good to be with you, i'm katy tur. donald trump says he has no plans to talk to the grand jury, but the grand jury still has plans to talk to other people surrounding the investigation. nbc news has just confirmed that william russell, a former trump white house aide will testify tomorrow. russell who now works for trump's 2024 campaign has already appeared multiple times before. is he the last witness or are there more and when could we see an indictment? nbc news has confirmed that jack smith had a road map in the target letter he sent donald trump to attorneys with direct

knowledge of the document tell us it included three federal statutes, deprivation of rights under color of law, conspiracy to defraud the united states, and tampering with a witness. we'll explain what those all mean and why this testimony, this particular testimony from the january 6th hearings could be relevant. >> ms. moss, how has this experience of being targeted by the former president and his allies affected your life? >> it's turned my life upside down. i no longer give out my business card. i don't transfer calls. i don't want anyone knowing my name. i don't want to go anywhere with my mom, because she might yell my name out over the grocery aisle or something. i don't go to the grocery store at all.

i haven't been anywhere at all. i've gained about 60 pounds. i just don't nothing anymore. i don't want to go anywhere. i second guess everything that i do. it's affected my life in a major way. in every way. all because of lies. for me doing my job, same thing i have been doing forever. >> that's shaye testifying about her, they were both poll workers at state farm arena in georgia on election day in 2020 where we have just learned that jack smith specifically subpoenaed security footage. joining me now is nbc news correspondent garrett haake, nbc senior legal correspondent laura

jarrett and msnbc legal analyst, lisa rubin. we're going to get to that moment in a moment. let us start with donald trump, and what is going on with him right now. garrett, he says he has no plans to go to d.c.? >> well, he hasn't said that, katy, but sources familiar with his thinking tell us he's not going to show up here and testify. not planning to avail himself of four days basically that he says this target letter allowed him to come and tell his side of the story before a grand jury, and most defense lawyers you talk to say that's a pretty good strategy. he's in bedminster, new jersey, a screening of a movie there with supporters, and basically he's been focused on the campaign strategy element of the response to this at least publicly. we saw him on the stump in iowa yesterday, and in a town hall talking about this pending perhaps indictment, the same way he's talked about the two indictments he faces as election interference, purely political trying to continue to use his legal troubles as rocket fuel

for his presidential campaign. >> who's william russell, garrett? >> refs a white house aide when donald trump was president. he works for donald trump in a campaign aide role. he's not a major player in all of this, and in fact, wasn't somebody who appeared in the january 6th committee's report. we know he's testified multiple times before this committee, so we're left to speculate on what he knows, what he might have overheard or what his role in this would be. but, again, not somebody who would have been privy to, you know, internal machinations of the campaign or white house by design, but perhaps someone who might have heard something that could be relevant to this investigation, just given his proximity to then president now candidate trump. >> so we are watching the d.c. courthouse hawkishly, right, ladies, as we have all of the other courthouses, including this one, surrounding this investigation and this probe. jack smith was there today. >> we don't know why.

>> we don't know why. >> what could be the reason? why would jack smith show up? >> there could be a number of reasons. there could be a grand jury relating to either the january 6th or election interference investigation or the records investigation meeting and a witness from whom jack smith wanted to hear. there could also have been some form of sealed hearing about evidence in one of those two cases that jack smith wanted to be present for. we know that he was there for roughly an hour and a half. and then returned to his office. but, again, why he was there? we can only speculate as to right now. >> do we have an idea of when this could potentially come? i know donald trump was talking about being indicted within four days, which would be friday. are we getting any indication friday could be a big day? >> the four-day reference is mentioning when he could come in, if he was going to provide testimony, which we knew he wasn't. it would have been news if he had decided to come in. that would be quite interesting. i think we should expect that

this is happening soon but i don't think we should put a time, firm timetable on it because we don't know what is going on in that grand jury. we don't know who else besides russell they still are left to hear from, in fin, what other wrap up presentation there could be. remember in the miami case, the one about the classified documents, the other side, a wrap up witness, there might be something like that going on. we just don't know. i think the timetable was an open question here. >> in this target letter, there are three statutes, and i'm hoping you can explain these to me, and we can get into the election tampering allegation from donald trump and rudy giuliani and how it ruined shaye moss's life. explain the statues. >> deprivation of rights is most interesting because it's not on our radar, used in police misconduct issues, when someone is in police custody and someone is beaten or there's an allegation of excessive force, the constitutional rights have been violated.

