>> pittsburgh, you know, really has been struggling on offense. baltimore, they are as talented a team as there is. i think they will beat pittsburgh and i think they'll give kansas city a run for it as far as being a super bowl contender. >> brian: chiefs have done enough to keep winning and they get the bye again. a tough week. look forward to seeing you guys. 31 years the number one show in the nfl pre-and post-game. thank you so much. congratulations, jimmy, talk to you again soon. >> thank you, brian. >> brian: that is it for us. if you want to escape especially on the west coast, a bunch of nfl playoffs coming. the most fun you'll have watching football. now it's time for dana and bill. >> dana: we begin with the fight to save los angeles. a new fire complicating efforts

to stop the devastation, startling pictures only beginning to show the true scope of damage. officials are scheduled to give an update at 11:00 a.m. eastern. good morning, i'm dana perino. bim is off today. good morning, john. >> john: every picture seems to be worse than the picture we've seen before. i'm john roberts. this is "america's newsroom." ten people now confirmed dead. damage staggering. entire neighborhoods not just streets or blocks but entire neighborhoods decimated by the flames. >> dana: many californians are blaming elected officials saying they should have been better prepared. >> i didn't see a single fire truck coming to help me. not a single -- that's not their fault, jesse. it is not. it's not their fault. the orders come from the top. >> why wasn't the national guard mobilized earlier? why didn't we have enough water for the fire hydrants -- pressure levels in the fire hydrants? >> the budget was cut by about

$20 million last year and it is devastating to see what's happening. and it all stems from a lack of true leadership. >> even some celebrities are blaming democrats. "new york post" cover, california reaming. >> dana: team fox coverage. jonathan hunt is standing by. let's go to bill melugin in pacific palisades this morning, good morning, bill. >> good morning. unfortunately the updates get worse and worse out here. we're now up to ten confirmed fatalities as a result of these wildfires, two of which were right here at the palisades fire where more than 5,000 structures have been destroyed, dana, it looks like a bomb went off out here. looks like it was carpet bombed. look at the street we're on right now. every single house that we are on this street has been completely destroyed, burned down to its foundation an both

sides of the street. take a look. melted cars. the only things remaining are the bricks and chimneys. when you look in the rubble of these homes there is nothing left that would remind you people are living here. no tvs, computers, dressers, clothes, no nothing. look across the way. we continue having fires just break out here up here in the palisades area. that was not burning as of ten minutes ago. we don't know if it is a reignition or something new caught on fire. looks like the firefighters are on it. but that's just what we're seeing out here in the palisades, dana. just absolute devastation. i've covered all sorts of wildfires in my career in southern california. this is by far the worst one i have ever seen. we'll send it back to you. >> dana: thank you so much. john. >> john: just minutes from now president-elect trump will be sentenced in his new york criminal case.

this comes after the supreme court rejected his team's emergency petition to postpone it. following that decision, trump blasted the case itself as nothing more than a travesty of justice. >> it's a disgrace. it's a judge that shouldn't have been on the case. he is a highly conflicted judge. this was an attack on the republican party. this was an attack on the republican candidate who just won an election by record numbers. >> john: let's bring in kerri or urbahn. they ruled 5-four against him. >> that's right but the four conservative just iss said they would have requested the stay. i have to tell you, it is cold and windy down here and that may be the reason why there are not

nearly as many press and people as were here during the trial or maybe it's because people realize that this really shouldn't be happening. if you recall, the district attorney alvin bragg in this case manipulated the statute of limitations to revive the case. converted misdemeanor to felonies in a way that's never been done before in the history of new york and -- and so sorry, i lost the sound for a second. >> john: we still have you. >> sorry about that. yeah, i got you. so anyway there are a number of people who did not think this should be happening including legal scholars across the board and donald trump did have a muted response to the supreme court decision that occurred last night. he may be playing the long game knowing the decision is likely to get back before them when he is able to appeal the conviction in its entirety which he can do once he is sentenced today. >> john: in terms of what trump said he read it, the decision,

