carrying out this military operation. what choices are they making, the same people in that governing coalition, to the far-right, people that across the spectrum say, these are undemocratic guys. they're trying to have traditional -- they do not, they're not interested in democracy, they're interested in domination of the israeli state, and of what is the palestinian territory, they want to displace those people out of gaza. until the u.s. can reckon with that, look, we're not just passive, these are u.s. bombs, 2000 pound bombs being dropped on gaza are u.s. bombs. until we reckon with, or not conditioning any assistance. we're criticizing them but essentially giving them a blind check. unless that changes, why would there be a pure change. >> ben rhodes, thank you for coming. appreciate it. that is "all in" for this week -- "alex wagner tonight" starts now -- >> --

talk about a recruitment effort for -- right there. >> thank you, my friend, thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. not the words of an angry leprechaun. that is how rudy giuliani's lawyer described his client assets at bankruptcy court this morning. the lawyer went on to explain that, not only is giuliani currently suspended from practicing law and unable to make money that way. but mr. giuliani is earning very little income from his podcast and his radio show, making him exactly almost every other podcaster in america. now, technically, today was a very small procedural victory for giuliani. the bankruptcy judge granted giuliani an exemption. and that exemption allows mr. giuliani to try to challenge the $148 million in damages that he owes georgia election workers ruby freeman and shaye moss for publicly and repeatedly defending them. the exemption does not mean

that mr. giuliani can challenge the fact that he defamed them. that has been settled in court. it just means he can apply to challenge the cash amount he owes in damages. the fact that this is considered a victory for rudy giuliani shows how much his fortunes have changed, both literally and figuratively. the speed of justice in this country is sometimes frustratingly, aggravating glee slow. but justice does come. late last night we got the news that the justice department is seeking a six month prison sentence, and a 200,000 dollar fine for trump white house advisor pete navarro for contempt of congress. mr. navarro was a mainstay on fox news, and he put out a report, known literally as the navarro report, alleging widespread election fraud in six battleground states, despite having no real evidence, mostly because none actually exists. that report then became the basis of a plan, laid out by

navarro, to have republicans in the senate echo trump's election lies, and stole the certification of the election on january 6th, and thereby give vice president mike pence some cover to reject the certification of the electors. but when the house january 6th committee subpoenaed mr. navarro for testimony about all that, he refused. navarro claimed he could not testify because the information the committee wanted was protected by executive privilege. and while he was saying he could not talk to the january 6th committee because of executive privilege, mr. navarro then published multiple books detailing the whole thing. points for bravado. but gravity is still a thing. and giuliani and navarro are being held accountable for their actions, albeit slowly, which leads me to what is maybe the most important question of our era, and definitely the most important question of the

2024 election. how long until donald trump himself is held to account? the legal experts we speak to regularly on this network, on the show, believe that the case most likely to put down trump in a courtroom before november of 2024's special prosecutor jack smith's federal election interference case. and today we got lots of news about the timing of that case. first, he was attorney general merrick garland talking about jack smith's cases today. >> the department has policies about steering clear of elections. it is the right date in your mind where it might be too late to bring the trials to fruition? again, to stay out of the way the elections, as the department policies? >> i'll just say what i said, which is, the cases were brought last year. prosecutor has urged a speedy trials. which i agree with.

and it's now the hands of the judicial system. >> what the attorney general is talking about here is the justice department so-called 60-day rule. it is a guideline that the department does not announce an investigation, or indict, or do anything publicly to a politician within 60 days of an election. attorney general garland today made clear that that rule is no longer a public-able here. the justice department brought its cases against trump last year. they are now on public record. the proverbial cat is out of the bag. but what about the timing? when do these trials actually start. the attorney general answered that question today as well. >> the matter is now in the hands of a trial judge to determine what trials will take place. >> that means the ultimate decision, as far as timing, for trump's federal election interference case, lies with the federal judge overseeing the case, judge tanya check-in.

