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♪ the insurance company wasn't fair. i didn't know what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. i was hit by a car and needed help. i called the barnes firm, that was the best call i could've made. i'm rich barnes. it's hard for people to know how much their accident case is worth. let our injury attorneys help you get the best result possible. >> i'm ayman. ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ alex has the night off. it's four days into his presidency, and eight days after he fired fbi director james comey, donald trump learned that robert mueller had been pointed special counsel. his campaign is in the 15 election. he reportedly told to close advisers at the time, quote, oh my god. this is terrible and this is the end of my presidency, i am effed. this is those who wanted to see the

indictment against then president. but, they welcomed it. they welcomed with open arms. then, he saw robert mueller's or traditional knight in shining armor. finally, someone who would hold trump to account. after nearly two years, after 37 indictments, after trump doing everything in his power to discredit the special counsel. after all of that, you know how this ends. trump, for a lack of a better term, got off. a large part of that narrative, of trump being vindicated, well, that was set when trump's close ally, and attorney general at the time, bill barr, effectively, and he kept the report before was published. he downplayed their finding, and said that mueller found nothing. despite the report being one of the most

damning indictments of a president, ever. it documented no fewer than ten instances where trump obstructed justice. the mueller probe, ultimately, resulted in no recommendation of charges for then president. not today. the former president, holding the unique title of being the subject of not one, but to special counsel investigations. today's announcement by attorney general, merrick garland, to appoint the special counsel's overseeing two scrolling investigations into the former president was, as you can imagine, met with a more mixed reaction. they fear that some will delay the investigation, those, of course, being trump's handling of classified white house documents, and his role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including inciting that violent mob on january the 6th. there are others who see it as, essentially, a capitulation in trump's earlier decision to launch a 2024 campaign. but, no one really knows what will happen here.

the only thing that we know, for sure, is that attorney general, merrick garland, believes that facts demand in the special counsel. listen. >> the department of justice, long recognizing, in certain, extraordinary cases, it is in the public interest to appoint a special prosecutor to, independently, manager prosecution. based on these recent developments, including the former president's announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election, and the sitting president stated intention to be a candidate as well, i have concluded, it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel. i strongly believe, the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity. and, i also believe, that appointing a special counsel, at this time, is the right thing to do. the extraordinary circumstances, presented here, demand it. >> now, despite garland's efforts to oversee the interest of appearance,

trump, and his allies today, immediately began to slam the appointment. trump tonight, calling the appointment, a witch hunt, at an event at mar-a-lago. >> the corrupt, and highly political justice department just appointed to a super radical, left, special counsel. this is a rigged deal, just like the 2020 election was rigged. >> meanwhile, his allies in right-wing media, immediately, started to attack garlands choice as well. jackson, with a highly respected prosecutor in his own right, and doj, veteran will take over the day to day management of both investigations. it is important to be clear here, the final decision of whether or not that donald trump will face charges in those criminal cases, that final decision, in both of those cases, will, ultimately, still be up to merrick garland. so, what does this mean for the two justice department investigations going forward? how did we get here? where do

we go from here? joining us now, mary mccord, former top official in the justice department national security division. great to have you with, us mary. let's start with jack smith, for a moment. he will oversee both investigations, even though they are not technically related. some may question, whether that is a significant caseload. those two sprawling investigations. does that make sense to you, or were you surprised by that decision? >> i think that merrick garland, and their first investigation is whether they will be unlawful interference is the transfer of presidential power, or the certification of votes in the 2020 election. that is the investigation that may have driven this decision more than the mar-a-lago investigation. that one, inherently, more political by nature. we are talking about investigating a former president, while running for president, against the

incumbent president, who ran against him the last time. in terms of the extraordinary circumstances, particularly created when president trump announced former president trump would be running, they are part of what drove this. so, i think, once doing it, having jack smith, also, be council for the mar-a-lago investigation which, at least, based on public reporting, appears to be much further along. it is a much more discreet investigation, it is not a sprawling, and so that makes sense to have them both. he is going to be a very busy man. >> would you expect a decision, on either case, to be made separate, and apart from one another? or would they be made in tandem? can you anticipate a scenario in which there are, potential, charges filed in one, but not both? >> i can. i think that whatever reaches a decision point first, when all of the facts, and