thought it was a fair decision. i will do my little thing tomorrow. they can have fun with their political opponent. no question so many people across the country at every legal we've had an air thinks it was -- they are just looking for a trophy head to hang on their wall. it maybe short lived as people say there is so much material here for reversible error. what do you think his chances are on appeal? >> i think he has a good chance especially when you consider the fact that donald trump nor anyone in this country still knows what he was convicted of in terms of the underlying crime. it is not an overstatement to say that donald trump's due process rights were wrecked during this case. of course, you have the questions of impartiality when you had merchan donating to joe

biden. i used to clerk for state appellate judge in virginia and i can't imagine an appellate judge donating to the political opponent of a case that was before them at that time. and so we're just at the beginning here. ist is an historic day. many believing it shouldn't be happening but there is a good chance to have it end back up at the security anymoa. >> it will mean donald trump is the first person elected president who goes into the oval office as a convicted felon but it won't mean much in terms of the sentence itself because merchan is expected to give trump and unconditional discharge, no jail time, prob pprobly no fine but a record of a facted and sentenced felon. just because he is not being

punished doesn't mean he should get the convicted title. as i was thinking about this case this morning i was thinking how we've seen so many situations over the last number of years where people are willing to trample what's right and fair in order to get donald trump. i saw it at the department of justice. donald trump would fight crime. an investigation would be open. donald trump wanted to fight on behalf of elderly victims in nursing homes, it might be political interference. donald trump didn't think people associated with him, republicans, should get harsher sentences that similarly situated people. oh, that must be favorable treatment. investigation opened there. it happened again and again and again. i really hope in this next term that there is some restraint exercised and people drop this obsession of donald trump and focus instead on what is fair and good and if donald trump is advocating for those things,

that's a good thing. >> john: right. i expect that all of that will end on the 20th of january when donald trump takes office but we'll continue to watch the proceedings this morning and see how it goes. donald trump is expected to appear in the courtroom via zoom and we'll get an audio transcript of it as well which we'll be able to play back to folks as well. thank you for the update. get back inside and get warm. >> thank you. >> john: it's cold. >> dana: the clock the ticking for tiktok. "fox news sunday" anchor and chief legal correspondent shannon bream is there with the details. a lot of people keeping an eye on this. i took a news quiz earlier. if it went forward they would have to basically do this by january 19th? >> they would, that's when the law that was passed would go into effect. there are 170 million tiktok users in the u.s. impacted.

now, tiktok is arguing this is a free speech case. congress when they did this in a bipartisan way and signed by president biden they went too far. tiktok is arguing saying this would silence the speech of the many americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern. countless small businesses who rely on the platform also will suffer substantial and unrecoverable monetary and competitive harms. the justice department says listen, this is not a free speech issue but a national security issue. tiktok collects data on tens of millions of americans which is prc could use for blackmail and espionage. the act leaves all speech on the platform unrestricted so long as tiktok is free from control by a foreign adversary. they say tiktok doesn't have to go away. who owns tiktok has to change. president-elect trump has weighed in and filed a brief and

said i'm not weighing in on the merits but asking for delay in the implementation of a law. give me a chance to become president to negotiate a political solution to this. there are non-china based buyers including several in the u.s. who stepped up to talk about taking ownership. the question happens to the algorithm is a big question. >> dana: what a busy day. thank you so much, shannon. we appreciate it. we are watching a new wildfire burning right now in southern california. new pictures of the devastation almost unimaginable and we're live on the ground and just moments from now, the sentencing of president-elect donald trump is set to get underway in a new york city courtroom. he joins virtually. we'll have much more, stay with us.

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>> spent eight hours a day there and so traumatic to see my school burned to the ground. >> their house is standing up this time. we're on stand by and currently evacuated in a hotel. >> a very traumatic event from us having to go through covid and losing our school. >> john: students reacting to the damage to their charter high school. one of more than 10,000 buildings that have been destroyed in these fires. let's go to jonathan hunt live in pacific palisades where the sun is beginning to come up now. what is the scene there as day breaks on another day. >> talking about palisades charter high. i'm one of the parents of a daughter who goes there. we're waiting the find out today whether they'll be back in school where they were due from their winter break on monday. talking to the suffering of children, we're outside here, the methodist church and

pre-school. it is burned to the ground, just the tower really. you can make out there, the remnants of it. this over to brian's right is where the actual pre-school was. the pre-school kids were evacuated from. there is a tradition here, john. every year when those kids graduate from this pre-school they paint a tile and put it on the walls outside. this stretches right around the school all the way and this is the 22-23 graduation class and these have all come down and fallen onto the ground here. yesterday as we were here last night, parents were coming, parents of kids who had graduated from here were coming to try to sift through these, find their child's particular tile and take it home as a souvenir as a school they loved. they hope it will be rebuilt.