and yesterday, judge chutkan hinted she may ultimately delay the scheduled march 4th trial date. now, that's not coming entirely out of nowhere. this case has effectively been frozen since early december. nothing has been able to advance for five weeks now. the cases paused while trump appeals a decision about whether he can have the entire case tossed out on the premise that he should have presidential immunity. we are expecting a ruling from the appeals court on that any day now, and then this will likely head to the supreme court. and it's not just me saying that! donald trump is saying that. he is obsessed with a, it actually. here he was talking about it last night, not as some aside, but as his closer. >> what is a closing message to the people of new hampshire? >> it's very simple. it's make america great again. but i think, very important, before we do this, because you were talking about the supreme court, the president of the

united states -- and i'm not talking about myself -- i'm talking about any president -- has to have immunity. >> my closing message? make america great again. how? by making it so i can make commit crimes without accountability. actually, so that all presidents can commit crimes equally. that's actually trump's message to voters right now. but for me so i don't go to jail. now, obviously, there is the question of whether trump's immunity claims have any merit. but the more pressing question is, what impact is this ongoing delay have on the justice system holding donald trump accountable? joining me now is andrew weissmann, former fbi general counsel and co-host of the indispensable msnbc podcast prosecuting donald trump, and katie benner, reporter for the new york times. thank you both for being here tonight. andrew, there is a lot of -- well, hindsight is always 2020. but you sort of foresaw how we might get into a problematic area calendar wise. at the beginning of this, right?

talk to me a little bit about the way the justice department pursue the january 6th cases at sort of the inception of the investigations, and how that was potentially problematic even back then. >> so, i think the big picture is that the judicial system and the investigating and prosecuting and getting a defendant time to prepare the case that is part of due process, all of that is not built to deal with the problem that we are having now. it is a long term sort of process. and we are dealing with an issue of trying to have accountability. and judge chutkan actually made a finding that you should have accountability. >> yes. >> -- in march. to be clear, she is not intentionally wanting to put this off. she is doing it because of the -- >> necessities. >> exactly.

>> but to answer your question directly, in terms of -- that is something that if you are in the justice department, you know that there is that time delay. and you are thinking, okay. if there are these crimes of january 6th, which, by the way, we all witnessed -- so, this isn't something you have to -- yes, you have to look to build the case. but it's not like you are sitting there going, yeah, i wonder if there was a crime committed. >> right. >> and there are obviously -- people say obviously -- my view, delays in terms of getting the case off the ground. and jack smith was dealt a tough hand in that he was given great facts. both of his cases are incredibly strong. but he had to bring them very quickly. because he was only appointed not that long ago. >> yeah. >> so, it's really not on his watch. but you think part of the reason of his sort of looking at the clock so closely -- >> every week counts, yeah.

>> exactly. one of the things you can do, just quickly looking at the mouth, matt, mark march 4th -- delays out five weeks. so, even if she was given a greenlight today -- >> to day. >> you have to sort of add in five weeks. it gets to mid april. and that's certainly a -- we don't know what they are going to rule. we don't know if the supreme court is going to weigh in on this. so, that could be more delay. final point before katie talks is, just remember, the manhattan district attorney's office, their case is scheduled for the end of march. they're willing to take a back seat to jack smith's case. but if this delay goes on the -- the one thing i will say is, yeah, that case will go first. the manhattan case, which was brought first, will actually be

tried first. because the d.c. case, which, obviously, is a more important, a bigger case. but there may be enough time to do both. >> you know, katie, there -- and i will credit nicole wallace with banging this drum loudly, asking the question, why did the justice department begin this investigation with more alacrity as far as pursuing donald trump, in terms of accountability and, those in his inner circle? you have reporting about the notes of caution that were being sounded inside the justice department long after january 6th in terms of pursuing trump and the way in which there was concern about the department being seen as partisan. certainly, trump aided in that by calling a lot of these investigations which hunts. but can you talk about how that caution, immediately after january six, inside the department of justice, may have actually led us to this moment here, where we are literally -- i mean, if you are looking -- if you are a voter trying to

make a decision about whether you want to choose a potentially convicted felon as your nominee, you are sweating out the minutes, the hours, the days, the weeks when there is no conclusion to these trials. >> yeah, i would say a couple of. things first, i think that whether or not you support or do not support donald trump, everybody should want a speedy trial. because if you are one of his supporters you would want to see him exonerated in court, just as much as you would want to see him found guilty in a court of law. i think that this should be something that, no matter where people sit on the political spectrum, they would want to see resolved before the election. now, what andrew is saying is really interesting. because i think if you actually look at the indictments and if you look at some of the reporting of the investigation before jack smith is appointed, there is not a lot in the election interference indictment that really feels like a new fact that was found necessarily after jack smith took over the investigation. a lot of these things were uncovered by the january 6th committee.

