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(dramatic music)
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- I don't think there's
anything more basic
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to American citizenship as
accepting not the privilege,
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but the responsibility to vote.
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(upbeat music)
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- The American people are divided.
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- And there seems to be
so little accountability
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for brazen misstatements of fact and law.
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- It couldn't be more true
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that democracy depends
on good information,
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- Their views of what is
proper for the government
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to do or not do are important.
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- The election for the
president is not actually
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a national election,
it's 50 state elections.
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It produces a two party system.
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It certainly has worked
well up to this point.
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I'm not sure it's working
now, because it's splintering.
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- The peaceful transfer of
authority is rare in history.
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- [Man] The American
people can remain confident
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in the resilience of our financial system.
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- Make America great again!
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- There are two great aspects of America,
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that it's a democracy,
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and that it's a free
competitive marketplace.
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- The heart of a democracy,
I've always felt,
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is the First Amendment.
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Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly,
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et cetera, et cetera.
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(upbeat music)
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- [Narrator] The 2016
presidential election
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made millions of American
doubt the process
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used to elect our leaders,
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creating questions as to the legitimacy
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of the election's outcome.
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- The current state of our
electoral system is in shambles.
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- [Narrator] When the winning candidate
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loses the popular vote by
over two million votes,
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average Americans began to
wonder why they bother to vote.
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Does their vote actually
make a difference?
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- I think we're into a
essentially unregulated realm.
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The federal election law is Swiss cheese.
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- We have to have an honest selection,
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and if it's not going to
be an honest election,
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I guess people have to sit down and think
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really long and hard about it.
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- I mean, if you look
at almost any measure
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of a healthy democracy or
a healthy electoral system,
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whether it's voter
participation rates of 50%,
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information that has integrity,
that's not good right now,
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Trust, and right now they
do not trust the system.
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By almost every measure we're hurting.
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- The greatest threat to our system
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of government is indifference.
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- If you participate and you
take the time to be informed
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about the issues, and
you actually turn out
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and your peers turn out,
you change the country.
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You do.
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It may not always happen
as fast as you'd like,
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but you'll change it.
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- [Narrator] Before Americans
even cast their vote,
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they have to make it through months
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of political ads on TV and social media.
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Ads that are paid for by
billionaires and Super PACs
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or by some source of funding
that can't be traced.
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- Democracy requires elections.
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Elections require money.
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- I think most people in America believe
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that their voices have
been eclipsed by big money,
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special interest, billionaires,
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and they really don't count.
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- The United States has
had, I'll call it issues
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with voting for quite a long time.
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- What we're seeing today is
a resurgence of the cold war,
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a resurgence of authoritarianism
versus democracy,
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dictatorship versus a democratic Republic.
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- The bedrock, the foundation
of our country, the Republic
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is our elections.
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- [Narrator] The 2016
election became ground zero
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for a democracy that had not kept up
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with the advances in technology.
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Social media and data harvesting
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allowed ads to be tailor-made
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to individual preferences and biases.
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Foreign governments used
fake news and disinformation
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to sow discord and chaos within
an already divided nation.
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Not only did American
elections come under attack,
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but so did democracy
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and the very nature of facts themselves.
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- The most effective way to
manipulate an American election
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is through disinformation.
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- So when we look at these platforms,
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Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter.
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- There is a growing need for some means
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for people to be able to sort
out what's actually true.
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- But we know that the
internet can be abused
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and it has been abused,
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and unless we're pay a lot
more attention in the future,
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it is gonna undermine our democracy.
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I'm optimistic we can
come up with an antidote,
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but we better start talking about it.
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- [Narrator] Can we still
trust American elections?
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- I really don't think that
you're gonna know anything
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on the evening, anything
meaningful or anything real
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on the evening of November 3rd.
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- [Man] We need to realize
that we're entering
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an incredibly dangerous
period in the history,
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not just of democracy,
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but of human society and civilization.
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- The real threat and the real concern
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is the slow but effective undermining
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of the idea that our election process
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is reliable and accurate.
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- There's a difference between
being skeptical and cynical.
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Skeptical is something we should all be,
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cynical is something we
should try not to be.
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Because if you're cynical,
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you just don't believe anything,
you don't trust anyone.
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- The data collection,
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and the failure to
regulate data collection
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enable you to be manipulated.
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- [Narrator] Democracy
is at a tipping point.
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We have stood by and watched
the greatest democracy on earth
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become at risk of failing.
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There can be no democracy without trust,
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no trust without knowledge,
no knowledge without truth.
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The freedom of speech
our democracy provides
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is being weaponized
against us in an attempt
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to destroy the very fabric of democracy
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that the United States was founded on.
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(dramatic music)
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- We really need to
stop and pay attention.
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This is not a political issue.
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- For anyone out there
today, young or old,
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they got to realize that
the stakes are higher
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than they ever have been.
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That we really are determining the future
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of civilization right now.
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- [Donald Trump] Thank you, God bless you.
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And God bless America.
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(dramatic music)
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- [Narrator] When over a
$1 billion dollarsare spent
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in an election that has
accusations of interference
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and illegitimacy, the
first question has to be,
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where did the money come from?
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Are campaign finance laws non-existent,
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or are they just not working?
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Is anybody even paying attention?
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(upbeat music)
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- [Man] The American
electoral system requires
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a huge amount of money in
order to properly communicate
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with the American people.
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It's an obscene amount of money,
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and nobody knows where it's coming from.
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How much is the right amount of money?
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I don't know,
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But if we were to try to
limit the amount of money,
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we would be limiting the
amount of information
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that people receive from the candidates.
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And that's not a good idea.
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- You can't have a democratic system
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without the money to fund campaigns.
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There are two ways to fund it.
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You fund it with private money,
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which is the system we have now,
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or you fund it with government money,
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which implies all kinds of
issues of control, bias,
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and regulation. that we've
never been willing to accept,
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with the one rare exception
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being the presidential funding system,
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which is now essentially defunct,
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because everyone ops out of that system.
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- If you're already a member of Congress,
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you are collecting funds,
you are collecting support
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and money from people
who favor what you do.
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Your opponent has to
start from ground zero.
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The opponent doesn't have any money,
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doesn't have a campaign manager,
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doesn't have the person who
creates television commercials
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unless the challenger can
raise these funds very quickly
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to compete with the incumbent.
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- [Narrator] In the 2016 election,
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Hillary Clinton raised $768 million.
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And Donald Trump raised $398 million.
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When you include house and Senate races,
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the grand total for that
election cycle was $6.5 billion.
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To put that into perspective,
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that's enough money to give
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every public school
teacher in America $2,000.
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(dramatic music)
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- with as much money as we
spend, the data suggests to me
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that correlation, i.e. correlation
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between the amount of money
we spend and the result
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is not causation.
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So in 2010, and this
is when I was fighting
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the so-called Millionaires
Amendment in the Supreme Court,
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successfully I might add,
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the conventional wisdom was,
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well, we can't allow
millionaires to come in
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and spend all their money and
skew the election results.
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And so in the oral argument,
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I presented the following statistic.
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Of the 58 people who self-funded in excess
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of $350,000 a year,
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which was the Millionaire's
Amendment threshold,
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11 of them won.
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- If you look at the amount
of money spent by a candidate,
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versus the amount of money
spent by another candidate,
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it's simply true that sometimes
the person that spends less
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can still win.
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- In the election of 2016,
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Hillary Clinton spent something
over $600 million dollars.
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President Trump's campaign
was about half that,
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about $300 million.
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The person who spent less was elected.
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- But there's a caveat there.
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Outspend him on traditional
dollar contributions.
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If you counted in Donald
Trump's free media,
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and remember the myths before 2016 was,
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you had to spend all your
money on TV and media
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to get elected.
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And Donald Trump put a hole in that.
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He did these press
conferences at Mar-a-Lago,
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where he went on for an hour and a half,
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and all the networks covered it.
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And the same night that Hillary Clinton
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was winning her primary,
she got six minutes.
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He got an hour and a half for free media,
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she got six minutes.
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So what is the impact of money?
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So people often ask, does
money matter in politics?
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And the answer is absolutely,
but you've got to identify
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what kind of money you're talking about.
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- The Supreme court issued
a ruling, Citizens United
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that allowed super PACs and
very wealthy individuals
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to just finance all these ads
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that you guys see on TV all the time.
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- [Announcer] America must stop China.
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And to stop China, you
have to stop Joe Biden.
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- [Announcer] Our country is in crisis.
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- We have the right to
do whatever we want.
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- [Announcer] And Donald
Trump is making it worse.
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- [Announcer] Joe Biden.
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- Times are tough, the man is weak.
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- Half the time nobody
knows who's funding them.
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And that makes you cynical,
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partly because most of this
money is spent on negative ads.
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And so you're just hearing constantly
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how horrible everybody is.
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That'll make you feel pretty bad
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about the political process.
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- Citizens United is a
case that basically found
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that because of the First Amendment
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protection for free speech,
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the Congress could not
restrict the amount of money
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that people can spend
expressing their views
258
00:11:59,070 --> 00:12:00,530
on candidates and issues.
259
00:12:00,530 --> 00:12:02,490
- One of the slogans that
comes out of the case
260
00:12:02,490 --> 00:12:04,310
is the thought that money is speech.
261
00:12:04,310 --> 00:12:06,750
And obviously money isn't exactly speech,
262
00:12:06,750 --> 00:12:09,270
but contributing to a political campaign
263
00:12:09,270 --> 00:12:10,520
is an expressive act,
264
00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:12,780
and the courts have long recognized that.
265
00:12:12,780 --> 00:12:15,690
So this isn't a new thing
from Citizens United.
266
00:12:15,690 --> 00:12:17,377
- Well, actually there was
a Supreme court decision
267
00:12:17,377 --> 00:12:20,670
that went all the way back to
1976 called Buckley V. Valeo
268
00:12:20,670 --> 00:12:22,760
which was the first case
that actually certed
269
00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:25,810
that the spending of money
in the context of elections
270
00:12:25,810 --> 00:12:27,550
was an act of speech,
because to have speech,
271
00:12:27,550 --> 00:12:29,070
you have to be able to spend money.
272
00:12:29,070 --> 00:12:30,010
You have to be able to buy ads,
273
00:12:30,010 --> 00:12:31,750
you have to be able to buy billboards
274
00:12:31,750 --> 00:12:33,140
or newspaper advertisements.
275
00:12:33,140 --> 00:12:35,190
And that therefore the
act of spending money
276
00:12:35,190 --> 00:12:36,993
was an act of facilitating speech.
277
00:12:38,950 --> 00:12:42,230
- Citizens United was a
corporation put together
278
00:12:42,230 --> 00:12:47,230
for the purpose of making
a campaign kind of film.
279
00:12:47,730 --> 00:12:51,770
It was a negative treatment
of Hillary Clinton.
280
00:12:51,770 --> 00:12:53,530
When the issue got to the Supreme court,
281
00:12:53,530 --> 00:12:55,810
and the Supreme Court said
they didn't see any reason
282
00:12:55,810 --> 00:12:59,801
why a corporation could not make a film
283
00:12:59,801 --> 00:13:03,500
favoring one or the other candidate.
284
00:13:03,500 --> 00:13:05,570
- That part I completely agree with,
285
00:13:05,570 --> 00:13:08,630
as a former publisher and editor.
286
00:13:08,630 --> 00:13:10,437
The second part of it said,
287
00:13:10,437 --> 00:13:13,557
"And therefore any money spent
288
00:13:13,557 --> 00:13:16,727
"producing content in the
context of an election
289
00:13:16,727 --> 00:13:18,990
"should be free and unlimited."
290
00:13:18,990 --> 00:13:21,880
Now that in itself is not a bad thing.
291
00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:23,733
What happened after Citizens United
292
00:13:23,733 --> 00:13:27,800
is that a group called Speech
Now came with a challenge,
293
00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:31,727
and they said, okay, "If
spending money on content
294
00:13:31,727 --> 00:13:34,547
"is an act of speech and
therefore should be unlimited,
295
00:13:34,547 --> 00:13:37,887
"then shouldn't contributions
to outside organizations
296
00:13:37,887 --> 00:13:39,287
"also be unlimited?"
297
00:13:40,140 --> 00:13:41,942
And in the Speech Now decision,
298
00:13:41,942 --> 00:13:44,350
the appellate court said yes,
299
00:13:44,350 --> 00:13:46,710
those contributions should be unlimited.
300
00:13:46,710 --> 00:13:48,520
That's what turned PACs,
301
00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:51,170
which initially had
caps on giving to them,
302
00:13:51,170 --> 00:13:53,343
into Super PACs, which had no limits.
303
00:13:54,470 --> 00:13:56,310
- [Narrator] A super
PAC is an independent,
304
00:13:56,310 --> 00:13:58,220
political action committee.
305
00:13:58,220 --> 00:14:02,560
In the 2016 election, there
were over 2300 Super PACs.
306
00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:06,110
Together they raised almost $1.8 billion.
307
00:14:06,110 --> 00:14:08,730
And while they can raise
unlimited amounts of money
308
00:14:08,730 --> 00:14:11,840
from corporations,
unions, and individuals,
309
00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:14,130
they are forbidden from
coordinating directly
310
00:14:14,130 --> 00:14:16,650
with campaigns and candidates.
311
00:14:16,650 --> 00:14:21,650
- We had a case during,
I guess it was 2012,
312
00:14:22,100 --> 00:14:26,880
where a candidate has
had a super PAC donor
313
00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:30,290
riding on the campaign plane with him,
314
00:14:30,290 --> 00:14:34,090
sitting in the seats
with the campaign aides,
315
00:14:34,090 --> 00:14:37,910
and contending that well, he
didn't have anything to do
316
00:14:37,910 --> 00:14:40,860
with coordinating his
expenditures with the candidate.
317
00:14:40,860 --> 00:14:43,370
Now, maybe that's true,
318
00:14:43,370 --> 00:14:46,930
but there was no way to
examine that and say,
319
00:14:46,930 --> 00:14:50,150
well, were are they
discussing campaign plans?
320
00:14:50,150 --> 00:14:53,190
Were people sharing ideas
321
00:14:53,190 --> 00:14:56,060
about where the money should be spent?
322
00:14:56,060 --> 00:15:01,060
So it's fraught area of
enforcement to say the least.
323
00:15:01,827 --> 00:15:04,750
- The super PAC money is
almost more about the threat
324
00:15:04,750 --> 00:15:07,520
of the super PAC, than the
actuality of it oftentimes.
325
00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:09,490
What that means is that
you'll have a lobbyist
326
00:15:09,490 --> 00:15:13,166
who will walk into a senator's
or a congressman's office,
327
00:15:13,166 --> 00:15:13,999
and they'll say,
328
00:15:13,999 --> 00:15:16,437
"well, our super PAC
fundraising is going well,
329
00:15:16,437 --> 00:15:18,600
"we've got $60 million in the super PAC."
330
00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:21,700
And then they'll have
the policy conversation
331
00:15:21,700 --> 00:15:23,430
with the congressman.
332
00:15:23,430 --> 00:15:24,450
But what effect do you think,
333
00:15:24,450 --> 00:15:26,664
what is going through
the congressman's mind
334
00:15:26,664 --> 00:15:29,230
when he or she has just heard
335
00:15:29,230 --> 00:15:31,478
that the lobbyists
sitting in front of them
336
00:15:31,478 --> 00:15:34,680
has a $60 million super PAC
that they can pull the trigger
337
00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:36,800
on whatever they want, right?
338
00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:38,410
You know what's going
through their mind, right?
