1 00:00:04,755 --> 00:00:08,995 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:21,635 --> 00:00:25,795 Speaker 1: We are hostages to the police. All of us are 3 00:00:25,875 --> 00:00:31,355 Speaker 1: hostages to the police, more directly, more urgently, more lethally 4 00:00:31,955 --> 00:00:35,115 Speaker 1: people of color, but all the rest of us too, 5 00:00:36,115 --> 00:00:42,515 Speaker 1: hostages to the police. The Memphis Police Department, two weeks 6 00:00:42,515 --> 00:00:49,555 Speaker 1: ago yesterday issued this statement quote. On January seven, two three, 7 00:00:49,595 --> 00:00:53,995 Speaker 1: at approximately eight pm, officers in the area of Rains 8 00:00:54,075 --> 00:00:57,715 Speaker 1: Road and Ross Road attempted to make a traffic stop 9 00:00:57,875 --> 00:01:07,675 Speaker 1: for reckless driving. Hey why did you do anything? Hey? 10 00:01:07,715 --> 00:01:12,875 Speaker 1: I didn't hire you. I'm prateful. Quote. As officers approached 11 00:01:12,875 --> 00:01:16,875 Speaker 1: the driver of the vehicle, a confrontation occurred, and the 12 00:01:16,915 --> 00:01:21,515 Speaker 1: suspect fled the scene on foot. Officers pursued the suspect 13 00:01:21,755 --> 00:01:29,395 Speaker 1: and again attempted to take the suspect into custods. Alright, alright, alright, 14 00:01:31,155 --> 00:01:40,035 Speaker 1: don't do that. Okay, on the ground. Okay, I'm on 15 00:01:40,075 --> 00:01:48,835 Speaker 1: the Hello, the ground, on the ground, Hello, one time? 16 00:01:50,315 --> 00:01:59,155 Speaker 1: All right, okay, alright, break your seat, Okay, dude, I'm 17 00:01:59,195 --> 00:02:03,195 Speaker 1: frateful guy. You guys are really doing a lot right now. 18 00:02:03,795 --> 00:02:06,475 Speaker 1: Down Are you trying to hard? Man? If you don't 19 00:02:06,555 --> 00:02:10,235 Speaker 1: lay that, I am out on the Great while attempting 20 00:02:10,235 --> 00:02:15,075 Speaker 1: to take the suspect into custody. Another confrontation occurred. However, 21 00:02:15,395 --> 00:02:30,835 Speaker 1: the suspect was ultimately apprehended. Quote. Afterwards, the suspect complained 22 00:02:31,275 --> 00:02:34,755 Speaker 1: of having a shortness of breath, at which time an 23 00:02:34,755 --> 00:02:38,475 Speaker 1: ambulance was called to the scene. The suspect was transported 24 00:02:38,515 --> 00:03:00,715 Speaker 1: to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition. You can't the 25 00:03:00,755 --> 00:03:10,835 Speaker 1: women women, He's quote. The officers involved will be routinely 26 00:03:10,875 --> 00:03:16,075 Speaker 1: relieved of duty pending the outcome of this investigation. Whom 27 00:03:19,435 --> 00:03:24,235 Speaker 1: what five Memphis police officers did as they beat Tyree 28 00:03:24,315 --> 00:03:27,355 Speaker 1: Nichols to death on January seven, as opposed to what 29 00:03:27,475 --> 00:03:32,275 Speaker 1: they and their department said, they did what they thought 30 00:03:32,355 --> 00:03:38,235 Speaker 1: you would believe. Hours after they beat Tyree Nichols to death, 31 00:03:38,755 --> 00:03:42,955 Speaker 1: with body cams recording every moment, with a surveillance camera 32 00:03:43,115 --> 00:03:47,755 Speaker 1: top of pole, recording every moment, with irrefutable evidence of 33 00:03:47,795 --> 00:03:57,115 Speaker 1: their sadism recorded, a confrontation occurred. The officers who murdered him, 34 00:03:57,155 --> 00:04:00,315 Speaker 1: their superiors, the chief of Police, the entirety of the 35 00:04:00,315 --> 00:04:04,875 Speaker 1: Memphis Police Department, the collective totality of policing in this country, 36 00:04:05,075 --> 00:04:09,555 Speaker 1: thought that despite the video, despite the horror film, they 37 00:04:09,635 --> 00:04:12,195 Speaker 1: left in the wake of the torture and death of 38 00:04:12,235 --> 00:04:16,355 Speaker 1: Tyree Nichols, they could get away with lies like those, 39 00:04:16,915 --> 00:04:20,995 Speaker 1: and that they could get away with murdering him. We 40 00:04:21,235 --> 00:04:28,875 Speaker 1: are hostages to the police, all of us, more directly, 41 00:04:29,035 --> 00:04:34,035 Speaker 1: more urgently, more lethally, people of color, because police who 42 00:04:34,195 --> 00:04:38,155 Speaker 1: kill other than as a last unavoidable act to protect 43 00:04:38,155 --> 00:04:41,835 Speaker 1: the community are no longer police for any of us. 44 00:04:42,515 --> 00:04:45,995 Speaker 1: They are instead of murderous national gang with unlimited weaponry 45 00:04:46,035 --> 00:04:50,275 Speaker 1: and extraordinary impunity. And even if of them would never 46 00:04:50,395 --> 00:04:53,755 Speaker 1: kill a civilian, that would mean there are still seven 47 00:04:53,795 --> 00:04:57,795 Speaker 1: thousand of them who would. And right now they are 48 00:04:57,835 --> 00:05:01,955 Speaker 1: holstering their guns and putting on their body armor, and 49 00:05:02,075 --> 00:05:06,115 Speaker 1: they have been trained, even if they are people of color, 50 00:05:06,195 --> 00:05:12,395 Speaker 1: to especially suspect, to distrust, to escalate against African Americans. 51 00:05:12,675 --> 00:05:15,795 Speaker 1: And if that horrifies you but does not leave you 52 00:05:16,075 --> 00:05:19,515 Speaker 1: personally with a sense of dread and fear and rage 53 00:05:19,515 --> 00:05:24,755 Speaker 1: because you are not African American, think again, Because if 54 00:05:24,795 --> 00:05:28,115 Speaker 1: they can be trained to kill because of race, they 55 00:05:28,115 --> 00:05:33,395 Speaker 1: can be trained to kill because of politics, kill because 56 00:05:33,475 --> 00:05:40,515 Speaker 1: of sexual orientation, kill because of what whoever trains them 57 00:05:40,595 --> 00:05:46,075 Speaker 1: decides should be killed. Because for decades we have trained police, 58 00:05:46,395 --> 00:05:52,235 Speaker 1: that they are the US and everybody else is the them, 59 00:05:52,235 --> 00:05:55,875 Speaker 1: Because for decades, for every day since nine eleven, we 60 00:05:55,955 --> 00:05:59,075 Speaker 1: have fetishized the police in this country, and we have 61 00:05:59,235 --> 00:06:03,475 Speaker 1: conflated the police and the military, and we have equipped 62 00:06:03,475 --> 00:06:08,635 Speaker 1: the police with military ry, weapons and vehicles and impunity, 63 00:06:08,755 --> 00:06:12,715 Speaker 1: and we have let the venom of fascism and authoritarianism 64 00:06:12,715 --> 00:06:16,355 Speaker 1: and most of all, racism infect virtually every police force 65 00:06:16,475 --> 00:06:20,875 Speaker 1: in this nation. And if the police no longer have 66 00:06:20,995 --> 00:06:24,995 Speaker 1: even the thin veneer of peace officers wrapped around them, 67 00:06:25,035 --> 00:06:35,595 Speaker 1: and are instead paranoid, prejudiced, messianic, barbaric, sadistic, what are they? 68 00:06:35,835 --> 00:06:41,315 Speaker 1: Who do they protect? Who do they serve? Besides that 69 00:06:41,515 --> 00:06:47,275 Speaker 1: is themselves and the gutter trash white couple standing outside 70 00:06:47,275 --> 00:06:51,115 Speaker 1: their house in Portland Place in St. Louis In with guns, 71 00:06:52,195 --> 00:06:56,955 Speaker 1: and every other racist and every other fascist and every 72 00:06:56,955 --> 00:07:04,315 Speaker 1: other paranoid with hate and lynching in their hearts. I 73 00:07:04,395 --> 00:07:09,475 Speaker 1: am the descendant of policemen. My father told me the 74 00:07:09,555 --> 00:07:12,995 Speaker 1: number of uncles and cousins he knew he had in 75 00:07:13,075 --> 00:07:15,955 Speaker 1: the New York Force in his generation and the generation 76 00:07:15,995 --> 00:07:18,475 Speaker 1: of his own father. I think he said there were 77 00:07:18,515 --> 00:07:22,115 Speaker 1: eight of them. He knew most of their stories, spoke 78 00:07:22,155 --> 00:07:24,835 Speaker 1: of them fondly, as he did of his other uncle, 79 00:07:24,875 --> 00:07:27,035 Speaker 1: the wrestler, and the other one who worked for the 80 00:07:27,075 --> 00:07:31,795 Speaker 1: Bronx Home News. So I was raised, and continued even 81 00:07:31,835 --> 00:07:35,635 Speaker 1: after my early adult years, produced racist nightmare after racist 82 00:07:35,715 --> 00:07:40,835 Speaker 1: nightmare involving the cops to give the cops something of 83 00:07:41,035 --> 00:07:44,955 Speaker 1: a benefit of the doubt. And then when I was 84 00:07:44,995 --> 00:07:49,475 Speaker 1: thirty one years old, I moved to a place two 85 00:07:49,515 --> 00:07:53,075 Speaker 1: blocks west of the border between West Los Angeles and 86 00:07:53,155 --> 00:07:56,515 Speaker 1: Beverly Hills, California, itself just west of an all night 87 00:07:56,555 --> 00:08:00,995 Speaker 1: supermarket at the corner of Dohaney and Beverly. Often I 88 00:08:01,115 --> 00:08:03,955 Speaker 1: shopped in the earliest minutes of the morning and walked home. 89 00:08:04,715 --> 00:08:06,635 Speaker 1: And the first night at the new address, I had 90 00:08:06,715 --> 00:08:10,715 Speaker 1: taken ten or twelve steps past that border into Beverly Hills, 91 00:08:10,755 --> 00:08:13,635 Speaker 1: when out of nowhere, I was blinded by a searing 92 00:08:13,795 --> 00:08:17,955 Speaker 1: spotlight from across the street, and without a word said 93 00:08:17,995 --> 00:08:21,075 Speaker 1: to me or a noise made by anybody, I froze, 94 00:08:22,395 --> 00:08:24,915 Speaker 1: and then just as quickly the light went out, and 95 00:08:24,955 --> 00:08:28,235 Speaker 1: when I could see again, I could see of Beverly 96 00:08:28,315 --> 00:08:32,555 Speaker 1: Hills police cruiser hidden behind trees on the north side 97 00:08:33,555 --> 00:08:38,795 Speaker 1: of Beverly Boulevard. This happened a few more times in 98 00:08:38,835 --> 00:08:40,795 Speaker 1: the next week or two, and then one night, as 99 00:08:40,835 --> 00:08:43,795 Speaker 1: I walked away, I heard a voice from the cruiser. 