of the american people and those tonight. just when you thought your problems are gathering strength. next story could not get any more bizarre, it took one wild we have to think much, much bigger about how to build an turn. this one involves lysol and the economy that trickles up. leader of a state republican party. stay with us. ate republican party. stay with us >> andrew yang, thanks for making the time. that is "all in" for this evening. ali velshi is in for rachel. good evening, ali. >> have yourself an excellent weekend. >> you too. thanks for joining us at this hour. rachel is off tonight but she will be back monday. it's friday night, which these days means we should be bracing for just about anything to happen at any moment. friday seems to be the day when everything happens all at once, so we are ready for anything. but in the meantime, consider the week we have just had. guys go through a lot to deal with shave irritation. consider the week the president so, we built the new gillette skinguard has just had. with a specialized guard designed to reduce it. we are used to the news cycle because we believe all men deserve a razor just for them. moving fast now. how quickly one narrative can be replaced by other. the best a man can get. but it was just one week ago gillette. that donald trump was in the midst of probably the best news cycle of his candidacy. and relief from symptoms caused feel the clarity of non-drowsy claritin by over 200 indoor now, in normal times, not being and outdoor allergens.

explicitly charged with a crime like those from buddy. because stuffed animals would be a pretty low bar to are clearly no substitute for real ones. clear for a president in a given feel the clarity. and live claritin clear. week, but these are not normal times and the president and his supporters one week ago were reveling in his not being recommended for indictment. he was claiming total exoneration by the report from special counsel robert mueller. his complaints that it was all a witch hunt had been vindicated. in fact, his allies said that now the tables were going to turn. all the people who had wronged him, well, now they were going to be at the receiving end of investigations. but the past week has maybe not gone how trump planned. the cracks first started to show a week ago tonight when attorney general william barr sent a third letter to congress about the report delivered to him by mueller. only the first letter he sent was actually required. the second letter in which barr offered his own gloss on mueller's findings was what the

president used all week last week to claim vindication. in his third letter, barr told congress that whenever he managed to get the mueller report to them, they would not see the whole report. that a lot of material in four broad categories would be redacted. and, oh, by the way, bill barr also did not like the way his previous second letter had been characterized. please do not call it a summary of the mueller report, he said. that apparently was bothering him. at which point it started to seem like maybe bill barr was kind of making it up as he went along. he had issued three letters in a week about the mueller report, but no more than a couple of sentence fragmentis from the letter itself. last night we got the fourth installment of bill barr wants you to know a thing about the mueller report. this came after federal prosecutors and fbi agents who had worked in relative radio

silence for 22 months suddenly started to make some noise, triggering an avalanche of reporting about how mueller's team is frustrated by the way bill barr characterized mueller's findings. that it is actually a lot worse for the president than barr let on, and that they had i could warn you this next specifically crafted their final segment is a little blue. not in the sense of blue versus report, quote, so that the front red politics but in the sense of matter from each section could have been released immediately, pg-13 so you might want to clear the little kids out of the room. or very quickly, with minimum okay. the story begins in 1996 with a redactions. hotly contested republican the work would have spoken for primary for governor of north itself. carolina. one of the candidates running in in the wake of those reports, that primary was this guy, the justice department last night said no, no. congressman robin hayes. none of the mueller report could be released because of a pro now, part of what made that primary contentious was that forma stamp on the top of each hayes' opponent accused him of being so conservative that he page. a legal disclaimer, you see it would never be able to win the here, noting that it may contain general election. among the things they pointed to as the fact that as a u.s. confidential grand jury material and therefore, the justice congressman, he was a fervent department argues, it could not be publicly released. backer of abstinence sex-based every single page has this stamp on it. education. one of the lawmakers noted that cannot release any of it.