nobody knows how much rebuilding will go on here. you can see as you look down this particular street how much rebuilding there is to do. it is staggering as you walk around the palisades to look at this, john. it is a community i know so well. i've done school drop-off and pickups here now for four years and just to see everything taken away. i'm not even a resident of this neighborhood but i feel emotional as i look at the starbucks completely gone where i got coffee with my kids every day on school pickups. the restaurants we used to go to. the stores we used to go. the supermarket is completely gone. the people of this community who have lost so much, they simply do not know whether their entire neighborhood can be rebuilt. it is going to be a monumental challenge. you talk of the children who were evacuated from all of these schools. i talked to a guy yesterday, his

kid was at one school. they evacuated his children to another elementary school which they thought was safer. that school was then under threat. they then moved them all the way down the canyon from the palisades into malibu where they thought they were safe. they were sheltered at a restaurant there. then the flames started getting close there. all those kids then, there was no way out except for them to be escorted walking along the pacific coast highway. those are children, elementary and middle school children who have just been through the most extraordinary trauma. they have to rebuild their lives and the parents have to pick up the kids, emotionally pick them up and find a way forward. so many thousands of lives that have been so badly affected by this, john, it is going to be a long, long road ahead for so many people. >> john: now the district has to figure out what to do to continue their education. do they go back to remote

learning, bus them to other schools? a big logistical nightmare. >> we're all waiting to hear about the high school. we'll get the decision later today. all of our kids could be back to remote learning. my daughter went through difficult times with covid so she is one of many who is really hoping and praying that the high school just over to my right. they are hoping they will be back in on monday. 30% of that school was destroyed. who knows whether they can actually get the kids back in there physically? >> john: fingers crossed that they can. a personal look at the destruction in palisades. thank you. >> dana: so interesting to listen to him because we had the most incredible reporters and producers and cameramen on the team. one of the things they're doing, john, they are filming the destruction of their own neighborhoods. a time lapse video of the fire that went through hollywood hills. you could get to the level of

devastation so quickly and you can see how that fire happens and look at this. the before and after pictures are so stunning. this is pacific palisades, nice, everything looks great, wonderful neighborhood and then look, it is completely obliterated. all of those homes, all the hopes and dreams, all the shelter and sentimental value. all the things that can't be put into a dollar figure. look at this. this is the most costly fire in u.s. history. los angeles $20 billion in insured losses. that doesn't count the uninsured losses and also just the priceless, invaluable value that you could put on people's lives. i was taken by what jonathan just said. he is somebody who has had to deal with this with his own family as well. we want to talk to somebody now that you are going to maybe recognize. this is gary hall junior, one of

hundreds of thousands grappling with the destruction. lost his home and he lost his olympic medals in the fire. he called it the worst scene he has ever seen. worse than any apocalypse movie. i'm so sorry for what you have been through. i walked through showing people what the fire was like, the before and after. these insured losses don't begin to explain the things like you lost, for example, your medal. >> i've lost everything of sentimental or monetary value. i am one of 70% of residents that did not have insurance. state farm dropped me a year ago and there were very few options available to remediate that. so many of us have lost everything. the olympic medal, they're gone. >> dana: i want to get your take about the feelings of the people there about the elected

officials. i don't know what you think. this is mayor karen bass on the response. >> our job is to make sure that people stay alive. that we save lives, that we save homes, that we save property. i said when the fires are out we'll do a deep dive and look at what worked. we'll look at what didn't work. >> dana: the look back might be cold comfort to people who now, like you, have to look ahead and can't see anything. >> cutting funding to the fire department last year by $17 million isn't helping. having the few that our bravely representing the fire department trying to save lives when they plug into the fire hydrant in my street, the hydrants ran dry. let's do a deep dive and find out who is accountable for that. we pay more in taxes than anyone

