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'The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell' for Thursday, August 28th, 2014

Read the transcript to the Thursday show

THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O`DONNELL
August 28, 2014

Guest: Alison Lundergan Grimes, Lance Krig


LAWRENCE O`DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: Tonight, we have an important develop
in the investigation in the killing of Michael Brown and we have Democratic
Senate candidate in Kentucky, Alison Lundergan Grimes in her first national
television interview about her campaign to unseat Republican Senate leader
Mitch McConnell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The clash in Kentucky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lundergan Grimes looking to unseat Mitch
McConnell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quite a race going on down there.

ALISON LUNDERGAN GRIMES (D-KY), SENATE CANDIDATE: If Mitch McConnell
were a TV show, he`d be "Mad Men."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: McConnell is already threatening to use --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The same tactics that led to the shutdown.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: I`m the guy that`s
gotten us of the shutdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trying to gin up their base.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hence, Grimes, more fuel.

GRIMES: Thanks to you, D.C. Stands for "Doesn`t Care."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little over two months ago --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are Grimes` real chances?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alison Lundergan Grimes has a very good chance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alison Grimes wants to make it entirely about
Mitch McConnell.

GRIMES: What a huge crowd for Senator McConnell`s retirement party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thought that he would be ahead by this point in
time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s going to be an interesting ten weeks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O`DONNELL: Politics is the art of the possible. But my first guest
tonight is trying to do something that is virtually impossible in American
politics. Alison Lundergan Grimes is running for the United States Senate
and she is running against the minority leader of the Senate, Mitch
McConnell. In the entire history of the United States Senate, only one
minority leader has ever been defeated in a re-election campaign.

But polls show Alison Lundergan Grimes running in a virtual tie with
Mitch McConnell in Kentucky. Republicans are in a strong position to win
back control of the United States Senate and the vote in Kentucky could
make Mitch McConnell the next majority leader of the Senate or it could
make Alison Lundergan Grimes the second person in history to defeat a
Senate minority leader in a re-election campaign.

Joining me now for her first national television interview is the
Democratic candidate for Senate from Kentucky, Alison Lundergan Grimes.

Thank you very much for doing this tonight.

I wanted to get right to the news that`s on the front pages in
Kentucky today, and that is the release of audiotape yesterday that we
played on this program last night where Senator McConnell is saying some
things that he`s never said in Kentucky before, including if he becomes
majority leader, a refusal to ever allow a minimum wage increase to come to
a vote.

What is your reaction to that?

GRIMES: Well, it`s a pleasure to join you, and I think what we have
seen over the course of the past year is just how out of touch Mitch
McConnell is with the people of Kentucky and nationally. Whether it`s
Mitch McConnell saying it`s not his job to bring jobs here to this state.
Whether it`s him claiming that the barriers for women have all been lowered
but not all students deserve to go to Yale or promising further gridlock if
re-elected.

What this demonstrates is further promises by Mitch McConnell that he
will fight for the millionaires and billionaires in Washington if re-
elected, at the expense of hurting hardworking Kentuckians. The
distinction between us -- well, it couldn`t be more clear. Mitch McConnell
wants to work for the Koch brothers, for millionaires and billionaires. I
want to actually work for the people of Kentucky.

O`DONNELL: Well, it was actually at the Koch brothers sponsored event
in Southern California and a very pleasant, palatial hotel near the beach
where they were having this conference on Father`s Day in June where he
said these things.

I wanted to play the tape where he`s talking about, you know, no more
of these votes on extending unemployment benefits, minimum wage, that sort
of thing. Let`s listen to that.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MCCONNELL: And we`re not going to be debating all these gosh darn
proposals. That`s all we do in the Senate is a vote on things like raising
minimum wage (INAUDIBLE) cost the country 500,000 new job; extending
unemployment, that`s a great message for retirees; the student loan package
the other day, that`s just going to make things worse. These people
believe in all the wrong things.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: Alison Lundergan Grimes, the -- what has Senator McConnell
been saying about the minimum wage in Kentucky?

