-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com the news isn't going anywhere, so let's hand it over to my good friend laura coates and "cnn tonight." >> nice seeing you, jim. 12 hours apart. 9:00 a.m. it's wonderful to see you as always. i'm laura coates and this is "cnn tonight." no conspiracy theories here, just the hard truth. alex jones has to pay up. now, these families, of course, can never ever be made whole for what they've lost. but with compensatory damages, the jury endeavors to try.

jones now has to pay the parents of a sandy hook school shooting victim more than $4 million for the cruel and widespread and relentless lies that added to their heartache over a ten-year period. now, of course, this does fall way short of $150 million they did ask for in compensatory damages sought by little jessie lewis' parents, a number their attorney said came from the number of people who believed the false claims of the hoax spewed by jones and the baseless arguments that the newtown's grieving parents were actors. the number also factored in the emotional and mental anguish those parents suffered and continue to suffer today for years of harassment by jones and his followers. he finally acknowledged what everyone else hopefully knew to be true, that the massacre was,

quote, using his words after -- what -- ten years, 100% real. but the $4 million is actually not the end of the story, not in this courtroom, not in texas, because jones' legal battles are actually far from over. you see, if compensatory damages are sought to make you whole in some way, bring you back to where you were before this all happened, well, punitive damages, they're just meant to punish. and tomorrow that same jury will begin considering just how much to financially punish alex jones. now, the judge said, no to jones' bid today for a mistrial. this is after day when the plaintiff's lawyer dropped that truth bomb, saying that he had two years' worth of text messages from jones to his, as you saw, total shock and surprise. jones' lawyers apparently accidentally, according to the opposing counsel, sent them to the plaintiff's attorneys with no attempt to even claim privilege. as they say, but wait, there's

more. not just this particular trial. once that punitive phase is done. he phases two more trials, one more in texas, and one in connecticut, where the attacks shattered the families of the 26 students and teachers murdered at sandy hook. now, of course, the question is, will any of this stop the relentless campaign of disinformation that made nearly 10 years, 10 full years, of mourning unimaginably worse? in a statement this evening, the lawyer for jessie lewis' parents note that they are also due another $1.5 million in fines alone for total of $5.6 million and counting, he says. to quote him, they are thrilled with the result and look forward to putting mr. jones' money to good use. mr. jones, on the other hand, will not sleep easy tonight, with punitive damages still to be decided, and multiple additional defamation lawsuits pending. it is clear that mr. jones' time on the american stage is finally

coming to an end. now, the question is, is that true? and a more broader discussion as well about misinformation and if it's time to pay the piper, will that song stop in a whole variety of ways? well it stop others? our panel tonight, i've scott scott jennings, abbey, and david swirlic. glad to see you all here. it might surprise you what i'm getting ready to tell you. there is a moment, apparently, where alex jones has responded and called this a win for truth. i'm going to play it for you in a little bit. but this is where the spin actually is. so, misinformation still abounds. what's your thought on this particular compensatory damages win? >> i'm glad the parents of the little boy -- i'm glad their happy. their lawyer says they're thrilled with it. they're happy, i'm happy. and i'm glad he can be punished further and he can face other trials. this is obviously going to go on and on and on for him and i hope

it goes on for the rest of his life because he put these people through hell and they had already been to hell. no money can bring back what you've lost in a situation like this. it can send a strong message that you can't go out and terrorize your fellow citizens. and i think that's, to me, what exactly he did. he lied about them. he terrorized them. this is a win for sending a message that you just can't go out and terrorize people. >> you know what? let's hear what his message -- i want you to hear this. i teased it for you. you think i'm probably lying. i'm telling you, the message he's telling you, it was seven minutes -- i'm not playing the whole thing, just so we're clear. i want you to hear how he is asking his supporters to help him. more money. here he is. >> i admit a made a mistake. i admitted that i followed disinformation but not on purpose. i apologize to the families and the jury understood that. what i did to those families was

wrong, but i didn't do it on purpose. >> he didn't -- abby, i hear you laughing. he didn't do what on purpose, tell the thing for ten years? >> he's absolutely disgusting. i think i was asking you earlier if i'm allowed to call him something else. i'll hold back for now. but he is a horrible, horrible human being, who is just continuing -- continuing -- to grit off of falsehoods, misinformation, and this family's grief -- all of these families' grief. and it unfortunately isn't unique anymore in the united states of america to have people graff grifting on misinformation. unfortunately, we see that from the former president of the united states. that is what they do now. and it's heartbreaking and it's also dangerous to our country and to democracy. and i hope this trial sends a