339
00:15:38,410 --> 00:15:40,407
They're gonna listen a lot
to what that lobbyist wants
340
00:15:40,407 --> 00:15:41,760
and is saying to them.
341
00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:45,750
- I discard and disagree with the argument
342
00:15:45,750 --> 00:15:48,320
that it is bribery
343
00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:53,320
for a candidate to accept funds
344
00:15:53,490 --> 00:15:55,663
from an individual or a group,
345
00:15:56,950 --> 00:15:59,070
because that is bribing the candidate.
346
00:15:59,070 --> 00:16:04,000
The donors contribute to
them because their policies
347
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,850
are policies that the donors agree with.
348
00:16:07,850 --> 00:16:10,230
- If I were to write a check
349
00:16:10,230 --> 00:16:13,200
to a teacher who's about to grade my kid,
350
00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:15,010
people would say that's bribery.
351
00:16:15,010 --> 00:16:17,082
If I were to hand a $100 bill to a cop
352
00:16:17,082 --> 00:16:21,140
before they gave me a traffic ticket,
353
00:16:21,140 --> 00:16:22,360
they would claim that bribery.
354
00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:27,270
If I were to offer my car to a judge
355
00:16:27,270 --> 00:16:29,410
before I went before that judge,
356
00:16:29,410 --> 00:16:31,090
people would say that's bribery.
357
00:16:31,090 --> 00:16:36,090
So then when people make
contributions to politicians,
358
00:16:36,122 --> 00:16:38,530
what the court has said, which is in line
359
00:16:38,530 --> 00:16:40,710
with the common sense
of the American people,
360
00:16:40,710 --> 00:16:44,090
is that that is either a
potentially corrupting act
361
00:16:44,090 --> 00:16:47,650
or a corrupting act, and
therefore it needs to be limited.
362
00:16:47,650 --> 00:16:50,663
So when we talk about money as speech,
363
00:16:50,663 --> 00:16:54,370
what we need to realize is
that even the court today
364
00:16:54,370 --> 00:16:55,990
still accepts the notion that money
365
00:16:55,990 --> 00:16:58,270
is the transfer of property
366
00:16:58,270 --> 00:17:00,060
when it comes to making contributions
367
00:17:00,060 --> 00:17:02,590
directly to politicians themselves.
368
00:17:02,590 --> 00:17:05,830
Well, right now in DC,
and we were on K street
369
00:17:05,830 --> 00:17:09,360
here in Washington just two hours ago,
370
00:17:09,360 --> 00:17:14,220
dozens of politicians at
restaurants across this town
371
00:17:14,220 --> 00:17:17,350
had lunch with lobbyists
372
00:17:17,350 --> 00:17:21,697
who are representing the
industries that those politicians
373
00:17:21,697 --> 00:17:23,650
are supposed to be regulating,
374
00:17:23,650 --> 00:17:24,770
based on their committee assignments.
375
00:17:24,770 --> 00:17:29,040
So if I'm on the financial
services committee in the house,
376
00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:31,340
I would have just had lunch
with a bunch of bank lobbyists.
377
00:17:31,340 --> 00:17:33,850
And those bank lobbyists,
when they had lunch with me
378
00:17:33,850 --> 00:17:37,130
would have each committed
to pumping, to maxing out
379
00:17:37,130 --> 00:17:39,730
to my campaign, to
pumping the maximum amount
380
00:17:39,730 --> 00:17:41,891
into my campaign war chest.
381
00:17:41,891 --> 00:17:44,645
I think in the minds of most
Americans and certainly me,
382
00:17:44,645 --> 00:17:47,120
that is a profound conflict of interest,
383
00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:49,260
and that is transactional giving.
384
00:17:49,260 --> 00:17:50,940
I as a member of Congress am having lunch
385
00:17:50,940 --> 00:17:52,920
with the lobbyist I'm
supposed to be regulating,
386
00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:54,030
because they're giving me money,
387
00:17:54,030 --> 00:17:56,600
therefore they get this
full hearing before me
388
00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:59,270
in a way that your
average American wouldn't.
389
00:17:59,270 --> 00:18:00,530
And that is what distorts
390
00:18:00,530 --> 00:18:03,330
the policy making process in Washington.
391
00:18:03,330 --> 00:18:05,290
- [Narrator] While super PACs
have allowed for the giving
392
00:18:05,290 --> 00:18:08,960
of unlimited sums as an
exercise of free speech,
393
00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:11,700
there are also reporting
requirements that in theory
394
00:18:11,700 --> 00:18:15,940
should make it possible to
trace every dollar to its donor.
395
00:18:15,940 --> 00:18:18,210
Enter dark money.
396
00:18:18,210 --> 00:18:20,310
- So everyone's heard the term dark money.
397
00:18:20,310 --> 00:18:21,590
And a lot of people think that somehow
398
00:18:21,590 --> 00:18:23,250
super PACs are dark money.
399
00:18:23,250 --> 00:18:24,083
Well, that's not true.
400
00:18:24,083 --> 00:18:27,630
Actually, super PACs have to
disclose all of their donors,
401
00:18:27,630 --> 00:18:29,330
but what's going on right now
402
00:18:29,330 --> 00:18:30,970
is that people are pumping dark money
403
00:18:30,970 --> 00:18:34,130
into super PACs through corporations.
404
00:18:34,130 --> 00:18:36,335
A group of people will
set up a corporation
405
00:18:36,335 --> 00:18:38,080
in the state of Delaware.
406
00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:41,270
Let's just call it the Blue Carpet, LLC.
407
00:18:41,270 --> 00:18:43,360
That corporation all of a
sudden it has money in it,
408
00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:44,530
you don't know where the money came from,
409
00:18:44,530 --> 00:18:47,961
because you can't ask for that
from the state of Delaware.
410
00:18:47,961 --> 00:18:51,310
And then that corporation
will make a donation
411
00:18:51,310 --> 00:18:52,520
to a Super PAC.
412
00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:55,934
The Super PAC then has
to disclose its donors.
413
00:18:55,934 --> 00:18:58,130
Among those donors,
it'll disclose the fact
414
00:18:58,130 --> 00:19:01,040
that a certain corporation or
corporations has given money.
415
00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:03,600
And then, right after the election,
416
00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:05,440
the corporation that
gave the Super PAC money
417
00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:07,400
will collapse itself.
418
00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,140
And so you could have 10, 20, $30 million
419
00:19:10,140 --> 00:19:12,600
going into Super PAC through a corporation
420
00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:14,220
or various corporations
that are here today
421
00:19:14,220 --> 00:19:15,310
and gone tomorrow.
422
00:19:15,310 --> 00:19:17,220
And that's a new form of dark money.
423
00:19:17,220 --> 00:19:18,680
- You really don't know the source.
424
00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:21,460
But I think contributors
to these Super PACs
425
00:19:21,460 --> 00:19:23,860
within 24 hours of their contribution,
426
00:19:23,860 --> 00:19:24,993
their names ought to be published,
427
00:19:24,993 --> 00:19:26,653
ought to be available on the internet,
428
00:19:26,653 --> 00:19:29,340
that people can see who's
giving what to whom.
429
00:19:29,340 --> 00:19:30,873
Does that affect free speech?
430
00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:34,818
Well, it's free and open speech.
431
00:19:34,818 --> 00:19:38,970
It's corrosive if people were
allowed to affect the outcomes
432
00:19:38,970 --> 00:19:41,160
without knowing where the
criticisms are coming from.
433
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:42,890
If you're gonna give to a candidate,
434
00:19:42,890 --> 00:19:45,470
you have to be prepared to be
identified with a candidate.
435
00:19:45,470 --> 00:19:47,640
And frankly from the
candidate's point of view,
436
00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,570
if you're gonna accept money
in support of your campaign,
437
00:19:50,570 --> 00:19:51,733
but you're unwilling,
438
00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:56,690
if you're unwilling to acknowledge
that that was the source
439
00:19:58,064 --> 00:20:01,320
of the donation, then
you shouldn't take it.
440
00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:02,410
Period.
441
00:20:02,410 --> 00:20:04,710
So I'm a strongly believer, obviously,
442
00:20:04,710 --> 00:20:06,860
in transparency across the board.
443
00:20:06,860 --> 00:20:11,017
I often like to joke that
money in politics right now
444
00:20:11,017 --> 00:20:12,710
isn't even like the Wild West,
445
00:20:12,710 --> 00:20:15,540
because in the Wild
West they had sheriffs.
446
00:20:15,540 --> 00:20:18,220
Right now there is no sheriff.
447
00:20:18,220 --> 00:20:19,610
There's entity in Washington called
448
00:20:19,610 --> 00:20:22,115
the Federal Election Commission, the FEC.
449
00:20:22,115 --> 00:20:25,760
The commission itself is incapable
450
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,370
of making any significant decisions
451
00:20:28,370 --> 00:20:30,550
that can instruct the lawyers of the FEC
452
00:20:30,550 --> 00:20:33,745
of what cases to pursue
and how to pursue 'em.
453
00:20:33,745 --> 00:20:36,370
- [Narrator] The FEC is
made up of six commissioners
454
00:20:36,370 --> 00:20:39,640
who oversee campaign finance
laws and enforcement.
455
00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:43,040
Four votes are required to
take any official action.
456
00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,060
Since January 2017,
457
00:20:45,060 --> 00:20:47,530
there have only been three commissioners,
458
00:20:47,530 --> 00:20:51,120
meaning that no enforcement
actions can be taken.
459
00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:54,220
And if the FEC did have six commissioners,
460
00:20:54,220 --> 00:20:56,270
since no more than three commissioners
461
00:20:56,270 --> 00:20:58,110
can be of the same party,
462
00:20:58,110 --> 00:21:00,861
there's already a built-in deadlock.
463
00:21:00,861 --> 00:21:04,870
- The FEC was the basic
regulatory body formed
464
00:21:04,870 --> 00:21:07,020
in the wake of the Watergate scandal
465
00:21:07,020 --> 00:21:09,610
to regulate campaign finance
466
00:21:09,610 --> 00:21:12,750
and to attempt to put some
disclosure requirements
467
00:21:12,750 --> 00:21:17,640
and some limits on individual
campaign donations.
468
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:20,140
And that part of the system still exists,
469
00:21:20,140 --> 00:21:22,010
even after Citizens United.
470
00:21:22,010 --> 00:21:26,630
The FEC is responsible for
enforcing that provision
471
00:21:26,630 --> 00:21:28,170
of the campaign finance law
472
00:21:28,170 --> 00:21:32,170
that prohibits foreign money being used
473
00:21:32,170 --> 00:21:36,820
to underwrite contributions
or expenditures
474
00:21:36,820 --> 00:21:39,260
in federal elections.
475
00:21:39,260 --> 00:21:41,820
It has a good deal of responsibility there
476
00:21:41,820 --> 00:21:44,348
to identify what money
should be identified
477
00:21:44,348 --> 00:21:47,760
as foreign-sourced.
478
00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:51,640
For example, should a American subsidiary
479
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:56,638
of a foreign corporation be able to spend
480
00:21:56,638 --> 00:21:59,660
corporate funds in our elections?
481
00:21:59,660 --> 00:22:01,670
- The Foreign Agents Registration Act
482
00:22:01,670 --> 00:22:05,550
was passed in the '30s, because
the government was fearful
483
00:22:05,550 --> 00:22:07,730
that the Nazi regime in Germany
484
00:22:07,730 --> 00:22:10,290
was interfering in US policy making.
485
00:22:10,290 --> 00:22:11,880
And so they passed a law that said,
486
00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:13,890
if you're going to propagandize
487
00:22:13,890 --> 00:22:16,650
or engage in political activity
within the United States,
488
00:22:16,650 --> 00:22:18,660
and you're controlled
by a foreign principle,
489
00:22:18,660 --> 00:22:20,250
you're gonna register and report.
490
00:22:20,250 --> 00:22:22,400
So that goes back back to the '30s.
491
00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:24,230
That's been with us at
least since the '30s.
492
00:22:24,230 --> 00:22:26,990
In fact, one of the biggest
fears the framers had
493
00:22:26,990 --> 00:22:29,690
was foreign interference in our system.
494
00:22:29,690 --> 00:22:33,164
- And foreign money is by its
very nature unaccountable.
495
00:22:33,164 --> 00:22:38,156
It will be used to achieve
a foreign government's
496
00:22:38,156 --> 00:22:43,110
or entity's political
desires in this country.
497
00:22:44,970 --> 00:22:48,310
If we want to keep the
integrity of our elections,
498
00:22:48,310 --> 00:22:51,450
keeping foreign money out should
be a priority for the FEC.
499
00:22:51,450 --> 00:22:54,680
- Looking simply at the FEC to do its job,
500
00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:55,690
it's too big of a task.
501
00:22:55,690 --> 00:22:56,870
There are too many dollars involved,
502
00:22:56,870 --> 00:22:58,290
too many campaigns involved.
503
00:22:58,290 --> 00:23:02,440
- The void has been filled by the states.
504
00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:06,010
Certain attorneys
general in larger states,
505
00:23:06,010 --> 00:23:07,540
New York, California, and others
506
00:23:07,540 --> 00:23:09,220
have attempted to fill the void.
507
00:23:09,220 --> 00:23:11,440
- I don't think the FEC
is particularly important,
508
00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:15,823
except for publishing information
509
00:23:15,823 --> 00:23:17,940
about who's contributing.
510
00:23:17,940 --> 00:23:21,970
- The FEC has essentially been neutered,
511
00:23:21,970 --> 00:23:24,750
really for several decades.
512
00:23:24,750 --> 00:23:27,140
- Right now the
commissioners are appointed
513
00:23:27,140 --> 00:23:30,370
based on partisanship,
based on whether or not
514
00:23:30,370 --> 00:23:32,000
they're a democrat or republican.
515
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,190
But what you end up with is
hyper-partisanship, right?
516
00:23:35,190 --> 00:23:36,980
Which makes it very
hard for the commission
517
00:23:36,980 --> 00:23:39,000
to come to any agreement on anything.
518
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,010
So let's just de-politicize it.
519
00:23:41,010 --> 00:23:44,100
Let's just call it for what it
is, which is law enforcement,
520
00:23:44,100 --> 00:23:45,590
and that should never be political.
521
00:23:45,590 --> 00:23:49,765
- Every alphabet agency that you can name
522
00:23:49,765 --> 00:23:53,207
SEC, FCC, FTC,
523
00:23:53,207 --> 00:23:58,202
on and on, and on and on,
has a majority of one party
524
00:23:58,202 --> 00:24:02,563
that can enforce the
will of that commission.
525
00:24:02,563 --> 00:24:06,310
The FEC stood out alone as evenly split,
526
00:24:06,310 --> 00:24:10,273
because the Congress in
its wisdom back in 1976,
527
00:24:10,273 --> 00:24:13,590
'74, and then '76 decided
528
00:24:13,590 --> 00:24:17,200
they didn't want one party to have sway
529
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,460
over the fate of the other party
530
00:24:20,460 --> 00:24:24,630
in sensitive matters
involving federal elections.
531
00:24:24,630 --> 00:24:27,960
So they built in the
potential for stalemate,
532
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:29,250
even though in the early years,
533
00:24:29,250 --> 00:24:31,390
there was much more bipartisanship.
534
00:24:31,390 --> 00:24:34,890
- The issues associated in my mind
535
00:24:34,890 --> 00:24:37,110
with the billions of dollars involved
536
00:24:37,110 --> 00:24:40,530
in national and state, and local elections
537
00:24:40,530 --> 00:24:45,280
is far beyond the FEC to control.
538
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,770
I'd like to see the regulations
enforced from time to time
539
00:24:48,770 --> 00:24:51,160
that you do see some enforcement actions.
