that's kinda my thing. this is anthony kern. a member of the arizona state senate. he 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 is 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 riot ers. he had a special interest in being at the capitol in addition to being among the throngs of people in the building, he was 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 it was d-day in dc and 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. representing the people of arizona's eighth district. no, okay, this is a safely republican seat. but if you are a republican voter in arizona's eighth 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 unibomber praising candidate who was very publicly 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 homaday. also an election denier. the republican candidate to the arizona's attorney general, also in 2022. and he, too, lost that race. edged out by democrat chris mays. he then denied the results of that election because that is what arizona republican dos when they lose and ended up getting sanctions by the arizona supreme court. a lot of election deniers to choose from this year. but, if you like the election denial and just don't like the

party, there is still another option. libertarian jacob chansley. if his name sounds familiar, it is because he is the qanon shaman. the man who launched a million screen shots as a fur clad capitol rioter. so that is what electoral politics looks like now in conservative districts like arizona's 8th . this is the reality republicans fashioned for themselves by refuseing to hold donald trump and his allies accountable for the events of january 6th: they stormed the capitol and are storming the republican party. he has made supporting these rioters an explicit part of his platform for president. he refers to those arrested for their actions 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. 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 dc to be named after the only president to ever inspire an attack on washington dc. 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 believe that he would just disappear. who thought we don't have to actually speak against what he did. we don't have to stand up to him. because certainly he will fade away. and obviously, that didn't happen. i think when people look back at this time, in the history of this time, those elected officials who know the danger that he poses, who know that what he is saying is a lie, who

know that he threatens fundamentally our democratic system, but yet, have enabled him and have gone along. 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 with 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? >> i have my hands full dealing with the senate. >> you guys don't talk about

it? eventually. >> i am spending my time on the senate. >> okay. no texts? no nothing? >> i thought we were going to talk about the new basketball coach. >> well, 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 become the republican nominee for president again, they have abandoned all responsibility here. republicans either declare their blind loyalty to trump or say nothing at all. in a new piece out today, atlantic's editor in chief 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

republicans. senator rob portman. i do want to ask you directly i said. given what you know now about what happened on january 6th, do you regret your vote to acquit an impeachment. portland immediately expressed his unhappiness with what he took to be a question. you have just surprised me. i eventually pivoted the discussion to the topic of bridges in ohio but portman remained upset. rushing off stage at the end of the conversation to confront the leaders of the festival who tried to placate him. initially, i found his defensive behavior odd. but i surprised from 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. joining me now is jeffrey goldberg. editor in chief of the atlantic just awarded the national

magazine award for general excellence for the third year running. which is an amazing thing and as someone who once was very proud to call themselves an atlantic writer, you are the best. you're the best. >> and future. >> it is a big honor. >> the future is bright for magazines. it is bright for the atlantic and part of the reason you are getting these awards is because you have writing and analysis. and astute observation like what we just read. >> thank you for having me. >> and thanks for coming to the program. >> so far it has gone great for me. >> it is never not important to talk about how we got to this place and i thought your recollection of your time on stage with portman was so revealing and i wonder as someone who is in hindsight sort of 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 are feeling deserves more than just burying the truth. and whether there need to be more public contrition. >> to borrow the very dark russian expression, all souls are a dark farce. we don't know what is going on in mitch mcconnell's mind. he is a harder target i think. maybe more inpenetrable. first of all, people can convince themselves of anything. >> sure. >> as we know. so put that aside for a second. and this is not based on my armchair psychoanalysis, but the people in the senate including some of those who voted to convict. there were six republicans, seven republicans who voted to convict. and, they are 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. and they explain whatever it is. the fear, the physical fear. fear for their families or their careers. people who are honest say i come from x state. if i vote to convict this guy for fomenting the insurrection, i will lose my job. and you are just going to get another trumpy. yeah. you will get somebody. >> you will get the qanon shaman. >> you will get the shaman. it is a reasonable observation. it is not convincing. >> they are propping up whatever shreds of principle the republican party has. what does that mean? on every policy issue, immigration deals that were basically republican gimmies. funding for ukraine which would