the question is whose rights do prosecutors think donald trump violated. >> could it be a voter block, poll work e an individual like shaye moss or her mother ruby treeman. >> it could be or it could be a capitol police officer, an mpd officer who was physically injured or killed on that day. >> why subpoena the surveillance video from state farm arena where shaye moss and ruby freeman were working? >> i think it helps to show, to your point about shaye moss that the lies that were told about her are as disingenuous as they were. she and her mother were accused of passing viles of drugs. it was nothing more than a ginger mint and their lives were ruined in the process. making recluses out of both of them. they continue to have security concerns. >> they were arguing that they were planting ballots, ballots for joe biden, that donald trump really won that state if it

weren't for these poll workers who were ushering in many more votes for joe biden, making them up. >> none of which was true. >> we should mention, the target letter that we're basing this new reporting on on what we think these charges are, he doesn't have to charge only what's in the target letter. it's a road map, gives us guide posts, something for us to sink our teeth in. he could charge what's beyond that. he could decide not to charge what's in the target letter. >> we didn't see incitement. >> and we didn't see seditious conspiracy. there is a theory that by charging deprivation of civil rights under color of law, one of the things they're trying to get to is violence because without some form of violent act, deprivation of rights under color of law is barely a felony, punishable by one year. it's when you have a violent act that the punishment for that escalates. but we all remain to see what it

really is about. >> so incitement was interesting because people are pointing to what donald trump said on the ellipse that day, and what he said leading up to that. go to the capitol on january 6th, will be wild, march to the capitol, stay peaceful, he also said. >> and that might be why he's not charging it. what if it's messy. >> the argument was it was a messy thing. it was hard to say his words directly correlated with the actions. >> if you're trying to make his strongest case, looking at the evidence fairly, and assessing in a non-political way, you charge what you think is the most fair, and to not go into the incitement and the first amendment issues and the complications, go with what's straightforward. >> tampering with a witness. >> that statute is a little bit, i don't want to say misleading, but i believe that the statutes were referred to by their technical titles and 18 usc 1512 is entitled tampering with a witness but it contains further down in the statute the

obstruction of an official proceeding charge. that's one of the bread and butter charges of these january 6th cases. >> and perhaps the most significant. if that's what they charge him with. they're charging the former president with obstructing the congressional vote count that happened on january 6th. that's up to 20 years. that's a very significant charge. >> this will be brought in d.c. what is different about a d.c. jury pool than a south florida jury pool, and can donald trump argue that this jury pool in d.c. couldn't possibly be fair to him? >> well, look, this jury pool, you're asking us what's different, it's like what's not different, right. this is a jurisdiction in which more than 90% of voters in the 2020 election voted for joe biden and not donald trump. however, donald trump's complains about the jury pool not being fair to him is disingenuous when he himself is tainting the jury pool on a regular basis through his truth social posts. the things he has had to say about the special counsel or the

department of justice themselves are potentially tainting the jury pool in a way that's disadvantageous to them. the southern district of new york is not that unlike d.c. we saw through the carol case that trump got a fair trial, it included people whose views were partial to trump, and they found him liable for sexually assaulting e. jean carroll and defaming her. >> is anybody else going to get wrapped up in this? there were so many people involved in what led to january 6th, what was happening in the various states with the fake electors, could we see jack smith going after individual electors, lawyers, rudy giuliani or sidney powell or aides, are there other people, potentially members of congress? >> it's one of the things we are working all day on is to try to figure out who, if in fact, the prosecution thinks there's a conspiracy here, who was involved in that alleged conspiracy or do they plan on only charging the former president. we don't know, and just because

someone hasn't received a target letter, doesn't mean they're not a target. >> is the expectation, in an indictment, just because you get a target letter doesn't necessarily mean you will be indicted, i want to have that caveat out there, but would we expect that all of the charges for the various individuals, if there are more, would come out at once? the same way that donald trump and walt nauta were included in that one indictment? >> i don't think so, and one of the reasons why is we understand the records investigation is ongoing. we understand a third individual has received a target letter and there will be or could be a superceding indictment there. my suspicion is the special counsel's office is going to follow a similar playbook here. they're going to go for trump first and/or those in his closest orbit, and may charge others further down the road. that seems to be because they're running against a clock. >> that's constantly ticking. >> if we're seeing more people go in front of the grand jury. >> i'm sorry, garrett, i'll get

to you. one second. >> does that not necessarily mean that donald trump isn't close? they could be dealing with donald trump and others down the line. >> that's an interesting strategy. usually the justice department goes bottom up. they go for the low level people they think they can flip on the higher person and to go after what is obviously, you know, a significant target first is an interesting strategy. i don't know that i have seen that in such a high profile case. >> garrett, i didn't know you were still with us. i'm so sorry my friend. >> i didn't know i was either, katy, we were confused by that fact. >> i apologize. >> tell me, do you have plans next week or the week after, are you going on vacation because i think that will tell us a lot about what we might expect? >> reporter: i don't think i'm going to be further than 15 minutes away from this camera until the beginning of august. >> i'm sorry for keeping you around for so long. i did not know you were there my friend. garrett haake, lisa rubin, and laura jarrett, thank you.