hayes had denounced programs all of this comes as the house judiciary committee this week teaching children about birth has authorized a subpoena for control saying they were, quote, the mueller report. based on lust. its chairman, democrat jerry nadler of new york, insists that instead he had pushed for a curriculum called choosing the his committee will get it. best. now, choosing the best was and still is pretty out there. >> to do our job, we need the a narrator on one of the mueller report. programs educational videos not the attorney general's tells students that if they have summary or a significantly sex before marriage they, quote, just have to be prepared to die. redacted version of the report do not pass go, do not collect that the attorney general has offered to give us without the $200, just be prepared to die. underlying evidence collected by but what's even more shocking is the special counsel. that the program congressman the release of the report in its robin hayes was advocating for entirety is part of what we have to do, but an essential part of what we have to do to make sure told them to prevent disease by that this president and future presidents are accountable to rubbing their genitals with the constitution, are lysol after sex. accountable to the people, and are accountable to the at a forum one of the opponents democratic institutions of this dubbed him the lysol man. government. >> jerry nadler was speaking at a protest yesterday outside the one of them showed hayes white house. it was one of hundreds of dissolving to show a bottle of protests held all around the country demanding release of the disinfectant. for his part he said he never full mueller report.

those protests would seem to be advocated choosing the best suggests but the lysol man never the latest indication that the became governor. he did, however, become the white house is losing its grip on the mueller narrative and that the story of exoneration is north carolina republican party chairman and this week he was giving way to the sense that in indicted, charged with bribery and other crimes that officials fact the trump administration is say were related to a scheme to hiding something by not allowing aid a major political donor in the report to be released. so fair to say that this week the state. now, that donor, an insurance has not been as good as last week was for donald trump, and executive named greg lindbergh, has donated mostly but not souly that this is only when it comes to the mueller report. to republicans. this is only on one front. he was also charged this week along with two other men, one of congressional democrats are also pressing ahead with their whom was a former county republican chairman in north investigations into trump's finances. we learned this week that carolina. they are accused of trying to committee chairs have requested bribe the north carolina records from one of trump's insurance commissioner with $2 million in campaign banks as well as from his accounting firm as part of their contributions, quote, to get him to take actions favorable to one various corruption, of lindbergh's companies. counterintelligence and those favorable actions included financial fraud investigations. the removal of one of his the company said they would hand over the records if they're subordinates, an insurance issued subpoenas. regulator in charge of lawmakers say they'll happily overseeing lindbergh's firm. oblige. now this week we also got the they were caught because it turns out that the insurance commissioner they were trying to first white house whistleblower bribe was actually working with to come forward publicly on the the fbi and was secretly recording their conversations. record. trisha newbold, an 18-year but wait, there's more.

i'm not done. veteran of the white house the indictment refers to someone personnel security office has as public official a, whose pac sounded the alarm to congress took $150,000 from these guys and now to the public about what she says are deeply troubling who were trying to get the practices in giving out security insurance regulator fired. that public official a turned clearances at the white house. around and made multiple calls she says the trump to try to get the insurance administration overruled at regulator axed. that official is not charged. he is referenced in the least 25 security clearance indictment. politico is now reporting that denials made by career that official appears to be government employees. current republican congressman trump's son-in-law, jared kushner, is reportedly one of mark walker which could become a the people who was given a headache for republicans in d.c. clearance despite career so in one fell swoop you have officials raising serious red flags and recommending that he that major republican donor not get one. indicted, along with the oversight committee chairman chairman of the north carolina elijah cummings has now republican party who is a former subpoenaed one former senior congressman as well as a public official in the white house security office, and he says official a who appears to be a more subpoenas are coming. current republican congressman from north carolina. meanwhile dozens of other and that's on top of the whistleblowers from across the congressional election having to government are reportedly also working with house democrats on be rerun in nc 9 because of a range of issues. so trisha newbold is likely just appear illegal vote buying and the tip of the iceberg. ballot stuffing scheme to benefit the republican also this week, congress candidate. that's on top of the recent court ruling that the state

