Summary
All nine Republicans who voted for the bill to prevent another January 6 are not returning to Congress. Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) joins Hayes to discuss the agenda of the Republicans if they win back the House. Former Federal Prosecutor Renato Mariotti explains how the lawsuit of New York AG could take down the Trump Organization. Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis used taxpayer money to fly nearly 50 migrants from Texas to a liberal enclave in Massachusetts last week.
Transcript
JASON JOHNSON, MSNBC HOST: The rights of men and women to get paid for the content that they create that we consume every day. So, thank you for the new board, WGA West. Thank you, Mara Gay and Victor Shi for joining us tonight.
And that`s tonight`s REIDOUT. Joy is back on Monday. "ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES" starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC HOST (voiceover): Tonight on ALL IN.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With a straight face, Kevin McCarthy says that MAGA Republicans are going to restore faith in our elections. As we say in my faith, bless me, Father, for I have sinned.
HAYES: 46 days in November 8, the party of the coup wants you to believe they`ve got a vision for America.
REP. KEVINB MCCARTHY (R-CA): We want to roll it out to you to the entire country to know exactly what we will do.
HAYES: Tonight, what happens if Republicans take back the House and go back to work for Donald Trump?
Then, the Ron DeSantis human trafficking scandal. New details on the company the governor hired to transport unsuspecting migrants across the country and its links to other top Republicans.
Plus, how pleading the fifth in his fraud case could doom the disgraced ex- president and the astonishing scenes of protest in Iran when ALL IN starts right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAYES (on camera): Good evening from New York. I`m Chris Hayes. Today Republicans unveiled their agenda, if you can call it that, if they retake the House this November. But before we get to that, the most revealing preview into what that`s actually going to look like came earlier this week. That`s when the overwhelming majority of the House Republican Conference voted against a law that would clarify the language of the Electoral Count Act.
That`s a somewhat obscure piece of legislation for the 19th century that governs how presidents are elected and how members of Congress can object to electors. And this would just fix part of it to explicitly state what was already obvious, that a sitting president and his supporters and can`t Congress can`t overturn the results of our free -- of a free and fair election, simply by objecting to legitimate votes and bullying and browbeating the vice president into assisting a coup.
Again, this is straightforward stuff, sort of a technocratic fix to statutory language to make it clear you can`t do what Trump wanted to do. It`s something that any politician even nominally interested in preserving American democracy should support. But here`s the thing. Donald Trump is not interested in preserving American democracy. He is objectively pro- coup, which means the Republican Party which remains firmly under his control is objectively pro-coup as well.
And so, 203 House Republicans voted against the bill on Wednesday, only nine supported it. And as Democratic Congressman Pete Aguilar noted on this program last night, not one of those nine members will be in Congress next year. Not one. So, even before you get to the substance, if you can call it that of the Republican Party agenda, you know where they`re coming from. They are already on the wrong side of history, and of what polls show the number one issue for voters heading into the Midterms, threats to democracy.
Now, one of the other issues top of mind for voters is of course abortion rights. Right now, in a post-Roe world Republicans are eager to talk about just about anything else. And their agenda includes promises of tax cuts and deregulation, which you can be sure is one of those things they will absolutely do if they have full power. And they`ve got bromides against trans-kids and social media and teachers who they`ve decided they`re their enemy.
The latter of which was exemplified by this truly unhinged rant from one parent in attendance at a big event today put on by House Republican leadership.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are many other public education issues concerning parents like myself. The slow creep of critical race theory, diversity, equity and inclusion, gender identity, now we have SEL, which is Social Emotional Learning. It`s indoctrination disguised as programs like kindness initiatives, or anti bullying programs, or diversity projects. These are all Marxist-style programs targeting our children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAYES: I learned today from that woman that apparently social emotional learning and kindness initiatives, including anti-bullying is a form of Marxist indoctrination. I did not know that. You might have guessed there was no pushback from Republican Kevin McCarthy, the man who wants to be the next Speaker of the House, at the suggestion that anti-bullying programs are actually indoctrinating children into Marxism.
But that`s because McCarthy wants that kind of culture war nonsense and that energy to mobilize the base and suck up all the oxygen, again, to stop people from voting and talking about abortion. Now, this is really interesting when you look at this document. The GOP agenda has one scant mention of abortion rights, but it is telling. "Protect the lives of unborn children and their mothers."