GRIMES: Well, these audio recordings, they go farther than any stump
speech Mitch McConnell has ever offered. We know that he`s voted against
increasing the minimum wage 17 times, that he`s been against extending
unemployment insurance benefits and that he`s turned his backs on college
students across the nation.

But what these tapes reveal is that if re-elected, he won`t even
consider a vote to increase the minimum wage. He won`t even consider a
vote to extend unemployment insurance benefits. He won`t even consider
making college affordable for our students.

Indeed, Mitch McConnell wants to raise money for the Koch brothers,
for millionaires and billionaires. I want to actually give hard-working
Americans a fighting chance, that being in the middle class, by raising the
minimum wage.

He wants to shut the government down, continued effort in that regard.
I actually want to give the unemployed individuals an ability to actually
climb back into the middle class.

And he wants to support Wall Street. I want to have the backs of our
students -- 360,000 students in the commonwealth who are struggling with
the crushing burden of student loan debt.

O`DONNELL: Let`s listen to another part of the tape where he talked
about how he would run the Senate, especially when it comes to budget
bills. Let`s listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCONNELL: Most things in the Senate require 60, but not the votes,
and the president doesn`t sign the votes. So, in the House and Senate, we
own the budget. So, what does that mean? That means that we can pass the
spending bill.

And I assure you that in the spending bill, we will be pushing back
against this bureaucracy by doing what`s called placing riders in the bill.
No money can be spent to do this or to do that. We`re going to go after
them on healthcare, on financial services, on the Environmental Protection
Agency, across the board (INAUDIBLE). All across the federal government,
we`re going to go after it.

Now, look, I don`t want to over-promise here, but --

(END AUDIO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: I have to tell you, what he`s saying is very strange,
having worked in the Senate myself, is that he`s saying that he`s going to
do all these things in budget bills, that the president would obviously
veto. And then the only way to get concession out of the president would
be to shut down the government, because there is no budget. But then he
says elsewhere that he absolutely will not shut down the government.

So, I mean, what he seems to be saying is a big pile of nothing, that
I`m going to try to be obstructionist, but in the end, I will make a deal
with President Obama on budgets and I won`t shut down the government. How
do you interpret it?

GRIMES: Well, after 30 years of Mitch McConnell being in Washington,
D.C., Kentuckians can no longer trust him. This is the same guy that said
he wouldn`t allow the farm bill to lapse on his watch and it did. This is
the same guy that said he wouldn`t allow the government to shut down and he
did.

Each and every one of us know Kentuckians, those all across this
nation, we need a senator that can reach across the aisle and work with
Democrats, Republicans and independents, to bring people together, to grow
the middle class and put hard-working Americans back to work.

You don`t do that, when you look a mother in the face, who rises at
6:00 in the morning to put food on the table for a 6-month-old, working
three jobs, telling her that you won`t even consider an increase in the
minimum wage.

You don`t do that by looking a veteran in the face saying you won`t
consider a vote on the extension of unemployment benefits.

And you don`t do that by looking at the 360,000 students that we have
here in Kentucky, millions across this nation, in the eyes and tell them
you won`t even consider a vote on college affordability.

Listen, I don`t think I`m in the minority. I believe the majority of
Kentuckians believe in these common sense solutions as to how we grow the
middle class and finally get Washington working, not just for Kentucky but
for the nation again.

Thirty years of Mitch McConnell is long enough. If you want a vote on
increasing the minimum wage, if you think we deserve to have a vote on
actually extending unemployment insurance benefits and making college more
affordable, working with senators across the aisle, then I invite everyone
to be part of this effort. The nation needs to rise up with us.

Join us on our Web site at www.AlisonforKentucky.com. And together,
we will make November 4 Mitch McConnell`s worst day yet.

O`DONNELL: The -- you know, watching Mitch McConnell in the Senate
for decades, it`s been a different senator each decade. He, for example,
used to vote for increases in the debt ceiling, no problem, under
Republican presidencies. He also during the Clinton presidency, for
example, voted to confirm Ruth Bader Ginsburg, now the moves to block
virtually every judicial nomination by President Obama.