evidence have been tracked down, when the legal analysis has been finished, and when the attorneys, who are now assigned to work with the special counsel, feel that they are ready to make a charging decision. i feel, that case, whichever one it is, and i do expect that decision will come earlier in the mar-a-lago case, will make their decision at that time to move forward. the agents investigating, and the prosecutors working on these two cases, for the most part, will be separate. the only real common individual to this will be jack smith, himself, and so there is no reason to tie them together. certainly, they would not be tried together if there were indictments and both. they would be separate, in any court case, and so really, there is no reason to link them. >> there has been criticism of merrick garland, that perhaps, he is doing too much by the book, to avoid this political perception. trump, and his allies, as we have seen tonight

have, already started to attack jack smith. why do all of this to avoid the appearance of conflict? they attempt to make sure that nothing appears to be politicized. when republicans want to politicize this, republicans will say, there is -- you know, politics and everything that merrick garland is doing. >> it is interesting. some of the coverage you were showing, at the top of the hour, it seems like the former president is trying to use this, to make it more political, when the reason for the decision was to, actually, take the decision-making -- i will come back to that, out of the hands of political appointees of the department of justice, putting that decision-making in the hands of a career prosecutor, never a political appointee, in jack smith. it is absolutely wrong for former president trump to accuse him of being a radical, leftist, liberal, prosecutor. there is no basis for that. everyone involved in

this investigation now, and both investigations under jack smith, are career prosecutors. the people were politically appointed by president biden, and they will not be a part of the chain of this decision-making, with one exception, which you alluded to, a conclusion of the special counsel in that investigation, they will make a report, recommending charges, and recommending not to bring charges. so, that report, the attorney general can accept, or can disagree with certain recommendations. really, under the special counsel regulations, should not be refusing a recommendation by the special counsel, unless he thinks it is inappropriate, or unwarranted. so, even though you are right, ultimately, this will go together for who is a political appointee. he is subject to those regulations which, really, put this independents here. he is not to overrule the special counsel unless unwarranted, or inappropriate. then, you must report any overruling to congress. so, there is a fair bit of independence built into

the special counsel regulations, and i expect the attorney general will abide them by the tee. >> speaking of those different investigations, you have the investigation into january 6th and, that was going on for 22 months. that had been dug up as a result of the congressional investigation. the mar-a-lago investigation is much newer, relatively recent, and is generally seen as more of an easier case to bring forward. how does that change the work of the special counsel? how do they go about dividing the resources for each when you think of what is alleged in the january 6th investigation? the cover-up, the potential coup, the alleged coup, january 6th -- sorry, the november document

removal. >> part of this comes back to the fact that these investigations are ongoing. they already have teams of investigators that the fbi, and prosecutors working on these cases. as well, other law enforcement partners. really, what will happen, is it will be a shift of those teams to be under jack smith, as opposed to report through the chain that they have been reporting up through. the mar-a-lago investigation, reporting up to the national security addition, and assistant attorney general, matt olson, by the deputy attorney general, merrick garland. the january six related investigation, coming up through the criminal division. the assistant attorney general, they can be from their. they will have their teams, they don't have to worry about creating new teams, and i will also point out, when you point to the investigation regarding january 6th, the attorney general made it clear, all of the investigation, and prosecution, of people who are physically present, and participating in the attack on the capitol, those will remain being investigated, and

prosecuted, by the district of columbia. there was the one who brought the 900 cases so far, many of which, already resolved, or through trials. every trial has -- jury trial, has resulted in conviction. so, that will remain there. what the special counsel will take over is the investigation works higher up. at least monaco, the deputy attorney general announced many months ago, they are looking into the fraudulent elector scheme. this scheme to send fake slates of electors, slates of electors for donald trump, who did not win the popular vote, in several swing states. sending those up to the vice president, as part of this scheme tampa vice president except those, instead of the legitimate electoral ballots, or, to reject them entirely, and send us back to the state for, essential, a redo. that scheme is tied into who, higher up, within trump's orbit, was

