that we can recognize that we are all in this together and must do better in the days ahead. that is our broadcast on this wednesday night with our thanks for being with us. on behalf of my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. thanks for joining us this hour. senator chuck schumer, leader of the senate democrats, majority leader of the senate, is going to be here as our guest, live, in just a moment. looking forward to speaking with him. since, once again, and as usual, he is the man at the center of the question of what can or cannot be done in washington with the biden administration and what they can or cannot get past. we will speak with senator schumer live in just a moment. today's january 5th, of course. a year ago today, in the great state of georgia, georgia voters elected to new u.s. u.s.

senators, jon ossoff and raphael warnock, democrat's. they were runoff elections for both senate seats one year ago today and the democrats won both of those races. georgia electing to democrats to their two u.s. senate seats, that's how we got senate majority leader chuck schumer. that's what's flipped control of the senate from republican control to democratic control. that's what made it possible for the biden administration in its first year to enact all the legislation they have passed in the last year, including covid relief and the big infrastructure bill and all the rest of it, not to mention confirming president biden's cabinet, confirming judges, all of. it all of that made possible by what happened a year ago today window senate elections happened. that, said it wouldn't be until a year ago tomorrow -- it wouldn't be until january 6th -- that the election results in georgia actually became clear. but when they did become clear, i mean, it was a big deal. it was a huge swing of the

political pendulum in this country and a massively consequential thing in terms of what the government and biden administration would be able to do. of course, when those georgia senate results became clear on january 6th, that news was overshadowed by something else going on at that moment at the u.s. capital. here is an interesting thing, though, now looking back at it. as we are heading into those elections a year ago today, a weird thing was happening in the state of georgia, unexplained at the time and for a long time. and that was that the u.s. top federal prosecutor there suddenly and unexpectedly resigned. this is a man who had been a republican state legislature legislator in georgia. not a profile guy, not a controversial guy. but before the january 6th attack, when a lot of people resigned, and even before the

january 5th senate elections in georgia, that u.s. attorney in georgia resigned, effective immediately, with really no explanation of why and it was a talking points memo that he unexpectedly quit. this was the headline that day in the u.s. atlanta journal-constitution. u.s. attorney abruptly resigns due to unforeseen circumstances. through reporting for us in the wall street journal and elsewhere and since, through bjay pak's testimony to the senate and how trump use the justice department, in the year since bjay pak's surprise resignation in georgia, we have learned a bit about what happened to cause that surprise resignation. but now, when you're on, mr. pak has done a lengthy interview for the first time with the atlanta journal-constitution. here is some of that interview. quote, it was january 6th, a

year ago, and bjay pak was walking with his daughters at stone mountain. two days earlier, january 4th, he had resigned his post in northern georgia as u.s. attorney because donald trump and his monkeys were miffed that mr. pak was not taking up what was not there, widespread fraud in georgia's election. mr. pak figured fresh air and family time would help temper the insanity that had been his existence for several weeks. while walking, he got a call telling him that the u.s. capitol was under siege and minutes later, he was approached with someone saying, aren't you bjay pak? he was not carrying his pistol that day and pak was masked. he stood in front of his daughters, concerned at who this might be. in previous weeks, election workers in georgia had been threatened and followed home from work. bjay pak's was a face that had

not often been seen on tv. was this some angry partisan, angry that bjay pak was not ferreting out fraud? no, the man simply thanked him for his service. bjay pak said he had never been a fearful fellow but he figured, quote, if they are storming the capital, lord knows what people will do. mr. pak testified in august about the atmosphere in the white house at the time and the unrelenting pressure from trump's team. he recalls telling the acting deputy eternal general at the time -- well, that seems -- that's very -- that's crazy. that's just highly crazy. the deputy attorney general agreed, saying it was that shoot crazy. i don't think it was bad shoot but it's a family paper. what was so crazy? well, it was during a phone call, december 30th or 31st, 2020, when the deputy attorney general told bjay pak that a trump loyalist in the justice department wanted to enlist the

o.j. help to overthrow the election in georgia. the official wanted to send a letter to georgia legislators, urging them to throw out the electors and urging them to consider installing a new slate, citing significant concerns about the elections. among those concerns were allegations of fraud that had been debunked already, like the so-called two cases of illegal votes found in fulton county. pak new that fulton county officials and the fbi had already shot down that claim of fraud. in fact, as u.s. attorney, he knew of no confirmed fraud in the state. at that moment, bjay pak told me -- quote, meaning the columnist writing this article, that the scary reality sank in. one thing i wasn't aware of until then was how far along they were with this plan and how far they were trying to go. bjay pak resigned because he was basically forced to.