So if you`re a Kentuckian and you voted for Mitch McConnell in the
`90s, it`s not the same senator who is working there now.

GRIMES: Thirty years of Mitch McConnell, and Kentucky ranks at the
bottom of every national indicator that`s out there. Indeed, Washington
isn`t working for Kentucky, for this nation.

And the common denominator, it`s not who is in the White House,
whether it`s a Democrat or Republican, or whoever he or she might be in the
future.

It`s Mitch McConnell. After 30 years, he`s the one that`s out of
touch. He`s the one that has literally gone Washington. He`s the one
that`s so out of step with the values we have here in the commonwealth of
Kentucky. He`s willing to choose millionaires and billionaires over the
hardworking people here in this state.

I want to work for Kentucky. Mitch McConnell -- he just wants to work
for the millionaires and billionaires.

O`DONNELL: It seems Mitch McConnell`s strategy is to link you to
President Obama as much as he can in Kentucky. Is that -- is that hurting
you in Kentucky and what are your main disagreements, if any, with
President Obama?

GRIMES: Well, Mitch McConnell wants to run this race against anyone
but me. He`s tried to link me to every national figure that`s out there
that disagrees with the interest of Kentucky.

But what he won`t tell the people of Kentucky and indeed this nation
is the gridlock, the mess he`s created in Washington. Well, it`s why the
president is wrongly ruling by executive order.

The people of Kentucky -- they know that I`m a strong, independent
Kentucky woman who will do what`s right for the people of this state. But
you seek to have the best interest of this state at heart and I`ll work
with you. But you seek to strike at the good jobs that we have here in
Kentucky, and you will find no stronger opponent.

Mitch McConnell, again, he has no record to run on. He wants to make
this race about anything but his 30 years in Washington -- his failed
leadership, his backing of the millionaires and billionaires instead of the
hardworking people right here in the commonwealth of Kentucky.

O`DONNELL: OK. Alison Lundergan Grimes, we`re out of time. Thank
you very much for joining us tonight. I really appreciate it.

GRIMES: Thank you.

O`DONNELL: Coming up -- thank you.

Coming up, an important development in the investigation of the
killing of Michael Brown. And later, what "The New York Times" is calling
one of the strangest labor disputes in American history. It was in the
Boston area. A strike unlike any you have ever heard of was resolved
today. So, there will be Boston accent in the show tonight.

Also tonight, we`ll be joined by a man who lives beside that shooting
range where a machine gun in the hands of a 9-year-old girl killed a
firearms instructor. That neighbor of that shooting range always knew that
something like this was going to happen there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL: A sister of the Boston marathon bombing suspects has been
arrested for, what else, making a bomb threat. Aliana Tsarnaev was
arrested in New York City yesterday and charged with harassment. Police
say she threatened a woman and told her, quote, "I have people that can go
over there and put a bomb on you."

Her brothers are accused of planting the bombs at the Boston marathon,
of shooting and killing an MIT police officer Sean Collier.

Up next, President Obama trying to stop Vladimir Putin at the same
time he`s trying to stop the Islamic State.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Russia is responsible
for the violence in eastern Ukraine. The violence is encouraged by Russia,
the separatists are trained by Russia, they are armed by Russia, they are
funded by Russia. Russia has deliberately and repeatedly violated the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and the new images of
Russian forces inside Ukraine make that plain for the world to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: That was President Obama in the briefing room today where
he said that the U.S. will not take military action in the conflict in
Ukraine, but suggested that there may be more economic sanctions coming
against Russia. The president spoke today in the briefing room prior to a
meeting with his national security team on the conflict in Eastern Ukraine,
and the threat of the Islamic State.

Earlier today, NATO said that 1,000 Russian soldiers are operating
inside Ukraine. They released satellite images showing what they say are
Russian self-propelled artillery units moving in a convoy through the
Ukrainian countryside.

Vladimir Putin continues to deny Russian involvement in eastern
Ukraine, one of the main rebel leaders told "Reuters" that 3,000 Russian
volunteers were serving with the rebels.