have been like, just no thought required, you know, ten years ago. >> as a republican policy. >> they are not getting anything from it other than staying in office to do what. >> but don't undervalue staying in office. don't undervalue employment and relevance. we have 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 is calling. >> it's a parlor trick. >> it is important to these guys. we can judge it. but we can't undervalue it as some of them are generaldownly concerned they have young kids. and they understand how threatening some of this stuff

can be. in the atmosphere from hard core trump supporters and i have a lot of sympathy for that. you are elected to lead. to follow the law and support and uphold the constitution. >> they are increasing the likelihood that the threats will be a part of the culture of politics in america. >> and they are increasing the likelihood they will eventually lose anyway. or that it will become. rob portman retired. don't forget. he left. and one can surmise he left because he knows what is 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 seasoning l hand the number of republicans who served in elected office or are on their way out. mitt romney, liz cheney, 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 and republican that's know better and said you know what? i'm done here. why aren't they trying to save their own party? >> so, i just think you are dealing with, you know, the nature of complicity. we had a great piece a couple of years ago from anne applebaum who had a great article on soviet complicity. i hadn't really thought this through the way she had. complicity is the norm. that's normal behavior. being a dissident, that's not normal. we all think in our best moments we will be the brave truth teller. we will risk eating alone in the senate dining room because no one wants to sit with you anymore. but you know the truth is most humans are weak. they want to fit in. and they want to get along and

they want to protect their incomes. i think we think of complicity as this terrible thing and rare. but it is not. it is the normal. >> i think anne applebaum has written so brilliantly. we are not talking normal everyday americans. we are not talking about people who wanted to be in advertising or plumbing. they understood a certain set of principles. >> that is my point. that is my point in this. it is like, you, there are 43 republicans who voted against conviction. if ten more had joined, donald trump would not be able to run for office. if the country goes a certain

way, people will be lucky if they are forgotten. because that is your point. you are not a plumber. you took an oath to uphold the constitution. and you were there when the capital was invaded. >> it is, as many things you write are, very smart and very essential. and just, i love the atlantic forever. keep it up, boss. still to come tonight, donald trump's new financial lifeline is raising a lot of questions. we will look at some of explosive new reporting around its origin story, but first, special council jack smith is signaling that his patience with slow walking judge aileen cannon may soon be at an end. that's next. at an end. that's next. >> tech: cracked windshield? schedule with safelite, and we'll come to you to fix it.

>> tech vo: this customer was enjoying her morning walk. we texted her when we were on our way. and she could track us and see exactly when we'd arrive. >> woman: i have a few more minutes. let's go! >> tech vo: we came to her with service that fit her schedule. >> woman: you must be pascal. >> tech: nice to meet you. >> tech vo: we got right to work, with a replacement she could trust. we come to you for free! schedule now for free mobile service at safelite.com. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ so i didn't think i needed swiffer... until i saw how easily it picked up my hair,

every time i dried it. it only takes a minute. look at that! the heavy duty cloths are extra thick for amazing trap and lock. even for his hair. and for dust, i love my heavy duty duster. the fluffy fibers trap dust on contact. up high and all around without having to lift a thing. i'm so hooked. try sweeper or duster now for $9.49. there are over 7 million us businesses on tiktok. my name is dana bellefeuille, and my husband and i own the village bakery. our mission is to employ people with different abilities. tiktok is allowing us to show what acceptance looks like. this is a community of just complete and utter love. it's the people that lift you up when you're down. people on tiktok do that on a daily basis, and i've never found a community like that ever. keep tiktok.

when i was your age, we never had anything like this. what? wifi? wifi that works all over the house,

even the basement. the basement. so i can finally throw that party... and invite shannon barnes. dream do come true. xfinity gives you reliable wifi with wall-to-wall coverage on all your devices, even when everyone is online. maybe we'll even get married one day. i wonder what i will be doing? probably still living here with mom and dad. fast reliable speeds right where you need them. that's wall-to-wall wifi on the xfinity 10g network.

