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let's get started. mission, the middle east. secretaries of state, antony blinken, and the middle east with the hopes of stopping a full blown war between israel and has allowed before begins. where those tense talks stand now, and what we know but secretary of defense, lloyd austin,'s undisclosed state and the intensive care unit in the white house. plus, off the rails. the twice impeached, quadruple indicted, disgraced, one term ex president on the campaign trail in iowa. talking about how he would've ended the civil war. while taking a discussed a jab at a u.s. senator, mccain. the countdown to the iowa caucus, and donald trump's packed courtroom calendar that could determine the future of his criminal trials. later, keeping the faith. my special commentary on hold on to hope during another tumultuous presidential election year. all of that and more is coming up.

a good sunday morning to you. all i'm katie phang. secretary of state, antony blinken, is in jordan as part of a weeklong trip to the region in the hopes of common rising tensions. as today marks three months since the deadly attack by hamas and israel, that task seems easier said than done. on saturday, israel traded fire with iran-backed military group, as, blah both sides launched shane dozens of rockets across the southern border of lebanon. hezbollah claimed it's retaliating for the killing of hamas leader, sully al-arouri, earlier this week and beirut. israel has denied responsibility for the assassination. this is all taking place as we learn the secretary of defense, lloyd austin, has been hospitalized since new year's day following complications from an elective procedure,

including spding four days in the intensive care units. the pentagon waitedthree days to inform the white house's national security council of his hospitalization. austin releasing a statement overnight taken responsibility for what he says was his decision on the lack of disclosure. joining me now is former republican congressman, denver riggleman, who is also a former u.s. intelligence officer. he is also the author of the breach, the untold story of the investigation into january six. denver, it's always so good to have you on the show. i'd like to actually start with the surprising news that just came out yesterday about secretary of defense lloyd austin currently hospitalized. this was information that wasn't even told to his national security adviser. for spent three days. how unusual is it for this information to not be shared? >> good morning, katie. it's not just unusual, it's baffling, someone who was a

military officer like myself, especially if you have people under commander, people underneath of you who need to know if you're in the hospital. the fact that he didn't notify the white house, it's just a hedge fracture to anyone in the military, especially at the upper levels, especially commissioned, officers and those with the responsibility like general officer. it's a baffling thing. i'm not quite sure why that decision would've been made. >> denver, let's talk about while this is going on with lloyd austin, what's going on in the middle east? that's really what's giving a lot of us concerned since lloyd austin has been hospitalized, we've seen the following by the u.s., the u.s. carried out a drone attack on the leader of an iranian-backed militia in baghdad, iraq. bases with americans have come under fire, an attack against commercial ships in the red. see what kind of impact could the absence of a secretary defense happen or military readiness? >> that's a fantastic question. you would hope that some of the strikes were pre-authorized. they were already in the, works which is what i would suspect

happened. we don't have somebody in the decision-making capacity, somebody would've had to have been identified initially tied for that chain of command's. the thing, as even, and here's the, thing katie, even if he was hospitalized, he should've notified the white house is immediately, because something could've gone wrong during the surgery. whether it's an injury, incapacitation, or something like that, so hopefully he did have somebody making these, decisions but, again not knowing the chain of command that, time well all that is going on, it could be dramatic. my hope is that there was some solid decision-making, that he did have an individual who knew what was going on in quebec those decisions. >> denver, let's talk about why anthony blinken has now made his fourth trip to the middle east in order to deal with this rising tension in the area. specifically, i want to talk about what's happening with hezbollah, and lebanon. when this attack by hamas happen on october 7th, there was a discussion about the fact that it was just going to be the southern border of israel that was going to be an issue in terms of gaza and hamas, we

have to worry about what was going on in the northern border of israel with lebanon. talk about why the access of resistance is something that americans need to be paid attention to. >> that's a great question. you, know israel is very small. i've had the opportunity to go in the tunnels. as you, know happened is your multiple times. i have also had some pretty extensive middle east experience. it's actually the confucian, and the fact that i think a lot of americans don't understand that's split this going on in this area, and how, you know, interesting it is that you have the northern and southern portions of israel that are really surrounded by enemies. enemies that our sunni. so when you look at this, when you talk about that strike and side of lebanon, you're talking about hamas leader who is largely sunni, been hit. be protected by hezbollah, or been there on the auspices of hezbollah, which is shia. now you have all of these individuals, all these groups that could probably, or most, lightly israel is the common