540
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:55,587
I still think the most
significant antidote
541
00:24:55,587 --> 00:24:58,890
to excessive amounts of money
542
00:24:58,890 --> 00:25:02,140
in the political system is sunlight.
543
00:25:02,140 --> 00:25:03,570
Sunlight.
544
00:25:03,570 --> 00:25:06,830
- Disclosure is important,
because it lets people know
545
00:25:06,830 --> 00:25:08,630
who's putting up the money.
546
00:25:08,630 --> 00:25:12,830
And that is critical for
citizens to understand
547
00:25:12,830 --> 00:25:14,570
the messaging that they're getting.
548
00:25:14,570 --> 00:25:16,560
Who's behind the messaging?
549
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:18,020
Do they have an ax to grind?
550
00:25:18,020 --> 00:25:18,883
Who are they?
551
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:24,900
That law, that requirement is extant.
552
00:25:24,900 --> 00:25:28,130
It's not been changed by Citizens United.
553
00:25:28,130 --> 00:25:32,160
Now, has it been enforced
as vigorously as it might?
554
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:33,460
No.
555
00:25:33,460 --> 00:25:35,340
And because of the internet,
556
00:25:35,340 --> 00:25:38,600
and because of the
digitalization of our world,
557
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:42,040
it's harder and harder to
pierce the veil and get to that.
558
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:44,220
That doesn't mean you can't.
559
00:25:44,220 --> 00:25:45,960
It means it's harder.
560
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:49,160
Special counsel Bob
Mueller pierce the veil
561
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,792
and found Russian GRU agents
562
00:25:52,792 --> 00:25:57,020
behind the expenditures that
were made on the internet
563
00:25:57,020 --> 00:25:58,549
and indicted them.
564
00:25:58,549 --> 00:26:01,110
And now the department has dismissed
565
00:26:01,110 --> 00:26:03,520
that for a lot of other reasons.
566
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:05,870
- It's pretty clear
that billions of dollars
567
00:26:05,870 --> 00:26:08,920
are being spent influencing opinions.
568
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:12,500
And yet the ultimate
recipient, the ultimate viewer,
569
00:26:12,500 --> 00:26:16,010
the ultimate voter has no
idea who's paying for the ads.
570
00:26:16,010 --> 00:26:18,680
And I think the voter's entitled to know.
571
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,220
- Now that fight is still
going on in the courts,
572
00:26:21,220 --> 00:26:24,130
because there are people
who are suggesting
573
00:26:24,130 --> 00:26:27,037
that anonymity should be
part of the First Amendment.
574
00:26:27,037 --> 00:26:29,780
And that if you want to give money,
575
00:26:29,780 --> 00:26:31,170
and you want to shield your identity,
576
00:26:31,170 --> 00:26:33,520
because you don't want
people picketing your house
577
00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,710
and you don't want people
making threats against you,
578
00:26:36,710 --> 00:26:39,783
that it should be private.
579
00:26:40,770 --> 00:26:42,680
That's a debate we're gonna have.
580
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:47,680
- I'm quite concerned about the
way that people are attacked
581
00:26:49,460 --> 00:26:51,530
for making political contributions.
582
00:26:51,530 --> 00:26:54,720
I think this is really shameful,
583
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:57,850
and something that shouldn't
happen in our system.
584
00:26:57,850 --> 00:27:00,400
- We're getting further and further away
585
00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:04,615
from respecting legitimate
differences of opinion
586
00:27:04,615 --> 00:27:05,550
and political philosophy
587
00:27:05,550 --> 00:27:06,383
It's very troubling to me.
588
00:27:06,383 --> 00:27:09,230
- There was a famous case with Target.
589
00:27:09,230 --> 00:27:13,690
Target gave money to a
candidate in Minnesota who was,
590
00:27:13,690 --> 00:27:16,400
I guess, anti gay marriage.
591
00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:18,400
And that got publicized.
592
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:22,797
And somebody organized the
boycott of Target and said,
593
00:27:22,797 --> 00:27:23,797
"We disagree with you.
594
00:27:23,797 --> 00:27:25,347
"We don't like you funding a candidate
595
00:27:25,347 --> 00:27:27,530
"who's against gay marriage."
596
00:27:27,530 --> 00:27:29,830
Target withdrew.
597
00:27:29,830 --> 00:27:32,850
- I don't know how any
organization or individual
598
00:27:32,850 --> 00:27:37,527
in their own mind can say, "I
really support this candidate.
599
00:27:37,527 --> 00:27:39,547
"I believe in this candidate,
600
00:27:39,547 --> 00:27:44,137
"but I don't want my name
attached to a contribution
601
00:27:44,137 --> 00:27:45,830
"to that candidate."
602
00:27:45,830 --> 00:27:49,390
I think it's shameful,
I think it's gutless.
603
00:27:49,390 --> 00:27:51,600
And if you're not willing to be associated
604
00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:54,120
with the financial
support of the candidate,
605
00:27:54,120 --> 00:27:55,527
then that candidate shouldn't take it,
606
00:27:55,527 --> 00:27:56,973
and you shouldn't offer it.
607
00:27:58,077 --> 00:28:01,372
I'm not stepping on
anybody's free speech rights.
608
00:28:01,372 --> 00:28:05,150
But if you're gonna throw
campaign money against me,
609
00:28:05,150 --> 00:28:07,610
I'm entitled to know who my opponent is,
610
00:28:07,610 --> 00:28:09,650
and not just the one on the ballot,
611
00:28:09,650 --> 00:28:11,260
but is also funding that campaign.
612
00:28:11,260 --> 00:28:15,090
And so are those voters in
my district, or jurisdiction.
613
00:28:15,090 --> 00:28:17,300
They're entitled to know who doesn't think
614
00:28:17,300 --> 00:28:19,210
I'm qualified for this job.
615
00:28:19,210 --> 00:28:22,200
- It might hinder your
ability to say certain things
616
00:28:23,230 --> 00:28:27,684
if you have to worry about
it getting widely reported,
617
00:28:27,684 --> 00:28:29,709
the things that you say in the think.
618
00:28:30,757 --> 00:28:34,720
But on the other hand, Congress
has a really good reason
619
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:36,530
for wanting to identify
620
00:28:36,530 --> 00:28:38,767
who's contributing to campaigns.
621
00:28:38,767 --> 00:28:41,970
- And the example of 2016,
622
00:28:41,970 --> 00:28:44,636
if every ad
623
00:28:44,636 --> 00:28:47,744
or a political statement
624
00:28:47,744 --> 00:28:51,310
that the Russians put
into the system had to be
625
00:28:51,310 --> 00:28:52,941
substitute to a disclaimer,
626
00:28:52,941 --> 00:28:54,677
"This message was furnished
627
00:28:54,677 --> 00:28:57,670
"by the Internet Research Agency,"
628
00:28:57,670 --> 00:29:02,670
which was a cover for GRU agents.
629
00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:06,040
Then people would know, "Oh,
that comes from Russia."
630
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:09,610
In the absence of that, you
don't know where it comes from.
631
00:29:09,610 --> 00:29:14,610
- Facebook, Google charge for ads
632
00:29:15,090 --> 00:29:18,330
like most of the social media platforms.
633
00:29:18,330 --> 00:29:22,413
And foreign money being used
634
00:29:22,413 --> 00:29:25,488
to place ads on those mediums
635
00:29:25,488 --> 00:29:28,290
should be subject to policing
636
00:29:28,290 --> 00:29:30,290
by the Federal Election Commission.
637
00:29:30,290 --> 00:29:31,440
- It's against the law.
638
00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:32,830
It's always been against the law.
639
00:29:32,830 --> 00:29:35,800
The question is, is it being enforced?
640
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:37,994
And how difficult is it to enforce
641
00:29:37,994 --> 00:29:42,400
under the current technological
situation that have?
642
00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:44,980
- [Narrator] Direct foreign
contributions are illegal,
643
00:29:44,980 --> 00:29:47,830
but that isn't the only
use of foreign money.
644
00:29:47,830 --> 00:29:49,900
In fact, the other uses of foreign money
645
00:29:49,900 --> 00:29:51,640
are much more dangerous.
646
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:54,560
It funds attacks on our
nation's voting systems,
647
00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:58,540
and powers the disinformation
machine using social media,
648
00:29:58,540 --> 00:30:02,316
shaking the very bedrock
of democracy and truth.
649
00:30:02,316 --> 00:30:04,910
- Well, it's a shame what's
happened with the FBI,
650
00:30:04,910 --> 00:30:08,100
but we're gonna rebuild the FBI.
651
00:30:08,100 --> 00:30:09,660
It'll be bigger and better than ever,
652
00:30:09,660 --> 00:30:12,500
but it is very sad when you
look at those documents,
653
00:30:12,500 --> 00:30:16,350
and how they've done that
really, really disgraceful.
654
00:30:16,350 --> 00:30:20,110
President and Putin was
extremely strong and powerful
655
00:30:20,110 --> 00:30:21,500
in his denial today.
656
00:30:21,500 --> 00:30:22,880
There's no Russia.
657
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:25,010
It was all made up by the democrats.
658
00:30:25,010 --> 00:30:27,160
They're the ones that
colluded with Russia.
659
00:30:28,516 --> 00:30:30,720
The democrats colluded with Russia.
660
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:35,040
My people came to me, Dan Coats
came to me and some others.
661
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:37,330
They said they think it's Russia.
662
00:30:37,330 --> 00:30:39,243
I have president Putin.
663
00:30:40,220 --> 00:30:42,260
He just said it's not Russia.
664
00:30:42,260 --> 00:30:44,250
I will say this, I don't see any reason
665
00:30:44,250 --> 00:30:45,820
why it would be.
666
00:30:45,820 --> 00:30:47,750
- [Man] Was there Russian interference?
667
00:30:47,750 --> 00:30:51,150
- Yes, there was interference
in the 2016 election.
668
00:30:51,150 --> 00:30:54,370
- Clearly, unequivocally, absolutely,
669
00:30:54,370 --> 00:30:55,580
there was Russian interference.
670
00:30:55,580 --> 00:30:59,780
The intelligence community
and the Senate reports
671
00:30:59,780 --> 00:31:01,960
have all agreed with that conclusion.
672
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:05,030
I rely on special counsel Mueller
673
00:31:05,030 --> 00:31:07,230
and the Senate Intelligence Committee,
674
00:31:07,230 --> 00:31:09,520
and the intelligence establishment
675
00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:11,610
and the director of national intelligence,
676
00:31:11,610 --> 00:31:14,710
and everybody else who
said, "Yes, there was."
677
00:31:14,710 --> 00:31:17,130
- It was a disgrace to the FBI,
678
00:31:17,130 --> 00:31:19,250
it was a disgrace to our country.
679
00:31:19,250 --> 00:31:21,550
The Russian investigation is a hoax.
680
00:31:21,550 --> 00:31:23,220
It's a phony hoax.
681
00:31:23,220 --> 00:31:25,030
That was a total witch hunt.
682
00:31:25,030 --> 00:31:27,620
Thank you very much, everybody, thank you.
683
00:31:27,620 --> 00:31:30,530
- I regret that the
president of United States
684
00:31:30,530 --> 00:31:33,610
rejected the universal conclusion
685
00:31:33,610 --> 00:31:37,755
that the Russians attempted to influence
686
00:31:37,755 --> 00:31:42,350
the outcome of the 2016
presidential election.
687
00:31:42,350 --> 00:31:45,916
It's undeniable, and I
regret that our president
688
00:31:45,916 --> 00:31:48,423
has refused to acknowledge that publicly.
689
00:31:49,660 --> 00:31:52,260
- When we deny that Russia is a threat
690
00:31:52,260 --> 00:31:55,040
to our election infrastructure
within our states,
691
00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:57,980
and therefore potentially
within our federal government,
692
00:31:57,980 --> 00:32:00,690
then we're denying
reality and we're actually
693
00:32:00,690 --> 00:32:04,930
further strengthening
the ability of Russia,
694
00:32:04,930 --> 00:32:09,930
and other nation States to
interfere with our democracy.
695
00:32:10,100 --> 00:32:13,320
- I met every day for several years,
696
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:16,270
every morning in the White
House with the President,
697
00:32:16,270 --> 00:32:19,000
the Vice President, the Attorney General,
698
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,080
the FBI Director, yours truly,
and a bunch of other people,
699
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:22,700
just to talk about terrorist threats.
700
00:32:22,700 --> 00:32:23,670
And there were broader issues,
701
00:32:23,670 --> 00:32:26,750
but that was part of the
conversation I was involved in.
702
00:32:26,750 --> 00:32:28,602
I know about Mueller.
703
00:32:28,602 --> 00:32:30,860
I'd never questioned the man's integrity,
704
00:32:30,860 --> 00:32:32,830
don't question the man's patriotism.
705
00:32:32,830 --> 00:32:34,280
I don't question his character.
706
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:35,869
I don't question his intelligence.
707
00:32:35,869 --> 00:32:37,480
Bob Mueller and this group,
708
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:39,280
along with the intelligence community said
709
00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:42,290
the Russians interfered
in the 2016 election.
710
00:32:42,290 --> 00:32:43,693
Take it to the bank.
711
00:32:44,990 --> 00:32:45,823
They did.
712
00:32:47,020 --> 00:32:48,730
- [Narrator] After the
intelligence community
713
00:32:48,730 --> 00:32:50,750
discovered the attempts made by Russia
714
00:32:50,750 --> 00:32:53,390
to influence the 2016 election,
715
00:32:53,390 --> 00:32:55,710
the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence
716
00:32:55,710 --> 00:32:59,465
began an investigation that
produced a five volume report
717
00:32:59,465 --> 00:33:03,460
detailing Russian
interference efforts in 2016,
718
00:33:03,460 --> 00:33:05,760
the response by American authorities,
719
00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:08,270
and the continued efforts
that Russia has made
720
00:33:08,270 --> 00:33:10,860
heading into the 2020 election.
721
00:33:10,860 --> 00:33:13,940
- The first key finding
is that Russia engaged
722
00:33:13,940 --> 00:33:18,940
in interference efforts
attempts from 2014 to 2017
723
00:33:19,620 --> 00:33:23,460
in the U.S. electoral
process and systems.
724
00:33:23,460 --> 00:33:24,520
I think it's really important
725
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:26,140
to point out that this key finding
726
00:33:26,140 --> 00:33:30,230
of a legislative committee was bipartisan.
727
00:33:30,230 --> 00:33:32,970
- The Bipartisan Senate
intelligence report
728
00:33:32,970 --> 00:33:37,010
that was issued, volume one
of the report in July of 2019,
729
00:33:37,010 --> 00:33:41,000
identify these efforts
that Russia had gone to
730
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,510
to actually attack all 50 States
731
00:33:43,510 --> 00:33:45,910
in election systems infrastructure.
732
00:33:45,910 --> 00:33:47,480
And the US is unique in that
733
00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:49,670
we have our federal and states rights.
734
00:33:49,670 --> 00:33:51,630
And the states run the elections..
735
00:33:51,630 --> 00:33:53,790
Even the presidential election is run
736
00:33:53,790 --> 00:33:56,960
through states elections offices.
737
00:33:56,960 --> 00:34:00,500
We saw testing here,
and we saw infiltrations
738
00:34:00,500 --> 00:34:01,850
of most of the systems.
739
00:34:01,850 --> 00:34:03,820
However, there was no evidence that votes,
740
00:34:03,820 --> 00:34:06,300
or election systems for election tallies
741
00:34:06,300 --> 00:34:07,750
were actually altered.