16 michigan republicans face felony charges in a scheme to overturn the 2020 election. michigan secretary of state, jocelyn benson joins me next. push the kids back into the rio grande, what a texas state trooper is accusing border patrol officials of doing. and they say it was slow walked, the trump appointed u.s. attorney says no, it was not. what happened on capitol hill when irs whistleblowers testified? we're back in 60 seconds. back is tourists that turn into scientists. tourists taking photos that are analyzed by ai. so researchers can help life underwater flourish. ♪ from prom dresses to workouts so researchers can help life underwater flourish. and new adventures you hope the more you give the less they'll miss. but even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. although uncommon,

up to 1 in 5 survivors of meningitis will have long term consequences. now as you're thinking about all the vaccines your teen might need make sure you ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. age is just a number, and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health versus 16 grams in ensure® high protein. boost® high protein. now available in cinnabon® bakery-inspired flavor. learn more at boost.com/tv michigan attorney general dana nessel is charging 16 so-called fake electors with multiple felonies. saying they signed tickets claiming to the dually elected electors when they were not. after signing the fraudulent documents, some of the electors tried to enter the state capitol during electoral college proceedings. they wanted to deliver their documents to the senate floor in

person. but police, as you can see, turned them away. joining me now is michigan secretary of state, jocelyn benson. all right, so tell me, what do you believe that these electors, these fake electors were trying to do? >> well, it appears as though they were trying to lie to the federal government about which candidate the rightly electors of the state of michigan should be given to. so we had laws in michigan that ensure that when michigan voters choose the presidential candidate, our electors are then sent to the national archives. they tried to send an alternate slate that they signed in the basement of the state republican party headquarters. and then submit to the national archives as a false representation of who actually won michigan's electoral college votes. >> you said federal investigators spoke to you about all of this. do you have any indication that they're also looking at charges?

>> my impression and, again, i don't want to compromise any ongoing investigations, but my impression is that the federal investigators are looking at a broad comprehensive set of incidents and allegations that occurred in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. a lot of what i have talked about throughout the last several years is the connection to which this effort to undo the presidential election results was violence against clerks and election officials all across the country. violence that we saw unfold in a tragic way at our u.s. capitol on january 6th. i think there's not just violations of the law when it comes to trying to intervene with or overturn the legitimate results of the presidential election. >> we got a statement a moment ago from the michigan gop, and i would like to read it to you and get your reaction. they say that the ag, i'm sorry,

dana nessel, they're calling her out for misuse of power by her office, said she constantly displays authoritarian tendencies and ambitions before laying out bullet points, calling into question, elicit prosecutions of the 16 targets of the weaponized ag who are being victimized. what do you say to that? i know they're specifically saying this is dana nessel, but what is your response? >> i think the job of the state's chief law enforcement officer as the attorney general is to follow the facts and when the law is violated and there's an abundance of evidence of guilt to seek prosecution for anyone. and you know, this attorney general has done this. anytime we hand over evidence of fraud in elections, be it from democratic or republican sources, we hand it over to her, and she prosecutes it, and notably most of the prosecution she has followed in this vein on election law violations have been against democrats throughout her tenure, so i know when i spoke with her, she was

very clear and has said this publicly that the most political thing she could do in a situation like this where there's an abundance of evidence that election fraud occurred is to not prosecute, and instead, she is following the law and her duty under the law to ensure that the law is enforced and that there are consequences, regardless of for whom those consequences fall. >> one of the individuals who signed these documents, michelle lundgren told the detroit free press that she signed a piece of blank paper with lines for signatures. quote, we were wrongly persuaded to come to lansing and sign a blank piece of paper but she could not identify who persuaded her to sign the document. i know you're familiar with the documents, can you tell us anything about them, and what you think of what she is saying? >> from the facts we know that are publicly available around the case, we know that these documents were signed at the electors, the alleged fake electors were ushered into the basement of the gop headquarters

in lansing, not in the state capitol where the law clearly says these documents need to be signed. we know several officials including one of my predecessors to the former secretary of state was asked to be a part of the scheme and declined because she knew of the wrong doing. that should have been a sign to folks when that occurred that something was awry. there are a lot of indicators along the way that we publicly know of, and now that these indictments will proceed, the subsequent legal process i think will flesh out exactly who knew what and when. as the ag said, this investigation is ongoing. if there are other individuals who are culpable of breaking election law in this case and trying to undo the will of the voter, i have confidence she'll chase the facts and make sure everyone is brought to account. >> do you have a sense of who might have been directing this, whether there was somebody in the white house who might have been directing this or somebody affiliated with the white house who might have been directing this process? >> there's certainly been a lot of suggestions of that.