[20:05:03]
Now, just to be clear, it`s just simply untrue to say Republicans care about protecting lives of pregnant people they have shown themselves not to. And the abortion restrictions they have already pushed through that are existing in the country right now, in states post-Roe make that clear. Let me give you an example.
In Arkansas, a mother of two was forced to flee the state to receive an abortion after she learned that her pregnancy was non-viable at 19 weeks. That`s after the cut off of the Lindsey Graham proposed legislation and many other states. The pregnancy, which was non-viable was high risk, but because her life wasn`t immediately in danger, she was not allowed to receive an abortion in Arkansas. The Republican governor of Arkansas wanted to force her to continue to carry until she entered acute danger.
In Ohio, another state under Republican rule, two more underage girls also had to flee that state. So they could receive abortions that prevented them from carrying their rapists` babies to term as children. And I say more of course, because we already know of one girl who was just 10 years old when she had to cross the border into Indiana earlier this year to terminate her pregnancy, which was the product of child rape.
If Republicans had their way, those girls would have to flee the country instead. These stories, of course, are heartbreaking and enraging. And keep this in mind, they are the only ones we know about. These tragedies are unfolding silently all across the country all the time, which may be why Kevin McCarthy hedged when he was asked about a national abortion ban today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The abortion issue that`s on your radar, that would be a day one priority?
MCCARTHY: No, a day one priority is the cost of living, security in your streets, parents needing the Bill of Rights. The Supreme Court has made that decision and moved it down to the public so the states, they could have their say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAYES: he`s not telling the truth there. I mean, I don`t know if they`ll do it on day one, but Republicans do not want to leave the issue of abortion up to the states. They claim abortion is the murder of children. Are they going to leave that to the states? It`s why abortion was mentioned in the House Republicans` very short agenda and why one prominent anti-abortion rights group tweeted, "Thank you to Republican House leadership for your commitment to America plan that recognizes the role Congress has in protecting unborn children."
I`m going to state this very clearly. Make no mistake, a unified Republican government at the federal level, presidency, House and Senate, means a national abortion bam, full stop. This is what the conservative movement has been fighting for decades. And it will begin in the House. Now, thankfully, Republicans will not have unified control, at least not for now. Even if they do retake the House and even the Senate, Joe Biden will still be president. And Biden vowed today to veto a Republican bill banning abortion.
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BIDEN: Already 166 House Republicans have signed on to a bill that would ban abortion nationwide. And the senior senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham has proposed the national ban on abortion with criminal penalties put on doctors and put them in jail if they in fact violate the ban. So, in 46 days, America is going to choose. If Republicans win control the Congress, abortion will be banned. And by the way, it will be initially banned but if they went Congress, I will veto it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAYES: Now, Biden certainly will veto any bill that bans abortion, but the president is also going to have his hands full if Republicans retake the House because the MAGA faithful are practically frothing at the mouth the opportunity to grind Biden`s agenda. It`ll halt the investigations and inevitable impeachment of the president. Inevitable, I would say.
Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois who has served in Congress for more than a decade and knows his Republican colleagues better than I do, also broke with his party over Donald Trump and the attempted coup, said impeaching Biden will be a top priority for his fellow Republicans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): That`s going to look like child`s play in terms of what Marjorie Taylor Greene is going to demand of Kevin McCarthy. They`re going to demand an impeachment vote on President Biden every week. They`re going to demand things like, you know, let`s make abortion illegal in all circumstances on this omnibus bill. I think it`ll be a very difficult majority for him to govern, unless he just chooses to go absolutely crazy with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAYES: Yes, unless he chooses to go absolutely crazy with them, which will be the path of least resistance for keeping the caucus together. That is the future House Republicans are agitating for. And right now, the forecast look good for them. They`ve got history behind them. The out-of-power party is favored in the Midterms. And because of, in some cases, really lawless and discriminatory redistricting which they themselves engineered in places like Ohio, for instance, FiveThirtyEight gives Republicans about a two to one chance of retaking the House, although that gap has narrowed from earlier this year when their odds are more in their favor.
[20:10:11]
But here`s the thing. As we keep hitting home, as we cover these Midterms, as we`ve seen before in the special elections this year, nothing is set in stone. There is no fate. There is no destiny. There is just what people do. Here`s an example. Take Ohio Republican Congressional Nominee J.R. Majewski. He is seen here appearing in a pro-Trump rap video.