100 00:08:44,275 --> 00:08:48,275 Speaker 1: Have a good night, it said. Not long after that, 101 00:08:48,395 --> 00:08:51,315 Speaker 1: they stopped shining the light on me, and instead I 102 00:08:51,355 --> 00:08:53,755 Speaker 1: would hear from time to time a slap on the 103 00:08:53,835 --> 00:08:56,755 Speaker 1: side of the cruiser door and once again, have a 104 00:08:56,795 --> 00:09:01,875 Speaker 1: good night. And in my naivete and from my upbringing, 105 00:09:01,915 --> 00:09:06,155 Speaker 1: I thought they had recognized me from television. And then 106 00:09:06,195 --> 00:09:09,715 Speaker 1: it happened. One night in the checkout line at the supermarket. 107 00:09:09,715 --> 00:09:12,115 Speaker 1: Behind me, I saw a familiar face. He was I 108 00:09:12,155 --> 00:09:15,155 Speaker 1: think a producer at one of the other stations that 109 00:09:15,235 --> 00:09:17,555 Speaker 1: did news in Los Angeles. We had met at an 110 00:09:17,555 --> 00:09:20,635 Speaker 1: awards show. I think he was a black man. I 111 00:09:20,675 --> 00:09:23,875 Speaker 1: said hello, he said hello. That was it. I paid, 112 00:09:23,955 --> 00:09:26,395 Speaker 1: I left. I took my dozen steps into Beverly Hills, 113 00:09:26,395 --> 00:09:27,835 Speaker 1: and then a few dozen more, when out of the 114 00:09:27,835 --> 00:09:30,635 Speaker 1: corner of my eye I saw that searchlight go on, 115 00:09:30,835 --> 00:09:35,195 Speaker 1: aimed behind me at the producer, who was also walking 116 00:09:35,275 --> 00:09:41,155 Speaker 1: home with his groceries, aimed at the black producer, and 117 00:09:41,235 --> 00:09:44,275 Speaker 1: the light stayed on, and the cruiser threw on its 118 00:09:44,395 --> 00:09:48,755 Speaker 1: lights and pulled across the empty street and onto the sidewalk, 119 00:09:48,755 --> 00:09:52,035 Speaker 1: where the producer froze and stood, and from the distance 120 00:09:52,075 --> 00:09:55,755 Speaker 1: I waited and watched. I heard a demand for I 121 00:09:55,835 --> 00:09:58,515 Speaker 1: D and proof of residence. I heard one officer get 122 00:09:58,555 --> 00:10:01,195 Speaker 1: on his radio while the others stood tensely next to 123 00:10:01,235 --> 00:10:05,675 Speaker 1: the producer. It didn't take long. It did end in tragedy, 124 00:10:05,675 --> 00:10:08,875 Speaker 1: and the officer still said to him have a good night. 125 00:10:09,875 --> 00:10:13,395 Speaker 1: And I was hyperventilating and unable to move as the 126 00:10:13,395 --> 00:10:18,555 Speaker 1: producer walked towards me. Are you okay? Not me asking 127 00:10:18,555 --> 00:10:22,235 Speaker 1: that question him? What the hell was that? I asked, 128 00:10:23,155 --> 00:10:25,155 Speaker 1: That's why I tried to shop when it's still daylight? 129 00:10:25,275 --> 00:10:27,075 Speaker 1: He said, but I've been filling in on the eleven. 130 00:10:28,635 --> 00:10:33,115 Speaker 1: It's okay, Thanks for being my witness. That was the 131 00:10:33,115 --> 00:10:37,355 Speaker 1: summer of the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles. Was 132 00:10:37,395 --> 00:10:40,595 Speaker 1: the next march. I will note something that is never 133 00:10:40,795 --> 00:10:44,475 Speaker 1: noted about the Rodney King beating. The amateur videographer brought 134 00:10:44,515 --> 00:10:48,115 Speaker 1: the tape to my old station, kat l A, and 135 00:10:48,195 --> 00:10:50,675 Speaker 1: it was not the lead story on kt l a's 136 00:10:50,715 --> 00:10:54,435 Speaker 1: newscast that night. And I called my friend, their producer 137 00:10:54,515 --> 00:10:57,195 Speaker 1: to ask why not? And he said, because while it 138 00:10:57,275 --> 00:11:00,315 Speaker 1: was awful, and it was important. Only the fact that 139 00:11:00,395 --> 00:11:03,395 Speaker 1: it had all been captured on home video this time 140 00:11:03,715 --> 00:11:08,875 Speaker 1: really qualified as a lead story. If you've lived here 141 00:11:08,875 --> 00:11:12,075 Speaker 1: ten years, he said, you've already seen something like that live. 142 00:11:15,835 --> 00:11:18,955 Speaker 1: We have two and more years of racial brutality by police. 143 00:11:19,275 --> 00:11:21,915 Speaker 1: Now we have thirty two years of it or more 144 00:11:21,955 --> 00:11:25,555 Speaker 1: being captured on video, and yet we act each time 145 00:11:25,995 --> 00:11:29,355 Speaker 1: as if it is new, as if the protests against 146 00:11:29,435 --> 00:11:34,395 Speaker 1: it are dangerous or unjustified, were as bad as the 147 00:11:34,435 --> 00:11:37,075 Speaker 1: police murdering some guy who was trying to get home, 148 00:11:38,195 --> 00:11:41,595 Speaker 1: As if the firings and the protests and the outrage 149 00:11:41,915 --> 00:11:46,755 Speaker 1: and the funerals and the trials, and the horrible soundtracks 150 00:11:46,835 --> 00:11:51,955 Speaker 1: of the video tapes, we'll make it stop and we 151 00:11:52,035 --> 00:11:54,475 Speaker 1: watch half the nation were more. Try to minimize the 152 00:11:54,515 --> 00:11:57,555 Speaker 1: crime of the Memphis police, the crime they believe they 153 00:11:57,595 --> 00:12:01,835 Speaker 1: were entitled to commit, just as the Minneapolis police who 154 00:12:01,915 --> 00:12:04,915 Speaker 1: killed George Floyd believed they were entitled to commit that crime, 155 00:12:05,115 --> 00:12:07,355 Speaker 1: just as the New York police who killed Eric Garner 156 00:12:07,395 --> 00:12:09,915 Speaker 1: believed they were entitled, just as the l A cops 157 00:12:09,915 --> 00:12:12,395 Speaker 1: on the Rodney King Tate believed they were just as 158 00:12:12,435 --> 00:12:16,755 Speaker 1: the Beverly Hills cop with the searchlight believed they were. 159 00:12:18,955 --> 00:12:21,515 Speaker 1: And they believe this not just because of what every 160 00:12:21,555 --> 00:12:25,435 Speaker 1: minute inside what has become a bubble of police existence 161 00:12:25,555 --> 00:12:29,875 Speaker 1: tells them, but because the rest of us bluntly have also, 162 00:12:30,435 --> 00:12:34,395 Speaker 1: in whole or in part, been telling them the same thing. 163 00:12:38,035 --> 00:12:41,195 Speaker 1: What you heard were the sounds of a man's life 164 00:12:41,515 --> 00:12:49,115 Speaker 1: ending for no reason, and we have minimized it. The 165 00:12:49,195 --> 00:12:56,195 Speaker 1: minimizing is now so automatic, so ingrained, so institutionalized, that 166 00:12:56,275 --> 00:13:03,715 Speaker 1: it seeps everywhere and into everything. Quote the video reverberated 167 00:13:03,755 --> 00:13:06,475 Speaker 1: beyond the city, as the case has tapped into an 168 00:13:06,555 --> 00:13:14,075 Speaker 1: enduring frustration over black men having fatal encounters with police officers. 169 00:13:15,595 --> 00:13:23,315 Speaker 1: Fatal encounters with police officers as if the Memphis police 170 00:13:23,355 --> 00:13:27,275 Speaker 1: had been standing there gently talking to Tyree Nichols when 171 00:13:27,315 --> 00:13:32,835 Speaker 1: out of nowhere he was killed by an avalanche, having 172 00:13:33,395 --> 00:13:39,715 Speaker 1: fatal encounters as if they were inadvertent somehow, fatal encounters 173 00:13:39,755 --> 00:13:46,075 Speaker 1: with police officers. And this ultimate both sides is whitewashing 174 00:13:46,155 --> 00:13:50,755 Speaker 1: appeared under the byline of a Hispanic reporter in the 175 00:13:50,835 --> 00:13:56,635 Speaker 1: New York Times. They might as well have quoted the 176 00:13:56,675 --> 00:14:06,195 Speaker 1: Memphis police and called it a confrontation occurred. We are 177 00:14:06,315 --> 00:14:28,195 Speaker 1: hostages to the police, all of us still ahead. CNN 178 00:14:28,275 --> 00:14:31,755 Speaker 1: host Michael Smirkanish actually tweeted that the video proved to 179 00:14:31,835 --> 00:14:34,675 Speaker 1: him that Tyree Nichols had not been murdered by the police, 180 00:14:35,515 --> 00:14:40,115 Speaker 1: and CNN actually ran a pole in which Smirkana tried 181 00:14:40,155 --> 00:14:44,715 Speaker 1: to prove he was right about this. Cable television news 182 00:14:44,715 --> 00:14:49,995 Speaker 1: CNN and MSNBC is in crisis. It has cratered. MSNBC's 183 00:14:50,155 --> 00:14:52,835 Speaker 1: ratings are now what they were in two thousand three 184 00:14:53,395 --> 00:14:56,875 Speaker 1: when NBC was ready to shut the place down, and 185 00:14:57,035 --> 00:15:00,595 Speaker 1: unfortunately the ratings are much higher than the ethics. Several 186 00:15:00,595 --> 00:15:03,075 Speaker 1: stories on this, plus and things I promised not to tell. 187 00:15:03,395 --> 00:15:06,115 Speaker 1: The last time I saw laur It's O'Donnell and he 188 00:15:06,155 --> 00:15:08,675 Speaker 1: said to his own daughter that he and my successors 189 00:15:09,115 --> 00:15:13,715 Speaker 1: had crashed MSNBC. And at the arrest of x FBI 190 00:15:13,795 --> 00:15:17,315 Speaker 1: Trump investigator Charles McGonagall really does blow open into a 191 00:15:17,355 --> 00:15:21,115 Speaker 1: full fledged spy scandal. We now have a potential motive. 