinformation
BRZEZINSKI: “Well, and also, I think when those on the right try and make it look like Biden is out of his mind, The Wall Street Journal does a front-page piece saying Biden is completely slipping and they don’t notice, at the very same time that they’re covering Biden in this way that is misleading, Donald Trump is on stage talking about sharks and batteries and really looks like he’s slipping.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Yeah. Well, I think, Jonathan Lemire, the thing that is so — so — I don’t know if ‘surprising’ is the right word, but I’ll just say, so concerning in the middle of a presidential election is, it’s a tabloid, I understand it’s a tabloid, but the New York Post, the same guy who owns the New York Post owns The Wall Street Journal, owns, you know, Fox News, owns The Times of London, let’s just go down the list. But the front of their paper deliberately lying about — about — this is what Howie Kurtz was talking about over on Fox News, deliberately lying about Joe Biden while he was giving the thumbs up to parachuters. Of course, this media ecosystem, it seems more and more focused on just spreading misleading or out right false stories about Joe Biden. And The Wall Street Journal, who I praised in this space for their new editor, I really like the changes over at The Wall Street Journal, but even their paper week ago or so, in a story that just made absolutely no sense, we talked about it on the show already a couple of times, you know, they get Kevin McCarthy to lie on the record when there were reports months in the making that Kevin McCarthy always lies on the record about Joe Biden’s mental acuity and then he says the completely opposite thing, either on the record to other publications or to his own staff, about just how good Joe Biden is in negotiations.”
LEMIRE: “Yeah, one wonders if their order’s coming from on high about tilting the media coverage here — “
SCARBOROUGH: “Yes, exactly.”
LEMIRE: “ — from these outlets. The New York Post, let’s just take that as an example, they knew better. It had been hour — a full day earlier, in the aftermath of that moment in Normandy, it was completely debunked, there’s videos from other angles, not just put up by the Biden campaign but put out by independent observers saying, no, no, President Biden was not meandering off. He was going to salute to one of the other parachutists, and then he came back to take — the prime minister signaled him and he came back to take that a photograph. For hours, that was a done story and the New York Post put it on the front page anyway the following morning and tried to turn it into something it was not. Yesterday we had White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre call out these cheap fakes, in particular the one Twitter account associated with the RNC, the Republican National Committee, which puts out a lot of these misleading videos, and then it’s amplified by others on the right, and the RNC Research’s account simply said, ‘Nope, we’re going to keep doing it.’ Just flat out said, ‘We don’t care.’ And that’s the problem here that the Biden campaign, but also those of us in the media are gonna have to grapple with between now and November, because the speed of these fakes only is increasing.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Well, and, you know, it’s — Jonathan’s right, you have to start asking are these coming on high when you have the same news organization doing what Jonathan just said, deliberately lying about a shot, cropping it in the way they know they’re lying to the readers, right? And that comes about a week after a Wall Street Journal story that they know is misleading. No reasonable person could not know it’s misleading. And again, why we bring this up, we bring it up just to say this: We’ve now just expanded far out from just deep fakes on Twitter/X, other social media, TikTok, to now deep fakes, or cheap fakes even, in the New York Post and other publications.”
BRZEZINSKI: “Yeah. So, we will have a lot more on this coming up.”
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Fauci: What’s Incorrect from Accusers Is NIH Funding an Indirect Grant to Chinese Labs Working on Covid
RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
Have been made against you by the Trump movement and by the kinds of members of Congress who are shouting at you the other day in that hearing. They have accused you of creating the Covid vaccine. They have accused you of covering up the real story that the virus was essentially deliberately or at least accidentally created. Could you respond to those claims?
>> They’re preposterous because we don’t know what the origin of this virus is. Either somehow came out of a lab where Chinese scientists went into the environment and got infected and played with it and came out, or it was a natural spillover from an animal to a human in the Wuhan market. I keep a completely open mind. The viral augical experts favor a natural occurrence. Since it isn’t definitive, I keep an open mind. What they say that is incorrect is the NIH funted a grant in China, an indirect grant from a firm in New York that did a subaward to do some surveillance studies on what is out there, which is a perfectly appropriate thing to do, in fact, I would probably be held as being incompetent if I didn’t, if we didn’t do that, as it turns out, the viruses that were being studied under the NIH grant are evolutionarily so distant from sars-cov-2 that there’s no chance in the world somebody could turn it into sars-cov-2. So this attack is preposterous and anybody who knows anything about virology will say it’s so distant that the precursor virus could not possibly turn in even if you tried.
>> You mean looking at it moleculare, this virus understudy, with in terms of NIH having any involvement, is so dissimilar to the virus that caused the pandemic that there’s no chance.
>> Even if you tried. Even if you tried to do it. But that still doesn’t rule out the possibility that somewhere in China, out of a lab came the virus. That’s why I always say over and over again, even though the evidence strongly weighs towards it being a natural occurrence, I keep an open mind that we still don’t know what the origin is.
>> I have so much more to ask you. Can you stay?