742
00:34:07,750 --> 00:34:09,540
But we know that
something that was started
743
00:34:09,540 --> 00:34:12,420
in at least as early as
2014 by the Russians,
744
00:34:12,420 --> 00:34:15,110
and by the Russian
Internet Research Agency,
745
00:34:15,110 --> 00:34:18,660
and we know is continuing
at least through 2017.
746
00:34:18,660 --> 00:34:21,430
- If you're looking to change
the outcome of an election,
747
00:34:21,430 --> 00:34:26,390
you can manipulate the
machines a little bit.
748
00:34:26,390 --> 00:34:29,010
So that's a kinetic threat,
and I think that's real.
749
00:34:29,010 --> 00:34:31,620
I think the bigger
threat is disinformation.
750
00:34:31,620 --> 00:34:33,300
- It has never been proven
751
00:34:33,300 --> 00:34:35,080
that there's been a successful hack
752
00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:37,290
that's manipulated the vote count.
753
00:34:37,290 --> 00:34:39,734
The bigger thing is
happening in our elections
754
00:34:39,734 --> 00:34:41,820
is that you've got foreign players
755
00:34:41,820 --> 00:34:46,820
like Russia, China, and Iran
that have every interest
756
00:34:47,460 --> 00:34:50,580
in trying to manipulate the
minds of the American voters
757
00:34:50,580 --> 00:34:53,650
through social media,
through propaganda campaigns,
758
00:34:53,650 --> 00:34:55,180
through content.
759
00:34:55,180 --> 00:34:59,770
And that manipulation
can be just as effective
760
00:34:59,770 --> 00:35:02,903
as actually going into a machine
and hacking the vote count.
761
00:35:04,900 --> 00:35:06,960
- There was an active campaign
762
00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:11,910
by the Russian Internet
Research Agency, the IRA,
763
00:35:11,910 --> 00:35:15,520
to manipulate the results of the US vote
764
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:20,460
through disinformation on
social media platforms.
765
00:35:20,460 --> 00:35:24,800
One of the main goals here
was really to sow discord.
766
00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:27,410
These active measures that Russia took
767
00:35:27,410 --> 00:35:29,650
to manipulate our election results
768
00:35:29,650 --> 00:35:34,090
were intended to really create
a divide within our society.
769
00:35:34,090 --> 00:35:37,500
To play upon our society's greatest fears,
770
00:35:37,500 --> 00:35:40,563
greatest weaknesses, and
to use our own strengths,
771
00:35:40,563 --> 00:35:43,640
the freedom of speech and our
right to communicate openly
772
00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:46,580
and express political dissent against us.
773
00:35:46,580 --> 00:35:49,652
And they did this through
a series of trolls,
774
00:35:49,652 --> 00:35:52,923
individuals who were intentionally
spreading information.
775
00:35:52,923 --> 00:35:55,140
They did it through bots, right?
776
00:35:55,140 --> 00:35:57,270
Automated accounts that weren't real,
777
00:35:57,270 --> 00:35:59,730
but they were fake
personas and fake people.
778
00:35:59,730 --> 00:36:02,394
And they also did it
through unwitting Americans
779
00:36:02,394 --> 00:36:06,160
who weren't aware that they
were spreading disinformation
780
00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:08,343
and intentionally manipulative messaging.
781
00:36:09,740 --> 00:36:11,647
- So there are all kinds of
disinformation out there,
782
00:36:11,647 --> 00:36:13,870
which includes everything
from the Russians
783
00:36:13,870 --> 00:36:18,200
propping up Facebook accounts,
and then trying to act
784
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:19,630
like they're either Black Lives Matter
785
00:36:19,630 --> 00:36:21,340
or act like they're a
white nationalist group
786
00:36:21,340 --> 00:36:23,325
and getting those groups to come and clash
787
00:36:23,325 --> 00:36:25,780
in public parks throughout the country,
788
00:36:25,780 --> 00:36:28,310
which did actually happen in 2016.
789
00:36:28,310 --> 00:36:30,910
Where you can talk about
all of the fake news
790
00:36:30,910 --> 00:36:33,540
that's out there, I'll give
you one really good example.
791
00:36:33,540 --> 00:36:37,800
In 2016, millions of Americans
792
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:40,830
were told one day that the Pope
793
00:36:40,830 --> 00:36:44,303
had endorsed Donald
Trump as president, okay?
794
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:47,060
Now, first of all, Popes don't do that.
795
00:36:47,060 --> 00:36:49,500
Popes don't endorse American presidents.
796
00:36:49,500 --> 00:36:52,010
But they were told that the
Pope had endorsed Trump.
797
00:36:52,010 --> 00:36:53,180
Where did they read it?
798
00:36:53,180 --> 00:36:55,060
Well, most Americans didn't actually know
799
00:36:55,060 --> 00:36:57,240
that in fact, it was a fake news site
800
00:36:57,240 --> 00:37:00,570
that was propped up mainly
to publish the story
801
00:37:01,690 --> 00:37:03,860
that the Pope had endorsed
Trump for president.
802
00:37:03,860 --> 00:37:06,500
The problem is that by the
time millions of Americans
803
00:37:06,500 --> 00:37:08,280
had heard about that,
and were so surprised
804
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,520
and many were encouraged by
the fact that Pope Francis
805
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:15,510
would endorse Trump, they'd
already heard about it,
806
00:37:15,510 --> 00:37:17,200
and they'd moved on with their lives.
807
00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:21,510
They actually didn't hear the
second piece of information,
808
00:37:21,510 --> 00:37:24,023
which is that it was 100% fake news.
809
00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:28,300
- We've heard about Cambridge
Analytica and Facebook,
810
00:37:28,300 --> 00:37:29,900
and what happened there.
811
00:37:29,900 --> 00:37:32,210
In that case, we had a Russian national
812
00:37:32,210 --> 00:37:34,990
who was a professor at Cambridge
813
00:37:34,990 --> 00:37:38,640
develop a app, or an
interface with Facebook
814
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:41,480
that was supposedly just a
sort of personality test.
815
00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:44,180
And supposedly at the time,
unbeknownst to Facebook,
816
00:37:44,180 --> 00:37:45,670
what really happened was
817
00:37:45,670 --> 00:37:48,480
it allowed wholesale data collection.
818
00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:50,700
What kind of data are we talking about?
819
00:37:50,700 --> 00:37:52,560
We're talking about
your sexual preferences,
820
00:37:52,560 --> 00:37:54,550
your religious preferences,
821
00:37:54,550 --> 00:37:57,890
the things that really
make you respond positively
822
00:37:57,890 --> 00:38:00,690
or negatively, the things
that make you tick.
823
00:38:00,690 --> 00:38:02,690
And when you know what
makes a person tick,
824
00:38:02,690 --> 00:38:06,590
you do know how to control
them or manipulate them.
825
00:38:06,590 --> 00:38:10,910
This aggregation of
information allowed individuals
826
00:38:10,910 --> 00:38:13,530
during and leading up to the campaign
827
00:38:13,530 --> 00:38:17,320
to be identified and what
we call micro-targeted
828
00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:22,030
to have messaging and
manipulative propaganda
829
00:38:22,030 --> 00:38:26,810
sent their way based upon
behavioral preferences
830
00:38:26,810 --> 00:38:30,170
that they had indicated
through all kinds of exchanges.
831
00:38:30,170 --> 00:38:33,930
Russia put great effort
at studying US culture,
832
00:38:33,930 --> 00:38:37,000
US idioms, how we phrase things,
833
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:39,890
what we did and didn't do on social media
834
00:38:39,890 --> 00:38:42,840
so that it would be able
to create very credible,
835
00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:45,253
believable and persuasive content.
836
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:48,870
- [Narrator] The most effective
way to divide Americans
837
00:38:48,870 --> 00:38:52,870
is by taking advantage of an
already existing fracture.
838
00:38:52,870 --> 00:38:55,440
Russia exploited hundreds of years
839
00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:58,260
of racial tension and inequality.
840
00:38:58,260 --> 00:39:03,000
They fanned the flames of
division, racism and hatred.
841
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:05,940
In doing so, they have stalled the dream
842
00:39:05,940 --> 00:39:10,210
of a free, equal and unified America.
843
00:39:10,210 --> 00:39:13,318
- People who were pro-Trump were given
844
00:39:13,318 --> 00:39:16,450
additionally pro-Trump messages
845
00:39:16,450 --> 00:39:20,840
and encouraging a stronger
Trump Alliance or support
846
00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:22,480
for the candidate Trump.
847
00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:26,830
And then people who were
uncertain or unclear,
848
00:39:26,830 --> 00:39:31,620
or who clearly expressed
that they would not be voting
849
00:39:31,620 --> 00:39:36,300
for then candidate Trump were
sent behavioral messaging
850
00:39:36,300 --> 00:39:38,440
dissuading them not to vote,
851
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:42,940
creating a perception of
voter fraud or election fraud,
852
00:39:42,940 --> 00:39:45,840
like disbelief in the electoral process.
853
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:49,810
And so the goal was both
actively turning away voters
854
00:39:49,810 --> 00:39:52,960
who might vote against the
targeted lifted candidate
855
00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:55,860
and to encourage and strengthen those
856
00:39:55,860 --> 00:39:59,700
who clearly would vote in
the way that was desired
857
00:39:59,700 --> 00:40:03,640
by a malicious acting nation state Russia.
858
00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:05,960
And this bipartisan
Senate Intelligence Report
859
00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:07,123
makes this clear.
860
00:40:08,550 --> 00:40:10,030
- [Narrator] When the
intelligence community
861
00:40:10,030 --> 00:40:11,930
discovered election interference
862
00:40:11,930 --> 00:40:14,440
coming from Russia and
other foreign nations,
863
00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:17,710
it became clear that there
was no cohesive plan in place
864
00:40:17,710 --> 00:40:19,540
to counter these attacks.
865
00:40:19,540 --> 00:40:22,250
It became imperative
that a response be ready
866
00:40:22,250 --> 00:40:25,170
the next time our elections were attacked.
867
00:40:25,170 --> 00:40:29,280
- When does a cyber event
or a cyber operation,
868
00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:31,270
particularly one involving information,
869
00:40:31,270 --> 00:40:34,270
constitute a use of force
under international law?
870
00:40:34,270 --> 00:40:36,650
So the military is hands are somewhat tied
871
00:40:36,650 --> 00:40:39,570
in responding to these
types of operations.
872
00:40:39,570 --> 00:40:40,950
So then in 2018,
873
00:40:40,950 --> 00:40:43,400
we have the National
Defense Authorization Act
874
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:45,190
for fiscal year 2019.
875
00:40:45,190 --> 00:40:47,540
And that involved a
number of new authorities
876
00:40:47,540 --> 00:40:50,067
for Cyber Command that
we're going to address
877
00:40:50,067 --> 00:40:52,270
these challenges and difficulties.
878
00:40:52,270 --> 00:40:53,970
Probably the more
interesting piece, though,
879
00:40:53,970 --> 00:40:58,090
is section 1642, which
actually gave the authority
880
00:40:58,090 --> 00:41:01,630
for the US Armed Forces,
particularly for Cyber Command
881
00:41:01,630 --> 00:41:06,380
to engage in measures against adversaries
882
00:41:06,380 --> 00:41:09,090
that interfered with our
elections in certain ways.
883
00:41:09,090 --> 00:41:10,950
Now it's somewhat cabin or constrained,
884
00:41:10,950 --> 00:41:13,260
there's only four countries, right?
885
00:41:13,260 --> 00:41:14,560
That we can respond to,
886
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:19,080
that is Iran, China,
Russia, and North Korea.
887
00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:21,500
But if any of those four countries engage
888
00:41:21,500 --> 00:41:23,480
in certain activities
leading to some level
889
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:25,080
of election interference,
890
00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:28,600
it gives authorities to US
Cyber Command to respond.
891
00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:30,810
But usually if there's not a kinetic,
892
00:41:30,810 --> 00:41:34,010
some type of physical manifestation,
893
00:41:34,010 --> 00:41:36,130
then it's not going to
rise to use of force.
894
00:41:36,130 --> 00:41:40,010
- Ultimately protecting
against the kinetic attack,
895
00:41:40,010 --> 00:41:41,910
everybody's got a role to play.
896
00:41:41,910 --> 00:41:43,990
The best, most important role, I think,
897
00:41:43,990 --> 00:41:45,520
for the federal government,
898
00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:47,910
is the extent that they have information
899
00:41:49,290 --> 00:41:52,703
with regard to these attacks.
900
00:41:52,703 --> 00:41:55,079
Codes, they got precursors.
901
00:41:55,079 --> 00:41:57,530
Any digital information that they have
902
00:41:57,530 --> 00:42:00,042
relative to the attacks themselves,
903
00:42:00,042 --> 00:42:02,960
they need to pass that along
as quickly as possible.
904
00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:04,430
And frankly, as a former governor,
905
00:42:04,430 --> 00:42:06,988
they might want to a few federal dollars.
906
00:42:06,988 --> 00:42:10,810
Some need to buy just new
and better voting machines
907
00:42:10,810 --> 00:42:13,450
and build software to reduce that risk.
908
00:42:13,450 --> 00:42:16,330
But ultimately the burden,
the primary responsibility
909
00:42:16,330 --> 00:42:20,240
protecting from that kind
of influence, I believe,
910
00:42:20,240 --> 00:42:21,323
rests in the states and on the governors,
911
00:42:21,323 --> 00:42:23,400
and the state legislatures.
912
00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:26,100
- [Narrator] For how prevalent
election interference is,
913
00:42:26,100 --> 00:42:29,700
and how damaging it is to the
foundation of our democracy,
914
00:42:29,700 --> 00:42:31,830
there seems to be very little at this time
915
00:42:31,830 --> 00:42:34,600
that our government can
actually do to stop it.
916
00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:37,370
- Disinformation and misinformation
is the greatest threat
917
00:42:37,370 --> 00:42:39,567
because of where it leads
918
00:42:39,567 --> 00:42:43,123
in terms of democracy,
including elections,
919
00:42:44,110 --> 00:42:46,440
because it makes people more cynical,
920
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:48,163
it makes people more polarized,
921
00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:53,570
and can also be used
to overturn elections.
922
00:42:53,570 --> 00:42:58,570
- The most effective way to
manipulate an American election
923
00:42:58,810 --> 00:43:00,800
is through disinformation.
924
00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:01,803
It's cheap.
925
00:43:02,750 --> 00:43:06,040
It is effective, given how
much you can micro-target
926
00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:08,830
the voters that you're
interested in manipulating,
927
00:43:08,830 --> 00:43:11,490
and it is very hard to track.
928
00:43:11,490 --> 00:43:15,070
So yes, it was an issue in 2016.
929
00:43:15,070 --> 00:43:16,860
And yes, it's gonna to
be an even bigger issue
930
00:43:16,860 --> 00:43:21,430
in 2020 and 2022, and 2032.
931
00:43:21,430 --> 00:43:23,820
- So what does disinformation look like?
932
00:43:23,820 --> 00:43:26,130
Images like this of Stacey Abrams
933
00:43:26,130 --> 00:43:28,010
were a doctor to attach to the candidate
934
00:43:28,010 --> 00:43:30,170
to the Muslim Brotherhood and Communism.
935
00:43:30,170 --> 00:43:32,860
False warnings of a
citation for political signs
936
00:43:32,860 --> 00:43:34,910
were created and distributed.
937
00:43:34,910 --> 00:43:37,680
And photos of other persons
were falsely attributed
938
00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:39,900
in order to fabricate false motives
939
00:43:39,900 --> 00:43:42,200
and discredit harmful testimony.
940
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:44,256
- We need to realize
that this is the future.
