tv The Last Word With Lawrence O Donnell MSNBC September 4, 2019 7:00pm-8:00pm PDT
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to put into the wall. it's explicit. when lawmakers get back to work this fall, one of their big chores is to reconcile the house and senate versions of that military funding bill. but if you think democrats in the house are likely to cave on this issue, more likely to cave on this issue than they were before the president started listing and naming all the military projects that are going to lose money, well, that's not what we are hearing, nor is it what anyone would expect. so yeah, mexico isn't paying for the wall. he says the u.s. military is going to pay for the wall. i wouldn't bank on that either. that does it for us tonight. we'll see you again tomorrow. it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. when i was working in the senate i used to once in a while wonder would the parliamentary system be better. i'm not wondering that tonight. we've never seen anything like it. >> we've never seen anything like it, and it is -- i mean, we do have parallels in terms of
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emerging or expected schisms within the parties and pressure on each of the parties and pressure on the two-party system. that comes on the election carousel every two years in this country. but the idea that the system itself may not be able bear the strength, that's something we fear but they're living through. >> it sure makes a constitution look like a good idea. >> one that's written down, yeah, i'm glad for that. >> thank you, rachel. >> thank you, lawrence. the shortest honeymoon in history, that is what one british political historian is calling the collapse of prime minister boris johnson's majority in parliament this week. it is british governing chaos like nothing we have ever seen. and we have the video of boris johnson being verbally attacked in parliament today, directly to his face, as is the british tradition. that is later in this hour. in a new inspector general's
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report, it's horrifying and predictable. it describes the psychological and emotional trauma suffered by children separated from their parents at the southern border and held in custody by the trump administration. easy to predict that there would be emotional trauma involved in that. we'll have the details of that report later in this hour. and some of those details are very difficult to read. the report quotes people working in those facilities who see firsthand the damage being done to these children. in an op ed piece for "the new york times," a former senate staffer described what he called the extreme and unprecedented corruption of trump and his allies. today the trump administration took that in a direction where no one has gone before, forcing "the washington post" to actually consider whether the president committed a crime when he showed a weather map, showed a weather map in the oval office with what looks like a black
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sharpie line added to it. >> we thought we would give you an update on the hurricane. we got lucky in florida, very, very lucky indeed. we had actually our original chart was that it was going to be hit -- hitting florida directly. maybe i could just see that, kevin. it was going to be hitting directly. and it would have affected a lot of other states. but that was the original chart. >> well, it's not exactly the original chart. it's the original chart plus that black line that reaches into alabama where the president had earlier this week incredibly predicted the hurricane would go. later in the day a reporter asked the president about that black line. >> reporter: that looks like it almost is like a sharpie. >> i don't know. i don't know. i don't know. >> i don't know. and "the washington post" reported today that altering
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that map could be a crime. "the washington post" reported, quote, altering official government weather forecasts isn't just a cause of concern. it's illegal, per 18 u.s. code section 2074 when addresses false weather reports. whoever knowingly issues or publishes any counterfeit weather forecast or warning of weather conditions falsely representing such forecast or warning to have been issued or published by the weather bureau united states signal service or other branch of the government service, shall be find under this title or imprisoned not more than 90 days or both. the president seemed more concerned today about justifying his false prediction that the hurricane would hit alabama than he was concerned with the death and destruction that had already hit our neighbors in the bahamas where the official death toll is increasing tonight as searches and rescue continue around the clock. in a moment we'll be joined by
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the health minister for the bahamas for the very latest on how the islands are dealing with the crisis there. and according to the latest tracking, hurricane dorian is once again picking up strength. the national hurricane center shows that it is still a category 2 hurricane with sustained winds back up to 110 miles per hour. and the hurricane has actually widened now. once again tonight we will get the latest update on the storm track as soon as it is released by the national hurricane center. that will be minutes before the end of this hour. meteorologist bill karins will join us once again with that breaking news later in the hour tonight. hurricane dorian is currently off the coast of georgia and could make landfall in south carolina tomorrow and possibly make landfall there, and possibly make landfall in north carolina the next day, on friday. the national hurricane center predicts these areas face a triple threat of, quote, destructive winds, flooding rains and life-threatening storm
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surge. mass evacuations are already under way. ali velshi will give us a live report from charleston, south carolina tonight, in just a moment. storm warnings have now been lifted in the bahamas as residents are beginning to assess the catastrophic damage after hurricane dorian stalled over the bahamas for two days as a category 5 hurricane, destroying thousands of homes and leaving vast areas underwater. officials confirm to nbc news that the death toll in the bahamas is now up to 20. rescuers used boats and jet skis to continue their rescue efforts. the u.s. coast guard is assisting with those efforts, rescuing dozens and air lifting many to medical facilities. jensen burrows is a lifetime resident of the bahamas who rescued a mother and two
