cash, $225,000 at least from a source, an fbi source who was quote an employee of a foreign intelligence as much as. so an officer of a foreign intelligence service is essentially bribing ahead of counter intelligence in new york for the fbi could be a colossal scandal. >> we will certainly be keeping an eye on that as we learn more in the days ahead. senior correspondent for yahoo news, michael weiss, thank you as always for covering a lot of ground with us this morning. i want to thank all of you for getting up with us "way too early" on this tuesday morning, jam packed "morning joe" starts right now. did he say anything during this encounter? >> no, his facial expressions, his eyes did most of the talking. >> what did those eyes tell you? >> they told me he wanted to do harm. he was a troubled individual trying to do harm to others, make people feel the pain he was feeling. >> that is the man law

enforcement says saved lives bravely confronting and disarming the monterey park gunman. we'll have more on that interview and the latest in that investigation in just a moment. meanwhile, in northern california, a beach side community is the scene of the state's second deadly mass shooting in three days. this time the gunman appears to have targeted his coworkers. also ahead, more convictions for members of an extremist group, heavily involved in the january 6th attack on the capitol. and it appears kevin mccarthy made a bff during his day's long struggle to become speaker of the house. we'll have the new reporting on his alliance with one of the most extreme members of the gop. plus, mike pompeo is making headlines for his criticism of an american journalist who was murdered by the saudi regime. we'll show you those excerpts from the former secretary of state's new book.

good morning, and welcome to "morning joe." it is tuesday, january 24th. with us, we have the host of "way too early," white house bureau chief at "politico," jonathan lemire, pulitzer prize winning columnist at "the washington post," eugene robinson, and u.s. special correspondent for bbc news, katty kay is with us this morning. it's good to have you all with us. so, a jury in the nation's capitol has convicted four oath keepers, members of the oath keepers group, and they have been convicted of seditious conspiracy. it is the second group of guilty verdicts related to the far right group's efforts to block certification of the 2020 presidential election. the four members joined oath keepers founder stewart rhodes in the group's florida leader kelly megs who were both convicted on the same charge last november. "the washington post" points out that the seditious conspiracy charges are rarely used and even

more rarely successful, making the verdict another significant victory for the justice department. of the nearly 1,000 people charged with crimes at the capitol on january 6th, 2021, less than 20 have been charged with seditious conspiracy. the four oath keepers convicted yesterday were also found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding and conspireing to obstruct. both the obstruction and sedition convictions carry up to 20 years in prison, but sentencing guidelines are likely to be in the range of five to seven years. seditious conspiracy is notoriously hard to prosecute. the law was first enacted after the civil war to arrest southerners who might keep fighting the u.s. government, and the charge has rarely been brought in recent memory, and with mixed results. the ap points out, prior to the verdicts the last seditious conspiracy trial was in 1995

when cleric and nine followers were convicted in a plot to blow up the united nations. an fbi building and two tunnels and a bridge linking new york and new jersey. prosecutors also secured seditious conspiracy convictions in another now largely forgotten storming of the capitol building back in 1954. >> so this doesn't happen much, and these are all signed posts. i think we may look back on when, i'm speculating here, when or if donald trump is charged for activities on january 6th. we can look back and see all of these people being convicted for seditious conspiracy in the name of donald trump, for the benefit of donald trump, by the direction at least indirectly of donald trump. you look at all the other people

who have been convicted, and it's just hard to believe in america that a justice department would allow all of these people to be convicted of seditious conspiracy, performing a conspiracy working together for donald trump's benefit at donald trump's urging, and the justice department's just going to let donald trump just stand back and cheat and lie to win golf tournaments at his country clubs. i don't see it happening. >> well, it wouldn't make sense, would it, joe? because if you're going to charge seditious conspiracy, you need to charge the guy who led the seditious conspiracy, who organized it, who summoned the mob, including these organized groups, like the oath keepers and proud boys, summoned them to

washington to stop the certification of the election that he lost and to illegally and unconstitutionally keep him in office in what would have amounted to a coup d'etat. so i don't see how you failed to go, i mean, that's the main thing that happened on january 6th. that is the heart of the matter, and it seems to me that just to be honest about it, the justice department has to go after trump for what he did. for the principle act in this seditious conspiracy. >> i mean, and katty, a seditious conspiracy without a lead conspirator. doesn't make sense, and i don't think people inside the justice department think that makes much sense. is it likely we're going to see donald trump brought up on charges for his activities leading to the riots on january

the 6th? >> well, the justice department wants to make sure when they bring charges, if they bring charges, they have a chance of convicting the former president because they know how monumental and historic that would be. it's true, it's hard to imagine a framework in which you have a experience that does not have some kind of leadership. conspiracies are generally driven by somebody, they're generally in the name of somebody. and the indications from the justice department are that they're taking this very seriously and looking at all the possibilities and looking at all the charges. again, they don't want to charge the former president, especially not with something that would be as big as seditious conspiracy, without being very sure they were going to lead to a conviction. >> you wrote the book, jonathan lemire, on this obviously. we have of course during the presidential keep, oath keepers, or proud boys, stand back and stand by, come on january 6th.

it's going to be wild. you have the war room that was set up at the willard hotel. you have donald trump -- >> saying i'll be down there. >> being in the middle of it. again, you wrote the entire book on this. i find it hard to believe that all of these people who were his foot soldiers, doing exactly what he had directed them to do are going to be sent to jail while donald trump is going to be cheating to win golf tournaments at his country clubs. >> and then of course there's his call to arms, the tweet saying that january 6th will be wild. this is the president trump while in office stoked these lies. he stoked these conspiracies. he primed the pump for the violence on january 6th. he was the one who was out there on twitter, giving interviews, suggesting without evidence of course that the election was rigged and unfair, and that's what led that mob to the capitol. and as we talk about the political peril that surrounds

donald trump, there had been this sort of suggestion that the classified documents case at mar-a-lago, that would be the easy one to bring, and the political water got muddied because of what we're seeing with the current president. there is a growing sense here that there could be charges stemming from the 2020 election as well. yes, it would be harder, it's harder to prove that the january 6th ties, even though we can talk about it here, and it may seem obvious to us. in terms of proving it in a court of law, there was always a sense it would be more difficult, convictions like these add to the belief that it is possible, and whether it is, the fulton county jury down in georgia or something in washington that it is possible, perhaps even growing likelihood that he might face charges for what he did that led to the violence on january 6th. >> let's bring in political investigations reporter for the guardian, hugo lowell. i know you have other reporting as well. these convictions, what in them can we add to this conversation in terms of sort of making the

link between these people who carried out what trump wanted them to do and trump? >> look, you know, the oath keepers seditious conspiracy verdicts really come out because the government had concrete evidence that the leaders of the oath keepers effectively engaged in political violence to stop the peaceful transfer of power, and because it was presented in that way, and because, you know, the oath keepers had a quick reaction across virginia. they had weapons and ammunition, and they were texting about we can come to the capitol, and you know, bring fire support if you really need it. i think that's the kind of evidence that's convincing for a jury. it's the kind of evidence that we're missing as of yet with trump, and that's why i think that the justice department is looking more at an obstruction of an official proceeding kind of thing for trump as opposed to, you know, seditious conspiracy. i don't think immaturity makes

any difference. there are serious lengthy prison terms, and the justice department doesn't like to score big home runs. they like to score single hits, and if they can find one charge that sticks with trump, they would much prefer that. they want a sustained conviction. they don't want a conviction. they want to sustain it upon appeal, and i think he was talking about how you want to make sure it follows through all the way. they're much more likely to take a lesser charge that is more likely to be sustained than the big charge. >> yeah, so hugo, you said before on this program that if you kind of like take it in order of severity or likelihood that the justice department is looking at, and the time they're spending on the various cases or people thinking about the various cases, it's the mar-a-lago case tops it, that is taking up a lot of time and attention, and then you said january 6th, then georgia, given what jonathan was just saying

about the waters being muddied by finding classified documents on president biden's properties, does that change that scenario or do you still think the most likely charge against donald trump would be around the mar-a-lago documents case? >> i'm going to give a legal answer to this which is yes and no. the reason why it's yes and no is because there are elements of the mar-a-lago case that the justice department is looking at to be extremely strong. principally, the obstruction of justice. they're going back to the failure to fully comply with the grand jury subpoena in june to turn over any and all classified documents that were at mar-a-lago, and of course that subpoena was not fully complied with, and the justice department takes that very very seriously, and i think the kind of exposure that trump faces, and one of his lawyers face who was involved in that whole episode is extremely high. and then the other point that has developed in the mar-a-lago case in recent months is that the justice department has

basically found that in one of the desk drawers at mar-a-lago, there are both classified documents and nonclassified documents. the nonclassified documents are post-dated after his presidency, which seem to suggest he was -- he had knowledge, and the right thing to do would be to return them to the government. certain developments in the mar-a-lago case that make it a really enticing prosecution for the justice department, and yet at the same time because of the fury around biden, i think the justice department is kind of looking at the other cases so then the trump lawyer is also looking at something like january 6th as potentially as equal or serious a charge. >> the guardian's hugo lowell, thank you very much. and by the way, there is another trial still underway with members of the proud boys and again, seditious conspiracy is the charge, so we're not done with that yet. we'll still be following that. also an arkansas man pictured with his feet on the

desk of then house speaker nancy pelosi's office during the insurrection was found guilty yesterday on all eight charges stemming if the capitol riot. >> yeah, but he was sorry. actually, no he wasn't. >> he told jurors it was not a jury of his peers and he vows to appeal. >> did he want proud boys, and who exactly -- who does he consider jury of his peers, other people who were trying to overthrow legal american presidential elections? >> the 62-year-old repeatedly said in court last week that he regretted what happened at the capitol that day but did not consider his actions illegal. barnett is scheduled to be sentenced on may 3rd. he faces up to 20 years in prison for the obstruction of congress conviction alone. we'll be following that. there was another mass shooting in california yesterday. a man opened fire at two

landscaping nurseries, killing seven people in half-moon bay, south of san francisco. an 8th victim remains in the hospital this morning with life threatening injuries. the suspect, 67-year-old chung li zhou. a semiautomatic handgun was found in his car. police believe the suspect worked at one of the two shooting sites. california governor gavin newsom responded to the shootings over twitter, writing at the hospital meeting with victims of a mass shooting when i get pulled away to be briefed about another shooting, this time in half moon bay. tragedy upon tragedy, and the other mass shooting referenced by the governor happened saturday night in monterey park, and now an 11th victim has died for their injuries in that attack. it comes as investigators appear

to have a motive for saturday night's massacre. they say the evidence so far suggests that 72-year-old gunman was motivated by personal grievances. a source tells "the new york times" detectives are focusing on the theory that he was looking for specific people for a specific reason. at the star ballroom dance studio. the official also told the times, investigators are examining whether the gunman drove to a second ballroom in alhambra in search for people he wasn't able to find at the star. the mayor of monterey park told nbc news the suspect may have been targeting his ex-wife who he believed was at the first location. there appears to have been a history of domestic violence within that relationship before their divorce in 2005. the los angeles county sheriff gave an update yesterday on the evidence found at the scene. the gunman fired 42 shots inside the ballroom from a mac 10

semiautomatic handgun when the sheriff called an assault weapon. it was recovered at the second dance studio, when he was confronted by a member of the family who operates the venue. nbc news obtained exclusive surveillance video at the studio showing the struggle between the two men. 26-year-old brandon say acted heroically disarming the gunman. yesterday he sat down for an interview with nbc's lester holt. >> did he say anything to crow? >> no, that was the scary part. he came in, his face was stoic, mostly in hi eyes, looking around, trying to find people. trying to scout the area for other people. >> reporter: how did you decide what to do? >> well, there was a moment i actually froze up because i was -- i had the belief that i was going to die, like, my life was ending here at that very

moment. but something -- something amazing happened and a miracle, actually, he started to try to prep his weapon so he could shoot everybody, but then it dawned on me that there was the moment to disarm him. i could do something here that could protect everybody and potentially save myself. >> you know, we talked yesterday about the epidemic of gun violence. we talked about how it continues to skyrocket in this country. talked about the fact that murders with guns, they've gone up 50%, 50% in the past five years. 75% in the past ten years. that means that murders from guns in america have gone up 75% since sandy hook. which was supposed to be a turning point. and you look at the comparison between the united states of

america and other countries. a lot of people love to talk about mental illness. we really need to talk about mental illness. well, you know, there's mental illness in countries across the world. video games are used by people across the world. this is what the difference is between the united states and other countries across the globe. america just leads. it's not even close. leads high income, developed nations, western developed nations in gun violence, and again, the numbers aren't even close. brian class who's on this show a good bit. he lives in britain, and he tweeted this yesterday, since i moved to britain 11 years ago, there has been one fatal mass

shooting. there were 15 fatal mass shootings in the u.s. in december. what accounts for the difference? again, it's not mental health. that's the -- listen, mika and i, we talk about the need for mental health treatment all the time. it needs to be funded. right? but that's not why these people are going around. it's not why america has so many more people murdered. it's the guns, as brian says, it's the guns. >> the guns separate us from other countries. >> it's the proliferation of guns, and i tweeted something after the first mass killing two days ago talking about country by country by country, we saw the full screen, and it's just not even close.

