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As Republicans struggle to figure out why the party never got a red wave, Democrats in the Senate are celebrating their history by challenging the midterm elections. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Sen. Gary Peters explained what they believe made the difference in May and June. The public began to realize how far to the right these manga republicans had come. The Dobbs decision was the crystallization of that, of course, when people said, "These mega-Republicans are serious about turning back the clock." The contrast between them and their opponents was extreme and one of the most powerful issues for us was the right, the election, the issue of choice, the issue of abortion was clearly a motivating factor for our base in all of our states, they drew to the people and the turning point really happened that summer, this summer, where he passed six major bills, five bipartisan, all of which affected people's lives, were the things that people wanted us to talk about to improve the environment, dealing with the high cost of prescription drugs, helping our former serving veterans, addressing gun safety, getting American jobs here, not in China with new industries in chip legislation expanding the health care and they said, wow, this Democratic party is the party that I like and Democratic Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, who you just saw there, joins us now is chairman of the Democratic senatorial campaign committee and also chairs the committee of Homeland Security and is a member of the Armed Services Committee Senator Peters, thank you for joining us this

morning

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I know you're going to say it today and maybe after the Georgia victory, yes, we knew this was going to happen, but can you tell us that you had some private moments over the last few months where you had deep concerns that you wouldn't be in this position and perhaps that the Republicans would control the Senate well? I will say that I don't know about deep concerns. but obviously always very cautious and I understand that we had a lot of work to do, but I was sure that we could win as long as we stay focused on our messages, he heard us talk about it at the opening, there was a very clear answer. contrast between where the Democrats were and what we were doing in Congress versus the Republicans, you know, in their ads they talked about problems that everyone knew were problems that were not new information, but they never talked about what they would do, whereas we We were actually taking action under the Inflation Reduction Act to reduce prescription drug costs for seniors and while we were reducing the cost for seniors, all the Republicans were voting against that legislation when Adele with the climate change when he stood up for veterans when he stood up for making sure we manufactured in America with our chip bill, these were all positive concrete actions that we were taking as Democrats to address the challenges that we face, we saw that reflected in the numbers, but I was always very cautious about it.

I knew these races were going to be very close. It was going to be extremely close in the Battlegrounds races, so it was going to go down to the wire, but I kept the faith and we kept working and our candidates could do it. It clearly contrasts where they were with the extreme positions on the other side, as I mentioned in the opening, the issue of abortion was incredibly powerful in motivating our base. People were angry because the only concrete action they saw from Republicans was taking away their fundamental rights. women and that certainly aspired to a large number of people to go out and vote and make sure that their voice was heard in an extraordinary way, which all the sitting senators won and you all got a seat with John Fetterman in Pennsylvania, which gave you that margin of 5,149 in the In the Senate, before Election Day, there was talk that perhaps President Biden was being too abstract when talking about democracy in his campaign parties, even some Democrats said no, we can, They know that we should focus on a specific pocket, but the pocket problems center on abortion. rights, but it turned out that many voters did not like the climate surrounding Republicans of electoral denial from people holding public office who might not honor or respect the election results.

How important was that message? The fundamental message about democracy is that there is no The question was incredibly important, I think it was a fundamental issue and people were really questioning that there were people running for office who denied an election, which was clearly that there are no facts to support and people are thinking that it is certainly a danger. to our democracy, but do you really trust someone who outright lies when it is very clear that there are no facts to support that position? You can't trust him on any issue if he's capable of doing so on such an important fundamental issue. issue, so it helped paint that contrast when it came to our problem-solving candidates trying to address the problems that people were facing and at the same time making sure that democracy was strong and that this great Democratic Republic of ours continues to flourish in the years ahead versus For the other candidates, it was a great opportunity for us to eliminate a lot of the noise that you see in a campaign, so Senator, it's interesting that a lot of people on the right are now writing columns saying that Joe Biden. he is actually underrated and because Joe Biden is underrated, the Republicans have lost another election and because he is underrated, he has been able to pass the radical left agenda, of course, he has passed more bipartisan legislation along with you, other senators and members of the chamber in the past. a couple of years, so anyone, probably since Bill Clinton, can you go through a list of some of the bipartisan achievements and I'm doing this for a purpose because I keep reading about Biden's aforementioned radical agenda and yet there is a project of bipartisan law after another? bipartisan bill after another bipartisan bill that was passed in the last two years when many people in Joe Biden's own party said don't bother with the Republicans, they will never sign anything, in fact a lot has been accomplished No, I think it's a great point and there's no doubt that President Biden knows how to get things done, he knows how to bring people together and do it in a bipartisan way and that's what we want to continue doing in the next Congress, but you mentioned some of them. infrastructure bills, for example, something that people have been talking about for years, the former president talked about it the entire time he was in office and couldn't do it.