very, very, late last night. jack smith filed a scathing review of judge aileen cannon who is overseeing the criminal prosecution of trump's classified documents. he excoriated cannon that could lead to a dismissal of the case or acquittal of trump. his frustration was so palpable, it suggested he might appeal to a higher court on the

matter when ever she 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 to rule on. it is 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 was two months ago, jack smith's team begged her to reconsider her decision to release unredacted filings to the public. ones that could reveal the name of prosecution witnesses. judge cannon has yet to rule on that. six weeks ago on february 22nd, trump's lawyers filed for separate motions to dismiss the case on a variety of grounds. though she expressed doubts

about some of the arguments nearly six weeks ago, she has only ruled on one of them. and then, there is the trial date. 32 days and counting. since cannon held a hearing about setting a new date for the trial. judge cannon has yet to make that very crucial decision upon which a lot of other things depend. joining me now is mary mccord, former senior justice department official. thank you for helping me to understand what can only be termed in layman's term, insanity unfolding down in florida. judge cannon's inbox must be 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 b, to take so long to decide them. >> so i mean, a judge has to technically entertain any motion filed but i think what you are getting is some of

these could be sort of dismissed pretty rapidly. right? many are not really very serious. they don't need to have an organize argument. there are several of those i think she should have decided by now. you have to wonder a little bit if it is this whole question that caused her to order the parties the proposed jury instructions. you have to wonder if the issue that caused her to issue that order is what is the reason why she is not ruled on other motions. and what i mean by this is as both jack smith and donald trump say in their response, essentially, her scenario b that posites that it automatically means they are

designated as personal? her scenario b starts with that legal premise. both of the parties respond that is 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 are not then subject to him being criminally prosecuted because he has authorized use. i wonder if she is thinking let me resolve that first. donald trump is arguing this very instruction. this important exercise shows why now you should go back and you should dismiss this case. because for one thing, under vagueness, selective prosecution, all these things. i am a little worried about the fact she is sitting on all the other motions but that is why it is so important that jack smith has 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 i think he also is saying and if you don't, we will take it up once the trial starts. >> without getting to the minutia of the jury instructions, she is entertaining these ideas because she wants an excuse to dismiss the case and be done with the whole thing. and if that. >> 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 11th circuit court of appeals and says as you say, to get a new judge on this case? the new york times points out she has been in a holding pattern, he can't appeal. he is waiting on her to make a bad call so he can go to the

higher powers and say we got to get a new judge. do you think that is what's happening here? >> yes. and i think that's the only reason to not undercut the argument i made. that maybe she is 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 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 would be 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 are so wrong, they are so erroneous, he could take that up on a petition like an appeal in the moment. really immediate. like, we need a reversal immediately. so i think you're right.

she said it is without prejudice to renew it again at some future time which is why you see donald trump in his response last night renewing the motion and he will do it 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. arguing she is not ruling on things she needs to rule on. and i think we may see that if she continues to refuse on this. >> her inaction in and of itself may be cause for a writ of mandamus. something i didn't think we would say with such frequency. but here we are in trump's legal america. mary, thank you for joining us. thanks for your expertise. more ahead including a conservative group working to blur the separation of church

and state in schools across the country. but who helped trump's social media afloat? we have stunning new reporting on that coming up next. on that coming up next. ♪ limu emu ♪ ♪ and doug ♪ hello, ghostbusters. it's doug... ... of doug and limu. we help people customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. anyway, we got a bit of a situation here. ♪♪ uh-huh. uh-huh. ♪♪ [ metal groans] sure, i can hold. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty liberty liberty liberty ♪ ghostbusters: frozen empire. in theaters now.

♪ on your period, sudden gushes happen. say goodbye gush fears! thanks to always ultra thins... with rapiddry technology... that absorbs two times faster. hellooo clean and comfortable. always. fear no gush.