and, you know, gene, you've been covering things like this for a very long time. we have as well. and, you know, it used to be that a horrific tragedy like columbine stood out. made americans stop. oh, my god, a shooting in a school, made americans stop. aurora, a movie theater in colorado, virginia tech, made americans stop. we don't even get to all the mass killings, all the mass shootings on this show every day because it's all we would do here. but there was a shooting in des moines, iowa, yesterday, at a school, that i believed killed three people. two students were shot dead and

a teacher, i thought i read. >> not to mention after our two mass shootings in california today. >> and so this is side news that nobody is going to talk about today because we have two mass shootings in california, and this is something that was sandwiched between it. and it's coming at such a rapid alarming rate that all of the bs arguments, that nra apologists made ten years ago, 20 years ago, they don't apply anymore, not to middle americans, not to independents, not to people who don't have a political reason to fight this battle. like, enough, americans have got to be saying enough. >> yeah, it's the -- what's the difference between the united states and great britain, france, every developed country,

and a lot of lesser developed countries in the world. why do we have this horrific toll of gun violence, every single year, every single week, every single day. it's not just the mass shootings, it's the individual shootings. it is absolutely incredible that we accept this as normal, that we accept this as okay somehow. it's not okay. in this country, we have 334 million people, and we have 393 million guns. we are out numbered by our weapons of war. and that should be absolutely unacceptable to every american because it puts us, every one of us, in a needless danger, mortal

danger because there are just simply too many guns. and we won't even do what we did successfully in the '90s with an assault weapons ban, which reduced mass shootings. but that was allowed to expire, and in today's environment, it's as if it's unthinkable that we would even get that far again, to say nothing of trying systematically to reduce the number of guns in the country. we are not going it get anywhere. people are always going to get mad. people are always going to have mental issues. and they do in every country. but it's only here that when they get angry and out of control and decide that they need to be, you know, they're filled with rage, there's a gun. you know, right on the bedside

table, and another one under the bed, and they kill people. they kill people. >> and we've seen this year, this past year, we've seen teenagers. teenagers get angry. run to a gun store. >> buy a gun. >> buy an ar-15. >> or two. >> or two. and go out and shoot up places, kill people, kill people in schools. >> this is, again, we're hostage to the extremes because if you look at the numbers, most people are fine with sensible gun legislation. >> 90% of americans since sandy hook, almost nine out of ten, depends on what poll you look at, here you go, here's another one. 89% of americans, and this goes back a decade. 89, 90% of americans support background checks for all gun buyers. only 8%, only 8% pose background

checks for all gun buyers, and please, someone tell me, why do republicans keep blocking sensible background checks for all gun buyers for that 8%. i would like to know. >> it's strange. i mean, i grew up with a family of hunters, gun safety demonstrations, this is the conversation we had about alec baldwin, anyone with guns and is a responsible individual, knows the rules, immediately which i thinks when they hear about a gun being pointed in the wrong direction, and they are people who like the rules, they are people who are fine with them because they understand the guns. >> they understand the guns, and they're smart enough to fear the guns, to know what the guns can do if they're mishandled, and you look, that's a crazy thing about these numbers. people say, oh, it's nra

numbers, no it's not. the overwhelming majority of nra members support universal background checks. the overwhelming number of nra members support gun safety legislation. but the 8% done. we are now being held politically held hostage by 8%. so there can't be universal background checks or other reasonable gun safety legislation, and katty kay, let's put up this brian klass tweet again. it's really stunning. for people that may have just tuned in. i want them to see what brian wrote. he moved to britain 11 years ago. there's been one fatal mass shooting over a decade. there were 15 fatal mass shootings in america in one month. in december. last month. what accounts for the

difference, it's the guns. i know, katty, it can't be explained to your friend in britain, why we allow people to get gunned down, shot, killed, it's happening in washington, d.c. right now. guns all over the place. murders every day. washington, d.c., over 200 murders by guns over the past two years. it is just -- it is an epidemic and for some reason, republicans continue to be held politically hostage by 8% of americans telling 90% of americans to go to hell. >> 37 mass shootings in just the past 24 days in the united states. i mean, it is america's exceptional problem. no other country in the western world, there are countries, venezuela has more gun shootings, but i don't think americans would like to compare themselves to venezuela. yemen has more gun shootings, i don't think america wants to compare themselves to that. compare yourself to any other western democracy, and america

stands out lamentfully, awfully, when it comes to gun shootings, and every time this happens, the argument seems to be now is not the time to address the issue of gun controls, yet the democracy is working. on this issue, american democracy is not working. it's failing its population. as you pointed out, the american population wants more gun controls. they don't want children to be dying in schools like this. they don't want people in california to have a mass shooting, and another mass shooting two days later. more americans kill themselves by guns than they are killed in mass shootings. some of those suicides wouldn't happen. i know of teenagers who have committed suicide by gunshot wounds. it wouldn't have happened if a gun wouldn't have been in the house. people have mental health problems here. people have domestic violence, if that was the case in california. domestic violence happens in other countries. people don't go out and commit mass shootings. it's a problem that the country seems to be failing to address, and the system, and i think

that's the important thing, why is the american democratic system not working for its people on this issue. and the organs of government aren't work. they're not functioning as a mature democracy when it comes to gun control. >> still ahead on "morning joe," former secretary of state mike pompeo dismisses what he calls the faux outrage over the killing of "washington post" columnist, jamal khashoggi. >> a faux outrage over a virginia resident being chopped to little pieces. and buried, and mike pompeo, a former secretary of state, calls that faux outrage? >> we'll look into what he's saying and why he's saying it in his new book. >> hey mike, that's sick. >> democratic congressman, ruben gallego is our guest, launching

a new effort to unseat kyrsten sinema. and one of the most well known evangelical leaders in the country is not throwing his support behind former president donald trump this time around, and new reporting on the unlikely alliance between house speaker kevin mccarthy and far right congresswoman marjorie taylor greene. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. oe." we'll be right back.

♪ today my friend you did it, you did it, you did it... ♪ good news! a new clinical study showed that centrum silver supports cognitive health in older adults. it's one more step towards taking charge of your health. so every day, you can say... ♪ youuu did it! ♪ with centrum silver.

i'd like to thank our sponsor liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. contestants ready? go! only pay for what you need. jingle: liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪3, 4♪ only pay for♪what you need. ♪hey♪ ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪ 35 past the hour. a live look at new york city as the sun has yet to come up over the big apple. it's time now for a look at the morning papers. gretchen whitmer's push for gun reform. whitmer is expected to call for new policies during her state of the state address.

she wants universal background checks for all firearms sales and legislation that mandates safe storage of weapons. the sentinel record has a front page feature, an arkansas law that would impose criminal penalties on employees who loan books. makes exceptions for school and library workers who are acting in the scope of their regular employment. they would face up to six years in prison if convicted under the new bill. it's already illegal under federal law to distribute obscene material to children under the age of 18. in massachusetts, the republican reports the fda is considering offering yearly covid-19 boosters. the agency wants to simplify the process to look more like the flu vaccine saying most people may only need one dose of the latest covid shot to restore protection. an advisory committee is scheduled to meeting thursday and will be asked to vote on the

plan. >> you know, it's interesting, i had not gotten my covid booster. >> which one? >> the fourth. because, you know, we went to london, and got covid, got completely knocked down for a while. >> yes, you did. >> months. >> i wouldn't say months. >> you were knocked down for months. >> i wouldn't say months. >> it was a long time. >> weeks, just weeks. it was weeks. >> it was a long time. >> it took three months. >> it's very interesting, though, because we're learning a lot more about what your resistance to covid may be, what was that, back in september, just got my check up and antibodies are at 100% right now. >> interesting. >> it kind of works out. we found out that boosters, the vaccines, they don't stop the disease, but they certainly do make a big impact. instead of me being down for a

month with fatigue, if i had taken the booster, i probably would have sneezed, said what's that and kept going. that's not the purpose of it. that's never been the purpose o. flu shot. it's so it builds up your resistance, just like actually getting covid builds up your resistance. >> keeps you out of the hospital. >> do yourself a favor, right, and get off the web sites that chinese religious cults are putting as a front so they can get a stronghold in america and in your mind, and get yourself a booster shot. >> it's important. >> you'll be glad you did. >> one more headline, in new york, "the buffalo news" reports a framework for the bills stadium has been approved. a $1.4 billion open air stadium will be built in erie county. the county and new york state will cover $850 million of the project. the deal includes a 30-year

lease and $100 million in community benefits that will fund various programs. >> jonathan lemire, i'm excited about this. i told you that jack scarboro and i, we're josh allen fans, and we're just going to blame josh allen's performance as best we can in this last year on the old stadium. it's the stadium. it's not the sneakers. he needs a new stadium, and he'll stop looking like brett favre in the final moments of every game, whipping the ball in the air, hoping the other team intercepts it. >> an intensive solution to build a new stadium. first of all it's great that the bills are staying in western new york, staying in buffalo. anytime a small market team and any sport frankly starts to suggest we need a new stadium. there's fears that will fall through and the team would move. that seems like that's not the case here. that's great. it is interesting, joe, back to the game this weekend, that the bills, this cold weather team, they were really done in by the

snow. they sort of assembled the speed-based almost finesse team, and they couldn't handle the elements. the bengals pushed them around the bad weather. >> really dichlt. >> -- difficult. one of the biggest surprises of the weekend. exactly that. cincinnati, which a lot of people will tell you is northern kentucky. cincinnati handled the snow extraordinarily well. they just ran over the bills defense. this was for me, jonathan, the surprise of the weekend. i wasn't surprised that dak choked because dak always chokes. that's sort of the irony of him getting angry at their field goal kicker choking. wasn't surprised by a lot of other results. really surprised by this, though, man. the bills, you're right. a cold weather team got run over by cincinnati. >> love the snow angels celebration there. yeah, the snow, it's harder for defenses writ large because, you know, the footing is tougher.

the offense, they know where the play is going. it's harder for the defense to adjust, but it was more than that. the bills offense also seemed stymied by the elements, and that was surprising. we covered in "way too early" that dak prescott, he was indeed trolled by his team's own twitter account. the official cowboys twitter account tweets this, that notes correctly that dak prescott gave away the ball twice in the loss to the 49ers. a game the cowboys could have won if they didn't quote again generate self-inflicted wounds. >> what in the world? are you kidding me? >> with friends like these, what do you need. perhaps mr. prescott shouldn't get too comfortable in dallas if this was a message sent from above that he is to blame for that loss. >> you know, we were, again, jack and i were looking at dak

prescott after his teammate missed yet another extra point, throwing a tantrum on the sidelines. slamming his helmet down on the field, and screaming and yelling when he knows that cam is going to pick him up. you don't do that to a teammate. like, you know, i've seen -- i've seen time and time again, let's take the best quarterback in the nfl right now, probably jalen hurts. jalen, i saw it at alabama. i saw him at philadelphia. if a teammate does poorly, he's always been encouraging. he's always telling him, that's okay. you know, this sort of turn about is fair play. my god, you know you're in trouble when your own team tweets negative attacks at you. >> yeah, well -- >> what is that? >> there's got to be some frustration in dallas. it's been, what, 30 years since

they reached the nfc championship game. i mean, you know, and in that period they've had great regular seasons, and then they just choke in the playoffs. and that's been the, you know, used to be america's team. you can't say it's america's team now. and it's got to be frustrateding -- frustrating for a lot of people in the cowboys organization. dak prescott had a good season, and he looked like certainly one of the better if not among the elite quarterbacks in the game, and then he gets to the playoffs and he falls apart. and that's what happened. and, you know, it was almost predictable, frankly, because it's happened before. >> yeah, the inconsistency, i mean, he had some really good games. just had a horrific game against washington.

here we're showing you the championship games this weekend. the bengals. seriously, and lemire, we have to talk about it because we were texting last night, and joe asked a question, can we liver in a world where the kansas city chiefs are underdogs, and it looks like we may be because cincinnati looks so good. >> patrick mahomes health, we saw him suffer the high ankle sprain last week. he was able to gut through it. played okay. we'll see how he feels this sunday. this bengals team came close to a win on saturday. they feel like they got a raw deal from the nfl because, you know, they were involved in the game that was suspended with damar hamlin. they weren't part of the neutral site championship game.

we heard joe burrow, get your refunds. i wouldn't bet against them this week. >> we got to go to break. i'm curious, does anyone know what josh allen whispered to joe burrow at the end of the game. i don't think it was congratulations, buddy, good luck. there was a frown from burr ow and he walked off. >> these two teams, they were sort of a kinship formed because of the damar hamlin game. it will be interesting to see if tension has developed. the bengals felt like they were counted out, and they used it as motivation on the weekend. >> i've got to say, we talked about the afc right now i just got to say i haven't seen anybody who can beat the eagles.

they looked like monsters against the giants. they looked so good. jalen, the running attack, the defense, they looked like a complete team, man. coming up, as house speaker kevin mccarthy blocks two prominent democrats from holding positions on the intelligence committee, a separate battle can soon emerge over a third democrat and her seat on the foreign affairs panel. congresswoman ilhan omar of minnesota is our guest this morning. "morning joe" will be right back. rning. "morning joe" will be right back power e*trade's easy-to-use tools like dynamic charting and risk-reward analysis help make trading feel effortless and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market with powerful, easy-to-use tools power e*trade makes complex trading easier react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders

so you won't miss an opportunity

hi, we've both got a big birthday coming up. so we have a lot of questions about medicare plans. we've got a lot of answers! how can i help? well for starters, do you include hearing benefits? how about a plan with dental, vision and hearing benefits? i sure like the sound of that! then how does a $0 monthly plan premium sound? ooooooooh! [laughs] if you're new to medicare, call 1-888-65-aetna.

we'll walk you through all your coverage and benefit options to help find the right plan for you.

ten minutes before the top of the hour, a live look at washington, d.c. this morning. a lot of traffic there. secretary of state mike pompeo is sharply criticizing murdered "washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi in his new book,

questioning his journalism credentials and the media's coverage of his brutal killing in saudi arabia. nbc news obtained a copy of the book entitled "never give an inch, fighting for the america i love," in it pompeo writes about khashoggi saying quote, he didn't deserve to die but we need to be clear about who he was and who many in the media were not. pompeo knocked the media's portrayal of khashoggi, a saudi arabia bob woodward who was martyred for bravely criticizing the saudi royal for his opinion columns in the "washington post." he portrayed him as an activist, and tried to question his allegiance writing quote, and as even "the new york times" reported, khashoggi was cozy with the terrorist-supporting muslim brotherhood. in response, khashoggi's widow

told nbc news, jamal khashoggi is not a part of the muslim brotherhood. >> she also had some tough words, rightly, for the former cia director who knew the intel. and knew what the intel pointed to, and knows what he's saying right now is just a lie. he's trying to paint something as being black and white that's not black and white. it was far more nuanced and the fact that he decides, gene robinson, to go after a murdered "washington post" columnist who was a virginia resident, lived in america, and who got tortured, sawed up, chopped into a thousand little pieces, and buried. >> right. >> this is the guy that mike

pompeo decides to criticize. i'm sorry, what's the word for it because sick keeps coming to mind? >> it's totally sick, and, you know, he writes, well, i'm not blaming the victim, but let me blame the victim. jamal khashoggi was a respected journalist, known and liked and respected for his integrity and his talent and his connections and everything by every correspondent covering that region that i know. i mean, he was -- he was certainly a journalist. he was certainly not a member of the muslim brotherhood, and the idea, even that -- even if he were, which he was not, that

pompeo would somehow defend what happened to him and that's what pompeo is doing. he's trying to say, well, it shouldn't have happened, but, maybe it wasn't so bad because i don't like this guy. just absolutely -- that's only a bad person does write something like that, right? i mean, this guy, pompeo, he actually served as secretary of state of the united states, and this is the kind of person he is. it's unbelievable. and unbelievably offensive. offensive to people who knew and loved jamal khashoggi, and people who respected his work. >> people who knew him and loved him, worked with him like you at "the washington post." david ignatius, the words that david ignatius speaks about him. >> exactly. >> are just so moving. but the thing is, mika, that

pompeo was not only secretary of state. >> he was head of it. >> they was cia director. >> he knew what the intel community found. he knew what the intel community concluded out of this, and so that's why this is so -- not only is it sick, it's just dishonest. he knows that what he's writing is not the truth. >> so a lot of questions, katty kay, given the fact that he apparently is preparing a -- reportedly a run for the presidency himself. you have to wonder who his audience -- who is he appealing to here? >> yeah, there is something in the members of the former trump administration defending russia, defending vladimir putin, for example, over intelligence, mike pompeo now defending saudi arabia over intelligence. i understand the united states has strategic ties with saudi arabia and joe biden visited saudi arabia amid quite a bit of criticism recently over oil

production. i understand there's sensitivities there. the way mike pompeo has gone after jamal khashoggi, i don't feel what the audience is, unless he feels there's some part of the trump base that likes the saudis and mohammed bin salman so much, they don't want to criticize them for the killing of jamal khashoggi. members of the intelligence community did a lot of hard work trying to piece this story together, and in my understanding of it, my reporting and conversations they were not happy. they were disgusted by what they found in the intelligence community, so i don't think mike pompeo is reflecting members of the u.s. intelligence community over this. >> and again, as a former cia director, and let's just say, jonathan lemire, if he thinks he's doing saudi arabia a favor, he's doing the opposite because

guess what, we're talking about this. we're talking about the murder instead of talking about what we've been talking about, how the united states is trying to figure out how to rebuild a strategic partnership with someone who's been an ally of ours for many many years. we're not talking about that right now because mike pompeo is stupid enough to write this in his book and has actually hurt the saudi cause. >> and saudi arabia has been on a massive public relations campaign in recent years to win curry with the west as they have also played cozy with vladimir putin and funding his war machine there. this is certainly not going to be well received in riyadh and it's a puzzling decision to do this right now. what's the audience here? unless this is pompeo cozying up with trump. trump was defensive of mbs, defensive of the saudis, but at the same time, pompeo is trying

to exploit differences with trump before a reelection bid? unless it's just sort of a valentine of the saudis, i don't get it, and i don't think that valentine is going to be well received. still ahead, a grand jury has finished its report on donald trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election in georgia. today we could find out if it will be made public. we'll get a live report from atlanta just ahead. >> this is important. we're talking about the possibility of a january 6th indictment. the georgia indictment to me seems more likely. >> absolutely. >> sooner rather than later. at the top of the hour, democratic congressman ruben gallego is our guest. he just announced he's running for u.s. senate. "morning joe" is back in two minutes. senate. "morning joe" is back in two minutes. i'm your glitchy wi-fi which means your smart home isn't so smart. sprinkler on. and now i'm sending mixed signals... to your garage.

