conversation about what californians need. and i knew vitality and energy of individuals who can bring that forward to the table. >> three -- lonely the big issue here among, if it is these three in terms of the substance, the policies that are gonna be are geared? >> well, i know for a fact. that the state has a huge homeless crisis. that's gonna be one of the top issues that voters are thinking about on a day-to-day basis. so, i'd expect to see some of that -- take top attention. that a national issues like protecting roe, codifying roe, and things like that. >> california needs more housing. it really, really, really do. katie hill -- >> climate. change >> katie hill and christina greer, thank you very much. that's all in on this thursday

night. alice wagner tonight starts right. now >> california has a lot on its plate, chris. >> but housing has they -- need to build more housing in upstate -- >> and given where they are in terms of environmental decline, the housing situation is complicated as well. thank you, my friend. thanks for being here tonight. tonight, we start with merrick garland. it's no surprise that republicans are not fans of the attorney general. ever since he arrived at the justice department, republicans have repeatedly accused garland of weaponizing the doj. and using it to go after president biden so-called political enemies. here's garland testimony before the judiciary committee in october of 2021. more republican senators had their say about garland's memo on protecting school board members, just to be clear that was a memo on protecting school board members. take a listen.

>> a leave it at this, general garland, you weaponize the fbi in the department of justice, it's wrong, it's unprecedented to my knowledge in the history of this country, and i call on you to resign. >> this testimony, your directive, your performance is shameful. thank god you're not on the supreme court. you should resign in disgrace, judge. >> then, in august of this year when the fbi executed a search warrant because the federal judge agreed with the doj, that evidence of crimes, plural could potentially be found there. this is what happened. >> it just shows how bad things have gotten that the fbi and doj, it's all driven by politics now over. there >> you can see they weaponize the department of justice, i've called impeachment articles on merrick garland. >> joe biden has turned the department of justice and the fbi, the irs, the federal government into a machinery to target their political enemies. >> he's now using the doj to target president trump. and chairman perry under

garland's watch, the doj resembles the gestapo. >> this is a serious, serious breach of the rule of law. this is why garland needs to go. if you don't resign, he ought to be impeached. >> after that search, kevin mccarthy warned, i've seen enough, attorney general garland preserve your documents. and clear your calendar. now speaker mccarthy got his wish this week in the house voted to establish a select subcommittee to investigate and i quote, the weaponization of the federal government. because in the view of the republicans, the department of justice cannot be trusted. merrick garland must resign, or he should be impeached. because he only goes after biden so-called political enemies. except today, merrick garland did something today that doesn't quite fit that narrative. the attorney general announced that he appointed robert hur, as a special counsel to

investigate off -- biden's office and his home. for the second time in less than two months, garland announced a press conference that extraordinary circumstances call for the appointment of a special counsel. robert hur, former u.s. attorney for maryland who's appointed by president trump, said today in a statement, all conduct the assigned investigation with fair, impartial, and dispassionate judgment. i intend to follow the facts swiftly and thoroughly, without fear or favor, and longer the trust placed need to perform this service. the attorney general's announcement came after we learned that another set of classified documents from president joe biden's time as vice president, another set was found in his garage unwilling mean ten, delaware, this in addition to the roughly dozen or so classified documents found in early november -- and in d.c. think tank. garland said that the west monologue of the justice department about the discovery of the documents on december 20th. the white house than alerted the doj this morning about an additional single classified documents found in an adjacent

room in biden's wilmington home. biden reiterated today that hedman's office are fully cooperating with the doj. that now makes two special councils -- investigation into both president trump and former president -- over their handling of classified documents. setting aside the fact that these circumstances in these two cases are wildly different. the fact of the matter is that both presidents had classified documents in their possession. and merrick garland, the a.g. has done something that he maybe had to do. regarding the political treacherous territory now finds having to navigate. hopefully, robert herr, the newly appointed special counsel conduct themselves with the dispassionate judgment and get to the truth here. in the meantime, republicans who've been railing against merrick garland for two years. they have a different tune to sing today. senator lindsey graham is happy about. it saying that he appreciates garland decision to appoint a