we saw people coming in and out of the grand jury box before jack smith became a special counsel. and then we saw that indictment actually come to a head, and a grand jury vote on that indictment, really soon after jack smith became special counsel. so, i think what it speaks to andrew what was talking about, in terms of there was some delay happening, and we don't have all the details. of course, because this is such an important and landmark case, there is going to be more reporting on this for years to come, no matter what happens in the case, to get every single one of those details of what was going on in -- but in terms of the timeline, january 6th happened, donald trump was still in office, and that initial stage of the investigation happened in the last days of the trump administration. it was a few weeks of, basically, all acting officials trying to put together an investigation as quickly as they could out of the u.s. attorney's office in d.c.. and it would not be until march that merrick garland actually came in and took the -- of that investigation. so, you have a series of place holder officials doing what

they could to look at what happened on january 6th, and who should be prosecuted. so, to do something like -- would be a risky move. and if you know anything about the government, this is not something that an acting official is going to take on. you want your career appointees in. there you want your political appointees and they, are not your career people. and we did not see a political appointees take on the key roles in this place. u.s. attorney in washington d.c., head of the national security division, for a while was really just merrick garland and -- moniker in there and trying to figure out what to do. and -- move slowly, if what you would wanted was an investigation of donald. trump instead, they really focused on rioters. they focused on the people who were in the capitol. certainly there's a lot of debate about whether it was the right thing to do, spoken about by some national security fit officials and some people look at domestic terrorism, who pointed out hundreds and hundreds of prosecutions out the reason why we are not seeing people do things like shot that court with donald trump, and why it, why we are

seeing relative calm even though down trump is certainly asked his supporters become physically be there with him whenever he -- we are not seeing that and we are seeing, again, a relative calm. so, i think there are pluses and minuses to set strategy. but certainly you did not see a real look at donald trump until, probably, a year after january 6th. and again, to andrew's point, if we had a legal system, where you investigate, indict someone, and then go to court the next day, that is pretty fast. but that is not the system that we have. even some of the decisions we are waiting for right now that feel like a long time -- for example, the appeals court deciding whether or not donald trump is immune. now is about two weeks ago. it feels like forever. but in legal, and in our core system, two weeks is not very much time. so, all of these things take a really long time. it was clear that the officials in the justice department -- >> yeah. >> -- we're not thinking about --

that way. >> yeah, that is what i want to focus on, andrew. you wrote an op-ed about this! they pursued a bottom up strategy, and i think katie rightly points out, that may have prevented masses of people acting on donald trump suggestions that they rioter meet outside the courthouse to do whatever. but i am not sure that the logic was entirely just kind of, what is going to keep the peace? it was also some political considerations about how the department had become, not weaponized, but the subject of a weaponization conversation driven largely by donald trump. right? >> yeah. in fact, that could be that they were trying to protect the department from these calls of it being politicized. i am going to quibble from chris hayes when the indictment of january 6th federal indictment came out, and he said, in many ways, this is an indictment of the justice department. because the one thing that that showed was that was not a bottom-up indictment. there was nothing about the bottom that -- this was not cooperators flipping and giving you the

top. this was by looking at the top and seeing what was going on, because there was a disconnect between -- and they never actually made the case between the sort of people inside the capitol who were attacking. yes, they were instigated. but they did not really show direct communications. so, they could have made both. and this is one where it is not -- to's point -- this is not an either or. of course, the cases against the january 6th rioters are righteous cases. the proud boys cases, the oath keepers -- >> of course. >> it's an incredibly, important, difficult historical cases. there's nothing to be taken away from the justice department. but this is a justice department that is very capable. it can do both. so, i think it was the wrong strategy. i think we owe a huge debt in this country to the january 6th committee. because it really said, this is