but, if you haven't bundled your home and auto, unpacking this isn't going to be too much fun. so get allstate.

beautiful shot of the white house at 7:00 on the east coast. it's the second hour of "morning joe." welcome back, it's tuesday, january 24th. ahead this hour from fringe member to influential ally of the speaker, that's the surprising path marjorie taylor greene has forged in congress. we'll dig into that new reporting and what it means. >> i saw in the paper that mccarthy and his people called twitter last year and were really pressuring them to get her twitter account back online. and so i can't wait to go back and read the twitter files and see what they say about this. because it's going to be great. because, i mean, a government, powerful person in government trying to pressure twitter to do something. that's what those twitter files were about, right? >> yes, they were. >> i'm going to go back and read

the twitter files. i'm sure it's going to be there. >> you'll find it. plus, more oath keepers face up to 20 years in prison for their role in the capitol attack following their convictions on a rarely used charge. and a live report from atlanta. for the latest on the special grand jury report on donald trump and his allies' attempts to overturn the 2020 election. could it be made public? jonathan lemire, katty kay, eugene robinson, all still with us, and joining the conversation, we have msnbc contributor, mike barnicle. >> mike, how you doing this morning? >> never better, never better. top of my game. >> top of your game, excited. do you know how many days until pitchers and catchers report? >> less 35. >> are you excited about it? >> i just, i can't wait. this is the year for the red sox. this is our year. >> you're being sarcastic. i want to bring up the red sox

owners, we have a joke among us, when a player is doing especially bad for the red sox, we will all text each other and say, it's time to send them down to springfield. there is no springfield mass, however, the owners went to springfield. they got roughed up a good bit. got booed by the fans in the middle of the winter, and so that's the headline of it, but let's go underneath that, and just for one second and i just got to say, i'm glad the owners did what most owners would not do. you know the owners of the knicks would not do this. they went out and talked to the fans, like they do in liverpool. they took it on the chin but they were there listening. i thought that was a good sign. >> it is a good sign. john henry went to springfield along with sam kennedy, the ceo

of the red sox, and several players for the winter cavalcade. the first question out of the box, how are you building the team, and john began to answers and the boos rained down from the crowd. he stood there, accepted it, and it is a good start. it's a good thing for the owners to get in touch with what the fans are thinking. joe, you know this, jonathan knows this. a lot of people know this. the root of what's going on with the red sox in terms of fans' disappointment is all linked to the mookie betts deal. they traded mookie betts a generational star, a home grown player, and they got actually virtually nothing in return for him. that's going to be the curse of mookie. and that's what the red sox fan dom is living with. >> jonathan lemire, because everyone wants us to keep

talking about the red sox, actually, no, they don't, we're going to anyway. they traded away my favorite player this year, xander, maybe they needed to do it. maybe xander was asking too much given his age. you trade away mookie and xander, you're trading away a lot of people's favorite players. that's hard to get around. baseball is a business, and you got to move on. those two sting especially. >> it's true, and the players like that are so beloved by the fans, and they're more than just, you know, stats on a sheet. they're people you see in your living room every day, especially baseball, it's such a long season, 162 games. david ortiz so beloved, and mookie, and xander bogaerts had a chance to do that as well. it's going to be hard to watch them play in other uniforms, and not finish in boston.

keeping defers, a good start. i think they underestimated the depth of the fan anger. >> i was going to say to gene, do you know how kind and loving and patient mika is, she lets me, speaking of messen, she lets me watch 162 red sox games a year. if i'm not watching it's on every tv in the house. she's never once complained. i'm going to ask you how patient and kind and loving she is. and then i'll ask eddie if she does the same thing. >> that is incredible. mika, you are an angel, you are wonderful for allowing him to do that, and, you know, this thing about trading away your best players and the players that the fans really love, you know, welcome to my world. i mean, you know, we traded away

bryce harper, juan soto, i'm talking about the washington nationals. of course we have traded away max scherzer, we traded away everybody, and guess what, you don't win many games when you trade away your best players. >> katty kay, have you ever seen a complete ending of a baseball game. >> this is taking a little too long. >> i have actually been to the orioles once or twice for the whole game. that was like a long time ago, joe. >> you and the queen. >> that was it. >> the queen went to one baseball game. was asked about it afterward, and said well, what do you think of baseball, and she said, well, nothing really happened out there, did it? >> she was very smart. we'll start now with our top story, the jury in the nation's capitol convicting four members of the oath keepers of seditious

conspiracy. it is the second set of guilty verdicts related to the far right's efforts to block certification of the 2020 presidential election. the four members join oath keepers founder, stewart rhodes and the group's florida leader, kelly megs, both convicted on the same charge last november. "the washington post" points out that seditious conspiracy charges are rarely used and rarely successful, making the verdict another significant victory for the justice department. of the nearly 1,000 people charged with crimes at the capitol on january 6th, 2021, less than 20 have been charged with seditious conspiracy. the four oath keepers convicted yesterday were found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding. both the obstruction, and sedition convictions carry up to 20 years in prison, but sentencing guidelines are likely to be in the range of five to

seven years. seditious conspiracy is hard to prosecute. the charge has rarely been brought in recent memory and with mixed results. >> mike, we had heard this, about how hard it was to get these convictions. apparently after january 6th, i think, for good reason, not so hard as we are talking about last hour, if you're convicting all of these people for conspiracy to commit sedition, and they're all working for donald trump. they're all working at the behest of donald trump. they're all working at the direction of donald trump. they're all working because donald trump said come to washington, d.c. on january 6th. it's going to be wild. if they're all working because donald trump told them to stand back and stand by if they're doing it because there's a war room at the willard hotel in how to overturn the election, and they're actively talking about overturning the election, it's kind of hard to see how the justice department could convict all of these other people for a

conspiracy to commit sedition, and not let donald trump keep hanging out at his country club's lying about golf tournaments that he won. i mean, don't you have to get the ring leader at some point. >> well, you are correct, sir. first of all, seditious conspiracy is a very difficult charge to prove. they have proven it repeatedly, the department of justice, and kudos to them. but the climb the ladder theory of finding evidence on crimes is such that they're climbing the ladder and at the top of the ladder is the aforementioned donald j. trump, and you're going to get a big how do you do to donald trump today, one way or another in georgia when a local district judge really decides whether or not the grand jury report ought to be made public. hopefully it will be made public because you get the feeling that the impatient level out there, joe, in terms of charging the former president with things

that he is clearly obviously guilty of, drop the allegedly, guilty of, the impatience theory is really getting to the breaking point. >> i mean, you look at georgia especially. you listen to his conversations with the republican secretary of state. i just don't know how it gets more obvious than that. >> we're going to go live to the courthouse in just a few minutes to get the latest on that. i do agree with you, "the new york times" says taking a look at how house speaker kevin mccarthy rose to power with a little help from an unlikely ally. days after winning the gavel, mccarthy reportedly gushed to a friend about the ironclad bond he had developed with far right republican congresswoman marjorie taylor greene. according to that friend who spoke to the times on the condition of anonymity, mccarthy said quote, i will never leave that woman. i will always take care of her. the times notes that the relationship between mccarthy and greene was born of political

expediency, and fueled by genuine camaraderie, and nurtured by one on one meetings, often once a week, usually at a coffee table in mccarthy's capitol office. it's a constant stream of text messages back and forth. mccarthy has gone to unusual lengths to defend marjorie taylor greene. when her twitter account was shut down for violating covid misinformation policies, she demanded that mccarthy fix it. over the next two months, mccarthy's general counsel would spend hours on the phone with twitter execs. >> what? what? >> arguing her case. >> let's call the twitter files. >> this has got to be in there. >> there's a lot more to the story, but let's stop there for a second. i'm confused, so confused. help me out, i'm a poor dumb simple country lawyer. jonathan lemire, weren't there

the twitter files that talked about how government officials tried to intervene with twitter executives and this was a threat to democracy. i don't understand, why didn't we hear about this in the twitter files? >> the twitter files suggest a media bias that they let all of this go unaccounted for, yet we're seeing this here too. this was twitter files, and elon musk ordered up the investigative process, looking into the alleged bias of the previous twitter regimes, and seems to have neglected to mention the efforts here by republicans to appeal to twitter as well. as for the relationship between mccarthy and marjorie taylor greene. this is him doing everything he can to curry favor with the extreme right of the republican party, and donald trump's biggest fans, and you know, he's known for a while that his speakership bid would require the support of the maga crowd,

hence his pilgrimage to mar-a-lago after january 6th. and he identified marjorie taylor greene as a star. she's a national figure, raises a lot of money, carries a lot of clout. he has elevated her to a strong wrong to help secure the gavel that he so desperately wanted. >> marjorie taylor greene has taken on an outsized role as policy advise to administrate. he has adopted her stances on questioning funding for the war in ukraine, and even her call to reinvestigate the january 6th capitol attack to show what she has called the other side of the story. let that sit there for a second. just as a reminder, marjorie taylor greene was stripped of her committee assignments during the last congress for her past support of political violence, and history of anti-semitic and racist remarks. before taking office, greene

claimed on social media that deadly school shootings were staged. she liked posted calling for the execution of democratic leaders and federal agents. she once endorsed claims that 9/11 was perpetrated by the u.s. government. she supported the baseless theory that space lasers owned by a jewish cabal had caused one of california's deadliest wildfires. she posted an image of herself holding a rifle with photos of three liberal congresswomen of color and the vow to go on the offense against members of the squad and also once argued that democratic congresswoman ilhan omar of minnesota and rashida tlaib of michigan weren't official members of congress because they didn't take the oath of office on the bible. >> let's bring in democratic congressman, ruben gallego, marine veteran, and candidate

for the u.s. senate. >> good morning. >> you serve in the house of -- that's a lot to follow up on. you know, i served in the house, and i will say that if you had taken just one of those things we listed there, our leadership, leadership on the other side would have come together, had a meeting five minutes later, wouch taken that person off of every committee, and they would have been an outcast until they quit congress. >> pelosi would have taken my office and put it on the street, on constitution avenue. if i had done any of that. >> how much things have changed. what's it like working in a congress where this is one of the most influential powerful people in congress? >> number one, it's scary. number two, she may have influence but she doesn't have respect, and the only respect she probably gets is from kevin mccarthy, and if you have that man's respect, it's a pretty

empty check, so i go to serve the people of arizona. i get to do that every day. i get to do it with honor, and i don't have to suck up to people like marjorie taylor greene to do it. >> we'll get to future political plans in a moment. let's stay here in this country. it's marjorie taylor greene wu also a lot of others sort of in radical parts of the republican party who have been given a lot of power in the new congress and are talking about some pretty consequential things, potentially as noted, cutting funds to ukraine, and playing political games with the debt ceiling. so many have warned would lead to potential fiscal calamity. how do you work? how do you do deals? how do you connect with the other side of the ail when they're like that? >> on ukraine, we can talk about funding levels, checks and balances, i have been very involved in ukraine war funding. when it comes to the debt limit, there's no negotiation. we have to be clear.

the worst thing we could have is miscommunication. we're not going to cut future social security and medicare. this is a dead we have promised that we're going to fulfill. 25% was from the trump tax cuts, and we're not going to use this opportunity to cut snap benefits for the poorest people to reinforce the trump tax cuts, and richest americans. i think it's important that our leadership, democrats, republicans, communicates, especially to the extreme that this kind of gains manship is not going to work. not only that, it will end up backfiring. we'll have a bigger deficit in we default. we'll have 401(k)s, 25% losses on that, probably going to put us in a small recession. these are the games you don't want to play, and at the end of the day, ends up hurting americans, and if you're one of the 18 republicans, right now that are serving in districts that biden won, do you really want to be put on the sack

official stone by matt gaetz, and lauren boeberts of the world, you want to sacrifice your political career for the trifecta of dumbness over there? i wouldn't. >> it's interesting. chuck schumer said republicans, if they want to do all of these cuts, they ought to show us the plans. >> put it up. >> put the budget on the table. one of the reasons i ran for congress, i'm a dork. watching c-span, jon kasich, they went to the floor, they didn't like bill clinton's budget, so a democrat and republican went to the floor, and said we don't like the budget. this is a budget we would put on the floor, and they laid it out, and said, my god, these people have got integrity, ideas, and plans, and it's why he decided to run. why don't republicans do that now? if they're going to cut medicare which, rick scott has promised to cut medicare, medicaid, social security, he promised to

raise taxes on poor americans, why don't they put that on the floor, and vote on it? >> well, because the republican party still believes that they're a party of policy, not a party of grievances, but really they're largely a party of grievances, and if you see that, that's why there's always something they're supposed to be mad at, crt or some other buzz word of the week. there's a lot of people in their coalition that will start walking away, and so they could only go so far. once they actually catch the car, they don't know what to do with the bumper. >> you just mentioned, congressman, that there are 18 republican members of congress whose district was carried by joe biden. on things like cuts in medicare, cuts in social security, two hch part question, how convinced are you that you can get within the slim majority, five, six or seven of the 18 to go along with

the democrats' position on legislation. and do you have any feel at all for the fear factor within the republican party, among people like the a team that they will just get crushed by the right wing of their party which is the majority of their party. >> i have noticed to give credit to the 18 republicans, they have a level of independence, and many are brand new. they are willing to push back against the extreme o. republican party on some things. the debt limit may be one of them. at first they're going to play along. they want to be team players with their colleagues. i warn at some point they're going to have to be very clear with them. this debt limit is not a democratic debt limit bill. it's an american responsibility for us to pay our bills. and at the end of the day, if we have to do it, we'll use a discharge petition, and put this to the floor and call it a victory for the american public, and don't try to make this a little situation where we