because the plan from the trump white house, from president trump himself, was to use fake, made-up fraud claims in georgia that bjay pak had investigated and knew were false. the plan was to use those false claims as a pretext to justify having georgia recall its electors and declare that trump had one that statement said. one year ago, in georgia, as georgia voters went to the polls in those two crucial races, the day before the u.s. capitol attack, we now know that that was what was happening behind the scenes in georgia. precipitating, among other things, the dramatic and at that time unexplained resignation of that states u.s. attorney. here is the question, though. how illegal was all of that? again, this was before the january 6th attack. how illegal was that other part of it? separate and apart from the violent attack on the u.s. capitol, january 6th. i mean, there is a criminal investigation underway by state

prosecutors in georgia, investigating whether president trump broke georgia law when he called election officials and asked the secretary of state to find votes. there is some murky public reporting about a lower level georgia election worker being pressured by people connected to the trump campaign, pressure she needed to concoct a false convection. and that she would find herself in danger if not. threatening and intimidating election officials, coercing them to try to falsify results or prefer the administration of the election, that's a crime under georgia state law. we know there is a georgia state criminal investigation underway in fulton county for months now. i should note that threatening and intimidating election officials to try to get them to falsify election results is not just a state crime, it's a federal crime. but we don't know about any

federal investigation into the actions of former president trump and the trump campaign's behavior, along those lines, in georgia. maybe there is one but we don't know about it if there is. what about what bjay pak got roped into? the reason he was forced to resign? which he is now describing, both in his senate testimony into the press? what about this effort to use false claims of voter fraud as a pretextual justification for republican legislatures declaring that the vote in that state did not count and they were going to invent new results of their own and say that trump won? is that a crime? is that criminal? it is a conspiracy to -- the u.s. government, for sure. is that a crime? does anyone get prosecuted for trying that? and i mean this literally, regardless of what happened a year ago tomorrow at the u.s. capital. had there not been violence at the u.s. capitol, on that one, day on january 6th, as part of

that plan, with the rest of the plan have been okay? have fun throwing out the election results, you guys, better luck next time. get more ducks in a row next time. make sure there are not guys like bjay pak around next time, who thinks this is bullet bleep. make sure you get that in order next time because feel free to try again. is that how we will handle what happened in our country last year? peter navarro, trump advisor so desperate for attention that it hurts my mouth to say his name, this guy. he gave an interview with my colleague ari melber last night. he has done recent interviews along the same lines with the rolling stone and the daily beast. he has also written a ridiculous new book. in those interviews and in his book he claims credit for all aspects of the coup they were trying to pull, off except for the violence on january 6th. he says it was him and president trump and steve bannon. that they had this plan to put

out these gossamer claims of synthetic fraud, to throw out the vote in those states at the -- that's what they needed mike pence to effectuate for them on january 6th. don't count the electoral votes as they've been submitted. instead say that you won't count them or throw them out. or send it back to the states somehow so that we can get different electors. mr. navarro he's publicly making the rounds admitting to this because, he says, the violence at the capitol, january 6th, that was not part of the plan. that was a blip, a messy boil over on the stove that they didn't intend. he's making public rounds now, saying that the coup attempt to throw out the election results and keep trump in power, it was real, it involves 100 republican senators and members of congress and it would have worked if not for that pesky riot. that was such a distraction from their real effort to

overthrow the government of the united states. is he right? is everything except the breaking windows and trashing congressional offices and beating up cops? is everything except that cool? try again, welcome to, it that was fine? today, attorney general merrick garland gave his much anticipated speech on what the justice department has done and is doing in response to the trump lead attack on the election this time last year. merrick garland said that we at the department of justice will do everything in our power to defend american democracy and the american people, and defend our institutions from attack and protect those who serve the public from threats of violence and from violence. we will protect the cornerstone of our democracy. the right of every eligible citizen to cast the vote, that counts. and that's great to hear. on that point, about threats of violence to public officials, he spent a lot of his speech, about half, talking about

