much author coming out which i've heard a lot of very excellent things about kind of the big issues of our time. by and just to. we called after the ivory tower falls. how college broke the american dream and blew up our politics. and how to fixamer falls." it's ican m released next tuesday. will, congratulations on the book. thank you for joining us tonight. >>bo yeah. thanks for the kind words. i appreciate it, chris. that is "all in" on this tuesday night. msnbc prime starts right now. good evening. >> chris "all in" i remember everyday i think of it everyday. can't forget those words, so memorable. thank you so much.etse have ads great rest of your nig. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. we have breaking news to get to tonight. g "the washington post" just out with this brand new reporting, justice department investigating trump's actions in january 6 criminal probe. we will get details from carol len ig, one of the reporters who

broke that story and expert guidance on what that means. first, let's remember how we got here. today in washington for only the second time a federal judge sentenced a january 6th rioter to more than five years in prison. at 63 months, it is tied for the longest sentence ever imposed on a participant in the capitol attack. and it's not hard to see why. in screen shots taken from officer body cams on january 6th, this guy is seen swinging t pole at a police officer so hard it snaps in two on the officer's riot shield. so then the guy goes and finds another pole and starts swinging that one at officers. the officer he hit with the first pole the one he hit so hard, the pole snapped in two, that was capitol police sergeant, ganel. he gave emotional testimony about the horror of that day to the januarye 6th investigation last year. and today he testified at that rioter's sentencing hearing saying he suffered physical and

mental injuries from the attack that forced him to leave the police force. after the guy with the poles was arrested, he said he attacked the police officers that day because he believes donald at trump's lies about the stolen election. and after all, the then president sent a mob to the capitol to fight like hell. that was the last time donald trump gave a big speech in washington, d.c. the speech he riled up mob of supporters who he knew were armed and sent them to the sat by and then watched tv for hours while they stormed the place and attacked police officers, even as his advisers and his own family members begged him to do something to help. so no matter what, it was galling to learn that donald trump would be returning to washington, d.c. today to give a speech just ang mile and a half from the capitol. it is maddening to think he is show our face in our nation's capitol ever again. but it was particularly galling to use that speech to say this.

>> police officers are heroes, performing a great public service at great personal risk. werv must uphold our duty to protectup our police officers. our great police officers. they have to become our heroes. they are mine. police officers need to become our heroes. they are mine routinely describes the january 6th rioters great persecuted -- he will pardon the january 6th attackers who injured 150 police officers, smashing them with poles, spraying them with chemicals, crashing them in doorways. almost goes without saying that at today's speech trump once again repeated the lie that fueled all thatum violence that the 2020 election was stolen from him. but also today in washington as donald trump was back in town giving his first d.c. speech since january 6th, we heard from

the man who was in charge of prosecuting the more than 850 people charged in connection with january 6th. and may possibly at some point thinkan about prosecuting donal trump himself. attorney general merrick garland satp down for an exclusive interview with nbc's lester holt. >> you said in no uncertain terms the other dayin that no o is above the law. >> atyeah. >> that said, the indictment of a former president or perhaps candidate for president would arguably tear the country apart. is that your concern as you make your decision down the road here, do you have to think about things like that? >> look, we pursue justice without fear or favor. we intend to hold everyone, anyone, who is criminally responsiblene for the then surrounding january 6th for any attemptrr to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another accountable. that's what wera do.

we don't pay any attention to other issues with respect to that. >> well, on the t heels of thos comments from the attorney general, we have brand new reporting tonight that suggests the justice department investigation may indeed be heating s up.ve this is just out tonight "the washington post," quote, justice department investigating trump's actions in january 6th criminal probe. quote, j prosecutors who are questioning witnesses before a grand jury including two top aides to vice president mike pence, have asked in recent days about conversations with trump, his lawyers and others in his inner circle sought to substitute trump allies for certifiedte electors joe biden won-states. december 2020 and january 2021. his pressure campaign on fence to overturn the election and what instructions trump gave his lawyers and advisers about fake electorsened sending electors back to the states. some of the questions focussed