In an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council today, U.S.
ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, accused Russia of lying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMANTHA POWER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: At every step, Russia
has come before this council to say everything except the truth. It has
manipulated, it has obfuscated, it has a outright lied. Russia has to stop
lying and has to stop fueling this conflict. The mask is coming off. In
the face of this threat, the cost of inaction is unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: President Obama also announced today that he would be
sending Secretary of State John Kerry to the Middle East to help organize a
regional response to the threat of the Islamic State. Though the United
States will continue targeted airstrikes in Iraq against the Islamic State,
President Obama said there is no clear strategy for dealing with that
group`s presence in Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We don`t have a strategy yet. Folks are getting a little
further ahead of where we`re at than we currently are. And I think that`s
not just my assessment but the assessment of our military, as well. We
need to make sure that we have clear plans, that we are developing them.
At that point, I will consult with Congress, and make sure that their
voices are heard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: Joining me now is David Corn, Washington bureau chief for
"Mother Jones" and an MSNBC political analyst, and Michael McFaul, former
U.S. ambassador to Russia, and an MSNBC contributor.

Ambassador McFaul, to hear the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
saying that Russia is lying, actually using that lie in an open discussion
at the U.N. is absolutely extraordinary.

MICHAEL MCFAUL, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: It is. But I think it shows you
the level of frustration that the Obama administration officials have in
trying to have a serious, fact-based conversation with the Russian
government. Mr. Churkin, her counterpart at the United Nations today,
finally did admit, oh, yes, there are soldiers there. They`re just on
holiday.

This is not a serious way to talk about what I think is a major crisis
and a major threat to European security.

O`DONNELL: But, Ambassador, please explain this to us, how the
Russian officials like that, in forums like that, with real adults present,
can say these absolutely childish things.

MCFAUL: Well, I experienced it myself serving in the U.S. government.
It`s not always that way. I want to be clear about that.

O`DONNELL: No, I know it isn`t. That`s why I find it so amazing that
they`re doing it. But go ahead, sir.

MCFAUL: Because they can think they can get away from it, and they
don`t care fundamentally what we think anymore. I think that`s the crucial
issue.

Before this crisis, Vladimir Putin, President Putin and other senior
Russian government officials, they actually cared about what the West said,
about what different leaders thought about them. Right now, I don`t think
they care.

O`DONNELL: David Corn, why doesn`t Vladimir Putin just own what he`s
doing in the Ukraine?

DAVID CORN, MOTHER JONES: Well, I think right now he`s trying to
play it off a little bit on the fact that the United States may be taking a
hard line with some of the European allies who are closer to Russia and
more integrated economically with Russia.

If he just came out and said, Ukraine is mine, how I go in there,
there would be less room for some of the Europeans to dodge the
ramifications of what`s going on.

And also, I agree with the ambassador that he probably doesn`t give
too many figs about Western public opinion now, but he probably cares a
little bit, which is why there`s a fig leaf that he`s trying to maintain,
even though it`s like a "Saturday Night Live" character, you know, saying,
I`m not wearing a tie right now and, just guys would come and just lie,
lie, lie, like Jon Lovitz used to do.

He`ll say almost anything. His representatives will say almost
anything to avoid really agreeing with reality.

O`DONNELL: Ambassador McFaul, tell us what it`s like in an
administration when there are two very hot crises running at the same time,
one in Ukraine, one in Iraq and Syria with the Islamic State, and how the
administration and ultimately the president juggles both of those things at
the same time.

MCFAUL: Well, I`ve seen it before. I worked at the White House for
three years before going to Moscow. I think the team is perfectly capable
of doing that. It puts stress at the top, as you rightly pointed out. At
the lower levels, however, you know, those working the Ukraine account and
those working the Middle East account are in different parts of the
government.

It`s only when you get to the top, the deputy national security
adviser, the principals committee as they call it, Secretary Kerry, Hagel
and Susan Rice, and their companions, and then the president ultimately.
But, you know, I don`t think it`s insurmountable by any stretch of the
imagination.