threats of violence toward everyone, from federal judges to airplane flight crews, to journalists to election workers to other kinds of elected officials. it was good to hear him give that so much attention. it is less good that he could not, in his speech today, point too much of anything that the justice department is actually doing to stop those violent threats. it is true that lots of people who have threatened senators and members of congress have gotten in trouble with the law for that. but as we've reported here over the last months and weak, and as reuters has reported over the last months, people like low level workers in elections and officials who have been threatened, even in a greatest terms, they are not getting nearly enough help from law enforcement at the local level, state level or at the federal level. so, the talk about how corrosive and dangerous those threats are today from the attorney general, that was nice as a sort of consciousness raising exercise, about those

threats being bad. but calling them that isn't stopping the people issuing those threats. tell that to the local election officials being called up and told how they and their families are going to be murdered, only to have law enforcement shrug it off. talking about that being bad is not the same thing as the justice department stepping up and making sure that people who issue those threats are caught and punished. and that hasn't happened nearly enough. was most anticipated from attorney general, was it's exploitation of why it is so far only low level people who showed up at the u.s. capitol at trump surging on january six. why it is that only those low level people have been charged. no one who actually ran the plan, no one who actually organized the plot of which the january 6th attack was a part of, none of those fronts have felt any kind of heat from law

enforcement at all. >> now, to his credit in my opinion, the attorney general answered that question today in a sort of helpful exposed terry white. in a way that involved a helpful explanation for us, the public, about how complex prosecutions were. if we are not lawyers, no matter how many, you know, legal procedures that you watch or read, it is good to hear for real about how these things work. it is good to have it explained. how simpler crimes, lower level crimes, the easier sub to prosecute on purpose, gets prosecuted for us. because that not only frees up resources to devote to more complex and serious crimes, it can also help you secure convictions against people who committed more serious and perhaps more complex are hard to discern crimes. that is a real dynamic and criminal prosecution. and again, to his credit i think, attorney general garland today explained that very clearly and very well. >> in the first months of the

investigation, approximately 145 defendants pled guilty to misdemeanors. mostly defendants who did not cause injury or damage. such please reflect the facts of those cases and the defendants acceptance of responsibility. and they help conserve the dish will and prosecutorial resources so that attention can properly focus on the more serious perpetrators. in complex cases, an initial charges are often less severe than later charges and offenses. this is purposeful. as investigators, methodically collect and sift through evidence we build investigation by laying a foundation. we resolve more straightforward cases first because they provide the evidentiary foundation for more complex cases. investigating the more overt crimes generates linkage to less overt ones. overt actors in the evidence

that they provide can lead us to others who may also have been involved. and that evidence can serve as the foundation for further investigative leads and techniques. in circumstances like those of january six, a full accounting does not suddenly materialize. to ensure that all those criminally responsible are held accountable, we must collect the evidence. we followed the physical evidence. we followed the digital evidence. we follow the money. but most important, we follow the facts. not an agenda or an assumption. the facts tell us where to go next. >> and where do the facts of this particular set of crimes tell you to go next? attorney general merrick garland explains that the hundred and 50 misdemeanor cases have already been

resolved related to people took part in the january 6th attack on the capital. those have already been resolved with defendants pleading guilty. he said 17 felonies are already scheduled for trial. more than 300 other people, today, stand indicted on felony charges. he is laying all of that out, as you just heard there, to make the case that small fried defendants gophers. that is on purpose. people who did worse climbs, they come later in part because they are easier to prosecute stuff often provides evidence that you can use in other cases. helpful, but still the basic question remains. is he only talking about crimes that were physically committed at the u.s. capitol building on january six between the hours of 2 pm and dinnertime that day, a year ago tomorrow? >> or does this investigation include a criminal investigation into those who hatched the overall plot. not the plot to break windows and smear poop on the walls.

the pluck to stop the electoral count and keep trump in power. because that is where all the january six votes were doing in washington. they believe that they were part of a larger plot, and indeed they were. a lot of people were happily confessing now to having been part of that larger plot, or to witnessing it. when the president tried to enlist amid. when bjay pak seldom tried to do in georgia. when peter navarro was happily confessing to live on msnbc on a tuesday night. when trump and his colleagues did to try and get them up to d.c. on january six in the first place. because january six was the counting of the electoral vote meaning they needed to stop that council that it could be switched in the states. which was the rest of the plan. what about that rest of the plant? was that [inaudible] ? getting republican state legislators, whatever gossip or pretext they needed to throw out election results and instead replace them with, we are just going to say trump won. because that was a real plan. and we know a lot more about that plan today than we did a