directly on the extent of trump's involvement in the fake-elector effort. in addition, justice department investigators in april received phone records of key officials andd aides in the trump administration, including his former chief of staff mark meadows. the degree of prosecutor's interest in trump's actions has not beenin previously reported r has the review of senior trump aides' phone records. look, this is a major escalation in what we understood about the justice department's investigation. and just the latest sign that that investigation may finally be gaining steam. last month federal agents in multiple states served grand jury subpoenas and executed search warrants related to the fake elector scheme, including searches of two key players in that scheme, trump lawyer john eastman and trump justice department official jeffrey clark. last week two top aides to former w vice president mike pee testified to a federal grand jury. the two highest ranking former white house officials known to have cooperated with federal

prosecutors. and just today, on top of that block buster reporting from the post, we have this new reporting from "the new york times" which obtained some trulyew damning emails among trump campaign officials relating to that fake elector scheme.al you'll recall the way the scheme was supposed to work. various states that biden won signed fake and in some cases forged elector certificates for trump, purporting to be the real and true electors from that state. in other words,d claiming that trump won their state when he did not. then they sent these fake elector certificates to washington with the hope that on january 6th, 2021, mike pence would use them to overturn biden's win and hand the election to trump. when we talk about this plot, we shorthand it as thee fake elecr scheme. now, republicans involved in the plan have maintained there was nothing problematic or illegal about it.le it was all above board and the electoral certificates were totally legit, but the emails obtained by the times reveal that even the lawyers and trump

campaign officials hatching the scheme referred to the electoral certificates as fake.sc this is an email to trump campaign officials from a lawyer helping to organize the pro-trump electors in arizona. quote, we would just send fake electoral votes to pence so someone in congress can make abobjection when they start counting votesma and arguing th fake votes should be counted. he then followed up with another email. quote, pps, alternative votes is probably a better term than fake votes. followed by a smiley face emoji. the emails show that everyone involved was reporting thdetail of their fake elector planning to trump's personal lawyer rudy giuliani inru one case to trump white house chief of staff, mark meadows. which once again brings all this activityon that is under investigational very, very clos to donald trump himself. which may help explain why as "the washington post" is reporting tonight, the justice department's january 6th investigation isti actively

looking into trump's actions. joining us now is carol leonnig, investigative reporter at "the washington post" the lead byline on this bomb shell piece of reporting to want.mb carol, thank you so much for being here. your reporting says the doj is investigating trump's action as part of its criminal probe into the attempt to overturn the te election. that's clearly not something that happens overnight. can you walk us through your reporting in terms of how this particular angle to the doj investigation has come about? >> yes. happy to do so. my colleagues and i learned some really interesting things about that road map of the what i call team trump investigation. you know,ha as you know, very, very well, the department of justice began almost on january 7th investigating the attack on the capitol. starting with the rioters who breached the building, who stormed the capitol, who assaulted law enforcement officers, who broke in

essentially, they were a mixture of trespassers and seditious con spearists according to the department of justice. but the criticism of merrick garland, our attorney general, and alsori the department of justice, has been the glacial pace it has turned its attention to another potential crime. and that is the way in which donald trump and his allies appeared at least on their face to be using fraudulent information, to be block and overturn the election results, to block our wonderful sacred tradition of the peaceful transfer of power. what we learned is that at least starting in eearly, spring, the turned forcefully towards team trump. a series of subpoenas that have to do with fake electors but more recently what we learned in the last few days, the last few hours to be fair, is that in april, the department of justice

obtained, sought and obtained, phone records, call data logs if will, for a series of trump aides,fo allies and senior officials in the white house. those phone records included the callson back and forth between l sorts of aides to trump who were with himso on january 6th. peopleim who were with him and overhearing what he was saying and taking orders from him after the election until january 6th and also include his chief of staff mark meadows, which is probably the most senior person whose records have been obtained.os that's in april before any january 6th hearings have taken place. in the meantime, what we learned is that they are asking most of their questions, at least so far, about donald trump. the questions overwhelmingly are what did donald trump tell his lawyers? what did donald trump saywh to umu? what did donald trump say to mike pence?

