'Poison Pills'

Life's busy.

Don't let banking slow you down.

Whether you're paying bills,

setting savings goals,

or just splitting the check.

Atlantic Union Bank makes managing your money easier.

With helpful people and user-friendly tools,

we make sure banking with us fits you.

Call, visit us online,

or drop into an Atlantic Union Bank branch today.

Atlantic Union Bank.

Anyway, you bank.

Avoiding your unfinished home projects

because you're not sure where to start,

thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to.

Don't know the difference between

matte paint finish and satin,

or what that clunking sound from your dryer is.

With thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro.

You just have to hire one.

You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates,

and read reviews all on the app.

Download today.

Good evening and welcome to the weeknight.

I'm Alicia Menendez with Michael Steele

and Luke Russert in for Simone Sanders Townsend.

Breaking tonight, the cost of Donald Trump's war with Iran

is rising, the president doesn't have a clear plan

for what comes next,

and it's already starting to weigh on the GOP's chances

in the midterms.

Then Senator Tammy Duckworth,

a combat veteran, is demanding public hearings on the war.

She's at the table with her plan to force the hands of Republicans.

And later, the Democratic National Committee

is now suing the Trump administration

over growing concerns that armed agents could appear

at polling places this November.

But folks, let's begin tonight in Georgia.

Moments ago, polls closed in a special election

to fill Marjorie Taylor Greene's vacant house.

See, I'll remember all the drama around that, right?

Well, 17 candidates are battling to represent Georgia's 14th district.

Ali Velshi will bring us the numbers as soon as they come in.

Tonight's special election comes less than eight months

until the midterms and Donald Trump seemingly still

doesn't have a plan to win over voters,

failing to lay out a substantive agenda

at a GOP conference last night.

Nor does he have a plan to end his war with Iran,

a war of choice that's driving up gas prices.

Today, CNN reported that Iran started laying minds

in the Strait of Hormuz,

a crucial trade route for the world's oil supply

that could make those gas prices

you're now paying, right?

An even worse issue for you and the president.

Or short time ago, Trump said online, quote,

we have hit and completely destroyed 10

inactive mind laying votes, end quote.

And then there's the growing human cost of Trump's war,

which Trump has also struggled to address.

Eight soldiers have died in the Middle East since the start

of the conflict.

Today, the Pentagon confirmed about 140 US troops

have been wounded.

Eight remains severely injured.

A new Queenie Piac University poll

finds 74% of registered voters

oppose putting boots on the ground in Iran.

57% disapprove of how Trump's handling the situation

altogether.

Here's Senator Elizabeth Warren after briefing today

with administration officials.

This is not a war the American people

want us to engage in.

It is still the case that

the Trump administration cannot explain the reasons

that we entered this war.

The goals were trying to accomplish

and the methods for doing that.

The one part that seems clear

is that while there is no money for 15 million Americans

who lost their health care,

there's a billion dollars a day

to spend on bombing Iran.

Let's bring in MS now political analyst

and former Montana Senator John Tester,

also with us Angela Corazon, President of Media America.

Senator, welcome back to DC.

We've talked a lot about the cost of oil

and what that is meaning for Americans at the pump.

I want to talk with you a little bit about what it means

for farmers because in addition

to the straight of removes moving about 20% of the world's oil,

it also moves a good percentage of our nitrogen fertilizer.

What are you hearing from farmers?

And how soon before I start seeing that

at the grocery store?

Well, I don't know when you'll see at the grocery store,

but I'm telling you farmers are feeling it already.

Let's start with the tariffs.

It hasn't been a very good situation.

It's increased input cost,

raised health or markets.

And now with energy prices going up,

we use a lot of energy in agriculture.

And this is going to cut another whole land.

The margins are not that,

they're not that good right now.

They're very, very slim.

Increased energy costs ultimately again.

There's going to be a lot of farmers go out of business

because the tariffs are going to be a lot more raw

if these energy costs keep going up and they stay up.

Angelo, it feels as if the messaging has gotten completely away

from this White House in a way that they have not necessarily

faced to this degree.

People don't trust them domestically.

People are not now trusting them in terms of foreign policy.

And the economy, which is what they use to win in 2024,

is flashing big yellow lights.

You also see gas is going up.

You see the housing market is cratering.

You see the feds now saying they might delay a rate cut

because of the war in Iran.

Given all of this,

is it not tailor-made now for Democrats

to push that issue and say, listen,

Donald Trump and the Republicans,

they do not care about you in any way

and this is proving it beyond doubt.

Yeah, without a doubt.