very loud message that you can have your opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts and to terrorize people over it. >> yeah. i think the congresswoman is right, that jones is not the only one who does this. it was kind of trump-like to be found out and yet double down on what you had already done. in a way, he wanted to sound apologetic in that video. but even before that video, laura, earlier in this week, a few times he played the sort of everybody makes mistakes card. he said, actually now i believe sandy hook was real. he said the media won't let me get, you know, past it. he said, i didn't mean to insult the jurors when the jurors had been insulted. but because the plaintiff lawyer busted him yesterday with those text messages and with that screen in court, i think if you're a juror now, you're entitled to go back to the jury room when you're talking about the punitive damages, not the

compensatory, and say, this wasn't accidental. this wasn't a one-off. this wasn't poor reporting. this was a deliberate attempt to weave a tale over many years at the expense of those families, those sandy hook families, jessie lewis' family. i'm not going to guess how much the damages were, but jurors will feel entitled to drop the hammer. >> this is obviously not being thought of in a vacuum. as tragic as sandy hook is, we are talking about the backdrop of misinformation more broadly and a culmination of frustration toward that and accountability. you talk about the idea of grifting. the phrase was used in the january 6th hearing. i think it's a broader conversation. so, if you think it's -- you said, scott, the idea of sending a message, do you think the message translates more broadly? or do you think this is so

nuanced people go, no, no, this is just this case. and misinformation other places, that's a separate issue. >> if i were trying to apply the lesson more broadly, it's that we want to have trust in institutions. with e have to have trust in institutions. criminal justice system worked here. >> it's civil, right? >> sorry. civil justice system worked. our legal system worked here, yeah. >> right. >> and it took a long time, but it's working. and so, to me, if you want to stamp out this kind of grifting -- if that's what we're going to call it -- you have to let these institutions do their work. so, this one work, and it seems like it's going to continue to work over the next several months or years. i think you can apply that more broadly. if you do something that's over the line, there are systems and institutions in place that will hold you accountable. >> i think it's curious. for some reason, this wasn't called a witch hunt and it was an institution working. something about that, right? something about the idea of the

process unfolding and accountability. everyone stick around. coming up, florida governor ron desantis benches a state attorney over a perceived woke agenda. the question now is, where is the line between prosecutorial discretion and politics? a suspended official is going to join me live next and he's certainly not backing down. right back with that in a moment. i really do take care of myself. i try to stay in shape. that's really imimportant, espepecially as you age. i noticed after kids that my body totalllly changed. i started noticing a little pudge. so i took action! coolsculpting targets, freezes and eliminates treated fat for good. no needles, no incisions. discuss coolsculpting with your provider. some common side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort and swelling. you've come this far... coolsculpting takes you further. visit coolsculpting.com

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♪ ♪ aleve x. its revolutionary rollerball design delivers fast, powerful, long-lasting pain relief. aleve it, and see what's possible. florida's governor ron desantis suspended tampa's top elected prosecutor. the governor says he removed the state attorney, andrew morris, for, quote, neglect of duty and incompetent, unquote. that neglect appears to be a letter that warren signed along with 83 prosecutors nationwide pledging not to prosecute anyone who seeks, provides, or supports an abortion.

>> and i don't think the people of hillsboro county want to have an agenda that is basically woke, where you're deciding that your view of social justice means certain laws shouldn't be enforced. >> i'm joined now by the man elected twice by the people of the county just named by that governor, hillsboro county, andrew warren. good to see you, andrew, although i'm certain that you have quite the reaction to what has happened today. i want to just ask this question, though, because i think that people might not fully understand what's happened today. were you presented with a case where you were told or had the opportunity to prosecute somebody who was seeking, providing, or some way helping to acquire an abortion and you refused to prosecute? or this was a hypothetical that you were released on? >> well, you know, i have to ask the governor. that certainly wasn't presented with any case. and this just shows how flagrant this overreach is.

