the election. good night. as we sometimes have today because we need to start tonight with news that has just broken on the front page of the new york times. this is a big deal. i will tell you we are about to speak with one of the reporters whose byline on the story we are about to speak with one of the subjects of the story. in all the time i have been in this business i have never covered anything quite like this before. i've never read about anything like this before, happening in american politics and government, as far as we know nothing like this as never happened before. the new york times says tonight that it has. the consequences remain to be

seen. let me spell this out. you may have read over the last couple weeks, newly reported revelations about the justice department under donald trump secretly obtaining the communications of a number of reporters, journalists from cnn, from the washington post, from the new york times, reporters communications seized by the trump justice department secretly, and those communications the trump justice department went after, they were all from 2017. the trump administration was frantically trying to find out who is sources where for those reporters, when they were writing stories about the early days of the trump administration and the 2016 campaign. the reason this has come out now, the reason all these stories, first washington post then cnn, that we know the new york times, the reason it's come out has been, i think, in part, because of the change in administration. the reporters who had their

communications searched by the justice department which was hunting for their sources, in many cases, those reporters didn't know their communications had been seized until now. the trump justice department in some cases had secured gag orders. the reporters couldn't be told they were being targeted. their news organizations couldn't be told, it couldn't be discussed. the reason the stories are being written, why those reporters finally know their records were searched by the justice department under trump is because those gag orders on the media outlets have expired or they have been lifted. now the biden administration is in place. those revelations about the trump justice department going after reporters sources that prompted biden justice department, just last week, to announce that they will no longer sees reporters communications in the investigations. biden himself has weighed in on that saying going after reporters in that way is simply wrong and he did not want his

justice department to do that. that's the context here in which tonight story breaks. just within the last hour, the new york times has broken a whole new level of the story. and again, it's not sort of a shocking revelation about the trump justice department, this is something as far as we can tell that's never been done before and u.s. government and has profound implications for the separation of powers between the branches of government that we've got. this is the headline tonight in the new york times. hunting leaks, trump officials focused on democrats and congress. meaning, members of congress who are democrats. quote, as the justice department investigated who was behind the leaks of classified information early in the trump administration, it took a highly usual step -- prosecutors subpoenaed apple for data from the accounts of at least two democratic members of congress on the house intelligence committee, and staffers, and family members. one of those members was a

child, a minor. according to committee officials, to other people briefed on the inquiry, all told the records of at least a dozen people tied to the intelligence committee were seized in 2017 and was then thep democrat of the house intelligence committee. who is now the chairman of that committee. prosecutors under the beleaguered trump attorney general, jeff sessions, or hunting for the sources behind news media reports about contacts between trump associates and russia. ultimately, the data and other evidence did not tie the committee to any leaks. investigators then debated whether they hit a dead end, some even discussed closing the inquiry. but, following the departure of jeff sessions, and the installation of william barr, trump's new attorney general, mr. barr revived languishing leak investigations once he became attorney general, according to three people with

knowledge of his work. barr moved a trusted prosecutor from new jersey, who has little relevant experience to the main justice department in washington to work on the congressman schiff related case and half dozen others. the ceo trump administration's effort to halt leakers led to the extraordinary step of spinning communications data from members of congress. that's unheard of move outside of corruption investigations. justice department leak investigations are fairly routine. current and former congressional officials familiar with this inquiry said they could not recall any instance in which the records of lawmakers had been seized as part of one. n seized a part omoreover, just as it did n investigating his organizations the justice department under president trump secured a gag order on apple which expired this year. lawmakers did not know they were being investigated until apple was able to inform them of that fact last month.

after the records provided more proof of leaks, prosecutors and d.c. discussed and in that piece of their investigation, but william barr's decision to bring in an outside prosecutor helped keep the case alive. there does not appear to have been similar grand jury subpoenas of records for members or staff of the senate intelligence committee, just the house. a spokesman for republicans in the house intelligence committee did not respond to a question about whether republicans were issued subpoenas. the justice department has declined to tell democrats on the committee whether any republicans were investigated. david lofven, a former justice department official, who was working on leak investigations, tells the times tonight, quote, family members and children strikes me as extremely aggressive. then he says this, in combination with former president trump's unmistakable vendetta against congressman adam schiff, it raises serious questions about whether the manner in which this investigation was conducted was influenced by political