Now, even though he has promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory and was at the Capitol on January 6, thanks to Republican state legislature gerrymandering in the state of Ohio, Majewski was favorite to flip Ohio`s 9th Congressional District away from the Democrats and incumbent Marcy Kaptur. But this week, the Associated Press reported that Majewski appeared to lie about the nature of his military service.
He called himself a combat veteran claiming to have served in Afghanistan, when in reality, at least, according to the AP, he was actually deployed to Qatar hundreds of miles away where he loaded and unloaded planes for the Air Force. House Republicans have now essentially dropped Majewski, cut off their ad buys on his behalf, which means Democrats may hold that seat or at least have a better shot of it despite Republican gerrymandering.
And there are a lot of bad Republican candidates running a cycle, which means all hope may not be lost for those voters who do not want to see a MAGA takeover of Congress.
HAYES: Congressman David Cicilline, Democrat of Rhode Island, has served in Congress over a decade. He was an impeachment manager in the second trial of Donald Trump. And he joins me now. Congressman, how do you think about a future in which Kevin McCarthy wields the gavel as the Speaker of the House and your Republican colleagues control the body that you now serve in?
REP. DAVID CICILLINE (D-RI): Well, I think it would be obviously very, very alarming for anyone who cares about our democracy and cares about the freedoms that we enjoy as citizens of this great country. We don`t have to wonder whether or not Kevin McCarthy, if the Speaker of the House, will actually certify an election that Donald Trump ran and lost because we already know he did it. He did it already. Donald Trump, lost and Kevin McCarthy led 147 of his colleagues to refuse to certify the election.
As you mentioned, only nine of them voted to reform the Electoral Account Act, all of those members are either retiring or beaten in their primary. So, we have a republican party that is committed to their own power to bring this sort of Trumpist MAGA group to getting into power at all costs. In terms of our freedom, they talk about being a party of freedom, they are committed to a national abortion ban.
166 Republican members of the House have already co-sponsored legislation to criminalize abortion, with no exceptions for rape, incest are the health of the mother. This is their plan to take away our freedom, to undermine our democracy. And you look at that plan where they talk about this vision for lower costs. Every one of them voted against the Inflation Reduction Act that actually lowered costs on health care, on prescription drugs, on insulin.
They talk about taking on China. Every -- almost every one of them voted against the Chips Act, the biggest geopolitical and economic threat to the United States of China is our failure to manufactured chips in this country. They all vote against that. So, they say one thing, they do another. The American people are much smarter than they think.
HAYES: You know, you just mentioned something at the top of that and I just want to return to for a second because in some ways, it`s the most obvious threat that I hadn`t even put in the -- in the in the opening monologue, which is of course, they control the House in 2024. You know, there`s all kinds of ways even with a reformed Electoral Count Act that control of that body could empower them to essentially initiate a constitutional crisis if they just don`t want to recognize the results of a free and fair election, a power that they didn`t have in 2020, it should be noted, when an overwhelming majority of them voted to overturn the election. I haven`t even quite put that together. But that is, you`re right, the obvious most acute threat to American democracy.
CICILLINE: Right.
HAYES: Yes.
CICILLINE: Yes, I mean, nobody can have any confidence if the Republicans win the House and Kevin McCarthy is the Speaker of the House, can anyone actually say with certainty that he will not -- that he will certify the election results if Donald Trump runs and loses? Of course, he won`t. We already know that he did it once already. We don`t have to guess.
And so, I think if you care about your vote being counted, and us remaining a democracy, you cannot vote for a Republican. And if you care about protecting the freedoms we enjoy in this country, and that women have access to full abortion services and full reproductive health care, you cannot vote for a party that is committed to a national abortion ban.
HAYES: Yes, that that point about the national abortion ban. We just got some news breaking just within the last few hours. In Arizona, a state judge there has reinstituted -- reinstated a Civil War era law that bans most abortions. Near total abortion ban is now in effect in Arizona as of a few hours ago, an 1864 law. The Republic attorney general in that state, Brnovich, crowing about that, very, very happy about that, obviously.
What you see in Kevin McCarthy is his awareness of the polling, right? So, the idea is, we`re not going to talk about it and it`s not our priority, but you understand how dynamics work within a political party and interest rates in grassroots. There`s no way they`re going to hold off one of the most powerful parts of their coalition if they get power to not pass national abortion bans, right?