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Harold Ford Jr.: If Biden Doesn’t Do Well in the Debates, There Might Be Calls for a New Candidate
RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
>> Greg: that is the dark underbelly of democratic politics. You got the check and shower and the money at the perfect time, and they shall out the vote. Did they run out of money spending it on electric charges?
>> Judge jeanine: I don’t know if the Democrats spend their money on. I suspect a lot of us are being told what they spend their money on beer and I want to talk about the fact that this election is really when you see Donald Trump in a black church and church and you see Joe Biden with all the celebrities, it is like the difference between taking a vote for granted and earning a vote. Joe Biden comes out, and he says, if you don’t vote for me, you ain’t black. Donald Trump goes to the black community and says, this is when I’m gonna do for you. This is how I’m going to help you. This is what I’ve done. This election is also about criminal justice and the difference between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Joe Biden was the one who pushed the omnibus crime control act of 1994 and put a generation of blacks and called them predators and put them into prison weird when Donald Trump was president, he passed them into the first step act that allowed for the reduction in sentencing as well as earning good credit, making that statutory and giving Social Security cards, drivers licenses so the African Americans coming out of prison could get jobs. Joe Biden gives the illegals the licenses and all the other stuff stuff. When Trump needs money — I have to give his daughter-in-law credit. There is someone at this table, no one here now. What does she know about raising money? That are in c is killing it. So is Lara Trump. It’s difference between Mar-a-Lago because he is the entertainment and Joe Biden having to bring in George Clooney and Julia Roberts and Obama and Jack Black. You know, what people want more than anything is the minority community to at least be addressed and respected. That is not being done by the Democrats.
>> Harold: Democrats I went back 90% of the black vote. I think it’s going to happen again. We will see. The main thing is you can’t take voters for granted. Why do you rob banks? That is where the money is. Democrats go to Hollywood, because that is where the money is. Republicans — they go down some Mar-a-Lago. A bunch of billionaires show up around the table. I give President Trump great credit for being able to do that. This is the thing that will really be the decisive factor at this early point in the campaign. This is the longest campaign we have seen for president and every day. It keeps getting longer. June 27th will be one of the demarcation dates to understand where the guys stand on the critical issues. It can very well be if President Biden does not perform well in June 27th, there will be louder voices in the Democratic Party say maybe we need a different candidate. If he performs well, the same thing could be set on the other side. Probably not likely but it put Biden in a stronger position than today.
>> Greg: Obama never went to the hood. We are going to leave it at that. Never went to the hood.
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Sen. Casey Blames Corporations for High Prices Even After Huge Tax Breaks: It’s ‘Greedflation’
RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
You have been campaigning all across Pennsylvania. You have been talking about it. One of the things you talk about a lot of the economy, great. The inflation, what people are seeing in that light. When we look at the polls, the data is very good on the economy but it does not show on the poles that people are necessarily feeling it or giving the president or even the Democrats credit. What do voters say when you talk to them about the economy and how they are feeling and how they are renting?
>> A good part of that is high prices. We know that even after these huge national corporations copies record tax cuts, tax cuts we had rarely seen in recent American history, they got these huge tax breaks. They used most of that new revenue they had to have stock buybacks and they Jack up their prices. The price of food, household items area people not only feel it every week but I think they know what it is and it is great. I have talked a lot about the present as well. The shrinking the size of the product, not shrinking the price.
>> Not enough chips in the bag.
>> The larger question is basic. When they can Jack up prices on food and laugh all the way to the bank. We have to take action against that. When I talk about not just pointing it out for voters to focus on, but also when I talk about taking action, that is where you get people’s attention. People want us to pass a so they can go after these and hold them accountable. I think they also want us to vote to roll back the big corporate tax breaks because obviously, these big companies as they are jacking up their prices.
>> Clearly, you know who’s going to keep them.
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James Carville Says He Wouldn’t Bet on Trump Appearing at Next Week’s Debate: ‘If You Gave Me Even Money, I’d Say He’s a No-Show’
MELBER: “They’re going to look up and realize, oh my God, here’s the debate. So I want to mention that for folks, we got the new rules. This is next week. It will be different. No opening statements, two minutes to answer each question, red lights visible to candidate when time expires. And a big win for the Biden campaign, given that Trump is a rule-breaker, the other candidate who’s not speaking will be muted when it’s not their turn. Now, that in theory applies to both of them. But of course, more practically, having to wait your turn to speak is something that will affect Trump’s style of debate, if you want to call it that. There were a lot of interruptions last time.”
[Clip starts]
Biden: “I’m not going to answer the question.”
Trump: “Why wouldn’t you answer that question?”
Biden: “Because the question is —“
Trump: “You want to put a lot of new Supreme Court justices, radical left.”
Biden: “Will you shut up, man?”
[Clip ends]
MELBER: “You know, something he might have wanted to say for a long time, a lot of people wanted to say, that was then speaking to at the time the president. They did get progress on these rules. Will that matter or what will matter next week?”
CARVILLE: “Well, if I was a gambler — and actually, I am a gambler — I’d take even money that Trump doesn’t show up.”