this is a blatant violation of the most fundamental principles in our democracy that the people get to elect their leaders. it's how democracy works. even my 8-year-old understands that. >> well, you know, you and i are both prosecutors, and i certainly understand the idea of prosecutorial discretion. and there are choices made all of the time about whether to pursue cases, whether to not pursue cases. this is really part of the job and part of, i assume, why one would elect someone to be a prosecutor as well. so, in that instance, based on that, why would this be a dereliction or a neglect of duty for you not to -- or for you to decide how to wield your discretion? >> it's not. i mean, that's the bottom line. it's not a dereliction of duty. in fact, it's not even talking about things i've done in office. it's talking about things i may do in the future for a law that doesn't even exist yet. i mean, this is out of, like,

1984 or well yan thought police. i said if a law was passed like this, i would make sure i use my resources to keep our neighborhoods safe, promote justice, and fairness. the governor is just grasping at straws here. he's not caring about what's best for the people of hillsboro. he's caring about his presidential ambitions. >> based on the caveat you just gave, you did sign a letter that essentially said, look, i'm not going to prosecute a case like this without having a case before you, without having a specific fact pattern to talk about. you said if that law was passed, you would not then do something to prosecute. why would that be excusable if a prosecutor's job was to enforce the laws as written? >> i'm glad you asked that. it's a great question. because i put my hand on the bible and i swore to uphold the u.s. and the state constitutions. and at the time i signed that, roe v. wade was still the law of the land under the u.s.

constitution. and the florida constitution has an express right to privacy. the law that the governor is mad at me for saying i won't enforce -- which, by the way, i said i would look at on a case-by-case basis -- is a law that's unconstitutional, that's already been held unconstitutional for the first court to look at it. >> i want to play what governor desantis had to say because he touched on the notion of not looking at a case-by-case basis. here he is. >> we are going to make sure that our laws are enforced and that no individual prosecutor puts himself above the law. yes, you can exercise discretion and individual case, but that discretion has to be individualized and case specific. you can't just say you're not going to do certain offenses. >> so, that's not what you were doing you're saying by signing that letter with roe v. wade, you were referencing. ment and you do still intend, should you be in that position, to actually look at a

case-by-case basis. is that right? >> yes. and i've said this from the beginning when we were talking about the abortion law, that even though there's a right to privacy in florida and even though the law that the legislature passed is unconstitutional, if we put those things aside for a moment, if a case comes to me, we exercise discretion under the new law as we would under the old law. there's a dig difference between a tampa general hospital doctor provided abortion at 24 weeks versus a back alley abortion at 37 weeks. and any good prosecutor who's following the law or looking at the facts of the case and the law before making a charging decision. again, the governor is just upset because i'm not kowtowing to his ajen at that. i'm the one upholding the law here. the law is clear in florida. a 15-week ban is unconstitutional, and i said i'm not going to enforce it. >> i know that you have been suspended. what is your thought on the an tis paugs of possibly being reinstated by the florida state senate. they don't actually come back

into session, i think, until march. do you intend to go back to work tomorrow nonetheless? >> i'm going to continue doing what the hillsboro county citizens elected me to do, which is keep our neighborhoods safe and promote fairness and justice and a rule of law. i've done that every day for the past five and a half years and i'm not going to stop now. the reality is the governor can sign some order in his pen or his crayon, and it doesn't stop what the voters voted for me to do. >> it will be an interesting morning tomorrow in your office. thank you for being part of the show. thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. look, the context is as clear as the latest republican polling, by the way. governor desantis is the only republican besides donald trump with double digit support for the 2024 nomination. look at that. it's an inverse, 43, 34 -- look. i can do math, everybody. i called it an inverse. why is everybody laughing? of course i can do math.