the way you have to look at it. and, in many ways, they both shame to the justice department. because it is so unusual to have congress ahead of the justice department, having been at the justice department, that does not happen. and it also sort of gave permission. it sort of did both. >> well, the american public had sort of understood quite clearly what had happened. at least, television really. >> exactly. >> katie, when it comes to these federal cases, the one that was perhaps open and shot in terms of the charges are fairly straightforward, the evidence is relatively straightforward. is the mar-a-lago case. and if you look at what is happening down there -- and we have not actually talked about this in quite some time. i mean, judge aileen cannon, is not revisiting the travel schedule until march 1st. and earlier this week there were some back and forth with trump in the special counsel. trump is trying to expand the material that is under the sort of, in the discovery process, to extend to, effectively,

almost everybody in the federal government. it is a ridiculous motion. and i am not a lawyer. but it seemed so. but it is successful in terms of delay. and it seems like a judge in that case is very much playing ball with trump's attempts to delay this. >> yeah, i think the judge in that case -- first of all, she has not done anything that i think anybody would say is wrong. but she is being very deliberative. and, to your point, she has decided to wait until the spring to hear any more motions on the case. now, one of the reasons why this just naturally delays a case like this, which is straightforward in its argument, and is some ways straightforward and it's facts, is because it deals with so much pacified classified information. so, there's going to be a series of hearings and brees, legal steps, just to figure out how to deal with classified information. they have to be factored into the schedule. so, by really not taking any action until the spring, necessarily, the trial that she set is probably going to slip. and so, to your point, trump is now trying to expand what he can get the government and, by

arguing over what evidence he can have -- that is something he is entitled to do. but it will, again, eat up time. this is something that we could see really slip toward election day. and so, it is a difficult thing. because, unless aileen cannon does something that she could actually get in trouble for, that other people could actually say, this would force of recusal. it would force -- the case. doing this with a calendar is not necessarily something that she could be removed for. and so, by using the rules of the court, you are seeing various players just slow this down. >> yeah. well, what is abundantly clear is the inordinate mount of pressure that these judges are under to either come up with an appellate ruling, or to set the trial date, or to keep the trial train on track. it is something unlike the justice-ism has experience before. andrew weissmann and katie benner, thank you so much for your time tonight. i appreciate you. still ahead this evening, we got some breaking news today about the economic vibe. optimism about the biden economy is increasing.

and guess who is ready to run on that? first, just days before the new hampshire primary, donald trump is picking up yet another endorsement from a former south carolina opponent. that is next. are you still struggling with your bra? it's time for you to try knix. makers of the world's comfiest wireless bras. for revolutionary support without underwires, and sizes up to a g-cup, find your new favorite bra today at knix.com

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and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. i voted for the former president twice. i don't think he can win. you have to be able to win in georgia. i don't think he can win in georgia. -- pennsylvania. >> we need a president who will unite our country. we need donald trump! and that is why i came to the very warm state of new hampshire. to endorse the next president of these united states.

president donald trump! >> i don't think he can win. you have to be able to win georgia. you have to be able to win in pennsylvania. cut to, i am endorsing donald trump for president. that is the evolution of tim scott, who is now the 26th republican senator to endorse donald trump, as of this week, as of tonight, as of the last hour. tim scott became a senator in the very first place when he was appointed by south carolina governor nikki haley in 2012. in response to scott's indoor summit, nikki haley released a statement saying, interesting that trump's lining u with all the washington insiders when he claimed he wanted to drain the swamp. but the fellas are going to do what the fellas are going to do. join me now is robert gibbs. former white house press secretary and an msnbc -- also with me james pindle,