considerations rather than a purely legal ones. i will also tell you as part of this reporting tonight, the reporters of the times say that william barr's perceived motivations here within the justice department came under scrutiny. mr. barr directed prosecutors to continue investigating contending the justice department's national security division had allowed the cases to languish, according to three people briefed on the cases. some had nothing to do with leaks about mr. trump but involved sensitive national security information. but mr. barr's overall view of leaks but let some people in the department to see these inquiries as politically motivated. the attorney general of the united states seen as politically motivated. seen within the justice department as politically motivated. as he used subpoena power to secretly obtain communications records for members of congress, including members of the intelligence committee, who are allowed to see the most secret

information that the u.s. government possesses. joining us now, new york times reporter michael schmidt, one of four reporters bylined on this breaking story. i should also note mr. schmidt is one of the times reporters who recently learned that his own records were also secretly seized by the trump administration in a separate leak investigation. michael schmidt, thank you for joining us. i know is short notice. >> thanks for having me. >> let me ask you you've heard me some of your reporting by reading excerpts from it here. let me ask you to summit and your own terms and tell us what is, as far as we can tell, unprecedented and what is important about this. >> i think the most important thing, or the biggest one of the more fundamental problems with the entire episode is that this is what donald trump wanted. and this is why legal experts and people on both sides of the

aisle say that the president of the united states should not weigh in on criminal investigations and he should not talk about using the justice department to target a rival. because if the department does something, it's seen immediately through that lens. we look at this and say adam schiff, a constant target of donald trump has his entire staff, and one of the staffs children subpoenaed as their information subpoenaed from apple. this is exactly what the president said publicly and privately, that he wanted. here we are today more than six months after trump leaves office finding out about this and what's the first thing that comes to mind? this is what trump wanted. this is what he said. you have to remember, this happened in a period of time, in early 2018, in which the

justice department was under immense pressure from the president. now do we know this exact move us down because of that? no. but we do know that in that period of time, the attorney general and the deputy attorney general thought they could be fired at any moment. they were afraid that if they were fired, robert mueller would be removed, and they were also under fire especially the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein for republicans on capitol hill who wanted to impeach him. it was in that period of time that this happened. that this >> michael, as far as we know, from your reporting, the way it's described, there is no evidence that congressman schiff or any other members, democratic members of the house intelligence committee or any other staff or their children were involved in mishandling classified information,, or in any other leagues.

there's no indication any reporting that there was any wrongdoing on their part that might have at least retroactively justified this kind of unprecedented step. >> we have no idea what the justice department was basing this on. we had no idea what type of evidence there was to get them to this point. issuing a subpoena for a member of congress is supposed to be treated as something that has to clear a high bar because of the fact it's another branch of government and it is a very invasive thing, and it can be seen as a political action, given the give and take, certainly the one going on at the time. we don't know with the justice department was basing this on, but we do now this is exactly what trump was saying, and what trump wanted. trump was ranting and raving and private about how the powers of the justice department should be used to go

after the press, to go after his rivals. and he was open about that. he is not going to you know, question the authenticity of that reporting. this is something he really, really wanted. and he was exerting enormous pressure on the department when this happened. >> but it is one thing to know president trump was, as you say, demanding the justice department be used as a political tool against his enemies, that they use their immense power, investigative power and otherwise, to punish and investigate his enemies at his win. it's one thing to know that about him, and another to know the justice department was doing the stuff. that this did not land on deaf ears. under two different trump attorneys general stuff like this happened. one of the things i've sort of audibly gasped when i got to the end of your article, was the note, the list of names of

people who were involved in these actions at the justice department's, certainly briefed on them and kept up to date on them, who are still at the justice department, under merrick garland. these aren't just trump political appointees who are now gone who did the stuff. at least from your reporting, what appeared to be people who are still there now. >> correct. people that are still there now, and in regards to the larger stuff that has been disclosed here, the other subpoenas in fights that have gone on for information between the justice department and press, the justice department was seeking information from my and three of my colleagues emails, up until just a few days ago. this was until early june that this fight was going on between our legal counsel, david macron, and secret, with prosecutors, and the justice department. this wasn't something that happened into february, maybe a

couple of weeks into the biden administration. it wasn't something that happened a couple of weeks into it merrick garland took over. this is something that was going on close to almost the six month mark of biden being in office. and now the justice department is completely reversed itself and says they don't want they will not do this. is that because they are embarrassed by what happened? and why is that the fight continued under merrick garland for the metadata from my emails? >> right. and if these were politically motivated, or otherwise improper actions by the justice department, not only why did they continue after the change of administration, even if they haven't continued in the change of administration, what is the recourse with another sister hartman to find out the extent

