♪♪ welcome back to another hour of "chris jansing reports." ahead for us behind closed doors, president biden's younger brother facing questions from

house republicans about a bribery scheme that's already been debunked. a mix-up too wild to make up. hunter biden's lawyers accusing the special counsel of confusing sawdust for cocaine. what might that mean for his case? plus, the american ballerina accused of treason by russia. did a simple donation to ukraine get her locked up? and are mitch mcconnell's days in leadership numbered? what donald trump is saying about that. our nbc news reporters are following all of the latest developments. we begin on capitol hill with republicans questioning the president's brother. julie tsirkin is there. what's going on? >> reporter: exactly. they have been questioning him behind closed doors for the last few hours, only breaking for lunch, and little breaks here and there. for james biden, the brother of the president, he did read as part of his statement to the panel, again, behind closed doors, but we were able to get our hands on it. he pointed out four points, i

know they're kind of hard to see. but to sum them up, i have had a 50-year career in a variety of business ventures. joe biden has never had any involvement, none. he said because of his intimate knowledge of what his brother had done, his personal integrity and character, as well as his own ethics, he always kept his professional life separate from his close personal relationships. with joe biden, he says he's never asked his brother to take any official action on behalf of him, his business associates or anyone else. and he says in every business venture which he's been a part of, he's relied on his own talent, judgment, skill, personal relationships and never his status as joe biden's brother. that is important because that point is exactly what republicans on the committees who are pushing ahead of this impeachment of the president are using. they're saying, well, joe biden's brother, his son hunter have benefitted from having joe biden in their family either as their brother or father, benefitted from using his name and business ventures, even trying to say that the president himself had benefitted

financially from this, although important to point out in all of their months in leading these investigations, they are yet to come up with any conclusion tying those two issues together. still, this is an important development. and the committee continuing to chug along despite what we saw from the verdict with alexander smirnov, with anything breaking a hole in their impeachment investigation, they are having these interviews. we up james biden to be in there for quite some time. in a week we're expecting a similar setup with hunter biden appearing behind closed doors. they're going to see if they can get to any place where they can prove any issues they're alleging. jim jordan, and those folks are pressing on. i want you to listen to what james raskin had to say, of course the top democrat on this panel. watch. >> this is a subdued affair, and i'm restating my call to

chairman comer, to speaker johnson, to fold up the tent to the circus show, it's really over. >> reporter: remember, chris, they have authorized this impeachment inquiry into the president. they have not voted on articles of impeachment. it will be interesting to see if these developments get them to a place where they have the votes to do. so as you heard from jamie raskin, they think this is nothing more than political stunts and shams. again, republicans are pressing on. julie tsirkin, thank you. now to nbc's tom winter in what may be a mix up, compared to a plot line out of the police academy movies. give us the back story on this baffling mixup. is it a mixup? >> sure, apparently what happened is federal prosecutors in a document contained a bunch of exhibits. and they were trying to detail why they believed they could make arguments as it pertained to hunter biden in that gun and

something they said in a previously court filing, how they found a drug residue on it. this is hunter biden and a gun possession charge in delaware. they included this exhibit they were looking at on screen right now, which has three lines, and they say it appeared to show some sort of a drug use. in fact, hunter biden's attorney, abbe lowell says it does not show that at all. it's awe dust by someone who e-mailed this picture, someone helping to provide treatment, saying, look, i have moved on from a pattern of drug use. now i'm working and being a carpenter, and working with my hands, and look what i've done here. what a change of my life. this isn't drugs at all. i've moved past that. it was a message of support to hunter biden, you too can move beyond drug use. this was contained in a file by abbe lowell, saying we can't trust prosecutors based on the

information and filings they have made. we are entitled to more discovery. we would like to know more about alexander smirnov, the individual charged with lying to the fbi, and he says in his interview with the fbi and you're looking at him leaving course yesterday, the best we can see of him, looking at him leaving after being ordered out of detention and free of custody pending trial. they want more information about when weiss's office knew about smirnov's alleged lies. in the last 15 or 20 minutes, weiss's office has gone to the federal judge who will oversee a trial in this case, based in los angeles, not at the court where he was arrested yesterday in las vegas, asking that smirnov be detained. he wants the federal judge to review this decision. they call him a serious flight risk. they have provided all the

