mexico. many are coming from africa. many are coming from places like pakistan and india, but chris, they're all here for the same reason. one, because international law affords them the right to come to the united states and ask for asylum, and two, because human migration is part of our history. if all of the stuff they say is true, the american economy would be tanking, and you and i would be running in fear every single night because of an unleashed crime wave, not true. >> new york city, which had the single biggest violent crime drop last year that it had seen in a long time happened with the migrant influx that happened in the country. those are two things that are correlated, not caused. thank you very much. >> thank you, good night and [ speaking in a non-english language ] because i'm right here with edward. >> thank you. that is all in on this night. alex wagner starts now. good evening, alex. we cannot say it enough, the

biden blood bath does not exist. migrants are not killing people all over this country willy-nilly. crime rates are dropping in the largest cities that have absorbed the most number of migrants. that is what is happening. >> that is all true. it's true. >> thank you, my friend. and thanks to you at home for joining me this hour. this is anthony kern. he is a republican member of the arizona state senate. mr. kern is currently running to be the republican nominee for arizona's eighth congressional district, and if he wins that race, it will not be his first time in our nation's capitol. in fact, here's a video of him at the capitol building three years ago. you can see him there walking through the rafters along with the rest of the january 6th rioters. now, anthony kern actually had a special interest in being at the capitol that day. in addition to being among the throngs of people storming the building, mr. kern was also one of arizona's fake electors. he was one of the arizona

republicans who submitted fake documents certifying donald trump as the winner of the 2020 election. kern even tweeted on january 6th that it was d-day in d.c. and that he was there to support arizona's and america's duly elected president, donald trump. and today anthony kern, the man himself, would like to be a duly elected member of congress. now this is a safely republican seat, but if you are a republican voter in arizona state who maybe doesn't want to be represented by a capitol rioter like anthony kern, there are other options. because also running in that primary is blake masters. the election-denying, unabomber candidate humiliated in his 2022 bid to be a senator from arizona. but if you are not a blake masters fan, you could also vote for this man, abe.

abe is also an election denier. he was the republican candidate to the arizona's attorney general, also in 2022. and he too lost that race. abe was edged out by democrat chris mays. he then denied the results of that election because that is what arizona republicans do when they lose, and then ended up getting sanctioned by the arizona supreme court. so a lot of election deniers to choose from in arizona's eighth district this year, but if you like the election denial and just don't like the party, well, there is still another option. libertarian jacob chansley. if his name sounds familiar, it's because jacob is the q an anon shaman. a fur-clad capitol rioter. that's what politics look like in conservative districts. this is the reality that

republicans fashioned for themselves by refusing to hold donald trump and his allies accountable for the eevents of january 6th. they stormed the capitol and now they are storming the republican party. donald trump has made supporting these rioters an explicit part of his platform for president. he refers to the people arrested for their actions that day as hostages and plays recordings of them singing at his rallies. he promises to free them as one of his first acts if he is reelected. and how have republicans responded? by trying to give trump his own airport. this week a group of house republicans introduced a bill to rename washington's dulles airport after donald trump. they want the airport in washington, d.c., to be named after the only president to ever inspire an attack on washington, d.c. recently, one of the few republicans who held trump accountable after january 6th, liz cheney, had this to say

about her former colleagues. >> i think you had some elected republicans who believed that he would just disappear, who thought, you know, we don't have to actually speak against what he did, we don't have to actually stand up to him because, you know, certainly he will fade away. and obviously, that didn't happen. and i think when people look back at this time, at the history of this time those elected officials who know the danger that he poses, who know that what he's saying is a lie, who know that he threatens fundamentally our democratic system but yet have enabled him and have gone along. you know, they will be judged very harshly by history. >> they are going to be judged very harshly by history. republican senate leader mitch mcconnell is one of those republicans who had to learn the hard way that donald trump would not just disappear. mcconnell has already had to

announce his retirement as republican senate leader. he has had to endure three years of trump mocking him in public and launching racist attacks against his wife. but still, mitch mcconnell crouches in fear of trump, refusing to even speak his name. here he was in an interview this week with a local radio personality in his home state of kentucky. >> do you have any contact at all with donald trump, the presumptive nominee for the republican -- >> oh, i've got my hands full dealing with the senate. >> you guys don't talk? eventually there's going to have to be a come to jesus -- >> i'm spending my time on the senate. >> okay. no, no texts? no nothing? okay. >> i thought we were going to talk about the new basketball coach. >> we are. >> i thought we were going to talk about the new basketball coach. if you were wondering how donald trump could go from stoking an insurrection to once again being the republican party's nominee for president, this is how. the republican party on whole