MELBER: “Ha!”
CARVILLE: “I just think —“
MELBER: “You don’t think Trump’s coming next week?”
CARVILLE: “I mean, I don’t know, but if I was — I think he’s going to wake up and decide, just like he said he was going to testify at his defense in his trial. He didn’t even put on a defense. Let him show up. I wouldn’t be shocked, but I certainly would not be surprised if you gave me even money, I’d say he’s a no-show. He’ll just get up in the morning, say I’m just not going to do it.”
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Trump on His Comments About Milwaukee: ‘Who Would Say Something Bad About a Place That You Want to Win?’; ‘I Love Milwaukee’
Reporter: “We’re clearing up misconceptions today. I do want to give you a chance to talk about Milwaukee. A lot of rumors this week, half truths. What did he say? What didn’t he say? When it comes to Milwaukee, home to the GOP convention next month, what are your thoughts on the all-important swing state, Wisconsin?”
Trump: “Well, I put out a Truth just now because I heard the Democrats lie. That’s all they can do. They have bad policies, open borders, bad military. The whole thing, everything they do is bad. All electric cars, they want to have everyone driving an electric car. All made in China. Don’t go far enough. As you know, they don’t go far and they cost a lot of money. The whole thing is ridiculous. Now they’re talking about your washing machines. They want to give them no water. Dishwashing machines, every day they have something new. They have no policy, but all they do is lie. They make up stories. That’s a totally made-up story. I picked Milwaukee. I had a lot of choices. A lot of places wanted it, obviously, with the money that it brings and the economics and the economic development even that it brings. I had a lot of choices. I picked Milwaukee. Never said anything bad about Milwaukee other than something I say about a lot of cities, especially Democrat-run cities, is that we want to keep the vote honest. And I hope that Milwaukee is going to keep the vote honest. And if they do, I’m going to really love it. But I was the one that picked Milwaukee and it’s just another lie. They lied about soldiers. They lied about just about everything, because when you have a candidate like Biden that doesn’t know he’s around, that doesn’t know is he still living — I mean, you — I saw the mess in Europe, that mess, I’ve never seen anything like it, where he doesn’t even know where the hell he is. They have to lie because frankly, if they don’t, they have no chance of getting elected. And it’s a shame, frankly, when I hear a story like that. Milwaukee bothered me because when you’re the one that picked it and we have great spirit going into Milwaukee and the people of Wisconsin, as you know, we’re leading in the polls, so what do they do? They lie and they make up a story that I said something bad about Milwaukee. And I just ask you this, who would do that? Who would say something bad about a place that you want to win, you want to win over? The only thing I say is I want to keep this election nice and honest, and if we do that, I’m going to be very happy. But I love Milwaukee, and that’s why I picked it.”
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MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace: RNC’s Clips of Biden Are ‘Highly Misleading and Selectively Edited’
Wallace: “There’s a growing and insidious trend in right-wing media, broadcast, print and social media. It is to take highly misleading and selectively edited videos of President Biden directly from Republican National Committee social media accounts, and then use those videos to spread messages virally to cast doubt on President Biden’s fitness for office. Here is this headline from the New York Post: ‘Biden appears to freeze up, has to be led off stage by Obama at mega-bucks L.A. fundraiser.’ The full video posted by Biden finance chair on Twitter shows something entirely different, Biden reacting to applause and then walking off stage with former President Obama. It comes less than one week after the New York Post made a cover out of another piece of deceptively edited tape calling him ‘Meander in Chief’ due to what they claim was Biden walking away during a skydiving demonstration during the G7 summit last week. The only problem is that the full video, which emerged almost instantly, shows Biden was going over to congratulate one of the skydivers who’s cropped out of the video entirely. But the articles are based on cheap fakes, videos of real events that are intentionally manipulated to fool viewers, released on an RNC opposition research social media account with zero independent fact-checking by these so-called journalists and spread throughout the right-wing ecosystem. We would take the hand-wringing by right-wing media about Biden’s mental fitness and videos intentionally manipulated to make him look unfit maybe a little more seriously if they weren’t radio silent about the repeated glaring and real mental lapses happening behind podiums and on camera on the part of Donald Trump.”
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VP Harris: ‘We Must Speak Truth About the Prevalence of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls, and Men and Boys’
Harris: “And it starts, of course, with awareness and acknowledgment. We must speak truth about the prevalence of conflict-related sexual violence against women and girls, and men and boys. All of these crimes are too often ignored. The UN estimates that for each rape documented in connection with a conflict, there are 10 to 20 cases that go undocumented. Conflict-related sexual violence must be condemned unequivocally wherever and whenever it occurs.”
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Jean-Pierre Is Big Mad that RNC Distributes Unfiltered, Unedited, Publicly Available Clips of Biden
Reporter: “There seems to be a sort of rash of videos that have been edited to make the president appear especially frail or mentally confused. I’m wondering if the White House is especially worried about the fact that this appears to be a pattern that we’re seeing more broadly?”