republican party illegally delivered not just a foreign policy rebuke to donald trump, rigged congressional maps to but an historic one. benefit themselves. i know we do talk about blue yesterday the house joined with the senate with bipartisan versus red politics, but what's majorities in both chambers in going on right now in north carolina is more like red versus passing a resolution to endi u.. red. one key state's republican party unable to get out of its own support for the saudi war in way. stay with us. le to get out of in way. stay with us yemen, which is the first time ho booked the flight, congress has ever successfully invoked the 1973 war powers who saved by adding a hotel, resolution. who says trump can't bring which led to new adventures, ♪ congress together? also this week, the president folded on his renewed push for a that captured their imaginations republican plan to replace ♪ obamacare. right over the middle of his and turned moments into memories. victory lap over the invisible with flights, hotels, activities and more mueller report, trump announced that republicans would come up with a new, amazing health care for your florida vacation, expedia has everything you need to go. plan for the country. this week he said that meant they would do that after the 2020 election. he never meant they would do it right now. and then yesterday after days and days of insisting he would close the border with mexico, economic consequences be damned

unless mexico did something or unless congress did something, it was never quite clear what he meant, yesterday trump completely caved on his threat and settled for a vague warning to mexico and pretending that mexico has changed its policies this week to meet his demands, even though mexico said it did no such thing. speaking of pretending, trump was at the border wall today admiring his wall. meanwhile, he was hit with two new lawsuits from the house of representatives and from 20 state attorneys general seeking to block his emergency declaration that would (danny)'s voice) of course you don'te because you didn't!? ostensibly fund that wall. your job isn't doing hard work... we'll have more on that in just ...it's making them do hard work... a moment. but of all the things that have ...and getting paid for it. gone wrong for trump this week, (vo) snap and sort your expenses to save over $4,600 at tax time. the thing that may be bothering quickbooks. backing you. him the most is the thing that brought us to the metaphor portion of the news and not the subtle kind. quote, this is a hill and people would be willing to die on it. a member of the trump administration telling cnn today that if congress wants the

president's tax returns, they had better be willing to climb a very steep, very symbolic hill leading all the way to the supreme court. the next big fight in washington kicked off this week when democrat richard neil, the chairman of the house ways and there's brushing...and there's oral-b power brushing. means committee sent this letter oral-b just cleans better. to the irs politely asking to even my hygienist said see six years of tax returns going electric could lead to way cleaner teeth. from the president and his and unlike sonicare, oral-b is the first electric toothbrush brand business. he cites an arcane piece of tax accepted by the ada. oral-b. law that allows him to see any brush like a pro. american's tax returns as long as it's for a legitimate what sore muscles? what with advpounding head? .. legislative reason. now, in this case congressman advil is... relief that's fast. strength that lasts. neill says this has nothing to do with partisan politics. he says he needs the president's you'll ask... what pain? tax returns to check in on how with advil. the irs, quote, audits and oversees the federal tax laws against a sitting president. now, right away the president was adamant that he would not release his tax returns without a fight. he says the law is 100% on his side, that the irs has no reason to give in to the democrats'

request and turn over his returns. and today the president escalated that fight over this by hiring a lawyer. a lawyer who sent this letter to the irs calling into question the legal ground that democrats are standing on. a business owner always goes beyond what people expect. quote, i write to explain why chairman neal cannot legally that's why we built the nation's largest gig-speed network request and the irs cannot along with complete reliability. legally divulge the president's then went beyond. tax returns. beyond clumsy dials-in's and pins. requests for tax returns and to one-touch conference calls. return information must have a legitimate legislative purpose. beyond traditional tv. to tv on any device. chairman neal's requests flout beyond low-res surveillance video. these fundamental constitutional to crystal clear hd video monitoring from anywhere. constraints. ways an means has no legitimate committee purpose for requesting the president's tax returns or gig-fueled apps that exceed expectations. return information. chairman neal wants the comcast business. beyond fast. president's tax returns and return information because his party recently gained control of the house. the president is their political so let me introduce to you opponent, and they want to use the information to damage him the next president, the next politically. so the initial legal battle lines appear to have been drawn vice president of the united states of america, joe biden!