has abandoned all responsibility here. republicans either declare their blind loyalty to trump or they say nothing at all. atlantic's editor in chief jeffrey goldberg explains why he believes that the people who are most responsible for trump's continued viability are the republican senators who voted to acquit him for january 6th. in particular, the republicans who knew better but were too afraid to say so. goldberg recalls an interview he did with one of those republican, former ohio senator rob portman, who he interviewed on stage at the ask and ideas festival in 02. 2 i do want to ask you directly, i said when we sat on stage, given what you know now about what happened on january 6th, do you regret your vote to i quit an impeachment? portman immediately, pressed his unhappiness with what he took to be an outre question. you have just surprised me, he said, complaining i hasn't told him beforehand i would ask him

about trump. i pivoted to the discussion of the topic of bridges in ohio, but portman remained upset, rushing offstage to at the end of the conversation to -- initially, i found his defensive behavior odd, but i surmised with subsequent conversations that he, like others, felt a certain degree of shame about his continued excuse making for the authoritarian hijacker of his beloved party. jeffrey goldberg joins me now. just awarded with excellence for the third year running. an amazing thing. and as someone who once was very proud to call themselves an atlantic writer, i am -- >> and in future. >> if i'm lucky. >> yeah, i mean, you know, the future is bright for magazines. >> it is. it is. >> it is. >> it's bright for the atlantic. part of the reason you're

getting these awards is because you have writing and analysis and astute observation like we read. >> thank you for having me. i'm going to get out of here. >> thanks for coming to the program. >> so far it's gone great for me. >> i do -- it never -- it is never not important to talk about how we got to this place. >> true. >> and i thought your recollection of your time on stage with portman was so revealing. and i wonder, as someone who's kind of in retrospect, hindsight, evaluated the man's psychology in that moment whether you think republicans like mcconnell and portman have any kind of internal monologue with themselves, whether there is any sense that the shame they're feeling deserves more than just burying the truth and whether there needs to be more public contrition. >> so to borrow the very dark russian expression, all souls are a dark forest, we don't know what's going on in mitch

mcconnell's mind. >> yep. >> and he's a harder target, i think, maybe more impenetrable. people can convince themselves of anything, as we know. >> sure. >> put that aside for a second. i do think -- this is not based on my arm chair psychoanalysis, this is based on talking to people -- >> in the senate. >> -- in the senate, including some of those who voted to convict. there were six republicans, seven republicans who voted to convict, and they're all friends together, everybody in the caucus. so they know who came up to them privately and said, oh man, i wish i could do that, what you did. and some of them report conversations like, well, you could have, and they said no, i couldn't have. they explain whatever that is, fear, physical fear, fear for their family, fear for their careers. people who are honest say, look, i come from x state, and if i come out and vote to convict

this guy for minting the insurrection, i'm going to lose my job. and you're just going to get another trumpy. >> you can get the q an anon shaman. >> you're going to get the shaman, which is, you know, it's a reasonable observation, but it's not convincing. >> well, yeah, and i just wonder, you know, okay, maybe they think they're propping up whatever shreds of principle the republican party has, but what, practically, does that mean? because on every other major policy issue, immigration deals that were republican gimmes, funding for ukraine, which would have been just like a no thought required, you know -- >> as a republican policy, yes. >> as a republican policy, they're not getting anything from it other than staying in office to do what, trump's bid something. >> but don't undervalue staying in office. don't undervalue employment and relevance. we've talked about this before. lindsey graham is very honest about why he switched teams from team mccain to team trump.

and he lost, you know, john mccain died, and he lost his patron. and lindsey graham told me, he told other people, he wants to be relevant. he wants to be in the game. i was with lindsey graham once when the president called, trump, and he held up the phone and said look who's calling. >> right. it's a parlor trick. >> that's important. you know, to these guys. and so like we can't undervalue -- look, we can judge it, but we can't undervalue it as -- some of them are genuinely concerned. they have young kids and they understand how threatening some of this stuff can be in the atmosphere, you know, from hard core trump supporters. and i have a lot of sympathy for that. but on the other hand, you're elected to lead, right? that's the job is to follow your conscience and follow the law and support and uphold the constitution. >> by keeping trump in office they're increasing the likelihood that the threats will be part of the culture of