Jean-Pierre: “Yeah, we — and I think you all have called this ‘the cheap fakes video,’ and that’s exactly what they are. They are cheap fakes video. They are done in bad faith. And — and some of your news organization have been very clear, have stressed that these right-wing — the right-wing critics of the president have a credibility problem because the fact-checkers have repeatedly caught them pushing misinformation, disinformation. And so we see this, and this is something coming from — from your part of the world, calling them cheap fakes and misinformation. And I’ll quote The Washington Post where they wrote — they wrote about this and they said how Republican use misleading videos to attack Biden in a 24-hour period. And to their credit, we have a conservative Washington Examiner did call them out as well, calling out the New York Post. Ironically, several recent cheap fakes actually attacked the president for thanking troops, for thanking troops — that is what they are attacking the president for — both in Normandy this happen, and again in Italy. And I think that it tells you everything that we need to know about how — how desperate, how desperate Republicans are here. And instead of talking about the president’s performance in office — and what I mean by that is his legislative wins, what he’s been able to do for the American people across the country — we’re seeing these deep fakes, these manipulated videos, and it is, again, done in bad faith.”
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Surgeon General: If Your Children Are on Social Media, I Would Create Tech Free Zones in Their Day
GUTHRIE: “I mean, kids are already hooked. Frankly, parents are hooked too, it’s not a fair fight. OK. I have a 7 and 9-year-old, so I guess I’m asking for a friend, you have 6 and a 7-year-old. When do you think is the right age to give a smartphone, and when is the right age to allow social media?”
MURTHY: “Well, here’s — here’s how we’re approaching it for our kids. My kids are young and we’re starting to have these discussions actually among parents in our school as well. But I would delay the use of social media for kids until at least after Middle School. I would also if your children are on social media, I would create tech free zones in their day to protect sleep, in-person interaction, and physical activity, that could look like not allowing technology at the dinner table, when you’re eating together. It could look like taking technology away one hour before bedtime, and then giving it back to kids in the morning. But we need to do this. It’s not easy. And trust me, I know this, because many parents kind of come up to me and say, ‘Look, my child is saying to me that they’re the only one not on social media.’ And they don’t want to be left out and they want an account. Well, this is why as parents, we need to start talking about this more openly partnering with each other and helping one another because when we make pacts to actually enforce these kinds of rules together, it’s easier. And right now too many parents are struggling alone, feeling ashamed, feeling like they’re failing as parents, and not realizing that all of us are struggling with the same questions.”
GUTHRIE: “We are indeed. Well, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, we could talk for a long time about this. Hope we’ll speak again about it. Thank you for being here. Appreciate it.”
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Scarborough: Martin Luther King ‘Was Foreseeing the White Audience at Donald Trump’s Black Church Event’
SCARBOROUGH: “Al, we got the breaking news this weekend when Donald Trump spoke in a black church filled mainly with white people that some of his best friends are black.”
BRZEZINSKI: “Mm-hmm.”
SCARBOROUGH: “What say you?”
Sharpton: “I say that I’ve probably all of my life heard every bigot I’ve ever talked to say that, that’s usually the opening line, that some of my best friends are black. And you say that being defensive because it shouldn’t be given that you have friends that are black, the fact that you have to say it tells us that you really do have some bias tendencies, if not an outright bigot. I also think that it takes real effort to go to a black church and have mostly whites in the audience. I mean, in Detroit —“
BRZEZINSKI: “What is that.”
Sharpton: “— I’ve never — I’ve never heard it. I’ve been preaching all my life and I’ve never seen a black church in Detroit, where the majority of the people in the audience are white. And then you leave there and you go to a real right-wing conference, which draws a white supremacists. So I think Donald Trump more defined —“
SCARBOROUGH: “Yeah.”
Sharpton: “— himself to black voters this weekend that he was able to —“
BRZEZINSKI: “Yeah.”
Sharpton: “— appeal to them.”
SCARBOROUGH: “You know —“
BRZEZINSKI: “And to — to be clear, a black church full of white people, is a black church full of white people.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Yes, it is. (Laughter) To be clear, when Martin Luther King said the most segregated hour in America every week is the hour that people worship at church. Well, he was foreseeing the white audience at Donald Trump’s black church event.”
BRZEZINSKI: “Oh, my God. OK.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Molly?”
Jong-Fast: “Yes, for sure. I mean, I think some of this is Trump trying to get — give a permission structure to try to prove — to prove or to pretend to more mainstream —“
BRZEZINSKI: “Yeah.”
Jong-Fast: “— voters that he’s not racist, so that they will vote for him. I don’t think that he actually believes — and again, the rev can speak to this much better than I can — that he can actually win black voters.”
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Mara Gay: The Debate May Actually Show that Trump Does Not Have ‘Serious’ Answers for the American People
GAY: “I wish I could sit in on the debate prep. I mean, I don’t know who is playing Donald Trump, but there is a lot of theater at play and a lot of work that’s going to be done. I mean, I actually think that the rules do favor the audience, most importantly, to get the best sense for Americans of where these two men stand and what their differences are. It’s really important that this stage —“
BRZEZINSKI: “Yeah.”