part of promoting that. was part of trying to convince the former president through pressure. vice president pence into taking the action that was desired there. and, potentially, any other conspiratorial type activity that might have taken place. >> former top official in the justice department's national security division, thank you so much for your time, and insights, tonight. i appreciate it. let's bring into the conversation, katie better, the reporter covering the justice department for the new york times. katie, great to have you with us on such a fast moving day. i want to quote some of your reporting from out earlier tonight. you write in part, attorney general, merrick garland, as long said that the justice department could handle any investigation of former president, donald trump, by strictly following the rule of law. trump upended garland's approach by, formally, announcing his 2024 right house run. the ongoing investigation was recast as an investigation by president biden's justice department into a top political

rival. the perceived conflict of interest that garland could not overcome. so, is merrick garland letting donald trump dictate the terms of these investigations? >> i think mark arland would say, is he's following the regulations that are before him, as the attorney general. so, as you see the statute, that oversees special counsel's, they're overseeing conditions that need to be met for the attorney general to appoint a special counsel. one is a conflict of interest for the department to, and to is that it is in the public interest. he found that both of those things were met in this instance, in part, because we are not talking about president biden's political rival in, an upcoming presidential election. one of the questions before the justice department, speaks directly to the legitimacy of the 2020 election, in which biden, and trump, fought very hard for a win. as we know, president biden won, and president trump's continued to say, that was an illegitimate

win. he has continued to foment that falsehood. however, part of what will be litigated in this investigation, leads the january 6th piece of that, is whether or not those claims were criminal. those speak, directly, to the legitimacy of the current president. it was just too complicated, or just too much for garland. we felt that the special counsel regulations had to be involved. >> did you get a sense, from your sources, that there was any disagreement, or conversation, at all, within the justice department? among senior officials, about whether or not to appoint a special counsel was the right approach? >> ultimately, the decision is garland's. it is the attorney general who comes to this conclusion. interestingly, long before we had any inkling what garland would do, there was reports of cnn, and other publications within the new york times, that there are people at lower levels of the justice department tour starting to talk about, whether or not, they would need to

appoint a special counsel. simply because it became clear, and clear, that trump would run. the conversation, happening with garland, and his closest aides, was happening independent of what we had reported. the census, one, the decision is his, but that nobody disagreed. basically, in this tight circle of his closest advisers, people read the special counsel statute, they look at the situation before them, they looked at the state of the investigation, and felt this was the choice that needed to be made. >> donald trump is, already, responding tonight, slamming the special counsel in saying, he will not partake in the special counsel's investigation. how will that play out? have you gotten any sense of whether or not, based on your reporting, that is something that the special counsel, for the department of justice, intends -- plans to pursue? >> i don't think that matters to the special counsel. i think it was clear that donald trump was not going to participate in criminal investigations of him. i think they're taking place of the u.s. department in d. c. at, the national security division, here in washington. that is not

a particularly new posture, but donald trump is very good, i think, with very current events that are taking its way. it is very clear that they are under siege, and under fire, and he is taking a proactive stance against these oppressive forces within them and, the federal government, which they were described, as a deep state. whether or not they would cooperate, it's not really a big change from what we would've expected from him, should there be no special counsel. >> i know it is early on, but can you tell us about the kind of resources that jacques mid will give to give this job? he is simultaneously investigating to different instances, probably where we needed a lot of resources. >> as mary pointed out earlier, he is working with existing teams. one of the important things about having a special counsel, is that all of the politically appointed people, who president biden chose with various versions of the justice department, they were removed from the justice department. it

is the korean department that had been working on these cases. it was working on, likely, in some passion to work with jack. and, you also see the same investigators, who investigated teams. he can bring an outside counselor, sir prosecutors, pulling people from other u.s. attorneys offices, which we have seen in previous special counsel investigations including durham, and mueller, they can raise their hand to say, that they want to help, and could be approved to detail over. he will, likely, already have a bit of man power, and has the ability to ask the attorney general for more resources, and money, as needed. >> katie better, reporter for the justice department from the new york times. thank you for your time tonight, i greatly appreciate it. >> thank you. >> much more ahead tonight. just to is jack smith? the new special counsel. what can his career tell us about what to expect in his new role? matt miller, former chief justice department spokesperson under president obama joins us next to speak about that, and more. only three weeks since elon

musk took over twitter but, boy, it seems to be falling apart. that is ahead.