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children. he will tell us the story of those rescues in just a moment. but joining us now by phone from nassau is the bahamian minister of health, dr. dwayne sands. dr. sands, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> good evening, it's a pleasure to be here. >> tell us what the latest conditions are in the bahamas. >> well, at this point things have returned to normal. if you were to look outside, it's a clear, sunny day today. and no wind. and it belies the absolute apocalyptic conditions that we had a few days ago. >> from a public health perspective, what is your biggest challenge? >> well, at this point the primary concern is to get food and water to the affected individuals, but also to rescue individuals who may be trapped in their homes. we have had massive likely
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contamination of all the groundwater. and there are a number of dead animals. and we have found a number of deceased persons as well. so the risk of public health, diarrheal diseases, and rodents and other vectors creates a public health nightmare if it's not managed properly. >> what management techniques do you have for this water situation where the water supply has been contaminated? >> well, basically recommendations are that you not consume any groundwater, to consume bottled water or to ensure that if you do have to consume groundwater that it's either boiled or chlorinated. and we are in the midst of distributing chlorine tablets. but the preference is bottled
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water. >> do you have any sense of when we will really know the final casualty count since the ability to recover bodies is still restricted? >> we have an incredible building code. structures are meant to be able to withstand up to category 4 hurricanes. and despite this, many of the structures have been devastated, pummelled, destroyed. so we literally have to go door to door through many homes, abaco and grand bahama are very lengthy islands are populations that are spread out in small settlements. so it's going to be a long time to go from door to door to door, given the fact that areas are still flooded, and that access is not as simple as it might seem. >> what are the most urgent
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needs in the islands now? >> right now we have obviously a need for food and water to those persons who have been cut off. but access to medical attention, we have had just a tremendous amount of support from the u.s. coast guard and the u.s. government in particular. so we have been able to evacuate injured persons to the nation's primary health facility in new providence. but getting to the injured, getting to the ill, and providing them with nutrition, hydration, medical attention. and then it is shelter, basic shelter. there are many people, for instance, in the clinic in abaco, we have more than a thousand people in that clinic purely because they have no place to live.
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>> dr. duane sands, the health minister for the bahamas, thank you very much for joining us tonight, we really appreciate it. >> thank you, lawrence. good night. >> and we're joined now by phone by one of the residents of the bahamas who has offered to help rescue stranded neighbors. jensen burroughs is a native of freeport in the bahamas. he made nearly a dozen rescues on his jet ski after offering people help on instagram. we're joined by phone by jensen burr rouse. jensen, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> it's a pleasure, good evening. >> tell us what you've been doing to rescue people and how you've accomplished it. >> well, we were trying to get people from their homes for two days but we just couldn't get them. finally yesterday we were able to do our first rescue, a minister and his family who we felt was a top priority to
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evaluate. in the midst of rescuing him, the jet ski turned over twice because of the strong force winds. and from there we were able to rescue over 100 people, which included elderly, infants, and also dogs. the water conditions were so heavy, we didn't know whether we were over water or land. some instances, i just pulled up in person's driveways, person's bedrooms and living rooms for rescue. >> how were you able to get fuel for the jet ski to keep it running? >> well, the day before, what i did was i went -- my friend told me to go in on the jet skis because we may need them, you know, during the storm or after the storm. so i went out, i filled up the
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jet skis, and i got them ready, not knowing that i would need they will during the storm. so we were already gassed up, fueled up and ready to go. >> and have you ever experienced anything like this? have you been through hurricanes before in the bahamas? >> i've been through many hurricanes. but i've never, ever been in one like this. i think this is the worst i've ever seen in my 34 years living in freeport. >> jensen burroughs, thank you very much and thank you for the work you did to save and help your neighbors. we really appreciate it. >> i appreciate it, thank you. >> and for more on how south carolina is now bracing for the next stage of hurricane dorian, we turn to msnbc anchor and correspondent ali velshi. he's in charleston, south carolina tonight. ali, what are you expecting there? >> reporter: well, we're in what
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seems to be a tropical storm at the moment. it's not going to get full hurricane-force winds. but right now this storm is due south of us. and it's headed probably within tens of miles of charleston. it won't come here, but we'll have stronger winds by tomorrow morning, by midday tomorrow and final by 6:00 tomorrow we'll get the heaviest winds. you can see there are some winds. there are some people in charleston right now, most of this area has been evacuated. it's been under mandatory evacuation, about a half million people here. the problem around here is that it floods all the time. charleston is a place that experiences a lot of flooding. you'll see this restaurant is boarded up and it has sandbags, except the city ran out of sandbags halfway through the day today, so flooding is going to be a concern. the city has opened up all of its garages in town, they're multistory units where they are allowing people to park. but as you know, the issue is flooding more than it is wind damage around here, across south carolina. the other issue around here is that the area is saturated.