192 00:15:21,475 --> 00:15:25,075 Speaker 1: McGonagall had a double life, a wife in Maryland, a 193 00:15:25,115 --> 00:15:28,515 Speaker 1: girlfriend in New York. A friend of prutency was investigating 194 00:15:28,515 --> 00:15:31,195 Speaker 1: who would wind up paying him twenty five thousand dollars 195 00:15:31,195 --> 00:15:34,635 Speaker 1: a month, plus the comic relief in all this is 196 00:15:34,675 --> 00:15:39,715 Speaker 1: now supplied by Donald Trump. Even his cult is trying 197 00:15:39,755 --> 00:15:43,115 Speaker 1: to figure out how man so stupid that he believes 198 00:15:43,115 --> 00:15:45,675 Speaker 1: that Taliban never fought at night because they didn't have 199 00:15:45,715 --> 00:15:49,835 Speaker 1: any binoculars. Ever got elected president or could think he 200 00:15:49,875 --> 00:15:59,675 Speaker 1: could be elected again. That's next. This is countdown. This 201 00:15:59,835 --> 00:16:07,835 Speaker 1: is countdown with Keith Olberman still ahead. You already know 202 00:16:08,035 --> 00:16:10,555 Speaker 1: one of the guys behind the FBI Hillary Clinton emails 203 00:16:10,555 --> 00:16:13,195 Speaker 1: announcement eleven days before the two thousand sixteen election has 204 00:16:13,195 --> 00:16:16,515 Speaker 1: been arrested for working for the Russian He was supposed 205 00:16:16,515 --> 00:16:19,395 Speaker 1: to investigate. Now it turns out he was living a 206 00:16:19,515 --> 00:16:24,995 Speaker 1: very expensive double life. Plus the crashes at MSNBC and 207 00:16:25,075 --> 00:16:28,515 Speaker 1: CNN and my Laurence O'Donnell's stories coming up first. In 208 00:16:28,555 --> 00:16:31,235 Speaker 1: each traditional countdown, we feature a dog in need you 209 00:16:31,235 --> 00:16:34,955 Speaker 1: can help. Every dog has its Day to Lebanon, New Jersey, 210 00:16:35,035 --> 00:16:38,755 Speaker 1: and a mini pug named Olive saved from a puppy mill. 211 00:16:39,275 --> 00:16:41,955 Speaker 1: She was in such bad shape they initially concluded she 212 00:16:42,075 --> 00:16:44,995 Speaker 1: was a puppy. They were still puppy teeth in her mouth. Well, 213 00:16:45,035 --> 00:16:48,755 Speaker 1: that was part of the problem. Neglected cage, poorly fed, untreated, 214 00:16:48,795 --> 00:16:52,475 Speaker 1: dental problems, not a puppy, but five years old and 215 00:16:52,515 --> 00:16:55,195 Speaker 1: the resilience of dogs has proven again. Olive, all ten 216 00:16:55,235 --> 00:16:59,155 Speaker 1: pounds of her, is at outcast rescue and playing with toys. 217 00:16:59,835 --> 00:17:02,395 Speaker 1: She still needs further treatment. That's where we come in 218 00:17:02,475 --> 00:17:05,595 Speaker 1: with our donations and retweets. You can find all of 219 00:17:05,635 --> 00:17:08,515 Speaker 1: it Cuddly or on my Twitter feed. I thank you 220 00:17:08,755 --> 00:17:27,035 Speaker 1: and Olive thanks you. Post Scripts to the news, some headlines, 221 00:17:27,075 --> 00:17:30,755 Speaker 1: some updates, some snarks, some prediction, state line, Chevy Chase, Maryland. 222 00:17:30,795 --> 00:17:33,755 Speaker 1: The story that could blow the Trump Russia conspiracy sky 223 00:17:33,875 --> 00:17:37,795 Speaker 1: high now has a new motive. Charles McGonagall, in charge 224 00:17:37,795 --> 00:17:41,435 Speaker 1: of the FBI New York office investigation of Trump Russia 225 00:17:41,715 --> 00:17:44,915 Speaker 1: at the exact time that office force then Director James 226 00:17:44,955 --> 00:17:48,635 Speaker 1: Comey to reopen the Hillary Clinton email crap eleven days 227 00:17:48,635 --> 00:17:53,395 Speaker 1: before the presidential election, was leading a double life business 228 00:17:53,475 --> 00:17:56,835 Speaker 1: insider reporting he had a girlfriend in New York and 229 00:17:56,955 --> 00:17:59,675 Speaker 1: a wife and two kids in Maryland while still at 230 00:17:59,715 --> 00:18:02,555 Speaker 1: the FBI, But he told the girlfriend that she was 231 00:18:02,595 --> 00:18:06,635 Speaker 1: an ex wife. Soon she saw bags of cash in 232 00:18:06,715 --> 00:18:11,195 Speaker 1: his apartment. They were from an Albanian intelligence officer. McGonagall 233 00:18:11,275 --> 00:18:14,035 Speaker 1: was arrested two Saturdays ago about the money and also 234 00:18:14,035 --> 00:18:16,995 Speaker 1: about the fact that he went from investigating Putin's pal 235 00:18:17,155 --> 00:18:21,715 Speaker 1: Oleg Deri Pasca to illicitly taking twenty dollars a month 236 00:18:21,795 --> 00:18:25,155 Speaker 1: from Oleg Derrik Posca. The guy was figuratively wearing a 237 00:18:25,155 --> 00:18:29,315 Speaker 1: big sign on his back reading blackmail me. More on 238 00:18:29,395 --> 00:18:33,835 Speaker 1: this burgeoning story tomorrow, Dateline, San Francisco. The political terrorists 239 00:18:33,835 --> 00:18:37,315 Speaker 1: who attack Paul Pelosi with a hammer cold called the 240 00:18:37,355 --> 00:18:41,595 Speaker 1: newsroom at TV station k t VU Friday and said 241 00:18:41,635 --> 00:18:43,435 Speaker 1: he wanted to make a statement and he wanted them 242 00:18:43,475 --> 00:18:46,235 Speaker 1: to record it, but he would not take questions. David 243 00:18:46,315 --> 00:18:50,355 Speaker 1: to Paper apologized not for his attempt to murder Paul Pelosi, 244 00:18:50,595 --> 00:18:53,755 Speaker 1: had his plan to torture and assassinate Nancy Pelosi, but 245 00:18:53,915 --> 00:18:57,275 Speaker 1: for having not attacked more Democrats. Quote, I messed up. 246 00:18:57,315 --> 00:18:59,955 Speaker 1: What I did was really bad. I'm so sorry I 247 00:18:59,995 --> 00:19:03,835 Speaker 1: didn't get more of them unquote dateline. The Supreme Court 248 00:19:03,915 --> 00:19:07,155 Speaker 1: yet another handle under the robes. You'll recall that after 249 00:19:07,195 --> 00:19:10,755 Speaker 1: the leak of the draft repeal of Roe v. Wade, 250 00:19:10,875 --> 00:19:14,435 Speaker 1: the Court promised an independent investigation into who done it. 251 00:19:15,035 --> 00:19:20,795 Speaker 1: The independent investigation found nobody, but it did conclude that 252 00:19:20,995 --> 00:19:24,595 Speaker 1: certainly no leads pointed to any justice or family member. 253 00:19:25,235 --> 00:19:27,515 Speaker 1: Then it turned out none of the conversations with the 254 00:19:27,595 --> 00:19:31,115 Speaker 1: justices themselves were under oath. Now it turns out the 255 00:19:31,195 --> 00:19:36,235 Speaker 1: independent investigation was not independent at all. The man who 256 00:19:36,275 --> 00:19:40,755 Speaker 1: publicly falsely confirmed it had been independent was one time 257 00:19:40,795 --> 00:19:44,595 Speaker 1: Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Churdoff. Turns out his idea 258 00:19:44,595 --> 00:19:48,675 Speaker 1: of independence was having been providing security to the court 259 00:19:48,755 --> 00:19:52,235 Speaker 1: for several years. He was a paid contractor. You may 260 00:19:52,275 --> 00:19:55,795 Speaker 1: also recall it was Churtoff who, after Hurricane Katrina, told 261 00:19:55,795 --> 00:19:59,915 Speaker 1: a rather surprised press conference that quote, Louisiana is a 262 00:19:59,915 --> 00:20:04,115 Speaker 1: city that is largely underwater. Well, there's your problem right there. 263 00:20:04,675 --> 00:20:07,475 Speaker 1: Eight line. Trump World the comic relief of the weekend. 