Grabien

MADDOW: “All right, joining us now from the debate spin room in Atlanta is our beloved pal, former U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, also kan NBC political analyst. Claire, dying to know what you think about how things went tonight and what you’ve been hearing since.” McCaskill: “Well, first, the easy part. Donald Trump is a liar, a flawed character, mean, a jerk, very unlikable, and that was obvious tonight. Now, the hard and heartbreaking part. I have been a surrogate for some presidential candidates in my time. I know what the job is after a debate of a surrogate. I have never wanted to be a surrogate more than I do right now, because when you are a surrogate, you have to focus on the positives. But I have said very clearly and very plainly on this network, and my job now is to be really honest. Joe Biden had one thing he had to do tonight and he didn’t do it. He had one thing he had to accomplish, and that was reassure America that he was up to the job at his age, and he failed at that tonight. Now, does that mean that my phone blowing up with senators and campaign operatives and donors, big donors from all over the country, does that mean that Joe Biden is not the candidate? I don’t know that. I think we will know a lot more in a few weeks, how this plays out, how the polling plays out, but I think a couple of things are going on right now. I think I’m not the only one whose heart is breaking right now. There’s a lot of people who watched this tonight and felt terribly for Joe Biden. You know, you have to ask, how did we get here? How did we get to the point that we are spending a whole lot of time talking about the vice president tonight instead of talking about the president. And I don’t know how the rest of this story is written. I don’t know if things can be done to fix this, they might. And Trump is so terrible that this might heal itself, but based on what I’m hearing from a lot of people, and some of them are people that are in high elected offices in this country, and you might guess where they serve, there is a lot more than hand-wringing tonight. I do think people feel that we are confronting a crisis.” MADDOW: “Claire, I want to talk to you about this in very nuts-and-bolts terms. Given what you are describing, the kind of reaction that you are describing among people in the kinds of positions that you are describing, or at least alluding to, what can be done? What do you personally think should be done?” McCaskill: “Well, I think — listen, this could be a situation where everyone talks it out over the next few days. I do think that this is a time that Ted Kaufman and Ricchetti and Donilon and Ron Klain are going to have to have a heart-to-heart with the president about his ability to exude strength. And listen, nobody is a bigger fan of Kamala Harris than I am, and, you know, Gavin Newsom did a remarkable job tonight as a surrogate. And what he said, stuff I disagree with anything they’re saying, but those two people are signaling to a whole lot of Americans that are paying attention, how come they’re not running? How come the Democratic Party doesn’t have them at the top of the ticket instead of using them to shore up what had become, after tonight, some pretty glaring weaknesses in our president?” MADDOW: “But specifically, though, given that we are 130 days out, and the Democratic convention is very, very, very late, and President Biden has been confronted with these kinds of questions from the very beginning of this campaign, actually from before the beginning of this campaign. As soon as he was sworn in, people started talking to him about, ‘Say now you won’t run again,’ and he has been from that he is the guy, and if he’s not going to jump, nobody’s going to push him. The type of crisis, in your words, that you are describing, has to have a resolution, and if the resolution is not going to be that President Biden is going to leave the ticket, what else can be done? What else can be changed about the campaign? Are you saying the only solution is to take him off the ticket?” McCaskill: “No. I don’t know, honestly, what the solution is tonight. I know how this felt tonight. It felt like a gut punch to most people in this country who are paying close attention and know how dangerous Donald Trump is to all the values that we hold dear. And so I think it will take a couple of days for people to recover from the gut punch, but there will be leaders that have the ability to talk to the president. I think the president’s family would get involved if it actually got to that point. It may be that you can repair this damage. Maybe he can come out and show more vigor and show the ability to really stay on track. But, you know, there were some moments tonight that all of us were holding our breath, and that is not the kind of thing you want to happen 130 days out from an election when you’ve got Donald Trump on the other side of the equation.” MADDOW: “Right. Senator Claire McCaskill, very good to have you with us tonight. Thank you, my friend. Keep talking to people, keep letting us know what you are hearing from inside Democratic politics and those people in high elected office who we will never ask you the name of. Much appreciated. Our friend Steph Ruhle is back. Steph, I know you’ve been talking to people as well.” RUHLE: “I’ve been talking to current Democratic lawmakers, former lawmakers but more than anything, donors, and they’re really frustrated tonight. They are upset.”