GAY: “— is not used as — as an actual stage for Donald Trump for one of his rallies, that he’s able — you know, he shouldn’t be able to go on like that. I actually, I have a background in tabloids and I think sometimes we forget that it can be very damaging if a candidate doesn’t have a quick and good and clear answer and isn’t able to deliver that in a short amount of time. So I don’t know that Donald Trump is going to — that this is going to favor Donald Trump. I think it — it may —“
BRZEZINSKI: “Yeah.”
GAY: “— actually show that he doesn’t have answers for the American people that are serious. He’s not policy-based. So people who are watching these debates are going to be looking for that, not red meat.”
BRZEZINSKI: “Right.”
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CNN’s O’Sullivan Interviews MAGA Supporters Saying America ‘Is Not a Democracy,’ It’s a Republic
JIMENEZ: “President Biden touts his reelection campaign as a fight to preserve democracy. But if you ask some Trump supporters, the former president is not a threat to democracy because the United States is not a democracy. CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan spoke to some of those supporters.”
[Clip starts]
O’SULLIVAN: “What happens if Trump loses?”
UNIDENTIFIED MALE 1: “I don’t see him losing.”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 1: “I don’t think he lost the last election, to be honest.”
O’SULLIVAN: “Do you think he’s going to win?”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 2: “Yes.”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 3: “Yes. Without a doubt.”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 2: “No doubt.”
O’SULLIVAN: “What if he doesn’t this time? What happens to the country?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 2: “We’re done.”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 3: “We’re in big trouble.”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 2: “Biden talks about democracy, you know, saving democracy. They’re the ones that are killing democracy.”
O’SULLIVAN: “Obviously, there’s a lot of criticisms of Trump, that he is bad for democracy, that he’s bad for American democracy — “
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 1: “Can I say something? We’re a republic.”
UNIDENTIFIED MALE 1: “We’re a republic.”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 1: “We are not a democracy.”
UNIDENTIFIED MALE 1: “We are representative Republican. We’re not a democracy.”
O’SULLIVAN (voice-over): “One thing we’ve been hearing at Trump rallies like this over the past few months is that America isn’t really a democracy.”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 4: “America’s not a democracy, it’s a republic.”
UNIDENTIFIED MALE 2: “It’s not a democracy. OK? Democracy is actually not as good as you think it is.”
O’SULLIVAN (voice-over): “But for centuries, America has celebrated its democracy.”
Reagan: “Democracy is worth dying for.”
BUSH: “Democracy remains the definition of political legitimacy.”
O’SULLIVAN (voice-over): “But some Republicans and pro-Trump media are pushing the idea that America is not a democracy.”
CAIN: “the United States of America is not a democracy. We are a constitutional republic.”
Johnson: “United States of America is not a democracy. You don’t want to be in a democracy.”
HEGSETH: “We are not a democracy. We are a republic.”
O’SULLIVAN: “Is America a democracy?”
APPLEBAUM: “America is a democracy. It was founded as a democracy.”
O’SULLIVAN: “I’ve heard a lot of conspiracy theories. I hear a lot of things out on the road. But to hear Americans, people who would describe themselves as patriots say that America is not a democracy. That stopped me in my tracks.”
APPLEBAUM: “You are hearing people say America is not a democracy because there are people around Trump who want them to be saying that, who’ve been planting that narrative.”
O’SULLIVAN: “Is America a democracy?”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 2: “No.”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 3: “No. I don’t — I think — we’re a republic.”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: “Well, not really, but yes, we’re a republic.”
O’SULLIVAN: “What’s the difference?”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 3: “I feel like democracy — let me think this through. That it’s government-controlled. I don’t see freedom in democracy. I see freedom in the republic.”
APPLEBAUM: “Honestly, the word ‘democracy’ and the word ‘republic’ have often been used interchangeably. There isn’t a meaningful difference between them.”
O’SULLIVAN: “So much of the warnings and criticism about Trump is that he is a threat to democracy, that he is anti-democratic.
APPLEBAUM: “Absolutely. If they can convince people that we don’t have a democracy, then it’s okay that Trump is attacking democracy, because it doesn’t really matter.”
O’SULLIVAN: “So why, like, why has democracy become a bad word?”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 5: Because it’s being used in a way to change the flavor of our country, which is a republic.”
APPLEBAUM: “These words were used in different ways in the 18th century, and it’s true, the Founders didn’t want direct democracy, by which they meant people gathering on the town square. They wanted representative democracy. But I think the reason why this conversation about language has risen now is because there is a part of the Republican Party that would like to rule as a minority and they need an excuse for why that’s okay. And so they have begun to say, we’re not a democracy, we’re a republic. And it’s not 100 percent clear what that means, but I think they mean, ‘We want Donald Trump to be able to do whatever he wants.’”
O’SULLIVAN: “Some people I’ve been speaking to at Trump events recently — “
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 6: “Yes?”