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this represents a last chance for justice, for a vast number of victims. unfortunately, two others, this is viewed as something to be distrusted. and, therefore, attacked. >> jack smith, the prosecutor who attorney general, merrick garland, just appointed a special counsel to investigate, former president donald trump. that was him, a year ago, prosecuting literal war crimes, at the international criminal court. now, smith used to be rather distrusted, or attacked for his work, and he started his career in 1994, as an assistant district attorney, the new york da's office. there, he prosecuted everything from

gang murders, to civil rights violations, and then in 2008, smith got, what he described, as a dream job. working at the international criminal court. who is there, you oversaw estimations into government officials, militia members, war crimes, genocide, you name it. that kind of highly, politically sensitive, tough work, was what jackson mid sought out. he ended up talking to the u.s., when he landed a dream job, as head of the justice department's public integrity unit. since then, smith has worked out a host of politically sensitive cases that have brought a lot of criticism, and pressure, from both sides of the aisle. in fact, he investigated democratic senators like john edwards, and bob menendez, and republican congressman, and politicians, like vernon buchanan, and richard frenzy. he successfully prosecuted former republican governor, bob mcdonald, only to see that conviction vacated by the supreme court. but, smith's resume here, and is important

to note, is a bit of a double edged sword. on one hand, he has a long history of working on cases that have been politicized, trump, and his allies, will no doubt use that to try and hurt his credibility, and paint him as biased, but, on the other hand, it means that jack smith has been in a lot of tough positions, like this one, before. when he took that public integrity unit joe back in 2010, the new york times asked smith if he considered politics one bringing prosecutions forward. he answered that question by saying, if i were the sort of person who could be cowed, i would find another line of work. joining us, matt miller, former spokesman for the justice department during the obama administration. matt, thank you for being here. it is great to talk to you about this and more. when reporting first, broke earlier this month, that the justice department was considering a special counsel for these trump cases, you tweeted out, that was unnecessary, inadvisable, and

hopefully, not under serious consideration. unfortunately, here we are. unnecessary, inadvisable, and hopefully not under serious consideration. is that still you how you feel today? >> it is. i don't think that this was necessary, but i do think that the attorney general is well-intentioned here. i believe i know what he's trying to accomplish. i believe he made this choice because he knows where this going and likely where this is going. if you're going to climb the prosecution, you don't really need the special prosecutor, because no one will question that merrick garland was making a biased decision, in declining to bring a case against donald trump. i suspect he thinks this case will end in prosecution. so, trump is trying to buttress that prosecution in the public eye, by appointing a special prosecutor who will be seen to have integrity, and independents, and not someone who is appointed by joe biden.

so, i do have concerns, but i think you are well-intentioned here. from reading a little bit in between what you're saying, he is so confident that what the special prosecutor will see, will lead him to recommend a prosecution, that merrick garland has given himself the appearance, at least, of this non political figure, that can make that recommendation, giving it one more layer of confidence when a criminal charge is filed in, either of these cases. >> i think that's right, which is not at all to say that jack smith is a rubberstamp. he will come in, look at the evidence, make his own judgments, but i think i can't imagine that the attorney general, or deputy attorney general, will do anything but supervise this case very closely, already. reading through the case, being briefed on it in detail. so, they must know where this case of is heading. i can tell you, by looking at public evidence, it looks like the prosecution is likely, but we aren't privy to everything they can see. as a result of the search warrant, that they have execute it. i do