today, and the president says his side is ready to fight all >> that was barack obama in the way to the supreme court. august of 2008 introducing joe what's the view from the congressional side? well, joining me now is biden as his running mate. he accidentally referred to him as the next president of the united states. congressman dan kilde, a member shortly after that joe biden also flubbed the money line in his speech, referring to senator of the committee that has asked for the president's tax returns. obama as barack america. now, barack's introduction as congressman, thanks for joining us tonight. >> thanks for having me on. vice president was not without >> the president's lawyers, its hiccups but his entry into congressman, have told the the 2020 race is proving to be treasure row department that your committee's request for much rockier. donald trump's taxes has no today he all but declared his chance of standing up in court intention to run for president because it's politically telling reporters that he's, quote, getting everything motivated. what's your response? together and that he had always >> well, first of all, it's not intended to be the last person to announce their candidacy. politically motivated. chairman neal, who i think has earlier in the afternoon the former vice president made his done an extraordinarily good job of handling this, faced a lot of first public remarks since accusations emerged that he had criticism because people said he made several women uncomfortable with his physical contact. wasn't moving fast enough. now, speaking at a conference of look, there's a legitimate the international brotherhood of public policy question that the electrical workers, biden tried ways and means committee is to push past the controversy, attempting to address, and it's highlighting the need to restore not up to the president or some the middle class in this country. he also cracked jokes about the lawyer that he hires to recent criticism he has determine for the congress when received. after hugging the union it has a legitimate public president, he told the crowd he

question, public policy question had gotten permission to do so. that it's attempting to address. he made a similar joke after putting his arm around a young that's up to us. boy. but later biden had this to say to reporters. to we have a acceseparation of pow in this country. the constitution makes it clear that we have the authority to reporters. >> are you sorry for the way exercise our responsibilities in that you've -- >> i'm sorry i didn't section 6103 of the tax code, makes it crystal clear that the understandme chairman of the committee can understandme order a tax return to be understandment i'm not sorry for any of my intentions. delivered to him in order to i'm not sorry for anything i've inform the committee when it's ever done, i've never been disrespectful intentionally to a deliberating on a public policy man or a woman. >> biden was also asked whether question. there's a big question as to he could win a primary in the whether or not the irs is democratic party that has many thinking it's drifting to the legitimately exercising its left. responsibility to audit the >> the fact of the matter is the question and enforce tax law on vast majority of the members of him. the democratic party are still he says he's under audit. we've asked for -- the chairman has asked for six years of basically liberal moderate returns for the president and eight separate entities. democrats in the traditional i don't believe it's possible that every one of those returns sense. and you look at those, i went is still under audit. even if it is, there's nothing in the law that says the fact into 65, 66, 67 races on the that the returns might be under ground, i campaigned i think for

audit somehow exempts them from virtually everyone of the 41 this 98-year-old law that gives the chairman of the committee people who won. show me the really left, left, the ability to access any left wingers who beat a taxpayer's return. republican, a republican. not just some taxpayers, any so the idea the democratic party taxpayer return. >> but to be clear, your public is sort of stood on its head i policy objective, because that's don't get. by the way, we should welcome, what you'd have to prove in the party should welcome -- i court, your committee would have don't know how you want to characterize it, the progressive to prove in court sha, is the i may not be doing what it should left. it should be welcome. we should have a debate about be as relates to managing the these things. that's not a bad thing, but the president's taxes? idea all of a sudden the >> we have very serious questions as to whether or not democratic party woke up and, the irs is properly enforcing the tax law. you know, everybody asks, you of course those questions are know, what kind of a democrat, made a little more relevant when we see the president's lawyer i'm an obama biden democrat. >> fair enough. writing to the commissioner of the question now is whether the irs essentially threatening democrats want an obama biden them or ordering them to take democrat for 2020. joining me to discuss this is certain actions relative to this zerlina maxwell, an msnbc request. who's in charge here? since when does the president -- political analyst. great to see you. >> good to see you too. >> charles redig had written a he said that most people in the democratic party are liberal to moderate democrats in the piece in forbes arguing the case traditional sense. for donald trump not to disclose do you believe that to be true?

