[Baldwin:] What Russia did during the 2016 presidential election and how they did it. Florida's congressional delegation just finished a briefing from the FBI, being told how Russia hacked voter databases in two Florida counties in its effort to influence how the election turned out. But it is classified, so they cannot tell us. But when the briefing ended, those Florida lawmakers told reporters they are worried that the FBI is holding back critical information from voters as we now approach 2020.
[Rep. Stephanie Murphy:] We can now confirm that a second county was breached. And I find that more than two years after the 2016 election, the public still doesn't know the names of these counties and what the government is doing to prevent it from happening again. I think that is unacceptable. Because we received a classified briefing, we will be restricted in what we will be able to tell you. But rest assured we are working hard to continue to demand that the FBI reconsider their classification, so that we can provide more information to the public.
[Baldwin:] Evan Perez is our CNN senior justice correspondent who was in the briefing. Two counties. What else did they say?
[Evan Perez, Cnn Justice Correspondent:] Well, Brooke, one of the really interesting points that these lawmakers are making is that, look, you're undermining the faith that the voters have in the system and in the confidence that they have in the system and the election results, really, if you don't provide the transparency, you don't provide that information. They said that the FBI told them that they cannot tell them more because it is classified. Some of it is protection of sources and methods, the way in which the FBI determined all this. Some of this involves the NSA, and some of these, obviously, are classified tools. But also they said that, essentially, these counties are victims, and under the FBI's rules, they can't identify victims. Now, we did learn, Brooke, that the FBI told the lawmakers that these counties in Florida were told at the time, in 2016, that there was an issue. Two of them came back and said that they noticed suspicious activity. So, the question is, how are we going to prevent this from happening in 2020? That's the big question.
[Baldwin:] What are they saying about that?
[Perez:] Well, that's the thing. I mean, the Russians were in there. They say that they didn't change any vote tallies, they didn't change they didn't tamper with the voting rolls. But what's to say that they can't come back, try another way...
[Baldwin:] Exactly.
[Perez:] ... to get back into the system, and then do something in 2020? I think that's the big question that everybody's raising, including these lawmakers, who are very, very frustrated with the FBI at this time.
[Baldwin:] Understandably. They got to make sure they don't do that come 2020. Every vote needs to matter.
[Perez:] It's always Florida, right?
[Baldwin:] Always Florida. Evan Perez, thank you very much. Appreciate you. The president's Twitter guru playing a major role in relaying Trump's message to the masses. Dan Scavino is one of Trump's closest confidants. As Politico is reporting today, Scavino is one of the last original and completely trusted insiders still at the president's side. So, let me read this for you from Politico's new piece on Scavino's growing influence quote "Oftentimes, I will go through Dan," Trump said. "You know, I will talk it over, and he can really be a very good sounding board, a lot of common sense. He's got a good grasp." Daniel Lippman just co-wrote that piece for Politico. Daniel, welcome back to you.
[Daniel Lippman, Politico:] Thanks, Brooke.
[Baldwin:] First of all, just on Dan Scavino and his staying power, the fact that, as you write, he's the last of the original four Trump insiders sort of still standing. Why? Is it all about Twitter?
[Lippman:] Yes, so people like Hope Hicks and Keith Schiller and John McEntee, Trump's former body man, have all left the White House. And we talked to more than two dozen close to Trump and also White House officials. And they say that Scavino's positive reinforcement and the fact that Trump trusts no one else to manage his Twitter feed is a big part of the reason why he has stayed. And this is a guy who holds what would be a second-tier job in any other White House, and yet he makes the top White House salary of almost $180,000 and is with the president more than any other aide besides his family members.
[Baldwin:] And how did Trump and Scavino first meet?
[Lippman:] So, he met Mr. he met the president when Scavino was 16 years old. He was his golf caddy, later became his general manager of the Trump Golf Club in Westchester. And so he's been by his side for a couple decades. And he seems to have a very good grasp of Trump's voice. And he can mimic it very well. And he knows what stories are going to play well on Twitter. But a lot of people say that he's kind of a yes-man and an enabler of Trump's tweets. They used to, in the early part of the administration, try to tamp down Trump's tweets. They have completely given up.
[Baldwin:] That's interesting. How much influence does Dan Scavino have in Trump's tweets? And how integral will his role be we know about it in 2016 but going into 2020?
[Lippman:] So, the president allowed to us that Scavino plays a role, but Trump likes to write his own tweets himself. And he likes to see cable news cover it within 15 seconds. And so, if they're only presenting drafts of tweets, and then Scavino types them up, then, for Trump, that doesn't actually give him the thrill of making markets go up and down. And so and but this they have to kind of modulate Trump's Twitter presence, because a lot of those moderate suburban women voters are kind of turned off by the constant chaos in Washington, which is primarily derived from Trump's tweets, where he's undermining his staff and Republicans on Capitol Hill, where they don't even know where the White House stands.
[Baldwin:] We will see if we see less of that as we go on, and closer to the election.
[Lippman:] I don't expect it.
[Baldwin:] I don't know about that. Daniel Lippman, great to have you on. Thank you very much for that. Coming up next: Televangelist Pat Robertson says Alabama's new abortion law, the most restrictive in the country, may not go far enough details on the looming battle in the U.S. Supreme Court.