and those are questions asked in the very serious and formal environment of a grand jury. a granden jury that's preparings part of a criminal investigation for the possibility of charging people with crimes. >> so, carol, in you piece you describe two tracks of investigation in y your report. a track leading to potential seditious conspiracy charges and obstruction of an official proceeding on the one hand. and then anotheroc relating to fraud relating the fake elector scheme. do we know which track the justice department gathered more evidence and information on, leaningre particularly one way another? can we tell from their questioning? >> there are three different offices burrowing into these specific tracks. i don't know the answer to yourt question. i sure wish i did. i imagine they're full steam ahead on all of these tracks and that obviously, based on the grand jury witnesses who were brought in, the fake elector's

piece is perhaps further along than any other. and a keep in mind that when th justice department considers conspiracy, conspiracy can be an agreement between any number of people to try to accomplish some nefarious scheme using fraud, knowingly, intentionally defrauding people around them, the public, maybe an executive branch agency, using this agreement to try to execute thi scheme. but to be charged with this crime, you don't have to accomplish it. you just have to have that corrupt agreement. i would add one more thing to your good question, which is, our understanding is that this investigation is unusual in that it is looking at the potential crimes that are already obvious from the evidence right in fronb of our faces, the things people saw on television, the things the president said himself.

and that's an important thing to keep in mind. the crimes that are potentially obvious. i'll add one last thing -- sorry. go ahead. you ask. >> quick last question before we run out of time, i have to ask this, how much do we know about merrick garland's involvement? is this something he is personally overseeing, green lighting? and how much do we think the 1/6 committeeings ramped all this up. >> my understanding, though i don't know all the specifics, my understanding is he is briefed regularly on this. he has said over and over again that no one is above the law. they're going to follow the facts where they lead. but there are a lot of people quitee concerned about whetherr not merrick garland is as keen to prosecute what appears to be a crime. and worried about the precedent, right? it is not a small thing to consider prosecuting a former id president.

it's not okay ever to prosecute a sitting president, according to several legal memorandum. but to prosecute a former president is still a very seriousid matter, one that's never, ever taken before. so, there are people worried about whether or not merrick garland wants to be the first person to take that step in history. >> these are historic times. carol leonnig, investigative reporting at "the washington post." thank you so much for taking time out potonight. we appreciate it. >> honored to be here. it historic, that was the reaction to tonight's washington post story from coed tor in chief of just security and nyu law j professor ryan goodman. mark meadows has a ton of criminaloo exposure, doj could flip him. ryan goodman joins me now. ryan, thanks so much for coming on the show. let me start with a very important question for our viewers, you're a lawyer, you're a law professor, explain the

difference between investigating donald trump's actions as part of ati probe into january 6th a the election, and criminally investigating donald trump himself? >> it's a great question. my best sense is that it's very difficult for them to be investigating donald trump's actions without him either being ati subject or target of the investigation. bj that the just be reporters aren't able to nail that one down, especially if they'reat talking to folks who e witnesses or lawyers who are witnesses coming out of the grand jury. all they'll be able to say is they asked us a lot of questions about donald trump's actions, but they won't be able to say specifically what was the purpose behind that? did the prosecutors think that donald trump is just suspicious in hisat activity and is therefe a subject of the investigation? or have they moved all the way over to saying, he is a target. we think he committed crimes. now we're kind of mounting the case against him. >> so, you call this development historic. you also singled out mark

meadows' role in this, his is one of the phone records taken for review. you say the doj could flip meadows in order to gety him t turn on donald trump. it's the kind of language we heard during the mueller investigation, paul manafort, michael flynn. what crime would markat meadowse charged with or not charged with as part of any kind of deal to get him to flip? >> so i think one of the ways in which he's very criminally exposed of the very crimes carol leonnig outlined herself, the same crimesar he worked basical hand in hand with president trump. he ran point on some of these issues for the fake electors. he ran point on trying to influence pence as well. so the issue is that he has even greater exposure in some senses than trump because there's also evidence in the record from the january 6th committee that meadows knew trump lost. he says to bill barr. he told me. trump will come around because he understands that he lost.