Because the one thing,

it's they've lost control of the messaging,

but it's something even bigger than that.

And that's the, to your point,

why there's a real opportunity here.

And I'm usually the naysayer at the table.

And that is because, you know,

they've never really had to do this type of messaging.

What happens is Trump makes a claim

and then there's this massive right-wing media narrative engine

behind him that backfills it

and turns it into reality

for a very large part of the American population and his base.

And that engine is not doing that right now.

What they're doing is sort of fracturing

over gas prices,

over how it's going to affect farmers,

how it's going to affect their home issues.

And of course, the just the fact that they thought

they were being sold,

no wars, not new wars.

And so that means that they can't just get out there

and make these claims to do it.

So what does that mean in practice?

One, he doesn't have the thing backing him up.

So these numbers are going to get worse, not better.

Two, there's a real opportunity for Democrats

to actually break through and actually project a narrative.

Because that engine does want things to spin.

Democrats, but they'll certainly carry water for that,

for the storyline around the economy.

And there's a warning.

So even if that's not enough of an incentive to do it,

there's another thing to avoid.

He's putting little poise and pills out there

to try to poke people back in.

When he says he's not going to sign legislation,

he's starting to say, well, let's start going up to trans people again.

The right-wing media is slowly starting to consolidate around this narrative.

But look, maybe the Iran war actually means more deportations.

We can target mass populations of Muslims in this country.

And that's starting to simmer that down a little bit.

He's beginning to inject the save act into the conversation.

So he's trying to poke around to say,

is there something new that can help people reconnect?

So that's the moment to drive forward.

Not just that there's a big opportunity, and there is.

There's actually an urgency to it,

because eventually they will find their footing.

Yeah, Senator, you know,

Angelo makes a great, a great point there.

And it's a concerning one from where I'm sitting,

because basically you're watching real time.

This guy spin us into more BS.

And just spin up as much as he can.

And just whip it in such a way that you can't...

It's like, you know, that scene at the beginning of the Wizard of Oz

when the tornado hits and the house comes out,

comes onward and it's flying.

You see all this debris and everything's flying around.

But in the center of that is this house where, you know,

Dorothy presumed she was lying there on the floor watching the whole thing go by.

That's kind of where it is for a lot of Americans

where they're sitting inside of this bubble,

watching all this stuff whirl around them.

And the messaging becomes important.

And to your initial point to Alicia's question,

the economy is at the root of that.

Despite everything that Angelo just said,

at the end of the day, Americans, voter or non-voter

have to deal with their pocketbooks.

And that reality is something

that Trump still has not been able to get a grip on.

I guess the question is when the polling is showing

that slippage, 57% overall,

don't like what he's doing,

certainly the numbers higher when it comes to the economy.

What is the nature of the conversation

that Democrats, Republicans like myself,

independents, like-minded Americans,

should be having with their neighbors.

Because this brother does it every day.

He listens, right?

I don't know how much talking you get to do with some of these folks.

But I know you do a lot of listening.

What do we have to start saying to them to help them understand

what they're doing?

What do we have to start saying to them to help them understand

that that whirling nervous is not going to land you

on a good spot at the end of the day?

You just got to tell the truth.

And what the problem is is,

and we saw in the state of the union,

the president paints one picture about what the economy

and reality is folks go to the store

and they see a whole different reality.

And so you've got to use real-life examples

of how it's impacting,

if you're talking production agriculture,

family farms in this country,

business is on Main Street,

how it's impacting them.

If you're talking working families,

how it's impacting them.

Because quite honestly,

until you get the affordability issue under control

and he's in denial on that, by the way,

then you're going to have a situation

where come the next election,

I think it's going to be an election

that bodes very, very well for Democrats

if they get a message

that talks about those affordability issues

and solutions.

No, look, I'm very optimistic

about what's going to happen this November,

if we have a free and fair election.

I think that the House is going to do very, very well.

There's what, 55 incumbents

that aren't running again in the House,

10 in the Senate as of right now,

and we're in, you know, with the 10th of March,

there'll be more, I'm sure.

And then I think coming November,

unless things change pretty dramatically,

and I don't see the president change,

and he's going to keep doing what he's doing,

because that's what he does.

We tried this not once, but twice.

It really hasn't worked.

We're going to go a different direction.

But the Democrats have to have a message,

and it has to be a message that

hit homes and deals with these issues,

whether it's economy, health care,

the war, whatever it might be.

So Republicans are looking at the same polls

that the Senator is looking at.

They're looking at the same maps

that the Senator is looking at.