basically stab each other, and hope someone ends up winning. the worst thing, miscalculation starts war. miscalculations like this could create an economic scenario where we basically trigger a melt down of the financial markets because we were all playing games. >> congressman, we all saw for years how nancy pelosi led the democratic process. >> trust me, i felt it. >> i bet you did. i felt it way across town, i felt that. so is there any indication of how or whether speaker mccarthy is going to be able to have a functional congress? to have a functional majority that actually gets things done? do you see any movement toward that end? >> i don't see it because i think he's weakened the

institution of the speakership to a place where it's only in name. kevin mccarthy only wanted the title of speaker. he didn't want the responsibility, accountability that comes with it. he's willing to sell himself to the lowest bidder. he's going to have to figure out how to compromise through the debt limit, budgets, simple bills. he put people on the rules committee that could bottle up any legislation to make sure he wanted to hold the title, and he's not going to be able to actually move legislation, so it's not the same. and look, i at one point did not support speaker pelosi for her reelection as speaker. and we sat down, me and a couple of other democrats, and we worked out a deal. at no point did we diminish the power of the speakership, and set up land mines in order for us to get some level of accountability from leadership. what happened in the republican party is they essentially set up so many land mines that, you

know, speaker mccarthy is going to tiptoe around for the next two years. i don't think he's going to make it two years, to be honest. >> congressman, can we broaden this to your race in arizona. there are democrats afraid that you throwing your hat in the ring might tip the race to a republican, presumably kari lake if she decides to run. this were 30,000 republican voters who chose to back katie hobbs over kari lake. are you banking on the fact that the same republicans who didn't like kari lake will turn around and say we don't like her for the senate either. are you worried you're taking a seat from democrats? >> i know i'm preserving the seat. kyrsten sinema can't win a race in arizona. she's alienated democrats, republicans and independents. they just don't trust her, and that trust is not going to get

rebuilt, no matter who she's running against, whether it's kari lake or whoever the party puts against us. i plan on running on my agenda, talking about the american dream. talking about arizona and the needs of arizonians that are not being met right now by kyrsten sinema and are not going to be met by who the republican party nominates. do we hope to get 30,000 republicans? absolutely. a lot of democrats have been dissuaded from voting for many years, come out and vote and put the same winning ticket that got us a win in 2018, 2020 and 2022. >> congressman ruben gallego of arizona, now a candidate for u.s. senate. thank you very much for being on the show this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. and still ahead on "morning joe," we'll be joined by the california semimember who represents half-moon bay where authorities are investigating another mass shooting.

plus today in georgia a judge will hear arguments about whether or not to release a report by the fulton county grand jury that was tasked with investigating interference. we'll go live to the courthouse in atlanta. on capitol hill today, senators want answers from ticket master following last year's taylor swift ticket sale debacle. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ." we'll be right back.

it's half past the hour. a key court hearing will take place in atlanta today where fulton county superior court judge will hear arguments on

whether to make public a report by a special grand jury investigating possible criminal interference in georgia's 2020 election by former president donald trump, and his allies. joining us now outside the courthouse in atlanta is nbc news correspondent blayne alexander. what can we expect today? >> reporter: mika, good morning to you, that hearing gets underway at noon and we can expect to hear from a number of different attorneys from stake holders to come forward and make the argument as to why this should or should not be made public. we know at the top of the list is fani willis, she's going to be speaking and saying whether she believes this should be made public. it will be interesting to hear her perspective. she has not said publicly whether this should or should not be released. she's one of the few people who knows what's in that report. it will be interest to go watch and see which way she goes on

this. lawyers for donald trump put out a statement overnight saying they are not going to be present nor participating in the hearing today to make arguments either way, and they also made, mika, a notable revelation that the former president has not been subpoenaed to testify before the special grand jury while it was going on. nor was he asked to come voluntarily and answer questions either. essentially they're saying that to date they have not been part of this process at all. so of course all eyes are going to be on the former president when it comes to looking and seeing what's in that report if it is made public. but a different story for many other people who were close to the former president. of course during the course of this entire thing, we saw rudy giuliani, we saw a number of people who were close to the former president coming forward, testifying in this building behind me. that's why there's going to be such interest in what is in this report. we'll of course learn whether there were other people who were subpoenaed to come forward and testify as well.

and we'll also learn what the grand jury is recommending when it comes to possible charges here. >> what are the reasons, blayne, could be arguments for making it public, public interest, public safety, and also what's next in this process? >> reporter: all of those things you mentioned. i think it's important to note there's a broad media coalition as well that is also arguing to make this public. a number of media outlets have come together, because of the extraordinary public interest in this, and one outlet writing this gets to the core of democracy. we're talking about whether or not there was work to try and undermine the elections here in georgia. that has great public interest, so they say there's really no, you know, compelling reason to keep it private. they're also, mika, pointing to the fact that the special grand jurors themselves wanted to make this public, the people who sat and listened to the testimony and authored this report, want it to be public. as for what comes next, we know

mcbernie knows the public interest. he knows his courtrooms are full whenever there's a hearing around this. he's going to be the one that makes this decision, and then ultimately we'll see whether or not he makes all or even part of it public with perhaps heavy redactions, mika. >> all right. nbc's blayne alexander, we will see what happens today. thank you very much. and coming up, a former fbi official is facing federal charges for his ties to a russian oligarch. we'll go through the case that's raising serious questions about the agency. plus, senate majority leader chuck schumer is calling out republicans, and the fight over the debt ceiling. those conversations just ahead on "morning joe." confversations on "morning joe. ♪ ♪ it's what sanctuary could look like... feel like... sound like...

even smell like. more on that soon. ♪ ♪ the best part? the prequel is pretty sweet too. ♪ ♪ get ready to say those five little words. we're talking about... rooty tooty fresh 'n fruity yep, it's back. for a limited time. the six dollar rooty tooty fresh 'n fruity combo. 2 eggs, 2 bacon strips, and 2 fruit topped pancakes. only from ihop. (tony hawk) skating for over 45 years has taken a toll on my body. 2 eggs, 2 bacon strips, and 2 fruit topped pancakes. i take qunol turmeric because it helps with healthy joints and inflammation support. why qunol? it has superior absorption compared to regular turmeric. qunol. the brand i trust.

research shows people remember ads with a catchy song. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's a little number you'll never forget. did you know that liberty mutual custo— ♪liberty mutual♪ ♪ only pay for what you need♪ ♪only pay for what you need♪ ♪ custom home insurance created for you all♪ ♪now the song is done♪ ♪back to living in your wall♪ they're just gonna live in there? ♪yes♪ only pay for what you need. ♪liberty liberty liberty♪ ♪liberty♪ [♪♪] ♪liberty liberty liberty♪ if you have diabetes, it's important to have confidence in the nutritional drink you choose. try boost glucose control®. it's clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels and contains high quality protein to help manage hunger and support muscle health. try boost® today. business can happen anytime, anywhere. so help yours thrive and stay connected with the comcast business complete connectivity solution. it's the largest, fastest, reliable network. advanced gig speed wifi. and cyberthreat protection.

starting at just $49.99 a month. plus, you can save up to 60% a year when you add comcast business mobile. or, ask how to get up to a $750 prepaid card. complete connectivity. one solution, for wherever business takes you. comcast business. powering possibilities. and so my fellow americans, ask not what your country can do

for you, ask what you can do for your country. finally, whether you are citizens of america or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standard of strength and sacrifice, which we ask of you, with a good conscience, our only sure reward with history the final judge of our deed, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking his blessings and his health, but knowing that here on earth, god's work must truly be our own. >> president john f. kennedy's inaugural address in which he asked americans and citizens of the world to work together quote

with a good conscience, our only sure reward. joining us now, president of the council on foreign relations, richard haass, his new book out today is entitled "the bill of obligations, the ten habits of good citizens," also with us for this discussion is author and nbc news presidential historian, michael beschloss. >> hold on a second, richard, before we start, anything you want to say about the giants today? >> no. >> joe. >> anything? >> this is not part of his civic duty. >> joe, it's time to must have on. joe, one of the obligations is to be civil. you're violating it, move on. >> yes, that's a violation, mr. scarboro. >> if there's anything you want to get off your chest talking about the giants, you can before we get started to. >> he doesn't want to. richard, in the book you write there, in a more perfect world a book such as this would not be necessary because every american would gate grounding in civics,

in the country's political structures and traditions along with what is owed and expected of its citizens in elementary school, high school, and college, it would be reinforced by parents, family and friends, along with community, labor, and political leaders. journalists would play a critical role. alas, that is not the world we live in. there's a good deal of talk about the budget deficit. it may be that our civics deficit is of greater consequence. >> so, richard, in my experience, i can't speak for every else with children, but in my experience, it's not so much of an issue for my kids in high school, i don't think they get enough in elementary school, but in college it's sort of -- it's not existent unless you go out searching for it. doesn't it seem that we should

have in a core curriculum, kids that go to american universities should have to take some classes in civics to understand how this country, how this government works? >> absolutely. as you say, it's offered on almost every college campus. but it's required by a precious few. so i think, yeah, i actually think you should not be able to get that diploma and leave the campus without a grounding in civics. i think it would be, one, necessary as a preparation for the rest of your life as a citizen. it would also be good for students to do something in common. so many universities, people go off and study engineering and computer sciences and never meet anybody who studies in the humanities. i think it would be healthy to break down some of the barriers. yes, i think this is part of the preparation, and we're doing ourselves collectively no favor. joe, you know this, this is a country that's based on an idea. >> right. >> this is not a country founded on race or hereditary monarchies, we're based on an idea.

it's in the declaration of independence and the constitution. why should we automatically assume that these ideas are transmitted from generation to generation if we don't take the time to teach them. it was reagan that said we need not just patriotism but informed patriotism. >> michael beschloss, you have the next question, but would you agree that this is something every college student needs to learn, not just one civics course but at least a couple, as they go out into the world, into the work force as citizens, they understand how this country works? >> total true. i assume, mika and you were not expecting me to say that they shouldn't learn history in sort of a disposable item, of course they should, and the founders assumed they would. when lincoln said, for instance, since we're quoting dead presidents, 1861 in his

inaugural address, talked about the chords of memory that stretched back to every patriot. this is 1861, not too many americans alive remember the revolutionary war. he assumed that people because of either talking to their friends and relatives or studying would know what the history of this country was and what it stood for. when i was growing up in illinois, we assumed if this country was going to go down, it was going to go down probably because soviet missiles struck chicago, in my case. never that there would be americans who would turn on their own democracy. so my point is, for instance, the people on january 6th who attacked the capitol, you know, terrible the ones who hated democracy, but i'll bet you there was a larger number as richard is saying in this fine book which i've got right here, a larger number of them did not hate democracy, but were indifferent to democracy or

don't know what it is. that's why you have people saying that jfk jr. is going to run with donald trump next year or jewish space lasers, which were mentioned earlier in the program. you can't have a democracy that is made up of people who don't even know what democracy is. last point. truman used to say, not every reader will be a leader, but every leader must be a reader. we've got to choose leaders who know all about history and what democracy means. would you say that's true of every member of the house today? >> yeah, i think michael raises obviously a lot of good poents -- points there, and as you've seen, as you've heard, we have had big debates in this country about what is our history, the 1619 project versus the 1776 project. but i don't think it's impossible to school americans in the facts of american history, and then expose them to different interpretations. we not only have one historical thread to teach, we have many.

we can expose them to the basic facts, what happened and when in this country's past, and then we can talk about different interpretations. we can expose them to the constitution, to the declaration of independence. they can read the federalist papers. they can read some of those inaugural addresses, farewell addresses. they can understand what checks and balances mean. the whole idea, it's going to be hard to get people to go out and participate in a political system if they don't understand its value, and why participation matters. again, the lead story today like yesterday is guns. and you talked about why is it that 8 or 10% of the country seems to be overwhelming the other 90%. well a lot more people could get out and vote and vote on the basis of this issue, but they don't choose to. and again, people have to understand that our politics are ultimately what we make them to be. >> and mike barnicle, if they

studied history, they would also understand that taking an absolutist view in america, it never works. we have people talking about the divisions between, you know, the 1619 project and 1776, and what should be taught in schools and what shouldn't be taught in schools, and you cannot teach this ap, african-american studies course in the state of florida. you can't do this. you have to do that. i mean, if they studied history, they would understand that there are always competing ideas and at times, the competition gets heated. it goes all the way back to george washington's first cabinet where thomas jefferson, and alexander hamilton loathed each other, constantly at each other's necks politically, constantly battling what the new country was going to look like. and you know what, they got through it.

the more history you know, the better you feel about our differences today and how you can work through them. >> so, joe, that is one of the key phrases that you've ever uttered, actually, if they studied history. and i don't think i'm alone when i would state that i don't think we study history well enough as a nation. especially with our kids in school and grammar school, and in high school. we don't who we are. and i would ask this esteemed panel, michael and richard, the following question, the bill of obligations, richard's book, are we failing in our obligation to teach history in the sense that children from the age of 7, 8, when they really start knowing what history is supposed to be all about, that we teach them to think about history rather than memorize history. to think about who we are, to think about what we've given to the world. michael, i mean, when you look at our history and you see the

clip we came into with john f. kennedy, 60 years ago this month, those words were uttered. 60 years in terms of history is the snap of a finger, and yet if you quizzed public school, elementary school kids, high school kids today about john f. kennedy's administration, what would they know, he got shot. maybe that's it. >> or they might say is that the guy who's coming back to run with donald trump next year. not too many of those, but more than there should be. they also might say, was it the idea of our founders as we're now seeing in joe and mika's home state of florida, was it their idea that books would be banned and taken out of classrooms, and we'd have lists saying these books are okay, these books are not. what you want is exactly right, and richard says it extremely well this his wonderful book, which is you have to train kids so that they can think and

understand the ideas and the values and the ideals that our country stands for. and be able to see that maybe some of them would agree with banning books, but that's a policy that has to be debated. you know, anyone who, as we've seen in the last few years has the idea that this should be an authoritarian society with just one set of ideas and, you know, one religion is wrong, and another race is wrong, and certain genders, you know, a gender is wrong. these are things that most americans could never have thought of during the lastcentu >> the lesson is that we always just assume it would happen automatically. sanguine about it. >> exactly. >> americans that grow up. when i look at it there's more of this but a crowding out effect in elementary schools and high schools. fewer kids get exposed and what they are exposed to is

simplistic and nothing national. i find it strange that in different parts of the country we learn different american histories. that can't be good. it reinforces the divisions that are already there. the idea of separate and different histories, most of it no history especially in college or civics. people don't understand the value of the system or how it operates. so we have got to shake ourselves out of this relaxed, assume it will all work out mentality. it won't happen on its own. there's a civics deficit in this country and we have got to deal with it and parents have to demand it. if you shell out $75,000 a year to go to an expensive school why

don't you look at the curriculum? most cases the answer is they are not. why not get something for that money? >> gene, you look at civics. you look at history. i am certain that the overwhelming number of students right now from in high school and college don't understand that most black americans did not have rights that the rest of americans had until 1964 and 1965. we don't talk about the civil rights act and the voting rights about and wasn't until then that so many rights were first shared with black americans. the reaction to that was sort of

this political whiplash. created a counter revolution politically and then you could say the same thing about the election of the first black president of barack obama. we had the reaction there. you teach history. people may understand a little better what they see on youtube or what they see on tiktok news feeds. >> yeah. i need to know your history and you need to know my history. you need to know, for example, i had a great uncle that died before i was born, my grandmother's kid brother served in world war i. fought in france and was among quite a few black gis who came back from that war with a new sense of themselves, a new sense

of possibility because they had been treated better by the french than by the americans. that sort of thing a lot of people don't know. so i guess my question to richard is, isn't it important as we teach history we teach the strands of history? mine is a strand different from yours but you can't teach american history without teaching all of them, can you? >> i think there's certain things common to us all. we need to understand what is common again beginning with the declaration of independence. we went through the articles of confederation, the constitution and the 27 amendments to them. there are some things that are common. and then, yes. there's different interpretations. history is not one thing. the ten commandments are

interpreted differently within religions and have the debates and different emphasis and interpretations. i think there's elements of commonness and debate and expose students to both. i don't want to get into the idea there's one history to impose but i think certain common features that all americans should have exposure to and then let the debates begin. they could read different things, have debates within then. model congress. model supreme court. that would be great for students. i think that would be part of the educational process. >> the new book is "the bill of obligations." richard, thank you. we'll see you again tomorrow as we continue our weeklong book residency on "morning joe."