year ago. did attorney general merrick garland today, let the country know if that other part of it was okay? we know they are prosecuting people who broke windows and did bad stuff in the capital. did he let the country know today whether the rest of it, the rest of the plot to overthrow the u.s. government was all right. and anybody who did that is free to try again. and i'm facing this as a question because i honestly don't know. what do you take away from how he said this today? >> as judges have sentence the first defendants convicted of assault and related violent can against officers, we have seen significant sentences that reflect the seriousness of those offenses both in terms of the injuries that they have caused and this area's risk that they pose to our democratic institutions. the actions we have taken thus far will not be our last.

the justice department remains committed to holding all january six perpetrators at any level, accountable under law. whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. we will follow the facts wherever they lead. >> the justice department remains committed to holding all january six perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law. whether they were present that they or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. people who are otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on the capital of january six? or does he need people who are otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy, as in the assault on the election and its results? the effort to falsify those results and seized power?

i don't know. i don't know when he needs. tonight at the new yorker, veteran journalist david rohde, who has seen some things in his time. has ridden that the decision to prosecute former president trump is becoming the defining issue of attorney general merrick garland's -- in hindsight, donald trump's intentions could not appear clearer during the final months of the 2020 presidential race he six to magically conduct of the disinformation campaign that convinced many of his supporters the election would be stolen by democrats. after losing, he doubled down on those false claims and repeatedly pressured state election officials, justice department prosecutors, federal and state judges, members of congress and the vice president to overturn the results. after those efforts failed, he appeared at a rally in washington where he urged tens of thousands of his supporters to stop congress from certifying his defeat. for hours, as the storm the capital, he failed to act. those steps, the leaders of the congressional committee investigating the january 6th

attack seemingly constitute a crime. at the justice department, merrick garland, a formal former federal judge who made a restoring public faith with the political neutrality of the justice -- despite the attempts to divert the justice department from politically-charged prosecution. it is increasingly clear that investigating trump is becoming the defining issue of his tenure. the continued defiance with trump and his allies is forcing garland to make a decision based on his predecessors. whether to prosecute a former president who tried to subvert an election and appears ready to do so again. attorney general garland, based on a speech today, continues to believe that he can restore normal order. he continues to believe that the majority of americans still supports the principle that all people should be treated fairly under the law including donald trump. and that the majority will reject political violence and trust the judicial system. at the moment, that belief, for garland and all americans is an

enormous political gamble. david road writing today at the new yorker. joining us now is david rohde, pulitzer prize-winning at the new york reporter. thanks for making time tonight. >> thank you for having me rachel. >> tell me about this bald contention that you are making. the question of whether or not to prosecute trump as the defining issue of garland's tenure. why do you see that we? >> i think, and you've done a remarkable job of laying this out, that it is the most important issue of merrick garland's career of his life. the challenge throughout the trump years have been a failure of imagination to look into the broad pattern of what he does. to look at our current laws and see today to stop this sort of behavior. and particularly if democrats lose the house this fall, the january six committee will go away. republicans will get rid of it.

and it will come down to merrick garland to decide whether you have talked about bjay pak harassing officials in georgia. all the months before the elections itself of laying the groundwork of making his followers believe that this was going to be a dorm election. so it's a months-long effort. and with the -- the federal government hold trump accountable for it? it is really garland's last chance to make that happen. >> david, i know you've done some reporting on the sort of interplay between that decision that the justice department and the energetic investigation that is happening in congress, the select committee has interviewed hundreds of witnesses. they've got millions of pages of documents. they are working tonight, taking depositions from another former trump official right now as we speak. is there an interplay between that decision-making process by

the justice department and attorney general merrick garland's office and what's happening between the offices and congress? >> i think it, is the committee has two teams, they had to invite prosecutors. and i think they're trying to pressure garland to act. i think it was excellent that he spoke today. he needs to speak out more. he needs to be explaining how federal law enforcement works. how they are investigating this case. and i worry that -- and he believes in the most honest judicial system. most americans the. he needs to more be more present. he needs to be more open an honest about this investigation. >> david rohde, pulitzer prize-winning reporter, thank you for this really thought-provoking wall reported peds today. thank you for being with us tonight. >> thank you. all right, as i mentioned we've got the senate majority leader, chuck schumer, the leader of