>> i think that the party is his taxes. what's your thought on that? diverse, and i think that we're in a moment where there's this >> well, i would suppose the push and pull, and there's a commissioner has a bias, which robust policy discussion maybe he ought to set aside and happening where people are, you know, taking out different actually just look at the law. flanks and people are putting i mean he can have his opinions out specific policy plans that as to whether the president put them all over the spectrum should voluntarily release his that i think is center left. returns, but he can't have an but the people, the voters are opinion as to whether or not actually dictating a lot of this law, which was passed in this. the people are saying do something about health care. 1921 following the teapot dome costs are too high. i don't have access. do something about child care, scandal that gives this give me a plan, show me what extraordinary authority to the chairman of this committee, he you're going to do. i think in a lot of ways, the doesn't get to have an opinion politicians are following the as to whether on this day the people in terms of what policies they're putting relative to this particular forward. taxpayer the law governs. some of that is very the law is the law, and he progressive. >> how much of this is policies that may make sense that should follow the law. >> congressman, last night "the republicans are targeting as progressive? as you know i'm from canada, new york times" reported that president trump had asked senate universal health care there, singer payor is not a majority leader mitch mcconnell to prioritize the confirmation conservative or liberal of the irs counsel, reportedly philosophy. it's shared by everybody. indicating that it was a higher to what degree do democrats have priority than confirming william to push back and say these aren't progressive left barr as the attorney general. "the times" said the president policies, they're better health care systems than we've got made his request on february right now? 5th. >> i think they need to push

that was well after your back strongly. committee had made it public we need to understand that there are special interests making that it would be seeking the president's tax returns in the sure that the system stays watt new congress. do those two things have a i -- the way it is so companies connection to you? are profiting right? >> well, it's certainly curious. so the system is not actually the president seems quite helping and caring for the willing to use his authority to people and their health. defend himself personally that's what we need to reform. we need to make sure people have whenever he wants to. and again, this just elevates access. just because an insurance company exists does not mean our concern about this question. that you can afford the health care that you and your family may need. i think that this policy we are considering legislative discussion is long overdue. proposals that could change the way the irs deals with we've tried this in many different incarnations. presidential tax returns. largely because this president we have obamacare. republicans are trying to is the most opaque president in dismantle that. progressives are actually putting forward a vision for recent history. i mean he broke with nearly 50 where we're going to go in the years of tradition by first future, and that is a progressive vision. i don't think that the party is promising and now absolutely moving and swinging so wildly refusing to release his tax far to the left. i think it's actually the voters information. and let's be clear, there's also that are demanding changes on a legitimate question here, a these critical issues. >> let's talk about the legitimate public value in controversy surrounding joe biden. what do you think about the way knowing whether or not the he handled it? >> i was not happy about the way president's personal financial interests, which he claims and he handled it. it is too soon to be making a we know to be quite vast, which joke about this. i actually feel like joe biden he still has control over,

is a genuine advocate for whether those interests somehow influence the public survivors of sexual assault. decision-making that he's i was there with him at the engaged in. there's a legitimate question academy awards in 2016. here. and we need to know whether or he's very genuine. not in that context, in that he makes the connection. that is part of his appeal. already interesting and difficult context whether or not in this moment, in this cultural the president or the irs itself moment, the party's having a policy discussion, the country is somehow engaging in a way is having a cultural discussion about women's place in our that does not fully enforce the society. what is their role in society? tax law on the president of the united states. he says he's under audit. we don't know that he's under how should we treat them in the audit. the law doesn't require an workplace, on the street, in the classroom? all of this is a part of a audit. there's been a practice of the cultural moment and a turning irs to audit presidents who are points and joe biden actually is a person, i think, that can take holding office, but there's no that mantle. he has a network of survivors he law requiring it. can speak to and listen to. so we have an absolute right to he said i'm going to listen be informed as we make these respectfully, and so i think in this moment don't make jokes very difficult decisions. about it. this is a serious issue. the idea that the president is somehow uncomfortable now because he's trying to keep something from the chairman of it's not -- when women are saying i am uncomfortable, they're not claiming assault. lucy flores did not say that. the committee. now, these returns wouldn't be she said i felt uncomfortable, made public. and women often feel this would be for the chairman of the committee in order to uncomfortable. joe biden needs to listen to us evaluate the policy questions and take our concerns seriously. we're trying to address. it's not a joking matter.