michael, thank you for joining the conversation. still ahead on "morning joe," the latest from two grieving communitying in california reeling after two separate mass shootings in three days. we'll get a live report from monterrey park and be joined by a state assemblyman whose district includes the tragedy in half moon bay and a partisan conflict over committee assignments in the house. democratic congresswoman ilhan omar will join us as she fights to keep the seat on the foreign affairs panel. chuck schumer is putting pressure on house republicans to lay out potential demands to raise the debt ceiling. senator cory booker will weigh in. "morning joe" is coming right back. hello, world. or is it goodbye? you know, it seems like hope and trust are in short supply.

[clap] now, as businesses we can blame and shame. or... [whistles] we can make a change. [clap] we can make work, work for our communities. create more equal opportunities. [clap] it's time for business to show its true worth. because it's not goodbye, world. it's hello, team earth. [clap]

it is the top of the third hour of "morning joe." welcome back. it is tuesday, january 24th. jonathan and mike are still with us. and joining the conversation, democratic senator cory booker of new jersey. senator, another mass shooting to report on. teacher shot in another part of the country. what can be done? >> we know what can be done. you have talked about it before. there are common sense gun safety things to do in this country that majority of americans agree on, like universal background checks, gun safety locks. things we agree on. the problem in america is that we have a major political party that is not willing to do the common sense things that would make us safer and our content really being complicit in the status quo that makes us as a

nation way out of the loop coming to the other industrial nations in the world that don't have this regular, routine horror. that don't have a reality that has children having more active shooter drills than fire drills. americans kiss a family member going to a concert, going to church, a classroom and having the back of the mind the worry. this is not a matter of can we do something about it? the leadership is lacking the will. >> so, let's talk about the lack of will. we showed a poll that is very consistent with every poll over the last decade with universal background checks for every gun purchased. that number shot up to 9 out of 10 americans. 89% of americans support background checks for all buyers. only 8% oppose.

11% of republicans oppose it. so my question is, senator, how in the world can 8% of americans hold all of congress and washington d.c. hostage politically? >> again. i think it is a paper tiger. a belief that right wing advocacy groups like the nra and the money that they have somehow is a formidable political block that makes folks unable to do what is right for the safety of their country. one of the number one reasons turning to the founders is common defense. now we have more people in america in my lifetime died to gun violence than every war. civil war to the wars in the

middle eastern combined. this is a dereliction of duty, a surrender to violence. this is not protecting the nation from threats foreign and domestic. >> president biden is calling on lawmakers to pass two gun safety bills, including the type of gun used in the monterrey park attack. senators feinstein and murphy introduced the bills to ban the manufacture and sale of military style assault weapons and high capacity magazines and raise the age to purchase assault weapons from 18 to 21. if you need them. biden's statement reads in part, i urge both chambers of congress to deliver the assault weapons ban to my desk. the majority of american people agree with this common sense action. there can be no greater

responsibility than to do all we can to ensure the safety of our children, communities and nation. and, senator, will this get any support from republicans? >> again, senator, this is not an extreme position. if you look at every poll, this is where the majority of americans are. >> i look at you. yesterday you said it plainly. you grew up in a gun culture. comfortable around guns. a best memory as a child is my grandfather taking me out hunting. this has nothing to do with that. no one as you said yesterday is coming to take your gun. what we are simply saying is there are weapons of mass destruction, of war, that do not belong on our streets. where you could kill large amounts of people in seconds. and again, the american

public -- we know this. we are a moderate nation. we understand compromise. we don't want these extremes. these are extreme weapons that have no place on our streets or in the community. so again, this is a political obstacle which is actually giving hope because there are groups in america amassing in terms of political power understanding that we are not helpless. moms demand action show greater numbers than the nra and organizing capacity. they need to be a national movement to save ourselves. this is the realm of politics. for those folks frustrated, get more frustrated but let it motivate you to get more engaged and involved because there's people to blame but we have to take responsibility for stopping

them. >> we talked to ruben gallego and talking about the possibility of raising the debt ceiling and how the republicans talk about how they want to put the spending limits across the board but they'll never show their hand, never tell you what they want to cut. you hear from some they think medicare, social security, medicaid will be slashed but never give you the plan. this is what chuck schumer said about this, if republicans want to slash spending show us what you want to slash. >> house republicans, you voted for rules that require regular order to put the proposals for debt ceiling on the floor. let the entirety of the house debate it and vote on it and let the american people see and assess the cuts for themselves.

americans deserve to know the cuts republicans want to make and why it's worth forcing an unnecessary crisis that will hurt most american families. >> i'm a deficit hawk. i talk about it for 25 years and we need to trim the debt but don't we also need to see how they want to do it? their priorities. their priorities may be out of whack where 75% of americans are. how important is it to see their plan before votes are taken to slash the budget? >> yeah. this goes back to me learning in high school playing poker with my buddies. put up or shut up. govern or get out of the way. don't screw around with the american economy. don't threaten the average american. what they do by not showing the plan and being a responsible

party willing to govern what they are doing is not obstructionist. this is destructionist. there are families out there that will suffer because the home values will go down. moody's say it could destroy $15 trillion of home wealth. it can make mortgages go up. make the retirement accounts go down. it is destructive. you want a seat at the table. you are in charge of the house of representatives. govern or get out of the way because this problem that you are talking about and trying to put at the feet of democrats and risk things that americans earned like the social security the problem amassed when you voted to raise the dead limit time and time again where one quarter of the debt amassed with massive tax breaks to people

making over $400,000 blowing massive holes without paying for it. put up or shut up. govern or get out of the way. don't threat americans because of your recklessness. >> good morning. in the senate what has been the mood among republican colleagues about this issue? we heard from senate minority leader mcconnell saying it is unthinkable if the united states defaults. if that's what he's saying, is there pressure from the upper chamber to the lower in the gop? >> god, i hope so. there's moderate folks on both sides of the aisle. there are people on the extremes who are threatening the american people in serious words. mcconnell's words, they are very

plain about the importance to do this. we have already made the expenses. it is the right thing to do. i'll say this about chuck schumer. i sat with him yesterday at length and he was very clear that if they have a plan to responsibly address fiscal issues let's do this but to not put forward the ideas and show that they are responsible as a party, to not say that they have a fiscal vision but to stand around and be the party of greivis and manufactured outrage and a party to slam and slander that to me is unacceptable. this is a time for us to govern. we have many challenges in the nation to come together and do something about. many of us have experience in this. last time to run a budget as an

executive i was mayor of a major city. the only thing i hear them screaming about is entitlement spending but i call it health care and earned social security opposed to what they should be talking about is massive tax breaks that corporations weren't asking for. there is a time for politicking and that's over. this is a time of governance. inflation and other challenges, a war in ukraine, we need to show to come together across party lines and be a responsible american government. >> senator booker, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. >> thank you so much. greatly appreciate. you know, that graphic that we

just put up talking about the number of times each party have raised the debt ceiling if we could put it up again, it is so telling that again you have republicans talking like they're the party of fiscal restraint. biggest deficits, george w. bush broke records for deficit and donald trump. 49 times the debt ceiling is raised since 1960 under republicans presidents. 49 times. under democratic presidents 29 times. it is very stark and it is, again, proves what i have always said. republicans only seem to care about spending, deficits, the federal debt when there's a democrat in the white house. >> exactly.

>> history shows it. in the four years of donald trump's presidency time and time again i asked republicans to speak out on this and talking about it on this show. no takers. republicans weren't deficit hawks and what we heard was is nobody cares. now they do. >> there's a heated fight over committee assignments. adam schiff and eric swalwell prepare to battle for the intelligence committee seats despite threats from speaker kevin mccarthy to block the appointments and now another democratic lawmaker is fighting for her seat. congresswoman ilhan omar sent a letter asking to be reappointed to the committee pointing to experience as a refugee and only

member of congress born in africa. speaker mccarthy promised to try to remove her from the panel over comments about israel some considered to be anti-semitic. she apologized for those comments. >> is -- has donald trump apologized for the anti-semitic remarks? >> how about the insurrectionist? >> -- at his -- >> had a remark on the made-up social media, yesterday i believe, making disgusting comments about a politician's wife and calling her a name. >> he made the racist remark able elaine chao. he had an anti-semitic to dinner

recently. white nationalist. i haven't heard kevin mccarthy demanding an apology from donald trump for that. selective outrage over the debt, the deficit and over comments made about israel. >> complete hypocrisy. congress woman omar joins us now. thank you very much for joining us this morning. any word on the possibility of keeping your seat on the committee? >> good morning to you all. the steers committee on the democratic side has just gotten the -- from the republican conference so we are still going through committee appointments. i should hear by friday on the

appointment to the foreign affairs committee where i am set to be ranking on the africa subcommittee and then we'll hear what the republicans want to do. do they want to continue the hypocrisy saying they are upset that republicans taken off committees and that they are going to govern differently or come back for vengeance and punish me for the fact that we took people off the committees not for the comments but endanger the lives of the fellow colleagues in congress. the situation with gosart was a video features him killing one of my colleagues, biden and speaker pelosi and then people like marjory taylor greene with

the jewish laser stuff. she was not taken off the committees for that but for holding a rifle over my head and the head of colleagues campaigning calling for the speaker to be hanged because she committed treason as she said for saying there's a muslim invasion and people like talib and myself should not be serving in congress unless we got sworn in on a bible. these are very different situations. people taken off for inciting violence against the colleagues for making us feel unsafe. no one is taking off the the committees because of comments you made. boebert said pretty horrific

terroristic stuff to me. pelosi knew that wasn't the path forward. i hope that republican colleagues who voted to keep marjory taylor greene on the committees now follow the precedent they sent. >> congresswoman omar, the hypocrisy is well documented. greene said that september 11th was an inside job and now on the homeland security committee. let's talk about the ability to get anything done. is there any chance seeing the list you enumerated, what is the confidence level to work with the republicans on just about anything. >> yeah. it is going to be really

challenging. i have served on the foreign affairs committee, on the africa subcommittee where i'm set to be ranking. chris smith to be chair on that subcommittee and i worked well together and most of the committees intel or the foreign affairs committee colleagues on the committee on both sides of the aisle oftentimes come together and work on the issues confronting the united states. it is going to be really hard moving forward when you have a speaker who was publicly humiliated and took 15 votes to get elected as speaker who given power to the most ridiculous members of his caucus. and has taken away the seriousness of his conference. it will be charging for the democrats and moderate

republicans in congress to be able to work with this speaker and try to get anything done. i hope for the betterment of our country that there are opportunities for the president, the senate and for us to come together like on the debt ceiling and other stuff. >> democratic congresswoman ilhan omar of minnesota, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. we will be watching. elsewhere on capitol hill, a hearing putting the ticketing industry on the hot seat. this is the latest fallout from the ticketmaster debacle. nbc news correspondent savannah sellers reports. taylor swift's biggest fans will

be among those tuning in to see what changes could be coming to the $12 billion industry. it's in the weak of a technology breakdown during the presale for taylor swift's upcoming fans. swifties faced hours long wait times and website crashes. plans to tell congress ticketmaster should have staggered sales but will say they were hit by cyber attacks in the sale which required the company to slow down and pause sales. still he defends the company, adding its performance in large on sales is the best in the industry. the hearing comes in the wake of a breakdown on the website in the presale for swift's upcoming tour. >> they have dominated the market. >> i didn't think this situation could be worse. >> reporter: the backlash is swift. it is called the eras tour because if you try to log in to

ticketmaster all you get is era messages. she isn't the only performer to take issue. country singer zach bryant titled the new album "all my homeys hate ticketmaster." nearly 30 years ago pearl jam tried to take on ticketmaster boycotting the company and filing a grievance with the justice department. >> i think that the senate and the politicians want to see a sign that ticketmaster will be more willing to foster competition. >> senator amy klobuchar said fans are in a position to hold companies like this accountable. >> i need to make anti-trust sexy again. that all sounds really boring but a lot more interesting when a taylor swift fan puts it to

music. >> there you go. nbc's savannah sellers with that report. still ahead on "morning joe," more guilty verdicts for a group involved in the january 6 capitol attack. what happened in court yesterday and what it means for others facing charges. also, counting down the days until forbes and know your value in abu dhabi. we hope you join us. it will take place over international women's day. we have an incredible lineup of speakers including hillary clinton, gloria steinem and halala. we'll have more announcements this week. we'll talk about professional success, impact. we'll also network, build relationships and connections that can and will change the

world. go to forbes.com and consider bringing mentees or colleagues to reward or grow the business with. we would love to see you there. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back.

hi, we've both got a big birthday coming up. so we have a lot of questions about medicare plans. we've got a lot of answers! how can i help? well for starters, do you include hearing benefits? how about a plan with dental, vision and hearing benefits?

i sure like the sound of that! then how does a $0 monthly plan premium sound? ooooooooh! [laughs] if you're new to medicare, call 1-888-65-aetna. we'll walk you through all your coverage and benefit options to help find the right plan for you. i screwed up. mhm. i got us t-mobile home internet. now cell phone users have priority over us. and your marriage survived that? you can almost feel the drag when people walk by with their phones. oh i can't hear you... you're froze-- ladies, please! you put it on airplane mode when you pass our house. i was trying to work. we're workin' it too. yeah! work it girl! woo! i want to hear you say it out loud. well, i could switch us to xfinity. those smiles. that's why i do what i do. that and the paycheck.