meadows knew that pence didn't have the authority to do anything but count the votes. that's from mark short's testimony. so meadows has a lot of exposure for the core crimes. the justice department says we strike a deal with you. you flip and cooperate with us or provide you immunity and you cooperate with us. and give us everything you know about presidentan trump, the principal on all of these schemes. >> and how significant is it, in your view, two pence aides, mark short and greg jacob recently testified to a grand jury, two highest known white house officials to do so? >> i think it's incredibly significant. it means the investigators are going straight into the white house. according to "the wall street journal" reporting andth corroborated now with the washington post, thell question theob prosecutor are asking and asked specifically of jacob and short is about, for example, this january 4th meeting with president trump.

that's theua meeting where trums only lawyer to tell him the plan was legal in the meeting concedes it is illegal for pence to carry out this scheme. and that's what the prosecutors are asking these two very senior white house officials about. that's really means that this -- the prosecution and the investigation is very far along and hasig pierced all the way through into theon white house d some of the most important meetings. >> quick last question, 30 seconds left, merrick garland spoke to lester holt earlier today, said we're going to prosecute whoever is responsible. do you have confidence he is going -- he will go all the way if the evidence leads him to trump, which it seems to? >> i guess frankly i don't. i'm just not sure. i think we have to see what happens, especially because this investigation seems to have been so slow rolled at the beginning. it might well be that the reason the justice department is moving now is because the january 6th committee.is you know, "the washington post" report says these questionse. we asked only in the last few days.

ask ourselves why is that? we're 18 months after the incident of january 6th, why is it now the last few days? >> very good point. ryan goodman is a former special counsel at the department of defense, current coed tor in chief of just security, ryan, thank you for your time tonight. we appreciate it. ryan just mentioned the role of the 1/6 committee in all this. up next here tonight, congresswoman sow love grin will join us life to react to this breaking news. do not go away. we're just getting started.t do not go away we're just getting started

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we are back and continuing to follow tonight's breaking news. "the washington post" reports tonight that the department of justice is investigating former president donald trump's actions in the lead-up to january 6th as part of a criminal investigation. the post cites two people familiar with the situation who say the investigation is moving on two tracks. the first focuses on seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct a government proceeding, the kind of charges we have already seen brought against some of the right wing groups involved in the capitol attack. the second is focussed on potential fraud associated with the false elector scheme or with pressure trump and his allies alleged will put on the jus stis department and others to falsely claim the election was rig and votes were fraudulently cast. the news of this investigation into the former president comes after six weeks of damning public hearings by the january 6th committee detailing trump's role in the plot to overturn the

election. joining us now is member of the january 6th committee, zoe lofgren. thank you for joining us. i have to get your reaction to this washington post story that the justice department is investigating former president trump's actions as part of its january 6th criminal probe. >> well, i was as surprised as i think you were. obviously the department of justice doesn't report in to the january 6th committee. all we know at this point is what we read in the post article. however, it's very clear from the evidence we have presented that the former president bears responsibility. he summoned the mob. he knew they were armed. he sent them to the capitol to disrupt the electoral count. we know that he was involved in the fake elector scheme. remember when he got on the phone with the romney/the

republican chairwoman and handed it off. he want herd to talk about the fake elector scheme. so his hands are in this. i presume that the department of justice will be thorough and find perhaps even more evidence than we have found. >> so some are suggesting, including my guest in the previous segment, ryan goodman, your committee helped push the doj in this direction, there's been action because of hearing. "the washington post" reports they received key officials and phone records including mark meadows april before the january 6th public hearings started. what role do you think your committee's had in this investigation so far? >> well, it's impossible to know. i do know this, that we have played a role in helping wide swaths of the american public have a greater understanding of

what happened. >> yes. >> on january 6th. and the days leading up to it. what role it played in the doj investigation, it's not possible for us to know. >> so congresswoman, by my count, at least four of your colleagues on the committee, liz cheney, adam schiff, adam kinzinger and elaine lawyer ya, trump's conduct as revealed by the hearings does merit criminal investigation by the department of justice. is your view the same? >> sure. i think it does merit investigation. now, whether there's sufficient evidence to get a conviction, that's for the prosecutors to weigh. but there's certainly much that needs to be looked at in great detail by the department of justice. no question about that. >> so, one issue that's been a point of debate and merrick garland, the attorney general speaking to lester holt earlier today, addressed it, the idea of