O`DONNELL: David Corn, we continued hearing talk of eliminating the
Islamic State, just crushing it completely. This was kind of the
Bush/Cheney dream that we would go into the Middle East in that area, and
eliminate the kinds of thinking and passions that lead to this.

CORN: Well, of course, we can`t by snapping our fingers, and what
they tried to do actually created a lot of the passion. A good story in
"The New York Times" today that shows the de-Baathification in Iraq helped
create the conditions for Sunni people joining with ISIS in Iraq. And, you
know, apropos, the previous question, you know, the interesting thing about
these two foreign policy crisis is that they are somewhat related in the
sense that to do what we should have wanted to do with Syria -- against
ISIS dealing with Syria, perhaps even Iran, while Russia is a big ally of
those.

So, if we can`t, you know, bring Russia into some of these
conversations about stabilizing the Middle East, it does make life a little
bit tougher the same way they have to bring in the Saudis and other
regional powers, which I think the president did a good job of emphasizing
today. He was deliberate. I wish he showed a little more anger for
political reasons, but I think it`s where he should be right now in trying
to come together with strategic options and see if strikes in Syria would
do more harm than good, rather than just joining the call for action,
action, action just because.

O`DONNELL: David Corn and Ambassador Michael McFaul, thank you very
much for joining us tonight.

CORN: Sure thing.

MCFAUL: Thank you.

O`DONNELL: Thank you.

Coming up, what could be a major development in the investigation of
the killing of Michael Brown?

And later, what would you do if the very rich CEO of the company that
you worked for got fired, would you go on strike for him for him to get his
job back? Some workers in the Boston area did that, and you`ll learn why
they did it in the "Rewrite". And yes, there will be Boston accents.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL: In the "Spotlight" tonight, a new development in the
investigation of the killing of Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer
Darren Wilson. On this program on Tuesday, we played an 11-second audio
recording that has been submitted to investigators in the case by St. Louis
Attorney Lopa Blumenthal who says she represents the unnamed man who says
he inadvertently made this recording of what sounds like shots fired while
he was using a video texting smartphone app.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOPA BLUMENTHAL, ATTORNEY: My client was using an app. It`s a video
texting app called Glide. And I am a technological novice n these areas,
you have to forgive me, but it`s my understanding that it is an app where
you can send texts to your friend and then you can record short snippets of
videos like, you know, if you`re willing to sing happy birthday and send it
along with the text, something like that. And it happened to have been
recorded during one of -- a time when my client decided to record something
for his friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: Now, the 11-second audio with Lopa Blumenthal`s client
recorded begins with him saying, "You`re pretty." So that`s the kind of
recording he was making. And I just give you that warning before hearing
it, because it is a little jarring to listen to that while you`re trying to
listen for gunshots that might be going on in the back ground. So let`s
listen now to that recording.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are pretty. You`re so fine. Just going over
some of your videos. How could I forget?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: St. Louis county prosecutors have confirmed to NBC News
that if audio is authenticated, it could be a key piece of evidence in the
case. NBC News and MSNBC are unable to determine how or when that audio
was reported. But today, Glide technologies issued a statement about that
audio, which Lopa Blumenthal says was recorded on a Gide video texting app.

Quote " because Glide is the only messaging application using
streaming video technology each message is simultaneously recorded and
transmitted to the exact time can be verified to the second, in this case
the video in question was created at 12:02:14 p.m. central time on Saturday
August 9th."

Joining me now is host of MSNBC`s "the Reid Report," Joy Reid.

Well, Joy, Glide Technologies is saying yes, that was recorded at the
time that we know the shooting of Michael Brown was going on.

JOY REID, MSNBC HOST, THE REID REPORT: Yes, and that`s significant,
both obviously because now it can be matched against the eyewitness
accounts that we already have. You`ve had a number of those witnesses here
on your show. So if the accounts of the shots do match up with the
narrative that we`ve heard before, that there were shots fired at Michael
Brown by the officer, that then Michael Brown turns towards the office and
then the final and fatal shots are fired, that is actually significant.
Particularly because there`s been a lot of analysis about that pause,
because that gives the idea, if authenticated, again, and we do have
confidently say that, that means that there might have been a pause in
which the officer had time to decide what to do next.