MADDOW: “Jen Psaki has joined us here at the table. Jen, what was your reaction to the debate and what are you hearing from people you have been talking to over the course of the night?” PSAKI: “Well, I have been listening to what you all have been saying tonight, I don’t think we should sugarcoat this. This was not the debate performance that the Biden team wanted or needed from this debate, in part because they wanted to do this debate as early as they did to change this up, right, to bring the Joe Biden who was at the State of the Union to the debate stage. That is not the Joe Biden who showed up at the debate stage. You could see inklings of that or wrinkles of that or whatever you want to say at the post-debate event — “ MADDOW: “The very last answer of the debate, when all of a sudden it was like, ‘Oh, he’s warmed up!’” (Laughter) PSAKI: “Yes. And as you said, Rachel, he did improve as the night went on, his voice improved, his answers improved. He had a couple of moments. I thought his answer on calling out Trump’s criminality was pretty good. He was a little garbly on abortion. If you’re the campaign, you’re going to push out the best moments — there were a couple — on social media. But it’s not the debate they wanted. I think the biggest challenge for them, and Nicolle has been talking about this a little bit, we have sat in similar chairs, is how distracting all of the chatter is going to be, which I am getting, we are all getting on text on email, about whether he should be replaced. That chatter is happening. People are asking questions. I don’t mean it’s from the American public writ large, and we do not know how they feel and we won’t know for some time. If you look at history, this may not impact them at all. But the chatter is very distracting and it will be very consuming for the campaign, should he be replaced. They will be answering that question instead of breaking through on attacking Trump.” MADDOW: “May I ask — I asked Joy a version of this too — is the chatter from the peanut gallery or is the chatter from deciders?” PSAKI: “It is largely — it depends from who deciders are, right, because the deciders are really the public. I have not heard that from campaign operatives.”

AXELROD: “Not on the substance. I think he actually won on the substance. I don‘t think Trump did well. I think what it says to a lot of people, a lot of active Democrats is, ‘Man, we can beat this guy, but I don‘t know if we can beat him with the president.” COOPER: “Scott, we didn’t hear from you.” JENNINGS: “When we came on before this debate, I said, I thought this candidacy was teetering. And everybody jumped on me.” Jones: “Yes, we did. Yes, we did.” JENNINGS: “Every single person out here. And I just — I just — the candidacy has fallen, okay? Man, I know you‘re speaking from your heart. I‘m worried about the president. We should pray for the president. I think his advisers, I think the White House, and I think his family have a lot of explaining to do to their party and to the American people. This night, this one night was caused by an asked for by the Biden team. They wanted this night and this is what we got. We‘ve been told for weeks, weeks by Democrats who say, ‘Oh, in private meetings, I‘ve seen Joe Biden do cartwheels and hand stands while doing trigonometry, while solving all the nation‘s problems.’ We now know that every single person who said that has been lying to the American people.” BEDINGFIELD: “Including Kevin McCarthy?” JENNINGS: “We‘ve been told — Kate.” BEDINGFIELD: “I mean, just saying.” JENNINGS: “Everything we‘ve been told about his mental acuity by these Democrats has been a lie. And everything we think we knew has been confirmed. I got a text from a friend, she‘s not terribly political, she‘d maxed out to Biden in the last election because she hates Donald Trump. She said to me, ‘I will never forgive the Democratic Party for this election.’ If the Democrats truly believe that he is an existential threat to democracy and that‘s not just some talking point, they will wake up in the morning and they will do something else because this is not sustainable.”

Reporter: “And what is the response to former President Trump’s claims that President Biden may be taking something tonight to boost his performance?” Jean-Pierre: “I don’t think that I should dignify that with an answer.”

Wallace: “President Joe Biden, who is now in Atlanta for tonight’s debate, you can see him here greeting supporters just a few minutes ago, faces a familiar debate opponent in Donald Trump. Trump is a candidate who has a conspiracy theory for every vulnerability he has as a political candidate.”

Blinken: “But it’s in our national security interest to stand up for LGBTQI+ persons around the world. When nations came together 75 years ago, they affirmed, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, respect for the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family. That’s the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. And we see that here at the State Department every single day. Countries that respect the rights of every individual tend to be more stable, more healthy, more democratic, more prosperous. Those that discriminate against LGBTQI+ persons tend to be less free and tend to be less equal. The correlation is as clear as day. 64 countries currently criminalize consensual sex, same-sex conduct between adults. In 11 of them, having same-sex relations is punishable by death.”

NADLER: “If you look at the statistics, the crime rate among immigrants is far lower than the crime rate among native born Americans. So the whole issue is wrong.” Reporter: “Aren’t the crimes preventable though if these people don’t have a right to be here in the first place?” NADLER: “I’ve said what I’m going to say.”