special counsel. and that it is in the quote, best interest of the country. the speaker of the house, kevin mccarthy, he has mixed feelings about this. on the one hand, throwing president biden under the microscope was exactly what they wanted. on the other hand, you want to do it his way. with his people, using his committees. he was the republican leader this morning before garland's announcement. >> we don't think there needs to be a special prosecutor. i think congress needs to investigate this. >> in the, and it's awkward to claim the federal government's weaponized against you when it is simultaneously announcing a criminal investigation into your political opponent. joining us now is charlie savage, covering the story for the new york times. and matt miller spokesperson for the obama justice department. thank you both for being here. charlie, i hope you can tell us, from your reporting, the degree to which merrick garland was making a political calculation

among other things here. the degree to which the pressure that the right-wing had been -- that the campaign i will say, that they've been waging against merrick garland for these two years has had its effect inside the doj? >> he would never admit that's the case, but of course he's part of the real world, he seals, it he deals it. one of things that interesting to learn today, was about a more recent pressure that's been put on merrick garland. that someone like the fact of the first trial being found through cbs news -- public attention. there has been a tremendous amount of calls on merrick garland to do just this, notwithstanding kevin mccarthy 's reluctance. someone leaked again to nbc on wednesday, the second charge that had been found. and it had been redoubled. today he appointed a special counsel. one of the interesting things he said was that the recommendation to him, the decision to appoint a special counsel had been last week

before any of this became public, and these calls began. so if that's right i have no reason to doubt that's right, it means that what's looks like a pressure campaign on him, was already besides the point. >> matt, you've logged time with the doj. how do you read this decision on the part of garland, and the timetable as charlie points out? >> i think this is a decision that merrick garland pressured himself into. i think if you look at the decision in light salaciousness, and one for a special counsel was warranted are required. i don't there's any reason to believe that the regulations are requiring the appointed of the special counsel anytime there's an investigation that punches on the president. or they make that clear that's what required -- but i think by appointing an attorney general, by appointing a special counsel to investigate former president trump. and the clearing, by doing that

that this is not the kind of investigation that can be handled in a normal course of business, via career prosecutors, and u.s. attorneys and department of justices. he blocks himself in and left no choice but to appoint a special counsel. here there was a conflict of interest in the trump case. that conflicts even more acute in a case that involves the sitting president. so, it's a decision that while the pressure -- from the outside, it's a decision that he forced on himself. >> matt, you've tweeted that you think that pestle council can lead to all sorts of bad places. can you enumerate what those bad places are? and what the potential risk here is? >>, well i think there's two. things one, when attorney general start to go outside the normal process. and make a decision that you can't count on the report -- regular order. and the u.s. attorneys have been confirmed by the senate to handle sensitive cases. -- you then leader self to appoint

special counsel's in cases where they're not needed for example this one. i don't think one was necessary in the trump case, i don't think one was necessary here. as i, said having a point to one of the first case, you're necessarily required in the second. the history of special counsel shows that oftentimes, they tend to go in all kinds of places you don't expect. this is different in the situation in 1990, is when the independent counsels that one accountable to the attorney general. the special counsel will be accountable to, directly supervised by the a.g.. but if he wants to pursue something that isn't necessarily in his current mandate, will be a lot of pressure on the sitting attorney general to do so. this is someone who i have no reason to doubt his integrity, but he was a political appointee in the previous administration. it's outsourcing a lot of the attorney general responsibility to someone who is, has not come up inside the normal, regular doj. order >> charlie, to you, the fact that robert hur, special counsel here was a political appointee in the trump administration.