And it raises the question of whether Michael Brown having now heard
or felt the first flurry of shots, would then logically then go toward the
person who is shooting him, because the distance between the officer and
Michael Brown is going to be significant if this ever evolves into a legal
case.

O`DONNELL: And one thing I want to stress here, is this is 11
seconds. And one of the things we don`t know, Joy, is exactly when does
this begin? What I mean is, it is possible that there was a shot or shots
prior to this tape beginning to record. The audio expert, the audio
forensic expert that we had on Tuesday night counted, with his equipment,
what he believes are the sound of ten shots there. The police officer`s
weapon is probably capable of firing more than that, so it is possible that
this audio is picking up after the first shot is fired.

REID: Yes, and we don`t know that, because obviously there`s a lot of
evidence that we don`t know, including we don`t know the status of the gun.
Hopefully, there was due diligence done once the county police arrived on
the scene and took over the investigation. One would have to assume that
would do ballistics on the gun, they would see how many bullets were fired
and as you said, there could have been more shots fired previous.

But what we do know, what is on the public record is that Michael
Brown was shot at least six times. So that is important. And we also know
that the fatal shots were at the top of the head, the final shot was at the
top of the head, which means he was theoretically leaning forward in some
way. And you had one witness on your show here who talked about Michael
Brown going down and in the process of falling, when the final shot was
fired.

So all of this becomes significant. But again, we also have the wild
card of how this information is presented in narrative form in front of
that grand jury. That`s something we will never know because, of course,
that process is secret.

O`DONNELL: Chief Jackson of Ferguson police said their service
revolver, their service weapons normally have 12 bullets in there. So it
is -- let`s 11 in the magazine, one in the chamber. So it is possible two
more than the 10 that are recorded on that audio were fired or it may have
been recorded on that audio. So we now have an audio that indicates a
possible of ten -- we also have the preliminary autopsy findings indicating
how many actually hit Michael Brown. And so with ballistics, we should
then have the total count of bullets. And probably only with bullets at
ballistics what we have the total count of the shell cases of how many were
actually fired there. And then the picture of the firing and the rhythm of
it comes together.

REID: Yes. And then you also remember you have two more autopsies to
come. There was an autopsy done by the federal examiner as well as the
autopsy at the state level. So there`s a lot of these pieces of the puzzle
that will become discoverable again if this emerges into a legal case.

And I think that for this officer, that pause, in addition to the
total number of shots fired and the circumstances into which that final
shot went into the head of Michael Brown, it`s going to be very important,
very significant to his fate as to whether this was a shooting that can be
justified under the law or whether it cannot in which case it is a
potential homicide case. So all of that are yet to be seen. And again,
you`ve now had the prosecutor say that this could take months, that there`s
no time line, there`s no rush to get this through. So I think to as little
bits of information come out, we end up relying more and more and more on
the narratives that we`ve heard. Because these are all people who don`t
know each other and did had no interest. And this guy in particular, as
you said, he was trying to do something completely different. He doesn`t
have an interest in this. Put thing out, he`s at some risk to
embarrassment to himself. So I think that actually is significant. He is
an interest party.

O`DONNELL: It`s fascinating how confirmations of evidence can be
developed now, where suddenly, you know, an app -- a company with an app
out there can tell us, according to our records, this is exactly when this
particular sound was recorded in our system.

We`re going to see more interesting developments in this evidentiary
base in probably ways we haven`t seen before. Joy Reid, thank you very
much for joining us tonight.

REID: Thanks, Lawrence.

O`DONNELL: Coming up, a man who lives beside the shooting range where
a machine gun in the hands of a 9-year-old killed a firearms instructor has
been warning for years that that kind of thing could happen there.

And in the rewrite, the wicked amazing workers who went on strike for
their wicked amazing CEO.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL: And now for the good news. Passengers on a streetcar in
Dublin saved a schoolgirl who was trapped under a tram Tuesday morning.
The girl got stuck between the train and platform. A large group of people
pushed the train until she could get her legs out. She was taken to
hospital and only suffered minor injuries.