SCARBOROUGH: “Well, this is one of the things make a you — you really educated me on. Early on in 2016, Donald Trump had a meeting with the editorial board, ‘The Washington Post,’ and I was reading it to you and I just couldn’t believe it. He talked about his hands and the size of his hands for over half ofthe interview, I go, this guy’s crazy look. And you said, no, he’s not crazy. If he’s talking about his hands, he doesn’t have to talk about his foreign policy plans. He doesn’t have to expose how little he knows about economics, or how little he knows about what he’s really going to do on the deficit or the debt. And — and we still have the same thing here. There’s a reason he talks about sharks. And he talks about electric —“ BRZEZINSKI: “Batteries.” SCARBOROUGH: “He — he doesn’t — this guy —“ BRZEZINSKI: “Bing, bing, bing.” SCARBOROUGH: “— this guy doesn’t know, he hasn’t studied American history, he doesn’t know, he hasn’t studied constitutional law, he doesn’t understand constitutional framework. The guy doesn’t know policy as he spent his life studying policy working through it. So yeah, it is going to be interesting when the studio’s quiet when there’s no chair and cheering section to cheer on some —“ BRZEZINSKI: “Yeah.” SCARBOROUGH: “— really stupid things he says, where basically everything he throws up, there is a strike, because the audience is wildly —“ [crosstalk] BRZEZINSKI: “I want to say what Charlie said. First of all, he doesn’t study policy or history. It’s worse. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t give a damn about public service. He thinks public service is for losers. He thinks the people who are buried at Arlington National Cemetery are losers who didn’t know — who didn’t understand what was in it for them. That — you have to look at his core values. His core values are the problem. I mean, it’s not even that he can’t answer a question. And then to Charlie’s point, hostile interviewers, I don’t think that — I don’t think that Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are planning to be hostile, I think they want a fair debate.” SCARBOROUGH: “Well, they’ll be tough to both sides.” BRZEZINSKI: “I think they will be tough to both sides.” SCARBOROUGH: “Yeah.” BRZEZINSKI: “And I think the hostility, from what we’re seeing already from the Trump campaign, is coming from Trump toward them to try and create hostility. And I’m sure that they will be elegant and fair and —“ SCARBOROUGH: “Yeah.” BRZEZINSKI: “— try their best to ask Donald Trump — and this is his worst nightmare — basic questions.” SCARBOROUGH: “Right. BRZEZINSKI: “Basic questions, to Charlie’s point. And he will have a hard time.”

JANSING: “There is a debate tomorrow where abortion is a huge issue in this country and particularly for the Biden White House.” TOOD: “Well, in raw political terms, Chris, there are folks in the Biden campaign that were hoping for a different decision out of Idaho, right? They would never say it on the record because it puts people’s lives at risk, but there was certainly — it certainly makes the case they want to make a lot cleaner and easier when it comes to judges on that issue. So in some ways this would take — if this ruling is indeed one that say release tomorrow morning now, and for all we know, maybe they weren’t ever planning on doing it tomorrow morning, but they will now, right, given that — that it’s — they’ve already shown — perhaps shown us something we don’t know for sure.”

HAYES: “You are someone who spent a lifetime in politics, from the time your father was the mayor of Baltimore, so you understand the way that political incentives work. When you look at what has happened to the Republican Party, when you look at something like last night, when these three state senators had stood in the way of this ban, they get primaried, they lose, like, what does that do to the way that Republicans understand what they have to do and what they will do about abortion, no matter what messaging they will say on, say, a debate stage?” Pelosi: “Well, thank you very much for your question. It is good to be here as we observe the two-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision. And I can tell you that this week we’ve had a drumbeat across America of events all over, talking about how we have to reverse that decision with law, by winning the election, and enshrining Roe v. Wade in the law of the land, and also how people see it as a kitchen table issue. This is an economic issue for families, the size and timing of their families, or if they are going to have a family. It’s a freedom issue. It’s a democracy issue. It is about freedom for women to make their own choices. So when you see that election in North Carolina last night, it was heartbreaking. Those women were courageous. They went out and said what they believed, and that was rejected by the voters. But we have to make sure that the voters know. And one thing they will know is the difference between Joe Biden and the former president of the United States. If the other guy wins, there will be no question there will be a national abortion ban in our country. I say that very sadly, as a Roman Catholic.”