have some concerns about the appointment. one, the attorney general addressed it today, there is a potential for a delay, he said that he will make sure that he is confident that there won't be any delay, and it is up to him to enforce it. and the way of the prosecution will be a year from indictment. it is interacting with the primary election counter, and it is clear that this would take place quickly. but the other concern i have, and you see it today, in the reaction to this appointment, is that while the attorney general is going to de politicize this case by making disappointment. i believe that, it further, politicizes it. i think that donald trump always benefits from turning everything into a circus. the way to stay out of the circus, is to not buy a ticket. so, i think instead of elevating the stature, or elevating the profile of the prosecutor bringing this case, it would have been better to let regular

line assistant, u.s. attorneys, continue doing their work, and treat donald trump like everyone else is treated. not giving him a foil to attack. that being said, if this case is brought in three months, we may look back at all of this gnashing of teeth by the former president, by republicans of congress, all for not, and in any event. >> we know that republicans, and we saw a bit of this tonight, if not by name, certainly, by position, which i suspect, by name, will grow in the coming days, weeks, and months. do you think that what we saw the republicans use, as a playbook against the bob mueller's special counsel investigation, a few years ago. do you think it was successful in attacking, and undermining the mueller probe? do you think that this will be used, again, to discredit jackson eight? >> i think it was successful and raising doubts amongst the 40%, or 35, or 45, or whatever it is. the hard-core trump people, who watch fox news, read conservative media, and won't believe that the former president broke the law, no matter what the evidence of this. so, the playbook he ran

against bob mueller was successful in convincing those people. i believe he can convince the same about jack smith, and merrick garland, or really anyone else. ultimately, i think that will be irrelevant to the disposition of the case. i believe that republicans, in congress, will try to attack the justice department, will subpoena records, and try to bring people from the department in for interviews, to try to interfere with this case. i suspect that they will follow long-standing precedent and, we'll tell them to go pound sand. they had no business interfering with an ongoing federal investigation. they will have political goals, in trying to use this investigation to strengthen his standing in the republican party,. and strengthen his standing with the primary electorate. ultimately, it will have little bearing on what happens inside of the justice department and on their decision whether to bring charges or not.

>> matt miller, former chief spokesman for the justice department during the obama administration, always a pleasure. greatly appreciate your time tonight. >> thank you. >> still ahead, this hour, it hasn't even been a month since the world's richest man bought to her. things are not looking so good for elon musk's newest investment. details, next, on the chaos at twitter, and why it is worrisome to the rest of us. stay with us. with us ♪ music (“i swear”) plays ♪ jaycee tried gain flings for the first time the other day... and forgot where she was. [buzz] you can always spot a first timer. gain flings with oxi boost and febreze. psst! psst! with flonase, allergies don't have to be scary.

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view outside of twitter headquarters, last night. a projected scroll of phrases, next to elon musk's name. phrases like, supreme parasite, mediocre man child, apartheid profiteer, and bankruptcy baby. those insults, appearing hours after elon musk's deadline for remaining employees to decide their fate to commit, quote, work extremely hard-core on twitter two point oh. which, apparently, means long hours, at high intensity, or collect your three months of severance, and leave the company. he, reportedly, suspended everyone's access to the building until monday while they made their decisions. fortune magazine reports, last night, as many as 1200 of them opted to leave. that includes critical engineers. so, just 2000 staffers remain, and, presumably, are working extremely hard core to keep the platform from crumbling. many, now former employees, doubt that they will be successful. one former executive put it, they will struggle just to keep the lights on. in fact, the

site experienced outages in the u.s. today. we should note, many staffers on the team dedicated to preventing outages resigned yesterday. already, and it was staying early this morning and the remains of his engineering team were saying, anyone who can actually write software, please, report to the tenth floor at 2 pm today. thanks, elon. now, that lift employees a little confused. musk previously told them, they would not have access to the building, and we would not return until monday. the platform that millions of us use in hanging on by a thread, is hanging on by a thread, excuse me, as musk figures out how to avoid filing for bankruptcy. in fact, musk announced a series of additional changes today, and included things like the boosting, negative tweets and, arbitrarily reinstating previously banned accounts. without providing his reasoning or explanation. so far, not including the former president, but, if musk ever decides to bring trump back, will he have any employees left to follow that order? joining us now, brandy zadrozny, the senior reporter who has been following every twist, and turn, of the story. brandi, thank you for being here tonight. every day, at the story feels crazier, and crazier, and moves quite