documents to the los angeles district court judge, and so really it's up to the judge thousand to respond to that filing as of two seconds ago. they haven't. and whether or not to have a hearing to get smirnov behind bars pending this trial. someone who has had contact with multiple foreign intelligence officials according to the fbi and according to federal prosecutors over the past couple of years. we'll continue to track this here, chris, through the afternoon. >> if anything happens, definitely get back to us. tom winter, thank you. let's go overseas where we are learning more about the american ballerina detained by russia. nbc's richard engel is ukraine for us. treason under article 275 in the russian prison could could mean decades in prison. what do we know? >> reporter: it's extraordinarily serious, and it's similar to the case of evan

gershkovich. they were both arrested in the same place. evan gershkovich, effectively being charged with being a spy, even though according to the newspaper, friends of his, just doing his job as a journalist, but was charged with serious crimes against the russian state. this woman also facing charges of treason, very serious allegations. but not for doing her job. but instead for allegedly donating $51 to support ukraine. so this is really a trifle. and yet she was brought into court in shackles, with her hat over her eyes to blindfold her. heavy handed tactics, a heavy charge against her, and she is a duel national. an american-russian, relatively recent american. just in 2021 became an american

citizen, and her family is deeply concerned. issuing this appeal that -- an appeal for help. otherwise the family is saying she's going to spend potentially the rest of her life in prison. these are very tough times right now to be an american and travel to russia, which is, i think, one of the reasons we heard the biden administration say that americans including duel nationals in russia should leave. >> yeah, no one should go for sure. richard engel, thank you. new comments from former president donald trump suggest that knives are out for senator mitch mcconnell. nbc's garrett haake is covering that story for us. garrett. >> reporter: we saw what amounts to the latest salvo in the long running feud. donald trump saying he dnt didn't think he could work with mcconnell again. signaturing mcconnell made it

too easy for democrats to spend billions, and in some cases, trillions of dollars, the inflation reduction act passed with democratic votes in the senate. also the infrastructure bill which mitch mcconnell ultimately supported. when democrats controlled all of washington, and mow in divided government where he has at times been an ally to some democratic priorities. that has not sat well with donald trump and his wing of the party. he's in the market for a new republican leader in the senate. there's a fairly widespread view on capitol hill that only one of these men is likely to remain in a leadership role after next year. either mitch mcconnell can be an effective minority or majority leader in the senate or donald trump can be president but the two have not spoken since january 6th. their relationship is completely frosty and fraught. while they share policy goals, and mcconnell has suggested he will support the republican nominee, even if it is trump,

the two men, it just seems almost impossible for them to work together again. trump, saying as much out loud in a moment where he has demonstrated the ability to force out leaders in the democratic party. could he also make a change of top senate leadership. this would be essentially a battle of the titans. the longest running senate leader in either party in history, could be coming in early 2025. >> garrett haake, thank you. coming up in 60 seconds, what are the consequences of donald trump can't pay his $355 million penalty. new york's attorney general has an idea. >> we will ask the judge to seize his assets. help you find k opportunities in the market. e*trade from morgan stanley. with powerful, easy-to-use tools, power e*trade makes complex trading easier. react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting

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less than two months after that terrifying incident in which the door of an alaska air boeing 737 max nine fell off mid flight. one of those let go is ed clark, the head of the 737 max program. this is the latest sign of boeing being forced to hold its accountable for the incident as it works to prove that it's serious about play plane safety. boeing's ceo has called it a mistake that should never have happened. we will continue to follow that. well, donald trump is going to have some extraordinarily tough decisions to make as he tries to scrape together enough cash to pay off the nearly half a billion dollars in legal judgments against him. but if he can't, new york's attorney general, letitia james says she has a backup plan ready to go. >> if he doesn't have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek, you know, a judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to