O’SULLIVAN: “ — have been saying, America is not a democracy, it’s a republic.”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 6: “We’ve always been in a democracy. First of all — “
O’SULLIVAN (on-camera): “Yes.”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 6: “ — I mean, we used to have freedom of speech, freedom of religion. We used to have that too. Now they’re picking on the Christians and the Jewish people. I mean, how — how much more can we take?”
O’SULLIVAN: “Are you concerned if Trump loses — “
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 6: “Yes.”
O’SULLIVAN (on-camera): — that there will be another January 6th?”
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 6: “No, I think there will be a civil war. That’s what I think will happen.”
[Clip ends]
O’SULLIVAN: “And Omar, look, there is, of course, a legitimate debate discussion to be had on what form of democracy we have here in the United States, direct democracy, representative democracy, in fact, constitutional republic, which you heard people mentioned in that piece, that is a form of democracy. But look, this is not actually a debate about government, about democracy. It’s an attack on democracy. People have heard the warnings that Trump is a danger to democracy, and therefore you have people trying to convince others that, well, the United States isn’t a democracy in the first place, and therefore Trump can’t be a threat. Omar?”
JIMENEZ: “Donie, appreciate the reporting, as always, always insightful.”
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Biden Campaign Co-Chair Dismisses Poll Numbers: ‘There’s No Universe in Which Trump Is Going to Get 21% of the Black Vote’
SIDNER: “Mitch, it sounds like this is going to be a big theme as you would expect it to be during a presidential debate. I do want to ask you about polling. We heard from — from President Biden when he was talking to our Erin Burnett, that he doesn’t really believe the political polls, he was talking specifically about the economy. Let’s listen to what he said.”
[Clip starts]
Biden: “The polling data has been wrong all along. (...) When I started this administration, people were saying there’s going to be a collapse of the economy. We have the strongest economy in the world. Let me say it again, in the world.”
[Clip ends]
SIDNER: “All right. So he talked about that. And then we have some — some polling that has come out that our data Reporter Harry Enten pointed out that for the black vote, President Biden they’re showing — you know, he’s losing support, according to the pollsters, that Donald Trump could get 21 percent of the black vote. Are — is that being ignored? Is the campaign ignoring that? Are you worried about it?”
LANDRIEU: “Well, first of all, it’s going to be a very close election. Every one of — every one of them is. Secondly, there’s no — there’s no universe in which Donald Trump is going to get 21 percent of the black vote, that’s never going to happen. And so it’s not that we’re not worried about that but we’re fighting very, very hard for every vote. And the — and the — the — the records of each of these men is clear in this regard. Polling is always important, but it is true, and I think you guys have to recognize that it has been vastly wrong for a lot of time, especially in the — in the recent past. So it’s not that you don’t care about it. The second thing is this. President Biden has in fact created 15 million jobs since he has been in office, Donald Trump lost 2.5 million jobs, the greatest loss of jobs in the history of the country for any president except Herbert Hoover. And so we’re going to continue to tell that truth because it is the strongest economy in the world. However, prices are still too high. And that is why the president is really working hard to fight corporations, to really make sure that we bring down costs for prescription drugs and to do the work that is necessary to give every American a little bit of breathing room. That is a message that we have to take to the American people, and we’re not going to stop talking about how — how well America is doing in this particular time. I don’t know why Donald Trump keeps tearing down America. Everything he says about this country would make you believe that we’re going through a hellhole. All you need to do is travel around this country and see the unbelievable things that are going on. That’s not to say that we don’t have problems and we have challenges. That’s why the person who sits in the Oval Office is important. And that’s why wisdom, character, and judgment are necessary. Because if you’re the kind of guy that make decisions in the dark that only help you and hurt everybody else, that’s not the kind of guy you want sitting behind the resolute desk.”
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NBC: Biden Is Hatching a Mass Amnesty Scheme for ‘Hundreds of Thousands’ of Illegals Living in the U.S.
ALEXANDER: “And new this morning, multiple sources familiar with the White House’s plans tell NBC News that President Biden is set to take executive action as early as Tuesday to protect hundreds of thousands of undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens from deportation.”
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Biden Campaign Co-Chair: ‘I Wonder Why Anybody Is Questioning Joe Biden’s Mental Acuity’
SIDNER: “Mitch, I just have to ask you, I know I’ve been wrapped but I have to ask you about what Trump challenged Joe Biden on, which was, he wants him to take a cognitive test. And we have a very short bit of time, but he did, he tried to remember the name of his own doctor Donald Trump, and he messed that up while he’s challenging —“
LANDRIEU: “Yeah, exactly.”
SIDNER: “— Mr. Biden. What do you make of that?”