politics in america. >> also, they're increasing the likelihood that they will eventually lose anyway. >> yes. >> or that it'll become -- rob portman retired. >> yes. >> don't forget. he left, and one can surmise that he left because he knows what's happening in the party, and he didn't want to deal with a trump challenger and all the rest. >> i want to ask about that, because you know, we can point to on a single hand the number of republican who is served in elected office or are on their way out, mitt romney among them, liz cheney among them, who have come out and been very forcefully critical of donald trump, right? why has that number not been higher? there have been a lot of republican retirements. there are a lot of republicans that know bitter and have said, i'm tapping out, i'm done here. why aren't they trying to save their own party? >> i think you're dealing with the nature of complicity, right? we had a great piece a couple years ago from anne apple, who's an expert on soviet complicity and authoritarian complicity. and she maybes the point -- and i hadn't;t really thought this

through the way she had thought it through that complicity is the norm. that's normal behavior. being a dissonant, being liz cheney, that's not normal. we all think in our best moments that, oh, we're going to be the brave truth teller. we're going to risk for mitt romney, risk eating alone in the senate dining room because no one wants to sit with you anymore. or risk something far more dangerous. the truth is most humans, you know, are weak or have long moments of weakness and they want to fit in and they want to get along and they want to protect their incomes and do all these things that are per ticketly understandable. so i think we think of complicity as this terrible thing and rare, but it's not. it's the norm. >> i think anne applebaum has written so brilliantly, but we're not talking about normal, everyday americans. we're not talking about people who wanted to be in advertising

or plumbing or whatever. we're talking about people who wanted to be in government because they understood a certain set of principles and wanted to help uphold them. >> and that's my point. it's like -- there are 43 republicans who voted against conviction, right? if ten more had joined their republican colleague, mitt romney among them, and the democrats, donald trump would not be able to run for office right now. they had this moment, and i end the piece by saying, look, i believe if the country goes a certain way, if history goes a certain way, we'll be raising statues to mitt romney and people like rob portman will be lucky if they're forgotten. >> right. >> that's exactly your point. you're not a plumber. you're not in advertising. you were -- you took an oath to uphold the constitution, and you were there when the capitol was invaded. >> it is, as many things you write are, very, very smart and very essential in these times. and you know, just i love the

atlantic forever for the service you do not just for us as readers but us as a democracy. so keep it up, boss. >> thank you. >> good to see you, jeffrey goldberg with the atlantic. still to come tonight, donald trump's new financial lifeline is raising a lot of questions. we will look at some explosive new reporting around its origin story. but first special counsel jack smith is signalling that his patience with slow walking judge aileen cannon may soon be at an end. that is next. be at a end. that is next (vo) dan made progress with his mental health... ...but his medication caused unintentional movements in his face, hands, and feet called tardive dyskinesia, or td. so his doctor prescribed austedo xr— a once-daily td treatment for adults. ♪as you go with austedo♪ austedo xr significantly reduced dan's td movements. some people saw a response as early as 2 weeks. with austedo xr, dan can stay on his mental health meds- (dan) cool hair! (vo) austedo xr can cause depression, suicidal thoughts,

or actions in patients with huntington's disease. pay close attention to and call your doctor if you become depressed, have sudden changes in mood, or have suicidal thoughts. don't take if you have liver problems, are taking reserpine, tetrabenazine, or valbenazine. austedo xr may cause irregular or fast heartbeat, or abnormal movements. seek help for fever, stiff muscles, problems thinking, or sweating. common side effects include inflammation of the nose and throat, insomnia and sleepiness. ♪as you go with austedo♪ ask your doctor for austedo xr. ♪austedo xr♪ ♪♪ imagine a future where plastic is not wasted... but instead remade over and over... into the things that keep our food fresher, our families safer, and our planet cleaner. to help us get there, america's plastic makers are investing billions of dollars to create innovative products and new recycling technologies for sustainable change. because when you push for smarter solutions, big things can happen.

we got the house! because when you push for smarter solutions, you did! pods handles the driving. pack at your pace. store your things until you're ready. then we deliver to your new home - across town or across the country. pods, your personal moving and storage team.

i love your dress. oh thanks! i splurged a little because liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. that's great. i know, right? i've been telling everyone. baby: liberty. did you hear that? ty just said her first word. can you say “mama”? baby: liberty. can you say “auntie”? baby: liberty. how many people did you tell? only pay for what you need. jingle: ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

very, very late last night special counsel jack smith filed a scathing rebuke of judge aileen cannon, the trump-appointed judge in florida overseeing the president's criminal prosecution over

classified documents. in the filing, smith -- cannon for a meritless claim, one that could lead directly to either a dismissal of the case or an acquittal for trump. smith's frustration here was so palpable that it suggested he may ultimately appeal to a higher court on the matter whenever judge cannon makes an actual decision. which could take a while. since judge cannon joined this case, she has amassed a pile of motions, all of which she has yet eto rule on. it's a sort of treasure-trove of potentially controversial calls. more than two months ago on january 16th, trump's lawyers asked cannon to force prosecutors to hand over additional materials they believe would demonstrate the prosecution's ties to the intelligence community. judge cannon has yet to rule on that. on february 8th, that's also nearly two months ago, jack smith's team begged judge cannon to reconsider her decision to release unredacted filings to the public, ones that could reveal the names of potential prosecution witnesses.