Reporter: “Obviously, the media, the nation has had their eyes on the brutal crimes committed recently by illegal immigrants. One of them was actually wearing an ankle monitor. Yet, this morning you said in an interview that the safety of the American people is the priority and that these individuals are vetted. But we know in our conversations with the ICE director, we heard the FBI director say that there are significant gaps in intel. So what would you say to reassure the American people that they are, in fact, safe, and what would you say to the families who are mourning their loved ones because of these migrant crimes being committed?” MAYORKAS: “Well, let me start where you — where you ended, a message to the families. Of course, our hearts are with them, given their suffering. The safety and security of the American public is indeed our highest priority. We screen and vet individuals when we encounter them. If we learn of derogatory information subsequently, later in the process, then we take enforcement action accordingly.”

Reid: “And the thing is — this is the question — are y’all as offended as I am about the fact that it’s possible for this person, who is a felon and an adjudicated sexual assaulter, to stand next to the actual president and we’re supposed to take him seriously? There’s something deeply offensive about that. Should Biden exhibit that?”

MODERATOR: “Thanks, Tucker. I saw a couple of our friends from the press gallery have a smile when you were getting into the free press, so I want to ask Paul Sakkal from the Sydney Morning Herald to ask a question.” Carlson: “Great. Thank you.” SAKKAL: “Thanks for your speech, Mr. Carlson.” Carlson: “Of course. Thank you.” SAKKAL: “The media can be extremely negative, so it’s nice to hear your uplifting comments about our country.” Carlson: “It’s an amazing country.” SAKKAL: “It is. I think we forget that in Australia oftentimes. I appreciate that. You’ve preempted my question on Putin — “ Carlson: “Putin! Putin!” SAKKAL: “I think you did strategically, because you knew that’s what we’d ask.” Carlson: “Putin! He’s so bad! (Laughs)” SAKKAL: “And I also appreciate — “ Carlson: “Did he make you take the Covid shot?” SAKKAL: “Take the what?” Carlson: “The Covid shot. (Applause) No, he didn’t. Sorry. Sorry, sorry.” SAKKAL: “The Covid shot saved probably tens of millions of lives — “ Carlson: “Oh, yeah, yeah. Definitely. Safe and effective. This is why everybody loves the media. (Laughs) It’s hilarious. It’s like a time capsule, it’s like — it’s like you’re like the last Japanese soldier on Okinawa, you think the war is still going. No, it didn’t save millions of lives. It’s hilarious. Sorry. I’m sorry, I’m being [inaudible].” SAKKAL: “Can we get the full answer in without interruption?” Carlson: “Okay. I beg your pardon.” SAKKAL: “I’m interested in your position on Putin. Many people in this crowd would adore a conservative prime minister in this country, like John Howard, Tony Abbott. Mainstream right-wingers like Boris Johnson, Australian liberals, some of their MPs are in the crowd, vehemently anti-Putin, they believe he’s a reprehensible figure who doesn’t believe in in the values of conservatism such as the rule of law and democracy, which gives us the freedoms we have in our country.” Carlson: “Uh-huh.” SAKKAL: “I’m interested, do you feel any — do you feel any level of shame or regret that you are termed a useful idiot and then post your interview, Vladimir Putin himself said in his Russian media that he was surprised at how weak your questions were, and he also said that you were wrong when you said that no other journalists had asked to interview him. He said, ‘That’s not true, we only thought Tucker was the only person to report fairly.’” Carlson: “Wait a minute, I thought that you were describing Putin as a psychopathic liar, and yet now you’re taking his word for things?” SAKKAL: “Do you — “ (Applause) Carlson: “Let me — let me just — let me — let me just quickly unpack your absurd soliloquy, if I can. First, I’m I’m stuck on the idea that Boris Johnson is a right-winger. Do you know Boris Johnson? I do. Boris Johnson is a criminal buffoon, who, like so many who claim to love Ukraine, is single-handedly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men in this war that Ukraine cannot win. And I would just — I would refer you to Wikipedia. How many — how many more people does Russia have in Ukraine? Do you know? 100 million. 100 million. And in a land where that’s a relevant number, it is not possible for Ukraine to beat Russia. The best they can do is sue for peace. That’s been known, including by Zelenskyy, who wanted that since the early days of this conflict. And Boris Johnson, on orders from the Biden Administration, shut down — and this is not a disputed fact, this is a fact admitted by everybody now — shut down the peace negotiations almost two years ago, and Ukraine has been completely destroyed. And now Zelenskyy has passed a law allowing foreign corporations to own land there. So you tell me what Ukraine is going to look like in 30 years, when all of it is owned by BlackRock and multi national corporations and its population is not Ukrainian, okay? So the tragedy of what’s happened in Ukraine, orchestrated by the Western powers, including your government, and I hope you do — and driven by my government, I feel shame.”