else anywhere to my knowledge. and we don't have basic services like this. it is a shame. if not criminal. >> dana: i don't know where you are staying. for you, your friends, families, neighborhoods, where did everybody go? >> i am fortunate. my sister lives in northern san diego county and i'm here with her. but, you know, i have a small -- i teach 2-year-old and 8-year-olds how to swim and through many years of operating in the pacific palisades i have gotten to know so many families with young children. you saw the pre-school and church burned down and i'm in direct contact with so many families and it's wrapping your arms around this as an adult is difficult enough. enough to question faith and god and everything else but trying to have a young child six years

old and explain what has happened is even more challenging. this is -- whether you remain optimistic or not. the cup isn't half full or half empty here. there is no cup. i have nothing. i bought a toothbrush yesterday. i will get some deodorant today. you know, you try to keep your chin up and put on a brave face and, you know, declare that we will rebuild but there is nothing to go back to. everything is ashes. everything is gone. and, you know, we will -- i personally will rebuild but, you know, it will have to be somewhere else. >> dana: you would not go back to that area. you will find another location? >> that's right, yeah. there is nothing in pacific palisades. it's sinking in. the memories of going to the

deli, all the -- your entire life, everything that you did on your activity list is gone. all the families that you knew and loved are gone. it's -- there is no words. there is no words to describe the emotions that are sinking in. >> dana: gary, i know there are no words. the words you gave us are ones to help us understand tell the story and make sure we continue to do all we can to support you all. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> dana: you can join fox support of families impacted by the fires. your donation enables to red cross to recover from this disaster. visit go.fox/red cross. go.fox/red cross you can support the efforts or scan the qr code

on your screen and we'll give you a second to do that. they will need a lot of help. >> john: we'll be back to the california fires in a moment. all eyes on the new york supreme court right now. president-elect trump set to be sentenced in his criminal case moments from now. should this case have even been brought in the first place? a lot of people say no. two of them, trey gowdy and andy mccarthy here to break it all down next. [swooshing sound] introducing allison's plaque psoriasis. ♪ she thinks her flaky, gray patches are all people see. ♪ otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. over here! otezla can help you get clearer skin and reduce itching and flaking. doctors have been prescribing otezla for over a decade. otezla is also approved to treat psoriatic arthritis. don't use otezla if you're allergic to it. get medical help right away

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the tunnel to towers foundation and the congressional medal of honor society recognizes valor beyond the call of duty. britt slabinski, a recipient of the medal of honor himself, sat down with fellow recipients to hear their stories from their military service to their transition into the veteran community. it■s nothing we won, right? we're pretty vocal on that, saying, look, i didn't win anything like we're a recipient of this. you're going to highlight me for the day. we're four guys get killed. never crossed my mind about receiving the medal of honor. never. i was told i was being put in for it the day after the battle. the highest level of valor. you want to understand, why did these people lose their lives? why aren't they in my place? can't refuse it. we don't have the wear if you don't want to. they feel you earned it. people think war ends the moment you get home. no. war sticks with you. for me, it was like i was in a fog. really? for. for several months. you're literally on the edge of life and death at any moment.

and then 12 hours later, you're at home and you're going to birthday parties and you have to go back to assimilating that life. it's fascinating how many of our brothers and sisters. it■s a significant problem. end up on the streets. tunnel to towers is taking a leadership role. and specifically when i think about the veteran homeless population. we as an organization, we have gaps and it takes partnerships to come in and help us fill those gaps to ensure that nobody is left behind. and that's what tunnel to towers does. we just recently gave them our citizen honors award, recognizing all the great work that they have done. it's a fulfilling a promise to this nation, saying that, tunnel towers is gonna give you smart homes, pay mortgages. there's no level of recognition that rises to what is being done on behalf of those gold star families. and we're not forgetting you. never forget. go to t2t.org and donate $11 a month. thank you. as your host, i have some rules. two flush maximum per bathroom visit. no games. no fun.