264 00:20:07,795 --> 00:20:10,515 Speaker 1: Donald Trump used to be a harrowing mix of threats 265 00:20:10,515 --> 00:20:15,195 Speaker 1: and gaffs. He's now nearly all gaffs. Speaking at Salem, 266 00:20:15,235 --> 00:20:18,875 Speaker 1: New Hampshire, he showed what happens if somebody explained night 267 00:20:18,995 --> 00:20:23,795 Speaker 1: vision technology to him. While he was thinking of hamburg 268 00:20:23,915 --> 00:20:27,675 Speaker 1: lerers binoculars. They never fight. You know, they're very good fighters, 269 00:20:27,675 --> 00:20:29,515 Speaker 1: to tell aman, but they never fight at night because 270 00:20:29,555 --> 00:20:32,355 Speaker 1: they don't have binoculars. We have given them brand new 271 00:20:32,955 --> 00:20:37,115 Speaker 1: thousands of binoculars. Binoculars. It doesn't matter if it doesn't 272 00:20:37,115 --> 00:20:40,475 Speaker 1: make sense. It only matters if it makes sense to him, 273 00:20:40,595 --> 00:20:43,715 Speaker 1: especially when ad living. But earlier, Trump released the second 274 00:20:43,715 --> 00:20:47,395 Speaker 1: in a series of growling videos. This is scripted, and 275 00:20:47,395 --> 00:20:49,835 Speaker 1: it still doesn't make any sense. Plus it looked like 276 00:20:49,875 --> 00:20:52,915 Speaker 1: it had been edited by a drunken teenager using to 277 00:20:53,235 --> 00:20:58,115 Speaker 1: night Quasar VHS time machines to do the editing. On 278 00:20:58,635 --> 00:21:01,435 Speaker 1: to this end, when I am Commander in cheat to 279 00:21:01,475 --> 00:21:04,915 Speaker 1: build a state of the art, next generation miss still 280 00:21:04,955 --> 00:21:08,755 Speaker 1: defense shield. Just as Israel is now protected by the 281 00:21:08,795 --> 00:21:13,435 Speaker 1: Iron Doome, a dream once thought impossible, America must have 282 00:21:13,515 --> 00:21:16,675 Speaker 1: an impenetrable dump to protect our people. You know what 283 00:21:16,755 --> 00:21:22,115 Speaker 1: the impenetrable dome is, right, Trump's head is the impenetrable dome. 284 00:21:23,155 --> 00:21:26,555 Speaker 1: And Dateline Cable TV Variety reports that in the weekend 285 00:21:26,595 --> 00:21:31,515 Speaker 1: in January twenty two, CNN recorded its lowest ratings since 286 00:21:31,555 --> 00:21:34,595 Speaker 1: two thousand twelve. CNN is down to an average of 287 00:21:34,635 --> 00:21:39,195 Speaker 1: four seventeen thousand viewers and just eighty thousand inside the 288 00:21:39,235 --> 00:21:44,115 Speaker 1: advertising demo. Viewers aged five to fifty four. MSNBC at 289 00:21:44,115 --> 00:21:48,315 Speaker 1: six nine thousand total viewers but just sixty nine thousand 290 00:21:48,315 --> 00:21:52,675 Speaker 1: in the ad demo. For context, you're listening to a podcast. 291 00:21:53,275 --> 00:21:57,915 Speaker 1: It is a new podcast. MSNBC's average audience in the 292 00:21:57,955 --> 00:22:02,595 Speaker 1: demo is sixty nine thousand, CNNs is eighty thousand. Last 293 00:22:02,595 --> 00:22:08,075 Speaker 1: two days of last week, our audience here was thousand. 294 00:22:08,995 --> 00:22:11,875 Speaker 1: I have sent my old friend NBC Universal Chairman Jeff 295 00:22:11,875 --> 00:22:16,075 Speaker 1: Shell and NBC News Chairman Caesar Conde congratulations on having 296 00:22:16,075 --> 00:22:19,795 Speaker 1: avoided the controversy that would have ensued had they gone 297 00:22:19,795 --> 00:22:23,475 Speaker 1: through with plans to bring me back to MSNBC. Congratulations 298 00:22:23,475 --> 00:22:45,875 Speaker 1: on avoiding the controversy and the viewers. Thank you, Nancy Faust. 299 00:22:58,515 --> 00:23:05,915 Speaker 1: This is SportsCenter. Wait, check that not anymore. This is 300 00:23:06,715 --> 00:23:12,395 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith in sports. The Chicago White Sox have 301 00:23:12,435 --> 00:23:15,075 Speaker 1: announced they have picked up the multi year option on 302 00:23:15,075 --> 00:23:17,195 Speaker 1: one of the best play by play man in sports, 303 00:23:17,275 --> 00:23:20,315 Speaker 1: Jason Bennetti. I just wanted to mention that here for 304 00:23:20,355 --> 00:23:25,715 Speaker 1: some reason, Super Bowl lv X w Z, can we 305 00:23:25,755 --> 00:23:28,715 Speaker 1: finally lose the Roman numerals? This isn't you know Rome, 306 00:23:29,235 --> 00:23:32,275 Speaker 1: It's the Andy Reid Bowl. His Kansas City Chiefs will 307 00:23:32,275 --> 00:23:35,075 Speaker 1: play the team he used to coach, the Philadelphia Eagles. 308 00:23:35,115 --> 00:23:39,435 Speaker 1: After KC beat Cincinnati when Harrison Butker connected on a 309 00:23:39,475 --> 00:23:42,635 Speaker 1: forty three yard field goal with three seconds left. This 310 00:23:42,715 --> 00:23:46,635 Speaker 1: happened because, since he's Joseph, Ossai was called for as 311 00:23:46,755 --> 00:23:49,475 Speaker 1: moronic a personal foul as you would have seen in 312 00:23:49,475 --> 00:23:53,635 Speaker 1: football in twenty years. As Patrick Mahomes, the k C quarterback, 313 00:23:53,875 --> 00:23:58,595 Speaker 1: was racing out of bounds over time seemingly inevitable, Osai 314 00:23:59,835 --> 00:24:02,315 Speaker 1: racked him in the back just eight seconds to go, 315 00:24:02,835 --> 00:24:05,355 Speaker 1: put the field goal kicker into field goal range, and 316 00:24:05,355 --> 00:24:09,035 Speaker 1: moved Kansas City into its third championship in four years. Earlier, 317 00:24:09,075 --> 00:24:12,035 Speaker 1: the Eagles beat up and then beat the thirty one 318 00:24:12,075 --> 00:24:15,795 Speaker 1: to seven. Backup quarterback turned star Brock Purdy got hope 319 00:24:15,835 --> 00:24:18,995 Speaker 1: for San Francisco back up well really, fourth stringer Josh 320 00:24:19,075 --> 00:24:21,755 Speaker 1: Johnson came in. He also got hurt, and it was 321 00:24:21,835 --> 00:24:25,755 Speaker 1: never a ball game. Inexplicably, the Empire State Building here 322 00:24:25,755 --> 00:24:28,875 Speaker 1: in New York City was promptly lit up in Eagles Green. 323 00:24:29,795 --> 00:24:32,995 Speaker 1: New York has hated the Eagles since the very first 324 00:24:33,075 --> 00:24:38,035 Speaker 1: Giants Eagles game on October three, when the Giants beat 325 00:24:38,075 --> 00:24:40,515 Speaker 1: the Eagles fifty six to nothing. And don't forget, the 326 00:24:40,595 --> 00:24:43,315 Speaker 1: NFL likes to let the playoffs breathe at this point. 327 00:24:43,515 --> 00:24:48,875 Speaker 1: The Super Bowl is scheduled for Sunday, April. The National 328 00:24:48,995 --> 00:24:51,115 Speaker 1: Hockey League is still trying to sort out what happened 329 00:24:51,155 --> 00:24:53,835 Speaker 1: Friday night at Madison Square Garden, a New York Rangers 330 00:24:53,915 --> 00:24:57,915 Speaker 1: stage their seventh annual Pride Night. Ticket sales and all 331 00:24:57,995 --> 00:25:00,835 Speaker 1: pre game publicity was the usual thing. The Rangers would 332 00:25:00,875 --> 00:25:04,475 Speaker 1: use special rainbow colored stick tape. They would don uniforms 333 00:25:04,475 --> 00:25:08,235 Speaker 1: with rainbow colored numbers just for warmups, and then came 334 00:25:08,275 --> 00:25:13,235 Speaker 1: warmups and no rainbow colored uniforms or tape and no explanation, 335 00:25:13,315 --> 00:25:15,875 Speaker 1: not to the players, the public, not to the organization 336 00:25:15,915 --> 00:25:20,555 Speaker 1: the teams worked with NYC Pride. Nothing just Pride Night 337 00:25:20,635 --> 00:25:23,915 Speaker 1: without the pride, but the team made sure to congratulate 338 00:25:23,955 --> 00:25:27,915 Speaker 1: itself afterwards on quote another great Pride Night. It was 339 00:25:27,915 --> 00:25:30,515 Speaker 1: at the Philadelphia Flyers Pride Night two weeks ago that 340 00:25:30,595 --> 00:25:33,995 Speaker 1: defenseman Ivan frob Off refused to wear a warm up 341 00:25:34,075 --> 00:25:37,635 Speaker 1: uniform with rainbow colored numbers, claiming it was against his religion. 342 00:25:37,955 --> 00:25:41,315 Speaker 1: The Flyers simply kept him off ice for warmups, and 343 00:25:41,435 --> 00:25:44,315 Speaker 1: every other player on the team wore the jerseys. That 344 00:25:44,515 --> 00:25:47,595 Speaker 1: prover Off, who is Russian Orthodox, was praised by his 345 00:25:47,675 --> 00:25:50,355 Speaker 1: coach for sticking up to his religious police led to 346 00:25:50,355 --> 00:25:53,915 Speaker 1: speculation The Rangers might have encountered the same issue because 347 00:25:53,995 --> 00:25:56,715 Speaker 1: three of their players, including their star goalie Iger Sasterkin, 348 00:25:56,795 --> 00:26:00,275 Speaker 1: are Russian, but Shasterkin and his teammate are Tammy Panarin 349 00:26:00,795 --> 00:26:04,275 Speaker 1: wore these shirts last year on Pride Night without apparent 350 00:26:04,435 --> 00:26:08,235 Speaker 1: issue you. However, that was before the Russians invaded Ukraine, 351 00:26:08,555 --> 00:26:11,035 Speaker 1: and now there is an additional level of speculation to 352 00:26:11,075 --> 00:26:14,555 Speaker 1: be had that maybe prover Off didn't participate, Maybe the 353 00:26:14,675 --> 00:26:18,955 Speaker 1: Rangers Russians didn't either, not because of religious observations, but 354 00:26:19,115 --> 00:26:21,955 Speaker 1: maybe because of some threat from their native country against 355 00:26:22,035 --> 00:26:25,715 Speaker 1: them or their families back home. Whatever the truth, the 356 00:26:25,835 --> 00:26:30,395 Speaker 1: Rangers have now managed to anger and or disappoint everybody. 