LANDRIEU: “I think Donald Trump is a joke. I mean, when this guy — when his lips are moving, he’s lying. And then when he tries to confuse — when he tries to go to accuse somebody else’s of speaking improperly, he can’t keep two thoughts in his mind. I want to encourage Americans to go listen to Donald Trump’s full speeches and try to put that word spaghetti together. And I wonder why anybody is questioning Joe Biden’s mental acuity. Donald Trump can’t string two sentences together. I mean, this is the biggest joke in the world. My president is going to show up on time, on task, and he is going to give it to Donald Trump next week. He shows up, he’s doing his job. You just saw him criss crossed the continent three times with world leaders and he’s back home getting the work of America now because that’s what he does every day. And the proof is in the pudding. We have the receipts, 15.5 million jobs, 56,000 projects going on and economy that’s stronger than any other economy in the world, and taking it to big corporate America to reduce their prices because inflation has come down from 9 percent to 3 percent.”
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Ratcliffe: ‘The Gov’t Always Had Hunter Biden’s Laptop with the Evidence of His Crimes on It’
GOWDY: “Director Ratcliffe, thank you for being here, Happy Father’s Day to you. Let’s start with the laptop. Why in the world would federal prosecutors use Russian disinformation to prosecute the president’s son?”
RATCLIFFE: “Well, Trey, you can imagine, I’ve gotten that question a lot this week and a lot of people saying, ‘You feel good that you’ve been vindicated and this has all proven to be true,’ as if it was some open question. Trey, this has always been a settled matter, it’s never been open to discussion or opinion. Either the government, you know, has the murder weapon with the defendant’s DNA all over it or they don’t, and in this case the government always had Hunter Biden’s laptop with the evidence of his crimes on it. So, you know, that wasn’t a matter of judgment or opinion, that was based on conversations that I was having at the time with the Attorney General Bill Barr and with the FBI director Christopher Wray, and we put out statements because people like Adam Schiff and then later these 51 intelligence officials were attempting to mislead the American people about that. You know, the problem, Trey, is some of the people on that letter that organized that, Jim Clapper, John Brennan, Mike Morell, these are the same people that did the same thing in 2016 when they ran the first Russia collision hoax. So, you know, at some point it crosses over from a campaign dirty trick to actual election interference, and it’s something that Merrick Garland should investigate but he won’t. So the only accountability will come if and when Donald Trump is elected and the Trump Department of Justice seeks to hold people accountable under the law.”
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Md. County Sheriff Blames Biden Admin for the Murder Committed by an Illegal Immigrant
GAHLER: “Rachel was not his first victim. And it’s my understanding that this suspect, this monster, fled to the United States illegally after committing the brutal murder of a young woman in El Salvador a month early, in January of 2023. Once in our country and likely emboldened by his anonymity, he brutally attacked the 9-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion in March of 2023 in Los Angeles. And as everyone, I believe, is aware, that was our first DNA match linking Rachel’s case to the Los Angeles case. It has been a fear of mine that once we identified this suspect, the result would be exactly this. And I want to now direct these comments to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and to every member in both chambers of Congress. We are 1,800 miles away here in Hartford County, we are 1,800 miles away from the southern border, and the American citizens are not safe because of failed immigration policies. This is the second time in just two years that an innocent Hartford County woman has lost her life to a criminal in our country illegally. Let me repeat that. 1,800 miles from the southern border, and this is the second woman in our county to be killed by an illegal alien. Suspects — in both cases, they are suspects from El Salvador with ties to criminal gangs. Should not be happening. Victor Hernandez did not come here to make a better life for himself or for his family. He came here to escape the crime he committed in El Salvador. He came here and murdered Rachel, and God willing, no one else, but that should have never been allowed to happen.”
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Cotton: ‘I’ve Noticed that Vladimir Putin Only Attacks Ukraine When Democrats Are President’
TAPPER: “My first guest could be theoretically joining Donald Trump on the Republican ticket. Joining us now, potential Trump vice presidential pick Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, also a U.S. veteran. Thank you so much for being here, Senator. Really appreciate it. Let’s start with Ukraine, which I know is an issue you care about in terms of military aid. Last night, at a rally in Michigan, the former president, Mr. Trump, went after Ukrainian President Zelenskyy for constantly seeking U.S. aid, saying, ‘It never ends. It never ends.’ This is a criticism that comes after he reportedly told House Republicans when he was on the Hill the other day that the money the U.S. is sending to Ukraine isn’t worth it, and asked, ‘If Ukraine wins, what will be the benefit?’ Now, you have been a strong supporter of military aid to Ukraine to fend off Putin’s war. What is your answer to that question? What will be the benefit if Ukraine wins?”
COTTON: “Well, Jake, thanks for having me on, and happy Father’s Day to you.”
TAPPER: “To you as well, sir.”
COTTON: “And happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. I think it’s important to look at the context of what’s happened in Ukraine over the last 10 years. I have noticed that Vladimir Putin only invades Ukraine when Democrats are president. It happened under Barack Obama. It happened under Joe Biden. It didn’t happen with Donald Trump. In fact, the weapons that Ukraine used in the early days of this war to fend off the Russian invasion are the weapons that Donald Trump sent, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had refused to send. One reason why Joe Biden — or why Vladimir Putin thought he could get away with going for the jugular in Ukraine is because of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, which projected weakness and indecision. It was just a few weeks later that he began to mass troops on Ukraine’s border. President Trump has said that he believes and supports Ukraine’s survival and strength. But he also thinks that Europe should do more and, in fact, should care more, because it is in their backyard, ot is on their borders. I think that too. Europe should be doing more of this. But what we all want is a return to the peace and stability that we had when President Trump was president, not the war and chaos we have seen over the last four years.”