enemy. the issue is that there are so many multi faceted, and your personal relationship. so many relationships between different groups. let's go back to rory. that's why it was so important that israel took him out as based on his ability to do peacemaking and that type of interconnected, i would say, treaty, or allied with other groups outside of his specific religion, outside of his specific political stance. you have this axis of individuals who are always looking at israel as their enemy, and their ability to actually attack them. the issue you have is that we saw soleimani staff, there really was no reaction from iran that happened. i don't see a massive specific reaction based on this assassination. my response is this is a small, legal most slow escalation to where there could be an explosion. this actual assassination could make this into a bit of a tinderbox. it could expand the regional conflict. then what happens to the united states? how do we make a decision what we're going to do with iran,

lebanon, syria possibly getting it with a larger players like russia and china? and with the escalation in israel, having to defend multiple spots along the border and sort of a multi pronged conflict in israel will be a part. i hope that helps. that was a lot. i hope that helps. >> it definitely does. denver, at got less than a minute. i did want to ask you the following. i want to talk about yemen. you didn't even mention yemen. so you have the houthi rebels that are being backed by iran, and the common denominator here for hezbollah, hamas, houthi, it's all iran and others. does the united states actually have a risk of getting more involved because of what's happening in the red seat, because we already have seen actual interactions between the u.s. military and the houthi rebels. >> that's the issue that you, have? right when you talk about the escalation of the conflict, you're talking about targeted attacks in other countries, and you're talking about yemen specifically. now you have another issue. you have a raw, and you have these actual passageways where you could have attacks that could escalate to the united

states. how does that ripple effect, was that cascading effect look like through all of the surrounded territories of israel, through israel itself, and how does it look with our allies, with russia, with china? i think the fortunate thing we have is this. gaza, hamas, it's been almost obliterated. hezbollah is probably going to test what they call strategic patience again. i don't see a direct attack, but iran is really the main player that we are worried about right now, we'll see how they react in the next couple days. >> former congressman, denver riggleman. thank you for getting us across the punchline. i appreciate it. >> thank. you its complex, i'll tell you that. >> i know. thanks, man, appreciate it. the faa temporarily grounded over 150 boyer airplanes yesterday. the agency said that about 171 bowen 737 max nine planes in the united states require immediate inspections before they can return to flights. the decision comes after a wall panel on alaska air lines flight detached wall mid air on

friday. the airline said saturday that are grounded all 65 of its 737 max nine fleet, and then a quarter of inspections have been completed. another airline, united, has also temporarily suspended at 7:37 planes for inspections, saying the removal is expected to cost about 16 cancellations. still to come this morning on the katie phang show, biden and black america. what the biden reelection campaign must do ahead of decision 2024 to keep gaining ground with black voters. plus, wrap or vertical? a fight shaping up in the courtroom as fani willis takes on her out their case against rapper young thug. we have a lot to come this morning, keep it here on msnbc. it here on msnbc protection with just 9 essential ingredients no sulfates, no silicones, no dyes. dandruff protection, minimal ingredients. job done. (dad) it's our phone bill...

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americans would head to the polls to determine the fate of our country yet again. friday, president biden delivered a fiery speech on the

fields of valley forge the day before the anniversary of the capitol insurrection. reminding americans that this election year is a battle for the future of american democracy. >> the first national elections in january 6th, the insurrection that plays the direct the threat of american democracy. since that moment. we all know that who donald trump. is the question we have to answer, who are we? >> joining me now on is nina smith, democratic strategist and former congressman from, an msnbc political analyst, carlos casa bello. a great way for me to dive into politics on sunday morning. carlos, i'd love to start with you. trump campaign in illinois submitting paperwork for donald trump. he refuses to sign the loyalty oath, where candidates pledged to not overthrow the government. apparently trump signed that 2016 in 2020, but refuses to do it now. is this a sign that he is at or tried to read the documents that he signing, or that he will not promise to overthrow