Joe Biden did it, we did it, we have substantial investments for bridges and roads. and Internet access so that in our rural areas or some of the urban areas that do not have access to high-speed Internet can get important basic infrastructure that is transmitted in a bipartisan manner, the chip law ensures that manufacturing can be strong in this country and not relying on foreign suppliers for critical components like computer chips that are in every product we use passed on a bipartisan basis, he was able to move forward with us and work together on a bipartisan basis on a veterans bill. is one of the most important supports for our veterans who have gone into harm's way and returned with illnesses as a result of exposure to toxic substances.

Those veterans are getting help today thanks to the efforts of the president and Democrats working with Republicans to pass. bipartisan legislation and I hope we can continue to do so over the next two years. Senator Adrian Elrod here, congratulations again on a great night on Tuesday. He wanted to pivot toward the Georgia Senate runoffs. Rafael Warnock was able to make gains and I think two-thirds of the counties in Georgia and also the runoffs were 90 of what they were overall, which is a big accomplishment given the fact that there's usually some drop off. Can you explain how that happened?

What tactics? Did the campaign use the tactics that the SCC uses to mobilize so many people in a second round? Well, first of all, we had an incredible candidate. Rafael Warnock is a great senator, and he was there in his time in the The Senate is making a difference in the lives of people in Georgia and also located that help to help the Port of Savannah, for example, make sure that They were in a position to hire more good people and good paying jobs in Savannah working with some military. facilities in Georgia to work in a bipartisan way to help get a highway into the state so they could locate him, he went to all those counties across Georgia and worked in a way to show people that he was making a difference.

That was incredibly important, but we also had to come up with the mechanisms to make sure voters knew what was at stake and make sure they could engage, especially when there's a runoff in December, people aren't used to voting in December to making sure they understood what was happening and getting them to the polls. Georgia has been able to build a large ground operation for many years. Stacey Abrams had a big hand in all of that, but we took advantage of that and the dscc that we really focused on. This campaign has focused on the ground operation knowing that we were going to be in very close races, the difference in a close race is going to be your ability to get your voters the opportunity to touch people and make sure that they' get out to vote, we invested more in our ground campaign in this cycle than ever in history, in fact, for the first time and this is a strategic decision we made early.

We put more money into ground operations than into television and other types of media I thought other people could do what we needed to get our voters to the polls Senator Gary Peters of Michigan thank you very much for being here this

morning

we appreciate it based on the high administration official Brittany Greiner is free after 294 days in Russian captivity, spending the last month in one of Russia's notoriously harsh penal colonies. Britain was traded for Russian arms dealer Victor Bout, whom Vladimir Putin has been trying to win back and who had served 11 years of a 25-year sentence in the United States.

President Biden. approved the exchange even though it meant leaving behind another American businessman, Paul Whalen, No Dear Lord in Russia, a two-time Olympic gold medalist has been detained in Russia since February, when Russian officials found two Vape cartridges containing oil of hashish and her luggage in a At Moscow airport, when she traveled to the country to join her Russian professional basketball team, she was convicted in August of trying to smuggle illegal products into Russia and sentenced to nine years in that penal colony. Greiner says she had no intention of smuggling narcotics into Russia and that her doctor had recommended the use of cannabis to treat pain from the injuries in May.