what do we know about him. the choice seems to be greeted with some consternation. among certain parts of the biden administration and beyond. given the fact that he is someone that donated to republican campaigns, as matt says he's an appointee, during the trump administration what do we know about robert hur? >> he has been a career prosecutor in maryland. he worked for chris wray, fbi director in the bush administration, when chris wray was the head of the criminal division in the george w. bush justice department. the clerk's -- chief justice of william -- after law school. so, he's clearly a conservative republican. in the trump administration, he took on political appointments for us as a very powerful official in the deputy attorney general office, under rob rosenstein. and as the u.s. attorney general and maryland. it's part of -- merrick garland once again reaching to a trump appointed current or former u.s.

attorney. handle a politically sensitive case. or matter. as a matter of easy of political shielding himself of bias accusations. he has a trump appointed u.s. attorney in delaware handling the hunter biden administration. -- and before the supply, when he had a different u.s. attorney in chicago doing preliminary looks at the biden documents matter. that stands in stark contrast in the style of president -- bill barr, the trump administration who and he had very political pretentious cases was reaching to fellow trump appointed republican u.s. attorneys to look at things like allegations that the obama people, had improperly unmasked, intelligence reports, and taking other looks at the russia investigation. and cases that spot off of that. -- all those where fellow republicans looking at that. as opposed, to merrick garland who's looking for the other party to handle these matters.

>> yeah, and you can read into that. first of, all the irony that merrick garland is to some respect extending and all of branch, or trying to convince skeptical republicans that in fact, this is legitimate, the doj hasn't been weaponized, everything is fair and above board when it comes to the justice department. it's ironic given how merrick garland was treated by some of the very same right-wing critics here. matt, do you see a calculation here being made about a potential criminal indictment from mar-a-lago, the fact that merrick garland's making sure that everything is treated in an above board fashion on the biden classified documents, perhaps in preparation for something even more controversial as it pertains to mar-a-lago, or am i getting ahead of myself? >> no, i think it's part of. and i think he's looking at these two cases and even though these two cases really except for the fact that they involve in the forest and says, classified documents being in places that are not supposed to

be. and every other way, they're different. you have one where the president biden self report of these documents were there, he turned them over -- additional searches and turn them over. versus the way the former president handle them. they're different cases. he looked at it and, said if one case is headed for indictment, i need to make sure that the decision in the biden case, which looks to be a routine investigation based on what we know, the facts we don't know, but if the facts that we know turnout to be the only facts. and it's a case that's very unlikely to have any kind of criminal indictment. i suspect the decision is, i need to give the public confidence of both these cases have been treated fairly. and so, i need to have two special councils, one may come up the recommendation -- and that will give further credibility to the decision possibly to indict former president trump. >> charlie, what's the special counsel do here on a practical level. there's a lot of?

putting it mildly as it pertains to trump and the mar-a-lago scandal. there doesn't seem to be as much here, there's questions about the timetable, and when these announcements were made, and when the biden ministration chose to acknowledge of these documents were in the presidents possession. but beyond that, the administration has been pretty forthcoming with the doj and the national archives. do you have a sense of what the what interviews i've already conducted. they want heisman staff to get it on. as a routine course of things. but you're right, this doesn't look like as far as what we know now that there is that much to investigate. we don't know, exactly, who packed up those boxes. we don't know where those documents accessed or find when went into the closet, rifle to that box or not. they're going to be asking questions like that. to the extent that -- hasn't already established. we don't know what his findings are. but there doesn't seem to be

nearly the complexity of the mar-a-lago documents to examine it. one question my mind is just how long this can possibly last. >> maybe it won't last that long. maybe it will be a pro former exercise. we will see. charlie savage, washington correspondent at the new york times. matt miller, former chief spokesperson for the obama justice department. thank you both for joining us tonight. the special counsel appointed today is the fourth one in the last six years. what does that statistic tells us about the state of american democracy? plus, the talented mr. santos, and the origin of his riches. we'll talk to new york times reporter who's would be doing all the digging and there is quite a bit to unpack. stay with us. ♪ this feels so right... ♪ adt systems now feature google products like the nest cam with floodlight, with intelligent alerts when a person or familiar face is detected. sam.