a criminal referral from your committee to the doj. he said, well, you know, it's up to the committee. it's not going to affect their investigation. i know some committee members are torn on this. have you changed your view on that? should the committee make a definitive statement at the end of these hearings, at the end of your work, on whether there should be a criminal referral to the doj based on what you discovered? >> we actually haven't had a big discussion on that as a committee, as the attorney general mentioned there's no real statute that provides for a so-called criminal referral. that doesn't mean we shouldn't send a letter and give them our viewpoint. you know, i don't know what the committee will decide, but i'm confident that it will be after we've got a little bit more of the evidence that is still coming in, witnesses still being interviewed. and as with everything in this committee, we'll have a thorough discussion and it's been a good experience because, you know,

we've got members who start out in one position but we listen to each other. we evaluate the evidence. sometimes we're persuaded by our colleagues. there's been no acrimony. we generally reach a consensus. i imagine we will do so in this case as well. >> last quick question, we're almost out of time but i have to ask about secret service email. you said you have quite a few concerns about the secret service on the "late show" with steven colbert last night, jamie raskin he didn't buy that the secret service inadvertently lost those text messages. if that's the case, what does that say about our secret service, pretty key security institution? what should people think about their role in the middist midst of an attempted coup. >> i have concerns there is information we asked for for almost a year that is only recently been produced and in

some cases, you know, what we got they knew that we had from another source. they dumped hundreds of thousands of documents on us this morning that we have asked for for almost a year. so, there's some troubling behavior patterns here. i'm also concerned about the actions of the inspector general. he sat on this stuff for months and months and months as well. and now he has ordered the department to stop the forensic analysis of the phones, which we need. we need that to happen. so there's a lot of questions here. i hope that we can get answers to all of them. >> we'll have to leave it there. we're out of time. california congresswoman, member of the january 6th committee, zoe lofgren, thank you for your time. i appreciate it. >> thank you.

republican congressman matt gaetz went out of his way to bash mike pence's chance at a presidential run in 2024. the vice president's former chief of staff didn't have any trouble offering up this pretty stinging response. >> well, i don't know if mike pence will run for president 2024, but i don't think matt gaetz will have an impact on that. in fact, i would be surprised if he's still voting. it's more likely he'll be in prison for child sex trafficking in 2024 and i'm surprised florida law enforcement still allows him to speak to teenage conferences like that. so, i'm not too worried about matt gaetz. >> ouch. now, that pence deputy is the same man who is now speaking behind closed doors to doj prosecutors, oh to be a fly on that wall. the top figures in pence world don't seem to have a problem calling out trump or his minions, pence himself is taking an entirely different stance. that's next. minions, pence himself is taking

away things. an entirely different stance that's next. ♪ ♪ that's our thing. ♪ ♪

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and i differ on issues. but we may differ on focus. >> thank you, sir. may i have another? that was former vice president pence today answering questions during a speech to young conservatives in d.c. those comments come less than a month since we heard this damning january 6th testimony from a former top aide to donald trump's chief of staff mark meadows about trump's reaction to the mob chanting hang mike pence that day. >> i remember pat saying something to the effect of, mark, we need to do something mark. they're literally calling for the vice president to be f'ing hung. and mark had responded something to the effect of, you heard it, pat. he thinks mike deserves it. he doesn't think they're doing anything wrong. >> he thinks mike deserves it. he doesn't think they're doing anything wrong. since then we have also heard evidence about how members of pence's security detail feared for their lives that day and

were calling loved ones to say good-bye. yet today, there was mike pence saying once again that he and trump don't differ on issues. they just differ on focus. like how donald trump was focussed on sitting back and allowing a violent mob to almost kill mike pence and his security detail. and mike pence is focussed on talking about anything else but that? still, while pence may be doing his best to forget about the events of january 6th, the people who were around him that day don't have that same luxury. within the last 24 hours we learned that two of mike pence's senior advisers, marc short and greg jacobs both now testified before a federal grand jury part of the justice department's investigation into january 6th. as mike pence tries to rehabilitate himself among the denson's of maga land, his former aides actively cooperated with the federal investigation