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and john roberts with me from washington. andy, let's start with you, the supreme court said last night no, we're not going to delay. what was that about? >> a deeply divided opinion and i think the conservatives on the court would like to have heard or would like to have given trump the relief that he was seeking, which i think would have been better for the country. but on balance i think what happened is they've basically locked judge merchan into his commitment to issue a no-jail sentence. what they call an unconditional discharge. no jail, no probation, no fine, no anything. and they are allowing trump to appear virtually. so that answers the complaint that the imposition on the transition was too arduous. it is not going to be much of an imposition. trump doesn't want to be a

convicted felon. as a formal technical matter the judgment of conviction gets entered once you get sentenced and what he has been trying to avoid. but at the same time democrats called him a convicted felon throughout the campaign and the public elected him. so i think while this is personally i think it is very important to trump, i think in the greater scheme of things this is going to be quick, it is not going to hurt so much and won't make a bit of difference a few months from now. >> dana: his reaction to the supreme court was pretty mild. he said i respect the court's opinion but they can still overturn this entire thing by going on appeal. >> andy's point is a conviction is not final until you are sentenced. the evidentiary missteps you can appeal now. the one collateral consequence that is being a little overlooked he is in about an hour going to be a convicted felon. by law he can't possess even a 22 rifle, pistol, bullet.

but yet the commander-in-chief of the world's most powerful military? i bet those four conservatives were thinking about how incongruent it is that you can't possess a bullet but the nuclear codes. i bet that's what they are thinking. that would have been the best argument. if he hired me look how ridiculous it is that you can't -- you can't actually constructively or jointly possess a firearm but yet you can be the commander-in-chief. how ridiculous is that. i didn't hear that argument made. >> john: here is what alvin bragg said in advance of today's sentencing. he said it yesterday. this was all sort of depending whether or not the supreme court allowed it to go forward. he seemed to suggest that he believed that he was doing the will of the jury. listen here. >> we brought a case, jury of ordinary new yorkers returned 34

guilty verdicts. our function right now pry maierly is to continue to give voice to that verdict and respect, deadlocked principle of the administration of justice that the jury's voice must not be rubbed out. can't go back in time. can't change anything. >> john: he is saying we're carrying on with what the jury asked us to do. andy, you have said repeatedly that you believe what the jury actually voted on and rendered a verdict on had no merit. >> john, just to take the verdict, we could talk about probably a dozen different reversible errors in this case but the jury was not asked to find unanimously the crime that trump was supposedly covering up when he allegedly falsified his business records. it is a bedrock principle of the criminal law that it is a fact that will drive the sentence. we're talking now about the fact that turned this what is

ordinarily a misdemeanor in new york law into a felony. if it's that kind of a fact, that important for sentencing it has to be found unanimously. this jury didn't. you don't have to give voice to a jury verdict when there is constitutional error in the case. >> john: if this unconditional discharge that the judge is expected to hand down results in no incarceration, no fine, nothing of any real consequence, is this any more than just bagging a big kill and hanging the trophy on your wall? >> it is a victory. he gained felony status for donald trump and helped reelect him as president. there are collateral consequences being a convicted felon. he may not be able to vote in future elections. note the irony of that. he can't vote in the mid-terms which will decide whether or not he has a productive last two

years and can't possess a firearm. there are a lot of collateral consequences to being a felon. think about this for a second. all the problems they have in new york, no offense to this great city, you have people being set on fire in a subway, you have ceos being executed and the best use of your prosecutorial resources is to spend all this time in court and not even get a single solitaire day of probation? please explain to me how that is a good use of your limited prosecutorial add judicial resources. they are getting nothing out of this and he can go to cocktail parties and made trump a felon and also needs to add i helped get him reelected. >> dana: what might have been going through the minds of justice amy coney barrett and john roberts who said that they didn't want to join the other conservatives on this decision? >> i think, dana, the problem

here for roberts and barrett in particular was the path to the supreme court more than the substantive issue. my own belief is that only the court could do what trump was asking for and needed, which was to extend the principle it announced in its july decision how a sitting president can't be subjected to criminal proceedings. extend that to presidents elect. they are dealing with the same underlying concerns. but the problem is, you don't usually make a bee line right to the supreme court. they like regular order. they like you to go to the district court and second circuit and then you get -- >> dana: in this case isn't it a little unusual? the supreme court has discretion as well to say and yet we understand the timeline here. >> there is an instinctive federal notion that you shouldn't interfere with state criminal proceedings.