US officials said Miss Greiner was unfairly detained and added that they were working aggressively to bring her home. Brittany Greiner is free as part of a prisoner exchange and Joe, of course, is there. There will be a lot of questions about Paul Whalen and a lot of questions about the trade itself, but Brittany Greiner is coming home safely, that's certainly something all Americans can celebrate. Great news: Brittany Greiner is free. Great news for her family and her loved ones. For everyone who has known her over the years, let's bring in Admiral James Trevitis and Admiral right now.

We celebrate this and are so grateful she is coming home. Although I can't help and you can't and I. I'm sure all Americans can't help but put themselves in the position of Paul Whelan's family. An American who was wrongfully and illegally imprisoned in Russia and has been trapped in prison in horrible conditions since 2018. Why the hell wasn't he part of it? of this agreement with the midterm elections now officially in the rearview mirror after the result in Georgia on Tuesday night, several Republican lawmakers yesterday directly blamed former President Donald Trump for their party's shortcomings, President Trump again lose and I know a lot of people in Our party loved the president, former president, but he is, so to speak, the kiss of death for someone who wants to win a general election.

Thanks thanks. This election became a real burden and liability for people running, especially in some states, I think. became less relevant all the time, even if you capture all the Trump voters you might be able to win a primary, butyou're not necessarily going to win a general election; Those candidates most closely associated with the president, former President Trump, underperformed, that is, objectively and those who had a little more distance tended to do a little better at collecting Republicans who blamed Donald Trump, but not all were ready to blame Trump for the losses, some pointing to the party's inability to win more mail. and early voting, ignoring the fact that Donald Trump has spent years discouraging Republicans from using early and mail-in voting exactly is former President Trump's endorsement, the kiss of death, as another Republican senator said today, one thing that The Democrats have done a good job. they received their mail they did a better job with mail-in early votes and early voting I think people vote based on what they think is important to them they don't vote because one of us tells them they should vote that way I don't believe that this would be any referendum on President Trump.

I think this is a referendum for us to learn the cycle of how to run an election. We as Republicans have to learn how to get people out to vote, the cats out of the bag with early voting. Donald Trump's presence was so important here, the Republicans are ready to accept him in 2024 as their standard there, uh, I don't see it that way, the Trump factor helped some and it hurts. some, depending on where you are, are not too popular, but they won because I think their financing system is much better than ours. You know, I wonder, I wonder when Lindsay will walk away like she did after January 6th, uh, Lindsay, uh, dude.

I've known you for a long time, I just want to give you a hint, I just want to give you some advice when your hero sits down with someone who says he likes Hitler, when he sits down with white nationalists that he says he doesn't like. I don't know who he is, but you know he's lying, just like he said, he didn't know who David Duke was, just like he said, you know at some point you're going to have to get away from him, this just doesn't get any better. It keeps getting worse when he says that he wants to end the United States Constitution just because he goes to Truth Social the next day and says no, uh.

I didn't say that Lindsay, the voters, obviously showed you in 2017 2018 2019 2020 2022 that they are not as dumb as you and other Republicans think they are and, speaking of nonsense about Dom Adrian, a certain former Auburn football coach who is now Republican senator said: "Well, the cat is out of the bag at the beginning of the navigation, I guess we have to figure it out, eh, Adrian." I don't know, look, and here's what's okay to say about Donald Trump being bad for Republicans. I've been saying for six years. I've been telling Republicans for six years. I've been talking about this early voting thing forever, how many times?

Have you heard me say on this show that we Republicans used to have early absentee ballots, we had them if you didn't get 85 percent of the absentee ballots? I was angry on election night and I would do everything I could to work with those people. Call people overseas who were in the military. I would say we'll send them an absentee ballot. We work it. The election was over when the polls closed in Florida because they would be removing a large number of absentee ballots. Remember I said: how are you? you're going to the election, so I don't know, I think I'm going to go to Applebee's and buy some riblets because I won this election, these feelings are over, it's all over, but the riblets and their performance not 1994 and well, I ate a lot of riblets from '94 to 2001.