seize his assets. >> i want to bring in msnbc legal correspondent lisa rubin, basil smikle, former head of the democratic party in new york. good to see you as well. i'm assuming this isn't an iden threat. what would have to happen for them to go after those assets? >> first of all, let's assume that donald trump does want to appeal as he said. he would have to not post an undertaking equivalent to the judgment, which includes all prejudgments in that period of time, $464 million. as of yesterday, for tish james to do what she said she would do, which is to go after his assets, through what's called judgment enforcement mechanisms like liens. if she did that, it would not be as simple as saying i would like to squeeze his assets and use the proceeds for my own use to

satisfy this judgment. donald trump has existing lenders. many of his marquee properties in new york are still under debt. one example, 40 wall street has a 122 plus million dollar mortgage. it moved to a different lender earlier this year because there were concerns that in the sake of a judgment that property would call under water. >> not only that, but it's not like he owns the whole thing. it's a land lease. >> correct. but erchl if she wanted to grab the land lease. you can liquidate that to someone, sell to someone. it's a 99-year land lease or something like that. she's not the only creditor that has an interest in certain assets. she would be second in line to existing lenders to whom he owes millions of dollars on debt that

has not yet matured. >> let me play a little bit of what tish says. >> we are prepared to make sure the judgment is paid to new yorkers, and yes, i look at 40 wall street each and every day. >> you know where it is. you've lived here a long time. she can look out and' it. there's the complications lisa was talking about. many are co-owned. he may own a less than controlling interest in them. it's not that straightforward, is it? >> it's not that straightforward. tish james might be second, third or fourth in line to be able to get some of that money. new yorkers are not known for their patience, but in this case, we'll be pretty patient. if it's about accountability, making sure donald trump comes and pace this fine or money, i think new yorkers want to see that level of accountability. tish james is not to be played

with. i have known her since the mid-'90s. she's very thoughtful, methodical. this is a person who took on andrew cuomo, a sitting governor. >> and who is no longer a sitting governor. >> she's not a wilting violent. my sense is she's going to do everything that she can to try to make sure donald trump is held accountable in this way. and back in 2016, we heard all of this, he was not the person he said he was, and he owed countless vendors money. and some chose not to believe it, but here we are again. >> would it be fair to say if we dissill this down and understand the complications, it's complicated but not impossible. >> that's exactly right. i want to go back to something that ba sal said, tish james in particular has been patient. when you looked at the ruling

justice engoron released last week. there are different buckets of money he's seeking to disgorge, date to go when the wrong happened. the first and biggest portion of money is $168 million in interest that trump saved by defrauding his lenders. the date for beginning the prejudgment interest is march 2019. which is when tish james began her investigation. here we are literally five years later, she's had the tenacity to see this through. up until now. i don't think she's going to give up time soon. >> back to when donald trump was actually giving donations who were running pr office, right. if he has to somehow give up manhattan real estate that has his name ton, what would that mean for him? >> he sort of did.

all the buildings that had trump tower written on them, you had residents say we need to start taking his name off. it's not a good thing right now. >> property values are going down. >> mike bloomberg went and spoke at the dnc convention. everybody was like, what is he going to say. he made the point that among the sort of wealthy class in new york, and among the real estate community. among new yorkers, we know a fraud when we see them. >> basil smikle, and lisa rubin, thank you both, appreciate it. still ahead, how a baseball star's big swing at political cause is throws the claws in the senate race. te race. 100 bucks. great sleep, at the click of a button. did she get implants? yeah, i got an implant, sheila!! relax, it's inspire. inspire.