And so they show up at their GOP conference waiting

for dear leader to impart a message

to Angelo, what they get from the president,

from the leader of their party,

is more talk about the Save Act.

Let me read you this reporting from punch bull news.

For a restless House Republican conference,

eager for a vision on how to win in 2026,

Trump didn't offer much that was terribly substantive,

highlighting one of the central challenges for the party.

Trump didn't unveil any detailed plan

to bring down the cost of living.

That's the issue that Democrats and voters

insist will be the difference.

And remember, the Save Act is a tactic.

It is not something that they can go into November selling.

You see all the same polling that I've seen.

There are strong spots for them.

There is a sense that they have handled

the US-Mexico border,

separate and distinct from their deportation machine.

But there's not a delivery

on the core issues outside of that

that they promised the American people.

So what do they have to sell people come November?

I mean, the only thing they could sell people

is that they were doing their jobs.

They were putting some speed bumps in the schools on here.

They were being the guardrails.

They were defending their insures.

They were bucking the president when he was doing

all these extremely unpopular things that nobody wants.

So that would be the one thing that they could do to save themselves.

But they're stuck on the tracks.

They see the train coming.

They don't have the will to get off.

That's why there's going to be this political fallout for them.

And then what I can't figure out is that they can't seem to see.

Trump is like the worst person to be on a group project with.

Right?

He's not going to do the work.

And then when it comes time to turn it in,

somehow you're going to get blamed when it all goes well.

And that's what the Save Act is about.

In the short term, it's about creating some tactical leverage,

giving him a wedge.

Maybe he can do some nefarious things and blood believe me.

They're planning it because they're talking about it.

They're going to try.

But when it all goes up and everybody loses,

he's going to say, see, it's all their fault.

They didn't pass the Save Act.

And so the election was stolen.

Of course they lost.

Or anything I've done.

It's because they didn't act.

And that's the part that when it all comes together.

It's not even that they're not saving themselves.

They're actively helping him set them up for to be the fall people for it.

Yeah, in my neighborhood we call that stupid.

Senator, you came in to Congress at the height of the Iraq war.

And that was very much at the forefront of voters' minds.

And I go back to that time and often think about,

you had an administration that was saying,

trust us, trust us, trust us.

We know what we're doing.

Then Hurricane Katrina happens.

And immediately people go, wait,

if we can't even take care of our own people in the United States,

how the heck can we expect to take care of our soldiers

in the Middle East and folks over there?

And I wonder if you think with their ran,

there's a similar correlation.

In the sense of, you have a war now that's greatly unpopular.

And you have a lot of people saying,

oh, it's going to be over, the president's saying,

oh, it'll be over in a week.

Oh, maybe it'll be five weeks.

So we might have boots on the ground.

We don't know yet.

But it seems to be jumping all over the place.

Does that, in a place like Livingston, Montez,

resonate with a guy watching TV

who may have voted for Trump the last time around going, wait,

we're in a war there ran.

He has no idea why.

I don't know why the young folks in my community

can be sent to die there.

And by the way, if that's the case,

how can I trust him that he say he's going to try to bring down my grocery bill?

You're spot on on all of it.

Let me tell you something.

It was very hot when I got elected in 2006.

I remember that, Michael.

And I think that the administration

then spent a year talking about why we needed to do that.

It didn't go very well.

I think I ran as far worse.

I think it's far bigger of an angle for these folks to carry.

We're spending a billion dollars a day.

Lives are being lost.

Look, Saddam Hussein wasn't a good dude.

And neither was the guy they took out the first day of

this been replaced by his son who's probably worse than he was, by the way.

But things are not.

And the other thing is, is people don't understand why we had to do this now.

I mean, people have been talking about doing something with I ran for 47 years.

You know, why now?

Why is this when there are negotiations?

Everybody says negotiations are doing well.

Why?

And that's, you know, I could ask all of you.

You probably say, well, it might have something to do with the economy.

It might have something to do with something else.

Because there's a lot of stuff that could divert people if you get into a war.

But the bottom line is, I think I ran is one hell of an handful.

And it's not that I ran was a good actor.

It wasn't, hasn't been a good actor for nearly five decades.

But the bottom line is, as people are asking, the same question you asked, Luke.

Why? Why now?

Why is this so important?

And then apply it back to what's going on in the economy.

Apply it back to what's one on these tariffs.

Apply it back to what's going on in healthcare in this country.

And I don't know.

I'd hate to be a Republican in this cycle.

It's a good question because the only thing we seem to have at it is that these luxury real estate partners were the ones who said that this was a good idea.

And that's not a great reason to go to war.

The only ones that you've got real estate guys negotiating with Iran in a room.

