MSNBC's Joy Reid Asks If Trumpites Should Be Tried at the Hague

October 10th, 2020 10:30 AM

On Wednesday evening, MSNBC again put on display how aligned the liberal network is with the far left as host Joy Reid entertained the possibility of Donald Trump administration members being tried at the Hague for possibly breaking international law by allegedly "torturing" illegal immigrants when children were being separated from their parents after illegal border crossings. She fumed, "Should members of this administration come up before the Hague for what they've done?" 

For his part, correspondent Jacob Soboroff expressed sympathy for the left-wing anti-Trump "resistance" as he lamented having to criticize former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who is otherwise admired by the liberal crowd for authorizing the Russia probe.

The ReidOut was one of several MSNBC shows on Wednesday that hyped a report by the New York Times shedding light on which Trump administration members voted in support of prosecuting all illegal border crossings, with Reid calling it "one of the darkest chapters ... in American history." She also couldn't bring herself to use the word "illegally" as she recalled that migrants had crossed the border "without documents."

When she gave Soboroff a chance to respond to the Times report, he lamented:

 

 

What I saw at the time with my own eyes -- what Physicians for Human Rights now calls the "torture" of 5,500 people, according to the UN definition, was exactly what was playing out, and that what we were told at the time were lies, and they knew exactly what they were doing -- Jeff Sessions, Rod Rosenstein, in particular -- Rod Rosenstein, you know, I'm sorry to say, a hero to many in "the Resistance."

Reid followed up by turning to her other guest, Sergio Gonzales -- a former advisor to Democratic Senator Kamala Harris -- and asked if Trump administration members should be tried at the Hague for their handling of illegal immigrants, even though they were following the law as it was at the time:

This is considered torture -- taking breast-feeding children from their moms and separating families in this way. And all I could think of when we were preparing for this segment today talking to my producers is whether or not these are considered international crimes, meaning: Should members of this administration come up before the Hague for what they've done -- Jeff Sessions, the former, you know, DHS head, all of them, Donald Trump maybe?

Without anyone clarifying that it was actually the Barack Obama administration that built the so-called "cages" and starting using them to hold illegal border crossers for a day or two until they can be relocated into more permanent detention centers, Gonzales agreed with the premise of Reid's question:

Yes, there's no question there are human rights abuses, and I think, long after Donald Trump and Mike Pence leave the White House ... this is going to be one of the darkest chapters in American history. The fact that small children, infants were ripped away from their mothers' arms and that these children were put in cages without their parents, with poor treatment, is something that this country and that we all are going to have to deal with and reconcile for a long time.

After Reid and Gonzales repeated the point again, suggesting that it should be difficult for Trump administration members to travel overseas because of their "cruelty," the MSBNC host inserted an accusation of racism as she asserted that the policy was aimed at "a very particular shades of people."

Earlier in the day, Morning Joe, MSNBC Live with Hallie Jackson and MSNBC Live with Katy Tur also devoted segments to hyping the Times article.

 

 

This episode of The ReidOut was sponsored by Lincoln. Their contact information is linked.

Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Wednesday, October 7, The ReidOut on MSNBC. Click "expand" to read more. 

The ReidOut

10/7/2020

7:44 p.m. Eastern

JEFF SESSIONS, EX-ATTORNEY GENERAL (in June 2018 interview): It hasn't been good, and the American people don't like the idea that we're separating families. We never really intended to do that.

JOY REID: "Never intended to." Nearly 3,000 children were ripped away from their parents after crossing the Southern border without documents as part of Donald Trump's zero-tolerance policy in 2018. It's one of the darkest chapters of the Trump administration and, frankly, in American history. 

(...)

JACOB SOBOROFF: There's no doubt, Joy, that what I saw at the time with my own eyes -- what Physicians for Human Rights now calls the "torture" of 5,500 people, according to the UN definition, was exactly what was playing out, and that what we were told at the time were lies, and they knew exactly what they were doing -- Jeff Sessions, Rod Rosentein, in particular -- Rod Rosenstein, you know, I'm sorry to say, a hero to many in "the Resistance."

(...)

REID: The United States is no longer part of the UN Human Rights Council. The Trump administration pulled us out of it in 2018. So we're not a part of that. The U.S. is also not a part of the International Criminal Court. However, this is considered torture -- taking breast-feeding children from their moms and separating families in this way. And all I could think of when we were preparing for this segment today talking to my producers is whether or not these are considered international crimes, meaning: Should members of this administration come up before the Hague for what they've done -- Jeff Sessions, the former, you know, DHS head, all of them, Donald Trump maybe?

SERGIO GONZALES, EX-ADVISOR TO SENATOR KAMALA HARRIS: Yes, there's no question there are human rights abuses, and I think, long after Donald Trump and Mike Pence leave the White House -- and that will be in November -- this is going to be one of the darkest chapters in American history. The fact that small children, infants were ripped away from their mothers' arms and that these children were put in cages without their parents, with poor treatment, is something that this country and that we all are going to have to deal with and reconcile for a long time.

And so, to answer your question, I absolutely believe that these are crimes against humanity, and my previous boss -- who is going to be on the debate stage tonight, Senator Kamala Harris -- I worked with her on this issue. She routinely referred to this as a human rights abuse.

REID: Is there an international body that could even have the capability. I mean, I remember during the George W. Bush administration when there was a lot of talk of whether it should be much more difficult for Dick Cheney, in particular, or other members of the administration to travel overseas because of the torture of Iraqis and that there was some sanction to make it real hard to travel. In your view, do you think this is something that should happen to the people who did this to these children and to these parents?

GONZALES: Yes, I believe that these people should be held to account for the atrocities that have been committed in our name against these children and their parents -- thousands of kids separated from their parents -- and not just separated, but again, the types of conditions that these children were placed under. This is an administration who argued that children were not entitled to toothpaste and soap in detention settings. That's something that we haven't seen -- when you kind of think of that, what comes to mind, right, camps. And you think back to concentration camps. And so I've often said that when we look at immigration, in particular. cruelty has been the point of this administration -- inflicting as much cruelty as possible on as many people as possible.

REID: Yeah, indeed, and on a very particular shades of people -- let's just put it that way.