political reporter for the boston globe. robert, let me first get your -- i find it staggering to play the sound of these republican senators in 2016 and their endorsements of donald trump in the last few days. it is a real logical disconnect. and it is completely unabashed. tim scott sounded like bob barker there endorsing donald trump with all his enthusiasm. is there any price to pay for having once had a conscience and now throwing it out the window? >> no. i think all these guys are trying desperately to get on the right side of donald trump. . . look, i think, alex, is we are probably about 96 hours away. from donald trump wrapping up his nomination. and i think you are going to see an enormous stampede of elected officials, despite what they have said in the past, despite who they voted for the past, despite running against him in the past, lining up with him. and i think you are going to see a probably a pretty great coalescing on the republican

side of this. but no, i don't think there is any price to pay, except, if you don't end up on his good. side he and his campaign have threatened those that did come out and endorsed desantis or others early, basically saying, when we get on with them, they'll be unelectable. >> you know, james pindell, the endorsements, i think, robert rightly points out, are based in a combination of fear and opportunism. but they are also the result of a campaign that has been very focused on endorsements and that has, by all outside accounts, a very strong grounding in the states that count. and i wonder how you compare sort of, what trump did in iowa, what he's doing to his adornments, and what we are seeing on the ground in new hampshire, and the strength of his campaign there. >> yeah, alex. the two things that donald trump did not have in the 2016 primaries were endorsements. or was it ground game. -- offices in iowa and particularly here in new

hampshire. so, here, james, look at our ground game. and it was completely nonexistent. the odd thing is the more time donald trump stays in a courtroom, the more time is actual operatives that he hired, who were actually season versus last time, he could spend building a ground game, and the more time to get these endorsements. look, as bob dylan told us, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. and that's exactly what has happened with these u.s. senate endorsements and everything else. and you are seeing the writing on the wall. as roberts, it in a few hours, a few days, there -- there is a feeling on the ground here in new hampshire, which is, by the way, very cold. alex, when i agreed to do the show, it was supposed to be inside. i am outside for you. i will note that, in a few days, this whole thing could be wrapped. up there's a very real sense that that is exactly what is at stake here in the next couple of days. >> yeah. robert, you are pointing to the 96 hour threshold here. would you say that is a nikki haley phase? what she is saying -- nikki haley is saying, what we did, we were strong in iowa, we

want to be stronger in new hampshire. and we are going to my sweet state of south carolina and even stronger there. i wonder whether you think that that is just the typical kind of like optimism that you have to project as a candidate, or whether you think she actually might believe that. >> well, i think it is the delusional side of optimism. no. i would say it to her face. i would ask for a few questions. i don't think she is running a campaign in new hampshire, or had a schedule in new hampshire like she wants to win in new hampshire. i don't think she is in danger of -- look, she is going to finish second, almost assuredly. ron desantis won't finish in double digits. but you can't win the nomination finishing second. you're going to have to beat donald trump. if you can't beat donald trump in a state with a huge number of independents early in this process, then i don't know when you are going to beat him. and so, i don't know that -- i don't think there is any way she is going to make this to south carolina.

there's too long, quite frankly, for any of these candidates, who won't have any momentum coming out of these first two states to try to keep up with donald trump. >> james, in iowa, a lot of folks said, yes, trump won by a prohibitively large margin, but for an incumbent president, it actually wasn't that, low and the turnout was low, and not because of the weather. and it's because -- foregone conclusion that trump is going to be the nominee. do new hampshire voters feel the same? way what can you tell us about the sort of level of interest and enthusiasm on the ground there? >> you know, what was so wild about that question, alex -- and i'm so glad you asked that -- on the one hand, this is my seventh new hampshire primary. it's like an unlike any other i've ever covered. -- it's bonkers. at the same, time we have every prediction from the secretary of state, who is on the ground and then the -- to predict we are going to have a record breaking turnout on tuesday. now, what does that actually mean in the context of the campaign? it is very unclear.