And that begs the question, I guess, in the context of everything we've talked about Angelo.

Is there a point, or are you beginning to see a point where there's a little sliver of light, a little crack in that veil of tears that we see on the Republican side in the MAGAverse, MAGAverse, where some of the key actors begin to sort of look at November, assess where they are and go, you know what?

I'm going to wait till we get to the other side of this because this is not going to end well for a whole lot of our folks.

So a lot of them are accepting Trump's going to not be there.

And he's going to lose and that's a big part of it.

The sliver is that some of them are breaking, but they're getting worse.

They're channelling this anger inward and saying, we need to not just take it out on Trump.

We need to take it out on everybody now.

Wow.

Angela Carson, always so good to have you in studio.

Senator Tester, what a treat to have you here with us after the break.

Senator Tammy Docworth is going to join the conversation.

She is one of the Democrats demanding the Trump administration provide public testimony over its war with Iran.

Also had polls just close in the Georgia special election to film Marjorie Taylor Greene's old congressional seat.

And that's now as Ali Vell, she's going to join us from the big board with the latest.

We're watching The Weeknight.

Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start.

Thumbtack knows homes so you don't have to.

Don't know the difference between Matt paint finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is.

With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro.

You just have to hire one.

You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app.

Download today.

Democrats are threatening to grind the Senate to a halt until the White House provides answers to Americans about Trump's war with Iran.

A group of Senate Democrats is demanding senior administration officials testify before key committees.

Under oath about the military operation in the Middle East.

And if Republicans don't go along with those hearings, Democrats are threatening to trigger a series of repeated votes on new war powers resolutions that could stall business as usual in the chamber.

Joining us now, one of those Democrats, Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.

Senator, welcome to the table. I like your style.

I've been saying for weeks now, you know, because if you know, if the shoe were on a different foot in with these guys, they would do what?

The Republicans would be doing exactly that. They would grind in the thing down. They would be making the point.

I think you have the opportunity to really make the point to get the country's attention about something that they know innately that they should know something more about than they do, meaning why are we sending our boys and girls over to fight?

So what do you hope the public learns from these hearings? And what are you hoping to get out of that?

These are the tools of the Senate, right? To force these hearings to happen.

We need to know if the threat was significant? Was it a true threat?

Or were they really going to have, you know, long-range ballistic missiles that don't exist that they're going to shoot the US? Was it truly imminent?

And is this the best use of our military to achieve the end goal?

Right? What is the end goal? And is the military the right tool to achieve that end goal?

So those are three simple things that we're trying to figure out.

We've had two top secret briefings from the administration, and I can't tell you what was in the briefing, but I can tell you what was not in it.

What was the end state? What is the next step? What is the off-ramp? How long are we going to be there? None of that. None of those questions were answered.

On that point, your colleagues, Senator Blumenthal from Connecticut, he had this to say about that briefing. I want to play it for you and get you on the other side.

I emerge from this briefing as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years in the Senate.

I am left with more questions than answers. I am most concerned about the threat to American lives, potentially deploying our sons and daughters on the ground in Iran.

Our sons and daughters on the ground in Iran, you're somebody who's made close to the ultimate sacrifice for this nation.

What do you think it will take for your colleagues in the Senate to be aware of this being a real possibility and that if it is going to be a real possibility, that should be debated out for the public to know? What will it take to get them there?

We've already lost seven American lives and dozens were injured and frankly, they need to protect and defend a constitution and their loyalty to this nation above their loyalty to Donald Trump.

I don't know what I can say to my colleagues to say, listen, it is our solemn responsibility when we decide to send American troops into harm's way, they're going to do the best job possible.

They're going to get out there and they're always going to sacrifice and they're going to carry it out with the utmost patriotism and professionalism.

It's our responsibility as senators to make sure that we don't misuse them. It's our solemn responsibility to do that.

What we have right now is a president who launched a war of choice without truly thinking it through and just threw out troops into harm's way without any way of safeguarding them.

You can't just throw out troops into harm's way with no plan on what the next step is.

If Pete Hexeth actually paid attention and officer basic course, he'd know that any operations order ends with what is the end state?

Take the bridge, hold the bridge until a force comes in to relieve you. There's always an end state. There is no end state here that they've been able to articulate.

Just real quickly though, but given the stakes, does the apathy surprise you on this?

Do you think back of guys like John McCain and Chuck Hagel that would never ever go for something like this to be completely quiet with the chance of boot on the ground?

Yeah, and I don't know what they're afraid of because right now the legions should be to the nation and international security.

And that's not where we are right now.