941
00:43:44,256 --> 00:43:46,738
This is the way that people,
942
00:43:46,738 --> 00:43:49,420
whether they're inside our
country or outside our country
943
00:43:49,420 --> 00:43:52,200
are gonna try to manipulate
the American electorate,
944
00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:54,910
because it is very, very effective.
945
00:43:54,910 --> 00:43:56,760
- There's a digital war going on.
946
00:43:56,760 --> 00:44:00,510
And part of it, at least is I think,
947
00:44:00,510 --> 00:44:02,173
as the Russians take a look at it, is
948
00:44:02,173 --> 00:44:06,987
destabilize the United States.
949
00:44:06,987 --> 00:44:07,820
And how do you do that?
950
00:44:07,820 --> 00:44:10,390
Well, start questioning the legitimacy
951
00:44:10,390 --> 00:44:12,970
of the bedrock, the
foundation of our country,
952
00:44:12,970 --> 00:44:16,960
the Republic, is our elections.
953
00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:19,880
Locally, state, and nationally,
particularly nationally.
954
00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:21,950
Four years into it, we're
still talking about it.
955
00:44:21,950 --> 00:44:24,820
Some people will say that
there's a kind of equivalency
956
00:44:24,820 --> 00:44:29,650
between what the CIA and Voice of America,
957
00:44:29,650 --> 00:44:33,330
and other entities have
done in other countries.
958
00:44:33,330 --> 00:44:34,505
But we've got to understand
959
00:44:34,505 --> 00:44:37,620
that there's a very different intent.
960
00:44:37,620 --> 00:44:39,960
The intent when America
961
00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:43,690
has been involved in elections abroad
962
00:44:43,690 --> 00:44:48,110
was for the most part to try
to encourage liberal democracy,
963
00:44:48,110 --> 00:44:52,140
to try to encourage
democratic processes along.
964
00:44:52,140 --> 00:44:55,060
What the Russians want to do
965
00:44:55,060 --> 00:44:57,090
when they manipulate our elections
966
00:44:57,090 --> 00:45:02,090
is to try to discredit the
integrity of the American way.
967
00:45:02,180 --> 00:45:06,660
- Putin, when he was
just this ascending star
968
00:45:06,660 --> 00:45:10,663
in the KGB's forte was destabilization.
969
00:45:11,550 --> 00:45:15,010
And look what he's done
to our electoral process.
970
00:45:15,010 --> 00:45:16,970
His goal may or may not have been
971
00:45:16,970 --> 00:45:19,280
one or the other individual elected,
972
00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:21,420
but he destabilized our election systems
973
00:45:21,420 --> 00:45:23,520
so that now we're still talking about
974
00:45:23,520 --> 00:45:25,390
and questioning legitimacy
975
00:45:25,390 --> 00:45:28,180
of the election of the
President United States.
976
00:45:28,180 --> 00:45:30,070
He accomplished his goal.
977
00:45:30,070 --> 00:45:32,769
- Disinformation and misinformation
978
00:45:32,769 --> 00:45:36,760
isn't just a matter of
foreign interference.
979
00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:40,570
That's a big deal, and it's
a national security interest.
980
00:45:40,570 --> 00:45:45,570
But what we're seeing
is political activists
981
00:45:45,870 --> 00:45:49,030
and PACs of all kinds, right and left
982
00:45:49,030 --> 00:45:52,510
using their money to start
phony local news sites
983
00:45:52,510 --> 00:45:54,780
that look like real local news sites,
984
00:45:54,780 --> 00:45:57,909
or national news sites, but
they're actually financed
985
00:45:57,909 --> 00:46:00,770
by people with a political agenda.
986
00:46:00,770 --> 00:46:04,572
And they approach all
stories from a certain angle,
987
00:46:04,572 --> 00:46:09,440
and they're promoting their
own brand of misinformation.
988
00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:14,260
- The current administration
has been quite the ringleader,
989
00:46:14,260 --> 00:46:18,200
even, in a campaign of misinformation.
990
00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:20,720
President Trump kind of
made a name for himself
991
00:46:20,720 --> 00:46:22,780
in political circles as a birther,
992
00:46:22,780 --> 00:46:26,560
as someone who'd sought to claim falsely
993
00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:28,890
and without justification at all
994
00:46:28,890 --> 00:46:32,060
that president Obama
wasn't a real US citizen.
995
00:46:32,060 --> 00:46:36,850
- If we're all going to be
governed by the latest rumor,
996
00:46:36,850 --> 00:46:41,292
or the labeling of what is true as fake,
997
00:46:42,184 --> 00:46:47,171
then we can not have a truly responsible,
998
00:46:47,171 --> 00:46:50,850
responsive and functioning democracy.
999
00:46:50,850 --> 00:46:53,920
- One of the byproducts of disinformation
1000
00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:57,320
sort of a vicious cycle, is polarization.
1001
00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:00,760
Because if I convinced
you that the sky is green
1002
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:03,170
when it's actually blue,
that I've put you off
1003
00:47:03,170 --> 00:47:06,190
into this corner where you're
gonna be much more comfortable
1004
00:47:06,190 --> 00:47:08,690
with people who also
think the sky is green.
1005
00:47:08,690 --> 00:47:11,349
And then you're going
to defend your position,
1006
00:47:11,349 --> 00:47:13,090
you're going to rely on,
1007
00:47:13,090 --> 00:47:15,340
or maybe even create
your own disinformation
1008
00:47:15,340 --> 00:47:18,150
that furthers the myth
that the sky is green.
1009
00:47:18,150 --> 00:47:19,850
- People choose the facts that they want,
1010
00:47:19,850 --> 00:47:21,673
but they choose things that
aren't necessarily facts.
1011
00:47:21,673 --> 00:47:24,570
I mean, I guess that's
where the challenge is
1012
00:47:24,570 --> 00:47:27,986
in the impact of the internet,
1013
00:47:27,986 --> 00:47:30,644
and its use and abuse
1014
00:47:30,644 --> 00:47:32,360
in terms of the electoral process.
1015
00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:33,980
- I think we need to
realize that we're entering
1016
00:47:33,980 --> 00:47:36,300
an incredibly dangerous
period in the history,
1017
00:47:36,300 --> 00:47:40,350
not just of democracy, but of
human society and civilization
1018
00:47:40,350 --> 00:47:44,890
in which people now fundamentally distrust
1019
00:47:44,890 --> 00:47:47,680
most of the stuff that's before them.
1020
00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:50,100
Now, the problem with that is twofold.
1021
00:47:50,100 --> 00:47:51,540
Number one, that in a democracy,
1022
00:47:51,540 --> 00:47:54,710
you actually have to have
a common set of facts,
1023
00:47:54,710 --> 00:47:58,710
and a common narrative that
enough people believe is true
1024
00:47:58,710 --> 00:48:00,513
that a democracy can hang together.
1025
00:48:01,450 --> 00:48:02,960
And when all of a sudden
you have a situation
1026
00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:07,240
in which information is
being, not only fragmented,
1027
00:48:07,240 --> 00:48:11,070
and politicized, but then
profoundly distrusted,
1028
00:48:11,070 --> 00:48:12,570
regardless of where it's coming from.
1029
00:48:12,570 --> 00:48:14,900
We no longer can have
a coherent conversation
1030
00:48:14,900 --> 00:48:18,190
in this country, and we no
longer have a national narrative
1031
00:48:18,190 --> 00:48:20,410
and set of facts, that we can all trust
1032
00:48:20,410 --> 00:48:22,800
and debate and make decisions around.
1033
00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:25,600
And I don't know how a
democracy can function
1034
00:48:25,600 --> 00:48:27,350
under those conditions.
1035
00:48:27,350 --> 00:48:30,370
- A democracy depends on good information.
1036
00:48:30,370 --> 00:48:34,950
It doesn't necessarily mean
that every citizen who votes
1037
00:48:34,950 --> 00:48:36,910
knows the name of their congressmen,
1038
00:48:36,910 --> 00:48:38,850
and the name of the members
of the city council,
1039
00:48:38,850 --> 00:48:41,870
but they know a certain amount,
1040
00:48:41,870 --> 00:48:45,070
and they share a certain
set of basic facts.
1041
00:48:45,070 --> 00:48:49,413
If that's not the case,
if they can't even debate
1042
00:48:49,413 --> 00:48:52,130
how they feel about the
facts with each other,
1043
00:48:52,130 --> 00:48:54,570
because they don't even
share the same facts,
1044
00:48:54,570 --> 00:48:56,420
democracy breaks down.
1045
00:48:56,420 --> 00:48:59,380
- We're becoming a society
of first impression.
1046
00:48:59,380 --> 00:49:00,371
We're becoming a society where
1047
00:49:00,371 --> 00:49:01,821
we embrace a lot of the things
1048
00:49:01,821 --> 00:49:04,400
that we see on the internet
or on Twitter accounts
1049
00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:06,870
as actually factually based,
1050
00:49:06,870 --> 00:49:10,703
as thoughtfully conceived and presented.
1051
00:49:12,370 --> 00:49:14,360
I don't have the antidote.
1052
00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:17,210
We need to think about it, seriously,
1053
00:49:17,210 --> 00:49:20,070
because it is such a corrosive impact
1054
00:49:20,070 --> 00:49:23,894
on the most fundamental structure
1055
00:49:24,819 --> 00:49:25,819
in a democracy.
1056
00:49:26,940 --> 00:49:29,920
And that is our electing process.
1057
00:49:29,920 --> 00:49:31,466
I wish I had a better answer for you.
1058
00:49:31,466 --> 00:49:33,100
I don't have the antidote.
1059
00:49:33,100 --> 00:49:35,460
- What makes this really
complicated is that
1060
00:49:35,460 --> 00:49:39,920
when unwitting Americans share a message
1061
00:49:40,950 --> 00:49:43,860
that they really strongly identify with,
1062
00:49:43,860 --> 00:49:45,840
and unbeknownst to them,
they're identifying with it
1063
00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:47,780
because they were micro-targeted.
1064
00:49:47,780 --> 00:49:50,170
But when they share that information,
1065
00:49:50,170 --> 00:49:52,060
regardless of where it was created,
1066
00:49:52,060 --> 00:49:53,400
it's becoming their speech.
1067
00:49:53,400 --> 00:49:56,623
They're expressing an opinion
and sharing information.
1068
00:49:56,623 --> 00:49:59,650
It really muddies the waters
on how do we handle this,
1069
00:49:59,650 --> 00:50:01,010
and what do we do to address it.
1070
00:50:01,010 --> 00:50:05,350
- At the heart of a
democracy, I've always felt,
1071
00:50:05,350 --> 00:50:06,630
is the First Amendment.
1072
00:50:06,630 --> 00:50:08,535
Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly,
1073
00:50:08,535 --> 00:50:10,060
et cetera, et cetera.
1074
00:50:10,060 --> 00:50:14,070
And retweeting false information,
1075
00:50:14,070 --> 00:50:16,810
is that a violation of
the First Amendment?
1076
00:50:16,810 --> 00:50:19,150
When misinformation generated
1077
00:50:19,150 --> 00:50:22,460
by the bots from a Russian source,
1078
00:50:22,460 --> 00:50:27,460
maybe embraced by an unknowing voter
1079
00:50:27,550 --> 00:50:30,820
who subscribes to that
particular point of view
1080
00:50:30,820 --> 00:50:32,490
based on whatever their political bias
1081
00:50:32,490 --> 00:50:33,670
or philosophy might be,
1082
00:50:33,670 --> 00:50:36,610
and then passes it on as if it's true.
1083
00:50:36,610 --> 00:50:38,760
I don't think that's a violation
of the First Amendment,
1084
00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:42,420
but it's certainly a
disruptive of our democracy.
1085
00:50:42,420 --> 00:50:45,690
- The traditional claim
of First Amendment law
1086
00:50:45,690 --> 00:50:49,400
is that false speech, for the most part,
1087
00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:52,430
gets very little, if any,
constitutional protection,
1088
00:50:52,430 --> 00:50:54,543
when it's simple matter of fact.
1089
00:50:54,543 --> 00:50:57,173
The government can
often not suppress this.
1090
00:50:58,440 --> 00:51:00,180
But the question is when
1091
00:51:00,180 --> 00:51:01,700
there's a little bit more gray area,
1092
00:51:01,700 --> 00:51:06,110
or when something like
opinion is pressed in.
1093
00:51:06,110 --> 00:51:07,877
Suppose you say something like,
1094
00:51:07,877 --> 00:51:10,340
"Kamala Harris isn't a real American."
1095
00:51:10,340 --> 00:51:12,530
Kamala Harris is a United States citizen,
1096
00:51:12,530 --> 00:51:16,310
just like everyone has long presumed,
1097
00:51:16,310 --> 00:51:20,440
but there might be this other
part to the real American.
1098
00:51:20,440 --> 00:51:24,150
Then it's a bit of opinion
about what values one must hold
1099
00:51:25,280 --> 00:51:28,720
to be truly a part of the clan
or something of this sort.
1100
00:51:28,720 --> 00:51:29,790
Is this really misleading?
1101
00:51:29,790 --> 00:51:31,370
Is this really false information?
1102
00:51:31,370 --> 00:51:33,020
It's not quite clear what to say.
1103
00:51:33,870 --> 00:51:36,520
As a matter of what I
think courts would do,
1104
00:51:36,520 --> 00:51:38,070
I think that they're probably going to say
1105
00:51:38,070 --> 00:51:39,940
that this is entitled to
First Amendment protection,
1106
00:51:39,940 --> 00:51:42,900
because there's a colorable
kind of opinion matter,
1107
00:51:42,900 --> 00:51:45,363
and not clearly under some other thing,
1108
00:51:46,556 --> 00:51:51,556
like false or libelous
speech that can be banned.
1109
00:51:51,650 --> 00:51:55,140
- The government shouldn't
be able to stop that,
1110
00:51:55,140 --> 00:51:58,963
and couldn't under the
First Amendment stop that,
1111
00:52:00,010 --> 00:52:02,117
but the platforms can.
1112
00:52:02,117 --> 00:52:03,500
I don't have a First Amendment right
1113
00:52:03,500 --> 00:52:05,730
vis-a-vis Facebook or Twitter.
1114
00:52:05,730 --> 00:52:08,140
I only have a First Amendment right
1115
00:52:08,140 --> 00:52:09,830
vis-a-vis the government.
1116
00:52:09,830 --> 00:52:13,530
There are outright lies, not hyperbole,
1117
00:52:13,530 --> 00:52:16,980
they're just eyes being
transferred through the internet.
1118
00:52:16,980 --> 00:52:20,260
How do we as guardians of democracy,
1119
00:52:20,260 --> 00:52:23,330
and guardians of the first
amendment deal with that reality
1120
00:52:23,330 --> 00:52:25,550
without stepping all
over everybody's right
1121
00:52:25,550 --> 00:52:27,750
to free speech and to
express their point of view?
1122
00:52:27,750 --> 00:52:32,750
- One of the ways that we see
our own greatest strengths,
1123
00:52:33,270 --> 00:52:37,230
the right of the freedom
of speech used against us
1124
00:52:37,230 --> 00:52:40,750
is because of the way
the laws have developed
1125
00:52:41,670 --> 00:52:44,960
rapidly around these
communication platforms.
1126
00:52:44,960 --> 00:52:47,640
We have a federal law, the
Communications and Decency Act.
1127
00:52:47,640 --> 00:52:50,880
And section 230 of the
Communications Decency Act
1128
00:52:50,880 --> 00:52:55,535
provides a shield of
immunity for online platforms
1129
00:52:55,535 --> 00:52:59,300
that post content
created by third parties.