look, nikki haley is trying to pull off a john mccain victory from 2000. george w. bush was the big front-runner nationwide. the big front runner now in the early states. he wins iowa, and john mccain wins by 18 points. there's two huge things there. number one, john mccain crushed it with independents. nikki haley is doing better with independent voters. she's not crushing it. and secondly, john mccain was running with even with republicans, with george w. bush. and right here donald trump is absolutely destroying her among republicans. so, we are over halfway through the new hampshire primary weak. and nikki haley has yet to get things going. in fact, in our latest tracking poll, the report that boston globe is doing with suffolk university, she lost -- points from -- >> wow. wow! losing two points days before the primary when you are already behind. also, side note. john mccain was not the nominee in 2000. so, copying his playbook, maybe

not so wise. james pindell, it's freezing where you are. we thank you for your time. i'm not going to make you do more television. but robert gibbs, you are inside. please stay with me. we have a lot more to get to tonight. the fbi still has a 500,000 dollar reward for any information about who planted the pipe bombs outside the dnc and rnc headquarters the night before january 6th. it is still a who done it. and this, week some conservatives say they have finally cracked the case. after months of hand wringing, consumers are finally vibing on the economy. i mean that literally. what does it mean for biden and 2024? that is next. ( ♪ ♪ ) start your day with nature made. the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. these underwear are period-proof. and sneeze-proof. and sweat-proof.

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makers of the world's comfiest wireless bras. for revolutionary support without underwires, and sizes up to a g-cup, find your new favorite bra today at knix.com this election is a choice between results or just rhetoric. californians deserve a senator who is going to deliver for them every day and not just talk a good game. adam schiff. he held a dangerous president accountable. he also helped lower drug costs, bring good jobs back home, and build affordable housing. now he's running for the senate. our economy, our democracy, our planet. this is why we fight. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message. not just any whiteboard... ...katie porter's whiteboard is one way she's: [news anchor] ...often seen grilling top executives of banks, big pharma, even top administration officials. katie porter. never taken corporate pac money - never will. leading the fight to ban congressional stock trading. and the only democrat who opposed wasteful “earmarks” that fund politicians' pet projects. katie porter. focused on your challenges -

from lowering housing costs to fighting climate change. shake up the senate - with democrat katie porter. today, the s&p 500, a i'm katie porter and i approve this message. benchmark index for the u.s. stock exchange, closed on a record high. but even for americans who don't own stocks, which is most of the country, the u.s. economy is very healthy. unemployment is at its lowest level since 2022. inflation is now coming down to 3.4% from a high of 9.1% in june of 2022. wages grew last month by 5.2%. gas averages $3.80. a gallon. but despite all, that many people, especially young people, especially young people on tiktok, have been feeling like

the economy is giving recession. data b damned, the vibes have just been off. they have been saying we are in a vibe session. until, maybe, now. the university of michigan consumer -- highest level since july of 2021. does this mean the good vibes are back? if so, someone called the white house. oh, wait. never mind. >> today, i learned the consumer sentiment -- and you guys saw it -- surged by 29% in the past two months. the biggest dumont jump in 30 years. we've got more to do. >> back with me to talk about this is robert gibbs. robert, i thought about the early part of the obama administration, what you are well familiar with, where there was a constant attempt to tell the american public, look, the economy is going to rebound. we are going to be in turnaround. then, we are in turnaround. but it is very difficult to convince people of something

using data unless they have emotional buy-in. and i wonder what lessons, if any, you think there are for the biden administration in all this, seeing as -- things are getting better. and people are seemingly beginning to feel better about them. >> yeah, look. it feels very analogous to 2009 and 2010. and even running into the reelection campaign in the early 2011. and i learned then, and i think the biden administration is learning now, you can't get people to feel something and buy into something that they are not feeling. and you can have all the numbers in the world. and every one of those numbers that you put up shows progress in the right direction. but this news today is huge. we have not seen a jump like this in consumer, positive consumer sentiment since before bill clinton was elected president. so, it has been a long time. this is a real shot in the arm, or potential shot in the arm

for the reelection campaign. because i think what is most troubling, when you look at a poll and people are asked, was the economy better under trump or biden? trump wins that question by a fairly sizable margin. and i'm hoping that, as the months get closer to election, that people begin to feel more and more like they are feeling in the last two months, that that number will close significantly. >> biden's shadow boxing to a certain extent against vibes. right? that in and of itself is difficult. then you look at what is happening on the republican side in the primary. biden is getting out of the advantages an incumbent usually gets. right? nobody in the republican primaries even trying to criticize donald trump. this is anything but -- politics is beanbag for donald trump. and i wonder how you think, what that does to a biden campaign that effectively just has to kind of sit and wait and to try to land any punches on trump, and even that is unclear. who knows if they are going to be debates. >> yeah, i think on your first