And in fact, what I see in the briefings whether it was the Venezuela mission or this is in these briefings, they give these great briefings.

Talk about how great our military did and then everybody stands up in class.

They're hiding their incompetence behind the valor of our military men and women.

If to say that we're questioning why we're at war is to question the valor of our military.

Not at all. I know that our military will always do the best job possible.

And that means that we are beholden as legislators to do our job before we've asked the military to do their job.

And our job is to decide issues of is this the right war we under threat is the best use of our military.

And how are we going to end this and how do we move forward because right now we don't have an end state right now.

Americans are not safer than before he launches attack gas prices are going up.

They went up over 30 cents in Chicago.

We're going into planting season right now I come from a farming state.

And so you see all of our inputs a skyrocketing diesel fuel is going up.

And America's prices are going up for the average American family.

Nobody is better off here.

And he took out a brutal dictator into Ayatollah and replaced him with an equally brutal dictator who may be even more dangerous than his father wise.

One of the tells about the lack of clarity around end state is the fact that their timeline on this keeps evolving and shifting.

Let's take a listen to what we heard from Pete Hagsath and from the president.

I think you'll see it's going to be a short term excursion.

From the beginning from this podium we haven't stated how long it will take.

We're ahead of our initial timeline by a lot. It's going to be ended soon.

It's not for me to pause it whether it's the beginning the middle or the end.

Are you thinking this week it will be over?

No question.

I think so.

Okay, and with respect.

Very soon.

Okay, that's just sound from yesterday and today.

They can't get their own messaging straight.

If you are someone who is possibly being deployed and you are listening to the president of the United States and Secretary of Hagsath,

not be able to tell you how long they plan for this to go on.

What message does that send to you?

That my leaders incompetent and that they've not thought this mission through and that they're throwing me to be cannon fodder.

Okay, so they don't have a clear timeline.

But I want to talk a little bit about your timeline here as you said.

Yeah.

We're utilizing all the tools of the Senate.

The possibility of reintroducing a war power's resolution.

Can you give us a sense of how soon we could see that vote?

Well, it's got to go through all of the times that you have to wait.

But it could be as soon as hopefully the end of this week or even the next week and each one of us will introduce our own.

So once we force one vote, we'll go back and we'll force another vote to fall and we can another vote.

And so this could take a long time to make them go through this whole process and that is going to stop the work of the Senate.

Frankly, if we're at war, I can't think of something anything more important than a discussion of whether we should be at this war.

And by the way, we did this to a Democratic president, right?

We forced Obama to come to us before he wanted to force strikes into Libya.

He had to come to the Senate and talk about getting permission to fight ISIS.

And so this is not something that we're doing just because we have a Republican in the White House.

This is about us doing our job and honoring our troops more than just standing up and clapping for them and honoring our troops by actually doing our jobs and not wasting their patriotism and their valor for political gain.

Well, that part for me is important, I think, for Americans to hear.

We're hearing it a lot more that the Senate Democrats at least are beginning to step into the space with a little bit more aggression.

If you will, just kind of make the point and push the administration to respond.

And so that's why I started our conversation.

I'm saying, yeah, thank you more, please, because I think that a lot of Americans are looking for that.

When you get into the political space and just dabble a little bit in politics, because this is a serious question about war.

But it is tensed a lot with the politics because this is how Trump wants to play the game.

All right, you want to play it? Let's play.

The politics of this says that Democrats aren't going to be as straightforward, as strong, footed, as sure to move forward and depress the case.

That's not what I'm hearing from you. That's not what I'm hearing from members of the House.

Whether it's dealing on the war or dealing with the Epstein files.

So this consistent flavor, I think, is something the American people like.

How does that translate? Do you see politically that you're building this trust for the country to hand the power to you to reset the course of the country off of a war footing?

Both in terms of what we're seeing play out in Iran, but also the economic impact that it could have for them and their families.

Well, I think Americans want to know that we're fighting for them, that we're representing them, and that we put their interests first and foremost.

Not the interest of large oil corporations or a singular president that we're fighting for them.

When I'm in Illinois, whether I'm in the red parts of Illinois, by the way, I've been doing town halls.

I've been going across and into Missouri.

When Holly doesn't do a town hall, I go to Missouri and I do a town hall.

I've been going to Iowa and doing town halls, and people just want answers.

The vast majority of people show up are not even Democrats.

They're independents, or I get a lot of veterans to show up who say, hey, my benefits are being cut.

And now we're going to go to war, and we're not even keeping our promise to the veterans who've already served, and now we're sending more folks to war.

So they just want to know that we're going to fight, right?