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just two independent counsels. trying to look into the conduct the presidents of the united states. when investigating return nixon, and the other bill clinton. now, and just the last six years. we have not one, not to, not three, but four, what we now call special counsel investigations. probing the conduct the presidents, and the law enforcement officials serving

them. it started, of course, with the mueller desiccation to russia's attempts to interfere with the 2016 election. then, attorney general william barr, aka bill barr. gave into trump's demand and appointed, john durham, to investigate the investigators. sort of tit-for-tat special counsel if you will. that investigation ended with more of a whimper, that a bang. but at the time, trump got what he wanted. a second investigation to muddy the waters surrounding his own conduct. then, last year. trump once again found himself to be the subject of the special counsel investigation. after mayor garland appointed prosecutor jack smith, to oversee parallel investigations into trump's potential mishandling of classified documents. and his role in stopping the violence on january 6th, and halting the peaceful transfer of power. now, today, merrick garland has appointed yet another special counsel. this time to investigate president biden's potential mishandling of classified documents. once again republicans are seizing the opportunity to muddy the waters around donald

trump's potentially criminal conduct. as david rohde writes the new piece of the new yorker. for biden, the new appointment poses more of a political threat, then illegal. one quote, it appears unlikely that president biden will be prosecuted. because it does not seem like he intentionally mishandled documents. but, if he hasn't. republicans will argue that trump should not be charged either. joining us now is the author himself. david rohde covers adjust apartment, and served as executive editor of the new yorker.com. david, thanks for being here. >> that the endgame here? not for merrick garland but one republican start the special counsel announcement. do you think they're like hairs are get trump out of jail free card? >> politically, yes. and it is a frustrating situation, clearly. trump had more documents. he and sawyer's lied about how many documents they had. they don't turn over for months. they defied subpoena. but you have a situation where it is very difficult, politically. i know we're going to criminally prosecute donald trump. but joe biden had some

documents next to his bed. that is. okay >> mayor. garland continuously reminds us that he's not a political actor. that the doj is free from politics. but this seems like an explicitly political move. when that is taking the temperature in the room, if you will. and understands that he, i mean, he had to do this for optics, if nothing else. do you think this is the right decision? >> i'm a bit of an idealist. -- that's what we love you david. he is trying to get people to believe in the justice department. the idea that we've talked about this before of nonpartisan public service is possible. that the special prosecutors are going to follow the facts with a lead, and not allow politics to influence, you, know their decision about how to deliver justice. so, i think he did the right thing here. it is a mess, it is unfortunate. but i think this is a way you hope the country can start to normalize. and maybe some of these people

who, the hyper belief republicans a shot because of the show. that is just higher. that is political posturing. and garland is trying to do his best to get to the facts. and be fair. >> it's a totally inconvenient time for kevin mccarthy to be launching this inquiry into the weaponization the federal government. the federal government is doing some that kevin mccarthy probably very much like some doing. >> i think again, looking at the midterms. if anything it was a vote against this kind of extremism and conspiracy theories. right now, that is the strangest thing but kevin mccarthy's house. again, because the numbers these gutter lined freedom caucus. they've come outs charging with these conspiracy theories that have been unproven over, and over again. >> i understand what you're saying about this as a bid to get people back on board with institutional integrity. although, i'm skeptical that all people on the right can be convinced of anything. other than the government is out to get them. i do take the use, the frequency of the special counsel appointments as we

outlined at the top of this block. is indicative of a country that no longer can referee its own fights. the partisan divide has become so deep that even merrick garland who is, you know, pretty much in the center, it's like gotta sources to someone else. i am too loaded a figure. i'm too hot for them to handle. that, to me, does not seem very good. there for a special counsels in six years. compared to where we have been in decades past. >> i agree, love that has to do with i think, donald trump's behavior. and that you see, russia, find the emails. he's publicly calling on russia to find emails. his son, and his aides, are meeting with people tied to the russian government. i think the investigation on to trump, and this campaign into russia's legitimate. he had that happen. and there is pressure, or darren's then looking at that russia domestication. and then, to durham's credit he said. to lure 11 cases.