a jury convicted four oath keepers, members of the group and they have been convicted of seditious conspiracy. it is the second group of guilty verdicts related to the efforts to block certification of the 2020 presidential election. the four members join oath keep others founder and the leader convicted last november. "the washington post" points out that seditious conspiracy charges are rarely used making

the verdict another significant victory for the justice department. of the nearly 1,000 people charged with crimes at the capitol on january 6, 2021, less than 20 have been charged with seditious conspiracy. the four convicted yesterday also found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding and conspireing to obstruct. the verdicts carry up to 20 years in prison but sentencing guidelines are likely to be 5 to 7 years. the law first enacted after the civil war to arrest surrounders who might keep fighting the u.s. government and the charge has rarely been brought in recent memory and with mixed results. the last successful seditious conspiracy trial was in the 1995 when egyptian cleric shaikh omar

abdel rahman and nine followers convicted in a plot to blow up the united nations, fbi building and two tunnels and a bridge. they also got convictions in another now largely forgotten storming of the capitol building back in 1954. >> gene, this doesn't happen much. these are all signposts that i think we may look back on when -- i'm speculating here -- but when or if donald trump is charged for activities on january the 6th. we can look back and see all of these people being convicted for seditious conspiracy in the name of donald trump, for the benefit of donald trump, by the direction at least indirectly of donald trump. you look at all the other people

who have been convicted and it is hard to believe in america that a justice department would allow all of these people to be convicted of seditious conspiracy performing a conspiracy, working together for donald trump's benefit at donald trump's urging and the justice department is going to let donald trump just stand back and cheat and lie to win golf tournaments at his country clubs. i don't see it happening. >> it wouldn't make sense, would it, because if you charge seditious conspiracy you need to charge the guy that led the seditious conspiracy. summoned the mob including these organized groups like the oath

keepers and proud boys. summon them to washington to stop the certification of the election that he lost and to illegally and unconstitutionally keep him in office in what would have amounted to a coup. so i don't see how you fail to go after -- that's the main thing that happened on january 6th. that is the heart of the matter and it seems to me that just to be honest about it the justice department has to go after trump for what he did, for the principle act in this seditious conspiracy. >> without a lead conspirator? doesn't make sense. and i don't think people inside the justice department think that makes much sense. is it likely we are going to see donald trump brought up on charges for his activities

leading to the riots on january the 6th? >> the justice department wants to make sure when they bring charges, if they bring charges, they have a good chance to convict the former president because they know how monumental and historical that would be. it's hard to imagine a framework of a conspiracy without a leadership. it's not amorphous things but driven by someone and in the name of someone. and the indications from the justice department are they take it seriously looking at the possibilities and don't want to charge the former president with something as big as seditious conspiracy without being sure to lead to a conviction. >> jonathan, we have in the presidential debate proud boys stand back and stand by. come on january the 6th.

it is going to be wild. you have the war room set up at the hotel. you have donald trump -- >> saying i'll be down there. >> rush -- again, you wrote the book on this. i find it hard to believe that these people who were the foot soldiers doing what he directed them to do are going to be sent to jail while donald trump is cheating to win tournaments and call to arms. >> this is the president trump in office stoking the lies. he stoked the conspiracies. primed the pump for the violence on january the 6th. he was out there on twitter suggesting without evidence that the election was unfair and led the mob to the capitol. there had been a suggestion that

the classified documents case at the mar-a-lago the quote easy one to bring. the legal cases should be separate but there's a growing sense of charges from the 2020 election, as well. yes, harder to prove the january 6 ties. there was a sense to be more difficult but the convictions had to the belief that it is possible and if the fulton county jury in georgia or washington it's perhaps likelihood to face charges for what he did that led to the violence on january 6. coming up, what's driving the day on wall street? the growing number of job cuts impacting a broad swath of the economy. dom chu has business before the bell straight ahead on "morning

joe."

- [announcer] this is jabra enhance select. it's more than just a hearing aid. it's a smart hearing solution that makes hearing aids more convenient and less expensive. with jabra enhance select better hearing

doesn't have to start in a doctor's office. it starts with our free online hearing test. from there you can fine tune your settings with your remote audiology team seven days a week so your hearing aids work when it matters most. jabra enhance select hearing aids cost thousands less than you'd expect. so hearing well is easier than ever. try it risk free for 100 days. visit jabraenhance.com ♪limu emu & doug♪ hey, man. nice pace! clearly, you're a safe driver. you could save hundreds for safe driving with liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance... ...so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] whoo! we gotta go again.

only pay for what you need. ♪liberty liberty liberty♪ ♪liberty♪ as a business owner, ♪li your bottom line isy♪ always top of mind. so start saving by switching to the mobile service designed for small business: comcast business mobile. flexible data plans mean you can get unlimited data or pay by the gig. all on the most reliable 5g network. with no line activation fees or term contracts. saving you up to 60% a year. and it's only available to comcast business internet customers. so boost your bottom line by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities. as a business owner, your bottom line is always top of mind. so start saving by switching to the mobile service designed for small business: comcast business mobile. flexible data plans mean you can get unlimited data or pay by the gig. all on the most reliable 5g network. with no line activation fees or term contracts. saving you up to 60% a year. and it's only available to comcast business internet customers.

so boost your bottom line by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities. "mu ke gone chronicle" leads with governor whitmer's push for gun reform calling for new policies in the state of the state address tomorrow wanting background checks and legislation that mandates safe storage of weapons. the sentinel record has a feature on a new arkansas bill to impose criminal penalties on library and school employees who loan books that lawmakers decide are obscene to students. it is already illegal under

federal law to distribute the material to children under 18. in massachusetts, the republican reports the fda is considering offering yearly covid-19 boosters. the agency wants to imply if i the service to look like the flu vaccine saying most people may only need one shot to restore protection. advisory committee is scheduled to meet thursday and to vote on the plan. >> it is interesting. i had not gotten the covid booster. >> which one? the fourth? >> the fourth. we went to london and then got covid and knocked down for a while. >> yes, you did. months. >> i would not say months. >> you were knocked down for months. >> months? >> yes. a long time. >> so anyway, weeks. >> no. a long time. three months. >> it is interesting because we are learning more about what

your resistance to covid may be. >> yeah. >> back in september? just got -- got my check-up and antibodies are at like 100% right now. >> interesting. >> works out. we found out that the boosters, the vaccines don't stop the disease but they certainly do make a big impact. instead of being down for a month with fatigue i would have sneezed and kept going. >> exactly. >> people go doesn't make a difference. still get covid. never been the purpose. it builds up the resistance like actually getting covid builds up the resistance. >> keep you from going to the hospital. >> get off the website that is chinese religious cults are putting as a front to get a

stronghold in america and in your mind and get yourself a booster shot. >> it is important. another headline, in new york a framework for the new bills stadium is approved. $1.4 billion stadium will be built in erie county. the county and new york state covering $850 million with a 30-year lease and $100 million in community benefits that will fund -- >> i'm excited about this! i said that jack scarborough and i are josh allen fans and going to blame josh allen's performance this past weekend and the last year on the old stadium. it is the stadium. not the sneak ores. he needs a new stadium and then stop looking like brett favre in the final moments of every game.

>> an expensive solution perhaps but it is great that the bills are staying there in western new york, buffalo. any time a small market team in a sport starts to suggest we need a new stadium there's fears they will move. back to the game this weekend, the bills, the cold weather team done in by the snow. >> oh. >> assembled a speed based finesse team and they couldn't handle the elements and the bengals pushed them around. who's in the hunt for oscar gold? we get a look at the nominations for the academy awards. who was honored and who was snubbed straight ahead on "morning joe."

shingles. some describe it as pulsing electric shocks or sharp, stabbing pains. ♪♪ this painful, blistering rash can disrupt your life for weeks. a pain so intense, you could miss out on family time. the virus that causes shingles is likely already inside of you. if you're 50 years or older, ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingles.

♪♪ over the last 100 years, lincoln's witnessed a good bit of history. even made some themselves. makes you wonder... what will they do for an encore? ♪♪

former secretary of state mike pompeo is sharply criticizing murdered "the washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi questioning the journalism credentials and the media covering of the brutal killing in saudi arabia. nbc news obtained a copy of the book titled "never giving an inch." he writes about khashoggi sayin deserve to die, but we need to be clear about who he was and too many in the media were not." pompeo mocked the media's portrayal of khashoggi as a "saudi arabian bob woodward who was martyred for bravely criticizing the saudi royal family for his opinion articles

in "the washington post."" he also described khashoggi as an activist and tries to question his allegiances in the book, writing, "and as even "the new york times" reported khashoggi was cozy with the terrorist-supporting muslim brotherhood." in response, his widow told nbc news khashoggi is not a part of a muslim brotherhood. >> she had tough words for the former cia director who knew the intel and knew what the intel pointed to and knows what he's saying right now is just a lie. he's trying to paint something as being black and white that's not. it was far more nuanced. and the fact that he decides to go after a murdered "washington post" columnist, gene, who was a

virginia resident, lived in america, and who got tortured, sawed up, chopped into a thousand little pieces and buried? >> right. >> this is the guy that mike pompeo decides to criticize? i'm sorry. wait, what's the word for it because "sick" keeps coming to mind. >> it's totally sick. he writes i'm not blaming the victim but he is. jamal khashoggi was a respected journalist, known and liked and respected for his integrity and his talent and his connections and everything. by every correspondent covering that region that i know.

i mean, he was -- he was certainly a journalist. he was certainly not a member of the muslim brotherhood. and the idea that -- even if he were, which he was not, that pompeo would somehow defend what happened to him and that's what pompeo is doing, trying to say, well, it shouldn't have happened but maybe it wasn't so bad because i don't like this guy. just absolutely -- that's -- only a bad person writes something like that, right? this guy, pompeo, he actually served as secretary of state of the united states, and this is the kind of person he is? it's unbelievable. >> yeah. >> offensive. offensive to people who knew and loved jamal khashoggi and people

who respected his work. >> yeah. people who knew him and loved him, worked with him like you at "the washington post," david ignatius, the words that david ignatius speaks about him -- >> exactly. >> -- are just so moving. the thing is, mika, that pompeo was not only secretary of state. >> he was head of -- >> he was cia director. he knew what the intel community found. >> mm-hmm. >> he knew what the intel community concluded out of this. that's why this is so -- not only is it sick, it's dishonest. he knows that what he's writing is not the truth. >> a lot of questions, katty kay, given the fact he is preparing reportedly a run for the presidency himself. you have to wonder who his audience -- who is he appealing to here? >> yeah. there is something in the

members of the former trump administration defending russia, defending vladimir putin, for example, over intelligence. mike pompeo now defending saudi arabia over intelligence. i understand the united states has strategic ties with saudi arabia and joe biden visited saudi arabia amid quite a bit of criticism recently over oil production. i understand there are sensitivities there. it's not an easy relationship. but the way in which mike pompeo has gone after jamal khashoggi, i don't see what the audience is unless he feels there is some part of the trump base that likes the saudis and likes mohammed bin salman so much that they don't want to criticize saudi arabia for the killing of jamal khashoggi, especially about what you were saying about the intelligence community and members of the intelligence community who did a lot of hard work trying to piece this story together, and in my understanding of it, my reporting conversations, they were not happy about -- they were disgusted by what they found in the intelligence

community. so i don't think mike pompeo is reflecting members of the u.s. intelligence community over there. >> right. coming up, with eel get the very lapt fres northern california, where police have arrested a suspect in connection with yesterday's mass shooting, which came just hours after a separate massacre in that state. that's next on "morning joe." okay everyone, our mission is complete balanced nutrition. together we support immune function. supply fuel for immune cells and sustain tissue health. ensure with twenty-five vitamins and minerals, and ensure complete with thirty grams of protein.

it is just about 6:00 a.m. on the west coast, 9:00 a.m. on the east coast. jonathan lemire, mike barnicle are back with us, and joining us for the fourth hour of "morning joe" is former white house press secretary, now msnbc host, jen psaki. good to have you along with us, jen. we've got a lot to get to this hour, including the academy award nominations just announced moments ago. we'll dig into who will or could bring home oscar gold this year. also, a big story with

implications on family food budgets. egg prices have jumped 60% over the past year. >> if you can even find them. >> yeah. one farm group says inflation is not the reason, actually. cnbc's dom chu will explain the accusations of collusion and price gouging going on. plus, four oath keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy in the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol. we'll bring in our legal experts on the significance of the justice department notching another guilty verdict on an extremely rarely used charge. and we're following charges of an ex-fbi official working for a russian oligarch. and california rocked by another mass shooting with 18 lives lost in the span of 48 hours. and that's where we will begin this hour. the new details on the shooting

that devastated the los angeles area community as they celebrated the lunar new year. joining us now, live from monterey park, california, nbc news correspondent steve patterson. steve? >> reporter: good morning. this community is sill in mourning after that horrific mass shooting saturday night that killed 11 people. overnight we learned one of the victims was released from the hospital, and we're learning more about this 72-year-old suspected shooter. but police say still no motive yet. a quiet los angeles suburb still mourning after a lunar new year celebration turned into a scene of terror. exclusive video showing the struggle for survival between the gunman and heroic man who may have prevented more deaths by wrestling away his weapon. >> i had the belief i was going to die. then it dawned on me that this

was the moment to disarm him. i could do something here. >> reporter: police say huu can tran first entered the star ballroom dance studio in monterey park after 10:00 on saturday night and opened fire. >> 42 round were fired by the suspect at that location. >> reporter: ten people were killed that night, all in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. >> i hear the noise, pop, pop, pop, pop, so i just run. >> reporter: just 20 minutes after fleeing the first scene, police say the gunman arrived at a second ballroom in alhambra where 26-year-old brandon tsay was manning the front desk at the dance hall. tsay managed to gain control of the weapon and the attacker fled. multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation tell nbc news that while an exact motive remains elusive, the soefd far points to a personal motive. about 80 miles east of monterey park, investigators searched tran's home for clues finding materials for homemade firearms

suppressors. his ex-wife said she met tran at the studio two decades ago, said he was a truck driver at the time and could be quick to anger. they divorced in 200 to 6. tran worked at the studio. adam hood telling "the new york times" he just didn't have friends there. katia bass, an instructor at the ballroom, says she's still in disbelief. >> everybody united to be happy, to enjoy the big family, and then someone just come out of the blue and destroy the whole thing. >> reporter: a relative, 65-year-old, said she spent many years going to the dance studio. it was what she loved to do. her warm smile and kindness were co contagious. police say tran has a limited criminal history including possession of an illegal firearms charge back in 1990. look, it is clear they are focused on his personal connections to this area, but they cannot announce a motive at this point. i can tell you the community

needs it in order to move forward. mika? >> nbc's steve patterson, thank you for your reporting on that. meanwhile, there was another mass shooting in california yesterday. a man opened fire at two landscaping nurseries killing seven people in half moon bay, just south of san francisco. an eighth victim remains in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. the suspect, 67-year-old zhou chun li, was taken into custody after officers found him in his car in the parking lot at a sheriff's substation. police say a semiautomatic handgun was found in his car. police believe the suspect worked at one of the two shooting sites, though a motive still remains unknown at this hour. joining us now, california state assembly member mark berman. his district includes half moon bay. mark, thanking you for joining us. tell us what the community needs at this point. >> thank you for having me, mika

and joe. what the community needs is -- they need peace. there's shock and disbelief that something like this could happen in an idyllic and tight-knit community like half moon bay. but the community is strong, resilient. they'll come together. the state and i'm sure the federal government will provide them all the support they need and they'll get through this. but nobody should have to go through this, and this is happening far too often in the country and in california. >> tell us about your community here that, for many americans, probably waking up to this news today and learning about half moon bay for the first time. tell us what more we should know so it's not just associated with this terrible tragedy. >> half moon bay is such a beautiful community. to be honest, it's one of the favorite parts of my district. it's maybe 30 miles south of -- less than 30 miles south of san francisco on the coast side. it's a place where a lot of tourists go to vacation and travel. but there's also very strong

agricultural community in and around half moon bay. farmers that go back generations. and remarkably hardworking people. sadly that's where this tragedy happened was on some of the farms in and around half moon bay. >> marc, in a little over 48 hours, california has suffered a total of 18 casualties, people dead from gunfire in two mass shootings. california has fairly substantial gun legislation on the books now. can you think of anything else that might be added legislatively to help stop this sickness that is an american sickness? >> it's a great question. thanks for asking it. and i want to be clear about something, which is that california's gun laws save lives. if you look at the national average in terms of gun deaths per capita in states, california on average saves 1,800 to 2,000 lives per year in comparison to the national average. but there's clearly more that we

can do. the sad reality is that, as long as gun laws are not as strong as they need to be on the national level, people can still go out of state, we're surrounded by other states that have more lax gun laws than we do, and buy weapons there and bring them illegally into california. first we need more information about exactly what happened in half moon bay and in monterey park. but we will continue to look for ways and opportunities to make our communities safer. one area is making sure that the information that we put out, making sure that it's in multiple different languages. california is a big diverse state. that's part of our strength, but that also means we need to be putting information out in multiple different languages to make sure all of california residents can understand what the laws are and what the dangers are around gun safety -- excuse me, the dangers around gun ownership. >> all right. california state assemblyman marc berman, we thank you so much for being with us today.