>> we all need to listen to that's a legitimate public purpose. >> congressman, good to talk to these things. you. thanks for joining us tonight. zerlina maxwell is an msnbc >> thank you, ali. all right, coming up, they political analyst and former clinton adviser. had fun hats and long capes and we've got one more story for you, stay with us. directly to petmeds.com. big gowns. and they're making an unexpected cameo in the newest legal fight against the trump administration. i'll have that story next, stay with us. i'll have that story next, stay with us. just one free hearing test at

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bookers book now and ask their boss later.. [do you want breakfast or no?] [definitely breakfast.] be a booker at booking.com this is dr. charles. he is one of dun he's the one on our left in both of these pictures posing in front of all those flags. he runs the united natns chinese friendship association, and he calls himself the secretary general of the group, you know like the secretary

general of the united nations. in a 2017 posting, the organization run by dr. charles listed congresswoman grace mang and congresswoman judy chu along with elaine chao as honorary chairpersons. neither of those members of congress nor the transportation secretary is associated with this group. i should also tell you the all of you. united nations chinese how you live, friendship association is not what you love. affiliated with the united nations, and you probably saw that's what inspired us to create america's most advanced internet. this one coming, dr. charles is internet that puts you in charge. not a real doctor. he runs an influence business where he basically promotes and that protects what's important. sells access to american power it handles everything, in the form of memberships to and reaches everywhere. this is beyond wifi, this is xfi. his organization. but it's not just that, in a press release from 2012, simple. easy. awesome. dr. charles promoted the fact that he met with the deputy xfinity, the future of awesome. director of a unit in china responsible for coordinating influence operations. here he is standing with the deputy director of that group on the right. dr. charles is also a regular at the president's resort in florida, mar-a-lago. so much so that over the weekend when a chinese woman allegedly

tried to sneak into mar-a-lago carrying four cell phones, two passports, a laptop and thumb drive with malicious malware, prosecutors say she told receptionists she was there to see her friend dr. charles. all right. it was not a light friday at the that woman made an peens inappen office for house democrats. late today democrats in congress a federal courthouse. she's charged with lying to a filed this lawsuit against the federal officer. she's not been charged with any trump administration in d.c. counts related to espionage. district court, arguing that the president is breaking the law by declaring a national emergency chinese diplomatic officials are to get money to build his border aware of her arrest and offering wall. assistance. the fbi is looking into whether house speaker nancy pelosi announced yesterday that the mar-a-lago in general is suit was coming, but we had no vulnerable to foreign spying. democrats on capitol hill are idea it was coming with ye olden also pushing this issue because times references. you cannot join the white house, but you can join mar-a-lago. quote, even the monarchs of england long ago lost the power once you join, you can go inside, and it's not up to the to raise and spend money without secret service. the approval of parliament. one intelligence veteran described mar-a-lago to us this last month congress week as an incredible treasure overwhelmingly passed a bill to chest for foreign intelligence, undo trump's national emergency a soft target for malfeasance on the border. the president vetoed that bill from tinkering with the and is now using the national computers to finding ways to emergency to reallocate money listen in to conversations. this is the kind of ongoing from other parts of the

government to build his wall, vulnerability that you would expect to spark real concern and which house democrats allege in apparently it has. that does it for us tonight, this sult is againit is against. rachel will be back here on monday. you can catch me here monday at the constitution gives the 1:00 p.m. and again at 3:00 p.m. legislative branch the power of the purse, not the president. time now for "the last word" now that legal argument is barreling toward the president with lawrence o'donnell. not just from that lawsuit in >> good evening, and thanks for washington, but from one of the filling in for rachel tonight and thanks for filling in for most potent successful forces of me. really appreciate it. opposition to the president and we're going to have another his agenda, the states. tax class tonight now that the president is desperately trying to prevent the irs from handing 20 states led by the attorney over his tax returns to the house of representatives. general in california are asking in tonight's class, i'm not the judge for a nationwide injunction that would block the going to be the teacher. president from diverting i'm going to be the student, because our first guest tonight taxpayer money to build his is the highest authority that we have ever had on this program on border fence. the california attorney general calls trump's national taxation. emergency, quote, a threat to george in is a former chief of our democratic institutions. staff of the joint committee on he and 19 other attorneys taxati general from across the country are asking a judge to stop the president from spending federal money on a border wall and to declare his national emergency unconstitutional.