scott jennings, abbey. i get it. we're lawyers. we bill people. we don't do the math. what do you make of the idea, governor desantis has somebody suspended, basically escorted out of the building, because he won't eventually look at a case in his mind case-by-case and doesn't want to -- doesn't intend to follow what the supreme court says he's supposed to follow or not follow. what's your thought? >> two take aways, laura. number one, that governor desantis used the word "woke" in that speech very intentionally. if there's a 2024 republican primary, being tough on wokeness will be just as important as being tough on crime or being tough on china. i think a lot of the things governor desantis has to do going forward have to be looked at through that prism. all my life, most of my life, republicans have said, the government that governs best is the government that's closest to the people. that would be the voters of hillsboro people and their

district attorney. if they don't like him, they think he's too woke, they can vote him out in 2024. but apparently now the idea is it should come from tallahassee or washington. >> the umbrella of wokeness is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. wokeness seems to be anything that is not what the governor wants, right? that's not actually criteria for wokeness, is it? scott jennings, how do you define woke? >> well, i'll just give you a macro view. there are republicans all over this country who are quite concerned about a growing number of liberal prosecutors who seem to be more interested in their own personal ideological agenda than they are in prosecuting the laws. he's not the only prosecutor who's elected around the country who has said, i won't do certain kinds of prosecutions. desantis made an aggressive move here and of course everybody's going to freak out about it. but this is just to give you -- we're all political analysis. this is his instinct that has put him up where we showed him on the polling, finding a way to provoke a reaction that gets him

the enemies that you need a potential republican primary to rise. and he's done it time and again. he did it with disney. you know, he has done it over and over again. so, one of the reasons he is sitting at the top of the non-trump heap is because he does have an instinct to perceive these opportunities and then to aggressively act on them, which is something republican voters are looking for out of their national candidates. >> with the overturning of roe, we knew that night that we were going to see governors across the country in these red states just tripping over themselves trying to get further to the right of the next one because they want headlines and they want to make a name for themselves. but what we're talking about here too, and i hope we don't get lost on this, he's upset that an attorney might not prosecute or criminalize a doctor or a woman seeking an abortion. i mean, that is what we're talking about here. that is where we are right now

in the united states of america. the state of florida, right? i mean, it is horrifying that we're even having this discussion, that we're talking about criminalizing abortion. but that is where we're at right now. and he might win a republican primary. but he better be paying attention to what just happened in kansas. >> you know, it used to be clear the reason i was asking the question about, is this a hypothetical, has this happened yet? he kept going back to what, under the right to privacy, abortion qualifies. that's what he was rejecting, the idea of saying, i'm not going to go against the supreme court of florida. if they should choose something different, perhaps differently. back with late breaking news from capitol hill. a key senator says they are ready now to help their party on major legislation. it's a moment many lawmakers have been waiting for, and we'll talk about it next.

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we've got some breaking news right now from capitol hill and important news for democrats. they're trying to get as much of their agenda through as they can with the midterms like a sort of dam colles hanging above their head. manu raju is on the phone. what's going on? >> yeah, a really significant development that is a real clear sign that joe biden could very

well get a major legislative victory here in the days ahead. senator kyrsten sinema who has been the key holdout over his major economic package, a deal that was reached last week by joe manchin and chuck schumer to put forward health care laws and energy provisions as well as new taxes, sinema has just announced that she will agree to move forward with this legislation after a deal that she cut with chuck schumer, the senate majority leader, on changes to his pack and. let me break it down. to get this bill through, we need all the democrats to be on board. sinema was the one -- the biggest holdout because of her concerns over the tax provisions. one of the tax provisions in there was the tax known as carried interest, this is a tax on hedge funds through private equity. an agreement to remove that from this proposal. that would erase about

$14 billion on a plan that democrats would estimate about $300 billion in deficit savings. she has also raised concerns about the issue of about 15% minimum tax on major corporations. now, this issue raises a key concern for her because manufacturers in her state talk about whether they'll be able to -- appreciation of their assets on the current block, phase that back in order to raise more revenue. she had pushed back on that. she wants a significant change on that issue as well. and as a result she announced that she has a deal to move ahead to, quote, protect advancing manufacturing, she says, and remove carried interest and boost clean energy from this deal. now, to make up for the short

fall -- because now there are tens of billions of dollars that will not be part of this proposal to save money for the budget -- the democrats have agreed to impose a tax on companies that purchase stocks, known as stock buybacks. known as an excise tax on stock buybacks that make up for that shortfall. the ultimate deal that was cut would erase $300 billion. but taking a step back, laura, this deal would allow for medicare for the first time to negotiate prescription drug prices, would spend hundreds of billions of dollars to deal with clean energy and climate change as well as including new electric vehicle tax credits. it would extend the affordable care act subsidies for the next three years. it would still impose the corporate tax on large corporations, along with changes passed by sinema. and now with sinema's support,