there have been phone calls and voice mails that have been released to the media that have suggested there could have been a higher, you know, impulse here or someone outside the state being a part of this: we also know michigan was not the only state to see a scheme like this unfold, and this is precisely why indictments in this case are so important because all of those facts and additional culpability will be unveiled as the case proceeds, and this is really one of the most important steps, but just one step along the course of seeking full justice for all who were a part of any type of scheme to undo the will of the voters. >> for just the laymen who might be scratching their head and thinking, if you're signing a piece of paper and the piece of paper means nothing, why is that criminal, why is it a criminal act to claim that you are an elector when you are not. the state knows who the electors are, and somebody walks in and says, hey, i've got this paper, i'm an elector, why is that something that is illegal?

>> because michigan law and federal law is very clear when selecting the president of the united states, it's the outcome of the election in michigan that determines where those -- who are the electors, and these electors are chosen in a very transparent, official way, and the law dictates that the certificates are signed in the state senate chambers which is where the official elector certificates were signed, and those certificates are then given to the national archives and adopted in the senate, in congress, as the electoral votes for michigan, and whom they should be allocated. to intervene with that process in any way, and try to suggest to the federal government that anyone other than joe biden won the state of michigan and should get the electoral college votes, which is how the vote unfolded in michigan in 2020 is a flagrant violation of the law, and is actual election fraud in this process. so i'm grateful that we're going to proceed with a further investigation into all the elements of this case, but it's important to note that you can't

just lie because you don't like the results of an election, and try to convince the federal government or lie to the federal government about who won michigan's votes or any state's electoral college votes, and that's really what those who signed these fake elector documents attempted to do. >> michigan secretary of state, jocelyn benson, thank you very much for joining us today. >> thanks for having me. coming up next, what a texas state trooper said border patrol officials ordered him and others to do to children and women with nursing babies who were crossing the rio grande. >> and what is calling into question the credibility of an irs whistleblower claiming the doj mishandled its investigation into hunter biden. on into hunter biden. together we provide nutrients to support immune, muscle, bone, and heart health. yaaay! woo hoo! ensure with 25 vitamins and minerals and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. ♪

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texas governor greg abbott has instituted a policy called operation lone star to address the influx of migrants at the southern border. now one state trooper claims that plan is full of inhumane practices. as first reported by "the houston chronicle" troopers were allegedly told to push children and nursing babies back into the rio grande and to deny migrants as temperatures reached record highs. the allegations have prompted a state investigation into the texas department of public safety. joining me now is nbc news homeland security correspondent julia ainsley. walk us through more of these allegations. what is this person saying he was told to do?

>> these are internal allegations, katy, and they were raised around the july 4th holiday by a texas state trooper that was deployed down there to the border as part of texas governor greg abbott's plan to use his own men and women to do what he says border patrol might need support with. he says while he was there, he saw things, and he detailed these in an e-mail that included having a 4-year-old pass out from exhaustion who wasn't allowed to cross over that barbed wire. he talks about a woman who suffered a miscarriage after she was cut out of that barbed wire. he talks about being ordered to push migrants back into the rio grande and tell them to go back into mexico, and that some of the border patrol, i'm sorry, not border patrol, state troopers, rather, were told to deny water to migrants. now, of course this is coming from one individual, but it sparked a nationwide outcry, and in fact, i took some of those allegations to cvp, and what they really honed in on is what was going on with the wire.