this is from their motion. quote, the u.s. constitution entrusts the power of the purse to congress and denies the president the powers to legislator appropriate. the president's actions amount to a usurpation of the congress legislative powers in violation of bedrock separation of powers principles embedded in the constitution. trump's actions in effect unilaterally modify congress's limited aprepare nation in violation of the constitution. the court should grant plaintiff states' motion for preliminary injunction and enjoin the white house from diverting sources an taking any additional steps toward border wall construction. with the president stumping for his wall and his national emergency, these states are asking the court for a full stop. okay, joining me now, connecticut attorney general william tong whose state is part of this suit to stop the

national emergency. thank you for joining me. >> thank you for having me. >> what's the argument that the states have about the president diverting federal money that's already allocated. what's the states' argument? >> the states' argument is that he's hijacking $1.6 billion that's already been committed by congress to the states through treasury forfeiture funds, military construction, military spending, that states rely on for public safety and law enforcement. my own state police in connecticut, the department of public safety in connecticut, are depending on this money, and the president is just taking it away from us when he has no right to do so. you know, it would be funny that in your last segment you mentioned the president's lawyers are complaining and demanding that we stay within constitutional restraints if he weren't already -- it would be funny if he weren't blowing through them himself and trampling our constitution and our political norms. >> so just tell me what it looks

like. if your injunction is granted, what happens? >> we stop the president from taking that money and then we move on to a full-blown hearing on the merits. and i think what federal courts will find and we're confident that not just the district court but the appellate court and also supreme court will agree with us and with both houses of congress. we're talking about the u.s. senate and the house of representatives that the president has overstepped his power under article 1, that congress shall have the power to appropriate money and that the president is abusing his power under the national emergencies act. >> how do these two cases differ, the one filed by nancy pelosi and house democrats? they're making different claims. do they ending up coming together at some point as far as you can tell? >> i think the claims are different because the states are sovereign. i'm the attorney general for the sovereign state of connecticut and the constitution state. and the constitution is really

an agreement among the 50 states bound together by our consent in our federal system that will agree that the federal government has certain limited powers if they follow the rules set forth in the constitution. the president has decided, you know what, i'm not going to follow those rules. i want to build a border wall for a national emergency that doesn't exist and i'm going to do exactly what congress and the constitution forbids me from doing. you know what's really scary is that there are other national emergencies, like gun violence or listen to the director of the fbi today, christopher wray, saying that hate and the rise in white supremacists and their activity, that's a real national emergency, not some manufactured national emergency at the border. >> now, you're a long way away from the border and someone might criticize that you don't know what's going on at the border and whether it's a national emergency. >> i went down to see it myself. the president was a couple of hundred miles from san diego just today. i was down there two weeks ago. i crossed the border into

tijuana. the only thing i really saw were mexicans legally crossing the border into the united states to go to work, which they do every day to help power our economy. i also saw the way in which we turn our backs on people. you know, for all of my life and most of history if you were in fear for your life, you could knock on the door at the border and the united states would open the door and say how can we help you? if you are under imminent threat of harm or feared for your life, we might help you and grant you asylum and we had that conversation. now we don't do that. now we turn our back on people. right across from the border we literally disavow human beings who need our help. >> attorney general william tong, thank you for joining us. a court has raised new questions about who gets what material in the mueller report. that's next, stay with us. rial t that's next, stay with us.