he lost both of those a trial. and we will see what he says and his final report, but durham has not been a ken starr. he investigated clinton and that went on for years and had someone going after him for lying about an affair with -- . special counsels aren't perfect. but they can work. robert mueller, i think generally the good job. and look, he came out with the conclusion in terms of there is not being clear evidence of collusion between the trump campaign, and. russia liberals did not like that. but he did his job as the special counsel. >> that was mitigated by the way in which his findings were presented by the attorney general, bill barr. it will be interesting to see how trump's posture is affected by the appointment of this new special counsel giving what he's been out at the special counsel looking into his actions in around general sixth. and the mar-a-lago document drama. truth social, this is what trump had to say about jack smith. jack smith, for some reason is

a trump hating thug whose wife is a serial and open trumpeter. his friends in a their family members have been worse. the man -- it's maybe worse in the behavior during the mueller investigation. is it me to be personal, it is immediately basis, it is admittedly just a new level of low in terms of former presidents and their narratives. >> i don't think this is working, politically. we saw that in 2020. we saw that 2022 midterms. he's exaggerating, he's lying, he said probably, it's nasty. and i think it is exhausting independents and republicans. i think the most important thing is to defeat donald trump politically. that is slowly happening. they should be careful. because unimportant investigation in terms of the gravity of what has been the ledge's january 6th. the new subpoenas out, but by jack smith, the special counsel

there. looking at fundraising. and did the trump campaign know that through this mostly claiming these machines that secretly changed votes. and it's these subpoenas and did they know that was all bogus? that is false claims that votes have been stolen. essentially, for the committing fraud by raising all this money to, you know, stop the steal? that is very serious stuff. there's no indication that there is overwhelming evidence of that. frankly, if trump is gonna prosecute for anything. should be january 6th. on precedent it had no other president to do it again. want to turn that kind of behavior. it's an astonishing and historic crime. if there's clear evidence. >> he'll be very interesting to see what happens mar-a-lago in the context of all this. whether the appointments of the new special counsel to examine bidens retention documents in any way effects what happens in

mar-a-lago. all i do know, january 6th, and potential indictment seems a long way away. david rohde, executive at the editor of the new yorker.com. >> still to come tonight, the seditious conspiracy trial of members of the proud boys got underway today. with prosecutors arguing that the proud boys were emboldened by the words of former president trump. the defense team, meanwhile, argued something very different. we'll bring the latest from that courtroom. plus, embattled republican freshman, congressman george santos. george, santos. somehow, somehow, but $700,000 to his campaign. but where did that money come from? he has some new reporting for you. that's next. next. why are 93% of sleep number sleepers satisfied with their bed? maybe it's because you can adjust your comfort and firmness on either side. your sleep number setting. to help relieve pressure points and keep you both comfortable all night. the queen sleep number 360 c2 smart bed is only $899 - save $200. ends monday

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your search history is never tracked, so it can't be shared. and when you leave search, duckduckgo helps keep companies from watching you as you brows. join tens of millions of people making the easy switch by downloading the app today. duckduckgo, privacy simplified. newly elected new york congressman, george santos, resume was filled with all sorts of things that were not rail. they were the two colleges he did not actually graduate from. and the multiple financial sector jobs he did not actually have. but notably absent from santos's resume was his actual most recent job. >> right before you decide where politics will redoing? well, i still actually up until august 1st. when i initiated my leave of absence. we told directly for harvard