the democrats have an agreement essentially to move forward as soon as saturday to begin debate on this bill. both will happen all through the day saturday into sunday potentially, and then very likely that this bill, after more than a year of negotiations that have gone back and forth and collapsed time and again, this bill has been pared back from the initial build back better bill. they can finally get this bill in the senate along straight party lines and move it on to the house as soon as next week. now, this is all looking very good for democrats. but one big question that is still remaining, the senate parliamentarian needs to make a decision on what provisions can be allowed and improved to through a special process they're using to avoid a republican filibuster to pass along straight party lines. democrats could be looking at a major legislative victory, one that republicans will rigorously

oppose. laura? >> manu raju, thank you so much. it's unbelievable. let's bring back in scott jennings. i first want to read a statement we just got from senator sinema saying, following this effort, i look forward to working with senator warner to enact carried interest tax reforms, protecting investments in america's economy and closing the most egregious loopholes that some abused to avoid paying taxes. one of the headlines out there is the idea of a straight party vote. you've got cohesion among the democrats right now. it came down to an issue about the taxes and their constituents. she's no longer on the fence. she's moving forward now. this is far less than what president biden wanted and was on the agenda, but it is a heck of a win if they're able to get it done. it sound lieks tonight they've moved forward in order to do that. how is it going to play? >> first of all, actually passing this and having medicare negotiate with drug companies and bring down those prices is

going a game changer and lifesaver for americans all across this country. i mean, i kid you not. when i was campaigning in '18 and then in 2020, when i was out there, it was literally always the number one thing folks would talk about. i mean, i held round tables and you had -- there was a farmer actually who talked about being told he should divorce his wife if he wanted to be able to keep his farm because she couldn't afford the ms medication that she needed. i mean, this is where we are still in the united states of america. and when this passes, i mean, game changer all around and just something, again, that i am so grateful is finally going to get done. >> i'm glad you point out what's happening outside the beltway. we often times -- i'm a minnesotan. you're from iowa, kentucky. what about you from? where are you from today? >> america. >> america. there you go. we often think about the politics within the beltway here in washington, d.c. as opposed

to how this translates beyond how will this translate in your, as they say, neck of woods? >> first of all, no games will change until 2026 because the prescription drug provisions don't kick in until then. as a political matter, nothing is going to change. i think the biggest problem with passing this -- you can call it a win -- but they've named a piece of legislation the inflation reduction act. the joint committee on taxation has said this will have at best a negligible impact on inflation. inflation is the number one issue in the country. if you vote on a bill today to say reduce inflation and in two months, three months, we're going to the polls and inflation has not come down, you're going to own that. so, i do think they have a branding issue on this. i know why they changed the name of it, so joe manchin can go out and claim he did something. that's not going change what's happening to voters themselves. so, the prescription drug stuff doesn't happen for years. the climate stuff is out in the

future somewhere. the main issue is inflation and it does nothing despite the voters title. >> do you think the voters think to themselves the name is more important than the meat on the bone? really? >> i think if you tell people we passed a bill called inflation reduction act, they might notice because they're already noticing. it's the number one issue in the country. >> i think scott's right this is partly a rebranding exercise by renaming the bill. it's the baby build back better. the glass half empty way to look at this is democrats got not nearly what they started out wanting a year ago. the glass half full way to look at this for democrats is that they learned a lesson from the heart burn of last year and not getting their most moderate senators, senator manchin and senator sinema on board. coming into this year, they've got that skinny gun control legislation because they knew it was all they could get. they got chips passed. they got the burn pits

legislation. they've learned now, rebrand, get what you can get with 50 votes plus the vice president's tiebreaker and move on. it's not what the base wants, but it's better for democrats and for the administration than what they were dealing with last year, which was everybody looking and saying, this is a stallout, what are you doing? >> i want to hear what bernie sanders says and i want to hear what you say too. he has been critical of this. he's given several speeches very critical of this bill. taking out the carried interest piece, which you all are going to argue -- some people are going to argue is a give away to the hedge funds. what's bernie sanders going to go down to the floor and say tomorrow? >> it says party line vote though. they said that. >> he's been critical of this because it's slimmed down. it doesn't go far enough for him. now you've taken out the piece he likes the most. >> senator sanders, now that he's the senate budget committee chair, he's part of democratic leadership. he's not a back bencher. if he doesn't go along with it, then, you know, what is he doing