But that was a long time ago and they're acting like this is a thing, it's not like they're acting like they're like little babies playing hide and seek. -boo, they cover their eyes and think that if they cover their eyes because they can't see anyone, no one can see them, we can see them, they are acting really stupid and pretend that that is the reality of modern politics. It doesn't apply to them yet, they're just going to keep losing, aren't they? They're Joe and look, I mean to the point that both Democrats and Republicans have been running early voting programs for as long as I can remember.

Certainly, since I've been working in politics, what I couldn't understand about Joe in this particular cycle was Mo's lack or lack of ability to motivate his own voters to vote early or say "oh, you do vote." early if you vote absentee its fraudulent i mean they are doing this to themselves they are only hurting themselves when they tell their voters when candidates tell them not to vote early on election day in case that in Georgia it was raining in most parts of Georgia last Tuesday, yeah, which I'm sure obviously heard a huge turnout among Republicans who waited because that's what their candidates told them to expect, don't vote like early voting, They didn't like early voting.

Democrats have been running strong early voting campaigns for a long time. It's a story as old as time, so there are a lot of reasons, Joe, why I can't understand the Republican Party, but this is one that really baffles me because it's a tactic that they're criticizing and that both Democrats and Republicans have used. for a long time if you vote early you can track your voters more easily you can track you know where the progress is where you need to spend a little more money you can order to modify your campaign strategy so that this is as disconcerting as it is for you, let's get straight to the point.

NBC News White House correspondent Carol Lee, who has taken up residence at the Hay Adams, across the street from the White House. Carol, what can you? tell us Well, Mika, I can tell you that, according to a senior administration official, the president and Brittany Greiner's wife, Shirelle, were in the Oval Office, they both had a conversation with Brittany Greiner, and then Shirelle Griner had a private conversation with his wife, so we're waiting to hear from the president at 8:30 this morning and any minute now and where he's going to address this and look, this is a major accomplishment for the president, it's something he's been working on for months and Administration officials have been working, they put forward that proposal in July for a prisoner exchange that went cold, the talks didn't move forward in any way, and they recently picked up on what we heard from the president after the November election that he hoped Vladimir Putin would be willing to make a deal now that the midterms are over, it's notable that this is happening after the midterms are actually over after the Georgia runoffs and this is something that an Administration official told me was a goal for Brittany Greiner to come home before Christmas and that's happening. at the same time you've been talking about Paul Whalen not being a part of this and that's something you're already hearing from Jonathan Franks, who is the head of bringing our families home, who represents several American families wrongfully detained saying that he's been left behind criticizing that aspect of this, so to the extent that the president comes out and answers questions about this, that will be the most important thing for his family, desperately waiting for this news, at the same time

watch

ing Tony blink , it will be fascinating. read the story of this negotiation to find out how to free an American imprisoned in Russia while Russia is in the middle of a hot war with Ukraine and commits atrocities day by day and loses the war losing face Vladimir Putin How Joe Biden and Tony blink We were able to do for this to happen.

The different facets of this negotiation will be absolutely fascinating. You will see. Let's bring on NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent and Anchor of the Andrea Mitchell Reports. Andrea Mitchell, who has been working to break this story all night. A lot of time on the phone, Andrea, it's pretty incredible news, bittersweet but incredible, and the exchange is fascinating too. In fact, the exchange took place in a Middle Eastern country. Now I found out that it was in the United Arab Emirates, the United Arab Emirates, so the exchange was. In fact, you're on your way home and the president is about to announce that, as you know, Carol has been reporting and Peter Alexander has been reporting from the White House this morning, the fact is, the news from Paul Whelan is really discouraging. and let me speak.

On top of that, I've been dealing with Paul Whelan's family, his sister, his brother, his parents, as you know, over Thanksgiving they were very concerned because he had lost contact and then I found out last Sunday and David Whelan confirmed this to us on Monday that he was actually taken from the prison to the prison hospital even though he was unexplainedly sick on Thanksgiving Day, so he couldn't call home and, of course, the parents were terribly worried and then they took him the next day back to the prison and, according to David Whelan and according to what Paul later told the embassy in Moscow, they took him because the notorious Wagner group mercenaries were in that community prison trying to recruit recruits to recruit prisoners to go to Ukraine and they didn't want the American hostage to see it.

