Rachel Maddow sounds the alarm as Trump faces an attack he doesn’t grasp: ‘Not a drill!’
President Donald Trump has made America less safe by punching a hole in the nation's ability to defend against a certain kind of attack from Iran, MS NOW's Rachel Maddow warned on Monday, and they're already taking advantage.
Maddow opened by mentioning the devastating wildfires in Spokane, Washington, and a surprising way that Trump allowed Iran to sabotage efforts to fight them.
"We're watching those fires and those evacuations tonight after what has been a terrible day in Eastern Washington State," said Maddow. Worse still, "in seven different states today, local water systems now know they have been hacked into, in a mass cyberattack that is being attributed to Iran."
"You may recall that the Trump administration dismantled or radically scaled back cybersecurity capabilities within the federal government, including inexplicably firing the head of Cyber Command in the U.S. military," said Maddow. "Well, now, local water supplies again in seven states have been hacked into by what appears to have been a foreign adversary."
"This is not a drill!" said Maddow. "This is something that is happening right now and in real life."
Trump originally blamed the attack on Minnesota's Democratic governor, Maddow noted, but at this point "it is at least seven states. And so definitely, by definition, it is not Minnesota's fault."
The upshot, Maddow said, is that Trump has a "strange inability to process this kind of information, to even seemingly understand this kind of attack," and there's no way to know whether America "is even capable of mounting a defense and a response to this kind of attack, because of the way Trump deliberately degraded our cyber capabilities."
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Lawyer rips Epstein adviser’s ‘gross’ claim about ‘American hero’: ‘Shame on her’
An attorney for several survivors of Jeffrey Epstein said he was "appalled" on Thursday after a high-powered corporate attorney who advised the late child sex offender told lawmakers that she did not view Virginia Giuffre as a "credible witness."
Attorney Arick Fudali, who represents 11 Epstein survivors, told CNN anchor Boris Sanchez he was stunned to learn about the comments from attorney Kathy Ruemmler, the former Goldman Sachs general counsel, who was questioned behind closed doors by the House Oversight Committee earlier this month about her relationship with the financier.
Ruemmler told congressional leaders that she thought Giuffre, one of the most prominent accusers of Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, "lacked inherent credibility."
Ruemmler's comment has left Giuffre's family furious, and Fudali shared his reaction with CNN.
"It's appalling. It's gross. You know, any adjective you can possibly think of and [it's] really offensive for her to say that about Ms. Giuffre, who, in my opinion, is an American hero, someone who suffered greatly and someone who inspired so many other survivors, not just of Jeffrey Epstein, but of sexual abuse around the world," Fudali said.
"Ms. Giuffre is the reason, I know personally, that a lot of women were able to feel comfortable, feel strong, and feel empowered enough to step forward," Fudali added. "So shame on her for saying anything of the sort. Anything, especially casting doubt on Ms. Giuffre's allegations."