357 00:26:30,835 --> 00:26:34,115 Speaker 1: They've said nothing of substance to explain this, thus insulting 358 00:26:34,115 --> 00:26:37,075 Speaker 1: the Pride community and throwing Shasterkin and the others under 359 00:26:37,115 --> 00:26:40,035 Speaker 1: the bus. So the Rangers did not have Pride Night, 360 00:26:41,155 --> 00:26:57,035 Speaker 1: and now they don't have any pride Alright. Time for 361 00:26:57,075 --> 00:26:59,435 Speaker 1: the daily roundup of the misgrants, morons and done in 362 00:26:59,515 --> 00:27:03,075 Speaker 1: Kruger effects specimens who constitute today's worst persons in the world, 363 00:27:04,315 --> 00:27:08,835 Speaker 1: the ones to the Associated Press. If somehow you miss this, 364 00:27:09,595 --> 00:27:11,955 Speaker 1: it is one of the great tweets of all time, 365 00:27:12,915 --> 00:27:16,595 Speaker 1: not intentionally. One of the wire services accounts is called 366 00:27:16,675 --> 00:27:20,195 Speaker 1: a P style book. A P style book sends out 367 00:27:20,195 --> 00:27:23,555 Speaker 1: writing and editing tips for news organizations. The actual APE 368 00:27:23,635 --> 00:27:26,635 Speaker 1: style Book used to be the bible for thousands of 369 00:27:26,675 --> 00:27:31,035 Speaker 1: newspaper men, and newspapers now not so much. Why well 370 00:27:31,075 --> 00:27:33,035 Speaker 1: see if you can spot the problem in the tweet 371 00:27:33,635 --> 00:27:38,915 Speaker 1: quote we recommend avoiding general and often dehumanizing the labels 372 00:27:38,915 --> 00:27:47,555 Speaker 1: such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled, 373 00:27:48,155 --> 00:27:54,475 Speaker 1: the college educated unquote. So to the Associated Press, they 374 00:27:54,555 --> 00:27:58,395 Speaker 1: made it seem like the French are the same as 375 00:27:58,475 --> 00:28:03,355 Speaker 1: the mentally ill and the poor, and so are the 376 00:28:03,635 --> 00:28:07,355 Speaker 1: college educated. Associated Press took to its main accounter, apply 377 00:28:07,635 --> 00:28:09,755 Speaker 1: the use of the French in this tweet by AP 378 00:28:09,955 --> 00:28:13,595 Speaker 1: was inappropriate and has caused unintended offense. An updated tweet 379 00:28:13,635 --> 00:28:18,995 Speaker 1: his upcoming no comment yet from the French. The Silver 380 00:28:19,555 --> 00:28:23,075 Speaker 1: General Michael A. Minihan Head of Air Mobility Command, which 381 00:28:23,075 --> 00:28:24,955 Speaker 1: sounds like a really big job, but in fact it 382 00:28:24,955 --> 00:28:28,475 Speaker 1: means he's in charge of refueling all the aircraft. He 383 00:28:28,595 --> 00:28:32,235 Speaker 1: is General of gas stations. He also seems to have 384 00:28:32,275 --> 00:28:35,355 Speaker 1: gone a little jack d ripper from doctor Strange Love. 385 00:28:36,195 --> 00:28:38,715 Speaker 1: General Minahan emailed the troops under his command to make 386 00:28:38,755 --> 00:28:40,995 Speaker 1: a note on their calendars. Quote I hope I am wrong. 387 00:28:41,475 --> 00:28:45,595 Speaker 1: My gut tells me we will fight China. So he 388 00:28:45,595 --> 00:28:48,995 Speaker 1: said they should start practicing. Quote fire a clip into 389 00:28:49,035 --> 00:28:52,115 Speaker 1: a seven meter target with the full understanding that unrepentant 390 00:28:52,195 --> 00:28:57,195 Speaker 1: lethality matters most aim for the head. In September, General 391 00:28:57,195 --> 00:29:01,155 Speaker 1: Minahan had delivered a similar message to a confused aerospace conference. 392 00:29:02,235 --> 00:29:05,035 Speaker 1: His next email will be about communist in full traction, 393 00:29:05,195 --> 00:29:10,835 Speaker 1: Communist indoctrination, communists subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to 394 00:29:11,035 --> 00:29:17,435 Speaker 1: sap and impurify all our precious bodily fluids. But our winner. 395 00:29:17,515 --> 00:29:21,795 Speaker 1: Michael Smirkkonnish. For years, first in local radio and Philly, 396 00:29:21,835 --> 00:29:24,715 Speaker 1: then at MSNBC, now at CNN, he has provided a 397 00:29:24,755 --> 00:29:28,755 Speaker 1: low cost way to kill time on weekends or filling 398 00:29:28,795 --> 00:29:31,515 Speaker 1: in on holidays or when you couldn't get a real guest. 399 00:29:32,555 --> 00:29:35,915 Speaker 1: Murkanish has a kind of universal nothingness to him, an 400 00:29:35,915 --> 00:29:39,955 Speaker 1: automated quality. But Saturday, he finished off this week of 401 00:29:40,035 --> 00:29:44,395 Speaker 1: cable news death rattles by tweeting about the Tyree Nichols murder. 402 00:29:44,515 --> 00:29:48,035 Speaker 1: Quote gut reaction. Many won't want to hear, having watched 403 00:29:48,075 --> 00:29:53,515 Speaker 1: and before hearing anyone else's opinion, it was hard to watch. Tragic, sad, unnecessary, excessive, yes, 404 00:29:53,835 --> 00:29:57,275 Speaker 1: but deserving of second degree murder, knowing killing of another 405 00:29:57,675 --> 00:30:01,515 Speaker 1: based only on what I have just seen, no unquote 406 00:30:02,715 --> 00:30:07,275 Speaker 1: Murconnish then ran a pole. CNN actually ran this pole 407 00:30:07,395 --> 00:30:11,955 Speaker 1: on television for him, asking basically if people agreed with him, 408 00:30:12,075 --> 00:30:14,595 Speaker 1: and saying that the videotape did not show a murder. 409 00:30:15,715 --> 00:30:19,395 Speaker 1: He lost the people said, yeah, it showed a murder. 410 00:30:19,435 --> 00:30:22,475 Speaker 1: You're an idiot. Now look, we all get it. Chris licked. 411 00:30:23,315 --> 00:30:25,675 Speaker 1: When we worked together at MSNBC, we used to thought 412 00:30:25,675 --> 00:30:29,275 Speaker 1: he ate pacede. Chris Licht was hired to tank CNN 413 00:30:29,515 --> 00:30:32,875 Speaker 1: and he's doing a damn fine job of it. Bravo Chris. 414 00:30:33,835 --> 00:30:36,595 Speaker 1: But even for his new fascist bosses, isn't this a 415 00:30:36,675 --> 00:30:42,315 Speaker 1: firable offense? Didn't this inert cipher Smirkonnish jumped the shark 416 00:30:42,755 --> 00:30:47,075 Speaker 1: at long Last? Have you no sense of decency? Sir Michael, 417 00:30:47,795 --> 00:30:53,835 Speaker 1: He's hard to watch. Tragic, sad, unnecessary, excessive Smirkonnish two 418 00:30:53,955 --> 00:31:11,875 Speaker 1: days worst person and No One Now to the number 419 00:31:11,915 --> 00:31:14,275 Speaker 1: one story on the countdown on my favorite topic. Me 420 00:31:14,515 --> 00:31:17,395 Speaker 1: and things I promised not to tell. Early on the 421 00:31:17,435 --> 00:31:22,515 Speaker 1: afternoon of Monday, May thousand sixteen, I bounced out of 422 00:31:22,515 --> 00:31:25,235 Speaker 1: my New York City apartment building, began to walk past 423 00:31:25,315 --> 00:31:30,075 Speaker 1: the tourist trap brunch spot in the lobby, and froze 424 00:31:30,835 --> 00:31:34,075 Speaker 1: there at one of the cramped outdoor tables. Staring up 425 00:31:34,115 --> 00:31:37,355 Speaker 1: at me in blank surprise that must have matched my 426 00:31:37,355 --> 00:31:41,435 Speaker 1: own staring down at him in blank surprise was Lawrence O'Donnell. 427 00:31:42,555 --> 00:31:46,315 Speaker 1: I decided to go silly, hey, get out of my house. 428 00:31:47,235 --> 00:31:50,915 Speaker 1: He laughed. I laughed. It didn't seem forced. He introduced 429 00:31:50,915 --> 00:31:54,315 Speaker 1: me to his companion, his daughter. This, my dear is 430 00:31:54,395 --> 00:31:58,155 Speaker 1: Keith Alderman. Keith started us all at MSNBC, and then 431 00:31:58,155 --> 00:32:01,235 Speaker 1: he left, and and here Lawrence gave one of his 432 00:32:01,315 --> 00:32:08,675 Speaker 1: long pauses, and we crashed it. I wanted to be generous, 433 00:32:08,715 --> 00:32:11,715 Speaker 1: I started to politely contradict him, and I just couldn't 434 00:32:11,755 --> 00:32:17,475 Speaker 1: do it. M yeah, pretty much anyway, About thirty seconds 435 00:32:17,475 --> 00:32:20,395 Speaker 1: of courteous nothingness followed, and I wished the O'Donnell's well, 436 00:32:20,435 --> 00:32:24,555 Speaker 1: and then I left. It was the most pleasant experience 437 00:32:24,595 --> 00:32:27,275 Speaker 1: I ever had with Lawrence o'donald. In fact, it might 438 00:32:27,275 --> 00:32:29,675 Speaker 1: have been the only pleasant experience I ever had with 439 00:32:29,755 --> 00:32:35,515 Speaker 1: Laurence O'Donnell. After I finally convinced and bullied and blackmailed 440 00:32:35,635 --> 00:32:39,155 Speaker 1: MSNBC management into letting Rachel Meadow become the regular guest 441 00:32:39,235 --> 00:32:41,955 Speaker 1: host for my show, and she aced it, and then 442 00:32:42,035 --> 00:32:45,595 Speaker 1: rightly got her own show, and she aced that and 443 00:32:45,675 --> 00:32:49,475 Speaker 1: became a star. I went looking for a new guest host. 444 00:32:49,515 --> 00:32:51,795 Speaker 1: My first idea