of this on to punish the people who did it or investigate to find out what they did and deter this from happening again. that is becoming a larger and larger question every day, in the merrick garland era of the justice department. the more we learn about what's happening. michael schmidt, i know this is a breaking story just posted, thank you for helping us understand it. >> thanks for having me. >> i want to bring into the conversation now, one of the subjects of this story. one of apparently to, we believe, democrats on the house intelligence committee who had his records seized. now chairman of the house intelligence committee, congressman adam schiff. chairman, thank you for joining us, i appreciate you making the. time >> of course. >> well, mike schmidt jets told us that your records, the records of your entire staff and the child of one of your

staff members were all seized secretly by the trump justice department as part of this investigation. does that concord with your understanding now that the gag order as apparently been lifted on apple and they were able to notify you at least of some of the scope of what happened here. >> i don't know whether it was the full staff or not, and we are trying to obviously observe the privacy of our staff members. so we are reliant on people who want to report what they have received. we also do not know whether it extended beyond democrats on the committee to republicans, republicans are not saying. but you know, we are obviously deeply suspicious of what the justice department was doing, more than that, this looks like a patent abuse of the department, yet another example of a president politicizing using the -- as a cudgel to go after his enemies. he would repeatedly attack, personally, call for investigations of our committee,

while we were doing an investigation of him. and apparently, those pleas were met with a receptive audience. at the very top level, of the justice department, among sessions and bill barr. even though there is no evidence to support a leak coming from our committee. and so, you know, it is going to take a decade i think before the department recovers from this politicize a shun. i spent almost six years with the department really event reading the department in it's heartbreaking to see what he did to it. and how difficult it is to rely now on the impartiality of the departments given this sordid four-year history. >> you really -- released a statement tonight and spoke with the times as well calling on the inspector general, the independent inspector general and said the justice department to look into this. to investigate this essentially as potentially the

weaponization of law enforcement for political purposes. can you explain to our audience, to people who hear this as an extension of what they have heard about going after reporters records who may not necessarily grasp why this is a big deal. why this is something that has not happened before. why is it such a big deal? why would it be, and perhaps unprecedented at least very unusual thing for a member of congress to have a records like this seized by the justice department? >> well, it is really norm within norm within norm being broken here. the first most important norm and watergate is -- they don't get involved in particular cases at the justice department. doesn't urge the justice department to investigate particular important norm. beyond that, the president the united states does not urge the department to investigate the political enemies. and it's been even more

important norm and then, i think even beyond that on the spectrum of a president who is self under investigation by our committee and calling for an unprecedented subpoena, unprecedented subpoenas for accounted for mission pertaining to members of congress, to staff members, to family members, even to a minor child. and that, i think a terrible abuse of power. and it violates i think the separation of powers. but it also makes the department of justice fully owned subsidiary of the presidents personal legal interests and political interests. and as such damage -- unprecedented for the department to see records like this every member of congress or staff of a member of congress, or staff of a committee to do so in a partisan way and to do so in an

investigation of him. to do so openly calling on this department. it is harder to express just how shocking and abusive of the power of this really is. >> mister chairman, do you know who the other democratic member is on the committee whose records were targeted? >> you know, i know some of the information about other people receiving subpoenas out of respect for their privacy i will let them speak or not speak. but the truth is, i don't know how broad these subpoenas were except that i know that there were extraordinarily broad. they went out to staff who were not even related to the committee. who had no responsibilities on the committee. and in terms of how many members were affected, part of the difficulty in knowing for sure is that a lot of people who got this notice from apple thought it was pham. and we may learn more after this when the stories come out about others who similarly got these notices, as they go back and they check their old email to see whether they got a

notice like this as well. so, we may learn more. i would certainly like to know, and we've asked the justice department if they have not been forthcoming, whether this was just directed at democrats or whether this was a committee wide investigation. i would not be surprised if this was a purely partisan investigation targeting one party, but there is a lot that we still don't know when i imagine that we will find out more. >> and, on that point, are you going to find out more? >> it would seem to me that eric garland is the new attorney general inherited not only the awesome responsibility of the united states but a whole extra responsibility that nobody said to deal with since the era of nixon and john -- at the justice department. which is that there is all this stuff that happened in the justice department including people, and including with the involvement of people who are still there. that is a profound apart from