the government? >> katie, this is donald trump reminding us of who he is. how did he mark the 6th of january? that whole anniversary, right? three years ago, we saw what happened at the capitol. he doubled down on his lies. this is who donald trump is. you can count on him to be very honest, and transparent about who he is. the question now is whether the majority of americans will believe him or not, right? certainly some of the polling we've seen lately is somewhat disconcerting, but donald trump is telling us again, he said a few weeks ago, he'd be willing to be dictator at least for a day, right? here he is saying that he will not honor the constitution of the united states. no surprises from donald trump. >> yet, he likes to hide behind the constitution of the united states when it fits him legally. nina, at like to turn to you. it's not just donald trump that is a gop stumbling fool, it's going to be vivek ramaswamy as well. he had this to say last night at a rally in iowa. take a quick listen. >> the unspoken reality in all

this is that she's a black woman. that's the uncomfortable truth here. it's an uncomfortable truth because, in this case, it's clear. she got her job because of her race and gender. i have to say it out loud. we have to adjust the problem, speak the truth. claudine guy was to harvard as kamala harris as to the democratic party, actually. right? when somebody gets their job with other incompetence, i mean, kamala harris is, cases like the equivalent of clotting guy at harvard for the paper she's writing. >> i mean, nina. there is a lot to say about vivek ramaswamy but this i think is the one of the most overt examples of him embrace say not only massaging a, but races them. it's coming from vivek ramaswamy of all people. >> i mean, it's, it goes to show where he is standing in this race. he is desperate for attention,

is constantly yelling on the base stage, yelling to try and insert himself into a conversation where no one's paid attention. i would say that, this is indicative of something that we've been seen from the entire republican fields. we're seeing a lot of diet trump. the american people, particularly republicans, are not interested. there are not looking to engage with someone who is constantly yelling at, them or insulting credentialed professionals like kamala harris and claudine gay. this situation with regard to claudine gay is unfortunate, but we're vivek ramaswamy is the last person to be talking about the qualifications of these two individuals who are facing all sorts of attention attacks, but not necessarily the credit for the work that they have done. so i'll say that. >> carlos, let's talk about

nikki haley who is also still in the mix, i mean, if you want to call it, that she is not super viable at this point. nikki haley is struggling. though i was having this conversation with my team this week about the fact that now that the spotlight has risen and the poll, it seems that she is struggling even more. not just because of a horrific not answer uncivil war slavery, but the idea that she would entertain desantis as her running mate. to which was desantis said, what, who, no. nikki haley, does she say, the more exposure that she's getting, and the more in the spotlight she is, the words that she's become? >> yes, katie. it's a shame for her because she had been climbing steadily in the polls. we see that she is within striking distance of new hampshire, despite some of these recent gaffes, there is a scenario under which nikki haley could win in new hampshire, or at least make it

very close going into south carolina. it really does seem that as the spotlight has shifted to her, she has stumbled. getting attention is good, but as we've seen, donald trump copycats don't work and the republican party, nowhere, apparently. getting this kind of attention hasn't been good for nikki haley. she has to retain her footing ahead of iowa so that hopefully, for, her but she could have a strong showing to new hampshire, perhaps mike this is two person race. >> now, to carlos's point, actually, donald trump is now doing campaign spends in new hampshire. spending money to be able to do attack ads against nikki haley, is that a sign that there is maybe some small achilles heel for donald trump's lead in front of the other candidates? >> well, that certainly could be the case. i think donald trump wants to solidify his position as the front runner in this race. part of that is showing up his

20 point lead, i believe it, is a new hampshire. in order to, when i, mean this primary could be wrapped up quickly so he could focus on his many court cases, but also the general election that he is facing against president biden. it makes total sense for him to make a little bit of a, suspended to do what he can to lock this primary up as quickly as possible. >> so, carlos, let's talk about joe biden. that incredible speech that we heard, valley forge. one of the best speeches that we've heard come out of joe biden, but the notable difference was, up until now, biden's win kind of, let's talk about biden. let's talk about the biden administration. it's a wonderful accomplishment, let's maybe give a little bit to donald trump but not see it a lot of ground. there was a heavily focused speech about the threat of donald trump to american democracy. is that what we're seen in 2024 as we get closer to november? >> katie, the speech is important for historical purposes because we do have to remember what january six was about, and why it happens.