question, on the economy, look. i think it is hard to try to wait and be patient on how people feel, and on seeing some progress. and i think that is really important, that we are seeing that begin to feel like it is happening now. i think, with trump, i think this is actually -- if trump wraps this nomination up in four days, like i think he is going to, i think this is actually a good thing for the biden campaign. i think a long campaign for joe biden, to make this a choice election, a long campaign to remind people of what he has done, of the chaos under somebody like donald trump, and to really clarify this election, i think, we'll get them in fighting shape. you won't have any excuse to not be playing campaign every single day. and you've got a long runway to make the choice clear for voters. i think that, yes, you would love to have three months of them just beating up all on each other. and coming out of this with a weak opponent. but i think there's actually a

greater advantage to joe biden getting on with the general election campaign as early as he can with donald trump. >> get dark brandon, dust his coat off, and get him out on the trail. robert gibbs, my friend, thank you for your time this evening. coming up, a quarter of americans -- a quarter of americans -- believe january 6th was an inside job. you evidence indicates that total includes at least one sitting united states senator, who has even higher career ambitions. we are going to explain all that, coming up next. with the majority of my patients with sensitivity i see irritated gums and weak enamel. sensodyne sensitivity gum and enamel it relieves sensitivity helps restore gum health and rehardens enamel. i am a big advocate of recommending things that i know work.

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january 6th attack, one major mystery remains unsolved. who placed pipe bombs outside the dnc and rnc headquarters the night before? now, the fbi still has a 500,000 dollar reward outstanding for any information leading to who did it. and a bunch of prominent conservatives this week believe they have finally cracked the case. it was the fbi. >> did someone say we've got to make it look like my guy is trying to take over the government? so, let's get a riot going? let's make sure we leave two bombs behind? >> the largest global purveyor of fake information is the united states government at this point. >> it's yet more evidence that they are lying about these pipe

bombs. why are they lying? because they were involved in it, obviously. >> obviously, obviously. obviously? alt-right activist jack prasso bake, this week pointed out to his nearly two and a half million followers that the dnc pipe on looks almost identical to training devices used by the fbi. and that tweet was posted by sitting united states senator, mike lee. lee further weighed in asking, was anyone ever arrested for these? that's a pretty serious crime. i can't imagine it went uninvestigated. just to be clear, the fbi spent several years investigating the bombs, to no avail. and unsolved does not necessarily mean inside job. but if you are mike lee, january 6th has conspiracy written all over. it a few months ago, senator lee suggested that a pro trump crap it'll capitol rioter -- was in fact a undercover agent.

lee promoted this photo as proof that the man at the bottom of the picture was no maga supporter, but rather, a federal agent, brandishing his law enforcement badge. except he was not holding a badge. he was holding a vape pen. confronted later about that inconvenient truth, senator lee admitted that leon lyons was probably not a federal agent -- sort of par for the course for republicans like senator lee, who apparently enjoy walking on the wild side. after all, mr. li was an early advocate of the fake electors plan, and discuss the plot with trump's chief of staff, mark meadows. so, it is probably perhaps not surprising that senator lee wholeheartedly endorsed donald trump's r the presidency, saying and ironically that he was using order over chaos.