into 1/6. what does that mean for mike pence himself? joining us now is politics reporter at yahoo news who covered mike pence since his time at governor of indiana and author of "piety and power." thank you for being here, tom. you know more about mike pence and his inner circle than any other reporter. do you think those two aides got mike pence's blessing before testifying for the justice department grand jury? >> definitely. that's a tight knit circle. one of the tightest operations i have ever covered. nothing happens without the boss's approval. my guess is absolutely. nobody confirmed that, but if you're seeing marc short testify, he's the only person closer to pence than marc short is karen pence. >> we all know how mike feels about karen pence. in your piece about mike pence for yahoo news, you quote a top trump adviser keeping tabs on pence who said of the former vice president, quote, they're

very strategic about when he pops his head up. his path to the white house f he has one and i argue he does not, do exactly what he's been doing. what do you think that aide meant by that? what is mike pence doing right now? and does he have a chance of being the 2024 republican nominee? i feel like i have more of a chance of being the gop presidential nominee than mike pence? >> i mean, the field is open. you might as well. as it goes with pence, yeah. he does have a chance. but the tension here for him in particular is how does he address this? another thing that happened today is they released the title and the cover of his book coming out november 15th. it's about the oath of office. so help me god. it hints at this. and the publisher apparently is counting on him to actually talk about january 6th. yet he himself is not. again today you referred to as, quote, that tragic day.

and he has not come to terms with this. and so, that trump adviser in particular was referring to was saying that pence keeps on drafting on this. he keeps on drafting on january 6th. he keeps getting the free attention. the thing is he hasn't been forced to talk about january 6th. he hasn't been forced to talk about this. the closest that we get, and thank god for these student questions, the closest we get are these students who get up there and say, hey, what's up? and he kind of gives an answer. or something close to that. more than we typically get from him. >> yeah. i worry about the state of our democracy when conservative students asking former vice president good questions. thank you for your time tonight. thank you for taking my questions. >> thank you. far right conspiracy theorist alex jones pedalled lies about the sandy hook for years. now a jury will decide how much he owes.

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if you want to be bamboozled lose your first amendment and lose your seventh amendment and go ahead. you're having your rights to a trial by jury to decide if you're guilty or innocent stolen from you. this is a kangaroo court, a witch hunt. >> that was alex jones speaking to the media during a break in his trial today. the far right conspiracy theorist is on trial for defamation in austin, texas.

a jury is considering how much jones owes to the parents of the victims of the 2012 sandy hook elementary school shooting. you'll recall that jones spent years falsely claiming the deadly mass shooting of 20 first graders and six faculty members was a hoax, staged by the federal government in an effort to push gun control and take american's guns away, thus subjecting grieving families to threats and torment at the hands of conspiracy theorists believed these sandy hook families were lying that their own children were not murdered. neil and scarlett are the parents of jessie lewis, just 6 years old when he was murdered. they're expected to testify about the suffering, accusations and threats they have endured after jones suggested his recollection of his son's death was false. the parents of noah had to move a dozen times after jones' followers posted their addresses and other personal information online. they will testify at a second trial in september in austin.

also in september, a third trial against jones in connecticut where the families of eight other victims will testify. alex jones has since acknowledged the shooting did indeed take place, but now he insists he isn't responsible for the subsequent trauma these families faced. jones claims it's his first amendment right to question this tragedy. it's my right to say it. i can question big pr events like sandy hook, major anomalies and, quote, they're using sandy hook and they're using the victims and their families a way to get rid of free speech in america. that's the plan. in fact, when jones arrived at the courthouse today he had over his mouth a piece of tape that said save the first. along with a plug for his website, of course. alex jones could have to pay the parents of jessie lewis up to $150 million in damages in this trial. his lawyer fears it could put his info wars business in financial ruin. what a tragedy that would be. and remember, it's just the

first of three cases. we'll see how the other two cases in september go for him. watch this space. cases in september gd it turns l is a quality insurance company that's been saving people money for nearly 60 years. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage - go with the general. o for him. and nearly 60 years of quality coverage - just like we will. join the fight at alz.org/walk watch this space