1130
00:52:59,300 --> 00:53:01,030
The immunity it provided for platforms
1131
00:53:01,030 --> 00:53:05,670
was also to promote the internet
as a communication medium.
1132
00:53:05,670 --> 00:53:08,850
We didn't want websites to be liable
1133
00:53:08,850 --> 00:53:11,990
for removing some content,
but allowing other content.
1134
00:53:11,990 --> 00:53:15,566
And so Section 230
worked as long as it was
1135
00:53:15,566 --> 00:53:17,570
content provided by a third party,
1136
00:53:17,570 --> 00:53:20,690
the platform itself would not
be liable for that content.
1137
00:53:20,690 --> 00:53:23,050
So if there was information on Facebook
1138
00:53:23,050 --> 00:53:24,620
that was untrue about someone,
1139
00:53:24,620 --> 00:53:26,620
that said someone was a criminal,
1140
00:53:26,620 --> 00:53:30,160
as long as Facebook didn't
put that information up there,
1141
00:53:30,160 --> 00:53:32,000
it wasn't Facebook's problem.
1142
00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:34,472
- There are so many sites,
but the communication,
1143
00:53:34,472 --> 00:53:36,590
the distribution of those sites
1144
00:53:36,590 --> 00:53:38,960
is concentrated on two or three platforms.
1145
00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:41,110
And it's up to those platforms
1146
00:53:41,110 --> 00:53:43,730
to be completely transparent
about what they're doing.
1147
00:53:43,730 --> 00:53:46,020
- Currently, social
media giants like Twitter
1148
00:53:46,020 --> 00:53:49,260
receive an unprecedented liability shield
1149
00:53:49,260 --> 00:53:52,740
based on the theory that
they're a neutral platform,
1150
00:53:52,740 --> 00:53:54,280
which they're not.
1151
00:53:54,280 --> 00:53:56,910
Not an editor with a viewpoint.
1152
00:53:56,910 --> 00:54:00,000
My executive order calls
for new regulations
1153
00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:04,160
under Section 230 of the
Communications Decency Act.
1154
00:54:04,160 --> 00:54:07,820
- The so-called section 230
had a very good intention.
1155
00:54:07,820 --> 00:54:10,880
Someone would post
something on America Online,
1156
00:54:10,880 --> 00:54:13,272
believe it or not, that's
what it was worried about.
1157
00:54:13,272 --> 00:54:14,800
They never heard of Facebook, or Google,
1158
00:54:14,800 --> 00:54:18,135
or YouTube at the time, or Twitter.
1159
00:54:18,135 --> 00:54:23,135
And the AOL was worried
it was gonna to get sued
1160
00:54:23,350 --> 00:54:26,850
for something I said about you online.
1161
00:54:26,850 --> 00:54:29,330
And the analogy they used was,
1162
00:54:29,330 --> 00:54:33,483
if I say something bad about
you on a telephone call,
1163
00:54:34,370 --> 00:54:36,787
should Verizon have to
be responsible for that?
1164
00:54:36,787 --> 00:54:38,630
And that makes sense.
1165
00:54:38,630 --> 00:54:40,490
- This was adopted 25 years ago
1166
00:54:40,490 --> 00:54:43,030
to protect the fledgling industry,
1167
00:54:43,030 --> 00:54:46,824
and its purpose was to allow
websites that were serving
1168
00:54:46,824 --> 00:54:48,940
as essentially bulletin boards
1169
00:54:48,940 --> 00:54:53,530
for diverse third party content coming on,
1170
00:54:53,530 --> 00:54:56,400
to say that you're not
responsible for the content
1171
00:54:56,400 --> 00:54:59,110
of that third party information.
1172
00:54:59,110 --> 00:55:02,090
- The real impetus of it was
1173
00:55:02,090 --> 00:55:05,680
that these online platforms like AOL,
1174
00:55:05,680 --> 00:55:08,140
they were beginning to censor stuff.
1175
00:55:08,140 --> 00:55:10,009
They were censoring pornography
1176
00:55:10,009 --> 00:55:11,840
and hate speech on their own.
1177
00:55:11,840 --> 00:55:14,470
They took it as their
responsibility to do that,
1178
00:55:14,470 --> 00:55:17,130
and when they started to
do that, they got sued.
1179
00:55:17,130 --> 00:55:20,920
So with Section 230 really
did was exempted them
1180
00:55:20,920 --> 00:55:25,920
from getting sued for content
decisions that they made,
1181
00:55:25,950 --> 00:55:27,880
not for not making any content decisions,
1182
00:55:27,880 --> 00:55:29,300
but they couldn't get sued
1183
00:55:29,300 --> 00:55:31,690
for content decisions that they made.
1184
00:55:31,690 --> 00:55:34,500
Meaning they could block pornography
1185
00:55:34,500 --> 00:55:36,710
and not have a pornographer sue them,
1186
00:55:36,710 --> 00:55:38,050
or they could block hate speech,
1187
00:55:38,050 --> 00:55:39,250
or block anything they wanted.
1188
00:55:39,250 --> 00:55:41,743
They could act like
editors and not get sued.
1189
00:55:42,800 --> 00:55:44,700
- [Narrator] There is friction
between the protections
1190
00:55:44,700 --> 00:55:47,350
of the First Amendment,
and the overwhelming threat
1191
00:55:47,350 --> 00:55:49,360
that disinformation poses.
1192
00:55:49,360 --> 00:55:51,870
The United States government
has to fight the war
1193
00:55:51,870 --> 00:55:55,060
against disinformation
with its hands tied.
1194
00:55:55,060 --> 00:55:58,120
In this void, private businesses
are starting to step up
1195
00:55:58,120 --> 00:56:01,320
in hopes of winning the
battle against disinformation.
1196
00:56:01,320 --> 00:56:03,950
- One thing that is remarkable
is to see the reaction
1197
00:56:03,950 --> 00:56:06,710
of different platforms to combat
1198
00:56:06,710 --> 00:56:10,040
the scourge of the attack
upon our democracy.
1199
00:56:10,040 --> 00:56:12,606
Twitter has banned
political advertisement.
1200
00:56:12,606 --> 00:56:13,827
You see Facebook saying,
1201
00:56:13,827 --> 00:56:16,227
"We're not going to get
involved in the truth
1202
00:56:16,227 --> 00:56:19,467
"or not truth of political campaigns.
1203
00:56:19,467 --> 00:56:21,710
"We're gonna let the
market take care of that."
1204
00:56:21,710 --> 00:56:24,827
Meaning the politicians
should regulate themselves
1205
00:56:24,827 --> 00:56:26,790
and the people should call out
1206
00:56:26,790 --> 00:56:29,470
where there are things that aren't true.
1207
00:56:29,470 --> 00:56:32,540
Google has taken a much more nuanced
1208
00:56:32,540 --> 00:56:35,210
and really probably the
appropriate approach
1209
00:56:35,210 --> 00:56:37,410
if we want to share information.
1210
00:56:37,410 --> 00:56:40,220
Rather than ban it
outright, Google has limited
1211
00:56:40,220 --> 00:56:44,200
how its platform can be used
to target political messaging.
1212
00:56:44,200 --> 00:56:47,540
Google is specifically refusing to allow
1213
00:56:47,540 --> 00:56:50,120
campaigns and political speech designed
1214
00:56:50,120 --> 00:56:53,210
to target individuals based
upon their preferences
1215
00:56:54,300 --> 00:56:56,120
that wouldn't be clear to them.
1216
00:56:56,120 --> 00:56:59,210
So this response is
something that we're seeing
1217
00:56:59,210 --> 00:57:02,740
these private companies trying
to figure out how to do.
1218
00:57:02,740 --> 00:57:06,232
And what we really need
here is federal regulation
1219
00:57:06,232 --> 00:57:10,100
that regulates this kind of targeting
1220
00:57:10,100 --> 00:57:13,810
and political campaigning
on these platforms
1221
00:57:13,810 --> 00:57:17,390
that are all of our number
one sources of information.
1222
00:57:17,390 --> 00:57:19,660
- One thing that the
federal government can do
1223
00:57:19,660 --> 00:57:23,720
is it can make the
speaker transparent, okay?
1224
00:57:23,720 --> 00:57:26,460
So for instance, there's a bill out there
1225
00:57:26,460 --> 00:57:28,190
called the Honest Ads Act.
1226
00:57:28,190 --> 00:57:30,800
And what the Honest Ads
Act would do is basically
1227
00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:34,970
provide the same transparency
that exists for TV advertising
1228
00:57:34,970 --> 00:57:36,760
for digital advertising.
1229
00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:39,750
Now, what I mean by that
is that if a group tomorrow
1230
00:57:39,750 --> 00:57:42,420
were to take out a
million dollars in TV ads
1231
00:57:42,420 --> 00:57:45,110
on behalf of a politician
or against a politician,
1232
00:57:45,110 --> 00:57:47,360
they actually have to
disclose who they are.
1233
00:57:47,360 --> 00:57:50,530
And then you can find out
where their money came from.
1234
00:57:50,530 --> 00:57:52,650
The same group could take
out a million dollars
1235
00:57:52,650 --> 00:57:56,600
in digital ads on Facebook and
Twitter and online tomorrow,
1236
00:57:56,600 --> 00:58:00,100
and never have to disclose a
single word about themselves.
1237
00:58:00,100 --> 00:58:02,280
- The platforms are
totally non-transparent.
1238
00:58:02,280 --> 00:58:06,120
They will claim that
they have fact checkers
1239
00:58:06,120 --> 00:58:09,150
and people who, if they
see something is not true,
1240
00:58:09,150 --> 00:58:12,870
they'll secretly change the algorithm
1241
00:58:12,870 --> 00:58:16,124
so that it isn't shared as
much, and it isn't seen as much.
1242
00:58:16,124 --> 00:58:18,280
Why don't they just
say what they're doing?
1243
00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:20,176
And why don't they say
why they're doing it?
1244
00:58:20,176 --> 00:58:22,300
And why don't they see who's doing it?
1245
00:58:22,300 --> 00:58:25,700
Because no, one's gonna trust
them if they do it secretly.
1246
00:58:25,700 --> 00:58:27,673
And that's what they do.
1247
00:58:28,930 --> 00:58:30,560
And in part, that's 'cause their culture
1248
00:58:30,560 --> 00:58:35,010
is that every problem has
a technology solution,
1249
00:58:35,010 --> 00:58:39,635
and the problem of misinformation
and disinformation online,
1250
00:58:39,635 --> 00:58:41,980
there is no technology solutions to that.
1251
00:58:41,980 --> 00:58:43,940
That is a journalism solution.
1252
00:58:43,940 --> 00:58:45,453
That is a human solution.
1253
00:58:46,920 --> 00:58:51,083
- There is a growing need for some means
1254
00:58:51,083 --> 00:58:54,728
for people to be able to sort out
1255
00:58:54,728 --> 00:58:58,040
what's actually true.
1256
00:58:58,040 --> 00:58:59,810
- My God, in the digital forevermore,
1257
00:58:59,810 --> 00:59:02,750
in the digital age, data
is critically important.
1258
00:59:02,750 --> 00:59:04,129
Facts are critically important.
1259
00:59:04,129 --> 00:59:07,160
But we know that the
internet can be abused
1260
00:59:07,160 --> 00:59:08,380
and it has been abused.
1261
00:59:08,380 --> 00:59:10,480
And unless we pay a lot
more attention to it
1262
00:59:10,480 --> 00:59:11,873
and its use in the future,
1263
00:59:11,873 --> 00:59:14,130
that it's going to
undermine our democracy.
1264
00:59:14,130 --> 00:59:17,133
- I think with different
kinds of political leadership,
1265
00:59:17,980 --> 00:59:20,848
we can encourage people
1266
00:59:20,848 --> 00:59:25,400
to at least go to places
where they can share
1267
00:59:25,400 --> 00:59:27,660
the same set of common facts.
1268
00:59:27,660 --> 00:59:29,640
- We have a polarized system
1269
00:59:29,640 --> 00:59:33,740
that doesn't facilitate dialogue.
1270
00:59:33,740 --> 00:59:36,720
Without dialogue, democracy breaks down.
1271
00:59:36,720 --> 00:59:40,730
- How much of this is produced by the fact
1272
00:59:40,730 --> 00:59:43,510
that our political representatives
1273
00:59:43,510 --> 00:59:45,167
are not sufficiently responsive
1274
00:59:45,167 --> 00:59:47,610
to what the average person thinks,
1275
00:59:47,610 --> 00:59:50,410
and then are gravitating to the extremes?
1276
00:59:50,410 --> 00:59:53,000
And then pressing out
really extreme positions
1277
00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:55,160
as if they are more commonplace.
1278
00:59:55,160 --> 00:59:58,830
Frankly, the internet
itself has contributed
1279
00:59:58,830 --> 01:00:00,040
to the erosion of civility.
1280
01:00:00,040 --> 01:00:03,010
I mean, Donald Trump has
added a layer on top of it
1281
01:00:03,010 --> 01:00:03,990
with his always Tweeting,
1282
01:00:03,990 --> 01:00:06,940
but the internet is also an influence,
1283
01:00:06,940 --> 01:00:09,870
and a very corrosive
influence in this whole notion
1284
01:00:09,870 --> 01:00:12,730
of a civil exchange of ideas
and differences of opinion.
1285
01:00:12,730 --> 01:00:16,570
And frankly, Hillary Clinton
said it, Joe Biden responded.
1286
01:00:16,570 --> 01:00:18,447
He said, "Republicans aren't our enemies,
1287
01:00:18,447 --> 01:00:20,260
"they're our opponents."
1288
01:00:20,260 --> 01:00:23,393
And we got to get back to
that notion of civility.
1289
01:00:24,280 --> 01:00:27,360
- So you have all these
investigators, they're democrats.
1290
01:00:27,360 --> 01:00:28,960
In all fairness, Bob Mueller
1291
01:00:28,960 --> 01:00:30,757
worked for Obama for eight years.
1292
01:00:30,757 --> 01:00:33,270
The biggest problem is
gonna be with the democrats,
1293
01:00:33,270 --> 01:00:36,200
not with China and Russia and Iran.
1294
01:00:36,200 --> 01:00:38,840
Your biggest problem is going
to be with the democrats.
1295
01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:41,400
- The notion that somehow supporting
1296
01:00:41,400 --> 01:00:46,400
states' infrastructures for
elections can become partisan
1297
01:00:46,660 --> 01:00:49,610
is really a wedge just being driven
1298
01:00:49,610 --> 01:00:52,550
between our citizens and our federal
1299
01:00:52,550 --> 01:00:57,550
and state governing bodies
by malicious nation states.
1300
01:00:58,350 --> 01:01:00,250
- [Narrator] We cannot
continue to be divided
1301
01:01:00,250 --> 01:01:01,680
by foreign enemies.
1302
01:01:01,680 --> 01:01:04,860
It is the duty of all
Americans to take part
1303
01:01:04,860 --> 01:01:07,120
in protecting our democracy.
1304
01:01:07,120 --> 01:01:11,088
- I think what is critical
going into any election,
1305
01:01:11,088 --> 01:01:14,550
and whenever exercising both the privilege
1306
01:01:14,550 --> 01:01:16,743
and the responsibility of voting,
1307
01:01:17,660 --> 01:01:22,660
is to be an informed
member of the electorate.
1308
01:01:22,810 --> 01:01:24,370
That's harder to do.
1309
01:01:24,370 --> 01:01:26,300
- Don't take everything
you read on the internet
1310
01:01:26,300 --> 01:01:27,133
at face value.