however, the strategy, the shift in strategy from president biden and his campaign are also very important. if this election is going to be a referendum on the biden administration, it could go either way. if it's a choice between joe biden and donald trump, assuming trump becomes the republican nominee, the biden's chances are a lot better. all we need to do is look back at the last three general elections. 2018, 2020, and 22. there exists a coalition of americans who have rejected donald trump in this movement. principally because of donald trump's lies about elections, and everything he did to try to overturn the 2020 election. joe biden is trying to shift the focus, put the spotlight on donald trump, remind the american people of who donald trump, is by the way, as i said earlier, donald trump will do a good job of that himself if he does become the nominee, as he gets more attention. he is going to continue reveal in who he. is he's going to continue remind people of who he is. that is probably good news for

joe biden and his campaign. >> i think it's great news is people pay attention to what joe biden has the same. nina smith, former congressman. my thanks to both of you for being with us this morning. i appreciate it. coming up next, speaking, of trump legal, making the case. we're looking ahead to trump's big legal week. tuesdays oral arguments in the federal interference case in d.c., plus, closing arguments in his new york civil fraud trial. and the new salem that attorney general letitia james says trump should have to pay back in, quote, ill gotten gains. don't go anywhere. don't go anywhere. congested! you need sinex saline from vicks. just sinex, breathe, ahhhh! what is — wow! sinex. breathe. ahhhhhh! i know what it's like to perform through pain. if you're like me, one of the millions suffering from pain caused by migraine, nurtec odt may help. it's the only medication

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place on thursday and the attorney generals multi-counsel fraud trial against trump, his sons, and several business entities. and d.c., on tuesday, a federal appeals court will hear oral arguments on trump's claim of presidential immunity for his official acts while in the oval office. the stakes couldn't be higher or more time sensitive. at the d.c. election interference cases over -- remains a liberal. that trial date affects the mar-a-lago dates, and so on, and so on. my next guest makes the case for decision-making with deliberate speed on msnbc.com. right, in courts may not always be able to act quickly, but it is incumbent upon them to do so here. joining me now is joyce vance, former u.s. attorney in alabama, professor at the university of alabama school of law. embassy legal analyst, and the co-host of the hashtag sisters in law podcast. and her free time, she helps us out to break it all down when it comes to trump's legal.

joyce, my friend, it's good to see you. let's start with tuesday. tuesday is right around the corner. it is the oral arguments that are slated for january 9th. i want to ask you about the speed by which the d.c. court of appeals has moved, the fact the supreme court declined to take up the presidential immunity issue before the dc circuit court of appeals role. and how that works in terms of your case and msnbc.com. i agree, having cases like you, judges can control the speed by which this case is go to trial. why is it that we haven't seen more speed from the supreme court, yet we just did over the colorado supreme court decision to take trump off the ballot. >> so i think this is the key question because trump's overall strategy is one of delay, get everything passed the election, and hope that you when, and you can resolve everything from the oval office in your favor. i think it's been a little bit baffling to watch some of the judges like aileen cannon and

the florida mar-a-lago related criminal prosecution, where she has been played, you know, slow ball. i think some people would call it death, while trying to keep that case from going anywhere. what we're see now and washing ten is very hopeful. to people who aren't lawyers, i think the speed at which courts move is mystifying, extremely slow. what we've seen in these last couple of weeks has been lightning speed, out of both of these courts. the court of appeals set the immunity argument on a fast schedule of quick oral arguments that happen on tuesday. you, know it's very interesting that the supreme court declined to take that case out of order. i think we have to wonder, we can't resolve this, yap mother the supreme court might look at the decision that comes out of the court of appeals following tuesday's hearing, and perhaps they'll decide to stign off on that decision without re-hearing the case. the issues are novel in one sense, but not particularly

difficult. the supreme court may be happy to let a lower court take it while they chew on these very difficult pressing issues involving the 14th amendment, and whether trump can be on the ballot in the state of colorado, and perhaps elsewhere. >> joyce, i don't want to throw water on what you just said but i think about places like fulton county, where donald trump has raise presidential immunity as a defense. i think about other jurisdictions or presidential immunity, including mar-a-lago. this has been raised by donald trump. do you think the supreme court could, from a legal perspective, declined to take up the issue of presidential immunity like the d.c. circuit court decision stance, considering the fact that there are other jurisdictions across the united states that are grappling with this particular defense from him. >> you're right. i think the supreme court does that every day. they like the court of appeals to side critical issues. to your point, this one involves whether or not a former president can face