they say that in a lot of cases, they have seen such terrible injuries, katy, where people get these terrible lacerations, i have seen some of the pictures, they have to go to the hospital because they get up on the wire, that ends up hindering the mission of the border patrol because they have to set out and care for these people. the opposite of what abbott set out to do. >> it's extreme what's being alleged here, and it's hard to imagine that anybody who's a person with a beating hurt would push a kid back into the water. what has dps said in response to this? or, yeah, texas public -- >> safety. they said it's outrageous that he would make claims, and these aren't orders. i think it's important to point out that while this state trooper says he was ordered to, he means a verbal order, not a mandate that went out to texas state troopers. when i talked to texas dps, he said say we tell our state troopers to give water if someone is in a medical need, if

they appear dehydrated. use common sense. they wouldn't want anyone to have an emergency on their watch, but at the same time, they don't want to do anything that might attract people to cross the border. instead what they do are these extreme deterrence measures and you saw a couple of weeks ago, greg abbott, the texas governor, adding buoys to the rio grande to make it harder for people to get through. that just increases how dangerous it is in the area. katy. >> julia ainsley, thank you very much. and coming up, what's calling into question the credibility of an irs whistleblower claiming the doj mishandled its investigation into hunter biden. plus, she saw him run across. what a new zealand woman told us about the moment an american soldier appeared to defect into north korea. into north korea. brushed away. even a little blurry vision can distort things.

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who can diagnose pd and build a treatment plan with you. we are going right to a press conference in hoover, alabama, about the disappearance and reappearance of carlee russell who says she saw a toddler on the side of the road. and then went missing for a matter of hours. let's listen. >> of the hoover police investigation's decision. mayor will make a brief opening statement and chief will read a prepared statement. after chief's statement is complete, there will be an opportunity to ask a few questions regarding this investigation. keep in mind that this is still an ongoing investigation, so there may be some questions that we cannot answer. with that, i will turn it over to mayor bercado. >> thank you, and good

afternoon, six days ago our community learned about the disappearance of carlee russell and it sent fear and pandemonium not just through our city but the entire state and the nation as well. the media quickly joined us to get the word out about carlee. our community sprung into action, and they organized search parties, arranged prayer vigils. they took other steps that i'm not even aware of to help in this situation. the hoover police department quickly rallied multiple partner agencies stopping at nothing to find carlee. i'd like to take this time to say thank you, first, to the hoover police department, our partner agencies, our wonderful community, and to all of those that aided in some way in connection with this situation. as the days have gone on and more information has been shared, we know everyone has

questions. the hoover police department is known for being very methodical and thorough with their investigations. for that reason, we did not feel comfortable speaking in detail publicly until now. it is important that we share this information now so that our community can be put at ease. so at this time, i'll turn the microphone over to hoover police chief nick dursis. thank you. >> thank you, mayor. thank you, everyone, for being here today. beside me stands the team that played a significant role in the investigation. i want to thank our department, the members of law enforcement agency, fbi, secret service, united states marshals for their assistance in this case. we said from the evening of july 13th our focus would be the safe return of carlee russell. that occurred on saturday, july 15th, approximately 49 hours after she called 911 and

disappeared. from that point, our focus has been to determine carlee's whereabouts during that time and what exactly took place. let me say up front, this investigation is not over. we're still working this case, and we're working this case until we uncover every piece of evidence that helps us account for the 49 hours that carlee russell was missing. however, through the public interest in some cases, public fear, that this story has generated, we owe it to our citizens to tell them the facts that we have uncovered. i will give you the facts that we know today. on july 13th, at approximately 8:20 p.m., carlee left work from a business at the summit. surveillance video from her place of employment shows carlee concealed a dark colored bathrobe, a roll of toilet paper and other items belonging to the business prior to her departure. she ordered food and traveled there. she then traveled to target on 280 where she purchased some

granola bars and cheese its. she remained in the parking lot of the shopping center until 9:00 p.m., she communicated on a cell phone with individuals known to her, while in her path of travel up to the point of calling 911 at 9:34 p.m. at this time, we will play the 911 call in its entirety. s entiy >> hi, i am on interstate 459, and there is a kid just walking by theirself. >> where on 459 are you? >> i'm right next to the exit

10. >> you're before the exit? >> yes. >> okay. and you're headed southbound? >> no. >> towards tuscaloosa. >> was the child on the left or right side? . >> on the right side. they're working towards tuscaloosa. >> walking southbound? >> how old do they look? >> like a toddler, maybe like 3 or 4. >> did you pull over with them? are you still with them? >> yes. >> are you with the child right now? >> no, i'm not. i didn't get out of the car. i can see them, though. >> do you mind staying and keeping an eye on them until we get there. >> yeah, sure. >> what kind of car are you in? >> i'm in a red mercedes-benz. >> a sedan or suv. >> suv. i mean, it's a sedan. sorry.