city capital where a fixed income shop. we are or within the fortune 500 range from our three firms globally. i managed all of our assets with our veterans here in new york i am at the city capitol head guy for new york city. >> harvard city capital has never been listed in the fortune 500. but a few months after that interview the company did get some recognition. and the formal complaint filed against it by the fcc. the fcc alleges that harbor city capitol was a fraudulent ponzi scheme that victimize hundreds of investors across the united state. despite talking himself up as the head guy from new york city, at this alleged ponzi scheme, george santos claims that he was. as distraught in the stories everyone else to learn about the allegations against harvard city capitol. santos himself was not named a fcc complaint ed again denied any knowledge of malfeasance at

the firm. in the years directly acted this with the resume filled with fake jobs is not actually have. and alleged ponzi scheme. george santos somehow went from a reporting in reported $55,000 a year. to earning an annual salary of $750,000 a year, plus dividends. enough money that he had the ability to lend his campaign more than $700,000. so, the question is where did george santos get all that money? weeks after the icc completing its harvest capital. santos incorporated a new organization in florida called, the double their organization. the bolder aces mothers maiden name. and santos's own words, the folder was an effort to help, quote, all the people who left adrift at harbor city capital. it is unclear if he included himself in that group. on the campaign's financial disclosure santos listed the boulder as a source of the bulk of his recent financial windfall. but here is the thing. we really have no idea what the

boulder actually does. we know money came out of the boulder. but we don't know how many got in there to begin with. and, at the same time, thanks to the great reporting at the new york times today. we know that a super pac called, redstone schedules, which claims have the singular purpose of electing george santos, that super pac was raising money but did not appear to be spending it. the fact, in fact, the fcc has no record of brett stone strategies at all. and there does not appear to be any records documenting its donors, contributors, or expanding. the new york times spoke with the donor the gave $25,000 to redstone stretches last year for what he was told would be a large ad buy from mr. santos. the times found no record of redstone making any had buys on santos's behalf. now, earthstone claims of race at least $800,000. which is just slightly more than with santos personally lent his campaign. and the source of santos's wealth was again that mystery company, the boulder.

so, to recap. one company, redstone. is hauling in some serious cash. we don't know where it ultimately went. another company, the boulder. slash with cash, and we don't know where it came from. and the amount of money we are talking about here, coming in, and going out. it's almost the same. now, those numbers can be coincidental. maybe this is all just santos's team not filing paperwork correctly. who knows? but check this out. as of last month, both mantises competitive older, and redstone rise, left the same penthouse apartment of a florida condo as their address. both companies have the same address. voter registration records show that addresses the home of one jason bed was. one of santos's former colleagues at the alleged ponzi scheme, harbor city capital. there is a lot to unpack here. joining us now is alexander burns on. a pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter. and when the new york times reporters behind today's story. alexander, thank you so much

for joining us. what an interesting series of facts. do you see a connection between the bolder and red stone the way i see a connection between the bolder and red stone? >> the boulder organization is actually a manager in redstone jeez llc. red socially llc, as you mentioned, is this florida company that he has a partner in. so it seems to be that that is a clear santa's connection. there is this thing called redstone strategies that was also raising money during 2022. and they're going out to donors and they were saying, look, we want to raise all this money to do this big media. backdoor cut by all this advertising. and we're going to heat one point $5 million. and they're going to all of these donors at a party given the maximum amount they're allowed to give. they went to the mid said, can you get more? in one case, actually, santos actually seemed to be on the

phone. or seem to be the person directly solicited the donor. which is another potential issue in terms of some of the campaign finance implications of this. the panel what they're doing when things were not able to find any records of any actual advertising spending. so, we are not completely certain whether this red socially is raising the money. the same rights so tragedies, policy, that the is a partner in. but there are these potential connections with a lot of commit theories surrounding the finances. >> who is giving money? and then you can't divulge or sources. do we have an idea about the sales pitch george santos was making here? these are big quantities of money and apparently, nobody at the time was asking for proof of the money they spend the thing they thought was going to be spent on.