[20:15:35]
CICILLINE: Right. Well, of course, that`s why Lindsey Graham introduced the bill to do just that. He understood that he has to respond to the demand of the ultra-MAGA extreme Republicans for a national abortion ban. You`ve recounted some of the horrible stories and the kind of harm it`s causing to young women in this country. It is horrific, and it`s going to continue. And if the Republicans get power, there is no question they will move forward.
They may not talk about it in the campaign. Look at what they do, not what they say. When someone shows you who they are, believe them.
HAYES: Final question for you is about impeachment. Again, we don`t know the future. But again, this seems like one of these things that again, if I had to bet -- and this is Kinzinger talking. And again, he knows that caucus well. He serves with them. There will be calls from day one from the base of that caucus and a lot of people to impeach Joe Biden. It doesn`t matter what it`s for. They`ve already got their ideas about what they can do it for. That also seems not an inevitability because nothing is inevitable, but a near certainty that he will push that issue almost immediately should they reclaim the House. What do you think?
CICILLINE: Oh, I don`t think there`s any question about that. And it won`t be limited to the President. They will move to impeach cabinet officers. They will occupy the time of the Judiciary Committee with lots of specious arguments about the president and about his administration in an effort, again, to just undermine the work of the president and the work of the administration, and really to undermine the things that we have gotten done for the American people.
You k now, we have put people over politics by delivering on all the important priorities to the American people. They are in a quest for power at all costs. They`re promoting the big lie. Still, they`re undermining democracy. They`re refusing to reform the electoral account. These folks have lost the right to control our economy, our health care, or our democracy.
HAYES: All right, Congressman, David Cicilline, thank you so much for your time tonight.
CICILLINE: My pleasure.
HAYES: Coming up, we all know how Donald Trump feels about other people taking the Fifth Amendment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Like you see on the mob, right, you see the mob takes the Fifth. If you`re interested, why are you taking the First Amendment?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAYES: The Fifth Amendment protects you from self-incrimination which is good. It`s a vital American right. But Donald Trump might have done even more damage to himself when he invoked that right more than 400 times last month, and we`ll explain why next.
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[20:20:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LETITIA JAMES, ATTORNEY GENERAL, NEW YORK: When asked under oath if he, Mr. Trump, continued to review and approve the statements after becoming president of the United States in 2017, Mr. Trump, again, invoked his fifth amendment privilege and refused to answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAYES: One of the reasons Donald Trump is inarguably the worst legal trouble of his life is that New York Attorney General Letitia James has him, it appears, dead to rights. And if you just heard her say, as you just heard her say, Trump pled the fifth during his deposition in her civil case. Now, unlike in a criminal situation, that can be used against him.
Former Federal Prosecutor Renato Mariotti he explains, "The jury will likely be instructed with -- they can infer that when Trump took the Fifth, his answer would have been adverse to him. Trump`s repeated insistent that James` politically motivated suit left him no choice will not withstand the effects of the jury inferring that Trump broke the law and has no good answer to the questions he was asked. That essentially screws Trump and his family in this case."
And Renato Mariotti who`s now a legal affairs columnist for Politico Magazine joins me now. So, Renato, this is a really fascinating aspect to how the Fifth Amendment works. Just walk us through the distinction between its invocation in criminal cases and civil cases. And just I want to sort of reiterate here, because sometimes you get seen this from around that it`s good, the Fifth Amendment, and people should invoke it. And I, my own personal advice to anyone out there, don`t talk to the authorities without a lawyer.
So, you know, this -- it`s not -- if someone invokes the Fifth, does not mean they`re guilty. I think both in a sort of, like, public opinion fashion and also in criminal law. But there`s actually a technical distinction between criminal and civil law. Explain it to us.
RENATO MARIOTTI, LEGAL AFFAIRS COLUMNIST, POLITICO MAGAZINE: Yes, absolutely, Chris. Look, I often recommend that clients say -- I do think that that`s an important American right. And I actually think Donald Trump made the right decision here.
HAYES: Yes, agreed.
MARIOTTI: And so, in a criminal case, if you take the Fifth, that cannot be presented to the jury at all. There can be no reference to it. So, for example, if the FBI comes and questions you, you take the Fifth, that will not be presented to the jury in your criminal trial. In a civil trial, it`s different. And if, for example, in a deposition as Mr. Trump did, if you take the Fifth hundreds of times when you`re asked questions like, did you conspire with these people, or did you work together with them to overstate the valuation of various properties, and you take the Fifth, then that can have as you referenced a moment ago from my column, that actually is going to result in an adverse inference that will be -- the jury will be -- will be told that they can infer.