And look, it's March Madness, right?

I played a little basketball. I mean, went back when I had legs.

But, you know, I feel like Democrats continue to try to follow the rulebook.

Meanwhile, they're knee-capping the reps.

Right.

You know?

Right.

And I'm not saying that we should go on knee-capped the reps, but we should be more aggressive.

We can't just sit here and not fight for the American people.

That's how Democrats lost the vote, is because Americans did not think we were fighting for them.

We didn't care that their gas prices went up.

We were so worried about niche issues that we're not paying attention to the fact that my farmers are just devastated.

I have so many farmers who come to me, like, you know, I'm seventh generation, but that's not going to be an eighth generation.

The tariffs have taken away our markets.

The tariffs have now made our input costs too high, and I'm looking at selling the family farm.

They want us to fight for them.

And we're going to fight for them, and when we get back into control, we're going to make sure that we've not just fixed the problem,

so we make things better than they were before, and that we show folks that we're willing to fight for average families,

and that we're not going to waste our nation's resources, whether that is our natural resources or whether that is the most important resource,

the most valuable resource we have, the men and women who wear the colors of this nation.

Hey, man. And by the way, I know if you're rough, you may not want to kneecap them, but they can use a good talking to you.

That's for sure.

Senator Tammy Duckworth, thank you so much for being with us tonight. It's good to have you at the table.

Folks, in just a moment, we'll speak with Mary McCord about a new lawsuit from the Democratic National Committee,

that's looking to find out if the Trump administration plans to put armed agents at polling locations near you this November.

That's next right here on the weeknight.

Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start,

thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between Matt paint finish and satin,

or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one.

You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates, and read reviews all on the app. Download today.

The Democratic National Committee is suing the Trump administration seeking information about potential plans

to send armed agents to polling sites during the midterm elections.

DNC lawyers previously filed nearly a dozen freedom of information act requests to obtain that information.

But the group says those requests were ignored, so now they're suing.

To ensure that the American people obtain timely knowledge of potential threats to free and fair elections.

Joining us now, Mary McCord, former Assistant Attorney General for National Security of the Justice Department.

She's the host of MSNOW's main justice podcast in an MSNOW legal analyst always does the best research. Welcome Mary.

There is something that has been bothering me all day, which is these FOIA requests are from back in October.

And you think about this administration and how low they seem to put things on paper.

So there is the real possibility that none of this exists on paper, but that they do have an understanding

of what it is they plan to do or contingency plans.

How, if that is the case, do you get to that, to that core intent?

Well, that's hard to do. And you know, like you say, if you never put something on paper,

you're not going to have anything to produce in response to a FOIA request.

If you've been doing things by phone calls or in live meetings, there's just not going to be that type of record.

But they're still obligated to say we have nothing in response to your requests.

And these requests went to the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security,

its various components, ICBP, the Department of Defense, National Guard, etc.

Like, have you been talking about it? Do you have any plans?

And we just, you know, it's been kind of crickets.

I mean, nothing substantive in response, including not even saying we don't have any responsive documents.

And so, you know, it's pretty hard to get to the point of what about the thing, the conversations,

because that's not really covered so much by FOIA.

No, it's not. And that's interesting, because knowing these guys, they're not going to put that down on paper.

Because the initial reaction out of the gate was so strong when it was just floated.

Because again, they float stuff to see how it's received where it lands and who it lands on and all of that good stuff.

And then they decide whether or not to go full throttle implementation.

I thought the DNC chair, Ken Martin, in a tweet summed it up best for me.

He said, quote, we already know Trump wants to cheat his way through the midterms.

What we don't know is how far he's willing to go. I would submit, we do know.

We just see the Trump administration find out voter suppression and intimidation has no place in our country.

We do know how far this administration will go, because they've already started to go there in a little place called Georgia, now out in Arizona.

So you're beginning to see across the country where they're putting their foot down, they're living a little footprint.

They're not breadcrumbs, but they are part of a trail that we know is going to lead to November.

And a lot of conversations around elections being, oh my God, that didn't go right there for there was cheating.

Oh my God, we lost there for there was cheating.

The legal side being what it is, because all that's going to get a peeled up.

Is there anywhere in that process where the courts just go, look, this is a political prop stop bringing this crap to us?

Well, I mean, it depends on what kind of cases brought, right?

The FOIA case is completely governed by statute, right?

And so that's not one that's going to be deemed political.

If they ever do give a list of documents, they can certainly say some of these things we can withhold under exceptions to FOIA.

And those are things like ongoing investigations, obviously classified information and a whole lot of exceptions.