>> we have seen the sales pitch and basically, says we are redstone strategy. we are one of the most notable things about is that we have the singular purpose of electing george santos. now, you are allowed to raise on the button mountain money if you are a pack, a super pac. but there are certain things that you still have to do in order to do that. one, you have to register with the fcc. which do not appear to have done. and you have to disclose donors, which do not appear to have done. if you will have the singular purpose. they're also saying they're five and one seat for. which is a social wealth organization. which is not without the sole purpose of electing a particular person into office. the other thing is you're not supposed to coordinate with the candidate, which, it clearly appears that santos had some involvement and raising the money. for redstone rise. the other thing is that you need to spend the money on the actual purpose. so if you're saying that you're going to make advice, and do

all this to elect the person. you should be doing that. and as i've mentioned, we have not found records that they're actually doing any advertising buying as i said they're going to. >> it really seems like this is a matter for the ftc and, potentially, the new york a.g. is looking into this. there are a lot of question marks about this influx and the flow of money. a lot of which ended up being used on george santos's personal expenses. atlanta person, basket reported to new york times. thanks for time, new reporting >> thank you so much. >> we still have more to come tonight. the proud boys went to court today. we learned what happened in their trial for seditious conspiracy on january 6th. i will take a trip to at least magical place on earth. desantis world. where, for the florida governor. the cruelty is the points. new video surfaces of a rat last summer orchestrated to make the governor look tough. that is coming up.

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what's your favorite knix wireless bra? it feels like a second skin. for someone like me who's active with big boobs, the catalyst is amazing. i feel so confident in my wingwoman. the lift is great and it's so smooth under my clothes. find your favorite wireless bra today at knix.com today, the government opening statements in the high-profile seditious conspiracy case against five prominent proud boys. but their action in the capitol attack. prosecutors cited incriminating text messages, and voiced memos from the proud boys. that they send each other before, during, and, after the riot. quote, the exclusive chat that the governments appears to rely upon was a private telegram group for special proud boys

chapter called the ministry of self-defense. that chat, and retiree, that the leader of the four group appears to take credit for the capitol riot. he wrote make the mistake, we did this. another part of the proud boys on trial, ethan nordean, also posted video celebrating the attack. he said, i was part of the storming of the capital of the most powerful country in the world. a third gang member, -- added. i'm proud of what we have accomplished yesterday. i mean, okay. also, the recorded their conference calls. hoof. taken together, the videos, the texan, the audio, all of that is part of the evidence jurors will now consider deciding whether these five defendants are guilty of conspiring to prevent the peaceful transition of presidential power. meanwhile, inside the courtroom. the proud boys, they have their own plan. joining us now to tell us what that is is pestilence,, senior party for vice news. she was inside that courtroom all day watching the trial

unfold. test, judging by your twitter feed today it was an interesting time in that courtroom. can you tell us how the defense is mounting its case, specifically, against dominic pezzola. one of the bat boys. his lawyer sounded like he had an interesting argument to make in terms of defending his client. >> hi alex, thank you so much for having me. yes, indeed. we've got five defendants. each with their own legal team. and, you know, as a result. it is a crowded courtroom. and there's some real characters in the mix. which of course makes for entertaining viewing. but what is also coming out is the sort of patchwork of legal arguments that they're using to defend their individual clients. we have two areas lawyer, for example. and retiree, who's trying to say that his client is being scapegoated by the government. they're going after inconsistent easy target. does it can't go after the big will, just donald trump.

or they're saying, you know, that they're trying to use the old line that the proud boys are just drinking club. they're trying to downplay the political violence aspect of things. and so. on one dominic pezzola's lawyer who has a more bizarre coincide say. try to say that the riot was essentially six-hour inconvenience for congress. and that all congress are often so crowded, and noisy, there's not really much of a difference and not unusual. but, to me, i think the biggest has set for defense lawyers is what they say will be testimony from government influence. and these government informants, they, say had infiltrated the proud boys prior to january 6th, were privy to some of their chats. march with them on the day, and they say that these young men and informants will claim that there is no plan. this was a spontaneous eruption of violence. now, it depends on how these testimonies will hold up across examination.