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last year the intrepid reporter over at cnn petitioned the d.c. district court to unseal 11 miscellaneous dockets in the ken starr investigation into former president clinton. the judge who decided that case, her name may bring a bell. chief justice beryl howell. the grand jury special counsel has been using is her grand jury. judge howell will have a big say in whether secret grand jury information ever sees the light

of day. one yore ago in that other case involving cnn and the ken starr report judge howell said some things that in the rear-view mirror feel kind of important. she said that grand juries are an appendage of the court and because of that the court, which in this case is her, has authority over the grand jury and its records. that the district court, which again is her, that the district court has an inherent authority to unseal and disclose grand jury material. and then he says, quote, the d.c. circuit, which in rock, paper, scissors, is above her, the d.c. circuit has, quote, affirmed the district court's exercise of this inherent disclosure authority. judge howell here is saying my court has the inherent authority to decide whether grand jury material goes public. and even the mighty d.c. circuit court of appeals agrees with me on that. except maybe not anymore.

because today the mighty d.c. circuit court of appeals may have just thrown a hurdle up in terms of having the secret grand jury material in mueller's report come out. now, this was a totally unrelated case, a murder mystery involving a columbia university professor who disappeared in 1956 and an historian who was researching a book about the murder and wanted access to secret grand jury records. the district court in that case, the beryl howell in that case claimed that it had, quote, inherent authority to disclose the grand jury records. the same super power, judge howell argued she had in the ken starr case last year. today the mighty d.c. circuit court of appeals said not so fast. ruling that the district court does not have the inherent authority to release grand jury material. quote, the district court has no authority outside rule 6 e to

disclose grand jury matter. rule 6e you will hear this referred to in william barr's letter being the federal statute that lays out under what circumstances secret grand jury information can be made public. so this totally unrelated cold call case, csi murder mystery, today's ruling in that case may have just handcuffed judge howell and any of her attempts to release the secret grand jury records in the mueller report. this is getting interesting. so i have the perfect person to explain it to us. joining me now, barbara mcquade, former attorney for the eastern district of michigan and thankfully a professor, because this is a hard case, barb, i really appreciate you being here tonight. could today's ruling in this murder case actually handcuff judge howell in terms of releasing mueller's secret grand jury information? is there a difference here in terms of releasing it to the congress or to the public? >> it could impact her ability to release it, but i don't think

it's going to prevent it. what the court said today in the d.c. circuit, contrary to some other circuit courts of appeals that have decided this, is that the court does not have an inherent power to release grand jury material. instead it is bound by rule 6e that you mentioned, but rule 6e does have some permission for a court to disclose grand jury material. it has about five difference provisions there. one of the things that the d.c. circuit court said today is that it distinguished the case involving this historian and this book from disclosures to congress that occurred in the watergate era because it said those disclosures, although the case wasn't clear, were likely done under rule 6e which permits a court to disclose grand jury material to another judicial proceeding, and it considered the house judiciary committee to be akin to a judicial proceeding. >> what you're referring to are they cited a previous case

during watergate, holloman versus nixon. why did that even come up. >> well, the dissent raised it and said that is a basis to show that the court does have inherent power because, look, this very same court, the d.c. circuit court of appeals, allowed the disclosure of grand jury material to congress in that case. what the majority said was that case was not clear on what authority it was relying. yes, they did allow that relief but they didn't say why and we can reconcile that holding with rule 6e so we will say it is permissible for a court to release it to a congressional committee under rule 6e without resorting to that larger inherent authority. so it may limit a court from allowing disclosure to the public at large, although i'm not sure that the equities are there yet in a case that's this recent anyway. but i don't think that this ruling is going to prevent a court from disclosing the mueller report on the basis of

grand jury material to congress. >> so today's ruling seems to say the default is to keep grand jury material secret unless it falls into a list of exceptions that you noted. until now cases of intense political or historical interest weren't on that list of exceptions but they have been considered to be situations in which the court has inherent authority to release that grand jury information. in your opinion does that end that informal arrangement? >> it may but i don't think this is the last word on this issue because as we said other circuits have found a contrary view. the second circuit and seventh circuit, both of which are influential. just in recent weeks we saw ben wittes get disclosure of the water gate road map. so i could see at some point this issue going to the supreme court. but i don't know if that's going to happen very quickly, probably not. but in the meantime i think that congress can still get robert mueller's report based on this rule me