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increase in legislative enactments that make it harder for millions of eligible voters to vote and to elect representatives of their own choosing. those enactments range from practices and procedures that make voting more difficult to redistricting maps drawn to disadvantage both minorities and citizens of opposing political parties, to abnormal postelection audits that put the integrity of the voting process at risk, to changes in voting administration meant to diminish the authority of locally elected or nonpartisan election administrators. some have even suggested permitting state legislators to set aside the choice of the voters themselves.

many of those enactments that were justified by unfounded claims of material vote fraud in the 2020 election -- >> unfounded claims of vote fraud. attorney general merrick garland today saying that the new republican attacks on voting rights in the states are being justified on the same basis as the efforts to overthrow the election results a year ago tomorrow. attorney general garland said today that the department of justice will do what it can to protect voting rights but said emphatically that congress must act. here is the man who knows more than anyone else around whether that may be possible. senate majority leader chuck schumer. senator schumer, it's a pleasure to have, you thank you so much. >> good evening rachel, good to be back on. >> we have a lot to talk about. but let me ask you first about those remarks from attorney general garland. i wanted to get your response to what he said about the investigation into the crimes that culminated on january 6th

at the capitol and what he said about congress's need to act on voting rights. >> first, in terms of the invasion of the capital, that was one of the darkest moments in american history and it was an attempt to actually change the government illegitimately, which we don't see in a democracy, using violence. and i just hope they throw the book at the people involved. i don't know the specific cases and i don't know how the exact law applies to each case. but when i read sometimes that they have gotten probation or a short period of time in jail, it bothers me a great deal. so i believe the justice department is ramping it up and they are looking at the perpetrators who led charges and i hope they do everything they can to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. the second question is exactly right. we can prosecute these people. but make no mistake about it, january 6th was not a one-off. it stemmed from the big lie, perpetrated by donald trump,

and this invasion of the capitol didn't just come sui generis. many of those who went to the capitol believed he was urging violence. but the same environment that created january 6th, by donald trump, is also importuning republican legislatures legislators throughout the country, to dramatically curb the right to vote. not just everyone's right to vote by specifically people who tend to vote democratic, whether it be people of color, low income people, people on campuses, people in cities. so this is a dagger into the heart of our democracy. and number two, and january 6th, and what is going on in the legislature's, is all related and all stem from donald trump's big lie. the only way to deter the second perpetuation of the big lie is for congress to act.

he is absolutely right. >> because of that connection between the pretext for the january 6th attack and the pretext for the voting rights restrictions that you just described and the attorney general described today, i wonder what you make of the fact that a number of republican senators voted to impeach donald trump for what happened on january 6th. voted to impeach him for his role in inciting that attack on the capitol and the effort to overthrow the election and yet even those senators will not vote to protect voting rights that against attacks undergirded by the same claims. if these things are in fact connected, why are republicans who recognize one side of that not recognizing the other? >> well, we have a different republican party than we used to have. voting rights, rachel, used to be very bipartisan. ronald reagan supported extension of the voting rights act. george w. bush and george h. w. bush supported it. when it came up when the

congress got large margins. but this is a new republican party and this is a fact we are impressing on all 50 of our colleagues. it is a different republican party, run by donald trump and the fidelity to elections, the fidelity to democracy, is no longer there. donald trump, the other day, endorsed orban, i dictator undoing whatever democracy hungary had. it's his own ego, he wants to dominate and he doesn't care about our democracy, our history or about the rights of people to vote. and by the way -- team that has spread to almost all the republicans, even though seven who wave lee voted to impeach him, they are no longer bucking donald trump. they've almost all given up. some have quit. i think five republicans are not running and again and my understanding is that a good number of them quit because they didn't want to serve under donald trump. but no one, no one on that side

of the aisle seems to be bucking him on this issue. and it's tragic. on>> one of the things that his emerged in the last few days is that the republican leader, mr. mcconnell, has reportedly suggested that he is open to one small piece of the package of reforms and the package of protections that you and your colleagues in the biden administration support, in terms of protecting voting rights. that he is potentially open to supporting reforms to the electoral count act, to try to prevent the-limited procedural shenanigans that gave them their theory of the case in terms of why the capitol attack happened on january 6th. just wanted to get your reaction to that apparent movement on that piece, from senator mcconnell, just on that one piece, among the reforms you've been pushing for. >> i think what they are trying to do is try to substitute that for the very needed reforms