TAPPER: “Does it bother you at all when President Trump says things like, if Ukraine wins, what will be the benefit, which contradicts the policy issues you just illustrated?”
COTTON: “Well, President Trump, again, presided for four years over the peace and stability. I understand that European leaders and Democrats here in America didn’t care for some of the language or rhetoric he used. I would say that was necessary to get tough on foreign leaders, who are our putative allies, who had been free-riding off of American military strength for 35 years. And what you saw is European leaders actually finally investing in their common defense. That’s something they will do again when President Trump is back in the White House.”
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‘A Complete Miscarriage of Justice’: Burchett on Bannon’s Contempt Sentence and DoJ ‘Overreach’
RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
Scott: “There are a couple of high Trump aids, former President Trump aids, who are serving sentences, Peter Navarro is serving a sentence right now for contempt of Congress, Steve Bannon is supposed to report to jail in July for contempt of Congress. The Biden Administration didn’t have any problem prosecuting them. What is different about what they did or their cases from what the attorney general is charged with?”
BURCHETT: “That is even worse. That was a bogus committee created by Nancy Pelosi then the speaker wouldn’t — she wanted to make the Republican appointments, which she did, Kinsinger and Liz Cheney, you all know how that turned out. That was just a production produced by a major network as a matter of fact. The whole thing is bogus. Locking up my buddy Steve Bannon, to me, is just a complete miscarriage of justice. Like it or do not like and for other things but the reality is not showing up for a bogus committee is truly a miscarriage of justice. Matt Gaetz has a proposal with the speaker right now that I believe has merit. He is a lawyer and of course, Speaker Johnson is a constitutional lawyer and I believe there is going to be some things coming out on that very shortly. And I would hope so because this is just a complete overreach by the Justice Department. Frankly, we should not stand for it as the American people. When the Republicans are in power, the Democrats are not going to like it anymore either. I think Justice needs to be blind in this case they choose to open and close them when they want.”
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‘There’s Not a Strategy in Trump World Right Now’: Rina Shah on Trump’s Campaign Planning
RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
COLEMAN JR.: “Rina, I want to pick up on what was just pointed out. The RNC, they are having their convention in Milwaukee, the very city is hosting the Republican National Convention, a month from today. He is the leader of the party. What is he thinking here? Make it make sense to me, please.”
SHAH: “There’s not a strategy in Trump world right now except for whatever Trump is feeling that day of the week. He wants to go ahead and propagate what’s on his mind. And what’s on his mind is usually the uttering of Americans that are not just new but minority communities, black and brown folks across the country know how he has not only mischaracterized, leaned into stereotypes that are ancient. This is a person that does not think about what his campaign needs to do right, he is just thinking about what gets to people, that misinformation that will maybe get people animated, get them fearful of a change in America that maybe they don’t fit into, and what he’s also kind of relying on, Charles, inside politics, is that Wisconsin delegation of Republicans in Congress that for now well over a decade and a half pledged allegiance to him. There was a former RNC chair, members of Congress, that have all had this fealty to Trump. Pledged again allegiance to a man it forward in the party, and he has a narrow vision. He’s not thinking straight, and he’s kind of going right for that again, I hate to say it, but red meat, that changing America and America that does not fit in for folks who are white.”
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‘A Sheer Level of Disrespect’: Ameshia Cross on Trump’s Attitude Towards Diverse, Black-Run Cities
RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
COLEMAN JR.: “Evening to you both. We have basically seen Donald Trump use this playbook before. We know that he’s going to disparage certain cities and that most of those cities are going to be Democrat-led. But, it’s another element here, because most of those cities have nonwhite mayors. I am sure this is no coincidence, but you could certainly prove me wrong if you think otherwise.”
CROSS: “You took the words right out of my mouth. It’s not just that they are democratic-run and it’s that they’re black-run as well. The same attitude that we have seen Donald Trump have for Milwaukee he has for my home city, the one that I am in right now, Chicago. He consistently is saying things that are not true, they are not factual in the least. He talked about rising crime and violence, crime has been on the downturn in Milwaukee for about four years now. This year alone has seen some of the most sizable decrease they’ve seen in crime in the past two decades. I think there are a lot of lies, he likes to propagate, but he also likes to attack cities that are urban centers and cities that are diverse, diverse to be is the death nail to the Republican Party and is the death nail to Trump and Trump’s agenda. He does not appreciate people of color, he does not appreciate young people. He does not want to see diverse communities rise, he does not want to see the economy that is growing across Milwaukee, he does not want to give strength to that city. What it means for the state of Wisconsin and the fact that the convention will be nominating him, there is a sheer level of disrespect that goes beyond Milwaukee to every single urban center in this country, particularly those run by people who are black.”
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