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.

she got that dress with the extra money she saved using our brand new grocery outlet app. it's been really fun seeing what everyone's doing with the extra money they save. a butler? super nice guy.

with our new grocery outlet app, you can see the store's inventory. so you guys really have mangoes and stuff? yup. what do all these things

have in common? flirt the number four three.com. naked.com. strip chat.com, and donald trump. well according to new reporting out of the guardian, they got money out of the same small bank in the caribbean. nbc news has not independently confirmed this reporting and trump media's response to this reporting was to broadly threaten defamation without contesting specifics. but today, the guardian reported it has obtained leaked documents. nds trust is a shell company. paxum is not only a bank known for its work with the online porn industry, it is not even properly licensed to make loans in the united states. and, the russian american businessmen is also allegedly

under scrutiny in a federal insider 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. but that merger was held up by the sec because even that deal seemed shady. today, two of the early investors in the country that trump media tried to merge with in 2021 pleaded guilty to securities frauds or insider trading that netted them tens of millions of dollars. we will get expert help in a moment. truth social is seen as donald trump's biggest financial lifeline. his net worth shot up by more than $4 billion because of his stock in the company.

$4billion because investors believe his media company is a good investment. a media company we now know was in the red to the tune of $58 million last year. shady loans, 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 who has been covering all this funny money business for years now. drew, thanks for being with me tonight. i think given trump's claims publicly about how wealthy it 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 end up needing to be, involving a small caribbean bank in the year 2021? >> yeah. so remember back to 2021, trump is the king of debt and needed

money badly for this company. he was not able to get loans from traditional banks who had seen years of bankruptcies and failures. the company was struggles, trapped in this mired merger process. they had no idea when it was going to unlock the money they needed. and you know, suddenly, here, this money appeared and i remember talking to a whistle blower from the company who remembered being really off put by having this $8 million just sort of show up in their accounts. connected to people that were total strangers to the company. so it felt very odd that this money just sort of happened to come out right when they needed. >> well, you talk about the people 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 saint petersberg, russia. the nephew of a high ranking russian government official many years. alexander smirnov. we can see he was involved in this bank as you saw. you know. this was a bank that deals with people who, traditional banks don't deal with including in the adult industry. and it has been very clear they are very proud to have them as customers. it is not the typical kind of company that would work with trump or even the trump media like company. and so, u yo know, when he was running paxam bank, you could see some of the wire transfer documents that i have seen and i think the guardian has seen as well that show the $2 million coming from the trust. so for a while we didn't know

what the connection was with the family trust that had very few fingerprints to trace back to and with paxum bank. except that the one name on the trust was a and employee. now we know that he was very involved and it appears that he could access the account right around that time. and so, it just raises questions of why this person who lives in miami beach. owns very nice real estate. why he was getting involved in this business deal out of nowhere. >> why would a wealthy businessman want to be involved with donald trump, with ties to russia? the two brothers who pleaded guilty, 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 owns a furniture store in miami. michael is his brother. and, runs a venture capital firm that like the paxum bank would deal with marijuana dispensaries if that surprises you. by doing these cashless atms so these were both, they dealt with great market money who quite often. and both lived in the miami area and they both learned about from patrick orlando who was the head of the company that ended up merging, learned this deal was coming. and, they all made exceptionally timed bets made on this insider trading and knowledge. and made tens of millions of

dollars from it. so the schwartzman brothers after they made tens of millions, michael schwartzman tried to hide some of this money. bought aequat a yacht with it. the fbi was onto something. he has never been charged though in the documents it shows that he made just as much in profits as the brothers have. and so, there have been kind of an open question of what is going on there. but you know, those men were friends and michael schwartzman would talk about knowing a guy, a russian guy who had a bank and so you know, the feds were actually looking at this as a money laundering case. to it could hide where it came from. >> there is a lot more reporting to be done. a lot of question to be

answered. drew, thanks for your great reporting. 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 kids in schools. that is next. kids in schools. that is next. (♪♪) (♪♪) try dietary supplements from voltaren, for healthy joints. [music playing] tiffany: my daughter is mila. she is 19 months old. she is a little ray of sunshine. one of the happiest babies you'll probably ever meet. [giggles] children with down syndrome typically have a higher risk for developing acute myeloid leukemia, or just leukemia in general.