previous forms. and in many cases a profound and shocking violation of justice department policy. everything from cases involving the president's friends, to the way that reporters were apparently surveilled. and now, what you are describing here. in terms of getting to the bottom of this, do you expect merrick garland to publicly testify about this? to make justice department officials who are a part of this testify? do you want congress to exercise its oversight responsibilities here? or do you want this handled quietly by the inspector general on the zone terms? >> look, i think congress certainly has a role here. america arland will testify before committees in congress. i'm sure he'll be asked about these actions by the department, actions in going after members of congress for baseless

subpoenas. s actions and going after reporters in the way that they have, gag orders that were issued. but also, as you point out, the intervention of the attorney apparently in this investigation involving our committee but also to reduce the sentence of roger stone's, who committed perjury lying up -- dismissiic to lying to federal authorities. so, i think that the attorney general has an obligation to clean house, to essentially understand exactly what the department was doing in the last four years. make sure that there is accountability for those that were engaged in political and partisan investigations within the department. and, you know, in terms of the oversight of congress, i don't think that i have a role in that. given that is on my records were essentially sent to a subpoena.

but i think that other committees is part of these oversights and responsibilities are to ask the attorney general and others -- and i do think that the department needs to do a wholesale review of the politicize asian of these cases over the last four years. >> yeah. clean house, i think is an appropriate term there. the justice department was used over the last four years in ways that cannot just be left to drift into the ether without us knowing the extent of it. without it being corrected. if you will forgive me saying so. congressman adam schiff, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, sir, thank you so much for joining us on short notice. i'm sorry that this happened to you and to your staff and their families in particular. i look forward to getting to the bottom of it as fast as we damn well can. thank you sir. >> thank you. >> all right, we have much more to get to this very busy news night. just astonishing, stay with us. onishing, stay with us

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properly until tomorrow. and i've already had to learn three whole new words and phrases heart. this is not a series of typos or some half of our graphics on set all of those words that those are correct actually i had to learn all of this today. every day is a new challenge when you are covering the news here is the first one, it's tuesday night, the planning with the president on board is automatically air force one but there's also a huge tawdry of press court. for the press corps they try to big plane, the airbus 3:30 and the press goes out to dulles airport just outside of d.c.. they are set to take off at 9 pm tuesday night ahead of the presidents plane flying to europe, the big g7 trip. and it turns out that the press plane can't go.

it can't go because cicadas. you might have seen one landing on president biden's neck as he was leaving the white house to go start his leg of this trip. that's a cicada on him. but it was more than one, more than one that invested the plane that the press was supposed to travel on alongside the president. a spokesman for delta which operates the press plane in this case, told them that they infested and overran something called the exhilarating power unit, a small turbine engine that powers the cabin another so many onboard equipment. cicadas got into that artillery power unit, that it broke. delta telling usa today, quote, that issue was the presence of periodical cicadas within the ap you, rendering it unremarkable. the spokesman said we apologize to our customers for this

rarest of entomological delays. this rarest of entomological delays. entomological delay. bug trouble grounds entire gigantic airplane. that was first, next challenge mizzle. it's not a snoop dogg quote it is mizzle. this is st. michael's mount. it sticks out off the coast of cornwall which is in the far southwestern corner of great britain, and it's sort of an island, although at low tide you can walk to it across a man-made causeway. once the tide comes in, though, it's an island until the tide goes back down. the holiday title island. st. michael's mount has an ancient castle on it, tons of history. that cool kind of spooky place that you can only walk to on a low tide was supposed to be the

sight today of the first in-person meeting between u.s. president joe biden and the somewhat sham baller flamboyant conservative prime minister of great britain, boris johnson. they were supposed to meet for the first time at st. michael's mount in cornwall. but then, mizzle. mizzle made it not have been. whatever means they're going to use to convey president biden and prime minister johnson and their entourages out onto this title island at its fancy council for the meeting, those means of conveyance were grounded, it could not travel because of what they call in cornwall mizzle. a combination of mist and drizzle. really? now like thunderstorms or high winds or heavy rain, but rather very light rain, so light it's a combination of mist and drizzle. but apparently it is prohibitively impossible, even