>> can you put your hazards on for me? >> yeah, they're on. >> did you talk to the child at all or did you say anything to them? >> no, no. >> do they look like they're injured? >> no, they don't. >> white, hispanic black or asian. >> they're white. >> is it male or female? >> i think it's a boy, a little boy. >> is he wearing clothes? >> yes. >> okay. what is he wearing? >> it's a white t-shirt. it doesn't look like he has any pants on. it looks like a diaper. >> you don't see any cars anywhere? >> no, no cars anywhere. >> okay. all right. what's your name? >> my name is carlee russell. >> and you don't see any from where you're at? >> no.

>> i can't really see that good. >> try to keep an eye, i don't want you to lose track of him. and does he have shoes on? >> no, not that i can see. i didn't see that well. >> i've got them on the way. keep an eye on them. an officer is on the way. >> okay. thanks. >> thank you. >> okay. bye. >> carlee called a relative after speaking with the 911 operator. she went missing during that conversation sometime after 9:36 p.m. traffic camera footage was obtained which depicted this portion of the incident, and that footage was analyzed as part of the investigation in conjunction with the 911 call and cell phone data to accurately determine the time frame. carlee's 911 call remains the only report of a child on the interstate, despite numerous vehicles passing through the area at that time.

no one has called to report that a child is missing and the hoover police department did not locate any evidence of a small child walking down the interstate. data from carlee's phone, including her live 360 app shows that she traveled approximately 600 yards in her vehicle while she was on the phone with 911 stating that she was following a child. 600 yards. that is six football fields straight. 600 yards. the hoover 911 center received a second call from carlee's mother stating that a relative was on the phone with her when they heard carlee scream and had an open phone line. hoover police officers arrived on the scene within five minutes of being dispatched and several other officers arrived shortly. they located carlee's wig and cell phone in the grass near the vehicle, her purse was located in the front seat of her vehicle with her apple watch in the purse. the food she ordered was also in

the car. the items she purchased from target as well as the items taken from her place of employment were not in the vehicle, nor were they located anywhere around the scene. hoover police employed all available assets from the point in the search for carlee, additional resources were called in to include our drone unit, crime scene investigators, numerous detectives responded to the scene. throughout the day friday, officers from surrounding local and federal agencies assisted hoover police in the search for russell. officers returned to the scene on 459 to conduct a line search for evidence. nine teams from the jefferson county sheriff's department to check for carlee, the child, and anything else that could be considered evidence in this case. those searches all turned up empty. private citizens, including search parties organized by her family, friends began looking everywhere that they could to find any trace. these searches took place throughout the day friday, and again on saturday, yielding

nothing. at 10:44 p.m. on july 15th, the hoover 911 center receives a call from carlee's residence, stating that she returned home on foot. in subsequent investigations, detectives obtained surveillance footage of carlee walking down the sidewalk alone, prior to arrival at her residence. she was speaking with paramedics when she was transported to uab. detectives had a brief statement from her prior to being treated and released. during the statement, she told detectives that while traveling down the interstate, she saw a baby walking down the side of the road and called 911. she stated when she got out of her vehicle to check on the child, a man came out of the trees and mumbled that he was checking on the baby. she claimed the man then picked her up and she screamed. she stated he made her go over a fence, forced her in a car, and the next thing she remembers is

being in the trailer of an 18 wheeler. she stated the male was with a female, however she never saw the female only hearing her voice. she also told detectives she could hear a baby crying. she told detectives the male had orange hair with a big bald spot on the back. she said she was able to escape the 18 wheeler and fled on foot only to be captured again. she claims she was blindfolded and was not tied up because did not want to leave impressions on her wrist. they took her in a house, made her get undressed. she believes they took pictures of her, but she does not remember them having physical or sexual contact. she stated the next day she woke up and was fed cheese crackers by the female. she said the woman played with her hair but could not remember anything else. at some point, she was put back in her vehicle. she claims was able to escape while it was in the west hoover area. she told detectives she ran

through lots of woods until she came out near her residence. during this interview, detectives noted that carlee had a small injury to her lip, and she claimed that her head was hurting. she had a tear in her shirt. detectives she had $107 cash in her right sock. out of respect for carlee and her family, detectives did not press for additional information in this interview and made plans to speak with her in detail after giving her time to rest. detectives continued analyzing data from carlee's cell phone that was left behind at the scene. we enlisted the help of the united states secret service in conducting this analysis. part of that data included several internet searches in the days leading up to her disappearance that i think are very relevant to this case. on july 11th, at 7:30 a.m., the term do you have to pay for an