and here we are. marlo thomas: st. jude children's research hospital works day after day to find cures and save the lives of children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. tiffany: she was referred to st. jude at 11 months. they knew what to do as soon as they got her diagnosis. they already had her treatment plan drawn out. and they were like, this is what we're going to do. this is how long it's going to take. this is how long in between. this place is like a family to us now. like, i can't say enough how grateful we are to be here. medical bills are always a big thing to everybody because everybody knows that anything medical is going to be expensive. we have received no bills since being at st. jude. we have paid for nothing. marlo thomas: thanks to generous donors like you, families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food so they can focus on helping their child live.

for just $19 a month, you'll help us continue the lifesaving research and treatment that these kids need now and in the future. join with your credit or debit card right now, and we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt that you can proudly wear to show your support. tiffany: anybody and everybody that contributes anything to this place, no matter if it's a big business or just the grandmother that donates once a month, they are changing people's lives. and that's a big deal. [music playing] i've struggled with generalized myasthenia gravis. but the picture started changing when i started on vyvgart. ♪♪ vyvgart is for adults with generalized myasthenia gravis who are anti-achr antibody positive. ♪♪ in a clinical trial, vyvgart significantly improved most participants' ability to do daily activities when added to their current gmg treatment.

most participants taking vyvgart also had less muscle weakness. and your vyvgart treatment schedule is designed just for you. in a clinical study, the most common side effects included urinary and respiratory tract infections, and headache. vyvgart may increase the risk of infection. tell your doctor if you have a history of infections or symptoms of an infection. vyvgart can cause allergic reactions. available as vyvgart for iv infusion and also as vyvgart hytrulo for subcutaneous injection. additional side effects for vyvgart hytrulo may include injection site reactions. talk to your neurologist about vyvgart. ♪♪

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 is 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, donald trump stood in a room packed with supporters promising them retribution. he has done this a lot. but this time, it wasn't retribution for his four criminal indictments, or the half a billion dollars he owes in civil penalties. it wasn't for what he calls political persecution. this time, trump suggested that president biden's recognition of trans visibility day on easter weekend 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 by a landslide. you don't know how much the message of christian persecution has influenced it but he has turned his christian followers into members of the church of trump. and they are motivated by issues like abortion to put their evangelical hero back in the white house. but that effort has been frustrated by the reality that even in red states like ohio, efforts to enshrine the right to abortion into 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 the former ohio state

buckeyes defensive line man joel penton lives. he launched a group called life wise academy providing 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. he 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. >> you see what you did inmy state. not only incredibly sad. it is also incredibly motivating. it makes always realize with life wise, wow, 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 have to get it back to the next

generation. >> penton's life wise 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. meaning cities like blue islands in red states and swing states like florida and pennsylvania, nevada, arizona, and georgia, they could be swayed by life wise. and that, that really could determine what happens at the ballot box. nbc news correspondent antonio hilton went to columbus, ohio to learn more. >> reporter: as classmates head to the library, this group of students put on matching shirts. board a bus. and head half a mile down the road to church. there, elementary students pray and study scripture.

this is life wise academy. a non-profit bringing the bible back into the public school day. >> learning really helps you learn about jesus and what happened in the past. >> how popular is it at school? >> reporter: she wont ever let her take part. >> it is all above board until it is not. no school staff person does anything until they do. >> reporter: they promised ice cream and popcorn partys cream and popcorn partys >> the child received this from a classmate prewritten to say, my favorite part of class is -- the classmate writing, everything. and inviting the child to join lifewise. they offer incentives for students and families the learn

more. >> what do you think lifewise is trying to do? >> influence, slant, if you will, public schools. >> after the break, i will talk to antonio about what they are planning next. planning next. it's all the things that keep this world turning. it's the go-tos that keep us going. the places we cheer. trust. hang out. and check in. they all choose the advanced network solutions and round the clock partnership from comcast business. powering more businesses than anyone. powering possibilities.