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it's been raining. it was raining last year. you remember when florence came up, it was a tropical storm too, and yet it took lives and caused a lot of devastation because the water has another to go. by the way, this is market street, the middle of historic charleston. this is the street where normally there would be open air stuff, the best pralines i've ever had are on this street. this is empty. the issue is, tomorrow morning this will all be flooded and of course so will the coastal areas around here. that's the danger here, the flooding and whether or not people have taken the evacuation order seriously, because you just don't know, when the power comes back, what your transportation situation is going to be and how you can get out and get health care if you need it. police have asked people to leave here. they've tried to lower the level of the lakes in the area to allow for flooding. they're ready with fema vehicles. they've got high water vehicles, they even have boats ready to rescue people in this area. they're really hoping most people have just left, lawrence. >> ali velshi, thank you very
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much for jong ining us tonight h that report, we really appreciate it. coming up, a new poll has bad campaign news for donald trump in a key swing state, a state that donald trump won last time. cecile richards was a powerful voice as president of planned parenthood and now with her new group, super majority, she's working to mobilize women voters in key states for the 2020 election and beyond. cecile richards will join us, next. us, next
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there is new polling tonight that shows donald trump behind in the crucial swing state of wisconsin, a state that he won in the last election by less than 1% of the vote on his way to squeaking out a win in the electoral college. the new marquette law school poll shows joe biden ahead of donald trump 51% to 42%. the poll also shows bernie sanders ahead at 48% to 44%. elizabeth warren is tied with donald trump at 45%. and kamala harris is tied with donald trump at 44%. the poll did not do any other one on one matchups of the democratic candidates against donald trump. and there was more unwelcome news for the wisconsin republican party today. if you are a 40-year-old wisconsinite, there has not been a day of your life when jim sensenbrenner has not been a
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republican member of congress representing suburban milwaukee. he gained national fame as the member of the national judiciary committee during the impeachment of bill clinton and served as one of the prosecutors of bill clinton in the senate impeachment trial. he announced he will not seek reelection in the house of representatives. without jim sensenbrenner running, the republicans will have more of a struggle in holding on to that suburban house seat. one year serving in the minority in the house of representatives is about enough for texas republican representative bill flores who became the fifth, fifth texas republican member of the house of representatives to announce he will not seek reelection to what polling indicates is now and will likely continue to be a house of representatives controlled by the democratic party. why are so many texas republicans giving up on a career in the house of representatives? we're joined now by someone who knows a thing or two about texas
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politics. cecile richards' mother, ann richards, was the governor of texas. she is the co-founder of super majority, a national group helping women get involved in civic action. let's start with texas. what's happening? >> well, the interesting thing, i think texas is kind of a microcosm of some trends we're seeing around the country. we have four congressional seats now that are held by republicans. very competitive. and every single one of those races, the challengers are women, including wendy davis who ran for governor, now challenging in a congressional race. the whole electoral is shifting, and it's shifting based on women and people of color getting more engaged in politics. we saw a 15.4% increase in voter turnout between this year and last year. it's fascinating too, john cornyn, who is up for reelection to the united states senate, a re weak incumbent, four women
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are challenging him. that's the name of the game in texas, and we're seeing it across the country, women are on fire politically. they are the majority of voters, increasingly the majority of activists, donors and candidates. >> and the president's approval rating among women voters, let's look at that, the quinnipiac poll, approve 33%, disapprove 62%. women's disapproval of donald trump is higher than the national total. so they are kind of the leading voting force against the president. >> absolutely. i mean, that is why super majority, we are finding all across the country, women who are raising their hand and saying, i've never been involved in politics, i've never registered voters or knocked on doors, i want to learn how to do it, and that's what we're doing. we're get on the road, actually on september 15th, starting with stacey abrams in georgia and going all across the country. these women are desperate to find out how can they actually turn things around in this country and increasingly are recognizing they're going to be the deciding voters in 2020. >> what is motivating them?