was a frequent guest we had named 445 00:32:51,875 --> 00:32:55,555 Speaker 1: Chris Hayes. I didn't get far. Management had its own 446 00:32:55,595 --> 00:32:59,115 Speaker 1: idea and my input was not required. They wanted former 447 00:32:59,235 --> 00:33:03,875 Speaker 1: Vermont governor and Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean. And Howard 448 00:33:03,955 --> 00:33:06,955 Speaker 1: is a really smart guy and great on TV. But 449 00:33:07,075 --> 00:33:10,155 Speaker 1: Howard had a bit of a teleprompter problem. One of 450 00:33:10,155 --> 00:33:14,395 Speaker 1: my producers swears that Howard once read good Evening. I'm 451 00:33:14,435 --> 00:33:20,395 Speaker 1: Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, this is Countdown. I 452 00:33:20,435 --> 00:33:22,515 Speaker 1: do know. Whatever he did on the air, it was 453 00:33:22,555 --> 00:33:25,115 Speaker 1: bad enough that one week when I was off and 454 00:33:25,155 --> 00:33:27,315 Speaker 1: at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, 455 00:33:27,435 --> 00:33:29,875 Speaker 1: and a baseball news story broke and he was filling 456 00:33:29,915 --> 00:33:32,715 Speaker 1: in for me. My producers called me there and asked 457 00:33:32,715 --> 00:33:35,995 Speaker 1: me to come on from the streets of Cooperstown and 458 00:33:36,035 --> 00:33:39,275 Speaker 1: be a guest on my own show, just to help 459 00:33:39,395 --> 00:33:44,475 Speaker 1: Howard Dean out. Anyway, Their next idea was a guy 460 00:33:44,475 --> 00:33:47,355 Speaker 1: who had been kicking around MSNBC since its founding in 461 00:33:49,195 --> 00:33:54,835 Speaker 1: Lawrence O'Donnell was one of the original MSNBC Friends, The 462 00:33:54,955 --> 00:34:00,435 Speaker 1: MSNBC Friends, political pundits who sat on clear stools at 463 00:34:00,435 --> 00:34:03,275 Speaker 1: a clear table or in a set designed to look 464 00:34:03,315 --> 00:34:06,595 Speaker 1: like a booth at a coffee shop. No, I'm not 465 00:34:06,715 --> 00:34:11,675 Speaker 1: making this up. Among the friends were and Coulter and 466 00:34:11,835 --> 00:34:15,475 Speaker 1: Laura Ingram, if you can believe it, once or twice 467 00:34:15,635 --> 00:34:19,315 Speaker 1: an hour, the rather CNN like all news coverage on 468 00:34:19,435 --> 00:34:22,435 Speaker 1: MSNBC in its first couple of years would pause and 469 00:34:22,595 --> 00:34:27,315 Speaker 1: three or more of these friends would appear, chew over 470 00:34:27,355 --> 00:34:34,235 Speaker 1: the MSNBC headlines, and then disappear. Laurence O'Donnell was one 471 00:34:34,275 --> 00:34:37,875 Speaker 1: of the friends. It was as bad as it sounds. 472 00:34:39,035 --> 00:34:42,275 Speaker 1: Then Laurence O'Donnell pretty much disappeared. You would see him 473 00:34:42,315 --> 00:34:44,755 Speaker 1: on MSNBC as a guest every once in a while, 474 00:34:45,155 --> 00:34:48,075 Speaker 1: but mostly he pursued his acting and producing career. He 475 00:34:48,115 --> 00:34:51,195 Speaker 1: played President Bartlett's father on The West Wing, the one 476 00:34:51,235 --> 00:34:56,115 Speaker 1: who beat him throughout college. Lawrence was very convincing, and 477 00:34:56,155 --> 00:34:58,835 Speaker 1: then around two thousand eight we started getting pressure to 478 00:34:58,915 --> 00:35:01,835 Speaker 1: bring him in as a guest on Countdown, like once 479 00:35:01,875 --> 00:35:04,435 Speaker 1: a week or twice a week. I was not sure 480 00:35:04,435 --> 00:35:06,115 Speaker 1: what it was all about, but he had been a 481 00:35:06,195 --> 00:35:09,235 Speaker 1: Senate staffer and he knew the healthcare debate and other 482 00:35:09,315 --> 00:35:12,995 Speaker 1: wonky stuff pretty well, so I gave my assent for 483 00:35:13,035 --> 00:35:16,395 Speaker 1: whatever that was worth. Not long after that, Lawrence came 484 00:35:16,395 --> 00:35:19,395 Speaker 1: into my office. He really needed my support, he said, 485 00:35:19,435 --> 00:35:22,475 Speaker 1: to get him more involved in MSNBC. He knew I 486 00:35:22,515 --> 00:35:25,915 Speaker 1: had gone to bat for Rachel and before her, I'd 487 00:35:25,955 --> 00:35:28,395 Speaker 1: gone to bat for Tom Brokaw and for people like 488 00:35:28,515 --> 00:35:30,555 Speaker 1: Chuck Todd and Chris Hayes and others who are now 489 00:35:30,635 --> 00:35:35,115 Speaker 1: getting steady incomes from NBC. I don't remember his argument 490 00:35:35,195 --> 00:35:37,555 Speaker 1: on his own behalf. I do remember I didn't have 491 00:35:37,635 --> 00:35:40,035 Speaker 1: much of a reason to say no, and he wasn't 492 00:35:40,035 --> 00:35:41,995 Speaker 1: asking me to do a lot, so I said yes. 493 00:35:42,995 --> 00:35:45,595 Speaker 1: The next thing I knew, I was reading a memo 494 00:35:45,715 --> 00:35:48,475 Speaker 1: announcing that Lawrence O'Donnell had been appointed as the new 495 00:35:48,555 --> 00:35:52,795 Speaker 1: full time guest host of Countdown. This was in the 496 00:35:52,835 --> 00:35:56,035 Speaker 1: winter of two thousand nine, when my late dad was 497 00:35:56,115 --> 00:35:59,475 Speaker 1: fighting so valiantly to stay alive after colon cancer and 498 00:35:59,515 --> 00:36:03,235 Speaker 1: more importantly, a series of infections. Dad had the immune 499 00:36:03,275 --> 00:36:06,595 Speaker 1: system of an alien. The average white cell count in 500 00:36:06,595 --> 00:36:10,395 Speaker 1: a healthy adultage between four thousand and eleven thousand. One night, 501 00:36:10,475 --> 00:36:14,115 Speaker 1: Dad's was at thirty three thousand, and the doctors told 502 00:36:14,155 --> 00:36:16,675 Speaker 1: me to prepare to make the call to let him go. 503 00:36:17,515 --> 00:36:20,395 Speaker 1: They had one antibiotic left to try on him. The 504 00:36:20,435 --> 00:36:23,515 Speaker 1: next morning, Dad's white cell count, which had been thirty 505 00:36:23,555 --> 00:36:30,675 Speaker 1: three thousand, was eight thousand. Onward, he fought. Unfortunately, he 506 00:36:30,875 --> 00:36:34,355 Speaker 1: was eighty years old and he had not exercised since 507 00:36:34,355 --> 00:36:37,595 Speaker 1: Harry Truman was president, and eventually he ran out of 508 00:36:37,635 --> 00:36:40,955 Speaker 1: Houdini tricks. I had been visiting him twice a day 509 00:36:40,995 --> 00:36:44,235 Speaker 1: for six months while still doing Countdown and the NBC 510 00:36:44,355 --> 00:36:47,355 Speaker 1: Sunday Night football Show. But now, as it hit late 511 00:36:47,395 --> 00:36:51,155 Speaker 1: February of two thousand ten, his bright days became fewer 512 00:36:51,195 --> 00:36:53,755 Speaker 1: and farther in between, and the hope that was propelling 513 00:36:53,755 --> 00:36:57,395 Speaker 1: me to keep being his full time caregiver and Countdowns 514 00:36:57,435 --> 00:37:00,755 Speaker 1: full time host both began to fade. In the last 515 00:37:00,755 --> 00:37:02,915 Speaker 1: two weeks of my dad's life, as the doctors tried 516 00:37:02,915 --> 00:37:05,995 Speaker 1: all the long shot things I asked MSNBC for a 517 00:37:06,075 --> 00:37:10,915 Speaker 1: leave of absence. Finally the inevitability became inarguable, and we 518 00:37:11,035 --> 00:37:14,115 Speaker 1: let Dad go. On Saturday, March thirteen, two thousand ten. 519 00:37:14,635 --> 00:37:17,115 Speaker 1: My sister held his hand and I read him his 520 00:37:17,155 --> 00:37:19,795 Speaker 1: favorite thurther story, and as soon as I finished it, 521 00:37:20,155 --> 00:37:24,635 Speaker 1: he exhaled deeply and peacefully, and he died. I think 522 00:37:24,675 --> 00:37:29,755 Speaker 1: I took another week off, maybe two, and I vaguely 523 00:37:29,795 --> 00:37:32,875 Speaker 1: recall emails from friends at Countdown that I may have 524 00:37:32,915 --> 00:37:37,155 Speaker 1: paid passing attention to, but I really didn't. Most of 525 00:37:37,155 --> 00:37:40,195 Speaker 1: the staff, including people who came up from Washington, like 526 00:37:40,275 --> 00:37:44,675 Speaker 1: Howard Feineman or Gene Robinson of the Washington Post, always 527 00:37:44,715 --> 00:37:48,715 Speaker 1: friends to me. They attended my dad's memorial service. I 528 00:37:48,755 --> 00:37:51,955 Speaker 1: believe Lawrence O'Donnell, who was of course filling in for 529 00:37:52,035 --> 00:37:54,155 Speaker 1: me on Countdown, was there, too, but maybe not, I 530 00:37:54,195 --> 00:37:57,795 Speaker 1: do not remember. And then came to day when I 531 00:37:57,835 --> 00:38:00,115 Speaker 1: went back to the office full time, and my assistant 532 00:38:00,195 --> 00:38:04,475 Speaker 1: grabbed me both hands on my wrist. You did not 533 00:38:04,675 --> 00:38:08,155 Speaker 1: answer my emails, she said, with a fervency she rarely exhibited. 