1311
01:01:27,133 --> 01:01:29,280
I mean, it's crazy, there's no standard.
1312
01:01:29,280 --> 01:01:30,490
You throw an opinion out there,
1313
01:01:30,490 --> 01:01:32,520
and some people accept that as fact.
1314
01:01:32,520 --> 01:01:33,550
And part of it has to do
1315
01:01:33,550 --> 01:01:35,393
with the recipient of the information.
1316
01:01:35,393 --> 01:01:39,440
- I think we put too much
emphasis on the purveyors
1317
01:01:39,440 --> 01:01:44,440
and not enough on the people
who are reading this stuff.
1318
01:01:44,690 --> 01:01:48,360
If your exclusive source
of information is Twitter,
1319
01:01:48,360 --> 01:01:52,790
in my humble opinion, and
I'm of an older generation,
1320
01:01:52,790 --> 01:01:56,430
you are at serious risk
of not understanding
1321
01:01:56,430 --> 01:01:58,373
all the facts at issue.
1322
01:01:59,328 --> 01:02:02,700
There's a reason that
newspapers have editors.
1323
01:02:02,700 --> 01:02:06,020
There's a reason that
newspapers have fact checkers.
1324
01:02:06,020 --> 01:02:10,570
There's a reason that newspapers
of one stripe or another
1325
01:02:10,570 --> 01:02:15,570
have credibility as
arbiters of information.
1326
01:02:16,710 --> 01:02:19,910
- If a reporter or editor gets
something wrong repeatedly,
1327
01:02:19,910 --> 01:02:22,930
they will be fired from
their job, all right?
1328
01:02:22,930 --> 01:02:24,830
These are professionals who are engaged
1329
01:02:24,830 --> 01:02:26,480
in the professional act of trying to get
1330
01:02:26,480 --> 01:02:29,450
as close to the truth
as they possibly can.
1331
01:02:29,450 --> 01:02:33,750
- We have to really look
at clear indications
1332
01:02:33,750 --> 01:02:37,520
from our intelligence community,
1333
01:02:37,520 --> 01:02:39,760
from our national security experts
1334
01:02:39,760 --> 01:02:42,880
and from the republican
and democratic senators
1335
01:02:42,880 --> 01:02:47,000
who clearly spelled out the
measures that were taken
1336
01:02:47,000 --> 01:02:51,600
and that are still being
taken against US democracy.
1337
01:02:51,600 --> 01:02:55,260
At the end of the day, that's
what we need to preserve.
1338
01:02:55,260 --> 01:03:00,260
- I urge every voter to find
sources that are reliable,
1339
01:03:00,489 --> 01:03:03,830
but then to go out and
look at other sources too.
1340
01:03:03,830 --> 01:03:06,010
To make sure that they are not inside
1341
01:03:06,010 --> 01:03:07,940
some type of social media bubble
1342
01:03:08,900 --> 01:03:10,670
when they are gathering information.
1343
01:03:10,670 --> 01:03:12,333
Go to the source documents.
1344
01:03:13,894 --> 01:03:18,490
Read the executive summary
from the Senate report,
1345
01:03:18,490 --> 01:03:21,050
read the law, read the constitution
1346
01:03:21,050 --> 01:03:25,273
as opposed to reading how
someone else describes it.
1347
01:03:27,000 --> 01:03:33,074
Advertise your product or brand here
contact www.OpenSubtitles.org today
1348
01:03:36,460 --> 01:03:38,007
- [Narrator] This is the new normal.
1349
01:03:38,007 --> 01:03:41,830
How many times has that
phrase been said in 2020?
1350
01:03:41,830 --> 01:03:44,610
Life probably won't
continue like this forever,
1351
01:03:44,610 --> 01:03:47,620
but the way we live
has definitely changed.
1352
01:03:47,620 --> 01:03:49,630
The way we go to school has changed,
1353
01:03:49,630 --> 01:03:51,740
the way we do interviews has changed,
1354
01:03:51,740 --> 01:03:55,470
and the way we vote will
likely need to change.
1355
01:03:55,470 --> 01:03:59,220
- Epidemics and pandemics
should absolutely
1356
01:03:59,220 --> 01:04:01,752
be considered future threats
1357
01:04:01,752 --> 01:04:05,020
to the sanctity of Americans' elections.
1358
01:04:05,020 --> 01:04:08,030
And in a way, these, these viral threats,
1359
01:04:08,030 --> 01:04:11,520
these actual medical, biological threats
1360
01:04:11,520 --> 01:04:13,540
are much greater and more intense
1361
01:04:13,540 --> 01:04:16,230
than what we're seeing
from foreign countries.
1362
01:04:16,230 --> 01:04:20,150
You can shut an entire
country down with it.
1363
01:04:20,150 --> 01:04:23,890
So imagine if the coronavirus had struck
1364
01:04:23,890 --> 01:04:27,283
in early October of 2020?
1365
01:04:28,850 --> 01:04:30,330
Would we even be holding an election?
1366
01:04:30,330 --> 01:04:32,420
How would we be holding an election?
1367
01:04:32,420 --> 01:04:35,100
So, you could have a situation in which
1368
01:04:35,100 --> 01:04:38,637
the most powerful and
established democracy on earth,
1369
01:04:38,637 --> 01:04:40,520
the United States of America
1370
01:04:40,520 --> 01:04:45,050
could have an entire election,
presidential election
1371
01:04:45,050 --> 01:04:47,960
paralyzed, crippled, shut down or delayed
1372
01:04:47,960 --> 01:04:49,500
because of a virus.
1373
01:04:49,500 --> 01:04:54,500
- I would put the voter
access and the integrity of,
1374
01:04:56,850 --> 01:04:59,540
the ability of people
to vote in a pandemic
1375
01:04:59,540 --> 01:05:03,483
as a higher risk than
even foreign interference.
1376
01:05:04,340 --> 01:05:07,977
This to me harkens back
to Bush V. Gore in 2000,
1377
01:05:07,977 --> 01:05:10,500
and the election contest in Florida.
1378
01:05:10,500 --> 01:05:12,520
And what that revealed
1379
01:05:12,520 --> 01:05:14,620
is that the technology and infrastructure
1380
01:05:14,620 --> 01:05:17,630
behind our elections is
not really up to snuff.
1381
01:05:17,630 --> 01:05:21,200
We have not sufficiently paid attention
1382
01:05:21,200 --> 01:05:22,870
to the infrastructure needs
1383
01:05:22,870 --> 01:05:26,550
for a modern, 21st Century system.
1384
01:05:26,550 --> 01:05:28,040
We need to do that.
1385
01:05:28,040 --> 01:05:31,770
And we're going to have some
problems in 2020 as a result.
1386
01:05:31,770 --> 01:05:35,042
Not that the election officials
on both sides of the aisle
1387
01:05:35,042 --> 01:05:37,307
are not working diligently to fix that.
1388
01:05:37,307 --> 01:05:41,180
And I noticed again,
with all this, excuse me,
1389
01:05:41,180 --> 01:05:44,570
propaganda about mail ballots,
1390
01:05:44,570 --> 01:05:47,200
republican secretaries of state
1391
01:05:47,200 --> 01:05:49,840
and republican election administrators
1392
01:05:49,840 --> 01:05:52,150
are vouching for mail ballots,
1393
01:05:52,150 --> 01:05:55,890
and using an advocating for mail ballots
1394
01:05:55,890 --> 01:05:58,520
on a very wide basis.
1395
01:05:58,520 --> 01:06:03,520
So I think that's where we
have to spend some more money
1396
01:06:03,530 --> 01:06:07,239
and pay more attention than
the foreign interference issue.
1397
01:06:07,239 --> 01:06:09,350
- This is not an election that will test
1398
01:06:09,350 --> 01:06:10,663
something very important,
1399
01:06:11,578 --> 01:06:16,578
and that is our ability to be agile,
1400
01:06:16,580 --> 01:06:20,220
and to adopt different methods
if there are emergencies.
1401
01:06:20,220 --> 01:06:23,700
- The question is, how
robust can we make the vote
1402
01:06:23,700 --> 01:06:24,763
come election day?
1403
01:06:25,710 --> 01:06:30,240
Vote by mail, vote by home
really is the only solution.
1404
01:06:30,240 --> 01:06:31,930
It used to be called absentee voting.
1405
01:06:31,930 --> 01:06:33,430
It's basically the same thing.
1406
01:06:34,350 --> 01:06:39,350
And it's safe, it's secure,
the turnout rates are greater,
1407
01:06:39,970 --> 01:06:42,770
and so is the level of information
1408
01:06:42,770 --> 01:06:45,580
that the voter is able to
work with when they're voting.
1409
01:06:45,580 --> 01:06:47,800
So it's a solution that's been kind of
1410
01:06:47,800 --> 01:06:49,840
on the shelf for a long time.
1411
01:06:49,840 --> 01:06:52,830
And right now, we just need
to radically scale it up.
1412
01:06:52,830 --> 01:06:56,590
- They've asked for a
ridiculous $3.5 billion,
1413
01:06:56,590 --> 01:06:57,627
that's billion,
1414
01:06:57,627 --> 01:07:02,627
$3.5 billion for universal mail-in voting,
1415
01:07:02,820 --> 01:07:05,203
a system riddled by fraud and corruption.
1416
01:07:06,950 --> 01:07:08,986
- The number one concern
that people talk about
1417
01:07:08,986 --> 01:07:12,680
is that you can have a
lot of fraudulent voting.
1418
01:07:12,680 --> 01:07:16,100
- I think that be fraud on
both sides, unfortunately,
1419
01:07:16,100 --> 01:07:19,790
because people take this
election very, very seriously
1420
01:07:19,790 --> 01:07:22,170
and that induces them
sometimes to do things
1421
01:07:22,170 --> 01:07:26,860
that are dishonest, and
in violations of law.
1422
01:07:26,860 --> 01:07:31,860
- Just as there have been many
calls to stop voter fraud,
1423
01:07:32,950 --> 01:07:35,960
there have been displays of the fact
1424
01:07:35,960 --> 01:07:38,523
that there just is no great problem.
1425
01:07:40,300 --> 01:07:44,000
It seems to me that solutions
should be proportionate
1426
01:07:44,000 --> 01:07:47,350
to the problems they're
supposed to counteract.
1427
01:07:47,350 --> 01:07:49,470
Voter fraud is not a big
issue in the United States,
1428
01:07:49,470 --> 01:07:51,500
and I take it it's for
a couple of reasons.
1429
01:07:51,500 --> 01:07:53,340
One, the penalties for voter fraud
1430
01:07:53,340 --> 01:07:55,010
are actually fairly stiff.
1431
01:07:55,010 --> 01:07:57,370
And two, the benefit of voter fraud
1432
01:07:57,370 --> 01:07:58,980
is actually pretty minimal.
1433
01:07:58,980 --> 01:08:01,350
- I'm aware of no studies that point
1434
01:08:01,350 --> 01:08:04,530
to any increased likelihood of fraud
1435
01:08:04,530 --> 01:08:06,420
with mail-in ballots over any other kind.
1436
01:08:06,420 --> 01:08:09,180
In fact, some people, and
some state administrators,
1437
01:08:09,180 --> 01:08:11,970
both republican and democrats
will say that the procedures
1438
01:08:11,970 --> 01:08:16,010
for mail-in ballots are
actually less prone to fraud,
1439
01:08:16,010 --> 01:08:19,870
because of the procedural
steps of signing, witnessing,
1440
01:08:19,870 --> 01:08:23,280
comparing the signatures,
having a paper record.
1441
01:08:23,280 --> 01:08:25,028
- The States that have done it before
1442
01:08:25,028 --> 01:08:26,570
would probably be all right.
1443
01:08:26,570 --> 01:08:28,390
I happen to live in a state
that has done it before,
1444
01:08:28,390 --> 01:08:30,240
and that is Colorado.
1445
01:08:30,240 --> 01:08:32,190
- The state of Colorado
has been voting by mail
1446
01:08:32,190 --> 01:08:33,933
for almost a decade now.
1447
01:08:34,840 --> 01:08:37,930
The state itself launched its own audit
1448
01:08:37,930 --> 01:08:40,480
to try to determine what
percentage of ballots
1449
01:08:40,480 --> 01:08:44,160
in the last 10 years were
potentially fraudulent.
1450
01:08:44,160 --> 01:08:49,160
And the number that it
came up with was 0.006%.
1451
01:08:49,566 --> 01:08:52,103
That's basically a rounding error,
1452
01:08:53,130 --> 01:08:55,740
and probably there are
more errors like that occur
1453
01:08:56,840 --> 01:09:00,010
every two years in polling
places across America,
1454
01:09:00,010 --> 01:09:01,390
just because someone didn't write
1455
01:09:01,390 --> 01:09:02,530
someone's name down correctly,
1456
01:09:02,530 --> 01:09:04,160
someone didn't scan the ballot correctly,
1457
01:09:04,160 --> 01:09:06,310
someone didn't fill it
out correctly, whatever.
1458
01:09:06,310 --> 01:09:09,010
So on the fraudulent front,
1459
01:09:09,010 --> 01:09:13,170
it seems as if voting by
mail is basically fraud free.
1460
01:09:13,170 --> 01:09:15,990
- [Narrator] Prior to
COVID-19 Washington, Oregon,
1461
01:09:15,990 --> 01:09:19,700
Utah, Hawaii, and Colorado
had universal vote-by-mail.
1462
01:09:19,700 --> 01:09:23,910
Overall, 34 States have some
experience with voting by mail
1463
01:09:23,910 --> 01:09:27,000
that is available to more
than just absentee voters.
1464
01:09:27,000 --> 01:09:30,610
- There's nothing actually
wrong with mailing ballots,
1465
01:09:30,610 --> 01:09:33,400
as long as they can be verified.
1466
01:09:33,400 --> 01:09:36,020
For those states that are just starting,
1467
01:09:36,020 --> 01:09:40,770
they are going to be inundated
with all kinds of questions
1468
01:09:40,770 --> 01:09:43,020
about the validity of the ballots.
1469
01:09:43,020 --> 01:09:44,587
- It's not so much that there's fraud,
1470
01:09:44,587 --> 01:09:48,610
and it's not so much
that there's a problem
1471
01:09:48,610 --> 01:09:49,820
with mail-in voting.
1472
01:09:49,820 --> 01:09:51,870
It's that the infrastructure
and technology
1473
01:09:51,870 --> 01:09:56,440
has not caught up to or kept pace with
1474
01:09:56,440 --> 01:10:01,440
the volume of voting that is
going to occur via the mail.
1475
01:10:01,750 --> 01:10:04,470
And so that's the problem we face.
1476
01:10:04,470 --> 01:10:06,640
- We can't give them the
kind of ridiculous things
1477
01:10:06,640 --> 01:10:10,370
that they want that have nothing
to do with the China virus.
1478
01:10:10,370 --> 01:10:12,450
It has nothing at all
to do with China virus,
1479
01:10:12,450 --> 01:10:14,419
much of what they're asking for.
1480
01:10:14,419 --> 01:10:16,760
So therefore they don't have the money
1481
01:10:16,760 --> 01:10:20,370
to do the universal mail-in voting.
1482
01:10:20,370 --> 01:10:22,900
So therefore they can't
do it, I guess, right?
1483
01:10:22,900 --> 01:10:25,210
Are they gonna do it even though
they don't have the money?
1484
01:10:25,210 --> 01:10:28,450
- The other argument about vote-by-mail
1485
01:10:28,450 --> 01:10:30,400
is a more political argument,
1486
01:10:30,400 --> 01:10:35,200
and it's based on calculations
about who benefits
1487
01:10:35,200 --> 01:10:39,200
or doesn't benefit when
people vote by mail or not.