with all the resources at the disposal ofavel u.s. president. there can be no castle meeting, we blame mizzle the, we have to stay on the mainland and change their plans. we get the anthropological delay, then we get the mizzle then one more this happened today after the mizzle problem. some of the press traveling to cover the g7 summit and i believe also some of the security staff are one of the countries attended the g7 summit. they were all do to stay and all the rooms at what appears to be a lovely beach side hotel in cornwall. it's operated by a brewery in 18th century cornwall brewery called st. austin. the unhappy eventuality involving that cute hotel is that as the traveling international price and the security staff, the entourage is for the g7 leaders have conferred to this ahead of the g7 summit, at this hotel, do you to host the press and

security staff, they had a big covid outbreak among their staff. and they had to shut down at the last minute. they first shut the restaurant and bar. they then shut all the rest of the public spaces at the hotel but then today they had to shut all of their guests rooms as well and closed down the hotel entirely because of a covid outbreak and had to oust all of their guests. it's not like there's lots of other rooms around to book because at the g7, it's happening right around there! everything is booked. first it's the entomological delay with the bugs eating the engine, investing the engine for the flight out there, six and a half hour delay while the report is made for a new plane then it is mizzle grounding and diverting president biden for his first bilateral meeting with the british prime minister, then a covid outbreak shutting the hotel at the summit and what is the name of the hotel that was shut for the covid outbreak at the summit? the name is... pedn olva. you tell me. that is not a typo.

first word is pedn second is olva. after etymological delays and mizzle and now pedn olva, it feels like an elaborate choke to prove that saying about them being two countries divided by a common language. the g7 itself kicks off in earnest tomorrow, plagues be damned. leaders from the u.s., great britain, canada, france, germany, italy, and japan, for the bugs and viruses and freak whether they're contending with, we could be sure this year's g7 will end up being less of a fiasco then last year's. the hold the g7 once a year. all these big influential countries get together in person, last year it was america's term to host it, we are supposed to host it. remember what happened last year? what trump did when the u.s. was supposed to host the g7? do you remember how that went?

>> my people look at 12 sites, all good, but some were two hours from an airport, some for hours. it was so far away. some didn't allow this, or allow that. we have a series of magnificent buildings, we call them bungalows, the each hold from 50 to 70 very luxurious rooms, with magnificent views. we have incredible conference rooms, restaurants, just like such -- >> with the row. he decided that it was the turn of the united states of america to host the g7 summit. the only place in the whole country that would be suited to do that would be his own hotel in florida. and president trump didn't just float this as an insane and totally legal idea he tried to

pacify as a joke on twitter. the white house announced that this was what was going to happen, that this was the site that had been chosen for the g7. it was absolutely astonishing. this was the washington post that day. trump was awarded next year's g7 summit of world leaders to his own miami area resort, the white house said quote the decision is without precedent in modern american history. the president has used his public office to direct a huge contract to himself. trump's doral resort said among office parks near miami international airport has been sharp decline in recent years. but now the summit will drop hundreds of diplomats, journalists, and security personnel to the resort during one of its lowest months of the year, when miami is hot and the hotel is often less than 40% full. his decision to select his own resort is a sign he is becoming more brazen about flooding criticism from congress and shattering ethical norms that

had been observed by previous presidents with regard to separating the duties of their office from their financial well-being. the organization said it was, quote, honored to have been chosen by its own, or the president, for this event. and to quote. the actually tried to do this. we are still learning what he had the justice department do on his behalf. i hate adam schiff, subpoena his records, have the justice department go after him and investigate his staff and families. all right? it's also just like, i want the u.s. government and lots of foreign governments to pay me. i decided we are going to do that stuff at my hotel. the president said he wanted the g7 in his hotel. why -- whoever the poor sod was he was offering the white house twitter account at the time had to tweet this out as a big announcement about where the g7 was going to be. they announced to the press

from the white house briefing room. this was not a lark. they tried to do it. and sure, it's actually written in the constitution that u.s. officials can't take money from any foreign governments, but who cares, right? who's going to enforce it? can prosecute the president, no prosecutor after he's gone will be interested. the way they did, that any foreign government that wanted to participate in the 2020 g7 summit would have to pay donald trump and his family if they wanted to attend it. your country may or may not want to pay a personal bribe to the u.s. president and his family, but in the case of edgy seven under donald trump, all of those foreign governments would have been forced to. the headlines, in response, we're sort of amazing. trump's most shameless act of profiteering. trump's move to host the g7 at his resort takes self dealing to new levels, the corruption is becoming more and more brazen. they did it!