in that committee chairmanship. >> where are the chief seats, just out of curiosity? i don't want to go to you for that, abbey. what were you saying? >> yeah, you know, i think this is really going to be on what do democrats do with this now? how do we actually get this in front of people? because at the end of the day, i mean, folks are, you know, hearing things in many different ways. i mean, in iowa in particular, 74% of iowa voters are on facebook. and are we organizing people there? are we getting people -- getting the information in front of the people who need to hear it? you can pass good legislation all day long -- and quite frankly, i passed a hell of a lot of it in '19 and in 2020. and yet it was always that hurdle of how do you get it in front of people. and that is going to be the test coming in november. this is a really good bill. is it everything? no. but it is a really good bill. and now democrats have to go tell people. >> well, might i suggest tiktok?

that seems to be the way to get people. i don't know how to work it, but i hear that's the thing everyone's doing now. thank you, everyone. coming up, cnn learns former president trump's legal team is talking to the doj about their january 6th criminal probe. so, i wonder where those conversations are actually going. and a new warning from liz cheney of the january 6th committee about what happens if the doj decides not to prosecute trump. what she's telling cnn ahead. uga heart attack, it shook me. aspirin helps reduce the chance of another heart attack by 31%. be sure to talk to your doctor before youou begin an aspirin regimen. ♪ meta portal go. look professional. ♪ even if you don't feel it.

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new tonight, a cnn exclusive. former president trump's legal team is in direct talks with the department of justice officials who are investigating of course january 6th according to sources familiar with the matter. they're telling cnn that trump's defense lawyers warned him indictments are possible, though the former president does in fact remain skeptical. the doj, men while, is preparing for a court battle to force white house officials to testify about trump's actions around the attack. so, what is going to happen next? i'll talk about it with scott jennings, elliott williams, and miles tailor. have to have you here. we all have the blazers on. listen, we are hearing piecemeal about talks that are happening and doj is getting this

information there and subpoenaing here and talks there. i'm wondering collectively, is this moving the needle? which direction? what do you think? >> well, look, i'll tell you who it is moving the needle for, people who worked for donald trump. i talk to a lot of people who left the administration, some who have spoken out against him, some who haven't, including lawyers that work for donald trump. by and large, they think he's going to be indicted. not all of them. some of them tell me they don't think he's going to be indicted. but most of the people i've talked to have shifted. it wasn't the case now. they thought, no, he's teflon don. that's the big shift to me, his own people think he's going to debt indicted. a federal judge in california said those four words, more likely than not, that he committed a crime. i think that's probably the most damning thing we've seen so far in terms of assessments of his criminality. >> what do you think elliott?

>> the fact they're reportedly talking to the justice department right now, that's not remarkable. even countries before they go to war send envoys. it may end in prosecution or not. >> if war is next, that's pretty significant. >> if war is next, the fact your ambassador is talking to the foreign minister, absolutely. so, does it move the needle? the only person to whom that matters is the attorney general and the people making the determinations in the u.s. attorney's office, right? and i think the congressman is on to something that what matters is the rule of law. and if the facts and evidence are there, yes, youo ought to move forward with the prosecution. it's the caveat she said at the end, if the facts and the law support a prosecution. we should all agree with that. >> we should agree with that. but people have eaten the cake like alice in wonderland. i'll turn to you, oddly enough.

you bring out the literary genius in me, scott. i'm wondering what you make of the idea of, look, we hear -- we heard a lot through the mueller years. i go back to the mueller years because people had a patience issue, shall we say? and i feel that often as we're conflating what's happening then with what's happening now and you see the patience or inpatience carrying over. and sometimes democrats are saying, this is it, this is it, this is it. and republicans are saying, it still ain't it, it still ain't it, it still ain't it. >> i think you're onto something there because during the trump years there was a whole bunch of people who had it in their mind that mueller was going to kick open the door wearing a trench coat and fedora and slap the handcuffs on donald trump. it was never going to happen. those people still exist and want that outcome. i think elliott said it best. if the facts and the law warrant this, then the process has to be