And a jury -- look, be practical here. If a jury knows that you took the Fifth and they know that they are able to infer something negative from that, realistically, they`re going to do it. And this puts Trump in a tough spot because he was facing both criminal and civil investigations at the same time, which is why he made the smart choice, but it has very serious consequences for him.
[20:25:37]
HAYES: Right. And we should note here -- I mean, the important thing to remember here, and I know that sort of the distinction between what`s criminal and civil I think all -- can always be a little abstract in some ways. But in this case, this is a civil suit, it`s not a criminal proceeding, and there`s a whole bunch of different ways that those very including the standard, right, for a jury. What a jury has to find in a civil case is different than that, you know, the well-known beyond a reasonable doubt standard in a criminal case, right?
MARIOTTI: Yes. In a civil case, they need to find basically, 51 percent. It`s called preponderance of the evidence. As long as it`s more likely than not to be true, you`re found liable. And here, as, you know, you mentioned a moment ago, Letitia James really has him in a tough spot. And she`s asking for essentially disillusion to the company, she`s asking for five- year bans from a whole sort of -- sort of activity, can`t engaged in commercial real estate, can`t be officer or director for a company. She`s asking for $250 million.
The reason that she`s asking for so much and going all in here is because she knows that she has the cards. And that`s really because of the situation that Donald Trump has put her in. He was looking -- him and his lawyers were looking at a bunch of different matters he`s facing at the same time. And when you are facing war on multiple fronts, you have to make a sacrifice. And ultimately, they sacrifice the civil for the criminal, but, boy, there are some very heavy prices that are going to have to be paid here in this lawsuit against Letitia James.
HAYES: Yes. And it`s a really important point that should this go to trial, they`re just in a very different spot than if he was in a criminal fraud trial just in terms of what has to be established by Letitia James versus what would have to be established by a prosecutor.
I want to get your thoughts on this other legal development today, and this has to do with Eric Herschmann. He was a lawyer for the President. Notoriously we saw his testimony before the January 6 Committee. He was the one who told John Eastman to get a good effing criminal attorney. He has the baseball bat of justice behind him.
There`s some wrangling now about his testimony before a grand jury in D.C. that`s investigating January 6. Trump lawyers pushed to limit aides` testimony in the January 6 inquiry. Lawyers for former President Donald Trump are engaged in a behind-the-scenes legal struggle to limit the scope of federal grand jury investigation into the role he played in seeking to overturn the 2020 election. They are essentially trying to assert some sort of privilege here so that this individual, Mr. Herschmann, can`t give testimony before that grand jury. What do you think about their chances here?
MARIOTTI: I think they`re really, really low, as about as close to zero as you can count. And that -- the reason why, Chris, is there in a D.C. federal court. They`re ultimately going to be going up to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. And there is a legal decision that is right on point, Chris, from 1998 where Bill Clinton was the president. He had -- he had conversations with an aide, an attorney in the Whitewater Probe. Ken Starr tried to seek that testimony. Ultimately, the Court of Appeals decided that that was not privilege.
HAYES: Yes, that is the -- that is the on-point precedent in that court of appeals. So, we`ll see how that plays out. Renato Mariotti, as always, thank you for sharing your expertise with us.
MARIOTTI: Thank you.
HAYES: Still ahead, new details on the Ron DeSantis human trafficking scandal and the links between the company hired to transport migrants and other top Republicans. The reporter who broke that story joins me next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:30:00]
HAYES: Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis used taxpayer money to fly nearly 50 migrants from Texas to a liberal enclave in Massachusetts last week. He apparently aimed to raise his national profile on the immigration issue and to own the libs.
But DeSantis`s scheme may have also accomplished another purpose rewarding a Republican donor. You see, the company DeSantis hired for his human trafficking scheme is Vertol Systems. Its primary business is usually training military pilots and providing helicopters across the globe, according to Miami Herald.
So, why would this company win a $12 million state contract to transport vulnerable Venezuelan asylum seekers?
New reporting from NBC News finds that Vertol Systems has ties to top Republicans in the state is contributed quite a bit of money to allies of the governor.
The company was once represented by Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz`s former law firm or one of the former partners, a guy named Larry Keith is now DeSantis`s public safety czar in charge of, get this, immigration policy. Tremendous coincidence.
Joining me now is the guy who broke that story for NBC News, Senior National Reporter Marc Caputo.