that we have urged, undoing what the state legislatures are doing throughout the country. and so it is sort of like saying, well, i am going to rig the game. but then make sure you count the score accurately. but what's the point if you rig the game to count the score accurately? that's point number one. point number two, it doesn't deal with the house or senate. the electoral college only elect the president. it has nothing to do with elections in the house or senate, which they are trying to rig. third, what they are trying to do is accomplish things in a different way. donald trump wanted pence to rig the election. this law might say, well, let's let the state legislatures rig the election. neither is good. and so i think this is a fake. it is a way to try and get the two senators that we have who are not on board to go for something that won't change the horrible, voracious change in

the balance of power that will allow elections to slant in the directions of republicans in a dramatic way, in an unfair and in an undemocratic way -- and i'm opposed to it. i'm opposed to allowing it to be the subject of this conversation. we will talk about that later, the electoral college, that's fine. but it's no substitute. >> in terms of what you have to do, you have put a specific timeline on this now. you said that by the martin luther king holiday, by a week from monday, you want a vote on potentially changing the senate rules or carving out some sort of exception from the way the senate rules are right now in order to be able to pass the voting rights protections that you support. tell me about the decision to put that specific timeline out there to create that expectation about when this is going to happen. tell me about your confidence that you will be able to get the vote that you want. >> well, first, we are running out of time. what these legislatures have done in 2021 and are now

beginning to do in 2022, if you wait much longer, you will not be able to undo them in time for the 2022 elections, even if the legislation says what they did is wrong. the courts may say it is too close to the primary season and we cannot change it. so we have to move quickly. but second, requiring the vote on both the rules changes and on the actual legislation, the freedom to vote act and the john lewis voting rights act, says to each of my 50 senators, you are going to have to make a decision. a spotlight of history is on you. are you going to side with the forces that are dramatically undoing our elections, preventing the right to vote, a giant step backward? certainly, in the last 50 years, maybe even longer in terms of our democracy. or are you going to do the right thing? and i think, when the spotlight of history, the weight of history, is on the shoulders of all 50 members, the hope is

that they do the right thing. is there a guarantee? no. but we are going to have to have hope and we will. >> majority leader in the united states senate, senator chuck schumer. senator schumer, thank you for joining us tonight, i know it is a somber night in the capital ahead of tomorrow's attack. >> it is. >> thank you for sharing with us. >> thank you, rachel. >> all right, we have more to come, stay with us. me, stay with us sure, a cold is not just a cold. unlike other cold medicines, coricidin provides powerful cold relief without raising your blood pressure be there for life's best moments with coricidin. now in sugar free liquid. ahead of today's speech by

attorney general merrick garland, former federal prosecutor and the lead counsel for trump's first impeachment, daniel goldman, said this online. he said quote, i have no point to making the speech if it is just repeating platitudes. if doj is investigating the coup to overturn the election, the attorney general can and should confirm that. this is bigger than just january six. well, on that point this was the key code for the attorney general speech today which the

justice department released to reporters ahead of the speech. they wanted to make sure everybody got this down and got it correct. he said, quote, the justice department remains committed to holding on january six perpetrators at any level accountable underlying whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. now, as i mentioned earlier, i do not know if that means that the people who planted the overthrow of the government are facing investigation from the justice department or not. was that statement something substantive from the attorney general today? or was that the kind of platitude that daniel goldman was warning against? joining us now is former assistant u.s. attorney, daniel goldman. then, it's nice to see. thanks for being here. >> good to see rachel. >> did you learn anything from the attorney general today or was this platitude in this? >> i think he split the baby. it was far more than platitudes. but we did not get the

confirmation that some of us have been wondering about. about whether or not he is investigating the attempted coup. the attempt to overturn the election. and i think it's really important to part this very carefully. i think we have come out of the speech today with a very firm understanding that merrick garland and the department of justice will get to the very bottom of what occurred on january six. i don't think that there's any question about it. the work that the department has done on the actual division of the capital is truly remarkable. the speed at which they are going and all of the work that they have put in. they should be commended for that. and i think that they will as he pointed out today, start to slowly work their way up to the organizers and two others who were conspiring, as he put it to obstruct the counting of the electoral college. which is in and of itself a separate federal crime. however, the opening question

which you so correctly pointed at the top of the show, is separate from january six. is there a department of justice investigating the efforts into the number of efforts of people who have been publicly reported to overturn the election? with january six being perhaps the combination or perhaps the last gas a ten. but certainly not the center of the scheme. and i don't necessarily know, like, you whether or not what he refers to other crimes or other criminal acts as an assault on our democracy. i don't have the exact language. otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. it is hard to figure out whether he is contextual talking about january six or whether he is talking about the lead up to january six. but the speech was unusual.