This happens because they know that he is communicating with Washington. I mean, it's so cool, so strange what Vladimir Putin has been doing and now you have the statement from the family group, the group that coordinates and campaigns for all the American hostages to be released saying that Paul Wheeler deserves better from your government and our campaign employees. You know he has already served four years there and has been sentenced to 21 years. He deserves better from his administration and our campaign staff. President Biden must urgently ensure Paul's immediate return using all tools. available, okay, President Biden answers just a few questions as he closes the door on Paul Whalen and asked for 24 hours in terms of more information on that, but, Joe, a pretty moving statement from Brittany Greiner's wife Cherelle and also from the president on the release of the exchange that took place at the Abu Dhabi airport in the United Arab Emirates of the notorious Russian prisoner in the US for Brittany Greiner, who returns home, yes, it is a notable achievement and President Biden he said uh just talk about reality uh you know every case is different you negotiate uh the case in front of you uh the Russians obviously put Paul Whalen in a different category than Brittany Greiner and others uh and the president is absolutely right I've gotten other prisoners out before other administrations and you look for opportunities, you take advantage of that opportunity, you really had an opportunity to get Brittany Greiner out today, that's something again, we can do two things at once, we can be very happy, this is how it is. wonderful news, such happy news, for her, for his wife, for the family, friends, loved ones, especially in this Christmas season coming in the Christmas season, what, what, what a joyful and joyous moment for them and at the same time time you listened to the questions.

You heard the president, you heard everyone at that podium talking about the importance of remembering Paul Whalen, what the hell his family has been going through for over four years and now that they continue to go through, but, I'm sure that, uh. based on what he said and what everyone has said, the president, the administration is still working on Paul Whalen and waiting for that opportunity, they had the opportunity to bring Brittany Greiner home, they took advantage of it and now they have to look for the opportunity to bring Paul Whalen. which has been there for four years to bring him home too and looking at their track record there's no reason to believe they won't find a way to bring him home too but again the headline here the happy news Brittany Greiner frayed .

It's part of a prisoner exchange, she comes home and the smile on Shirelle's face told the whole story after nine almost ten agonizing months for her imagine what every waking moment must have felt like wondering without communication how his wife is doing. Brittany Greiner is a notorious penal colony several hours from Moscow, a kind of opaque place where no one really knew what was going on there, so the fact that she is on a plane back to the United States is objectively a Big news, to your point, Briner's incarceration led to an outcry of support from her fellow athletes and other members of the arts and entertainment communities, it also shed new light on the issues facing women, especially women of color. , to reach the peak of his career.

Fields dancer Misty Copeland is another athlete and entertainer who has been speaking out about the struggles she faced throughout her career to get to the top and the struggles others faltered in 2019. Copeland also spoke about using the black face in Russian ballet and said that he would no longer remain silent in the face ofoppression and Misty Copeland joins us. she is now the principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater and the author of a new book titled The wind at my back resilience Grace and other gifts from my mentor Raven Wilkinson and also a new mom, yes, very good, the best job, still, yes , sure, and you've had a lot of really good work I'm just wondering what you think about the UK release, it's great news, we're all processing it, but you know you've really brought attention to Russian theatre, you've spoken globally. um, on racism and other issues of oppression, it's such a relief to see this woman go home.

I mean, like you're saying I'm a first-time mother. I can't imagine you meeting my daughter. I can't imagine my sister. My partner is in this situation and it is truly a testament to his will and determination. I know that being a black woman, being an athlete is all you know, a tribute to those qualities and having the strength and perseverance to survive and overcome something. so mental strength, but it's a great day for America to actually have her on her way back, and she's telling us that we're about to go up to Abu Dhabi on her way back to the United States, yeah, um, I'm so I am fascinated by your book because I know your story.