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today, the race for the california senate seat is a lot more unpredictable, some would even say coined of wild with the entry of a 75-year-old political novice and republican in a heavily democratic state. he's baseball legend steve garvey, and he skyrocketed into second place in the polls last night facing three democrats in a debate. >> dysfunctional washington needs a leader like myself, a new face with new ideas, somebody who's willing to get up in the morning and go to bed for all of the people of california. i don't think my opponents are running for all the people. they're running for half the people. >> californians, you don't have to choose between having a

career politician who's beholden to special interests and having someone who simply doesn't have a lot of ideas or experience at all. >> the primary is just two weeks away, and the stakes are incredibly high. that primary is a free for all, four candidates running for two spots, regardless of their party affiliation. garvey could knock out one of the democrats from the general election contest, which would be an enormous advantage for the front runner, adam schiff. i want to bring in nbc's steve patterson who's in los angeles, and "politico" white house bureau chief and host of msnbc's "way too early," jonathan lemire. basil smikle is still here. so, steve, this primary is called a jungle primary, survival of the fittest, right, which means only two of these four candidates get to be on the ballot in november, regardless, again, what party they're in. highly competitive race. millions of dollars spent. how did it go last night?

>> reporter: welcome to the jungle. the problem here is the only person that really was staking everything on standing out had to be katie porter. nobody understands this is a jungle primary better than adam schiff who's in first place, polling at something like 28% in the latest polling. he spent $10 million in attack ads on steve garvey who's in second place, the republican novice that you just mentioned. a lot of political pundit says that's because the plan is to raise garvey's profile so schiff can have an easier time when it comes to the runoff general election. what does that mean for a debate? it means everybody is kind of running to their benefactors. barbara lee is in fourth place. she's on stage, how did she get there, progressive democrats, she has to not anger them. steve garvey doesn't have to anger trump conservatives and moderate conservatives. adam schiff needs to chill. the only person that really

needs to do something is katie porter and she did try. she attacked adam schiff more than we have seen in previous debates going after mac money donations. the fire came when schiff wasn't afraid to fire back. >> i'm different than representative schiff. he's taken pacs from bp, sempra, they are polluters. people can count on me to do washington differently. >> i don't think representative porter has been clear about her record, taking thousands of dollars from people in the oil industry, thousands from wall street bankers, thousands from people in pharma. the problem with a purity test is invariably the people establishing them don't meet them. >> i was there last night. there was an opportunity to talk to the candidates. i asked adam schiff point-blank, is the strategy to go after the republicans. he said that guy is in second place, i'm doing what i would

normally do for anybody going after me in second place. >> jonathan, i'll let you weigh in on whether you think that's what's going on there. the bigger question is how much has steve garvey shaken up this race? >> reporter: he's certainly a political novice, with some baseball puns yesterday, going to bat for the voters of california, and he certainly had a good career for the dodgers. that's a state where republicans have not won statewide in quite some time in anything. since governor schwarzenegger won. it's about as blue as it comes. garvey has name recognition, which gives him an advantage over usual gop contenders. he's got money as well, and now the surprising poll numbers, he has a very very up hill climb here to claim the senate seat. despite what congressman schiff says there, i think it would be an advantage for a republican to be his opponent in november, thinking in a blue state that would be easy for schiff.

also, frankly, maybe the national party wouldn't mind that either. if it does look like schiff who would have a commanding lead against the republican garvey, that would allow democrats to not spend as much resources in extremely expensive california, but rather use that money elsewhere in what is going to be a tough senate map for them if they want to hold their slim margin in the upper chamber. >> that's a great point he makes. i mean, the money and the competition, whether some of that could potentially go to some of the really competitive house seats that still exist in california. i mean, and $10 million that adam schiff is spending. it essentially adds that kind of attack mr. garvey as too conservative for california, but may rally republicans behind him. it's 2-1 registration, double the number of democrats, but still, republicans can come out for him. what do you make of what's going on in california right now? >> jonathan is absolutely right on that point about where

democrats would prefer to spend their money because, you know, you've got seats in california and new york, if you can flip a few of those, you actually can maintain or the democrats can take back the house. but, you know, adam schiff, he's good at this, he's raised a lot of money, and i think voters see him as that house manager during impeachment. someone who's going to be holding congress, the senate accountable. just personally, quite frankly, barbara lee is not doing well. laphonza butler is not going to run for reelection, which is why we're here. i just feel some kind of way that the black woman will likely not represent california in congress. you have lisa rochester in delaware. there have only been three black women who have ever been in the senate. this is a missed opportunity. i think today it's adam schiff's

