1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,374
[THEME MUSIC]

2
00:00:04,374 --> 00:00:06,274


3
00:00:06,274 --> 00:00:07,540
CHRIS HAYES: Thing
1 tonight-- the GOP

4
00:00:07,540 --> 00:00:10,660
Senate primary in West Virginia
gets stranger by the day.

5
00:00:10,660 --> 00:00:13,420
And the fight is getting so
nasty that one attack ad shows

6
00:00:13,420 --> 00:00:16,540
Republican Patrick
Morrissey shaking hands

7
00:00:16,540 --> 00:00:18,710
with the hated Hillary Clinton.

8
00:00:18,710 --> 00:00:20,620
But it turns out
the image is a fake.

9
00:00:20,620 --> 00:00:23,710
The image at left of Morrissey
shaking hands with President

10
00:00:23,710 --> 00:00:27,040
Trump was Photoshopped to
create that fake image of him

11
00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:28,690
shaking hands with Clinton.

12
00:00:28,690 --> 00:00:31,000
It's an ad by his Republican
opponent Evan Jenkins.

13
00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:33,610
A Jenkins campaign ad
confirmed the fake image,

14
00:00:33,610 --> 00:00:35,860
saying the campaign
took creative license.

15
00:00:35,860 --> 00:00:38,380
But that's far from the
craziest part of this race.

16
00:00:38,380 --> 00:00:40,960
Take the third Republican
contender in West Virginia.

17
00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,907


18
00:00:43,907 --> 00:00:45,440
BRET BAIER: But Mr.
Blankenship, isn't it true

19
00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:49,490
that you live in Nevada,
you pay taxes in Nevada,

20
00:00:49,490 --> 00:00:52,760
and, in fact, your probation
officer is in Nevada,

21
00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:56,261
and yet, you're running for
US Senate in West Virginia.

22
00:00:56,261 --> 00:00:58,160
CHRIS HAYES: And that's still
not the end of the offenses

23
00:00:58,160 --> 00:00:59,080
of Don Blankenship.

24
00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:00,485
That's Thing 2 in 60 seconds.

25
00:01:00,485 --> 00:01:04,879


26
00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:06,880
So convicted criminal
Don Blankenship,

27
00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:09,610
who recently finished a year
in prison for conspiring

28
00:01:09,610 --> 00:01:13,060
to violate mine safety laws
when an explosion at his mine

29
00:01:13,060 --> 00:01:15,950
killed 29 people--

30
00:01:15,950 --> 00:01:18,650
that guy is the third
Republican contender for the US

31
00:01:18,650 --> 00:01:19,970
Senate race in West Virginia.

32
00:01:19,970 --> 00:01:21,740
And he's trying so hard
to position himself

33
00:01:21,740 --> 00:01:23,840
as the anti-establishment
candidate,

34
00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:26,660
he's unleashed bizarre
quasi-racist attacks

35
00:01:26,660 --> 00:01:29,330
on Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell.

36
00:01:29,330 --> 00:01:33,530
In one ad, Blankenship ship
calls McConnell "Cocaine Mitch"

37
00:01:33,530 --> 00:01:36,380
based on some very, very
tenuous and bizarre claims

38
00:01:36,380 --> 00:01:38,570
that drugs were once found
on a shipping vessel owned

39
00:01:38,570 --> 00:01:40,990
by McConnell's father-in-law.

40
00:01:40,990 --> 00:01:42,890
Blankenship also claims
McConnell has a conflict

41
00:01:42,890 --> 00:01:44,600
of interest with
the nation of China,

42
00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,470
citing McConnell's wife,
Transportation Secretary

43
00:01:48,470 --> 00:01:50,806
Elaine Chao and her family.

44
00:01:50,806 --> 00:01:52,190
DON BLANKENSHIP: I
don't have any problem

45
00:01:52,190 --> 00:01:56,813
with Chinese people, Chinese
girlfriends, Chinese anything.

46
00:01:56,813 --> 00:02:00,690
But I have an issue when
the father-in-law, you know,

47
00:02:00,690 --> 00:02:02,660
is a wealthy China
person, there's

48
00:02:02,660 --> 00:02:05,320
a lot of connections to some
of the brass, if you will,

49
00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:06,155
in China.

50
00:02:06,155 --> 00:02:07,670
CHRIS HAYES: There's so
much going on in that quote.

51
00:02:07,670 --> 00:02:09,130
Any quote that starts
with "I don't have

52
00:02:09,130 --> 00:02:12,010
an issue with
Chinese girlfriends,

53
00:02:12,010 --> 00:02:14,780
but," you know is going
somewhere really good.

54
00:02:14,780 --> 00:02:17,950
He actually said at the
end a weirdly PC attempt

55
00:02:17,950 --> 00:02:21,600
at a racial slur, which he was
confronted with at last night's

56
00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:22,400
GOP debate.

57
00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:26,210
And his answer, well, I guess,
gets points for creativity.

58
00:02:26,210 --> 00:02:28,400
DON BLANKENSHIP: This
idea that calling

59
00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:29,840
somebody a "Chinaperson."

60
00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:31,130
I mean, I'm an American person.

61
00:02:31,130 --> 00:02:34,180
I don't see this
insinuation by the press

62
00:02:34,180 --> 00:02:37,010
that there's something racist
about saying "a Chinaperson."

63
00:02:37,010 --> 00:02:39,020
Some people are Korean
persons and some of them

64
00:02:39,020 --> 00:02:40,370
are African persons.

65
00:02:40,370 --> 00:02:43,570
It's not any slander there.

66
00:02:43,570 --> 00:02:44,600