I think a lot of Americans know the story of her as this pioneer not only in ballet but in American culture, but this book sheds light on someone who came long before you and who really got started. to blaze that trail, so for people who don't know who Raven is, introduce us, yes, Raven Wilkinson was the first black dancer to receive a major contract with an elite ballet company in 1955, she joined the roosta ballet Monte Carlo and within two years she was promoted to the rank of soloist, which to this day is unheard of for a black woman, it's very rare to get beyond the ballet court, which is the lowest rank and there's the Solace and then there's the beginning of Raven doing that in two years in 1955 was something unheard of, at that time she went on to have a career in the ballet system, which is one of the most important ballet companies, you know, in the history of America, the tree that brought ballet to America from Europe, faced many adversities, experienced having its life threatened by the KKK when the company was touring the South, and like many black artists at that time, left and left.

She went to Amsterdam, where she ended up performing with the Dutch National Ballet, but knowing her story and meeting her in 2011 completely changed the trajectory of my career and how I looked at my responsibility and my purpose, you know, in carrying on her legacy and having the opportunities. to do so many things that she didn't have the opportunity to do. Oh my goodness, have you carried on her legacy? You write in the book that You were even a little embarrassed, you didn't know much about her, you didn't know her story, so when you started listening and realized that she even lived nearby, yes, a block from me, I found out that she lived a block from me on the Upper West Side, I can't imagine how many times they must have passed each other on the street and didn't know it, but it was... it was really frustrating for me not knowing their story and it's such a big part from uh, you know, black people in America, our stories are often erased, um, and you know, I feel like my mission is to share their story to spread it to more people, so that people understand that, even though I'm a prima ballerina Black principal at American Ballet Theater I am by no means the first Black dancer and there have been so many who have come before me and that is why doors have opened for me the wind at my back resilience Grace and other gifts from my mentor Raven Wilkinson It's available now and Misty Copeland thank you very much, we really appreciate your visit.

It's been a very busy morning here. Two more documents, albeit with classified markings, were discovered at a Florida storage facility not far from Trump's Mar-A-. Lake Holmen Club after a search conducted at the direction of Trump's lawyers, two people familiar with the documents who spoke to NBC News say the documents were turned over to the FBI, confirming a report first published in the Washington Post, but the nature of the documents was not disclosed The discovery comes nearly four months after FBI agents executed a search warrant at Mar-A-Lago and found more than a hundred documents with classified markings, including some labeled top secret the storage unit where the new documents were The discovery is in West Palm Beach and is directed by the General Services Administration.

One of the sources said Trump had never been inside that storage facility. The New York Times reports that the discovery came after Trump's lawyers hired an outside firm to conduct a series of broader searches. that were completed around Thanksgiving at Trump properties, those properties include Trump's Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump Tower in New York and a storage closet at Mar-A-Lago. The discovery of the new documents is further evidence that Trump and his team have not complied with the grand jury subpoena issued in May requesting all documents marked as classified that are still in his possession.

The FBI declined to comment. The Justice Department has been conducting what it has described as an active criminal investigation into whether White House documents found at Mar-A-Lago were mishandled and also possible obstruction of justice. It seems that the government, the Department of Justice and the FBI are doing everything they can to give them the opportunity to turn over the documents. I mean, this is actually quite remarkable. They have been very patient from the beginning. The National Archives asked for a year and a half to obtain the documents. Could we get the documents? And then when they went and confiscated the documents, the government said, Are you sure there aren't any more?

Keep looking now that we have the story. Let's bring in congressional investigations. Washington Post reporter Jackie Alemany she is an MSNBC contributor Jackie, good morning, what else can you tell us about this story? This was like Mika pointed out this came from Trump's lawyer circle saying let's hire a firm to go see if there's more stuff, let's look at Mar-A-Lago, let's look at Trump Tower in New York and yeah, let's go look at this unit of storage, right, Willie, that's exactly right, but it also came at the behest of DC Circuit Judge Beryl Howell, and after multiple concerns. were expressed by the head of counterintelligence, J.