criminal prosecution. they may well feel that they have to decide the issue. a bottom, katie, i think it's important that we not lose sight of what trump's argue. and in essence, trump is sane, a sitting president can do anything that they want to do with no criminal consequence, as long as they have some lineup connection with their official duties. the government has made the point in his brief that this would permit a sitting president to, for instance, order the national guard to assassinate a political enemy. that a president would have no culpability for turning over nuclear secrets to a foreign power, and not to put too fine a point on, up but it would mean that joe biden could take any action he wanted to to keep donald trump from taking office following the election. and other, words if trump's position is accepted by the courts, then we are no longer a democracy. i think when you look at it at this common sense was still legalistic sort of a perspective, it is very clear

what the outcome of this immunity motion will have to be. >> i don't want to prejudge what's going to happen in this, case and i agree with you, i think the absolute immunity defense gets thrown out, but something happened a few days ago with lena haboob, he was a trump lawyer. i want to bring this up with you. she made a statement on the news. i'm going to call the news because it was fox. she said the people in kaufman, a who justice brett kavanaugh, who the president fought for, who the president went through hell to get into place, he'll step up. those people will step up. is that not enough for justice kavanaugh to recuse himself? is it not enough to ginni thomas participated actively to venture that donald trump got back to the oval office despite donald trump losing? is that not enough for clarence thomas to recuse himself from the supreme court? all of these cases are going to the supreme court. >> i think what you are asking

is whether we still live in a country that has the rule of law, katie. because alina habba's comments come paris leslie close to suggesting that judges up purely transactional, owing loyalty to the presidents who appointed them after they take the bench. you and i as practicing lawyers know that that's not true. when someone like alina habba, who is representing a former president, goes out on the airwaves and says something like this, how could we continue to ask americans to have confidence in the courts? this is at the heart of i think one of the tragedies of the trump presidency, of his ability to destroy americans confidence in our institutions. i think we'll see a strong pushback in the sense that justice says speak only through their opinions, and in the courtroom from brett kavanaugh, who, what are you and i agree with his judicial philosophy or the process that brought him to the court, i think is that heart we rule of law kind of guy. who is committed to the process. i'm sure that he was as

appalled by these comments as we are, and i'm hoping that he will take advantage of the opportunity to restate, with some fierceness, the fact that he is an independent judicial officer. the clarence thomas situation is entirely different. there is abundant reason for him to recuse himself from any sort of case involving the former presidents. but like all supreme court justices, he is not cabin by any sort of ethical rules in the same way that every other judge and a lower court in the country's. the decision about whether to recuse is up to clarence thomas. i think we'll see a watershed moment here where he participates in these cases despite reason to believe that that damages the credibility of the institution. >> joyce, quickly, before i have to let you go, i did this with george conway yesterday. >> your predictions and what the supreme court does with the section three 14th amendment colorado supreme court challenge that he is a great take up? >> right, i think this is a tough question.

if your a textualist, a conservative like george, you look at the language of the 14th amendment, seems like it would be legitimate for courts to exclude donald trump from the ballot. i don't know if we'll see appetite for this court to take that decision out of the hands of voters. >> joyce vance. my friend. you take care of those amazing chickens, we'll? you i appreciate you taking the time to join us. >> thanks, katie. >> coming up, fani willis says other r.i.c.o. case. we'll take a deep dive into the fulton county district attorney's other racketeering case involving embattled rapper, young thug, and the big, first amendment questions that are behind the use of rappler acts as evidence. you are watching the katie phang show, only on msnbc. ly on msnbc. my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn.

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says other high profile rico trial back and figure this week. and may of 2022, rapper young thug, whose given name is jeffrey lamar williams, and 27 other defendants, were charged in a sweeping 25 count indictment accusing the suspects of being part of a criminal street gang named y s l, or young slime life. the r.i.c.o. indictment accuses young thug another why assault numbers committing crimes like murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, theft, drug dealing, carjacking, a witness

intimidation. young thug is charged with eight out of the 65 total counts. since his arrest, young thug has been and the county jail for nearly two years awaiting trial, and in november, prosecutors secured a win when the presiding judge agreed to allow them to use relevant wrap lyrics and the trial as evidence. the use of these lyrics raises a question of whether that's constitutional in the first place. after, all johnny cash didn't get arrested for singing and i shot a man in reno just to watch him die. joining me now is criminal defense attorney in georgia who previously represented chesebro in the fulton county case. you've got a lot of experience with georgia state r.i.c.o., so i want to have you want to talk about the conditional reliance. i want to emphasize, it's conditional that prosecutors can use 17 sets of lyrics that they argue are related to the crimes the young thug of the other defendants are accused of committing. let's focus a little bit of some of these lycs.