they tried to get away with. it ultimately, they backed down, and ultimately, the 2020 g7 got canceled as an in-person meeting illinois because of covid-19. that came close to happening. they tried to do it. and since we, as a country, it went through insanity like that, let it be noted that apparently that was not enough of a wake up call to make us make sure it couldn't happen again. we never enacted any sort of reform, and you sort of change, a new sort of binding ruled to prevent something like that from happening again. particularly when a president can't be prosecuted for crimes while he is an office according to the office of legal counsel at the justice department. what do we do to make sure something like that doesn't happen again? we did vote out the guy who did it, but was to say he is not coming back, or someone worse than him? he showed what could be done with the american presidency, with someone absolutely heck bend on that self dealing and corruption and abuse. we leave it open to future abuse by not putting teeth in the roles that are supposed to

prevent that sort of thing. and we leave it open to future abused by deciding he is never going to face charges for any laws he broke while in office. it couldn't face charges while a sitting president and now he's out of office, let's just hope it doesn't happen again? the presidency is still like that. the presidency is still affording those opportunities for self dealing and corruption, if we get that pattern after and their again. that's like an etymological mizzle that we have to get olva if we ever going to set ourselves back on the right course. [laughs] more on that ahead. stay with us. liberty mutual customizes car insurance so you only pay for what you need.

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he gets to revel a little bit at least at first at how relieved the world is at just that fact. >> all the things that we believe in, together democracy, human rights, rule of law. the u.s. and the uk stick up for those two things together. so it is incredibly important that we should affirm that. the doctrine they went on for a long time. we covered a huge range of subjects. and it is wonderful to listen to the biden administration and joe biden because there's so much that they want to do together with us from security, nato, to climate change. it is fantastic. a breath of fresh air. >> it is fantastic! a breath of fresh air! wreaths by prime minister boris johnson speaking today on the eve of the g7 summit in cornwall in the uk. today, the pew research center released a global survey and it turns out that the whole global

world agrees with boris johnson on that. america's image abroad rebounds with transition from trump to biden. quote, the election of joe biden as president has led to a dramatic shift in americas international image. throughout donald trump's -- healthy united states in low regard. united states in low this was especially true in key allies and partners now the research center of 16 publics, 16 countries, finds a significant uptick in the ratings for the united states. and when we say uptick, we mean it. look at this, they ask people in countries around the world one blunted general question where they favorable opinion of the united states. last year under trump the answer to that was, not good. our approval rating around the world was 34%. this year, one year later, 62% from 34 to 62 in one year! what has changed? here is a hint. last year in countries around the world, pew asked the public, do you have confidence in the president of the united states?

to do the right thing regarding world affairs? last year, the percentage of people around the world saying that they had confidence in president donald trump to do the right thing was 17%. this year under president biden, it is not 17% anymore it is 75%. that is not a jump of 70 to 75%, it is a jump of 17 to 75%. that is an uptick. that is how the world's confidence in america and the u.s. president to do the right thing. [laughs] that's how it has a leapt by virtue of us voting trump out and biden in. that said, some considerable damage is done. only 11% of people around the world say that the united states is now a very reliable partner. i mean, yeah, how can we be all that reliable and what we just did in the past four years. a majority of people around the world, 57% say democracy in the united states quote, used to be a good example but we haven't

been a good example in recent years. president biden abroad is, you know, obviously benefiting from the contrast with his predecessor. but the aftermath of his predecessor is also posing ongoing challenges as biden tries to stand up the united states as once again an example to the world. he keeps saying, he has made it his touchstone of his presidency that the united states is a beacon for the possibility and promise of democracy against rising authoritarianism and dictatorships around the world. to credibly make that case abroad, the home front challenges left in the united states in the aftermath of our previous president are an increasingly pressing thing. one that, i think as a country, we are not sure whether the biden administration is up to dealing with or not. clearly, they'd rather look forward. but the past as a way of holding on. we have just learned tonight, interesting way, that attorney general merrick garland has

scheduled a public speech for tomorrow and an announcement of quote, voting rights, any concrete steps that the department is taking to secure the fundamental right to vote for all americans. concrete steps you say? the justice department under merrick garland has thus far taken no visible concrete steps to defending voting rights to even -- across the country's move to rollback voting rights. as that former president continues to insist that the presidential election was somehow stolen from him and therefore voting must be restricted, we will see what attorney general l e what he has to say if anything about this new and very disturbing report in the new york times tonight that the justice department including some officials who are still there, were involved in obtaining communications records secretly from sitting members of congress. we'll see if attorney general garland has any sort of follow-up on the warnings in his department a few weeks ago and warning that the sham audit, the sham recount of the presidential election result in arizona was violating federal