know we'll be thinking about you and your district, and we certainly will be offering up prayers for victims and their families. so sorry for the loss there. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me, joe. all right. let's turn to washington, where four members of the oath keepers have been convicted of seditious conspiracy related to the extremist group's efforts to block certification of the 2020 presidential election. the four joined the group's founders, stewart rhodes, who was convicted in a separate trial last november, in being found guilty by a your of plotting to keep then president trump in power by force. at the same time, a third seditious conspiracy trial involving members of the proud boy, another extremist group charged with trying to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, is ongoing in a washington federal court. senior legal affairs reporter at politico, josh gerstein, and state attorney for palm beach county, david aronberg.

josh, not so long ago we were talking about how difficult it was to get these charges, these convictions, and yet we're seeing one defendant after another fall to the charges and being found guilty of seditious conspiracy. talk about what this means not only for other trials but also for obviously what the doj's ultimate target may be, donald trump. >> well, joe, i mean, i do think what we're seeing here is the justice department honing its technique. i guess you'd expect them to do that given the hundreds of cases that they brought and the dozens of trials we've had. but if you just look at the batting average here in the oath keepers trials, in the first round you mentioned with stewart rhodes, the founder of the oath keepers, there were five defendants, two convicted on this serious charge of seditious conspiracy. so that's only about a .400 average there. and in this latest trial that produced verdicts yesterday, all

four defendants from the oath keepers were convicted, even though i think you could argue that the evidence of their lehman in the group was a little weaker than in that first trial, which had some of the premier members of the oath keepers. so the justice department is learning how to present these cases, and every trial is different, but there's no question that they've produced a pretty strong record overall. and you're right, they may be using the outcomes of these cases to look at whether there should be some charges for president donald trump, former president, i should say, although i tend to think, joe, some of his more recent troubles probably more likely to get him in front of a jury than going back to this january 6th episode. >> dave aronberg, we've been talking in the past several hours about these charges that have been brought and how the conspiracy to commit sedition against the united states has led to one conviction after

another. the question is how can you continue if you're the doj, how do you justify convicting all these other people taking part in a conspiracy for donald trump, inspired by donald trump, and the conspiracy accrues to the benefit of donald trump, without ultimately bringing charges against donald trump? >> joe, merrick garland has the reputation of being a bottom-up prosecutor, where he starts with the low-level ones then moves his way up. but people are waiting to see if they'll get to donald trump and the folks around him who helped plan january 6th. it hasn't happened yet. and i don't think that the verdict yesterday will probably have an impact on trump's legal situation because i do agree that the department of justice is more likely to charge donald trump on the mar-a-lago documents than for january 6th, and if he is charged for january 6th, i think it will be for obstruction of an official

proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the united states, not for seditious conspiracy. i don't think the elements are present when it comes to trump. but this was a risk for the department of justice to charge seditious conspiracy and it paid off. it could make special prosecutor jack smith more confident and emboldened to go for it on fourth down and charge the former president about january 6th. one interesting tie between the defendants yesterday and trump's inner circle is that one of the four oath keepers was in a separate group who was protecting roger stone on january 6th, and he left to go to the capitol to participate in the insurrection. so if it is true that merrick garland is this bottom-up prosecutor, then flipping a defendant, who's now face manager years in prison with a direct tie to roger stone seems like a logical next step. >> jen psaki, i know you have a question for josh. but let's talk a little bit about merrick garland here. i see him getting hammered from the left. i see him getting hammered from

the right. he's getting hammered by everybody for going too far or not going far enough. if you look at his record, the doj's record of conviction over the past several months, it's pretty remarkable. >> yeah. yeah. and as josh said and outlined, they clearly learned lessons as they've gone along, and if you look at their success in the number of convictions, that speaks to that. i think the thing about merrick garland is that he is immune to politics to the degree you can be, and that's the reason that joe biden picked him and even talked about this during the transition when he announced him. so, yes, does it feel good if you're merrick garland every day to be hammered by people in the democratic party and people who are frustrated and want to see donald trump held accountable? probably not, because he's a human being. but he has a strategy in mind here clearly, he is playing the long game for history. we don't know yet what the outcome will be, but i think, joe, what we've seen in the past

couple months is the work done by lawyers who work for his department. can i -- go ahead. >> no, go ahead. >> it is true, josh, everybody sitting at home waiting and looking for the smoke signals of what all of this means, is there anything, if you're jack smith, from your reporting, and his team, are you watching these trials? are you waiting for there to be a certain point and conclusion? is there any connection anybody can draw there, or do we just not know? >> i think, you know, there's some connection because you're looking at how juries are going to respond to these times of cases. you're looking at whether the district of columbia is a good venue if you did want to bring charges or would it be better to do it in florida. so there are a bunch of decisions like that. there's no question that jack smith's boss, merrick garland, is watching these trials. i was in his conference room for press availability yesterday, and even though this verdict had come in just about an hour before, garland went out of his

way to thank the prosecutors and note the severity of the verdict. one thing that's interesting is these are not actually the cases where we see the most violence. these are the cases we see the most planning. and i think ultimately, that's the kind of charge you're going to see if there is one brought against trump related to january 6th. it will have something to do with the planning, perhaps not just for the violence on january 6th but as we were discussing earlier the entire effort to obstruct the congressional vote. that's really the breadth of jack smith's investigation on this topic. >> so dave aronberg, while we're talking about different venues of possible legal problems for donald trump, one is georgia, and we'll see what happens in this case. what do you anticipate if we will or not? and give us your latest evaluation as to whether trump will likely face a charge here. he's been on truth social all morning trying to rebuff that and collective bargaining processing once again it was a

perfect call with the secretary of state there when it seems clear it was anything but. >> yeah. you know, when he's on truth social complaining about georgia, he's worried about georgia. i think the judge will probably release it and then you'll see that the grand jury likely recommended charges against the former president. that will put pressure on local district attorneys there. i think eventually she probably files the charges. i always thought she would be the second prosecutor to file charges, that she would defer to merrick garland. but time is a-waisting. if that document becomes public like i think it will, i think there will be a lot of pressure on her to seek the indictment, and you know trump is very worried about it. >> state attorney for palm beach county, dave aronberg, and senior legal affairs reporter at politico, josh gerstein. thank you guys both so much. really appreciate it. the former leader of the

fbi's new york counterintelligence office who investigated russian oligarchs has been indicted on charges that he worked for one. federal prosecutors accused charles mcgonigal of violating sanctions and working for a russian billionaire. they say he, while still working for the fbi, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a foreign intelligence official. for more on this, let's bring in nbc news justice and intelligence correspondent ken dilanian. ken, a lot of layers to this one, man. we throw it to you. explain what in the world happened here. >> reporter: first it's body blow to the fbi because charley mcgonigal was a trusted career fbi official for two decades who rose up the ranks and held one of the most sensitive jobs at the bureau, head of the counterintelligence division at the new york city office. in that capacity, his job was in part to protect the united

states from maligned foreign influence. but what these two cases, one brought in new york, one brought in d.c., what they add up to is they're accusing him of profiting from maligned foreign influence. while he was in the fbi, supposedly investigating spies, they say he was taking $225,000 from a former member of the albanian intelligence service and was helping him do business abroad, meeting with foreign nationals, all of which they say he concealed from the fbi, didn't disclose it. so the prosecutors say that was an illegal hidden conflict of interest. then he retires and goes to work for one of the most notorious russian oligarchs, oleg deripaska, very close to vladimir putin, himself under indictment for violating sanctions. the indictment says charley mcgonigal tried to help deripaska, was investigating one of his rivals, was trying to help him evade sanctions. so, look, charley mcgonigal is

pleading not guilty, he's released on a half million dollars bond, his lawyer says he will fight the charges, but this is a dark day for the fbi. it's also worth noting that the fbi investigated this case and brought these charges and the director issued a same saying this does not reflect the conduct of his agents and shows they'll pursue justice without fear or favor, even if it involves a former fbi agent. but a really disturbing case, joe. >> yeah. ken, the case is a real hit on the fbi. there's no doubt about that in terms of public relations. could you talk a bit about the threads of this case? charley mcgonigal was in the new york fbi office for quite some time, and the new york fbi office has quite some history, kind of a dark history according to some people, with their involvement in politics as opposed to their strict adherence to justice. >> reporter: yeah. you're right, mike.

there's been a lot of chatter and speculation online about mcgonigal's involvement in a trump/russia investigation or whether he was involved at all. when james comey felt under pressure to disclose details about that laptop -- now we're going back into history, you know, in the 2016 campaign -- one of the things heffer under pressure about was they were worried about leaks coming out of the fbi office in new york from anti-clinton agent who is wanted that stuff out there. so no evidence that i know of that mcgonigal was involved in that, but there's a lot of talk about that. and he was involved in making some decisions to approve some steps in the investigation of carter page, that trump aide who was the subject of a fisa warrant which turned out to not be a good fisa warrant. some other fbi officials committed misconduct obtaining that warrant. so he's been a player in and around these kinds of matters. what these indictments don't tell us, guys, is whether any

counterlegislation cases, any sensitive matters were compromised by this alleged corruption. that's often the kind of thing they would leetch out of the public filings and something journalists are going to have to be looking into, because it's certainly the implication here. this is essentially what they're saying is a corrupt fbi agent on the take who was involved in some of the most sensitive matters at the bureau involving foreign spies and domestic counterlegislation and what, if anything, was compromised as a result of that. >> so, ken, let's talk, because, you know, one of my pet peeves is when i read columns by opinion writer who is wrecklessly throw out the term that conspiracy theorists throw out, quote, russian hoax. we know when marco rubio was running the senate intel committee that they actually said donald trump's 2016

presidential campaign and its contacts with russia caused a direct threat to the united states of america. we know now that there was russian influence that infiltrated the upper reaches of the fbi in the new york office. how disturbed should we be with how much the russians have been able to infiltrate the united states government and the fact there are still mainstream people that keep talking about a, quote, russian hoax as if they didn't even read the second part of the mueller report? >> reporter: it's a great point, joe, because they're using this mcgonigal case, those people you're talking about, to discredit the russia investigation because mcgonigal played some small role in it, when actually, to your point, what it shows is how deeply the tentacles of russian influence

have -- >> i don't understand this. can you get a guy bought off by the russians working on a russia investigation that ends up deciding trump doesn't have contact with russia, how stupid do these people think we are? he's on the take from the russians, from a russian oligarch, and he gives trump the "good housekeeping" seal of approval that the fbi does, and i don't understand how they turned this against -- if anything, it undermines the fbi's conclusion that donald trump has a clean bill of health there, when, again, even the republican senate intel committee said that wasn't the case. >> reporter: yeah. it's a fair point. obviously, there were many more fbi agents than charley mcgonigal who were working on that whole mueller matter, and, you know, they all looked -- turned over every rock and didn't find coordination. but to your point, a lot of people should go back and read

that senate intelligence committee report you referenced, which, as you said, was written by republicans and democrats. marco rubio and mark warner agreed. in many ways it was more damning of trump than the mueller report, and it went into stuff that the mueller report didn't get into, and it said clearly the trump campaign posed a counterintelligence threat to the united states and those folks left themselves open to russian influence and engaged in improper contacts with russian intelligence officers and russian agents. that is in black and white. anyone can read it. it's on the internet. it was endorsed by republicans. you make a great point, joe. >> ken dilanian, thank you very much for being on this morning. coming up on "morning joe," breaking news out of the entertainment world as the nominations for the 95th academy awards have just been announced. we'll have all the selections, surprises, and snubs next.