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is it character issues of donald trump, is it policy issues? >> it's both, lawrence. it's certainly character. a poll in the field shows women feel like they're losing their rights under this administration. they feel like the president disrespects women, which he does every single day. but they're also concerned about issues that they want to see addressed by this government. affordable access to health care. the fact that we have no national childcare plan. and that's an issue that doesn't only affect women, it affects men as well. these are issues that women are tired of being put to the side as women's issues and are saying, actually these are fundamental to our economy and women's ability to, you know, succeed in the workforce and to support their family. >> what are you finding that they're saying about the president's treatment of families and children at the southern border? >> well, i think this is an issue -- i mean, it's interesting, they were talking about wisconsin. i heard about this from a wisconsin mother who said i cannot look and see what is happening to parents, the separation of families. these are issues that touch
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women all across the country, not only at the border, and i think that's what we're seeing in the midwest as well, and again, i think it's not just women in texas. arizona, florida. it's women everywhere. i think, you know, we will see in 2020 and super majority is committed to running the largest women to women voter turnout program in the country. >> cecile richards, thank you very much. >> it's so good to see you. >> in your new job tonight, really good to have you here. >> thanks a lot. when we come back, what would make a child say i can't feel my heart? that is in an inspector general's report about how children are describing the emotional trauma inflicted on them when the trump administration has separated them from their parents at the southern border. that report was written by an acting inspector general who donald trump did not appoint. that's next. we present limu emu & doug with this key to the city.
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a new report from the acting inspector general of the u.s. department of health and human services describes the psychological and emotional trauma being suffered by migrant children in trump administration custody at the southern border. one program director at one of the facilities that was studied by the inspector general said, quote, every single separated kid has been terrified. the report states, some separated children expressed acute grief that caused them to cry inconsolably. the report quotes a medical director at one of the facilities. physical symptoms felt by separated children are
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manifestations of their psychological pain. you get a lot of, my chest hurts, even though everything is fine medically. children describe symptoms. every heartbeat hurts. i can't feel my heart, of emotional pain. one of the program directors interviewed by the inspector general gave this report. a 7 or 8-year-old boy was separated from his father without any explanation as to why the separation occurred. the child was under the delusion that his father had been killed and he also would be killed. this child required emergency psychiatric care to address his acute emotional distress. julia ainsley has been to the border repeatedly and has spoken to people in these facilities. we're lucky to have her with her view of the inspector general's report. julia, it really is one of the painful documents to read about this story. >> it is, lawrence. and for some time we heard from
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the american pediatric association warning about the long term effects of separation, even if the separation was at max two weeks. and we know some went on for months as the government struggled to reunite these fast. but this report really brings it home because you're able to hear through the mouths of the children and through the mental health workers who worked with them the anguish that they were in. they said some of the unaccompanied children who came on their own, were teenagers, they also had mental health challenges. but it was those who were separated that were under so much distress because of their feelings of anxiety and abandonment but also because they were so young. many of the children who colon their own, like we said, are teenagers, but there were children under the age of 5 who were separated under zero tolerance. some didn't even have the words to say what they were going through. one mental health worker said the little ones don't know how to express what they are feeling. they described having chest pains. what you're describing there. and so this report, even though
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we're now over a year out from this policy, it really brings home the long term damage that those two months had, and really puts into perspective what is happening now as we see children who are held longer than they should in detention facilities, children who are taken apart from their grandmothers or aunts and uncles, and some children who are still being separated from their parents for different reasons. >> and julia, this was written by joanne chietti, she is the acting inspector general. it might be the only reason we have this report is that president trump has never appointed anyone to be the inspector general of health and human services. and so we've had holdover government employees there. and joanne chietti, as far as could find out today, first went to work in government during the clinton administration. and so she's worked her way up to this position to be able to to do this. and it is a very thorough, very professional report, exactly the