rapidly. when musk decided to restore the accounts of comedian kathy griffin, canadian podcast, or jordan peterson, and right leaning satire site, babylon bee, he did not give an explanation, or a logic, or reasoning for it. he did, arbitrarily, it seems. a few hours ago, he created a twitter poll asking followers of trump should be reinstated. what does it mean for policy decisions like which accounts are suspended, and which are not to be made by the winds of one man rather than, clearly, outlined this policy? >> you just said it. the problem with these moods is that every rule is capriciously made by this billionaire. he has called for a content moderation council. i

am not sure what that means, but whatever it does, it doesn't matter, because it is just him. he is acting like god. seemingly with little thought, or care, about the repercussions of these actions. just to talk about the repercussions of these actions, it is important to look at who he brought back today. the people he brought back, babylon bee, and jordan peterson, shows what his focus right now. that is, to reverse policy untrained's hate speech, and harassment. seemingly, it is now allowed, as of tonight, with the suspensions. those

accounts have been suspended for misgendering trans people. that is all happening in a time when attacks, and harassment, against trans people on this platform, and of, is as bad as it has ever been. it is extending to caregivers, two allies, and it is out of control. this is one of the first reversals he is making. it does say something about where his priorities lie. >> the mosque, also, announced that he would, to quote, d boost, demonetized negative hate tweets. he did not provide his definition of a negative tweet. people were asking him about what constitutes a negative tweet. do we have any updates about what this means, and how he will implement it with what is, now, a miniature staff? >> those are good questions. i am not sure what a negative tweet means. i think, for any of us who spent time on twitter, if you try to de-boost all of the negative tweets, then twitter will be a quiet place. it is capricious. it is at the whims of his whims. the bigger

question that you raise is how will they decide what is negative, or what is hateful? he has gutted their entire trust, and safety team. his trust and safety team leader quote, earlier this week, writing an op-ed for the new york times that said, you don't need a trust and safety department when all of the thinking that goes into policy is whatever you feel like that day. so, yes, it is a big problem. they have no way to moderate the platform. they were doing a poor job before, and now, there is no way. >> let me ask you quickly about the outages. some reported today, a tech journalist wrote, such outages are possible, and used to happen all the time. she advised people to be on guard for hacking, especially if their credit card information linked to their accounts. how should people prepare for elon's twitter two point oh? >> i mean -- the platform is not safe with elon musk at the helm. that is not just me

saying that, that is experts from people in the media like kara, to privacy experts. they have lost all of the employees who have used to be in charge of privacy. all who used to be in charge of security. all of those people are gone. if you want to see terms of safety, it's not just our personal privacy, and safety, we need to be concerned about. twitter is a place where it was the public square, especially for places outside of the u.s.. those are going as well. the whole of africa, most of mexico, india, so what happens to those places is those people rely on twitter to at least organized, and advocate. twitter has become a much more dangerous platform, in many ways. >> i'm thinking of the safety of protesters in places like iran, and elsewhere, who rely on it for safe, and secure, communication. we will see what happens. nbc news senior reporter, thank you so much for your time tonight. still ahead, u.s. intelligence services say saudi arabia's crown prince was responsible for the murder of washington post reporter, jamal khashoggi.

now, the u.s. government says, mbs has immunity in a lawsuit that was filed against him. what with the turnaround? the washington post reporter, and khashoggi's former coworker, is here to report. ♪ ♪ ♪♪ voltaren. the joy of movement. ♪♪ i recommend nature made vitamins because i trust their quality. they were the first to be verified by usp...