to lose, and i think that match up is a good match up for democrats if he's running against garvey. it gives them an opportunity to focus resources elsewhere. >> he's absolutely right, jonathan, it's why most people's assessment, adam schiff's race to lose. but if you go back to the idea that this is a two-to-one advantage for the democrats, there are 22 million people registered to vote in california. i don't know, could anything still happen? what do you think? >> there's always a chance. when you come to an election, and it's a binary choice and it's choice a versus choice b, even if choice a is the overwhelming favorite, there's always a scenario where choice b could pull the surprise. i think it would be very very challenging. particularly, we expect turnout to be high, a presidential year. certainly california is not in any sort of battle ground state. president biden will win it and win it handily, but it's something that people are going to want to turn out and vote against donald trump, and turn out democrats and vote against, you know, steve garvey, and in this case, if adam schiff is the

nominee, vote for him. and we should just note as a postscript, the man in the building behind me, president biden also in california today. he's in the midst of a three-day fundraising swing. noting, again, just the idea of how important california is on the electoral map. it's an expensive place to advertise, and a profitable place to raise money. the president made a few trips out west, plenty more between now and november. >> a very profitable place when i was covering the obama white house. there were more than a few celebrity homes i stood outside to say, yes, and the president is in there raising money, but we never got a glimpse of what was happening in there. >> basil smikle, jonathan lemire, thank you for the conversation, appreciate it. the armorer who loaded the gun for alec baldwin on a movie set goes on trial. what to watch for, next on "chris jansing reports" only on

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i secured abortion rights in our state constitution. when trump attacked our lgbtq and asian neighbors, i strengthened our hate crime laws. i fought for all of us struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living. i'm evan low, and i approve this message for all of our shared values. this ad? typical. politicians... "he's bad. i'm good." blah, blah. let's shake things up. with katie porter. porter refuses corporate pac money. and leads the fight to ban congressional stock trading. katie porter. taking on big banks to make housing more affordable. and drug company ceos to stop their price gouging. most politicians just fight each other. while katie porter fights for you. for senate - democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message. what do i see in peter dixon? i see my husband... the father of our girls. i see a public servant. a man who served under secretary clinton

in the state department... where he took on the epidemic of violence against women in the congo. i see a fighter, a tenacious problem-solver... who will go to congress and protect abortion rights and our democracy. because he sees a better future for all of us. i'm peter dixon and i right now in santa fe, jury selection is underway in the deadly high profile shooting on the set of the alec baldwin movie "rust" in 2021. on trial, the woman who loaded the gun that baldwin was using during a rehearsal when it went off killing halyna hutchins. hannah gutierrez-reed has pled not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. dana griffin is closely

following the case from the courthouse. i'm also joined by msnbc legal analyst, danny cevallos. what are you hearing about what's happening in court? >> reporter: chris, i can tell you, it's been such a slow go morning. jurors showed up at 8:30 this morning, but we are still getting through the private juror section. this is when they pull jurors in one by one to talk to the judge in case they have some sort of hardship they don't want anyone else to hear. they are on a lunch break, should be heading back in ten minutes, and hopefully will get to the public questions so we can figure out these jurors are going to be selected. there are 70 that have been brought in during the first panel. they need 12 and two alternates. if they can't seat the jury soon, they will bring in another panel of jurors, up to 70, around 1:30 this afternoon. the judge believes we will get through jury selection today. opening statements are slated to start tomorrow. chris. >> thank you for that, dana griffin. danny, they're going to start the jury questioning. if you're on either side, what

kind of questions are important to you, and the first thing that came to my mind was how much do you know about guns? >> this may sound counter intuitive. if i'm the defense, i do not want gun owners on the jury. here's why. it's been my experience. in santa fe, you're going to get gun owners. you can't pak jury that doesn't have guns in the home. my question is lawful gun owners are harsher on others who use guns in a negligent fashion. this same calculus would apply in the alec baldwin trial but the armorer whose stipulated responsibility was to make sure the guns, she's in charge of the guns. the case against her is stronger than the one against alec baldwin. that doesn't mean the case against her is necessarily good. but if you're looking for jurors, i think as the defense, you don't want gun owners, they judge each other harshly.