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kind of oversight that you would expect from the department, especially on a program that for them is relatively novel on this scale, this level of detention and separation of fast. >> that's true. i mean, the report is remarkable in its level of detail. they went to 45 different facilities. there are 100 facilities like this across the country. another thing they found, lawrence, that i think is worth noting is that six of those 45 facilities that they dropped in on did not require background checks, either fbi fingerprinting or backgrounding by child protective services. i found that to be a tragic coincidence, because when i was in texas outside of el paso last year, we were in these tent facilities that were overcrowded with children. and hhs then said the reason we are so backed up is because of these very long processes we have to follow in order to verify the identity of the
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parents that we're going to reunite these children with. they were requiring these parents to go through fbi fingerprint, background checks, but not the employees taking care of the children in these facilities. so it was tragic to read that, and to know that there were employees there who didn't have to go through a background check at all before being hired. >> julia ainsley, thank you very much for your reporting on this and for joining us tonight on this important subject, really appreciate it. thank you. when we come back, today's inspector general's report is horrifying but it is predictable. it's predictable for anyone who has been following the news about these children and what's been happening to them. nicolle austin hillary has visited some of the children being held at the southern border, one of the very few people who has actually been allowed inside to speak directly with the girls and the boys and the babies in trump administration custody at the southern border. she'll join knicks. dy at the southern border. she'll join knicks -- next. -- next who's dog is this?
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children in custody at the southern border. nicole austin-hillery is a lawyer who has been representing the interests of these children for years. and so it is only through the powers of the court that she has been allowed to gain this precious access to these children and share with us once again tonight what she has found in these visits with these children. joining us now is nicole austin-hillery, the executive director of u.s. programs for human rights watch. thank you very much for joining us again tonight. and i read portions of this report, and they are quotes, they're real things from people who are working inside. and yet they are so obvious and we could have all predicted that this is exactly what little children would be feeling. >> lawrence, it's common sense. if you take a child from his or her parent, there's going to be a reaction. and that reaction is usually going to be negative. when you take a child to school on the very first day, for the very first time, and you
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separate them from their parent, oftentimes children cry. we know that is standard. so what does the trump administration think would happen if you take children who are from another nation, bring them to a strange new place, and take them away interefrom their parents? you will get the results that the inspector general's report documented. you will have children that are inconsolable, that cry uncontrollably, that are frightened, and that are in here for their own lives, who have no idea what's going to happen to them or what has happened to their parents. this is consistent with what i saw when visiting the detention facility in clint. i had children that i spoke to who cried uncontrollably, with whom i could barely carry on a conversation, because they were afraid, lawrence. and they had no idea what was about to happen to them and what they could expect from day to day. >> i want to go back to something i mentioned and quoted in the previous segment that's on page 11 of the inspector general's report.
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and this is the inspector general now just delivering what a program director has told the inspector general. and it is this. i'm going to read it again. it's a 7 or 8-year-old boy who was separated from his father without any explanation as to why the separation occurred. the child was under the delusion that his father had been killed and believed that he would also be killed. this child ultimately required emergency psychiatric care to address his mental health distress. and nicole, what i'm struck by there is the word "delusion." i'm not sure why that would be a delusion. it seems like a perfectly reasonable possibility in that child's life experience, that his father has been killed, and a perfectly reasonable fear that he could be killed himself. and so this strikes me as emotional distress, not mental health distress and not what you would call a delusion. >> no, not a delusion at all.