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doubt that the man who murdered khashoggi did so under direct approval of the crown prince, but today when khashoggi's fiancée is trying to seek damages in the u.s. court, we get this. quote, biden administration says saudi prince has immunity in khashoggi killing lawsuit. the same u.s. government that the term and mohammed bin salman's responsible for killing khashoggi is now saying he qualifies for immunity. and the argument is that this is, quote, purely a legal determination because the crown prince was named prime minister back in september. so technically, he is the head of government. but he's been the de facto leader for as long as i can remember, and by saudi arabia's own standards of this move is unprecedented. the title of prime minister has traditionally rested with the king. even more curious, envious receive the title three days before the justice department had to respond in court before -- whether he should be granted study immunity or not. was this a gimmick, one that works? the facts is that the crown prince as one step closer to being granted immunity and the judge will decide and that determination is being helped along by administration that once promised to treat the kingdom of saudi arabia as a

pariah. joining me now to discuss is karen attiah, she's a washington post columnist on international affairs and jamal khashoggi's former editor. it's good to see you again. thank you for making time for us tonight. let me just start out by getting your reaction to all of this, how are you feeling this evening? >> yeah, i mean it's -- i don't know how many more synonyms for me feeling like this is another betrayal by the u.s. government, by the biden administration. and i've been speaking to many of us who were involved all those years ago trying to advocate for justice not just for jamal, but again, jamal's murder stood for a lot. it was a symbol about our willingness as a nation, as a country, to stand up for those who find themselves under the

rind of authoritarian governments. and right now, i'm sitting here and i'm -- frankly, frankly feeling as a journalist and as someone who has also been an outspoken critic of the -- of mohammed bin salman and this whole system, frankly, i think we're all [inaudible] it's and some as such that all our country has to do is play around with a couple of titles and then you know, try to cover from the united states if there are so cult ally. so i think this sends a message to human rights activists, journalists, and frankly to u.s. residents and citizens that our government is really willing to put the status quo, willing to put money, willing to put access and power and

dollars over our lives, and it's a really sickening feeling. >> -- let me ask you that for a moment the title change here. it's very clear and obvious to people who track this that the saudi leadership gave the crown prince the title of prime minister to force the u.s. to take a stance on the immunity question, and that certainly played well into the legal argument that the administration is making this case. the thing is that it worked. were you expecting that? >> at the very least, if they were going to play along with the circus, i would've hoped that they would have at least even tried to make it seem like it wasn't just a cynical ploy to help our so-called allies get a jail -- get out of jail free card literally. and for a long time, obviously, this is really coming off of

the heels of the turkish courts and basically wiping their hands of the case. this is coming off of the heels of the infamous fist bump between biden's hands and mbs's hands early in the summer. the message again that's being sent is, well, our friends, we can all conspire together to make sure that crimes and heinous acts go unpunished. and for a long time, even though there were those roadblocks in terms of the turkish government and all that, there was always one last hope in the u.s. legal system -- >> is there still? >> it's made it a lot harder, obviously, as you said in your intro, it's up to a judge to decide and i think it's extremely important and commendable that haji a namaste basically pulled on all the stops and went through these

lanes to get justice again off just for jamal but for all the dissidents and those standing up for it. i think it's important that we use every single tool at our disposal to make the cost of authoritarianism higher. and i agree with -- it feels almost as though jamal was killed yet again today with this decision. >> heartbreaking situation that we find ourselves in yet again. washington post column nest and khashoggi's editor, karen attiah, thank you. lawrence o'donnell coming up in a few moments. but we have one more thing to say tonight, stay with us. st one dose starts to relieve 9 of your worst cold and flu symptoms, to help take you from 9 to none. for max-strength nighttime relief, nyquil severe. my most important kitchen tool? my brain. so i choose neuriva plus.

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how information spreads, i think it's pretty obvious that it was going to be a massive push to support a narrative of a stolen election. >> a new documentary from executive producer trevor noah and rebecca get let's explores how we got to this violent day in this time of polarization and it takes a look at how traditional media and traditional media played in the decimation of the information. i had the pleasure of contributing to the film as well. you can watch split screen sunday night at 10 pm eastern right here on msnbc. it will also be streaming on peacock. that does it for us tonight. rachel will be here on monday and i will see you tomorrow right back here at 8 pm eastern for my show, eamonn. now it's time to hand it over for the last word to lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, amen, and its track smith night. first of many, many discussions of his work going forward i'm sure. >> it is a name we will all get