Hey, it's Rachel. Alex Wagner has a brand new show here on MSNBC. It's called Alex Wagner Tonight.

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Thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. It is great to have you here.

Do you remember the name Brandon Van Greck? It's a very memorable name so you might remember the sound of it.

If not the circumstance in which you first heard it. But if you are like me in all likelihood,

the first time you heard the name Brandon Van Greck was the first time you heard the word

espionage formally associated with the presidency of Donald Trump. Espionage as in the espionage act,

as in not just spy movie stuff as in U.S. law. We were only about four months into the Trump

administration. When the New York Times was first to report that the then brand new Trump administration

had made a very unusual hiring decision that ultimately implicated the work of a veteran espionage

prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice. It was very early on. It was May 2017. So you think

about that for a second. I mean, Trump was inaugurated at the end of January. This was less than four

months later. In May of that year, less than four months into his presidency, we learned in the

New York Times that during the Trump transition, a person who they had been considering for the job

of national security advisor, not just somebody to be a national security advisor to the new president,

but literally the national security advisor. A guy that had been considering for that job,

we learned in the Times, had notified the Trump transition team that there was a big problem with

him potentially being appointed national security advisor. A very serious problem. This guy who

was being considered as national security advisor, he told the Trump transition, hey, you know what?

I feel like I had to let you know I'm under active federal investigation as a potentially

and unregistered agent of a foreign power. I mean, full stop right there, right? This is not like,

oh, I wanted to let you know. I had a speeding ticket and I'm getting points on my license. This is

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