Mark, when we last spoke to you it was not clear what this contract was and who had it. There were requests for it, we now have more information because you can`t do this with like state employees obviously, they`re not hanging outside the migrant center, you had to hire someone to do it. Tell us who was hired here.
MARC CAPUTO, NBC NEWS SENIOR NATIONAL REPORTER (on camera): Well outside of Vertol, which, as you pointed out, is this company that doesn`t do a lot of campaign finance activity.
[20:35:06]
But in 2017, it gave $15,000 to Richard Corcoran, who was a candidate for governor at the time, dropped out and endorsed Ron DeSantis, went on to become Ron DeSantis`s education secretary.
And then, while DeSantis was governor, gave another $10,000 to the Republican Party of Florida, which essentially is controlled by DeSantis, DeSantis himself hasn`t gotten any money from it.
But in reading other reports, and in talking to the lawyers, the migrants, Vertol appears to have hired other folks on the ground. We don`t know who they are in San Antonio to go recruit various migrants, some were apparently found homeless or living in a parking lot near a McDonald`s or an alleyway near McDonald`s.
They gave folks food vouchers, so they gave them a place to stay. They told them, hey, you`re going somewhere great Martha`s Vineyard or the Boston area, we`re not very clear on exactly what was promised. And while the rest is history, that was what the Wednesday before last.
And then, this Tuesday, they were apparently trying to do the same thing. Miami Herald did a good job reporting that the night before the morning of the flight that was planned for Delaware, that got canceled.
Yet, DeSantis`s folks didn`t tell the rest of the press on Tuesday. DeSantis when asked, hey, are you guys flying to Delaware? He said I can`t confirm that. By then, he well knew it had been canceled.
As I reported later that evening, some folks who are familiar with DeSantis`s thinking had said that they wanted to punk the media of the White House and Democrats by having everyone kind of wait.
Now, we know that there are interesting connections to his administration as allies, Matt Gaetz was his transition share. Matt Gaetz didn`t have anything to do with this contract as a member of Congress from what we understand.
But as for Larry Keith`s role, the public safety czar who`s in charge of immigration, we don`t know.
HAYES: There are two aspects to this that I think are worth lingering on here in terms of law.
The law was passed and DeSantis was, you know, said oh, well, Democrats voted for this. And this is part of it. It`s unauthorized aliens, I believe is the term used around unauthorized immigrants in the -- in the law that was passed and from Florida.
And it just seems like they`re owe (PH) for two on that. Like, these people were definitely did not -- definitely did not originate in Florida. I think that`s established. And they`re not according to law unauthorized, they are pending asylum reviews.
CAPUTO: Yes. And so, why they didn`t search in Florida. I mean, I don`t want to speculate too much. But the reality is, is San Antonio and the governor has acknowledged this, San Antonio, El Paso, Texas, this is where lots of folks are funneling in, and they`re easy to find, and they`re desperate.
HAYES: Right.
CAPUTO: And so the vendors, as the governor has called them did recruit people from that group of migrants that were found in these various areas.
In Miami Dade County which has a large Venezuelan population, 50 percent of Miami Dade County where I live incidentally is foreign born. So, it`s a -- it`s just a large immigrant population here.
However, those who come here generally find more in the way of services and are a little more established and a little less desperate. So, it`s possible that it was just easier pickings in San Antonio to find people who they could get to go.
Now, that I think being said, the fact is, is that they`re -- Miami Dade and Florida does have a housing crisis. The cost of living is very high. We are a dense county. And we are seeing an uptick from what I understand in talking to people who understand the homeless situation, the housing situation here, that there are more and more migrant and migrant families that are here. And it`s difficult to place them.
So, DeSantis has explanation is like, look, we`re stopping them before they come here, however, that you know, that has kind of a minority report, Department of PreCrime feel to it. It`s like we know you`re going to Florida, so we`re going to stop you.
But nevertheless, Florida Senate Democrats have sued, pointing out quite clearly like the state budget authorizing this $12 million program says you have to be an unauthorized migrant from this state. And these appear to be authorized migrants from another state.
So, it`s kind of like what they used to say about the Holy Roman Empire, it`s neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. This was neither an unauthorized migrant from the state program because they were authorized migrants from another state.
HAYES: Yes, and that point there, I think, is a key one about the desperation. And also the fact that as far as we know, and again, the reporting sort of come together, none of this has all been sort of reconstructed, right from the interviews.