you are dealing with lawyers -- justice barrett has been not forous for this in her time on the court. she doesn't like the emergency docket or like things come to the court. she likes regular order and like the feds should stay out of it unless they really have to get into it. >> she doesn't like the word interlock tore. the normal process you wait until a conviction after sentencing and appeal everything. i do think there is some reticence to extending this immunity to someone not yet the commander-in-chief. i don't know if he will prevail on the merits. his argument as you have made me a felon and about to have control over every weapon in our arsenal. i don't know if they raised that on appeal. that to me is his best argument. >> john: i know you consider yourself to be a humble country lawyer but the supreme court at least justice amy coney barrett

and john roberts would seem to disagree with you on the practical effects of sentencing. they said they believe the burden that the sentencing would impose on the president-elect's responsibilities is relatively insubstantial and that the concerns about evidence can be addressed in the ordinary course of appeal. what do you say to that idea? >> they are smarter than i am. one advantage is i have i prosecuted firearms violations. he is a convicted felon. i doubt he ever did. he cannot solely, jointly or constructively possess a single firearm or bullet as a convicted felon. how can you lead the world's most powerful military if you can't have constructive possession over weaponry? they wrote law review articles. i was crying in front of a jury. i have more practical experiences. there are consequences to being a felon and they aren't insignificant. >> john: all of it can be

expunged if overturned on appeal. >> i think that's the part of what the court is thinking. trump has a strong appeal. on the point about sentencing, though, i don't think what the court was saying that -- was that in general in the abstract sentencing is not a big burden on a president-elect. what they were saying is that in this case where judge merchan has committed to a no prison, no probation sentence and where trump doesn't have to shut everything down and appear here in new york personally, he can come in virtually, that under those unique circumstances this was a negligible burden on the transition. >> dana: andy, could you explain what is happening this morning? walk us through what is happening. trump can appear virtually. he is with his lawyer, todd --

what happens next? >> generally speaking the court will hear from the prosecution first. it won't be much of a presentation in this case, at least it shouldn't be. we had a lengthy trial here. there is not much that's collateral to the trial that is going to factor into sentencing here. to the extent there is judge merchan has already laid out a lot of that stuff and the things he has written. that will happen. then merchan will eventually call on president trump to ask if there is anything that he would like to say on his own behalf before the court pronounces sentence. >> dana: you anticipate that he will? >> i have never seen trump as something where he was asked to speak where he demered. >> dana: what do you think he would say? if you are his lawyer. we still have the possibility of an appeal. >> one thing he won't do is accept responsibility. he knows he is not going to get

any jail time. usually what defendants do they bring their preacher and mom and ask forthe minimum sentence. i don't think he will try to provoke judge merchan by personally criticizing him. he may. he knows he is not going to prison. so usually at sentenceings you want to get on the judge's good side if he or she has one. this is not really a factor. he may talk but it would be to us, not the judge. >> john: i would expect since he has been under a gag order this is chance to be able to say what's on his mind before the judge pronounces sentencing. in terms, andy, of the appeal, what is the the timeline for that now? >> hard to say, john. because, you know, looking here, i've been thinking about this a lot. it's a great question. one of the things that trump has said again and again and again is that a president needs immunity because criminal proceedings are too much of a

distraction from the day-to-day activities of the presidency and the awesome responsibilities of the presidency. i think if they take the position that they can just go forward with the appeal and decide it in the regular course where probably within the next six months to a year they submit briefs and they have oral argument and we would eventually get a decision, that kind of undermines or would undermine his argument to this point that he is too taken up with the duties of running the country and he shouldn't be distracted with the appeal. so i think this could actually get put on ice for a while. >> john: we'll see. apparently the parties in court are going over the probation report now to make sure that everything is in order. back on this idea of immunity, trey, as of january 20th at 12:00 trump would be immunity from sentencing as president of the united states. is there a sense here that