534 00:38:08,435 --> 00:38:11,715 Speaker 1: For God's sake, do not ever leave me alone with 535 00:38:11,835 --> 00:38:16,395 Speaker 1: Laurence O'Donnell again. I snapped back to attention. Had he, 536 00:38:17,235 --> 00:38:21,155 Speaker 1: you know, bothered her? Not that way, she said, But 537 00:38:21,195 --> 00:38:23,155 Speaker 1: he's a son of a bitch. He treats me and 538 00:38:23,155 --> 00:38:25,395 Speaker 1: everybody he was in a producer here like dirt. And 539 00:38:25,435 --> 00:38:27,675 Speaker 1: since you didn't read my emails, I just have to 540 00:38:27,675 --> 00:38:30,075 Speaker 1: tell you this. He's trying to get you fired so 541 00:38:30,155 --> 00:38:32,875 Speaker 1: he can take over Countdown. And if you think he's nuts, 542 00:38:32,995 --> 00:38:35,275 Speaker 1: one of your senior producers is in on it too 543 00:38:35,395 --> 00:38:40,635 Speaker 1: with him. I have to admit, even now, of all 544 00:38:40,675 --> 00:38:43,715 Speaker 1: the things I went through at that very very strange 545 00:38:43,875 --> 00:38:50,915 Speaker 1: place MSNBC, even now, this story still shocks me. The 546 00:38:50,995 --> 00:38:53,635 Speaker 1: senior producers have Countdown consisted of a guy who had 547 00:38:53,675 --> 00:38:58,235 Speaker 1: been a producer who booked satellite transmissions for MSNBC until 548 00:38:58,315 --> 00:39:01,875 Speaker 1: I asked that he be promoted, And one was a 549 00:39:01,955 --> 00:39:04,435 Speaker 1: guest booker for the daytime shows until I asked that 550 00:39:04,475 --> 00:39:07,835 Speaker 1: she be promoted. Another was a line producer who was 551 00:39:07,875 --> 00:39:10,275 Speaker 1: well regarded only for his ability to time a show 552 00:39:10,555 --> 00:39:13,435 Speaker 1: until I asked for him to be promoted. And then 553 00:39:13,475 --> 00:39:15,035 Speaker 1: there was the old friend of mine who had been 554 00:39:15,035 --> 00:39:17,635 Speaker 1: blown out of ESPN and a sexual ha harassment porn 555 00:39:17,715 --> 00:39:20,675 Speaker 1: link email scandal and was headed back to college. To 556 00:39:20,715 --> 00:39:23,795 Speaker 1: start his career all over again, until I asked that 557 00:39:23,875 --> 00:39:28,075 Speaker 1: he'd be hired and then promoted. I did some digging 558 00:39:28,075 --> 00:39:29,995 Speaker 1: and I was going to confront O'Donnell about it when 559 00:39:30,035 --> 00:39:32,635 Speaker 1: somebody told me he had tweeted something negative about me 560 00:39:32,755 --> 00:39:35,195 Speaker 1: and about countdown. So I got ahold of him, and 561 00:39:35,195 --> 00:39:37,115 Speaker 1: I said, this did not seem to be in keeping 562 00:39:37,435 --> 00:39:41,155 Speaker 1: with MSNBC traditions and rules, you know, the ones about 563 00:39:41,155 --> 00:39:43,635 Speaker 1: not peeing inside the tent. And he said, what do 564 00:39:43,675 --> 00:39:48,355 Speaker 1: you know about MSNBC traditions. I've been here since I 565 00:39:48,435 --> 00:39:53,315 Speaker 1: never left and came back. So I went to my boss, 566 00:39:53,355 --> 00:39:55,395 Speaker 1: the president of the network, Phil Griffin, the one who 567 00:39:55,435 --> 00:39:58,155 Speaker 1: would not hire Rachel Maddow, And before I could say 568 00:39:58,155 --> 00:39:59,875 Speaker 1: they'd have to get rid of him, Griffin said it 569 00:39:59,875 --> 00:40:02,675 Speaker 1: was all academic. They were preparing the press release as 570 00:40:02,715 --> 00:40:05,755 Speaker 1: we spoke for Lawrence's new show at ten o'clock called 571 00:40:05,795 --> 00:40:08,635 Speaker 1: the Last Word, and oh, by the way, Keith, two 572 00:40:08,675 --> 00:40:10,835 Speaker 1: of your senior producers are going with him to run 573 00:40:10,915 --> 00:40:15,675 Speaker 1: his show. If this sounds vaguely familiar to you, it 574 00:40:15,835 --> 00:40:19,515 Speaker 1: is the plot of the pilot for the old Aaron 575 00:40:19,675 --> 00:40:24,755 Speaker 1: Sorkin HBO series Newsroom. I was still friendly with Aaron then, 576 00:40:24,915 --> 00:40:28,475 Speaker 1: so he actually asked, As I related this to him 577 00:40:28,555 --> 00:40:31,315 Speaker 1: in real time in emails and phone calls, he asked 578 00:40:31,315 --> 00:40:33,675 Speaker 1: if he could use it in the plot rather than 579 00:40:34,395 --> 00:40:36,475 Speaker 1: just what he often did, which was to use it 580 00:40:36,515 --> 00:40:40,715 Speaker 1: without asking. The problem was none of this made any 581 00:40:40,835 --> 00:40:43,435 Speaker 1: sense in the real world, Although it made a pretty 582 00:40:43,475 --> 00:40:46,275 Speaker 1: good pilot for Aaron Sorkin in going into the ten 583 00:40:46,395 --> 00:40:50,835 Speaker 1: PM slot, Lawrence O'Donnell would be replacing a rerun of Countdown, 584 00:40:51,115 --> 00:40:53,795 Speaker 1: and even if O'Donnell did much better in the ratings, 585 00:40:53,915 --> 00:40:57,395 Speaker 1: much much better, there was no way it could ever 586 00:40:57,475 --> 00:41:01,755 Speaker 1: make enough money to make the move makes sense. O'Donnell's 587 00:41:01,795 --> 00:41:05,995 Speaker 1: new show would necessarily cost miss NBC between ten and 588 00:41:06,035 --> 00:41:09,595 Speaker 1: fifteen million dollars to produce every year. Didn't have anything 589 00:41:09,635 --> 00:41:12,435 Speaker 1: to do with him. That was the cost. The Countdown 590 00:41:12,475 --> 00:41:17,355 Speaker 1: rerun cost, not ten fifteen million dollars a year. It count. 591 00:41:17,395 --> 00:41:20,035 Speaker 1: However much they paid the guy who pushed the play 592 00:41:20,155 --> 00:41:23,235 Speaker 1: button that fired up the video tape of the Countdown 593 00:41:23,435 --> 00:41:32,075 Speaker 1: replay amortized. Later that day, a sympathetic NBC executive called 594 00:41:32,115 --> 00:41:35,195 Speaker 1: me up and explained the move to me. First, Griffin 595 00:41:35,275 --> 00:41:38,235 Speaker 1: was convinced O'Donnell was about to leave US and sign 596 00:41:38,315 --> 00:41:41,995 Speaker 1: with CNN. I said, well, that's a good idea for 597 00:41:42,075 --> 00:41:46,675 Speaker 1: everybody involved except CNN. Turned out CNN had not even 598 00:41:46,715 --> 00:41:50,235 Speaker 1: talked to him, but Griffin did not know that. More importantly, 599 00:41:50,355 --> 00:41:53,835 Speaker 1: Comcast had already finalized its agreement to buy NBC effect 600 00:41:53,875 --> 00:41:56,155 Speaker 1: of the following January, and as part of the deal, 601 00:41:56,555 --> 00:41:59,515 Speaker 1: they were entitled to review what all the executives in 602 00:41:59,555 --> 00:42:01,955 Speaker 1: the company had done, and they had already looked at 603 00:42:02,075 --> 00:42:06,075 Speaker 1: MSNBC president Phil Griffin and discovered he had never done anything. 604 00:42:07,195 --> 00:42:10,355 Speaker 1: In panic, Griffin told colleagues he had to launch a 605 00:42:10,395 --> 00:42:17,035 Speaker 1: new show of his own immediately. This is the series 606 00:42:17,075 --> 00:42:20,235 Speaker 1: Aaron Sirkin should have made. As to the producers who 607 00:42:20,395 --> 00:42:23,315 Speaker 1: left my show to go with O'Donnell while my father 608 00:42:23,515 --> 00:42:26,035 Speaker 1: was dying, one of them told me a couple of 609 00:42:26,075 --> 00:42:29,995 Speaker 1: years after she left MSNBC for the last time, every 610 00:42:30,075 --> 00:42:32,195 Speaker 1: day when I went into that last word office, I 611 00:42:32,235 --> 00:42:36,035 Speaker 1: realized you were getting your revenge on me without even 612 00:42:36,075 --> 00:42:39,835 Speaker 1: having to lift a finger. Lots of people I've worked with, 613 00:42:40,275 --> 00:42:43,995 Speaker 1: probably a majority of people i've helped, have behaved like 614 00:42:44,115 --> 00:42:48,675 Speaker 1: Laurence O'Donnell, Because remember it's television. It is a mental illness. 615 00:42:49,795 --> 00:42:52,315 Speaker 1: The comparatively healthy people are the ones who acknowledge it's 616 00:42:52,315 --> 00:42:56,915 Speaker 1: a mental illness. But Lawrence O'Donnell was something special. A 617 00:42:57,035 --> 00:43:00,715 Speaker 1: year before my dad died, almost to the day, in fact, 618 00:43:00,755 --> 00:43:03,395 Speaker 1: I was in Los Angeles appearing on Bill Maher's show, 619 00:43:03,835 --> 00:43:05,435 Speaker 1: and one of the other us that night was the 620 00:43:05,475 --> 00:43:08,955 Speaker 1: actress Carrie Washington. She was very nice to me, very sweet, 621 00:43:09,115 --> 00:43:12,075 Speaker 1: a very big fan, and she asked to stay in touch. 