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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  November 18, 2024 9:00am-10:00am PST

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2019. this year alone it has lost over $335 million and that was in the first half of the year. in order to save some of the cash, it furloughed some 200 pilots in september and plans to furlough another 330 pilots later on in january. remember, you mentioned a deal that was blocked by a federal judge to be acquired by jet blue. in some ways, they will have to find a partner to merge with or see if they can continue flying. >> dominic chu, thank you so much. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz balart. and you can watch our shows on youtube. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. >> right now on andrea mitchell reports, new fears over vladimir putin's reaction after president biden gives president zelenskyy
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the green light to launch u.s. missiles deeper into russian territory. is it too little too late? joining me this hour is former cia director john brennan and chris murphy from the foreign relations committee. also, the latest on the trump transition including reaction to donald trump's more controversial picks as the president-elect confirms on truth social he will use the military for promised mass deportation of potentially 20,000 undocumented immigrants. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. with just nine weeks until he leaves office, president biden has authorized ukraine to use long range missiles as targets deeper inside russia. ukraine has been pleading for this approval for months. the president decided now according to two u.s. officials because russia has deployed
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10,000 north korean troops to try to retake the kursk region from ukraine. president biden was at the g20 summit in brazil. >> everyone around this table should as well. >> over the weekend russia launched its largest attack in months, targeting the energy infrastructure and killing at least 11 civilians including children. the kremlin now accusing white house of adding fuel to the fire. putin has previously said that he would view any attacks and strikes inside russia as direct u.s. and nato involvement. president-elect trump has pledged to end the conflict within 24 hours. his choice for national security advisor, congressman mike waltz weighed in this morning. >> it is another step up the escalation ladder and no one knows where this is going. president trump is talking grand strategy here.
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how do we get both sides to the table to end the war, what's the framework for a deal, and who is sitting at that table. >> all of this amid exclusive nbc news reporting that the trump transition team is considering possible court marshal of u.s. military officers involved in the afghanistan withdrawal including joint chiefs chairman mark millie. we begin with our senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell travelling with the president, washington post political correspondent ashley parker, retired four star general barry mccaffrey and former cia director john brennan. kelly, first to you, president biden is in rio de janeiro where you are for the g20 which russia is also a part of. how is this major policy shift of attack ems playing there while he is there? >> he is there or here rather
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and was in the room when president biden said remarks today. you played a clip where he gave his full throated endorsement for full support of ukraine. we talked with senior white house officials today as the president is a part of the important meetings that will be his final international summit. while they are not directly confirming the approval of the use of these inside of russia for limited purposes, they are speaking broadly about the approach and pointing out that while the kremlin has said this is an act that adds fuel to the fire, they say that russia has accelerated the conflict by bringing in thousands of north korean troops and by ramping up some of its own strikes as you also indicated at the top of the program with intensifying the fight. so by doing that, by bringing new fighters inoo to insovereign
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territory of ukraine, that is an escalation and that they had always made clear that the act would be viewed as worthy of a response. they did not say specifically that this decision on changing the use of american weapons is that response but that could be part of the context of what is playing out here and people can infer until such time that the president talks about it openly or other officials do. so it is clearly something where the president wants to show support. we expect there will be an additional draw down under presidential authority for support for ukraine and part of what the president is doing on the world stage is sergey lav rov in the room trying to support ukraine. the president says his time is limited and he is trying to fortify the relationships and u.s. priorities in his remaininging time. andrea? >> and general, is it too late
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now? it is almost 1,000 days since the invasion. is it too late to make a difference here as ukraine has really lost considerable leverage in the last couple of months and russia launched major strikes against infrastructure and energy supplies over the weekend. >> the situation in ukraine, they are for their survival against russia. they are targeting the infrastructure, using bcpmi munitions against civilian targets. they brought in what could turn out to be 100,000 north koreans eventually. they are using iranian produced drones. china is giving them some minimal support. it is a difficult situation. you could argue that the biden administration in its closing