what they are actually privy to? to, me anyway, this is a very interesting nugget that defense has in their court. >> for people who missed what you said. which is very key. one of the proud boys lawyers is saying that the riots on the capitol was, effectively, a six-hour inconvenience. as far as the work of congress. i think he also tweeted that when they show the clip of pezzola smashing one of the windows of the capital. he said it wasn't as bad as the still from the video suggest. also, the damage the property wasn't that bad because the windows don't look expensive. according to the lawyer. these were not 1000 dollar windows. tests, what was the reaction in the courtroom when that argument was made? >> i mean, there were giggles for sure. sort of hard to imagine that he was re-playing these videos. these kind of iconic videos we've seen now of pezzola using these stolen right shields to smash the window.

this was the first breach of the capital. it doesn't look any better the third, or fourth, or a fifth time you see it. so is kind of hard to understand what his lawyers line of thinking. was he also paid repeatedly, and a video, a pezzola smoking a cigar inside the capitol saying something like, we took the thing and we're claiming victory for it. he said this is going to exonerate pezzola, because sort of the final victory means from the moment. that victory mean standing in the capital. so, some lawyers arguments may be more tenuous and others. some seem to be quite strong. so can be really interesting to see how this all shakes up in the coming weeks. >> much in the government, the defense, going to be using some government informants or with the proud boys. that's when the government is what have other proud boys testify against the proud boys on trial. that sounds like it will be certainly very interesting. do you have any intel on what

that prosecutorial evidence may look like? >> it seems that the government's case is gonna come down to two main things. first, is a testimony from those five proud boys. one of whom is particularly important and his name is jeremy petito. he's a prominent proud boys also pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. he is a major witness in this case. the other part is what you mentioned earlier. the telegrams. encrypted telegram chats. had videos, audio, and this is a special chapter that tarrio formed late december 2020 called the ministry of self-defense. and what the purpose of this group was for will the lawyers be arguing over it in coming weeks. the government says that this was where they plotted their conspiracy, that these messages, what we've seen can slip its up in court documents. that, in the full, we'll see what happened before, what happened during, and what they were saying. after that these will kind of

expose their plot. these are the two major piece of evidence that the government is going to use to build a case. >> we'll be watching. pestilence, senior reporter for vice news. >> thank you. thank you >> woman: i have a few more minutes. let's go! >> tech vo: that's service that fits your schedule. go to safelite.com. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪♪ voltaren. the joy of movement. ♪♪ we really had our hands full with our two-year-old. so naturally, we doubled down with a new puppy. thankfully, we also have tide ultra-oxi with odor eliminators. between stains and odors, it can handle double trouble. for the #1 stain fighter and odor remover, it's got to be tide.

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diner, on the scientists, held a press conference to sharpen that he meant business when it came to election security. by announcing that is nearly formed, election police, have just arrested 20 former violence for alleged voter fraud. and then you video published today by the cartier newspaper, body cam footage of officers making arrests in miami-dade county previous officers were marking and how the operation to arrest at least some of the ex felons and how that operates together. just ahead of governor desantis's performative press conference. one saying he was given three or four hours to do a three county operation. when did those arrested were understandably confused when officers showed up at their front doors.

they believe they had the right to vote after florida voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment to restore the voting rights of convicted felons in 2018. the amended, however, made exceptions for those convicted of murder or felony sex offense is. but for those who arrested. their intelligibility was not being clear to them. even more chilling. the video published today shows heavily armed officers arresting two men. you can see, in this video here, when was forced out of his home only in his underwear. he walked out of the front door to face officers on the scene holding semiautomatic weapons and handguns. another man was handcuffed in his underwear by armed officers after being who woken from sleep. the two men in these videos, ronald miller, and robert wood had their cases dismissed last year has was the third last month. but state prosecutors plan to appeal those rulings. because of what the dozen cases would ultimately stick governor desantis got what he wanted out the situation. in the confusion and fair for ex violence might want to