they include, quote, got a lot of foller a perfect leader. i'm a boss, i call the shot another, one for slimy,o alcohol. i never killed anybody but i got something to do with that body. scott, what happened to the first amendment in this case? >> well, first of all, good morning, katie. thank you for having me on again. while you are right that this was put as a conditional ruling, i will note that there have been lyrics that have already been introduced into evidence. the jury has already heard some of those lyrics. i think the problem here is that rappers are not given the same artistic license as other artists are in music and other industries. i always give the example that you just gave an example about johnny cash, i like to give an example about the after joe pesci. think for a minute. joe pesci is prosecuted for some sort of violent crime, would the prosecutor tried to

admit evidence of some of his scenes and his movies like good fellas, casino, where he's engaging in violent acts, where he's threatening violent acts? of course they wouldn't. if they did, the judge wouldn't let a dent. why? because everybody knows that joe patchy is playing a part. he's playing whatever character he's playing on that movie. guess what? so is jeffrey williams. this man is not named young thug, this man's name jeffrey williams. he is playing a character to. when he says those things, i'm the big slime, i have something to do with that body. how is that any different from joe patchy say, hey, are you looking at me, i'm gonna kill you? it's really not. for some reason, i think there might be arguments as to what some of those reasons are, robbed artists are not given the artistic license and freedom that these other artists are. >> scott, i'm going to put on

my former prosecutor's hat right now and i'm going to take the role of d.a. fani willis. i'm going to say that in the example of johnny cash, for example, if there had been a murder in reno, and johnny cash had, and there was other evidence that associated or tejon a cash to that murder and reno, what would be the downside for me to rely upon not only that maybe forensic abundance, maybe bullets, latent fingerprints, maybe dna, as well as the lyrics from the music, from johnny cash, to show the johnny cash is something to do with that murder. >> look, i've heard that example before. i appreciate that example, however, that is too good of an example. if johnny cash said, you know, i shot a man in reno, on december 14th, just to watch him die, i know you don't say exactly that, and there was a man dead and reno on december 14th, okay. then maybe you have a judge who says that that's close enough to that jury could hear, and make it assumption that those

two things that related. with all due respect, katie, the lyrics that you put up, they're more generic. i'm the big dog. he was. jeffrey williams, aka young thug, was one of the biggest platinum cell in rap artist, music artist of the world. he was the head of his record label, young stoner life. why -- so that he was the big dog. he has something to do with that body? what does that mean? there were so many potential means of that. as you know, katie, as a prosecutor, there are rules of evidence that prohibits a jury from just hearing evidence that may or may not be somehow related to this murder. oh, let's just let the jury figure it out. let's let the jury sorted out. that's not how our system of justice works, and there are rules of evidence. now, the problem with r.i.c.o., and when i was on your show last time talking about the other high-profile r.i.c.o. case in georgia is that the same thing. is it does allow all of this extra evidence, whether it's,

lyrics or some other type of evidence, katie, if you read the indictment for, this ysl case, you go through the over acts in support of this criminal conspiracy, and i think that my friend brian steele, who represents jeffrey williams, didn't amazing job in opening statements. the vast majority of those over acts are those like jeffrey williams posted a picture from himself saying why a cell on his instagram page. those are the types of things that prosecutors are allowed to make when they go through a statute like rico. instead of if there is a murder, there is a murderer in this wide cell case that a young man named jonathan thomas. if mr. thomas was murdered, and you have the evidence connecting an individual with that murder, charge him with that. if the jury believes you have

met your burden, they will convict this defendants. but rico is a statute that allows prosecutors like fani willis, and prosecutors all around the country, without enough evidence to prosecute someone for underlying crimes, to simply say, it's enough that they were associated with this group of people, and some of the other folks in their group committed this murder, therefore, they're going to be held criminally viable for at. personally, i know i'm biased, i do not think that that's consistent with the notion of fairness and due process. >> scott, unfortunately amount of time. you and i will have to come, back and will keep on following this trial because i will have the last word because maybe it's my show. there are some codefendants that have pleaded guilty, that have admitted that why a cell is a conspiracy conspiracy as a part of a guilty plea. let's come back once and continue this conversation. i'm interested to see how much more of these lyrics play a role in the evidence in this trial. thanks for being here, scott. i appreciate it. >> thank, you katie. >> coming up, next keeping the