law in terms of mishandling ballots, mishandling elections equipment. that arizona event, that arizona potential crime scene? it has now hosted republican state legislators from pennsylvania, nevada, alaska, colorado, georgia, and virginia with more states to come. because republicans want to do this sort of thing, they want to try to effectively decertify the presidential election results in all of those states. or at least delegitimized those results with an eye towards pressing to decertify the results. they're trying to do it anywhere that they can get their hands on the ballots and voting machines. so attorney general garland announcing some sort of speech, and announcement tomorrow, we'll see if he says anything about enforcing federal laws that are supporters to block that sort of mischief that we are seeing down there in arizona. but the republican party wants to take that nationwide. tomorrow night show, we will have the gob smacking story of a nonpartisan experienced effective local elections official who was just run out

of his job by this gray mob on the radical right that is increasingly going after even low-level nonpartisan officials who will not go along with republicans efforts to undo and overturned election results to benefit donald trump. so, there is these huge international stakes in terms of standing up for democracy and the world. right? president biden saying that the role of america right now is to show that democracy performs for its people. that democracies can get stuff done. democracies can show up the tyrannies and autocracies competing with us so the future of the world is free and self determined. could not be larger stakes. that is with the new u.s. president is selling today out star in the mizzle in the g7 cold. wall saying that america's, back in the world saying, yeah, we sure hope so. but the home front is wobbly. in terms of whether we are successfully fighting off our own rapidly consolidating

authoritarian government inside of iran politics. and whether we are establishing the necessary deterrence for would be authoritarian leaders here who have proven pretty good at grabbing the rains in our own country. what we heard today that president biden and british prime minister deportees johnson will be signing a new atlantic charter, renewing an updating a commitment our countries made to each other as free nations in 1941 as hitler rose, fdr, churchill wanted to shore up the alliance of the free world against him, against fascism, and against authoritarianism. when we learned that biden and johnson will be signing this new atlantic compact today, we called nbc presidential historian michael bench last to get his take on where these two leaders are at right now with this update of that compact. compared with fdr and churchill fighting fascism 80 years ago. mr. bench lost his answer was not at all what i expected, and it curled my hair. joining us now is the great michael, presidential historian.

michael, thank you so much for being with us tonight. >> hi, rachel, i did not mean to curl your hair. >> you did. [laughs] you freaking out a little bit talking about the parallels and the contrasts that you see between white fdr and churchill were doing 80 years ago and what happened today! >> well, you know, a couple of moments of history our democracy has almost been taken away. that happened in the 18 sixties, there was a southern insurrection that happened in 1940 when americans had to decide whether we would stand up to hitler and mussolini and the japanese to make sure that we and freedom survived. the cold war, especially in 1960, when john kennedy became president, he said, we are in an hour of maximum danger. our system may not survive it. we have lived, you and i and all of us watching for four years through donald trump, our democracy was almost taken away. but here we are, he is gone. the danger remains.

you were talking about the fact that the russians and chinese would love nothing better than to chase democracy out of our country. they are uncomfortable with it. but the worst thing, just as you were saying rachel, is that we have at the same time what we did not have a 1940 or 1960, and that is a danger to democracy from within. another insurrection like january 6th. maybe another attempt at coup d'états. or worse, a state legislator stealing voting rights from people. in state, after state, we are in danger of american elections, and a presidency and other offices being something like the elections for mussolini. which was about 90% win for him. >> nbc news presidential historian michael, i have been thinking about history all day. and it is starker and stark are the more that i have heard from you today. thank you for being so clear, thank you for joining us.

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news we got at the top of the show, the new york times reporting tonight that the trump justice department secretly seized communications records from members of congress, from democratic members of congress serving on the intelligence committee in the house. this is something that's never been done before as far as we know. two democratic members of congress serving on the house intelligence committee as well as some staff members and their family members, including one child, had communications data subpoenaed from apple by the justice department under trump attorney general jeff sessions and then by attorney general william barr as well. the times reporting barr's behavior on these investigations, quote, let some people in the department to see the inquiries as politically motivated. earlier this hour, the committee chairman adam schiff, one of the lawmakers who has communication seized told us that the new attorney general under president biden, merrick garland has an obligation