1488
01:10:39,200 --> 01:10:42,590
President Trump in the spring tweeted out
1489
01:10:42,590 --> 01:10:46,690
that it was clear to
him that voting by mail
1490
01:10:46,690 --> 01:10:49,750
benefited democrats more than republicans.
1491
01:10:49,750 --> 01:10:52,693
And as a result, he said that
it should be discouraged.
1492
01:10:53,950 --> 01:10:58,113
Now think about how profoundly
morally offensive that is,
1493
01:10:58,113 --> 01:11:02,160
that the president of the
United States of America
1494
01:11:02,160 --> 01:11:04,740
was openly advocating
1495
01:11:04,740 --> 01:11:07,190
essentially a form of voter suppression,
1496
01:11:07,190 --> 01:11:09,540
meaning not allowing
people to vote by mail
1497
01:11:09,540 --> 01:11:11,710
during the time of a pandemic,
1498
01:11:11,710 --> 01:11:14,133
because he doesn't think it's
good enough for his party.
1499
01:11:15,000 --> 01:11:17,940
Now, not only is that morally offensive,
1500
01:11:17,940 --> 01:11:20,240
but it's also just in-factual.
1501
01:11:20,240 --> 01:11:22,680
And since he released that Tweet,
1502
01:11:22,680 --> 01:11:24,777
many, many republicans
have come out and said,
1503
01:11:24,777 --> 01:11:28,087
"Actually, typically the
way the Republican Party
1504
01:11:28,087 --> 01:11:29,580
"has thought about vote by mail,
1505
01:11:29,580 --> 01:11:31,347
"is that it benefits Republicans,
1506
01:11:31,347 --> 01:11:34,160
"because older people are
the ones who vote by mail."
1507
01:11:34,160 --> 01:11:38,900
And typically older people
are ones who lean Republican.
1508
01:11:38,900 --> 01:11:41,650
- If it's them, let's
say, that are doing it,
1509
01:11:41,650 --> 01:11:44,313
and it's mostly democrat
states that want it,
1510
01:11:45,520 --> 01:11:47,870
and the democrat governors,
1511
01:11:47,870 --> 01:11:50,725
they're gonna send them
to certain areas, I guess.
1512
01:11:50,725 --> 01:11:53,730
I guess people are gonna be getting them,
1513
01:11:53,730 --> 01:11:56,350
and said, "Oh, all right, that's fine."
1514
01:11:56,350 --> 01:11:57,910
And they'll send it back.
1515
01:11:57,910 --> 01:12:01,930
- So not only was the
president undermining
1516
01:12:03,090 --> 01:12:06,523
the very constitution
that he swore to defend,
1517
01:12:07,360 --> 01:12:12,360
but he also was putting a
piece of information out there
1518
01:12:13,320 --> 01:12:15,610
that even his own party disagrees with.
1519
01:12:15,610 --> 01:12:16,770
- I say this for the media,
1520
01:12:16,770 --> 01:12:19,520
this will be the greatest catastrophe,
1521
01:12:19,520 --> 01:12:21,120
one of the greatest catastrophes
1522
01:12:21,120 --> 01:12:22,940
in the history of our country,
that's how serious it is.
1523
01:12:22,940 --> 01:12:26,620
- Because of the
overwhelming massive increase
1524
01:12:26,620 --> 01:12:28,900
in mail-in ballots during a pandemic,
1525
01:12:28,900 --> 01:12:30,460
we have a question about the ability
1526
01:12:30,460 --> 01:12:33,080
of the postal service to deliver,
1527
01:12:33,080 --> 01:12:36,910
to get all those ballots
in time, that's number one.
1528
01:12:36,910 --> 01:12:40,776
And number two, we have
a gap in the education
1529
01:12:40,776 --> 01:12:43,790
and experience of the electorate
1530
01:12:43,790 --> 01:12:48,530
to properly qualify and
fill out absentee ballots,
1531
01:12:48,530 --> 01:12:51,930
because they're not used
to doing it that way.
1532
01:12:51,930 --> 01:12:56,930
534,000 mail-in ballots
were thrown out in 23 States
1533
01:12:57,660 --> 01:12:59,610
in the 2020 primaries.
1534
01:12:59,610 --> 01:13:03,700
In California, 102,000 such
ballots were thrown out.
1535
01:13:03,700 --> 01:13:06,020
In New York, 84,000.
1536
01:13:06,020 --> 01:13:07,670
That's a lot of ballots to be thrown out.
1537
01:13:07,670 --> 01:13:12,247
Now, remember in Michigan,
Trump won by 10,704 votes.
1538
01:13:14,060 --> 01:13:16,960
In Michigan in the primaries,
1539
01:13:16,960 --> 01:13:21,960
10,694 ballots were
disqualified in the primary.
1540
01:13:22,170 --> 01:13:23,270
The margin of victory.
1541
01:13:24,510 --> 01:13:27,770
So depending on what happens,
this could be critical.
1542
01:13:27,770 --> 01:13:31,700
If people don't have any
confidence in the balloting
1543
01:13:31,700 --> 01:13:36,700
in the election of who was
actually the winning candidate,
1544
01:13:36,870 --> 01:13:39,760
that will cause disputes
that would go on for years.
1545
01:13:39,760 --> 01:13:42,823
- You're not gonna able to
know the end of this election,
1546
01:13:43,740 --> 01:13:47,133
in my opinion, for weeks, months.
1547
01:13:48,610 --> 01:13:50,030
Maybe never.
1548
01:13:50,030 --> 01:13:53,180
- The fact is that the people
who are judging these ballots
1549
01:13:53,180 --> 01:13:54,700
then have to go through them,
1550
01:13:54,700 --> 01:13:58,820
and that will become a
source of a lot of dispute.
1551
01:13:58,820 --> 01:14:01,910
Those disputes will
eventually get to the courts.
1552
01:14:01,910 --> 01:14:05,250
The courts will take a
long time as they always do
1553
01:14:05,250 --> 01:14:07,690
to resolve these things.
1554
01:14:07,690 --> 01:14:09,230
And we don't have that much time.
1555
01:14:09,230 --> 01:14:12,640
The election is in November, November 3rd.
1556
01:14:12,640 --> 01:14:17,640
And if you have a dozen, or
two dozen lawsuits going on,
1557
01:14:19,220 --> 01:14:23,840
would they all be finished by January 20?
1558
01:14:23,840 --> 01:14:26,950
Which is only a matter of two months,
1559
01:14:26,950 --> 01:14:29,670
two and a half months from
the time of the election.
1560
01:14:29,670 --> 01:14:31,170
That's not very long
1561
01:14:31,170 --> 01:14:33,490
when there's a lot of litigation going on.
1562
01:14:33,490 --> 01:14:34,900
- So the president himself
1563
01:14:34,900 --> 01:14:38,440
does not have the power
to delay the election.
1564
01:14:38,440 --> 01:14:42,760
That would have to be an act
of lawmaking by Congress.
1565
01:14:42,760 --> 01:14:44,270
Federal law would have to be changed
1566
01:14:44,270 --> 01:14:46,068
to move the election date.
1567
01:14:46,068 --> 01:14:49,380
But what the constitution
says is that no matter what,
1568
01:14:49,380 --> 01:14:52,250
the President and Vice President's term
1569
01:14:52,250 --> 01:14:56,730
terminates on January 20th of
the year after the election.
1570
01:14:56,730 --> 01:14:58,280
It's not just the president, of course,
1571
01:14:58,280 --> 01:15:00,790
all of the house members
are up for election
1572
01:15:00,790 --> 01:15:02,260
and a third of the Senate.
1573
01:15:02,260 --> 01:15:04,023
- If there's a contested election,
1574
01:15:05,770 --> 01:15:07,640
the constitution clearly states
1575
01:15:08,640 --> 01:15:11,540
it will be decided by the
House of Representatives.
1576
01:15:11,540 --> 01:15:13,210
- Is that the full house,
1577
01:15:13,210 --> 01:15:16,800
or just the house that has been elected
1578
01:15:16,800 --> 01:15:21,590
in unchallenged elections, November 3rd?
1579
01:15:21,590 --> 01:15:23,730
And if it's a republican house,
1580
01:15:23,730 --> 01:15:26,530
then they elect the president.
1581
01:15:26,530 --> 01:15:28,710
This is all very, very dangerous.
1582
01:15:28,710 --> 01:15:29,610
- But the fact of the matter is
1583
01:15:29,610 --> 01:15:32,480
not that many house districts
actually are very competitive.
1584
01:15:32,480 --> 01:15:36,760
And so one would think that
1585
01:15:36,760 --> 01:15:41,550
even if there are some
contested elections, perhaps,
1586
01:15:41,550 --> 01:15:43,900
there probably will be
a pretty clear majority,
1587
01:15:44,890 --> 01:15:48,360
and they will then vote as they will,
1588
01:15:48,360 --> 01:15:50,624
provided the law is followed.
1589
01:15:50,624 --> 01:15:52,010
But there are some questions
1590
01:15:52,010 --> 01:15:53,810
about whether the law will be followed.
1591
01:15:53,810 --> 01:15:57,690
One such example in my mind,
is of course the 2000 election.
1592
01:15:57,690 --> 01:16:00,440
There are a number of legal
scholars who wonder why
1593
01:16:00,440 --> 01:16:04,470
the Supreme Court soft fit to decide
1594
01:16:04,470 --> 01:16:08,610
how this election dispute
was to be resolved,
1595
01:16:08,610 --> 01:16:11,494
because it's not clear
that it is the court's role
1596
01:16:11,494 --> 01:16:14,298
to resolve election disputes.
1597
01:16:14,298 --> 01:16:15,220
The constitution is quite clear
1598
01:16:15,220 --> 01:16:17,870
about who resolves disputes
about the presidency.
1599
01:16:17,870 --> 01:16:20,720
So I think there's a
question about whether
1600
01:16:20,720 --> 01:16:24,100
a slightly activist,
you might call it, court
1601
01:16:24,100 --> 01:16:26,240
might try to jump in
and then usurp the role
1602
01:16:26,240 --> 01:16:28,090
of the House of Representatives.
1603
01:16:28,090 --> 01:16:31,370
- For too long, we have neglected
1604
01:16:32,600 --> 01:16:35,240
our system of elections in this country.
1605
01:16:35,240 --> 01:16:40,240
And the virus at this point
has just exposed that neglect.
1606
01:16:40,720 --> 01:16:43,620
It's exposed the lack of adequate funding
1607
01:16:43,620 --> 01:16:45,780
that Secretaries of State have.
1608
01:16:45,780 --> 01:16:50,780
It's exposed the crazy patchwork
of local election officials
1609
01:16:51,170 --> 01:16:52,930
all around the country.
1610
01:16:52,930 --> 01:16:54,850
Setting up polling
places in little churches
1611
01:16:54,850 --> 01:16:58,390
and community centers
with volunteer staffs.
1612
01:16:58,390 --> 01:17:01,580
It's exposed the very nature of the way
1613
01:17:01,580 --> 01:17:04,930
that we fund our elections.
1614
01:17:04,930 --> 01:17:06,850
And so I think at this point,
1615
01:17:06,850 --> 01:17:09,330
we've got to take a much clearer look
1616
01:17:09,330 --> 01:17:10,633
at what's going on here.
1617
01:17:11,550 --> 01:17:14,970
We are the greatest, most
powerful democracy on earth,
1618
01:17:14,970 --> 01:17:18,810
and it would be pretty
hard for us at this point
1619
01:17:18,810 --> 01:17:21,350
to try to go to other countries
1620
01:17:21,350 --> 01:17:23,000
that are either aspiring to be democracies
1621
01:17:23,000 --> 01:17:25,990
or are democracies, and suggest to them
1622
01:17:25,990 --> 01:17:28,580
that we should be lending them advice
1623
01:17:28,580 --> 01:17:30,130
about how to conduct elections.
1624
01:17:33,520 --> 01:17:35,280
- Elections are important,
1625
01:17:35,280 --> 01:17:38,690
because we cannot address
the national challenges
1626
01:17:38,690 --> 01:17:41,980
without doing it through government.
1627
01:17:41,980 --> 01:17:46,920
We cannot rely upon private
business, private institutions
1628
01:17:47,810 --> 01:17:50,780
to address the challenge presented
1629
01:17:50,780 --> 01:17:54,470
for jobs, education, climate change,
1630
01:17:54,470 --> 01:17:56,610
safety around the world.
1631
01:17:56,610 --> 01:17:59,570
People at this time on both
sides seem to be despairing
1632
01:17:59,570 --> 01:18:01,867
with the ability of government
1633
01:18:01,867 --> 01:18:04,230
to address these nature problems.
1634
01:18:04,230 --> 01:18:06,280
But without government as the solution,
1635
01:18:06,280 --> 01:18:07,620
there is no solution.
1636
01:18:07,620 --> 01:18:08,880
And if you aren't participating,
1637
01:18:08,880 --> 01:18:10,690
and if you aren't
electing the right people
1638
01:18:10,690 --> 01:18:12,072
to help solve those problems,
1639
01:18:12,072 --> 01:18:14,600
then the system will continue to collapse.
1640
01:18:14,600 --> 01:18:16,752
And it'll give the
authoritarians all over the world
1641
01:18:16,752 --> 01:18:20,363
the ability to mock us, and
to prove to their people
1642
01:18:20,363 --> 01:18:22,900
that they're way, that
the authoritarian way
1643
01:18:22,900 --> 01:18:24,170
is the right way.
1644
01:18:24,170 --> 01:18:25,810
People spending millions of dollars
1645
01:18:25,810 --> 01:18:29,320
because the vote is powerful.
1646
01:18:29,320 --> 01:18:30,650
So use that power.
1647
01:18:30,650 --> 01:18:31,850
- You're are the future.
1648
01:18:32,720 --> 01:18:36,360
And only if you know and educate yourself,
1649
01:18:36,360 --> 01:18:40,410
and work to bridge this divisiveness,
1650
01:18:40,410 --> 01:18:42,610
is there really any
hope for our democracy.
1651
01:18:42,610 --> 01:18:45,870
- One of the things you must
participate in is voting.
1652
01:18:45,870 --> 01:18:49,357
That is the fundamental right,
1653
01:18:49,357 --> 01:18:52,480
and the fundamental function you have
1654
01:18:52,480 --> 01:18:55,370
to influence where this country goes.
1655
01:18:55,370 --> 01:18:58,030
- People in government make decisions
1656
01:18:58,030 --> 01:19:01,190
that affect many, many tomorrows.
1657
01:19:01,190 --> 01:19:05,053
They decide today on actions
that will affect the future.
1658
01:19:06,200 --> 01:19:11,200
Young voters have more vested interest
1659
01:19:11,220 --> 01:19:14,163
in that future than order voters like me.
1660
01:19:16,340 --> 01:19:21,090
And so for no other reason,
a self-serving reason,
1661
01:19:21,090 --> 01:19:23,390
whether it's a local race for judge,
1662
01:19:23,390 --> 01:19:25,100
for County commissioner,
1663
01:19:25,100 --> 01:19:28,200
a state race, or a federal race,
1664
01:19:28,200 --> 01:19:32,250
Your futures will be affected
by those you vote for today.
1665
01:19:32,250 --> 01:19:35,570
So vote, it's unexcusable.
1666
01:19:35,570 --> 01:19:37,310
There's no reason not to.
1667
01:19:37,310 --> 01:19:39,263
It's in your best interest to do so.
1668
01:19:44,027 --> 01:19:46,777
(dramatic music)
1669
01:19:47,305 --> 01:20:47,634
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