But the folks that were recruiting these people who were, you know, desperate and as the Miami Herald reporter noted, have to move out of the temporary housing they`re in, right? So, they`re looking for a place to go. They were not saying like, are you going to Florida, right? We have a better option. They were just trying to get wherever they could, as far as we know.
So, we`ll find out if anything builds on that front as well. Marc Caputo, as always, thank you.
[20:40:06]
CAPUTO: Thank you. Appreciate it.
HAYES: Still to come, Iran is engulfed in protests over the country`s treatment of women. Will it have an impact on the regime itself? More on that, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT PELLEY, CBS NEWS HOST: Is the pandemic over?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The pandemic is over, we still have a problem with COVID. We`re still doing a lot of work on it. It`s -- the pandemic is over.
[20:45:03]
If you noticed, no one`s wearing masks, everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so, I think it`s changing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAYES: Well, those comments from President Joe Biden this week caused a lot of reaction in all different corners. For me, it was particularly resonant, ironic as I was recovering from my second bout of COVID in just four months, didn`t feel like a pandemic is over kind of week.
But I understand what he`s getting at, thanks to the antibodies from a prior infection and being vaccinated and boosted. And because I`m lucky, I`m lucky enough not to be immunocompromised and be in good health. My experience with COVID this time was pretty mild, sort of an annoyance. I even did the show from a remote location.
Now, the core of what I think Biden was saying is that things are way, way different in the fall of 2022 than they were in say 2020.
A huge portion of the world has antibodies from infection and vaccines that builds up an immunity wall that it makes COVID a lot less dangerous than it was when it first appeared to a totally naive population of seven billion people.
At the same time, the brutal truth is that COVID is still on average killing between three and 500 people a day.
It is a leading cause of death for Americans, sometimes the second or third. Some estimates predict COVID will continue to be a leading cause of death in the U.S. indefinitely.
Now, there are a bunch of reasons the U.S. has a high COVID mortality rate compared with other large high-income countries.
One reason though, is that we have a lower baseline vaccination rates and lower booster rates. According to CDC, about 68 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated with the original shots. Only about a third of eligible Americans have gotten even their first booster shot.
And even among American seniors, that`s the most highly vaccinated population, only about 65 percent have gotten their first booster.
Remember, the immunity wears off over time, the boosters help restore it.
The combination of pandemic fatigue, which is totally understandable. And the insane virulence and polarization created by the anti-vax crowd has contributed to the U.S. being significantly under-vaccinated as a whole as a country and it`s producing a lot of unnecessary damage and death.
Now, there are a lot of things we can do to prevent the spread of COVID. But the vaccination and boosting is the lowest hanging fruit.
Now, there`s a new COVID booster that`s out now, so far, just less than two percent of the eligible population have gotten it.
And I have to say, I have talked to lots of people in my life. Friends, family members, people who have gotten vaccinated who are conscientious who read the news and have not yet gotten the new booster sort of vaguely aware of it, they`re like, should I get it?
So, I want to be clear on this. If you haven`t already, go get the new booster. It`s specifically designed for the more recent variants. And there`s lots of great data about how effective the new shot is.
Zeynep Tufekci writes in New York Times, "This bivalent character will provide a better response to the most threatening variants today, but probably to future variants too. Because when the immune system faces different versions of the same virus, it generates broader protections overall".
That`s key as we head into the winter. If you`re medically eligible, you and everyone you know should get the booster, the bivalent booster.
There is so much more we can do to drive down this intolerable rate of COVID death in this country. Day after day, 500 people were losing. But this new shot is an easy, easy first step to preventing more loss, let`s start doing it.
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[20:53:17]
HAYES: Today marks one week of street protests across Iran that have erupted in the wake of a death of a young woman in police custody.
22-year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested by the feared morality police last Tuesday for allegedly violating Iran`s strict Islamic dress code.
Later that same day, she was taken to the hospital. Three days later, officials announced she had died claiming she had a pre-existing condition and suffered a heart attack. Amini`s family denies that she was ill. They say witnesses told them she was beaten by police.
Protests began outside the hospital after the announcement of her death and they have since spread to nearly 90 cities and towns around the country.
Demonstrations are now among the largest since the Green Movement in 2009, which were sparked by the official reelection of hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Jasmin Ramsey was born in Iran, is the Deputy Director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran. And she joins me now.