>> so one of the things that prosecutors claim is that gutierrez-reed used cocaine in production and handed a bag of it to another person after the shooting so she wouldn't get caught with it. her team tried to get it excluded from trial. they were not successful. how big of a role could this play? >> this is, i guess, for a defense, you would say, sneaky prosecuting, but it's smart prosecuting. bring in everything that you can that isn't character evidence but close enough, because you can introduce general bad character as evidence of someone's guilt, but there are so many exceptions to that rule and prosecutors use them liberally. if you're the state, you want to get all of that in, her drinking, her drug use, all of that will tend to show her as a generally reckless person. is that relevant to whether she was reckless at this particular moment. maybe, probably not. who knows. if you're the defense, you try to keep that out, to the extent they were unsuccessful in doing so, that kind of evidence can be really devastating. >> they're already trying to do

finger pointing, right, because a lot of people handled this gun. obviously pointing the finger at alec baldwin, the prop distributor, the person in charge not just of guns but anything brought on set as a prop. the first assistant director to name a few. will they be able to do that? you know, we watch murder trials on tv, and it's like, no, you didn't do it, we're going to introduce somebody else who might be a suspect. or is this a case of, it could be multiple people. >> you're talking about what's called the empty chair defense, and you're exactly right. this case, gutierrez-reed's and later baldwin's will be about finger pointing. she's going to point the finger at alec baldwin, the actual shooter. she's going to point the finger at the other people in the chain of command, including the first assistant director who has already pleaded guilty. but she's also going to point at a literal empty chair and that empty chair, and i'm going to sound like i'm giving my closing argument, that empty chair is

going to be the person, whoever that is, who brought live ammunition on the set. why is it that the state has never bothered to find out how live ammunition actually got on the set. they don't appear to be charging gutierrez-reed with bringing it on or intentionally having it on the set. someone out there is very much responsible who couldn't have accidentally brought live rounds to a place where there should be no live rounds. why doesn't the state care about finding the real criminal here. that's my closing, how did i do? >> well. >> thank you, that's my view in this case. i've tried to be neutral. i just can't. i feel like this is a weak case for the state. that doesn't mean it can't get a conviction, and this is the most likely conviction, the armorer. potential new evidence about the assassination of civil rights leader, malcolm x. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc.

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four counts of involuntary manslaughter. prosecutors are arguing that victims from the 2021 school shooting should be allowed to testify. james crumbley's trial is scheduled to begin march 5th. today, the 59th anniversary of malcolm x's assassination, attorneys representing his family presented new evidence they say shows a government conspiracy to have the civil rights icon killed. >> 59 years later, what more excuses can you offer to why america cannot see what the government did involving the assassination of malcolm x. we're going to get to the truth one way or the other. >> well, the family of malcolm x last year filed a $100 million lawsuit against the fbi, cia, and nypd for wrongful death, accusing them of concealing evidence related to his murder.

nbc's antonia hylton is following this case. we should say that two of the three men convicted of killing malcolm x then were exonerated in 2021, and they were paid millions of dollars after revelations that the nypd and fbi actually did withhold key information. tell us about what we learned today that's new. >> well, this presser, chris, it took place at the location uptown where 59 years ago today malcolm x was assassinated and you saw his family there and got to hear from two witnesses who were members of his personal security detail back then. and they both described very similar stories of having been lured into a meeting by an undercover nypd officer who tried to get these men involved in a conspiracy to destroy the statue of liberty, something one of the witnesses nobody took seriously at the time, and so they were surprised when five days before his assassination, they were arrested for their involvement with this undercover

officer. and they believe this was part of a plan to remove members, trusted members of the security detail so that the assassination and the potential involvement, they say of the nypd all the way up to our federal government in this so that it could take place. and this is not the first time we've heard from people close to the family who believe that officers at the local and federal level were involved in this. take a listen to one of the witnesses speaking for himself. >> i believe i was detained in this conspiracy by the nypd and fbi in order to ensure malcolm x's planned assassination would be successful. had i not been arrested, i would have attended his speech and could have served as part of his security detail. >> there's a sense here, too, chris, that the clock is ticking in a way. the witnesses are elderly, there