Brad, basically, the prosecutors, the justice department, the FBI, continually expressed concern that Trump and his people had not yet fully complied with the original grand jury subpoena that was issued in May, which requested and demanded that all classified documents, all documents with classified markings on them be returned to the FBI and the Department of Justice that included documents not only at Mar-A-Lago but elsewhere, so now You are seeing that the judge ordered his lawyers to continue searching for these documents. at all the other Trump properties, so, you know, most recently we had the search at the Life Storage unit which, as Mika pointed out, was being paid for by the General Services Administration and which was storing sort of a hodgepodge of materials. that, the former president had in the White House and then was transferred to Florida after he left the White House before that, during Thanksgiving week there was a search of Trump Tower, where this outside team and lawyers testified that they didn't find any classified documents and then formerly Bedminster, but in the living storage unit they found two documents or two items rather with classified markings, which I think really underscores not only a sort of breakdown of mistrust between the prosecutors and Trump's legal team here, but also the fact that the former president was not dealing with these classified documents, uh, that not only did he improperly take them to Mar-A-Lago, but in some cases she had completely lost clue as to where they were and that they were not in any type of proper storage unit.

Hi Jackie Sam Stein, I want to capture the element of negligence here. I'm not a lawyer. I am married to one, but not in this particular field of law. but what kind of liability do you have for negligence in keeping these documents and storing them and not keeping track of them and then more generally, the other question I had is we've seen this, a special prosecutor's apartment, not It is necessarily for this case, but it could be. I'm wondering how all of these legal issues blend together or if they're just separated on separate tracks and what kind of vulnerability that means for Trump, yeah, a lot of good questions, Sam, actually, they're all on parallel tracks.

Technically under Jack Smith the purview of the special counsel and in reality the document investigation is moving at a slightly faster pace than the January 6 investigation and there is some speculation that if the special counsel were to eventually land on an indictment, that The first thing would be the case of the classified documents in terms of the responsibility of the former president for not caring, mishandling and inappropriately taking these documents and the responsibility he has for that, that is exactly what prosecutors are trying to discern in this moment. I mean, people are gone. to jail for a lot less, uh, Sandy Berger and many others, just go look at the National Archives website, they have a very long list of people who have inappropriately taken classified information or presidential records over the years. years and have again faced criminal charges, um. but you know prosecutors want to have a rock solid case.

We've talked a lot about the Espionage Act and where this falls on the sliding scale of severity of the Espionage Act and as my colleagues, Devlin Barrett and Josh Dossier, previously reported. Right now, prosecutors are seeing that Trump's motive is less an attempt to sell state secrets and more motivated by the fact that he wanted to keep these documents, he was driven by his ego, he felt that these articles, Kim's letters Jong-un and other senior officials. profile The presidential articles were his, regardless, although you know he could still face some very similar criminal charges. Washington Post Jackie Alemany delving into this story Jackie thank you very much, we appreciate it Aberdeen joins us now she is vice president of 3050 International Women's Day Summit and we will have more on that in a moment.

The summit is going to be held in Abu Dhabi and Randall Lane is also here, he's the chief content officer at Forbes and today we're going to talk about some announcements who. He'll join us in Abu Dhabi in a moment, but first let's talk about the news at hand Joe, yeah, you know, Randall, it's fascinating. We, you and I, have talked about Abu Dhabi and how remarkable it has been in recent years. it's become this and it's just you and me talking uh offline is becoming the crossroads of the world. I didn't imagine that three or four weeks after that conversation you would have a plane flying from Russia, a plane flying from the United States finding itself on a runway.

In Abu Dhabi again, my source on the ground there who was part of this said that the prisoner exchange, the Britain crusher and this international terrorist with weapons cross paths, get on planes and flew back to their respective spaces, really That's how it went. I was talking. Economically, how it has become, we were talking about it, but also diplomatically, in this case, the Crown Prince of President NBC went to make the deal with his allies with the United States and we were able to achieve it. It's fascinating with this small country, what? What is happening there?

Well, little Country Joe's right and it's a small country but it's a big one and when you go there and you look around and you realize this is, you know the population you look at, you know you look at the people, yeah, people. from all over the world and it's a country where you can, you know, it's used to a place where you can do business, it doesn't matter where you come from, it's a neutral territory and they have good relations, you know, they try very hard to maintain relations with everyone, so which is the rare place you can go and could do something like this and both sides trust the country to do it.