BLACKWELL: “If we go behind the podiums, you can see two green lights. When they’re on, they signal to the candidate his microphone is on. When the green lights are off, they signal to the candidate his microphone is off. Now I want to give you a sense of what it will look like for viewers at home if a candidate whose microphone is off interrupts a candidate whose microphone is on. So I’m standing at one podium and I’ll ask Phil to come in and take the other podium. And so, let’s say I’m answering a question. My light is green and I’m speaking. Phil’s microphone is off and his green lights are not illuminated. He’s going to interrupt me as I’m speaking, and this is what it will sound like. My volume remains constant, while Phil’s interruption can be difficult to understand.” MATTINGLY: “Let’s try the opposite. My microphone is now on, Victor’s microphone is off, and he’s going to interrupt me. My volume remains constant, while Victor’s interruption can be difficult to understand. CNN’s production team has shared this demonstration with the campaigns earlier today, and we’re sharing it with you, our viewers, so everyone fully understands how tomorrow night will work. Now, we should note, by agreeing to participate in this debate, both campaigns and candidates have also agreed to abide by these rules. The CNN presidential debate airs live tomorrow night at 9:00 PM Eastern.”

MAHER: “I mean part of it, the left has to own. They are aggressively anti-common sense. The Democrats keep running on this one idea, saying to the American people, you can’t possibly think you can do worse than Donald Trump. And they keep saying, yes, we can. Yes, we can. And I understand that. I do. I would never vote for Donald Trump. And as I said, I think the Republicans are worse. But yeah, when — when — you know, it’s funny when I talk to, you know, my friends around my age, 40 — (Laughter) — and they are always bitching to me about their kids who are like in their 20s and they’re like, super uber woke, and they’re driving their parents crazy. And everything is like, ‘You don’t get it, mom. That’s old thinking.’ And I’m like, ‘Don’t get what? Abolish the police, tear down statues of Lincoln, maybe give communism and other shot, get rid of the Border Patrol, get rid of capitalism, white supremacy has never been worse, gender is always just a social construct. It’s OK to have penises in the women’s swimming pool, in women’s prisons. No, it’s not that I’m old, it’s that your ideas are stupid. (Laughter) And —“ (Applause) MODERATOR: “Well — OK. So — so you’re very —“ MAHER: “So —“ MODERATOR: “You’re very cantankerous obviously.” MAHER: “— when people talk about Trump, they should — that’s what they should be talking about. But why do people — because a lot of conservatives say to me, what you don’t get about Trump is we don’t like him either.” MODERATOR: “Right. They just hate the other stuff more.” MAHER: “And I don’t — I — I don’t blame them, because a lot of it is closer to their own home. Like the things you hate about Trump, democracy, I understand why that’s the biggest issue. But a lot of people it’s kind of vague. Ukraine’s very far away. But you know, the stuff about family and race and gender, it’s very close to their own home.” MODERATOR: “Yeah.” MAHER: “And — and —“ MODERATOR: “And yet, you could argue that it’s the sort of the octogenarians who are really causing most of the problems at the moment. I mean, you know, you’re quite sort of tough on the Millennials. But, you know, they have to deal with all these — these — these octogenarians who refuse to leave the stage, we’ve left them bankrupt too, you know, we’ve taken all their Social Security. So there is a lot of —“ [crosstalk] MAHER: “Well actually the older people this time are for Biden.” MODERATOR: “Yeah, that is true.” MAHER: “This is the first time in many, many elections where the older crowd — it’s one with my editorial Friday night was talking about this, for the first time, they are lining up behind Biden more than the Republican. You know, I’m — I’m — I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be mean to the Millennials and the Gen Zs, but you know, when I see them with their queers for Palestine banners —“ MODERATOR: “I know. That’s — that’s the one that really gets to you.” MAHER: “— it’s like I’m out, OK?” MODERATOR: “I know.”