senator mike lee joins 25 of his republican colleagues in the senate who have endorsed donald trump as of this evening. but a special distinction was that he was twice on trump's shortlist to be a supreme court justice. in 2018, senator lee interviewed for the seat that eventually went for the seat -- kavanaugh. -- and justice samuel alito hitting 74 this year, who knows if donald trump is reelected in november, the man who believes january 6th was an inside job could just get another crack at the seat on the highest court in the land. we have one more story for you tonight. house republicans are the dog that caught the car, and then jumped in front of it. more on that right after the break. d is crushed by a baby grand piano. you're replacing me? customize and save with liberty bibberty. he doesn't even have a mustache. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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♪ ♪ congress averted is asked there once again this week by passing a short term funding bill that will prevent a

government shutdown, at least until march, in order to pass this bill how speaker mike johnson had to rely heavily on democratic support after members of his own party threatened to take the proposal, which is now, apparently, the republican playbook for getting anything done in congress. lean on the democrats to bail you out. and speaker mike johnson, not yet three months on the job, is finding himself in the very same position as his predecessor, and -- johnson as well as on the verge of being kicked out of the speaker's chair for capitulating to the reality of basic governance. >> i let speaker johnson know that, in no way shape and form will i support any type of cr. and if he moves forward with a separate deal trading our border security, weakening hr to, in exchange for 60 billion dollars to ukraine, i told him yesterday in his office that i would vacate the chair. >> the deal that marjorie taylor greene is talking about is one that democrats are agreeing to make. and it includes massive

concessions on immigration policy in exchange for funding for ukraine. joining me now is brendan buck, communications strategist and former press secretary to former house speaker john boehner. brandon, it feels like this -- cutting off nose to spite their faces. do you feel they realize what they are doing here? >> there are some people who want to get something, done and some people who like to have an issue. look, if you were ever going to solve immigration, or at least make progress on immigration, and you are a republican, now is the perfect time to do. it there is this perception in the republican party that if you just hold out, and you wait for the stars to align and all the republicans to control everything, that you get everything we want. that does not work. we tried that in 2018. it led to the longest government shutdown in history. the problem is you have some people who will only accept what they deem as perfect. or you have some people who simply don't want to give a win on -- issue. so, i am highly, highly

skeptical that whatever the senate produces has any chance in the house when it comes along, because, at this, point mike johnson is handing hanging on for dear life. he does not really have any capital to spend to bring up something controversial like this. >> well, you don't get perfect in politics, right? it's a fantasy. and i think, it also reveals that they're not actually interested in governance. this is a sweet deal for republicans. lindsey graham says you are not going to get a better deal on immigration. at the same time, they are talking about getting rid of mike johnson, who has not made it 100 days on the job. do you think he lasts until valentine's day? >> i think if you were to bring up something like this it is very likely that they would at least move to remove him. now, i think that's an open question whether democrats would do what they did with kevin mccarthy, where they all voted to boot him out. there's already rumblings that democrats might vote to keep mike johnson in his position, if he were to bring this up. now, that is a very untenable position if you are the republican speaker and you are

keeping your job because of the minority. you never want to find yourself in that position. but let's be honest, a lot of this is about ukraine. there is a huge movement in the house to end all support for ukraine. and they put up this pretext that there needs to be really strong border reform to do anything like that. and surprising a lot of people they might be able to get that deal. but now they don't know what they are going to do about it. so, i think there is going to be a lot of fearmongering and a lot of misinformation about what the senate deal actually looks like, to scare people. again, i just think mike johnson has enough trouble on his plate that he realizes that this is not going to be worth it. it's not a must do thing, probably, in his mind. so he will find some reason, i think, to ignore this. there will be incredible pressure to bring up. but i think he's probably going to realize that he probably wants his job more than anything. >> yeah. and he's apparently been consulting with donald trump on the deal, who is waving him off of, it which really goes to the heart of all of this. this is about not giving joe

biden any kind of legislative win in an election year. isn't it? >> yeah, absolutely. you bring up the most important thing. the donald trump factor. this is the first person who has thanked this deal instantly. we've already had one house republican from texas say, he does not want to do anything to give joe biden a win at this point, saying it out loud. it's really frustrating. we've tried to do this time and time again over the years. this immigration issue is the -- era canter why is the -- scared of people in their own districts about this issue. he seemed to never be able to make progress because they all think that someday, that perfect border bail is going to come along, and we are going to be able to get it all done all at once. and he said, that's just not how things work. >> in the meantime, immigration, number one issue for voters in the iowa caucus. but don't do anything about it. brendan buck, thank you, my friend, for this friday night appearance. i appreciate it. that is our show for tonight. now it is time for