judge cannon has yet to rule on that. nearly six weeks ago on february 22nd, trump's lawyers filed four separate motions to dismiss the case all together on a variety of grounds. though she expressed doubts about some of trump's arguments, again nearly six weeks ago, cannon has only ruled on one of them. and then there's the trial date. 31 days and counting since she set a hearing for the new date of the trial. she has yet to make that very crucial decision upon which a lot of other things depend. joining me now is mary mcchord, former senior justice department official and cohost of the prosecuting donald trump podcast. mary, thank you for helping me understand what can only be termed in layman's terms, of course, insanity that is unfolding down in florida. i mean, judge cannon's inbox must be like piled sky high with things to do, and i'm just wondering how unusual it is for

a judge to, a, entertain some of these crazy motions, and then, b, take so long. >> i think what you're getting at is couldn't some of these be sort of dismissed pretty rapidly, right? many are not really very serious. they don't need to have an oral argument. they could be decided on the papers, and there's several of those that i think she should have decided by now. you know, you have to wonder a little bit if it's this whole question that caused her to order the parties to submit these proposed jury instructions that jack smith and donald trump submitted last night, you have to wonder if the issue that's caused her to issue that order is the reason she has not ruled on other motions. and what i mean by that, both jack smith and donald trump say

in their response, her scenario b that pos sits that a president's decision when they leave the white house to take papers with them automatically means those papers have been designated as personal under the presidential records act, her scenario b starts with that legal premise. both of the parties respond, that's essentially directing a verdict for donald trump. that would essentially be saying, so long as donald trump knew he was taking records, he necessarily made them personal. they're not then subject to him being criminally prosecuted because that means he has authorized use. so i wonder if in some ways she's thinking let me resolve that first, because maybe i can make it go away. donald trump is actually arguing this very instruction, this important exercise you made us do shows why now you should go back and you should dismiss this case because it, for one thing,

under vagueness,selective prosecution, all these things, but because there just simply is not evidence that he had unauthorized use. so i'm a little worried about the fact that she's sitting on all the other motions, but that's why it's so important that jack smith has pretty much promised he will appeal this. you need to rule now because we have to have an opportunity to appeal before a trial starts and jeopardy attaches. and he's also saying, if you don't, we'll take it up once the trial starts. >> without getting into the minutia of theure instructions, because there's a lot there, the essence is judge cannon is entertaining these kind of novel ideas because she may just want an excuse to dismiss this case and be done with the whole thing. and if that is -- >> yeah, that wouldn't surprise me, yeah. >> if that is, in fact, true, and jack smith understands that, i mean, what else does he need before he goes to, like, the 1 #19 circuit court of appeals and says, as you say, a writ of

mandamus to get a new judge on this case? she has been in a holding pattern on so much of this stuff that he can't appeal anything, right? like he's waiting for her to make a bad call, effectively, so that he can go to the higher powers and say we got to get a new judge. do you think that's what's happening here? >> so yes. and i think that's the only reason to now undercut the argument i just made that maybe she's thinking she can get rid of it. i don't know that she wants to get rid of it right now, because she will be appealed. i think she kind of wants to delay everything and get rid of it potentially after the trial actually starts. where the government's only option on a jury instruction there would be a mandamus. if she were to grant a motion for acquittal after the presentation of evidence at the end of the government's case, that would not be appealable. so even at trial, he needs her to say, these are the jury instructions i'm going to give. they're so wrong, they're so

erroneous, he could take it up for an appeal. so i think you're right. i mean, even when she denied the motion to dismiss on vagueness grounds, the only one she's ruled on, she said it's without prejudice to renew it again at some future time, which is exactly why you see donald trump in his response last night renewing that motion. and we'll see him doing that again at trial if it gets to trial. so jack smith is kind of between a rock and a hard place where he doesn't have anything yet he can appeal or seek mandamus on, other than potentially arguing these not ruling on things she needs to rule on. we may see that if she continues to refuse to rule on this. >> okay, so her inaction on this in and of itself may be cause for a writ of mandamus, something that i didn't think we would say with such frequency on cable television, but here we

are in donald trump's legal america. mary mcchord, thank you for joining us, thanks for your expertise tonight. >> pleasure. more ahead, including a conservative group working to blur the separation between church and state in public schools across the country. but first, who helped trump's social media company stay afloat after federal investigators put its lucrative merger plans on pause. some stunning new reporting on that coming up next. w reporting on that coming up next. we all need fiber for our digestive health, but less than 10% of us get enough each day. good thing metamucil gummies are an easy way to get prebiotic, plant-based fiber. with the same amount of fiber as 2 cups of broccoli. metamucil gummies. the easy way to get your daily fiber.