622 00:43:12,995 --> 00:43:15,675 Speaker 1: Sure enough, after my father died. After the memorial, after 623 00:43:15,675 --> 00:43:17,795 Speaker 1: I was back at work, I had to go to 624 00:43:17,835 --> 00:43:20,235 Speaker 1: his house for the first time since he had passed away. 625 00:43:20,675 --> 00:43:24,275 Speaker 1: It was about as much fun as it sounds. In 626 00:43:24,315 --> 00:43:26,835 Speaker 1: the car on the way back into New York City. 627 00:43:26,955 --> 00:43:30,515 Speaker 1: The solemnity of it. Both my parents died within eleven 628 00:43:30,515 --> 00:43:33,275 Speaker 1: months of each other. It really hit me for some 629 00:43:33,355 --> 00:43:36,795 Speaker 1: reason for the first time, full force, and I was 630 00:43:36,835 --> 00:43:40,995 Speaker 1: about to lose it when the car approach to billboard 631 00:43:41,115 --> 00:43:43,755 Speaker 1: overlooking the West Side Highway in New York City, and 632 00:43:43,795 --> 00:43:46,795 Speaker 1: whose big smiling face was on the ad on that billboard, 633 00:43:48,035 --> 00:43:51,355 Speaker 1: Carrie Washington, And it flashed me right back to her 634 00:43:51,435 --> 00:43:54,035 Speaker 1: kindness in l a and it helped me overcome this 635 00:43:54,155 --> 00:43:57,155 Speaker 1: bump in my morning. So I wanted to drop her 636 00:43:57,195 --> 00:44:01,675 Speaker 1: a note. Nothing big, nothing suggestive. I wasn't hinting at 637 00:44:01,755 --> 00:44:05,915 Speaker 1: asking her out. Just you never know how you might 638 00:44:05,995 --> 00:44:10,155 Speaker 1: help somebody in a time of crisis. Thanks for letting 639 00:44:10,195 --> 00:44:13,635 Speaker 1: me smile. That was the whole message. I asked my 640 00:44:13,635 --> 00:44:15,395 Speaker 1: assistant to figure out how to get it to her, 641 00:44:15,435 --> 00:44:18,635 Speaker 1: and that was the end of it, except a week later, 642 00:44:20,115 --> 00:44:22,915 Speaker 1: the fact that I wrote her a note wound up 643 00:44:22,915 --> 00:44:30,355 Speaker 1: in a column written by a Coulter. I was astonished, 644 00:44:30,795 --> 00:44:35,355 Speaker 1: how why? And Coulter it was her usual the brain 645 00:44:35,435 --> 00:44:38,435 Speaker 1: doesn't quite work right kind of stuff. She implied. I 646 00:44:38,475 --> 00:44:41,115 Speaker 1: was hitting on Carrie Washington and said how stupid I 647 00:44:41,155 --> 00:44:43,555 Speaker 1: had to be to not realize she was involved with somebody, 648 00:44:43,755 --> 00:44:45,715 Speaker 1: and on and on and on, no mention of my 649 00:44:45,795 --> 00:44:48,915 Speaker 1: father's passing, or the Mars show or the billboard or 650 00:44:48,915 --> 00:44:52,475 Speaker 1: her smiling face. I went back to my assistant and 651 00:44:52,475 --> 00:44:56,195 Speaker 1: I said, what on earth did you do with that 652 00:44:56,275 --> 00:45:01,075 Speaker 1: note to carry Washington? And she said, oh, I gave 653 00:45:01,115 --> 00:45:05,275 Speaker 1: it to this Laurence O'Donnell guy. And I said, good God, 654 00:45:05,675 --> 00:45:08,315 Speaker 1: why did you do that? And she said, well, he's 655 00:45:08,435 --> 00:45:11,235 Speaker 1: dating Carrie Washington. I thought you knew that. I thought 656 00:45:11,275 --> 00:45:13,155 Speaker 1: that's why you asked me to get it to her, 657 00:45:15,075 --> 00:45:18,035 Speaker 1: so it wasn't hard to figure out from there. Lawrence 658 00:45:18,075 --> 00:45:21,595 Speaker 1: had called his old friend from the old MSNBC Friends 659 00:45:21,715 --> 00:45:25,555 Speaker 1: of Nine and Coulter and told her about the note, 660 00:45:25,995 --> 00:45:29,155 Speaker 1: inventing whatever motive his jealous little mind could dream up, 661 00:45:29,715 --> 00:45:32,715 Speaker 1: it should have gotten him fired from NBC, but unfortunately 662 00:45:32,715 --> 00:45:35,035 Speaker 1: his boss was just as much of a fourteen year 663 00:45:35,035 --> 00:45:38,075 Speaker 1: old emotionally as he was. And meanwhile, I had decided 664 00:45:38,115 --> 00:45:40,755 Speaker 1: to get out of MSNBC anyway when the time was ripe. 665 00:45:41,675 --> 00:45:45,115 Speaker 1: As it turned out, it ripened in January two thousand eleven. 666 00:45:45,155 --> 00:45:48,675 Speaker 1: I've told that story in other episodes, like sixty of them. 667 00:45:48,755 --> 00:45:52,515 Speaker 1: It's kind of complicated, and since nobody ever actually asked 668 00:45:52,515 --> 00:45:55,115 Speaker 1: me why Countdown the TV show ended, I've probably got 669 00:45:55,155 --> 00:45:59,835 Speaker 1: another sixty episodes worth of information about that anyway in 670 00:45:59,915 --> 00:46:04,155 Speaker 1: two thousand fifteen. Since repeatedly over the following ten years, 671 00:46:04,155 --> 00:46:06,715 Speaker 1: there were over years by both sides to bring Countdown 672 00:46:06,835 --> 00:46:10,115 Speaker 1: and Me back to MSNBC. In two thousand fifteen, during 673 00:46:10,115 --> 00:46:13,075 Speaker 1: the World Series, in fact, the then president of NBC News, 674 00:46:13,475 --> 00:46:16,395 Speaker 1: Andy Lack, asked me to come back and do a 675 00:46:16,475 --> 00:46:20,235 Speaker 1: new show at MSNBC and moved to Los Angeles and 676 00:46:20,275 --> 00:46:23,955 Speaker 1: have a co host a conservative, and not do any commentaries. 677 00:46:24,835 --> 00:46:27,995 Speaker 1: And and actually this new show was somehow less appealing 678 00:46:28,035 --> 00:46:31,635 Speaker 1: than it sounds. But the punch line of all punch 679 00:46:31,675 --> 00:46:34,835 Speaker 1: lines is contained in what Lack wanted to call my 680 00:46:34,955 --> 00:46:38,315 Speaker 1: new two thousand fifteen MSNBC show that never was. It 681 00:46:38,395 --> 00:46:40,435 Speaker 1: tells you all you really need to know about the 682 00:46:40,555 --> 00:46:44,675 Speaker 1: Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell and MSNBC and O'Donnell's place 683 00:46:44,715 --> 00:46:49,435 Speaker 1: in TV history at its demise and the end of MSNBC. 684 00:46:50,595 --> 00:46:54,475 Speaker 1: NBC new President Lack was brimming with enthusiasm about this 685 00:46:54,675 --> 00:46:57,315 Speaker 1: name that he had come up with for my new show. 686 00:46:57,435 --> 00:47:00,635 Speaker 1: I've got the perfect title. Lack told me, we're gonna 687 00:47:00,675 --> 00:47:05,995 Speaker 1: call it The Last Word with Keith Olberman. And I 688 00:47:06,035 --> 00:47:09,795 Speaker 1: didn't laugh for guffaw. I just said, Andy, you have 689 00:47:09,875 --> 00:47:13,235 Speaker 1: a show called the Last Word The Last Word with 690 00:47:13,315 --> 00:47:19,035 Speaker 1: Lawrence O'Donnell. Andy Lack now laughed, huh, hopefully not for 691 00:47:19,155 --> 00:47:35,795 Speaker 1: much longer. I don't under five thousand viewers in the 692 00:47:35,835 --> 00:47:38,835 Speaker 1: advertising demo for Lawrence O'Donnell for the most recent day. 693 00:47:38,835 --> 00:47:41,235 Speaker 1: The ratings are in for last Thursday. That is the 694 00:47:41,315 --> 00:47:47,635 Speaker 1: size of the MSNBC audience in two thousand three. Countdown 695 00:47:47,635 --> 00:47:49,475 Speaker 1: has come to you from the studios of All Women 696 00:47:49,515 --> 00:47:53,195 Speaker 1: Broadcasting Empire World headquarters in the Sports Capsule Building in 697 00:47:53,235 --> 00:47:57,795 Speaker 1: New York, where we remember everything. Thanks for listening here 698 00:47:57,915 --> 00:48:00,115 Speaker 1: the credits. Most of the music, including our theme here 699 00:48:00,155 --> 00:48:03,835 Speaker 1: from Beethoven's Ninth was arranged, produced and performed by Brian 700 00:48:03,875 --> 00:48:06,995 Speaker 1: Ray and John Philip Chanelle. They are the Countdown musical directors. 701 00:48:07,275 --> 00:48:11,155 Speaker 1: All orchestration and keyboards by John Philip Chanelle, guitarist based 702 00:48:11,195 --> 00:48:14,475 Speaker 1: on drums by Brian Ray, produced by T K O Brothers. 703 00:48:14,875 --> 00:48:17,555 Speaker 1: Other Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed by No 704 00:48:17,715 --> 00:48:20,955 Speaker 1: Horns allowed. The sports music is the Olberman theme from 705 00:48:21,155 --> 00:48:23,915 Speaker 1: ESPN Too, and it was written by Mitch Warren Davis 706 00:48:23,915 --> 00:48:27,915 Speaker 1: and appears courtesy of ESPN Incorporated. Musical comments throughout by 707 00:48:27,995 --> 00:48:31,355 Speaker 1: Nancy Faust. The best baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer 708 00:48:31,395 --> 00:48:34,435 Speaker 1: today was Tony Kornheiser, and that means everything else was 709 00:48:34,475 --> 00:48:37,555 Speaker 1: pretty much my fault. So let's countdown for this the 710 00:48:37,635 --> 00:48:41,635 Speaker 1: sifty fifth day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against 711 00:48:41,675 --> 00:48:45,275 Speaker 1: the democratically elected government of the United States. Arrest him now, 712 00:48:45,795 --> 00:48:49,435 Speaker 1: while we still can. The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow. 713 00:48:49,475 --> 00:48:51,955 Speaker 1: Till then, I'm Keith, all remain good morning, good afternoon, goodnight, 714 00:48:52,115 --> 00:49:11,075 Speaker 1: and good luck. Countdown with Keith Alderman is a production 715 00:49:11,235 --> 00:49:14,875 Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 716 00:49:15,035 --> 00:49:18,595 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 717 00:49:18,675 --> 00:49:19,995 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.