And then you can argue and litigate over that.

If there's other litigations, like let's say there actually are deployments near polling places.

And maybe then you've got people that run into court, then you might be able to get some discovery

and maybe get some of the things, depositions of people asking, did you have conversations about these things?

Did you have meetings about these things and dig down in?

I think when it comes to troops or just armed men, both of these things are unlawful under federal law.

We cannot have armed federal agents at polling places unless it's to respond to an actual attack on the US, right?

Which makes sense.

So that includes ICE, that includes CBP, that includes FBI, that includes Secret Service, that includes it.

And so those should not be political questions.

Okay, can I flip the script real quick on something you said?

Of course, the lawyer is out of my brain.

Okay, so FOIA, the federal department, fill in the blank.

We know they've got agents in various states around the country.

What can we do at the state level to see that you are plant?

You've been there now for a year gathering.

You know stuff. Is there a way to go through that door as opposed to just the federal door to see to get a better view of the landscape

of exactly what the plan potentially could be?

Because you know they're talking to someone on the ground.

There are people on the ground in various, you know, secretaries of state's offices or county boards of election that are identifying where you need to send those troops.

There are, there are state, the equivalent of FOIA, which are public records, request laws in every state.

And so that means if the communications between the federal government official were with any state official, county official, city official, usually that state law would cover that.

And I will tell you in my own experience, states or counties or local jurisdictions are often quicker to respond to public records requests than the federal government is.

And by quicker, I mean like within sometimes days.

And so it's a good, it's a good strategy to see what might be there.

But that's only going to get you what they're communicating to local officials.

So it's going to be, yeah, it's going to be friendly officials, right?

Friendly officials are going to be looking forward to.

Early a week out from Texas.

And we talked a lot about polling, you know, troops at polling places.

Look what happened last week in Texas. Confusion.

Chaos agents.

Right.

Websites weren't updated.

People didn't know what precinct they were supposed to go to.

I would argue that there was probably some intention on that from the people who changed the laws in Texas and whatnot.

Talk about what can be done regarding things of Batman or because we saw it didn't end up not mattering so much because of Toleriko's margins against Crockett.

Right.

But you had one judge saying, no, we have to extend the poll hours.

Then in another judge said the Supreme Court says, no, get rid of that.

That's chaos.

At the average voter looks at goes, I don't have time for this.

Yeah.

It's almost wearing them down to create a voter suppression.

And I think that, you know, that is the reason behind last minute changes like this.

And it sounds like there were some pretty dramatic changes in how people got noticed about, well, for the first time ever,

it wasn't sort of general go to any place.

You had these specific precincts and people didn't know where to go.

And that's the kind of thing that does oftentimes result in emergency litigation.

I think we're going to see lots of these efforts, lots and lots.

One thing I will say though is like, I said polling places is not the only problem.

Would it just an ice surge in the city?

Right.

Even if they're not at polling places is going to depress the vote.

I'm a cord.

As always, thank you so much for being with us next.

Polls are closed in Georgia.

And Alivell, she will join us at the big board with the latest on the race to film Marjorie Taylor Greene's old house seat.

Stay right here.

You want to see that vest?

Only on the wet.

Best.

Best in the vest.

Polls are now closed in the Georgia special election to fill former Congresswoman of Marjorie Taylor Greene's house seat.

It is a race that is testing the impact of the Trump endorsement.

Candidates from all parties are on the same ballot.

And if no one reaches 50% plus one, the top two candidates will advance to a runoff on April 7th.

Let's check in with MSNOW's chief data reporter Ali Belsheet at the big boardy god for us, Ali.

I got a lot of stuff in right now.

In Georgia, remember, this is not a primary.

As you said, this is the special election.

We have better than a third of the vote in right now.

And it's an interesting development here.

44% 43% is going to the Democrat.

Sean Harris.

This is an interesting development here.

44% 43% is going to the Democrat.

Sean Harris.

This is the guy who lost to Marjorie Greene by more than 30% last election.

Now, look, this is entirely possible that he's going to be the biggest vote getter tonight,

largely because there are only a few Democrats running and there are a ton of Republicans.

Here's how it looks for the Republicans.

Clayton Fuller has got 32% of the vote right now.

He is the Trump endorsed candidate in this particular race.

However, the guy with 8% of the vote right now, Colton Moore, is the trumpier of the candidates.

So it depends on what people in this fairly conservative district are looking for.

Are they looking for Trump stuff or are they looking for Trump and door stuff?

Or are they looking to follow Marjorie Taylor Greene and object to the Trumpi nature of things?