millions of children are fighting to survive due to inequality, conflict, poverty and the climate crisis. save the children® is working alongside communities to provide a better life for children. and there's a way you can help. please call or go online to give just $10 a month. only $0.33 a day. we urgently need 1000 new monthly donors in the next 30 days to help the children we support around the world. you can help provide food, medicine, care and protection, plus so much more that a child needs by calling right now and giving just $10 a month. all we need are 1000 monthly donors in the next 30 days. please call or go online now with your monthly gift of just $10. thanks to generous government grants,

every dollar you give can have up to ten times the impact. and when you call with your credit card, we will send you this save the children® tote bag as a thank you for your support. your small monthly donation of just $10 could be the reason a child in crisis survives. please call or go online to hungerstopsnow.org to help save lives today. a test or approve a medication. we didn't have to worry about any of those things thanks to the donations. and our family is forever grateful because it's completely changed our lives.

what do all these things have in common? flirt 4free.com. naked.com. stripchat.com. and donald trump? according to new reporting out of the guardian, they got money from the same small bank in the caribbean. i should note nbc news has not end pently confirmed this reporting. today the guardian reported it has obtained leaked documents showing in 2022 trump media, the parent company of trump's truth social, received a total of $8 million in loans from a company called es family trust. and es trust is actually just a shell company created by the co-owner of a bank in the

caribbean known as paxum. it's known for its work with the online porn industry and is not properly licensed to make loans in the united states. and the russian american businessman who allegedly arranged that loan is also allegedly under scrutiny in a federal insider trading and money laundering investigation and, and, and the reason trump's media company needed that $8 million in the first place, despite trump's claims about being flush with cash, the reason the company needed that cash so quickly was because in 2021, the company had planned to merge with another company for a big cash infusion, but that merger was held up by the sec because even that deal seemed shady. it turns out, the sec was right to be suspicious. two of the early investors in the company pleaded guilty to to securities fraud, or in layman's term, insider trading that netted them tens of millions of

dollars. we are going to get some very expert help with all of the specifics here in just a moment, but let's just zoom out far second. truth social is largely seen as donald trump's biggest financial lifeline. last week's trump's net worth shot up more than $4 billion because of his stock in the company. $4 billion because investors believe trump's media company is a good investment. a media company we now know was in the red to the tune of $58 million last year. so shady loans, insider trading, and a company that is hemorrhaging cash and is somehow trump's big financial lifeline. what is actually happening here? joining me now is drew harwell, technology reporter at "the washington post", who has been covering all of this funny money business around trump media and truth social for years now. drew, thanks for being with me tonight. i think given trump's claims publicly about how wealthy he is, why is it that a media

company affiliated with trump would be so cash strapped to the tune of $8 million that they would need to involve a small caribbean bank in the year 2021. >> yeah, so you know, remember back to 2021, trump is the king of debt, and he needed money badly for this company. you know, he was not able to get loans from traditional banks who had seen, you know, years of bankruptcies and failures on that end. january 6th had happened a couple months prior. the company was struggling. they were trapped in this mired merger process. they had no idea when it was going to unlock the money they needed. and suddenly here this money appeared. and i remember talking to a whistleblower from the company who remembered being really offput by having this $8 million just sort of show up in their accounts, you know, named to this family trust no one had ever heard of, you know, connected to people that were total strangers to the company. and so it felt very odd that

this money just sort of, you know, happened to come out right when they needed it. >> you talk about the people that were sort of involved in this loan, one of them, anton, i believe, co-owned the bank and arranged, according to the guardian at least, the loan. what can you tell us about him and his background? >> yeah, so anton was born in russia. these nephew of a very high ranking russian government official for many years, alexander smirnov. we can see he was involved in this paxum bank. as you saw, this was a bank that deals with people who traditional banks typically don't deal with, including in the adult content industry and paxum bank has been very clear they are proud to are them as customers. it's not the typical kind of company that would work with trump or even a trump media-like company. and so, you know, when anton was