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lawrence, when we talked to the children in texas and we asked them questions, to try to gauge what their understanding was of their experiences, these children did not know exactly why they were separated from their parents. they often did not know where their parents were. they didn't know when they would see them again. they didn't know what had become of their parents in many instances. so of course it is quite predictable that you would have children who would suffer this kind of emotional distress. and this kind of emotional distress, we know from other research that it can lead to mental health issues. look, at human rights watch, we did reports as far back as the trump administration's zero tolerance policy and we started documenting what the experiences were of the children and the experiences of their families, because we can't stop just with the children, lawrence. we have to also look at what's happening to the families. our researchers showed in their
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reports that the fast in total were suffering from the same kinds of experiences. so it has a trickle-down effect. it impacts the parents and it impacts the children. >> and, you know, every word of this report i read, it feels odd to read it because it just seems to obvious. for example, a program director, quote, saying we need more psychiatrists, neurodevelopmental psychiatrists, and psychologists. well, of course they do. >> exactly. and the problem here is that while it's very good that this report has been made public today and that we're having this conversation, the next question is, what now? it's one thing to expose what's going on. it's another thing for the trump administration to then say, okay, we have this data, it's been documented, and now here is what we're going to do next. we haven't heard that, lawrence. we have no idea what they're going to do with this
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information. and frankly we really don't have a great expectation that they are going to act on it. we have seen when they've received other types of information, when myself and other colleagues and other advocates reported on what we saw in clint and in homestead and in other facilities, we really didn't see a difference in terms of the protocols and what the administration was doing to create change and make sure that the outcomes were different. that's what we now need to be putting pressure on the administration about. now you have the information. what are you going to do to ensure that the outcome is now different and thought these children receive the care that they need so they will not suffer from these same mental health issues that the oig's report has documented. >> exactly. and the profile in courage and delivering this report to us today is joanne m. chietti, acting inspector general of the department of health and human services.
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she was not appointed by president trump and might not be long in that job if it's up to president trump. this kind of work is crucially important. we're so lucky that someone took on this duty in the department and got this done. nicole austin-hillery, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> you're welcome, lawrence, thanks for having me on. and when we come back, imagine, if you will, alexandria ocasio-cortez or katy porter or adam schiff or any other member of the house of representatives getting to yell questions at donald trump on the floor of the house of representatives. well, a version of that happens routinely in the british house of commons during prime minister's questioning time. and it did not go well today for new british prime minister boris johnson. we have the video, next. johnson. we have the video, next. no matter what i wore,
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saying boris johnson is a loser is not so much editorial comment as it is simple reporting of what has happened to boris johnson in every vote in parliament this week when he became the first british prime minister since 1894 to lose his first vote in the house of commons. he has now lost his first three votes in a row, which might be a record for a british prime minister. and here is how boris johnson's day went today. >> under any circumstances, this country will leave the eu on
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october the 31st. >> we have seized back control from a prime minister who is behaving like a dictator more than a democrat. the prime minister must be stopped. >> he knows he cannot get the great deal because there is no such thing as a great brexit deal. and he is scared of being found out. >> he's desperate, absolutely desperate to avoid scrutiny. >> when will the prime minister finally apologize for his derogatory and racist remarks? >> does the prime minister understand why across this country people find it difficult to trust a word he says? >> the house of commons passed a bill that would prevent the united kingdom from leaving the european union without a negotiated settlement with the european union. that bill has gone to the house of lords where it is expected to pass. if it becomes law, the british prime minister will be required
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to request a 90-day extension on the october 31st deadline for a brexit deal if no deal with the european union has been agreed to by october 31stt. boris johnson has been promising that he would lead the united kingdom oust european union on october 31st with or without a negotiated exit agreement with the european union. and to explain it all we are joined now by david smith. he is the washington bureau chief for the "guardian." and i've been brushing up on my british parliamentary procedure. it is a daunting task because the complexities strike me as much harder to explain than anything that happens in washington. ultimately, when i sort through everything that has happened, it now seems he that where we are headed, and this could be thanks to boris johnson's misfired strategy, is ultimately toward this 90-day delay.