it is not normal for an attorney general to schedule a speech several days in advance in order to address the huge elephant in the room that we have all come to understand now. and i am going to give the benefit of the doubt to him and certainly he understands all of the evidence that is out there. and i am going to assume that when he is talking about an assault on our democracy, he is not focusing on january six. but is instead focusing on the much larger conspiracy to try and overturn the election which is a federal crime. >> practically speaking, though daniel, in all your years and all your times in federal prosecution, when you talk about the strategy from moving from the small fries up to the organizers which you just described and he just described and found very helpful details today, practically does that make sense? if they are looking at the

organizers of the overall coup effort. the radicalized americans who turned up at the capitol on january six, they are not necessarily connections with people who had connections to the trump white house or two trump allies. how does prosecuting them get you to the people who organized the whole effort? >> again, we have to separate the two issues. that is exactly how you want to get to the organizers of the january six events. the wry of the insurrection, the rally. all of that. that is exactly how you would want to work your way up from the people who invaded the capitol or we're walking around as if it were a party to those who were beating the cops and to those who were funding in organizing it. but it doesn't get you to the broader question that happened over the months before about whether there was a criminal conspiracy to try and overturn the election. that is, frankly, what's the january six committee is doing. and it is in sort of an odd

turn of events in where the house committee is designed to figure out what happened on january six. and they're spending a lot of time figuring out what happened to the lead up in january six. at the department of justice, which is charged with preserving the safety of our election among other laws, seems, at this point, to this point, to be narrowly focused on january six itself. but we just don't know. and hopefully what we got today is an indication that they are working their way through it. it is not the best way to investigative crime. to let things lion to circle back to it later, because memory fades, evidence get destroyed, stories can be lined up. but based on what that statement was today that we just discussed, rachel, i am hopeful that he will at the department of will focus on the issues leading up to january six. not just that the. >> former federal prosecutor,

daniel goldman, i think you very much for your time tonight. knowing how you felt about the speech in a van's is very eager to hear. thank you so much. thanks for being here tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> all right, we'll be right back. stay with us. back stay with us ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ limu emu and doug.♪ and it's easy to customize your insurance at libertymutual.com so you only pay for what you need.

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here was the invitation, we talked about this earlier this week. the cop county republican party commemorates the january six anniversary with a candlelight vigil for january six prisoners. for the people who have been arrested and charged with connection with the violent attack on the capitol last year. the republican party, public celebration of the january 6th attackers, was scheduled to happen tomorrow at republican county headquarters in county georgia. well today, the county georgia republicans announced, never mind. they have canceled that event for tomorrow. former president, donald trump, as you may recall, he was also scheduled to do some kind of oppressive and tomorrow. a year to the after he gave the speech that incited the --

on the capitol. he too is now canceled. never mind. that said, nbc news reports tonight sending a senior u.s. intelligence officials that there's more than 100 events planned around the country tomorrow in support of the january six attackers. including some that were counterprotests were expected. so take that just as a heads up for tomorrow. i mean, we have never had an event like this in our country before. and so therefore we have never had to commemorate the one year anniversary of it before. i don't think anybody knows how it will go. things could get weird. stay with us. us your heart isn't just yours. protect it with bayer aspirin. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i recommend nature made vitamins, because i trust their quality. they were the first to be verified by usp, an independent organization that sets strict quality and purity standards. nature made. the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. [ marcia ] my dental health was not good.

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it's wireless so good, it keeps one-upping itself. take the savings challenge at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings or visit an xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes it easy to switch and save hundreds. all right, that is going to do it for us for tonight. we will see you again tomorrow. again, tomorrow, likely to be kind of a weird day. the first time we've ever had to commemorate an event like the january 6th attack. no one knows what tomorrow will be like but we will be here tomorrow to help you understand it. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. >> good evening, rachel. i think you remember exactly 24 hours ago at this moment, i told you who -- know you don't -- >> [laughs] >> 24 hours ago is too long. let me remind you that 24 hours ago, this moment, i told you that