Here's where we are in the vote breakdown.

Most of what you're seeing about a third of the vote that we're already seeing,

is actually probably 35, 36% of the vote is in right now, still mostly early and by mail.

Very little of election day voting is in at the moment.

I just want to tell you a little bit about the candidates.

Sean Harris, the Democrat, by the way, he's at 44% of the vote.

There is an outside chance, outside chance he does well enough to win.

It is not likely, but if he gets 50% plus one, he will fill out Marjorie Taylor Greene's term until the end of the year.

Clayton Fuller, as I said, he's the Trump endorsed candidate.

Colton Moore is the more Trumpi of the candidates.

You can see a number of Republicans here.

Jim Davis, getting about 1, 6.6% of the vote.

He's also running as a Democrat, same as Jonathan Hobbs.

He's got less than 1% of the vote.

And given that you've got Luke there, I'm going to just introduce you to one of the candidates here.

Andrew Underwood, who is sporting mutton shops for the first time since 1886.

So we're going to keep a close eye on this.

We're watching Mississippi, too.

And there's an interesting race there with Benny Thompson being challenged by someone in his district.

And Benny Thompson hasn't been challenged.

It's about 2006 in any meaningful way.

But we're keeping a very, very close eye on the Northwest part of Georgia, Georgia 14.

I wasn't sure where you were going with that Luke shout out.

I thought maybe there was a Buffalo Bell fan somewhere deep in Georgia.

Well, as a Toronto guy, I got to be.

I got to escape carefully around that one.

And let's say not walk.

Ali Bell, she's for us at the big word Ali.

Thank you.

Can you make the face to camera that you made to me when Ali said that there was the possibility that the Democrat could get a 50 plus one?

Oh my God.

Okay.

Look.

You know, this is the weird cycle of election.

You know, voters are the most unpredictable part of an election.

They really are at the end of the day.

You can plan for a lot.

You can presume a lot.

Parties assume a lot.

And then voters vote.

And given, I mean, Margie Taylor Green, I'm, you know, I'm not going to go out on the limits.

Oh, the Democrats are going to win this district.

The Margie Taylor Green could be sort of the poster child for something that's happening within that Magaverse.

And, you know, maybe Sean Harris is an off ramp for a cycle.

I've been in elections where voters said, you know what?

I'm going to give it to the other party for a cycle.

We'll take it back in the next cycle.

But right now, this is how we get off of stupid, right?

This is how we get away from the crazy and reset.

Who knows?

It'll be interesting to see.

I mean, Harris is a former Marine general.

He's run a campaign of essentially saying, I'm a pretty conservative guy, but I'm not a part of this crazy that's been there before.

I think there could be an appeal to that.

I remember Doug Jones won a Senate seat in Alabama.

Oh, and the other candidate was Roy Moore.

Yeah.

Is that best?

I think where you go here, which is interesting to me, is if this does go to a runoff,

and you have this sort of month where a lot of money will be poured into it,

it will be a good way to measure how the disillusioned Republican vote.

Right.

And you know what that feels like, right?

The disillusioned Republican vote, which is something that a guy like Osoft, you know, down the line, a statewide,

I think we'll hone in on and say, okay, what is there for the taking in these midterms?

It could tell us a lot about how the level of disgust.

And I would label that, at least you have the Marjorie Taylor Green vote,

that disillusioned Republican vote.

I mean, because at the end of the day of Mago, otherwise, it's still a Republican vote in Georgia.

Who would have thought MTG?

Man, trademarking things left and right.

I love it.

All right, up next on All in, Chris is going to sit down with Senator Andy Kim

to discuss the war with Iran that is eight o'clock Eastern right here on MSNOW.

We're going to be right back.

Well, that does it for the weeknight.

A big thanks to our friend Luke Russell for joining us tonight.

Thank you.

We'll see you back, absolutely.

We'll see you back here tomorrow at 7 p.m.

PM Eastern.

Congressman Kevin Kylie will take us through his decision to leave the GOP

and register as an independent.

And Congressman James Walkershot will speak with us after deposing a close associate of Jeffrey Epstein.

A bit busy night.

As always, be sure to follow us on social media at weeknight MSNOW.

Real talent is defined by what people can do, not where they learn to do it.

So by stopping at the education section of a resume, you might throw away the perfect hire.

Skills First Hiring helps you see talent others miss.

Like more than 70 million stars, skilled through alternative routes.

Let their story unfold and gain a competitive advantage.

Because hiring managers who start with skills are 60% more likely to find a successful hire.

Hire skills first.

Learn why at tetherpapercealing.org.

Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council.