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is that what's most likely? >> i think there's a significant chance of that. but what we've learned over the past three years or so with brexit is that just expect the unexpected. and it's been very unpredictable and volatile and hard to imagine what will happen. what i'm looking at is right now perhaps two scenarios. one is the no-deal brexit boris johnson seems to be pushing for. the other is perhaps we'll inevitably end up with a general election and jeremy corbyn, labour leader, has suggested that once legislation is passed against a no-deal then he'd be willing to go ahead with an election. so far he's resisted it because he thinks it's a ruse on johnson's part. but overall it does remain extremely difficult to see one way or the other what the outcome is going to be. >> so boris johnson loses these votes and he does what is the norm in these circumstances for
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a prime minister, which is he says all right, then i'm calling for an election so that we can sort this out at the ballot box with voters. and then he gets denied that request to have an election, parliament votes against that. and partially because not so much that many of them don't want the election. they just don't believe him about when that election would be. that seems to be corbin's biggest stumbling block on the election is he doesn't believe boris johnson when he says he'd have an election on, say, october 15th. is it up to the prime minister to decide when this election is? >> no. what we've seen today is parliament really asserting its authority and telling boris johnson no, you can't have an election. he would have needed 2/3 of parliament to go ahead with that. jeremy corbyn, the labor leader, said this offer of an election, it was like being offered a
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poison am by the snow queen. and really he smuspected that i was all a trick, that once an election was under way johnson would find some sneaky way to exit the european union without a deal. it's really extraordinary, as johnson himself pointed out at prime minister's questions for the opposition to turn down the chance of an election where they theoretically might win power. and i think what we're seeing here is a real reassertion of parliamentary power. boris johnson has in the past expressed admiration for donald trump and his style of being a wrecking ball and forcing things through without much debate. but he's come up against a parliament that's willing to push back and willing to play hardball and take him on. and so far johnson seems to be losing to parliament. >> was there -- looking back on
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it, have we hit this point because of johnson's missteps? did he have -- did he make some strategic mistakes getting to here? >> some say that. some still believe that he has planned all this with the help of dominic cummings, his svengali, it's all a clever grand strategy that will ultimately lead to potentially a no-deal brexit and indeed an election where they believe johnson would increase his majority and be empowered. but i think also to take a step back, remember this has been a political crisis of more than three years which also mired his predecessor, theresa may. the bottom line is that brexit put britain in terrible shape and really still parliament is struggling to deal with that.
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>> david, i was here when the final brexit vote count came out and it was the breaking news this hour. ended up doing extra coverage on it. and i remember sitting there thinking that night they're going to have to have another vote once they see what the deal is, whenever there is that divorce deal, the country will have to have another vote on that. seemed obvious to me. but we're not there yet. david smith, thank you very much for joining us tonight. really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and when we come back, we have breaking news. we're going to have the latest on hurricane dorian's path. the latest announcement is coming up just in a few minutes from the national weather trackers about exactly what the latest track is. we'll be right back with that. we'll be right back with that. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job
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or... not. at bp, we see possibilities everywhere. to help the world keep advancing. hour 36 in the stakeout. as soon as the homeowners arrive, we'll inform them that liberty mutual customizes home insurance, so they'll only pay for what they need. your turn to keep watch, limu. wake me up if you see anything. [ snoring ] [ loud squawking and siren blaring ] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ breaking news. let's go right to nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill? >> lawrence, it's back to a category 3, major hurricane. dorian has increased in intensity just a little bit, up to 115-mile-per-hour max winds. and if anyone has yet to
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evacuate in eastern north carolina, you don't have much time left. in south carolina it's probably too late. hopefully everyone listening to their emergency managers. still slow moving at 7 miles per hour. the heavy rains moving on the coast. we're tracking the eye here. and we're mostly now going in a northerly direction. and due north is charleston, myrtle beach, wilmington, and all of eastern north carolina. and you are in the path. as far as the new forecast goes from the hurricane center, this is it. major category 3 storm. only roughly about 100 miles away from charleston. it goes north overnight. by early tomorrow morning still a major category 3. and then paralleling the coastline. possibly making a landfall here into the cape fear river. the wrightsville beach area wilmington. at that point winds would likely be about 105 to 110. and if you go through the eye you could have gusts to 120 miles per hour. that's in areas of wilmington, north carolina possible tomorrow, lawrence. >> bill karins, thank you very much for updating us. really appreciate it. that is tonight's "the last word." "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts right now.
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tonight an and apparently with the stroke of a sharpie an attempt by the white house to rewrite weather history as we all look on. but as we say about so much of what we cover around here, we've never seen anything like this. that also goes for the exhausted professionals at the national weather service. plus, after a summer off, house democrats are demanding the administration turn over documents about the president dangling pardons to officials who break the law in the border crackdown. and the house republicans heading for the exits. two more today, including a 40-year veteran. what do they think might be on the way in 2020? all of it as "the 11th hour" gets under way on this wednesday night. well-g evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 958 of the trump administration. and in plain english, the first reaction a whole lot of
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