running paxum bank, you could see some of these wire transfer documents that i've seen, and i think the guardian has seen as well, that show the $2 million coming from es family trust, and it shows that paxum is facilitating those loans. so for a while we really didn't know what the connection was between es family trust, which had very few fingerprints to trace back to, and paxum bank, which was facilitating this loan out of nowhere. except that the one name on the trust was a paxum employee. now we know from these, you know, this further reporting that anton was very involved and it appears that, you know, he could access the account right around that time. and so it just raises questions of why this person who, you know -- anton lives in miami beach, owns nice real estate in one of the priciest zip codes in america, why he was getting involved in this business deal out of nowhere. >> why would a wealthy businessman with ties to russia want to be involved with donald

trump? i'm going to let that hang there, i'm not going to ask you to answer that, drew. but the two brother who is pleaded guilty today, michael and gerald, can you talk about who they are and how they sort of fit into the broader picture of questionable financial dealings. >> yeah, so michael and gerald schwartzman -- gerald schwartzman owns a furniture store in miami. michael schwartzman is his brother and runs a venture capital firm that, like anton's paxum bank, would deal with marijuana dispensaries, if that surprises you. you know, by doing these cashless atms. so again, these were both -- anton and schwartzman dealt with market money quite often, and both lived in the miami area. and they both learned about from patrick orlando, the head of the company that ended up merging with trump media to take it public, learned that this deal

was coming. and anton and schwartzman brothers all made exceptionally timed bets based off this insider trading, insider knowledge, and made tens of millions of dollars from it. and that's according to the fbi. and so the schwartzman brothers after they made these tens of millions, michael schwartzman also tried to hide some of this money, according to the feds. i mean, you know, bought a yacht with it, tried to wash it through all these swiss bank accounts. and so, you know, their change of plea this week to plead guilty was actually very interesting, because it showed that the fbi was on to something. anton has never been charged, even though in the documents it shows that he made just as much in profits as the brothers have. and so there's been kind of an open question of what's going on there. but those men were friends. michael schwartzman would talk about, you know, knowing a guy, a russian guy who had a bank in dominica who could wash money

for russians and ukrainians. and so the feds were obviously looking at this as a money laundering case, seeing all of this money, you know, hop from account to account around the world so it could hide where it came from. >> well, there is certainly a lot more reporting to be done, a lot of questions that need to be answered. we look forward to talking to you again some time soon. >> thank you. still ahead tonight, the church of trump, how conservatives are injecting christianity into public spaces in order to win at the ballot box. one group has now turned to talking to kids in schools. that is next. g to kids in schools that is next ke care of your insurance claim? that means less stress for you. >> woman: thanks. >> tech: my pleasure. have a good one. >> woman: you too. >> tech: schedule today at safelite.com. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ mr. clean magic eraser powers through tough messes. so it makes it look like i spent hours cleaning,

and you know i didn't. it makes my running shoe look like new! it's amazing. it's so good. it makes it look like i have magical powers. magic eraser and sheets make cleaning look easy. ok y'all we got 10 orders coming in... big orders! starting a business is never easy, but starting it 8 months pregnant... that's a different story. i couldn't slow down. we were starting a business from the ground up. people were showing up left and right. and so did our business needs. the chase ink card made it easy. when you go for something big like this, your kids see that. and they believe they can do the same. earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase with the chase ink business unlimited card. make more of what's yours. ♪ chase ink business unlimited card. ♪ ♪ hi, i'm michael, i've lost 62 pounds on golo and i have kept it off. most of the weight that i gained

was strictly in my belly which is a sign of insulin resistance. but since golo, that weight has completely gone away, as you can tell. thanks to golo and release, i've got my life and my health back. as americans, there's one thing we can all agree on. the promise of our constitution and the hope that liberty and justice is for all people. but here's the truth. attacks on our constitutional rights, yours and mine are greater than they've ever been. the right for all to vote. reproductive rights. the rights of immigrant families. the right to equal justice for black, brown and lgbtq+ folks. the time to act to protect our rights is now. that's why i'm hoping you'll join me today

in supporting the american civil liberties union. it's easy to make a difference. just call or go online now and become an aclu guardian of liberty. all it takes is just $19 a month. only $0.63 a day. your monthly support will make you part of the movement to protect the rights of all people, including the fundamental right to vote. states are passing laws that would suppress the right to vote. we are going backwards. but the aclu can't do this important work without the support of people like you. you can help ensure liberty and justice for all and make sure that every vote is counted. so please call the aclu now or go to my aclu.org and join us. when you use your credit card, you'll receive this special we the people t-shirt and much more. to show you're a part of the movement to protect the rights guaranteed to all of us by the us constitution. we protect everyone's rights, the freedom of religion, the freedom of expression,

racial justice, lgbtq rights, the rights of the disabled. we are here for everyone. it is more important than ever to take a stand. so please join us today. because we the people means all the people, including you. so call now or go online to my aclu.org to become a guardian of liberty. if you spit blood when you brush, it could be the start of a domino effect. new parodontax active gum repair breath freshener. clinically proven to help reverse the four signs of early gum disease. a new toothpaste from parodontax, the gum experts.