i can tell you that the secretary is deeply appreciative of the opportunity to meet with the family. not only was she an american citizen, she was a reporter whose fearless pursuit of the truth earned her the profound respect of audiences around the world. >> that was state department spokesperson ned price today as his boss, secretary of state antony blinken, was meeting of the family of sha shir reno. her death parked outrage across the globe in no small part because palestinian officials and eyewitnesses accuse the israeli military of

intentionally shooting her while the israeli government at one point claimed that a palestinian shooter killed her, if the israeli military shot her, it was not intentional. by the way, she was wearing a protective vest with the word, press on the front in big, bold capital letters when she was shot. on july 4th, the u.s. state department released this statement about the results of the u.s. investigation of her death they say the israeli military was, quote, likely responsible for her death but a badly damaged bullet, quote, prevented a clear conclusion. finally the state department found no reason to believe this was intentional, but rather the result of tragic circumstances. abu ccoleaccole's family took i. they were able to conclude from their investigations that the israeli military was, in fact, responsible for shireen's killing.

when president biden was the middle east, her family was hoping to get face time with him, but that never materialized. so they decided to come to washington, d.c. to meet with his administration in person. they were still unable to meet with president biden who is still in isolation, as he recovers from covid, but they did meet with the secretary of state. after that meeting with secretary blinken today, abu akleh's niece tweeted, quote, secretary blinken told us he has a duty to protect every u.s. citizen. we will hold him to this. nothing short of a u.s. investigation that leads to real accountability is acceptable and we won't stop until no other american or palestinian family endures the same pain we have. joining us now is lina abu accole, the niece of shireen who was shot dead in the occupied west bank. lina, thank you for being here tonight. i want to start by saying, of course, we are so sorry for your loss. how was your meeting about your aunt with secretary blinken today? did you find it productive? >> thank you so much for having

me. honestly, it was what we expected. secretary blinken reiterated the same talking points, the same points stated in the statement they released on 4th of july. there were no promises, no commitments other than the fact they will be more transparent with us moving forward. however, at this point, what we're looking for is meaningful action, what we're looking for is accountability. we expressed our demands and our concerns. and we asked for an investigation by the u.s. administration and we asked for accountability. i mean, it's the least thing they could do for an american citizen. >> what does accountability look like? what specifically would you want joe biden and antony blinken to do here?

>> we would like accountability as in holding the israeli government accountable, holding the soldier who pulled the trigger accountable by imprisoning him. holding the person who gave the order accountable and also the entire system that perpetuate this kind of violence, this kind of killing, to be held accountable. there needs to be an end to this impunity that the israeli government continues to enjoy. >> and you met with members of congress today, pramila jayapal. do you believe members of congress can put pressure on the government to get this done? >> yes, of course. that's why we are here. that's why we came to d.c. to also thank them for their continuous support and to continue to ask from them to support our efforts to achieving accountability and justice.

and most importantly, not only were we not satisfied by the statement that they released on fourth of july and the way they have been handling shootings, murders, even senators and members of congress are also not satisfied. so this should say something. this shows the lack of support, the lack of urgency the u.s. administration has shown in this case. >> ten seconds left. just tell us one thing about your aunt for our audience. tell us something about your late aunt. >> shireen was full of grace, full of compassion. she was full of love and she enjoyed life. she was the voice of palestine, voice of truth. shireen at the end of the day she was a human being. she humanized the palestinian story and we owe it to her to achieve justice. >> again, we are so sorry for your loss, lina. we thank you for taking time out

to speak with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. thank you. that is all for me tonight. we will be back here again tomorrow. i'll be back here again tomorrow. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is coming up next. ♪♪ the justice department has from the beginning been moving urgently to learn everything we can about this period and to bring to justice everybody who is criminally responsible for interfering with the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another, which is the fundamental element of our democracy. >> attorney general merrick garland addressing criticism that the department of justice is not moving fast enough in its investigation of january 6th. we have new reporting from "the washington post" that says that federal prosecutors have now turned their attention to donald trump. meanwhile, the former president made his first trip back to washington since leaving office. in a long-winded speech he hit some