faith. i have a few thoughts on the stakes of 2024, and a few suggestions on how to stay the course. keeper right here. keeper right here. listen, your deodorant just has to work. i use secret aluminum free. just swipe and it lasts all day. secret helps eliminate odor, instead of just masking it. and hours later, i still smell fresh. secret works! ohhh yesss. ♪♪ as the world keeps moving, help prevent covid-19 from breaking your momentum. you may have already been vaccinated against the flu, but don't forget this season's updated covid-19 shot too.

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help, couldn't we? the holidays are never easy, and now we are immediately called upon to embark on a new year. with the pressure of expectations of having a plan, and knowing what we're supposed to accomplish. one happened resolutions that were supposed to meet, goals were supposed to check off. added to the mix is the fact that we are about to barrel headfirst and two decision 2024. when the very future of democracy is at stake. we aren't speaking in hyperbolic terms. i shudder to think of how the very fabric of our nation will be further rendered apart, should democracy falter in november. we know what that looks and feels like, because we suffered greatly as a nation three years ago. on january six, 2021. the day that trump and his followers engaged in an insurrection in our nation's capital. and insurrection by any definition. rife with violence and brutality. a frenzied mob hell-bent on

stopping the peaceful transfer of power after a lawful, fraud free election. trump promises a repeat performance in the event he loses this year. january six 2021 was just a practice run for him and his maga supporters. the intentional and deliberate ignorance of the far-right to deny the truth of what happened that day. the intentional and illiberal perpetuation of the big lie to further the grift and the deceit. the voting booths, and the courtrooms in 2024, will be the battlegrounds for democracy versus a top russi. we have seen and heard what trump has planned for those that do not fall into line behind him. as president biden has said, donald trump remains the greatest threats to american democracy. despite the gravity of what is at stake, despite the exhaustion of feeling like you are not making a difference, i

am here to tell all of you not to lose hope. to keep the faith. we are made of a true metal that is stronger and more unassailable than those chaos agents that are trying to force us into despair and hopelessness. keep the faith and know that you are one of many. you're not alone. you are not an island in a sea of red. as former united states capitol police officer michael fanone writes, ultimate, you, the american voter, will be the last line of defense when it comes to preserving democracy as we know it's and ensuring the peaceful transfer of power. think about that for a second. the power that you wields as an american voter. to effect change. to vote into office the person that you choose to lead our country in order to bring peace, unity, and prosperity.

to be the last line of defense for the preservation of democracy. if we keep the faith, and we continue to believe in our collective power as voters, we will prevail over the darkness. we will ensure the continuing integrity and protection of this great american experiments that we call democracy. before we say goodbye today, there are lots of exciting new changes and the weekend lineup getting next saturday, january 13th. i'd like to take a moment to say thank you. it's tough for me. to those members the katie phang show teams that are not going to be moving with us to the 12:00 eastern hour on saturday's. hear me, clearly, it is been my absolute privilege to be able to work with and learn from all of you. when you have the chance to be able to grow together, show mutually inspired, to be able to create incredible, of original content about what you could have the utmost pride, there's nothing better. i'm blessed to have a platform

like this, the katie phang show, to be able to share my thoughts and opinions about where this world is heading and how we can best get there together. i wouldn't have been able to do it without the dedication of the entire katie phang show team. these folks are working tirelessly to craft an incredible one hour show with me, for all of you. from the set crews here at telemundo, in new york, d.c., or ally, to the directors behind the scenes, all the people that are behind the scenes. the makeup artist as well. more. they are all consummate professionals. again, as we say goodbye to the last sunday show, for me, i am looking forward to the next part of my journey with all of you at noon eastern on saturday's, beginning next weekend, january 13th. remember, in the meantime, you can always keep up with us during the week by following at katie phang show on instagram, tiktok, acts, and threats. stay tuned for the sunday show

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♪ ♪ ♪ here we go again. congress returns with less than two weeks to avert a partial government shutdown. but republicans are focused on impeachment. congressman brandon boyle, ranking member of the house

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