Up next, another good-news story in the rewrite about some workers who
fought and amazing fight. Get your Boston accent translator ready.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s so much more than just a job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: In the rewrite tonight, the wicked amazing story of Market
Basket, a management and labor story unlike any you have ever heard. You
just heard Arthur T. DeMoulas, speaking to some of the 25,000 employees of
the New England supermarket chain, Market Basket, who have been on strike
for the last six weeks. Why were they on strike? They were not asking for
higher wages. They were not asking for more benefits. They were not
fighting oppressive work rules. They were fighting for their CEO Arthur T.
DeMoulas who was fired by his cousin Arthur T. DeMoulas in June. How many
workers in America would do that? Go on strike because their very rich CEO
was pushed out in a family feud power play?

There might be no other company in America where that could happen.
Turns out the real family of Market Basket is not the DeMoulas family, the
family bond at Market Basket is what holds everyone there together.

Tom Gordon, a grocery supervisor who has worked for Market Basket for
39 years told the "Boston Globe" this isn`t work for all of us. This is
family. You take down one, you get the 25,000 behind us.

Here`s how Arthur T. DeMoulas, known as Arty T. at Market Basket,
expressed the same feeling of work, family, unity in his triumphant return
to the job today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARTHUR T. DEMOULAS, CEO, MARKET BASKET: You have demonstrated that
everyone here has a purpose. You have demonstrated that everyone -- that
no one person is better or more important than another. And no one person
holds a position of privilege. Whether it`s full-time or part-time,
whether it`s a stacker or a cashier or whatever else. So a supervisor, a
customer, a vendor or a CEO, we are all people.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: "The Boston Globe" described Arty T.`s winning management
style this way.

He made every CEO in America feel unworthy -- and for good reason
(Arthur T.) paid generously, knew employees by name, and acted like he
cared about them.

So that`s it. That`s what it takes to be a beloved CEO. Exactly what
you think it would take. Pay well, know employees by name, care about
them, talk to them, know what they want and what they need to do a better
job.

As the Globe put it today, the Market Basket lesson is, treat them
right, make them passionate about what they do, and watch your bottom line
grow. In the six weeks that Arty T. was knocked out of his job, the
business of Market Basket collapsed because customers showed their support
for workers and for Arty T. by boycotting Market Basket.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick got directly involved last week
trying to broker a solution and trying to get everyone back to work at
Market Basket. The solution to this strike, though, was not a labor
agreement, it was a multibillion dollar deal between Arthur T. and Arthur
S. on control of the company, with Arthur S. selling his controlling shares
to Arthur T., and this was a terribly, terribly risky strike for the
workers all along. They are not unionized. They had absolutely no
protection of being laid off and replaced. And Arthur S. tried to do
exactly that during the strikes. These workers were risking everything for
a guy who doesn`t need to work another day in his life. A guy who already
has more money that he`ll ever be able to spend. So much for the class
warfare that Republicans pretend is raging in America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Do you suggest that anyone who questions
the policies and practices of Wall Street and financial institutions,
anyone who has questions about the distribution of wealth and power in this
country is envious, it`s about jealousy or is it about fairness?

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR: You know, I think
it`s about envy. I think it`s about class warfare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: Hey Mitt, listen up. Arty T. is just as rich as you are,
but his employees don`t envy him, they love him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEMOULAS: You sacrificed your paycheck -- (INAUDIBLE) because you
empower others to see change.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: And business schools around the country are looking at
Market Basket in awe.

Professor David Lewin of UCLA said, to have an internal uprising of
just about everyone, without a union, is very unusual in American industry.

Professor Christopher Mack at Rutgers said, this is unheard of in
corporate America. It`s like 1776. We get to pick who governs us.

And professor Thomas Coken at MIT said, Market Basket shows the
employees are the most valuable asset in this business. Market Basket has
done more to educate us on how to manage a business than any business case
study that`s been written to date.