amber alert search. on july 13th, at 1:03 a.m., the day of her disappearance, the term, how to take money from a register without being caught was searched. on july 13th, at 2:13 a.m., the day of her disappearance, the term, birmingham bus station was searched. on july 13th, 2:35 a.m., a search for a one-way bus ticket from birmingham to nashville was conducted with a departure date of july 13th. on july 13th, at 12:10 p.m., a search for the movie, "taken," a film about an abduction was conducted. there were two search related amber alerts on a computer at carlee's place of employment, including one regarding the maximum age of an amber alert. there were other searches on carlee's phone that appeared to

shed light on her mindset. out of respect for her privacy, we will not be releasing the content of those searches at this time. we have asked to interview carlee a second time but have not been granted that request. as you can see, there are many questions left to be answered but only carlee can provide those answers. what we can say is that we have been unable to verify most of carlee's initial statement made to investigators and we have no reason to believe that there is a threat to the public safety related to this particular case. thank you very much. >> with that, we'll open the floor to some questions. raise your hand and i'll call on you. >> reporter: do you expect any charges against carlee russell in connection with the disappearance? >> right now our focus is to determine those 49 hours. so the investigation continues. to be perfectly honest with you, that hasn't even entered our mind or been discussed. >> is it surprising to you that

the family has not been cooperative? >> the family stated to us that they didn't think that in her mental state right now because of trauma of the incident that she's not ready to talk is what we have been told. >> reporter: you stated that the abductor had orange hair, was this abductor a black male, was the female a black female, white female. >> i believe it's a white male, am i correct by saying that? >> a white male. >> is this alleged abductor yet loose in the area? >> don't believe so. >> chief, has the toxicology report been done, and were any drugs or illegal substances in her system? >> we have no report of that. >> reporter: is any indication of mental illness in this case? >> not that i'm aware of. >>. >> reporter: there's been a concern in the community that if

this turned out not to be a true story that the next time a young woman of color was missing that it might not be taken seriously. how would you respond to that? >> i would respond to say that we investigate every crime to the fullest just like we have this one. >> reporter: was she traveled with anyone since the time she disappeared? with anyone since the time she disappeared? >> i know you said you weren't able to verify a lot of aspects in the l story. where do you think she went?ou how would you characterize whath happened? >> that's thear $100 question. we pretty much know exactly what took place from the time she left work until she got on the 911 call, and we can see getting out of the car on c the interste from that footage. and after that i think she only knows. we don't s o know. >> ones. quick follow up, her parents. why were they so adamant there wasn't a toddler? >> the parents believe what

they're saying. i i've talked with them a few times to make them understand we're under pressure from our community, not only our community, the state but nationally when the story hit.ly and i just wanted them to understand that today we were going to have a press conference, and we were going to detail today the facts. andil everything i've told you today is actual facts. it's not innuendos, not what i think, nots, what detectives thk but the facts we have. well, i think they've talked to the parents and we're ready to talk as soon as she's ready. if she called right now, we're ready. >> if you had one word to describe what would that be? >>e how about unknown. we haveow the facts but everythg else is unknown at this time. >> what t have the last few day been like for you and your department?

this has been a stressful search. >> absolutely. again, the focus of the investigation that thursday whet she went missing of course the focus was to get carlee home. we wanted her safe and sound, and that's all happened.ll of course this gotten to be not only ate local and state story a a national story. it is. it's a lot of stress on everyone in the hoover police department and the mayor and to every citizen here. we want to know the truth. >> as you stand there are you frustrated snd. >> i wouldn't say i'm frustrated. i'm very happy carlee's home and we'll figure it out. i promise you that. >> do you have an idea of the number of man power hours across the city and state and federal government? >> we haven't had time to consider that, but it's -- again, these b detectives that h here this is just a small group of people that have been associated with this case. weis have put every available

resource that we have on this case because we wanted to make sure that we found out everything. we wanted to get her home, and we have. not that i'm aware of. >> the state and federal resources brought in, what were they doing exactly? >> sure. a lot of the -- from the fbi side several agents helping us interview. i mean as you all know in a case like this especially when it goes national, we've got hundreds andat hundreds and hundreds of calls. and whennd you get those calls, some of them may just be outlandish, but you've got to follow up on g them because you never knowus you may get that o tidbit. and we had great cooperation with the family. >>e pe this is the chief of the alabama -- the hoover, alabama, police department. he's thema chief giving us an update on what they've been able to uncover about carlee russell