allowed to happen except for one thing. there is a political question here about whether the sitting president of the united states and his administration should, can, will indict the person he defeat, the former president, who may well be a candidate for that office in the future. that is not a small issue here. so, there will be a lot of people in america who, you know, may not think donald trump did anything right or good on january 6th but don't think it's right for joe biden to indict him. the political question has to weigh on the final decision. >> because the thought is that he is trying to silence a potential political opponent? >> that's how it would be seen by millions of americans. now, you may disagree with that and you may not think that's right. that's not something you can ignore, i think, when you're dealing with -- i mean, we're in uncharted waters. >> i think you're absolutely right. there is a political right to indicting or prosecuting anyone, particularly when that person is the former president of the united states. but look at the mountain of evidence we've seen, the number of people prosecuted around him,

at least in connection with january 6th and so on. it's a fair point that the justice department has to think about what the political fallout might be. to your point about the investigation fatigue, i do think you're onto something here because it's the first impeachment that i think people have their -- had a -- the public has a hard time getting their heads around. if i were to ask everyone, explain what happened in the first impeachment. well, there was ukraine and there was a phone call. it's hard for people to understand. >> it's quid pro quo. it's quid pro quo. i understand, right? i wonder about the idea of thinking about the fatigue of it. there's a political question. that's true. but there's a political consequence of not doing it as well. >> there absolutely is. that's where i've got to agree and disagree with scott. in the first case i would say, there's few people on this planet who dislike donald trump more than me. but i would be one of the first

to say i don't think that should make us want him to be prosecuted. i've been saying that for years. we shouldn't desire that an ex-president be prosecuted. and scott's right. this would result in crisis no matter what. prosecuted. if he is, it's going to be a crisis in this country. but to your point, if he's not, it's also going to be a crisis, if the facts, as liz cheney said, show he's guilty of a crime because that shows he is above the law and presidents are above the law. and that's not a signal we want to send in our republic. >> i'm going to warn you all, if he's not indicted, he will say that's exoneration. >> his lawyers are in conversations with the doj. >> there has been reporting. >> yes, but i -- we haven't had a definitive statement from merrick garland. but your point is well taken, just as we saw alex jones say a $4 million verdict was a win for me and the truth, a failure to indict would create a similar talking point as well. thank you, everyone. it's not going to end today. we're going to keep getting more

information. and we did talk about sandy hook a little bit ago. you know, they tore down that school. they built a new one. but in florida, they left a big piece of marjory stoneman douglas high school exactly as it stood the date of that they did that next. oasted cooold cuts cooold cuts

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infour and a half years sin students and staff were killed in parkland, florida. the families are still living the trauma of that horrific day. many shared their pain on this very week, as injuries weigh whether the convicted gunman should face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. in considering his fate, jurors visited the mass shooting site today. the high school, you may be surprised to learn, was left largely intact in anticipation of this trial. court reporters who viewed the scene after the jury's walk-through described this. valentine's day cards and teddy bears strewn throughout the scene, amid broken glass and blood-stained walls with bullet

marks, a murder scene frozen in time with laptops left open and assignments never to be looked at again. a day meant to celebrate love that turned into devastating heartbreak for so many families. >> i wish every single day that this was a nightmare, that i could just wake up from. i want my family back. i want my sweet alex back. >> she didn't come home from school. i told her from the day she was born that all i am was hers. i couldn't imagine my life without her. and now at that time in our lives we should be focused on our children, i myself questioning how i will be able to get to the next day. >> our life was disrupted suddenly and now i keep talking to him in my mind. >> that last woman there is

patricia oliver, whose son, with a convene, would have been 22 today. hez remembered for his eagerness to make people smile. they held so much hope for the future, but also lives were cut short by one man. we'll be right back. differen, you can be the difference. capella university sees educationon differently. our flexpath learning format lets you earn your bachelor's degree at your pace. ♪ here goes nothing. hey greg. uhh...hello? it's me, your art! really? yes! recording an ekg in 30 seconds. tada! wow, that was fast. you know it! kardia offers the only personal ekgs that detect six of the most common arrhythmias in just 30 seconds.

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thanks for watching, everyone. i'll be back tomorrow night. "don lemon tonight" starts with don lemon. hey, don lemon. well, it is you. are you don lemon? >> i am. >> let me find out your middle name and then we'll have the whole thing. >> when i call tim on the phone, he goes, hey