HIDALGO: “It hurts even more, that they’re being used as pawns in this fight over immigration, that doesn’t even exist because Biden and McConnell agree, it’s just that Trump won’t let them move it forward.” UNKNOWN MALE: “All due respect, judge, you said this issue shouldn’t be politicized, but by pointing the finger at former President Trump and Republicans in Congress aren’t you politicizing it?” HIDALGO: “I think I answered the — I think I answered the questions. So. Yeah, I mean, it’s — this is about Jocelyn. This is about her family. And if we — if we want to as I said talk about immigration —” UNKNOWN MALE: “I think you didn’t answer the question. “ HIDALGO: “— then —” UNKNOWN MALE: “You didn’t answer the question.” HIDALGO: “— then —” UNKNOWN MALE: “Are you politicizing this by pointing the finger at Republicans and saying it’s their fault, not the fault of the Biden Administration that lifted the Remain in Mexico policies?” HIDALGO: “Again, the Biden reached an agreement with Leader McConnell to address this, but this is not about immigration. I’m not going to feed into that.”

BRZEZINSKI: “OK. And in this action, you say it’s moving in the right direction. There are two issues here I want to ask you about. The first is NBC News reporting that the Department of Homeland Security has identified over 400 immigrants who have come to the U.S. from Central Asia and elsewhere as subjects of concern, and some even affiliated potentially with an ISIS-affiliated human smuggling network. That’s number one. And then number two, reporting from NBC News that the administration is still releasing illegal crossers inside the U.S. to live while they pursue asylum claims that it’s not officially really working. And it’s still — there’s still a lot of folks coming through here the way they shouldn’t.” MAYORKAS: “Well, if I may correct you in a number of regards. Number one, with respect to the people from Central Asia, we have no evidence that they are individuals plotting to harm the United States, that is inaccurate. It’s very important to note that the safety and security of the American people are our highest priority. We screen and vet individuals at the time of encounter. If we learn of derogatory information, we take enforcement action. We are proceeding with extreme caution here in the service of the security and safety of the American people, number one. Number two, the number of individuals whom we’ve released into immigration enforcement proceedings subsequent to the president’s proclamation has dropped significantly. But remember that our detention capacity — and this is not specific to our administration — this has been historic ever since the 90s, when I was a federal prosecutor — our detention capacity is not sufficient to meet the number of people we encounter and therefore we have to release people into the United States when they are in immigration enforcement proceedings, and we put them on alternatives to detention, when that is necessary from an enforcement perspective. And so we have a number of procedures to ensure the safety and security of the American people. Fundamentally, we’re operating within a broken immigration system. We need Congress to fix it. Everyone agrees with that. It hasn’t been fixed since 1996.”

[Clip starts] VITALI: “Even as I’ve talked to voters, there are some who are like, I don’t want to share who I voted for. I don’t want my neighbors to know. It got intense.” Bowman: “Yeah, yeah. It’s intense because AIPAC are bullies. AIPAC intimidates people. And my opponent — and my opponent has sided not just with AIPAC, but Republican billionaires, and because he has been in office so long, and because he’s been county executive giving people jobs, people are afraid.” [Clip ends] VITALI: “You hear Bowman there, again, turn the conversation back towards AIPAC. And it’s something he did multiple times in our conversation. And look, we have to point out AIPAC aligned groups have spent over $14 million. They’re responsible for the bulk of the cash that’s been spent on the airwaves here. And most of those ads, although it’s a group that is pro-Israel, most of those ads have actually been about the ways that Bowman has voted in Congress, in ways that are divergent from the Biden Administration. So it’s not like those ads themselves are overtly focused on Israel and Gaza, but certainly that’s an issue that voters themselves have surfaced here.”

COLLINS: “Do you think some of the rhetoric, Speaker Johnson, just knowing you and how you conduct yourself, do you think some of the rhetoric is out of line when people from Trump‘s team are suggesting that — Trump himself, that Biden is going to be on cocaine when he’s on that debate stage Thursday night?” Johnson: “Look, there‘s a lot of things that are said in jest. Of course, no one expects that Joe Biden would be on cocaine, but they do ask questions and I think they’re objectively — I mean, I think it makes sense why people are asking will he be on some sort of energy drinks or something, okay? Look, his energy levels, you can see, vary dependent on what format is in and what forum, and we expect that he‘ll do what he did at the State of the Union. He had a lot of energy that night, so that‘s the Joe Biden I expect to see. The question is, can he stay for 90 minutes on that stage and go toe-to-toe with President Trump, who, as you know, goes to rallies and talks for two hours on end without any break and any notes. So it‘ll be a very interesting thing to see.” COLLINS: “Yeah, I mean, the allegations just about drugs have just been frankly ridiculous, and obviously are baseless as well.”