So now business school students have a chance of learning almost as
much as Market Basket employees already know about how to run a business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMILIO, MARKET BASKET EMPLOYEE: This is a man that we will all willingly
will walk over fire rocks, knowing that he would do the same for us.

DEMOULAS: I`m in awe. (INAUDIBLE). I love you all.

So move forward, working together. (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: I`ll see you at Market Basket this weekend.

O`DONNELL: The Arizona shooting range where a 9-year-old girl
accidentally shot and killed her instructor with an Uzi shut down
temporarily today. On Tuesday, the Mohave County sheriff`s office released
this video which shows the moments just before the firearms instructor and
so-called safety expert was killed by a fully automatic submachine gun that
he placed in the hands of a 9-year-old girl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to keep that held in. Otherwise the gun
won`t fire, OK? Right there. Like that. Turn this leg forward just like
that. All right. Go ahead and give me one shot. All right. Full auto.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: The NRA`s women`s group tweeted this on Wednesday. Seven
ways children can have fun at the shooting range linking into an article on
their web site. The group then deleted that tweet an hour later.

Joining me now, a man who knew this kind of tragedy was going to
happen at this shooting range, Lance Krig.

Mr. Krig, you live next door to the shooting range. Tell us about
your history or your experience with the range.

LANCE KRIG, NEIGHBOR OF BULLETS & BURGERS: Yes, sir. My brother owns
property adjacent to the shooting range here, and I frequent here, and
we`ve been part of the park over there for about ten years.

O`DONNELL: And at a certain point, you actually sued because of the
noise that was coming from the shooting range?

KRIG: Well, I was concerned with the safety aspect of the range to
start with, because the range shoots directly into the air space of the
airport on their north-south runway. And so I was concerned, of course,
with safety, and I researched to see if there was a way, because they were
also exploding targets in the early history of the shooting range here. So
I brought an action under an Arizona statute that deals with sound emitted
from outdoor ranges.

O`DONNELL: You had told the Arizona republic that over time, you kind
of got the feeling that this was predictable. You said this is exactly
what I said was going to happen.

KRIG: I`ve said that in my writings and the documents I`ve submitted in my
case and I said I testified as a witness in my own case. Yes, it has been
my belief. What started out as a personal search for safety for myself and
for the users of the airport next door quickly turned into a realization
that this range was posing an immediate threat to the safety and welfare of
the general public, as well. And I -- I`m sorry?

O`DONNELL: Let`s listen to Sam Scarmardo, who is the owner of the gun
range and what he said about the young lady, the 9-year-old girl who was
there. And just how proud he was that she was able to use any kind of
weapon she wanted to use. Let`s listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM SCARMARDO, OWNER, BULLETS AND BURGERS: This was a very mature
young lady, something she wanted to do and her parents were treating her.
This was something high on her bucket list to do and her parents took her
out to do what she was going to do. And you know, I don`t think if she
went to any other range, she would have had the same thing. She would have
been able to shoot any automatic weapon she wants.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: So lance, that`s what you`re up against, a guy who thinks
the little girl we saw in that video is a very mature young lady and he
seems very proud, very happy that she was able to shoot any automatic
weapon she wanted to shoot. And that`s his statement after that automatic
weapon killed one of his employees.

KRIG: Sir, I don`t know exactly who made that statement, but I do
part ways with his thoughts on that. I don`t believe there`s many
circumstances where you would put a military weapon in the hands of a 9-
year-old in a carnival atmosphere.

And I also somewhat part ways, with all due respect to the gentleman
who got killed in this incident, but I don`t think that that qualifies for
proper instructions. I think he directed her to fire that weapon, again,
as I said in a carnival or a fun house kind of atmosphere. And I don`t
think that qualifies for reasonable, responsible gun training under any
circumstance. Now, this is just my opinion, so I don`t agree with that
analysis.

O`DONNELL: Lance Krig, thank you very, very much for joining us
tonight and for your perspective on all this. Thank you.

KRIG: Thanks for having me.

O`DONNELL: Chris Hayes is up next.

END

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