merchan was trying to get this in under the wire? >> yes. >> john: and that speaks to this idea that so many critics have talked about with this case and a fundamental sense of unfairness? >> it is hard to have spent a knack owe second in the courtroom and not view merchan biased against the defense. look, i'm pro-prosecution. i've never seen a judge as pro-prosecution as juan merchan. that's why he signaled no active prison time and sentenced no probation, so he could go forward and to go all of his cocktail parties and say i'm the one that made donald trump a felon. what he needs to add though, john, i helped him get reelected and become grover cleveland part two. this taking a misdemeanor and calling it a felony is part of why he won the most popular vote in the electoral college. >> dana: right now prosecutors

are telling judge merchan they agree with the unconditional discharge. they are going over a probation report. what, i've watched -- only thing i know about probation is what i've seen on television. how do you have a commander-in-chief on probation? >> you won't in this case because of the unconditional discharge. i think that's part of the complications here that are as trey just said, you know, once we got to january 20th, there was not going to be any criminal proceedings. a lot of that is because of the practical impossibility of administering to a criminal defendant who is the commander-in-chief and protecty of the secret service and has a million big responsibility. the two things don't mesh. you are hitting on a point that has been one of the most important points in this whole saga, which is that to the extent that presidential misconduct is a problem -- i

think it goes to what the supreme court was saying in july -- that's for congress to deal with. the idea that prosecutors, particularly in the federal system, federal prosecutors who work for the executive branch, the idea the prosecutor should be a check on the president is something that just is not workable in this system. >> john: we're getting some notes from the courtroom from our producer who is in the courtroom. the prosecution say the people recommend a sentence of unconditional discharge. we believe merchan went with. defendant's conduct before, during and after the trial merits consideration. defendant wanted future president far from expressing any remorse has spread disdain for institution and rule of law. done this for his own ends and characterized the proceedings as corrupt, sham, ratcheted up since ruling on the motion to dismiss. he has been unrelenting.

he is also, andy, just been agreeing with the critics of this case. >> that's right. he hasn't been able. like the one person on planet who is not allowed to say a lot of what he thinks about this because there has been a gag order on him. i would just say this, john. remember the way the case was pitched to the jury and that this has been echoed by judge merchan ever since. what they said is that this crime, which is normally a misdemeanor, this falsification of business records, here it was a felony because trump was trying to cover up another crime. the crime they said he was trying to cover up was theft of the 2016 presidential election. stealing the most important office in the world, the most powerful office in the american government. now they say you know what that's worth? unconditional discharge. no jail, no probation, no fine. and i think what that demonstrates is they were never serious about what they were

accusing him of. >> john: this note from kerri urban. steinglass is whining how trump character aislesed the trial as a witch hunt. says it is a direct attack on the rule of law and criticisms are unsubstantiated. to your mind are his criticisms of this case and all these proceedings in court unsubstantiated. >> no, start with the fact he was charged at all. everybody else who looked at the fact pattern took a pass except alvin bragg. you take a misdemeanor, resurrect it, put on makeup and call it a felony. what is funny, though, john, the prosecutor is arguing for the death penalty. if what you just read is what they are saying to the judge, that's a death penalty argument. meanwhile you are agreeing he shouldn't even be on probation. those two don't go together. you can't make an argument that you've shown disdain for the

system and whatever else he is arguing and oh, by the way, we think the proper punishment for that is nothing. absolutely nothing. it was a colossal waste of time and resources that gained nothing except they helped reelect trump. >> dana: andy, could you talk to us about alvin bragg himself? these decisions that he has made and i don't -- you might not watch this program or our channel. is he aware of how this is being taken across the country? >> he may be aware of it. he is a smart guy, so i would think he is aware of it. however, this goes to a point that we've discussed a number of times. i think it's important to distinguish democrats at large on a national level and new york progressive democrats because they are not -- while they have a lot of the same overarching goals, they are not all coming from the same place.