what the hell was biden thinking when he declared easter sunday to be trans visibility day? such total disrespect to christians and november 5th is going to be called something else. you know what it's going to be called? christian visibility day, when christians turn out in numbers that nobody has ever seen before. >> before polls closed in wisconsin's republican primary election yesterday, donald trump stood in a room packed with supporters and promised them retribution. now he has done this a lot, but this time it wasn't retribution for his four criminal indictments. it wasn't for the half a billion

dollars he owes in civil penalties. it wasn't for what he calls political persecution. this time trump suggested that trans visibility day amounted to a persecution of christians and promised they would see retribution on election day. christian visibility day was trump's poll closing message in green bay. and surprising exactly no one, the presumptive republican nominee then won that primary by a landslide. we don't know how much the message of christian persecution influenced trump's victory there, but we know trump has managed to turn his christian followers into politically pious voter, members of the church of trump. those voters are motivated by issues like abortion to put their evangelical hero back in the white house. even in states like ohio, efforts to enshrine the right to

abortion in state constitutions have been wildly and consistently successful, largely because of the densely populated deep blue cities in those states. and so turning those cities less blue, maybe even purplish, is now a priority. cities like columbus, ohio, where former ohio state buckeyes defensive lineman joel penton lives. in 2018, penton launched a group called lifewise academy, which provides off-campus bible studies to public elementary school students during the school day. it is raising serious questions about the separation of church and state. penton has expanded his mission to put god back in the public school day, and he credits his newfound motivation to ohio's victorious abortion ballot measure. >> when i see what just happened in my state with the new amendment for ohio for abortion, it is not only incredibly sad, it's also incredibly motivating.

it makes us realize with lifewise, wow, our mission is all the more important. what other hope do we have but to inject the word of god into the hearts of the next generation. we see the fruit of taking it out of a few generations. we've got to get it back to the next generation. >> penton's lifewise academy is currently influencing the minds of public school kids in progressive cities like columbus. he wants his bible studies company to reach every public school in america. which means that blue islands, cities like tampa and philadelphia, las vegas and phoenix and atlanta, those blue islands in red states and swing states like florida and pennsylvania, nevada, arizona, and georgia, they could be swayed by lifewise. and that, that really could determine what happens at the ballot box. nbc news correspondent antonia hilton went to columbus, ohio, to learn more.

>> reporter: as classmates head to the library, this group of white hall school district students in ohio put on matching shirts, board a bus, and head half a mile down the road to church. there, elementary students like emmanuel and savannah brady pray and study scripture. this is lifewise academy, a nonprofit bringing the bible back into public school day. >> the learning really helps you learn about jesus is and what happened in the past. >> reporter: how popular would you say it is at school? >> mainly like the whole class is like over at lifewise. >> reporter: ohio mom sarah myers says lifewise does exert pressure. she's a christian with a daughter in a school partnering with them. she won't ever let her take part, though. >> it is all above board until it's not. no school staff person does anything until they do. >> reporter: chapters promised ice cream, popcorn parties if kids got their friends to sign up. another ohio mom sent nbc news this note her child received

from a classmate on lifewise letter head, prewritten to say my favorite part of class is, the classmate writing everything and inviting the child to join lifewise. lifewise told nbc news like many youth groups they offer incentives for students and fam tlois learn more and they are no different from other organizations that advocate for the policies they believe in. e fo the policies they believe in after the break i'll talk to antonia about what lifewise has accomplished so far and what it is planning next. r and what i is planning next

we all know that words have power. they set things in motion and make us happy or sad. but there's one word that stands out, because when people say it, lives are changed. it's not a big word. it's itsy bitsy. it's only three little letters. but when you say it, the life of a kid like me can be changed. so what is this special word? it may surprise you. it's yes, yes, yes, yes to becoming a monthly supporter of shriners hospitals for children®.