LEWANDOWSKI: “So what do we do on Hezbollah, sir? What’s the plan? And I know you don’t want to give away all the strategy, but I’m sure you’ve got an idea of the way you would handle that.” Trump: “Well, it’s Hamas, it’s Hezbollah. It’s 28 different cells of terror, they call them. And again, Iran was busted. They had no money when I was president. Now they have a lot of money, $250 billion. So it’s different. But you handle situations as you handle them. You’ve got to be respected. Throughout all the world, you have to be respected. I hate to use the word ‘feared,’ but that’s not so bad either. And once we get it going and once we’re in power, and we have to be because we’re not going to have a country, if we don’t win this election, November 5th, if we don’t win this election, we won’t have a country left, Corey. We’re not going to have a country. And you know that better than anybody. We are laughed at. They think we’re fools. They can’t believe that Biden is the president. And we’re going to turn that around. We’re going to turn it around very fast.” LEWANDOWSKI: “Well, Mr. President, it was such an honor to have you on tonight. I wish you the very best of luck on Thursday. I’ll be with you in Atlanta as you debate Joe Biden and give your message directly to the American people. It’s such an honor for us to have you with us this evening.” Trump: “Thank you very much. A great honor. Thank you.”

[Excerpt] OMG UNDERCOVER JOURNALIST: “So you think that they wouldn’t hire a C-suite who’s not white or not Jewish?” MAKKER: “In entertainment, no. (...) There’s also a slight glass ceiling for that, you know, I feel like there’s a glass ceiling. It’s not quite, like, in reach yet. You’re not going to get a CFO really non — I guess, for lack of a word, a non-white, non-Jewish.” O’KEEFE: “Unless you are a white Jewish man, well, you’re likely never going to see Disney’s C-suite.” MAKKER: “She was like Haitian and Hispanic, mix, she just left Disney like a month ago. She left because she didn’t really have — she’s a woman. She didn’t really have either of her bosses in her corner. But she quit saying that she just was like, ‘I was just not feeling right. So I feel — and that being said, the department heads are two Jewish men. It’s not that I have anything against Jewish men. I’m just saying that she, people of color, felt that and she quit. Because she just said that, ‘I can’t seem to like him.’” O’KEEFE: “A very well-qualified Haitian-Hispanic woman, who had rapidly worked her way up the Disney ladder, left the company acknowledging that she likely had no future there, oddly enough, because she wasn’t white, Jewish or man enough.” OMG UNDERCOVER JOURNALIST: “So maybe there’s this juxtaposition between corporations, especially in entertainment, that say, you know, ‘We want diversity and all these things,’ but then in reality — “ MAKKER: “It’s a number. Like, I’ve done the report for diversity and inclusion, which they make us do every year, same thing. I look at the shows, ‘Tell us the diverse cast of members that are in there.’ So seeing the number count go up, but I’m like, yes, it’s gone up, but I feel like that’s like a post-metric.” O’KEEFE: “Does every department have diversity spreadsheets? I’m seeing a pattern here. And that is from Disney’s hiring practices.” OMG UNDERCOVER JOURNALIST: “What about like the LGBTQ? I want to see them do it more in, like, the kids shows.” MAKKER: “That would be great. Yeah. It’s the way the world is. It’s not like pretending it doesn’t exist, right — “ OMG UNDERCOVER JOURNALIST: “Yeah.” MAKKER: “ — and say like, ‘Oh, we’re just going to show, like, one section of society. That’s all the world is.’ The world is, like, full of everybody, and that should be on screen.” O’KEEFE: “So, Disney’s philosophy is that you’re never too young to learn about the LGBTQ agenda.”

NARRATOR: “If you’re having trouble sleeping, ask your doctor about Bidenica, the sleep aid made for 100 percent Joe Biden press conference.” Biden: “The best way to get something done if you — if you hold near and dear to you that you like to be able to — anyway.” NARRATOR : “Bidenica has a patented blend of confusion and forgetfulness that will come the most overactive brains.” Biden: “Covid has taken this year, just since the outbreak, has taken more than 100 year. Look, here’s — the lives — it’s just — it’s just — I mean, think about it.” UNKNOWN FEMALE: “When they sold out American jobs and killed the Keystone Pipeline it kept me up all night worrying about how we pay our bills. But then I got Bidenica and I’ve never slept better.” UNKNOWN KID: “Sometimes when I get hopped up on sugar my parents give me Bidenica so I pass out. Other times they give it to me during the day probably so they can do the deed. Gross!” NARRATOR : “Warning: People who have used Bidenica have experienced rapid lying and an inability to secure the southern border, others have hallucinated [indecipherable] breakfast cereals. Biden: “Corn Pop was a bad dude.” NARRATOR: “Ask your doctor if Bidenica is right for you.”