who disappeared on thursday. she said she was drive on the highway andsa saw a toddler and boy in a t-shirt and a diaper on the side of the road. and she pulled over, called 911 and told them about it. and when cops got there, they found she was missing. her wig was there, her car was there, her food order was still in the car. they didn't know what happened to her. everybody was w looking for thi woman, carlee russell. she appeared back at her house on atsaturday, and so police ha been trying s to figure out wha happened in that time, and they've uncovered some interesting stuff'v that appear to suggest -- appears from this news conference that she essentially made thisat up. they saidy she took a dark bathrobe from her place of employment before she got into thee car, that she took granol bars and cheese-its. she because them from target. and those two things were not in the car when they got to the side of the road. then they looked at her search

history, and they found internet searches where she was googling amberre alerts. googling how to take money fromow a register without being caught, where's the birmingham bus station, googling one-way tickets from birmingham to nashville. also googling the movie "taken," which is a movie about being abducted. so it appears that they potentially might have a case in the future -- in the future future carlee russell, but they say so far they're not even thinking about charges. another strange development in what wasng already a strange story. again, no indication there was ever any kid, no kid missing, they have not found a kid. no one said they've lostki a child. anyway, we're going to sneak in one more quickne story. one of them gary shaply claims the justice department went easy on w hunter biden during their

investigation into his taxes. shaply told the panel they intervened but weiss himself said thosess claims were false, something democrats used to push backs on those allegation. >> mr. weiss took a good hard look at those charges himself andth ultimately decided not to charge them and therefore not to seek the special attorney status. he mayno t have been right abou that, he may have been wrong as you guys make your case for, but it was his decision. isn't that right, mr. shaply? >> no, that's not supported by the facts. >> really? which facts it's not supported by. >> the admissions in the 2020 meetinghe i documented contemporaneously. >> he contradicts what you're saying. >> joining me now is nbc news justice and intelligence correspondent ken dilanian and punch bowl newste co-founder an msnbc contributor.

>> the bottom line these whistle blowers mr. shaply you saw there and another man joseph ziegler are making serious allegations of irregularity. bottom line they say all the prosecutors in the case want today charge hunter biden with felonies and ultimately that didn't happen and they say there was income made from burisma back in 2014 and those weren't reported. a lot w of the people they saids disputes with and disagreed with weregr career officials and som of itar happened during the tru administration. what they say is if you look under the hood of any high profile tax case or any criminal case you're going to find these kind of disagreements and doesn't mean there was a political conserious. i have some reporting today mr. shaply is represented by an organization esempower oversigh that includes some republican legislative staffers that have spent a t lot of time investigating democrats and going after the fbi.af so that's the concern here among

democrats.mo i think will still need to clear up this thing, this depute between what they're saying and mr. weissbe is saying. mr. weiss is insistent he did have full authority to file whatever charge he thought were appropriate, and heht made the final decision to charge this case as a misdemeanor case and allow hunterr biden to plead guilty, and he's not going to jail. >> jake, is this testimony resonating across capitol hill givenos what the u.s. attorney evan weiss. is saying about th allegations? >> reporter: listen, this is another instance where the parties are in theiris camps. and the interesting thing to me, katie, is james comer told my colleague yesterday as we reported in the morning edition of "punch bowl news." heof feels the public is not fut understanding the wealth of information thatde they have. and it was atincumbent on them this hearing to show what they hadow to explain to make the ca they had. we'll see h if they're able to that. but you had an incident where

marjorie taylor greene wereer holding up what she said were pornographice images of hunter biden and talking about that. so this is a -- i'm not sure this hearing went exactly as the republicans wanted, but they have to -- listen, they've made a lot of accusations, katie, republicans have. and the rubber is going to meet the road at some point and they have to be able to prove the things they're saying. >> do you expect there to be more proof on the way? or are they dangling anything out there, jake? >> i think there will be much more -- many more hearings. this is a congress that is defined byis oversight and investigations and not much legislating so i think we'll get more and more and more. and i think the end game here is they're going to, if i had to guess and based on my reporting they'll probably try to indict merrick garland -- i'm sorry, impeach merrick garland at some point. i don't know when that eventuallyperl is. >> ken, we have ten seconds.

is that what the doj is anticipating? >> absolutely. merrick garland does not want to impeach but they're playing the handay they're dealt. >> thank you very much.nk and that is going to do it for me today on this strange day. "deadline white house" starts right now. hi, everyone. it is 4:00 in the east. as we come on the air we're tracking a fascinating split screen. on the one hand the disgraced twice impeached, twice indicted, legally liable for sexual is ea assault ex-president raging on truth social and whining about the possibility of more indictments during his town hall with sean t hannity. and theha other special counsel jack smith who by all accounts is calmlyy carrying on. moving o closer to potentially indicting donald trump again this time over efforts to overturn the 2020 election. just today jack