that's right! your monthly support allows the doctors and nurses at shriners hospitals for children® to give the most amazing care anywhere and change the lives of kids like me and me and me. because people like you have said yes. now i can play football and i can play catch and i can walk. so what do you say? will you say yes? right now? it's so easy. all you have to do is pick up the phone or go to loveshriners.org right now and say yes. when you say yes to giving just $19 a month, only $0.63 a day. we'll send you this adorable love to the rescue® blanket as a reminder of all the kids you're helping every day. my life is filled with possibility because of the monthly support of people just like you who called the number on your screen and said yes. yes, yes, yes. your yes is making a difference in my life

and the lives of so many other kids like me. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you for giving. please call or go online now. if operators are busy, call again or go to loveshriners.org to say yes right away. are you still struggling with your bra? it's time for you to try knix. makers of the world's comfiest wireless bras. for revolutionary support without underwires, and sizes up to a g-cup, find your new favorite bra today at knix.com

not all caitlin clarks are the same. caitlin clark. city planner. and sizes up to a g-cup, just like not all internet providers are the same. don't settle. you want fast. get fast. you want reliable. get reliable. you want powerful. get powerful. get real deal speed, reliability and power with xfinity. she shoots from here? that's kinda my thing. >> do you think church is a place in school? >> we're trying to bring churches back in the school for a long time. >> some of these take place

when library periods would be happening. are you worried about kids missing out on that experience? >> not at all, they're studying books in the old testament and new testament. >> lifewise academy, an ohio based christian nonprofit, found a legal way to offer bible lessons to thousands of schoolchildren during the school day. their initial goal was to serve 25 schools by 2025. by the start of this year, they had already set up chapters in more than 300 schools in a dozen states teaching the gospel to 35,000 public school students during school hours on a weekly basis. joining me now, antonia hilton, nbc news correspondent. every time you visit i get a distressing picture of what's happening elsewhere in the country and this is not any. it's really important and essential reporting. i just wonder, first of all, for people who are unclear as to how this arrangement works, when and how are these kids being taken out of public school and sent to bible study,

effectively? >> i'm sure people want to know, one more time, how is this legal? lifewise has the support of a number of supreme court rulings and their able to make this work through the three things. it has to be optional. you can't have a school district it's forcing everyone to be in lifewise. it can't be on school property. usually lifewise sets up at a church that's close by. the one we went to was about half a mile ride. it's nothing. and then he can't take place when there would be a math or science class, something seen as essential. kids are coming out of things like recess, in the case of the students you just saw, leaving their library periods. in that district, 50% of the kids are leaving. so you're seeing a large portion of the classmates or friends you might be with in that section leave at that time, and it does have an impact, at least visually on the school

environment. >> and they're all wearing their shirts and the popcorn parties, the notes that the kids pass each other about how great and how fun lifewise is. i wonder if this is not running afoul of first amendment stuff, whether or not, whether there is a gray area, here that may be further explored by people who find this questionable in terms. >> i talked all about that gray area with the administrator at the school district to say, how are you walking this tightrope? are you worried about lawsuits, is this a stress for you? he acknowledged they were walking a very fine line, schools can't encourage or establish a religion. they also can't stop kids from expressing their faith. so with these instruction policies, these released time religious instruction policies, have allowed their schools to do this. school district kind of have to put their hands up, and allow

programs like lifewise and other groups can do this, too, it seems that lifewise has figured out the model. allow the kids to go and come back here, trouble comes when we talk to people in these communities, parents, observers who are getting concerned about lifewise. they tell us that that all sounds fine, but in practice, it's messier than that. they have seen administrators hand out paperwork and flyers about lifewise, in one school district in ohio, a tutor gave a hindu student information about lifewise. that's interpreted by a lot of parents, even christian parents, with kids who go to sunday school and are part of this community, they are getting uncomfortable and they feel like there is this encroachment happening, that even if it looks clean on paper is and how it actually functions on the ground. >> isn't that the point, he got particularly motivated by ohio's enshrining of abortion

rights. politics is part of this, it's not just to spread the gospel. there is an end to this, there is a goal, here, at the end of the day. >> another blurry line, lifewise itself is not a political organization, these are elementary school students. in my observations i haven't seen them talk about politics or tell those kids to vote a particular way. when you see who they associate with, you do start to raise questions. lifewise last summer had a teacher summit, and patriot mobile, a group that many of your viewers would be familiar with, we talked about it a few times. they are an openly far right christian organization that supported and funded this event, then you see joel clinton, the founder, go on a program, and you start to see that political association. >> you see the roots or treetops of where this is going or coming from. antonia, amazing reporting, nbc