Jasmin, I`m curious to just start with a sense of the scope, the scale of these protests, which do seem to be touching lots of different parts of the country in places large and small. How would you characterize what we`re seeing a week into this protest movement?
JASMIN RAMSEY, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAN (on camera): There`s so widespread really part -- every part of society has joined them, of all ages of all socio-economic classes. We`re seeing young women walking in the streets removing their hijabs and grandmothers doing the same thing. And it`s not just in the bigger cities and towns, it`s also happening in small villages.
HAYES: Why now? Obviously, the sort of virtue police as they`ve been called the morality police are have been a mainstay of the government of Iran since the revolution 1979, quite notable, quite feared often, sort of pointed to by critics to represent the sort of apotheosis of this kind of authoritarian form of theocracy. Why now and why this death do you think has set off this reaction?
[20:55:20]
RAMSEY: Well, this protest is unique and a powerful force on the streets, but it`s part of years and years of protest movement in Iran that`s been growing and touching all parts of the country, demanding social and political change.
One of the chants that we hear on the streets is join us or you`ll be the next Mahsa. And I think that really speaks to why these protests are so widespread. People are expressing rage at living under the thumb of an authoritarian government that does not allow any space for people to air their grievances or voice their demands. And that`s why you`re seeing this kind of anger spilling into the streets.
HAYES: Obviously, there have been uprisings before, there had been protest, the Green Movement, which I noted before.
Sometimes those protest movements have been channeled into more reformist parties and reformers candidates, often those have found themselves delisted for election by hardliners in the -- in the Supreme Council.
Where do you see this going right now? Is this sort of a normal blowing off of steam and airing of grievances? Or is there something deeper here in terms of the stability of the regime?
RAMSEY: There`s nothing normal about this. There`s nothing normal about people coming out into the streets and risked their lives to (AUDIO GAP) their demands. It`s truly amazing to see what`s happening there.
And where this goes really depends on the extent of force that the government uses to repress them.
In 2019, where there were massive protests all around the country, hundreds were killed. Thousands were arrested.
Just today, Judiciary Chief Ajay said that arrests were being taken as a preventative action.
So, this kind of force is truly repressive and violent, and that`s why we`re calling on world leaders to speak out against this. Especially leaders that have direct channels of communications with Iranian officials, European officials, Asian countries, African countries. Call on the Iranian government to allow a peaceful protest, to allow people to voice their demands and stop opening guns on them.
HAYES: Have we seen breaks in terms of -- obviously, Iran`s government is complicated and in some senses heterogeneous, there are different politicians. Have we seen breaks or internal dissension among elected officials or leaders about the protest movement or about the reaction to it?
RAMSEY: I mean, right now, what you`re seeing is the government working hard to repress these protests. And I think that`s the thing that we need to be paying attention to.
When you have the judiciary chief, the president, speaking as though these people are all enemies of the state, thousands and thousands of people are enemies of the state. It`s a very worrying trend. And that`s why we need to keep the spotlight on Iran.
And also, we should work to help Iranians access the internet. Today, President Biden issued General License G 1 (PH).
And now, we hope that there will be follow-up with the many tech companies around the world that are not allowing Iranians to use digital services and communication tools that would help them circumvent the kind of blackout internet that`s in Iran by the government right now.
HAYES: One of the things is we look at this video here of women burning their hijab in a fire, which is a sort of remarkable image. Just talk a little bit about the centrality of women and particularly their rage at the Islamic dress code that is enforced by the state, and the leadership role they`ve taken in these protests.
RAMSEY: Right. So, women have been part of protests in Iran since the revolution. My own mother helped organize one of the largest demonstrations shortly after the compulsory hijab law was introduced.
And now you`re seeing these women risking their lives, really to say that they don`t want that hijab to be forced on them.
It`s very important to note that the kind of anger that you`re seeing that you`re showing on the screens right now, it`s a result of the Iranian government turning the hijab into a tool of political repression instead of a choice, as it should be.
It`s pitting Iranians against one another. Forces are being faced with shooting at civilians. And that`s why Iranian people are refusing to back down, they really don`t want to live in this kind of climate -- security climate anymore.
HAYES: Jasmin Ramsey, who herself was born in Iran, your mother -- that`s an amazing anecdote about your mom organizing that protest. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
RAMSEY: Thanks for your coverage.
HAYES: All right. That is ALL IN for this week. "ALEX WAGNER TONIGHT" starts right now. Good evening, Alex.