>> tomorrow the oscar nominations will be announced. yeah. [ applause ] and "top gun: maverick" is expected to be no, ma'am namted for best picture, marking the first time in a decade people have said, oh, my god, i've seen one! and last for weeks. it can make your workday feel impossible. the virus that causes shingles is likely already inside of you. 50 years or older? ask your doctor about shingles.

look at los angeles. it's abuzz this morning as the 95th annual academy awards ceremony, which is in march, this morning, the nominations are in with "everything everywhere all at once" leading the way with 11 nominations. >> wow. >> that's amazing. joining us now, founding partner at the media venture puck, matthew bellny. he is an entertainment lawyer and former editor for "the hollywood reporter." let's go through these. >> first of all talk about the problems that the academy awards had in recent years, and that is

people sit down and watch them and go, okay, i don't know any of these films. i don't know any of these stars. and the ratings have absolutely tanked. we're a long way from the 'service when i was growing up and it was like "the godfather," "the sting," all these huge -- when everybody went to movie theaters. so, first of all, was there an effort by the academy to let's say give a bit more of a nod to the general public on movies they may have seen? >> i think the answer is yes, and i think the answer is shown in all the nominations for "top gun: maverick," because if you look back at 2022, that is the one movie that, if you talked to joe blow on the street, he had seen that movie and chances are he really liked it, and it did huge business at the box office. there are a number of the best picture nominees that are movies that people have actually seen like "top gun" and like "avatar: the way of water," got a best

picture nomination, and did not get a best director nomination for james cameron, which a lot of people thought. and, you know, "elvis" is a movie that did almost $300 million worldwide. so there are movies in there that the general public has seen. even "everything everywhere all at once," which is an independent film, a very bizarre film, that movie did about $100 million worldwide, which is pretty good considering the state of movie theaters last year. then there are a bunch of movies that the average person probably has not seen, and it goes to things like "tar" or "the fabelmans" or even those in foreign -- there's foreign language film in there on "all quiet on the western front," a german language war film available on netflix. that movie is in there in a number of categories in addition to "triangle of sadness," which was a big hit out of the cannes film festival and did not get a huge mainstream. audience. the nominations are all over the

board and reflect the odd state that the movie industry is in. >> but you talk about a movie like "tar," you have a huge star in there -- >> incredible performance. >> incredible performance. >> absolutely. >> so even that is more relevant than a lot of selections in the past. let's talk about the best actor and best actress categories. what stands out there in those two categories for you? >> well, in best actor, i think the snub is probably tom cruise because, you know, we got a lot of nominations for "top gun," but tom cruise did not make it in there. instead, there's bill nighy and paul mescal, who are in very small movies. the favorite is probably brendan fraser, who's picked up a lot of the precursor awards, or austin butler, getting a lot of attention for "elvis." he won the golden globe. the akd mip showed it really liked this movie "the banshees of inisherin" which is a colin farrell movie that got nine

nominations. i think it's between those three, austin butler probably a little bit of the favorite, but any -- on the actress side, a very interesting story because there's an actress in andrea riseborough who was not on anybody's radar in a film called "to leslie," which literally grossed $30,000 in theaters. nobody saw this movie, but there was a campaign within hollywood amongst particularly the acting community, you post on social media, post screenings, hollywood is washington. there is politics amuck in the oscar race. and andrea riseborough got in in the best actress category because people were political and told other people to vote for her, even if the movie was seen by almost no one. >> that's amazing. >> cate blanchette in "tar," a chilling performance. i'm thinking on best actor, go ahead and just put brendan fraser's name in there for the

well because i find it hard to believe he's not going to in the end win that one. let's talk about best director. is it steven spielberg's year again? >> i think he's probably the favorite here. people love "the fabelmans" but it's more of a career nomination as well. this is an intensely personal film about his own upbringing, and i think that might resonate with academy voters. the big snubbings were james cameron as i mentioned, also joseph kaczynski of "top gun" was expected to get a nomination and he did not. "everything everywhere all at once," those directors are known as the daniels, hot young filmmakers, and the out of nowhere success of that movie could really help them. there's agent martin mcdonagh, a film the academy really loves. >> all right. matthew, thank you. i think we'll be seeing you again very soon. thanks very much for being on this morning. i know it's early for him. >> thanks so much.

mike barnicle, your thoughts. >> yeah. i've seen four of them. >> oh, really? >> four of the movies. actually seen four. >> better than us. >> i would tell you "all quiet on the western front" is fantastic. "the banshees of inisherin" is fantastic. "top gun: maverick" is unbelievable, and the fact that tom cruise was not nominated as best actor is an outrage. he is a huge lonely movie star, where movie stars are rapidly disappearing and movie theaters are disappears, tom cruise is the movie business. and i feel sad for the smallest town in america, hollywood, that they don't have the courage to nominate a legitimate actor, tom cruise, for best actor. >> also i've got to say he -- jonathan lemire, he is, like, the lone massive movie star out there. when i first heard he was going to be doing a remake of "top

gun," i was, like, dude, please, do "mission: impossible" number 47. you can't pull this off. for those that grew up in that era. he pulled it off. i mean, it was a remarkable job by him again, just, you know, it wasn't "tar," not "banshee," but -- >> it wasn't "elvis." >> it was the type of movie that made theaters the go-to place. i mean, i'm surprised -- i'm with mike. i'm surprised this guy didn't get a nomination. >> he's such a big star, joe, he can do both. he can do "top gun: maverick" as well as "mission: impossible 47." that's next year. i'm surprised the autobiography of mike barnicle, a film it too uled "an irish good-bye." i'm surprised with that slide

there. jen psaki, did you have a favorite this past year? >> watching this, i feel i need to see more movies and i have an excuse because i have two little kids and i don't go out. i need to buckle up in a snowstorm and watch movies. i did see "elvis." a lot of emotions with lisa marie pressly. that was also a great movie. nobody mentioned it. >> okay. there you go. do you have anything to say, mika, or are you just going to smile? >> i think you told me if i didn't have anything nice to say i shouldn't say anything at all. >> a couple movies we've seen -- >> or i could just plow through. >> no. >> okay. >> we're surprised they didn't make the list, but "top gun: maverick" was great, "tar," wow. >> yeah. >> amazing. and "all quiet on the western front," stunning. i've got to say, i've got to see "everything everywhere all at once." >> yeah. >> before oscars because it's

going to be big. coming up, a dozen eggs cost more than they did a year ago. you can't get an egg. >> hard to find them. >> some producers are blaming an outbreak of bird flu, but one group says there's foul play involved -- come on. >> stop it. >> we'll explain what's going on with the breakfast staple. >> what a tease. and ana gasteyer joins us for her latest project. if your company actually practices the values that it posts about, then, yeah... you're on team earth.

business can happen anytime, anywhere. so help yours thrive and stay connected with the comcast business complete connectivity solution. it's the largest, fastest, reliable network. advanced gig speed wifi. and cyberthreat protection. starting at just $49.99 a month. plus, you can save up to 60% a year when you add comcast business mobile. or, ask how to get up to a $750 prepaid card. complete connectivity. one solution, for wherever business takes you. comcast business. powering possibilities.

the los angeles angels are no longer for sale. the owner arte moreno took the team off the market yesterday. >> mike, what happened there? i was kind of hoping that the two best players in baseball were going to get a little more support around them. >> yeah. that's major league baseball, joe, moreno pulling it off the market clearly because he was not getting his price when he had it on the market. probably wants something sbosh tant, but it would be good for the california angels to get a new owner, great for major league baseball to get a new owner, but it's not going to happen. >> not for now.

>> remarkable that the two best -- aitanny and trout, they never make it to the playoffs, nobody on the east coast sees them. this is like ruth and gehrig never getting to the playoffs. it's insane. >> i don't want to upset willie, but next year is highly likely that otani is going to be a new york yankee. >> there you go. >> end of this year. yeah. >> you don't think boston's going to take out the coupons for, like, and try to negotiate for him? >> no, i don't think so. i don't think so. i think they have other people in mind. >> okay. >> i'd argue briefly that there's an owner in new york spending big money who just missed out an carlos correa. i think steve cohen makes a play for otani too. >> otani at the mets, man, that would be exciting. >> can we talk about the price of eggs now? >> talk about the price of otani. how much can he get?

>> mike is serious because he does the grocery shopping on saturday morning early when no one's in there and there are no eggs. my dad did that. >> used to be before inflation. >> the man would go out grocery shopping because, mike, you and my dad are two of the only men i know that would go out on saturday mornings. my dad loved it. it was the highlight of his week. >> i do, too, with no list, joe. no list. i do it from eyesight. look at the cupboard before i go, shut the cupboard, go to the store. >> that's really good, mike. >> that's called jazz shopping, man. free form, go where the spirit moves him. >> i don't use a list either. the average price of eggs increased 60% in the last db. >> you have a list. peanut butter and jelly. that's all i need. peanut butter and jelly. iced tea. >> okay. dom chu is going to explain why are eggs so expensive.

what is going on? >> why can't we find them? why are they so expensive? >> so, first of all, mika, joe, i, like mike, am also the one that does the grocery shopping in the house, maybe saturday or sunday mornings or late in the afternoon. so i already know anecdotally this story, because as mika mentioned, that 60% jump in egg prices made it one of the biggest surges in the price of a consumer good tracked by that highly scrutinized consumer price index. we talk about cpi a lot. a lot is centered around supply continue trants given that avian flu outbreaks have led to the slaughter of so many laying hens. but this is a farmer-led advocacy group saying while that's part of the story, the real reason eggs are so expensive has to do with some of america's biggest egg suppliers and how they are allegedly working together to fix prices at higher levels to pad their

profit margins. now, this group, which is called farm action, wrote a letter to the federal trade commission making those allegations. now, the ftc did decline to comment, saying its policy is not to comment on complaints or petitions submitted by third parties, but max bowman, who is the chief financial officer of cal maine foods, which is one of the biggest egg produders in the country, denied the allegation, saying that the u.s. egg market is, quote, intensely competitive and hikely volatile even under normal circumstances. so we're watching those egg prices very closely. from food to technology, guys, all that buzz surrounding chatgpt, that artificial intelligence-powered app, allows users to basically tell it what to generate in terms of essays or poems or pieces, the maker of that company is called openai. they are getting a huge cash infusion from tech giant microsoft. the two companies announced a new multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment for microsoft to boost its stake

in openai. the parties declined to say exactly how much, but semafor said it could be about $10 billion. microsoft made investments in opena knicks 2019 and 2020, so this is microsoft getting big into artificial intelligence. >> so, we'll have a report on chatgtp later this week. this is a fascinating story. what are you doing, joe? >> i'm asking it to tell me about dom chu. >> okay. we're getting dom chu is a popular -- >> no, no, no. got that one wrong. >> restaurant in canada? >> dominic! >> we'll have to work on this machine learning thing, guy, because i don't think it's getting it right. >> dominic. >> i will tell you i get a few of these -- >> popular for its generous portions. >> i get a feel of these and it

is frightening. it is frightening. no, no. >> it's getting you all wrong. all right, cnbc's dominic chu, thank you. >> i'm sure you're very good -- >> we'll talk later. up next, the star of nbc's "american auto," ana gasteyer, joins us ahead of tonight's season two premiere. "morning joe" is back in just a moment. next on behind the series... that performance was legendary. they just piled it on. roast beef, ham, oven roasted turkey. all on the subway club. three peat - that's great. three meat - that's epic. the subway series. the greatest menu of all time. ♪limu emu & doug♪ hey, man. nice pace!

clearly, you're a safe driver. you could save hundreds for safe driving with liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance... ...so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] whoo! we gotta go again. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty liberty liberty♪ ♪liberty♪ shingles. some describe it as an intense burning sensation or an unbearable itch. this painful, blistering rash can disrupt your life for weeks. it could make your workday feel impossible. the virus that causes shingles is likely already inside of you. if you're 50 years or older, ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingles. hello, world. or is it goodbye? you know, it seems like hope and trust are in short supply.

[clap] now, as businesses we can blame and shame. or... [whistles] we can make a change. [clap] we can make work, work for our communities. create more equal opportunities. [clap] it's time for business to show its true worth. because it's not goodbye, world. it's hello, team earth. [clap]

i am also i. >> also i. >> also i. >> us. >> we are the american auto industry. >> and the pain we don't make cars. >> we make dreams. amazing dreams. >> dreams that go anywhere. unless they are recalled. >> but what is a recall? it's an opportunity to grow, to innovate. >> this year we have had many innovations. >> seven. >> because we always strive to make our cars better. >> safer. >> less unstable at highway speeds. >> or street speed. >> or in reverse. >> with air bags that work. >> because our dreams and we are your pain. >> and we are america's pain.

>> that was the cast of nbc's hit comedy "american auto." . in it anna gastiri stars as the new ceo of pain motors whod leadership and experience is only slightly offset by her complete lack of knowledge about cars. luckily if her they have some of the best minds in the business. the show makes its return tonight and anna joins us now. tell us about your character. for those what they can expect in season two. sglz katherine hastings is the new female ceo of this american male-led institution. she comes from big pharma. she's sort of ambiguous.

there's some gray area. she's okay with it. and she's taken over a huge auto company and doesn't know anything about cars, but comes from the leadership model. you toept don't need to know your product, you just need to sell it. we ended last season with a pretty major disaster around this recall issue. we start with a biblical level of crisis. >> it's terrible. >> are there elon musk jokes? >> this is a traditional half hour nbc workplace comedy, but it is in this modern 2023 world that we're living in. and it's definitely existing on the sea suite. so we are dealing wul the time with real life 2023 issues regarding the economy, regarding tech and its impact on

vulnerable american ingenuity and manufacturing, business, and we have whole story lines about green tech and competitive ceos. i'm sure she would like to go on tour with mika for her book. >> i love that. >> i want ta talk about about the writer's room. and i would submit there are a few things funnier on american television than car commercials and few things funnier than car salespeople. >> that's probably true. we don't really deal on the sales side because this is a comedy about the corporate bose sews that are making the decision that impact people on the sales level, but there are plenty of parodies. episode six was about sort of the hr disasters behind trying to make a politically correct commercial so yeah, it's fun.

>> jenpsaki, jump in. >> i'm just laughing over here. as you were doing research for this, what did people from the auto industry tell you or say to you? i say this because everybody asks me if washington is like "veep" and i say kind of. >> our show runner did his research. it's the recognition you're making a postally pr scandals. it's front facing. and what you realize is justin created superstore and he worked in the writer's room on the "the office" so he knows a workplace comedy. he. theed to write a show about the people making the decisions that impact employees ask what he and we quickly discovered is that the people making those decisions while in some ways have agency, they are constantly answering to public opinion, yel

reviews. teens on twitter, the shareholders, the board, pretty much everybody else who hold the pursestrings and the fate of whether or not they are going to vest in their stock options. >> anna, thank you so much. season two of "american auto" premiers tonight at 8:30 p.m. on nbc and streams on peacock tomorrow. we'll be watching thank you for being on this morning. >> you're welcome to go on tour with mika any time. >> yes, i would love it. >> katherine knows her worth. >> i love it. i'm following up. we have a few moments left here on "morning joe." time for final thoughts. let's start with jen what are you looking at today? >> i'm really looking at what's next with these documents in the white house. i think we have learned a lot over the past couple weeks of

what actually happened here. there's still some head scratching things like why they didn't search all of biden's homes, but they are starting to get on better footing. the question to he is are there more documents and are they going to keep being aggressive and front and center as they have been over the last week. >> jonathan lemire? >> it's also the relationship between the white house and congress. the president hosting congressional leaders and new lawmakers at the white house. those relationships going to be so important now particularly on the republican side they will need to try to work across the aisle. those 18 or so republicans who represent biden districts, that could be the key to the debt ceiling and other deals. >> back to guns, i was struck by cory booker's appearance. we were talking about the latest gun massacre and the country where gun massacres occur far too often. i think it might be time for people in public life, especially the united states senate and house of representatives to name them ask shame them. name the people by name, the people who vote against gun legislation and shame them.

>> couldn't agree more. >> yep. >> i'm very excited about yours. i'm going to give you 10 seconds. >> the chat bot got it right this time. dominic chu specializes on breaking news on wall straet and the economy he's a regular contributor to the power lunch program. the financial gomts additionally he hosts his own show delivering the most important challenging facing investors. >> that's a good assessment. >> good morning, 10:00 a.m. eastern. 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart here in california. a community in mourning with so many questions after a gunman opened fire at a lunar new year celebration here at the star