are people involved who have passed away, and the family is trying to get access to documents that have been hidden for 59 years. part of their frustration comes from filing the freedom of information requests that have been denied. at one point they say authorities told them they couldn't release documents because of a possibility that malcolm x was still alive. you can see how this has fueled immense anger and frustration that was palpable today at the presser, but, you know, part of this is of course an effort to have accountability and justice. i think part of it is also about kind of bringing his story back into the public, and reminding people of his legacy, the history, and what he has meant and continues to mean to so many americans. >> 59 years later. antonia hylton, thank you. still ahead, welcome to the hotel california, but bring your alibis. the bizarre criminal case involving lyrics from one of the most iconic songs and albums of all time. sses is here. also, here... here... here...

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finally, the worst of this week's storms ending this morning in california, but the damage assessment is just beginning. even today, roads are still closed cross the state. some need to be cleared of debris. others now so unsafe they need to be repaved entirely. in san diego, crumbling hillsides are threatening the safety of a block of houses and an apartment complex. city officials issued a local emergency and put tarps and sandbags in place to try to keep them from collapsing. south of los angeles, the neighborhood ofof, and endangerg yet more roads and more houses. you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave. those iconic lyrics in the making, scribbled down about a hundred yellow line notebook pages and lost nearly 50 years ago, but now have stage at a

criminal trial in new york today. opening statements are underway in the case of three men charged with conspireing to sell the handwritten pages of rock 'n' roll gold. you know the phrases, mirrors on the ceiling, pink champagne on ice. among the drafts now worth an estimated $1 million all from the album "hotel california" the third largest selling of all time in the u.s., by the way. today is the beginning, eagles cofounder and song writer don henley is expected to take the stand as the prosecution's star witness. with me now, msnbc legal analyst, danny cevallos. so this isn't about accusing these three guys of stealing this notebook, right, so what is it about? >> it's about criminal possession of stolen property, conspiracy to possess that property. if this was just like a case of a stolen vcr, it would be difficult to go with someone,

hey, i think that's my vcr, but you would never be able to prove t. in the case of art and collectibles like this notebook, and that's really what this case is, it's about a collectible that surfaced, there's something called provinance, when they were confronted by henley, they didn't dispute it. they allegedly falsified the provinence, the history of the document, you're not going to have it for your vcr or stolen iphone, but when it comes to art and things like this you get the certified history of the documents. when confronted, these men supposedly falsified it and tried to deceive don henley into thinking, we have a right to this, this is ours. >> it's not as if they're guys who could say we didn't know how

valuable this was. one of them was a curator at the rock 'n' roll hall of fame where handwritten lyrics are among the most prized exhibits. two were high end rare book and memorabilia dealers, so what is their defense? >> first, these documents are valued at over a million dollars, at least by the state. that's like the highest level of criminal possession. that gets you into first-degree category, so they knew certainly i would imagine the value of these documents. then again, also until the world of auctions, the value is whatever maniac is willing to pay the highest possible price. >> bob dylan got a lot of money for his lyrics. >> we're talking about a legal note pad. it's not something with a market value, gold or diamonds, it's valued at whatever person pays the most for it. they certainly likely knew it was very valuable, but really what they're more alleged to have done is conspired to have kept this document, a yellow legal note pad by falsifying

where they got it from. hey, it wasn't stolen. it was gotten this legitimate way, and we are just purchasers at the end of the continuum. we didn't know nothing. >> don henley is going to be on the stand. that's going to be interesting too. danny cevallos, thank you. saw the eagles recently, still amazing. >> me too. >> did you? still amazing, like they need me to certify they're still great. make sure to join us for "chris jansing reports" every weekday 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. our coverage continues with "katy tur reports" right now. ♪♪ good to be with you. i'm katy tur. republicans on the hill thought they had a smoking gun. a secret fbi informant who said unequivocally that president biden and his son hunter took a bribe from the ukrainian gas company burisma.