smile! you found it. the feeling of finding psoriasis can't filter out the real you. so go ahead, live unfiltered with the one and only sotyktu, a once-daily pill for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, and the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding you're so ready for your close-up. or finding you don't have to hide your skin just your background. once-daily sotyktu was proven better, getting more people clearer skin than the leading pill. don't take if you're allergic to sotyktu; serious reactions can occur. sotyktu can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections, cancers including lymphoma, muscle problems, and changes in certain labs have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection, liver or kidney problems, high triglycerides,

or had a vaccine or plan to. sotyktu is a tyk2 inhibitor. tyk2 is part of the jak family. it's not known if sotyktu has the same risks as jak inhibitors. find what plaque psoriasis has been hiding. there's only one sotyktu, so ask for it by name. so clearly you. sotyktu. everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. they want that hollywood white smile. new sensodyne clinical white provides 2 shades whiter teeth and 24/7 sensitivity protection. i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients. hi, i'm jason. i've lost 228 pounds on golo. ♪ i think it's a great product. changing your habits is the only way that gets you to lose the weight. and golo is the plan that's going to help you do that. just take the first step, go to golo.com.

do you think church has a place in school? >> yeah. we are trying to bring church back into school for a long time. >> some of the sessions take place when library periods would be happening. are you worried about your kids? >> not all. there are 27 books in the new testament. >> lifewise academy, and ohio- based company found a legal way to offer bible lessons to schoolchildren during the school day. their initial goal was to serve 25 schools by 2025.

by the side of this year, they had already set of 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. join me now is antonia hilton, nbc news correspondent. every time you visit here, i get a distressing picture of what else is happening around the country. >> i'm sorry to stress you out. >> it is very important in a central reporting. first of all, for people who are little bit 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? >> yes. i'm sure people want to know one more time, wait, how is this legal? lifewise has the support of a number of supreme court rulings and they are able to make this work through three things. it has to be optional. you can have a school district that is forcing everyone to be

in lifewise. it can be on the school property. usually it sets up at a church that is really close by. the one we went to was about a half a mile ride. it is like nothing. and then it can't take place when there would be a math or science class. something seen as essential. they are coming out of things like recess. in the case of the student you just saw there, they are leaving their library periods. in that district, about 50% of the kids are leaving. you are seeing a large portion of the classmates in the section that leave during that time. it does have an impact at least visually on the school environment. >> they are all wearing their red shirts and popcorn parties they are having. there are notes kids pass each other about how great lifewise is. i just wonder if this is not running afoul of some first amendment stuff. whether there is kind of a gray area here that may be further explored by people who find

this questionable. >> 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 of stress for you? and he acknowledged, they are walking a very fine line here. schools can encourage or establish a religion. but they also can't stop kids from expressing their faith. so with these instruction policies, these released time instruction religious policies what you see at the district level, states like ohio, they have allowed their schools to do this. school districts kind of have to put their hands up and allow programs like this. other groups could do this, too. lifewise has seem to figure out -- >> the franchise model. >> yes. they are allowing kids to go, then they come back. the trouble comes when we talk to people in these communities, parents and observers who are getting concerned. they tell us that it all sounds

fine, but in practice, it is messier than that. they've seen administrators handout paperwork and flyers. one school district in ohio, a tutor gave a hindu student information about lifewise. that is interpreted by a lot of parents. they are kids who go to sunday school in this community. they are getting uncomfortable and they feel like it is an encroachment happening. they think even though it looks clean on paper, that isn't what is happening on the ground. >> we have that sound from the founder saying he got particularly motivated by ohio's enshrining of abortion rights. politics is a part of this. it is not just to spread the gospel. there is an end to this. a goal here. >> another blurry line here, because they are not a political organization. these are elementary school students.

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. last summer, they had a teacher summit. and a group that many of your viewers would be familiar with. we talked about it a few times. they are really far right christian organization that supported and funded this event. then you see the founder go on a program. you know, you start to see that political association. >> you see the roots, or maybe the treetops this is all going and coming from. amazing reporter, antonia hilton. that is our show for this evening. now it is time for the last word. good evening. >> absolutely amazing reporting. alex, you have a great evening. >> it was only a couple weeks ago that donald trump supporters told us not to believe our ly