i would suggest that in manhattan among progressive democrats this prosecution is a lot more popular than it is among democrats nationally. and look, bragg knows he is voting with his feet in a sense. he is up for re-election next year. if he thought it was bad for him, the case would have been dropped. >> dana: we'll bring in jonathan turley, a constitutional law professor and fox news contributor who joins us now as we have this breaking news. president trump leaning in and listening and we're waiting to see if he will speak. your overall take on this morning. >> i think the ultimate verdict that will come in today is not the verdict the jury delivered months ago but a verdict on the new york court system. this is going to be the final gavel fall on a system that allowed it to be used for political purposes for the weaponization of their once

vaulted legal system. and new york used to be the premier system. many of us are still in astonishment as to how this legal system allowed these cases to go this far. the fact is that the lack of any real punishment really does capture the absence of substance to this case. this case has always been more flavid than the good year plu plumply -- blimp. this was a made-up crime that should never have been allowed to go to trial. he then had layers of reversible error in order to get this to the point of today where he could call the incoming president a convicted felon. but i think the judge will be

far harsher for the new york court system than it will be on president-elect trump. there is a very good chance this could be reversed. there is not a lot of hope that the new york court system will redeem itself. i'm always an optimist there will be someone who says for the love of god let's, you know, make it clear you cannot engage in lawfare in new york. all these reversible errors will pull up in front of the united states supreme court and i think they will find it a very hard case to make in front of those justices. >> john: the blanch said everything the prosecution and government just said we disagree with. it was not -- he went on to say this case multiple prosecutors looked at the facts including the southern district of new york and made the decision not

to bring charges. shortly after trump announced his intent to run for re-election suddenly this case was announced. the prosecutor disagreed with trump that this case was indeed substantiated. trump complained about that. where do you come down on that front? >> the steinglass presentation to the judge is rather curious, right? this point was raised earlier. he is saying -- the republic was a mistake, an attack on everyone, an attack on the court system. a violation of everything short of the endangered species act but we recommend an unconditional discharge. there is a disconnect between the rhetoric and what they are actually seeking in the case. the fact is that this is not a criminal case in my view. there is no underlying crime. bragg took a dead misdemeanor,

zapped it back to life as this pile of felonies. he essentially tried a federal -- series of federal crimes that the department of justice rejected and only able to do that by this enabling judge. i was not nearly as harsh on juan merchan until i sat in his courtroom. i was quite shocked with his rulings. i thought that they were well outside the strike zone and showed a lot of bias. but now the good news this case can be appealed in whole. those decisions can be reviewed. >> dana: right now donald trump is speaking to the court and we'll get you those notes as soon as we have them. he is speaking. this is the first photo from inside the courtroom. you are seeing that right now. the very first photo from this rather -- it is a historic moment but one that leaves you cold, i would say. jonathan, we haven't had a chance to hear from you about your thoughts on the supreme

court's decision yesterday. >> the decision is one that some of us anticipated. i did not think that the court would stay sentencing. everything about this move would not have appealed to chief justice roberts who is a big believer in regular order. appellate judges tend to disfavor interlock tory appeals. i thought trump struck the perfect note in not criticizing the court and saying he was going to respect it and he was going to take an appeal. that was exactly what he should have said. and that appeal is really what he needs to focus on. in some ways this helps trump in that once again the court has shown it is not a rubber stamp. it has shown independence and restraint. i would much prefer to lose something like this in

preparation for when the main appeal occurs. and that i think is a good context for him to go in front of the supreme court. so i'm not surprised by the result but this is a rather small squirmish in what will be a larger war. >> dana: president trump pointing at the camera lens there, john. >> i don't know if trey and andy are still with us but want to throw this one to trey. trump is now speaking before the court. he is saying in court what he said many times outside of court that there was no falsification of legal records here. legal expenses were logged as legal expenses, not hidden as shipments of concrete or electrical supplies or whatever. for that he was indicted. he went on to say the people have been watching this trial and watching the trial firsthand and voted decisively that he won all the swing states and more and took the election and the majority of the american voters. so trump is finally, trey,

having a chance to let loose here. he is also talking about michael cohen, notes he has been disbarred for other reasons yet allowed to talk like he was george washington. trump is not holding back here. >> neither would most of us when we know we aren't going to jail no matter what we say. there is a certain safety net when you know that you aren't going to get probation, you feel a little bit liberated. i think andy and i both used the word victory when you win the battle and lose the war. alvin bragg you spent months convicting donald trump and got absolutely nothing for it except putting him in the history books as the first republican since george bush to win the popular vote and electoral college. if you wanted to mount him to mount rushmore, bragg and merchan, you were successful. when you know you are not going to jail you can tell the judge exactly what you think