GEIST: “President Trump can’t talk policy on Thursday, which remains an open question — we’ll see what kind of performer he is that night. One of the places he is undoubtedly going to go is to inflation, which everybody across the country is feeling despite all that economic data we talk about all the time that is so strong, the economy is thriving. Talk about things costing too much. He’ll look into the camera and say, ‘You know that your cereal costs too much,’ he’ll go down the list of groceries and gas. How will the president address that criticism?” Jean-Pierre: “So, here’s the thing. This is something that we’ve been talking about for some time, right, the economy. You’re right, the data shows that the economy is indeed strengthening, it’s stronger. And we understand that we came out of a pandemic, a once-in-a-century pandemic, and the work that this president did, from the American Rescue Plan to the bipartisan infrastructure legislation, to the Inflation Reduction Act, all of these historic pieces of legislation has helped this country get back on its feet. So, yes, eggs and milk and there are grocery things that were up, it has gone down. It has gone down since 2022. Gas prices, because of the actions that this president took — and let’s not forget there was an invasion that Russia did, obviously, into Ukraine, that caused gas prices to tick up. The president took action, tapped the SPR, and we saw gas prices go down. The president has met the moment with every issue that we have had in front of us. The president obviously talks about that often. He’s going to have another opportunity on Thursday to speak to those issues. And, look, talking about Donald Trump, I just mentioned the Dobbs decision. The reason why we have chaos right now after the Dobbs decision, the reason why, after Roe v. Wade was overturned, overturned after it being constitutional law for 50 years, is because of what Donald Trump did in his administration. And now IVF is on the line, contraception is on the line. We have — I was thinking about, when I was sitting here before starting this conversation, there are some of us who have young children. Can you believe that we have more rights — we had more rights growing up than our kids? Than our kids. That’s because of the Trump Administration and what they were able to do. So there’s a lot here. There’s a big contrast in what we’re trying to do on behalf of the American people, the majority of Americans, what they want to see, and what we see congressional Republicans, extreme Republicans, doing.”

COOPER: “Do you have confidence in the Supreme Court? I mean, the — you know, the — they’ve yet to rule on this immunity thing, all this thing about Alito and the flags and Clarence Thomas and his wife, I mean, do you have confidence in the Supreme Court?” Pelosi: “No, I think they’ve gone rogue. It’s most unfortunate. But it’s unfortunate further to see what the other justice — what happened to the Chief Justice? Did he go weak or did he go rogue? I don’t know. And that’s the same thing with these members of Congress, if I can take it back to that, because as tragic as that night was, and they were coming after me to put a bullet in my head, they were going to hang the — have a gallows for the vice president of the United States, but just a matter of hours, when I called people back to the floor, overwhelmingly, the Republicans voted against the results of the Electoral College. That was almost as heartbreaking and devastating as to see what those slobs that came in with their Confederate flags and their Nazi flags and the rest of what they came in to do to the Capitol of the United States. So, no, I don’t have confidence in the Supreme Court. I think that some of the decisions they — see, I respect their point of view. If they have a point of view about a woman’s right to choose, okay, but that’s not what they’re there to do, to advocate for a point of view. Run for Congress. They’re there to uphold the Constitution of the United States. And many of them said in their hearings for confirmation, they said that they supported, they supported the precedence of the court, supported the privacy in the Constitution. And what did they do? They vote their opinion on policy rather than the oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States. So I want us to get back to a place where the three branches of government, as our Founders initiated, are respected across the board. But I don’t have a lot of confidence in this court, unfortunately. I say that with a heavy heart.”

BRZEZINSKI: “So, Lauren, I just wonder how important you think it is to use wording that is authentic to the problem at hand. Since Roe was overturned, there are women who can’t get the health care that they need. Abortion is not a bad word. Abortion is a life-saving word. A D&C and the procedures that one uses when they are miscarrying, they are life-saving procedures. And when you use words like ‘reproductive freedom’ or ‘freedom over my body,’ it somehow triggers though on the far-right as if it’s something that can’t be said out loud. It certainly can be said out loud because it’s about saving one’s life. And whether you’re on the far-right or you’re a moderate Republican, if you’re a man or woman, there’s going to be someone you love who needs an abortion in order to live or to not be sterilized or to have a miscarriage in a less traumatizing way so they can have more children.”