That's the key, that's how you become a running back, that's how you become a Power Player. and I'll tell you Mika, the official I spoke to who was part of this deal, this prisoner exchange, said that mbz had suffered a lot from going to Russia a month ago, but he was going to Russia because, as Randall said, they work overtime for economic reasons to be neutral and that is why this deal could be closed the way it was. It's incredible and we are heading to the crossroads of the world, Abu Dhabi, for the 3050 Summit and in fact another secretary of state is one of our big announcements as we look at what Tony Blinken and Joe Biden have been able to do in this moment today , give us our first uh a-listers that we have, what do we have?

We are announcingtoday, I mean, we're going back to Abu Dhabi Crossroads of the world, we have Hillary Clinton coming to join us, for international women's day, for the Forbes 30 50 Summit, we've also talked about powerful players from around the world. we have Malala Malala yousafzai, who of course you know, we're talking about 3050, incredible women doing incredible things under 30 and then incredible women at the peak of their careers over 50, Hillary Clinton and then we have another icon Gloria Steinem , Do you know someone? who the entire world of women can look up to and we have them all coming to Abu Dhabi in March.

Wow, amazing and Huma, you've spent years traveling around the world with Hillary Clinton, talk about the importance of Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem and Malala in Abu Dhabi. Perhaps there is new meaning today, although for this event I can't think of a more appropriate place to not only honor but also celebrate International Women's Day than being in Abu Dhabi. I was there this year and, frankly, I'm excited to be vice president in association with you. Mika knows her value and Forbes why being in a space where mentorship and women come together across generations sharing their stories and learning from each other, particularly at a time when we know we need each other now more than ever , I mean this idea that we have women in Afghanistan who are being deprived of education we have women in Iran every day fighting for basic human rights we have women in Ukraine on the front lines of the war we have been in this country fighting for our own bodily autonomy and so that we are all connected, this fight is truly global and that is why women come together to show their success stories, those values ​​and to have Hillary Clinton and Gloria Steinem, two iconic women, yes, two firsts and they will be the first to say that there is a lot of work to do. it will be done, yes, and when we land at Abu Dhabi airport, um, but it will have a whole new meaning after that scene that Joe presented to us, we also have a couple more announcements about who else is coming.

We are very excited to have two women from the Forbes list coming as well, Aisha Curry, who was on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, the founder and CEO of Sweet July, a best-selling author, restaurateur chef, entrepreneur, for what we're really We're excited to welcome her and there's also Catherine O'Hara coming, who's really hot, she got a little gelatinous, yeah, it's an amazing lineup, yeah, and she's funny, yeah, she is, and she's a very familiar face in your home, especially around the world. vacation because my son

watch

es alone at home almost every day, perfect, Kevin's mother, but more than that, she is an Emmy, you know, Warden winning actress and she was on Forbes 50, over 50 lessons were released and Randall, but wait, there's more.

Mandana and mo, tell us. Who, of course, do you know until this week? He was actually a partner with Harry, Harry and Megan in their Archwell initiative and now I'm sure he'll tell me what he's going to do next, which is exciting. She is a big advocate for getting people registered to vote. He is in a great moment with I am a voter. It has been a great initiative. And mo Badu, she is a global event and that is why, and rightly so, she would not be in The Crossroads of the world, she is one of the most important women, not the most important, in Africa in the media, she is on the list of the 100 most powerful women in the world and she is the principal partner of Netflix in Africa and She is a huge force, well, this is going to be incredible and we will see both of them.

Huma, you'll be speaking today at the luncheon for the 50-plus American honorees that we'll have today and Of course, we're announcing a lot more about the event in Abu Dhabi, obviously, at this point, the crossroads of the world where so much news happened this morning to Learn more about how you can attend the 3050 Summit in Abu Dhabi and connect with these remarkable women. In addition to networking with all the women on the 50 Over 50 lists around the world, visit knowyourvalue.com or forbes.com and register to join us at Abu Dhabi Huma Randall. Thank you so much.

I know we're tight today. With so much going on, but it seemed to fit a bit, so thank you very much, see you soon, thank you foreigner.