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hours is adding one small factor that may help in the negotiations to end the war when the trump administration comes in. it is also responding to the hypocrisy of the russians, that as you suggest, even though atacms is an effective weapon, they can now start targeting russian helicopter positions, aircraft, artillery that are attacking ukraine, even though it has military value, it is too little too late. >> and john brennan, let's talk about north korea and the resources there. you know, north korea could provide as general mccaffrey just said, endless supplies to back up russia. >> they are already supplied a number of systems to russia since the russian stocks have
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run short. but it is these troops now, 10,000 have been amassed supposedly to launch the counteroffensive in the kursk region and tens of thousands could show up afterwards. i think the biden administration is trying to help the ukrainians mount a counteroffensive so the ukrainians can hold onto the territory in kursk. if there is going to be a type of negotiations, i think the ukrainians hoped there would be a trade of land for land so they could agree to get out of the kursk region if russia agreed to get out of the portion of ukraine they have occupied. i think it is a last ditch effort on behalf of the biden administration to do what they can to provide ukraine some capability where they can strike concentrated weapons depots and other areas inside of russia. it is rather rich and as mccaffrey said, the height of hypocrisy that russia claims this is an escalation as russia has been escalating the war over
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the last two years. >> and john brennan, and general before we move on, i want to ask both of you about nbc news courtney kube reporting over the weekend, her team, that the new transition team is considering courts martial and reactivating people like mark millie and all of the generals on the ground for the admittedly disasterous withdrawal. what is your posture to court martialing some of these generals? >> it will go nowhere. there is no precedent. you can bring back retired military personnel who committed a civil crime years ago while they were in active-duty. this is utter nonsense. what is not utter nonsense is this is a political attack of utmost hypocrisy. trump ran for office saying get
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out of afghanistan. he reduced the troop presence to 2500. he negotiated directly with the taliban. and biden in a legitimate political objective came in offense saying he was going to withdraw from afghanistan. so 2500 troops on the ground, we were going to give up the major air base. the evacuation from a tactical military viewpoint was a brilliant success. i thought it might be the mb thu. the u.s. air force appeared with bombers. we got out of there with 100,000 afghan civilians fleeing with us. it is just the world turned upside down. i think it is going nowhere but it is a disaster signal to the armed forces. they are also talking about review boards, vetting the three
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and four star officers, army, navy and air force, firing the chairman of jcs. this is a terrible beginning to a new administration. >> and john brennan, there is also lots of reporting including our own that the military wanted to keep 2500 troops there and not leave bagram has it was. and it was the political advisors and national political advisors and the president who said no, draw down. >> yeah, the u.s. military is one of the most esteemed and respected organizations world wide. it does follow the orders of the civilian leaders of the government. they were carrying out the orders. it was pointed out that it was donald trump who first initiated this withdrawal by giving a date certain to the taliban when u.s.
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military would withdraw. and there were concerns but they saluted and carried out the orders of the commander in chief and they did it in challenging environment. this would be blatant politicization of the civilian control over the military which would have reverberations for years to come. >> john brennan, former marine, and former cia director. ashley parker, there is another aspect of the military which the president-elect confirmed overnight, he wants to carry out what he said he was going to do, the mass deportation and that means using the military. what about the ripple effects of that? >> well, again, he hasn't explained exactly how this would work in deporting millions of people in the country. it is a task that is easier said and promised during in the campaign than done. i would point you to his first term when during the campaign he
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promised what he called a muslim ban. he came into office and tried to implement that. what we saw was chaos at the nation's airports and a system that was not ready to handle what he was trying to do. so again, we know that he talked about this on the campaign trail. overnight, he confirmed in a truth social post that he plans to use the military at the southern border to begin mass deportations. but to know how this would work and what the ramifications would be, we have tosee how he actually implements it which right now is still a bit unclear. >> and when the reporters have tried to drill down on this in recent weeks, it is not just the people who are -- have been adjudicated as having done criminal acts. he's talking about, he has made clear all of them which is potentially, you know, 20 million people. with a big impact on our
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economy, ouring agricultural and manufacturing economy where many of them work. >> right, that's right. there are the impacts on the economy, there are the impacts on the communities. there is just the sheer logistical enormity of what he is proposing. if you look at project 2025 which was not his plan but was something that a lot of things he promised to do or was interested in doing and may use as a blue print. there is also talk of when it comes to mass deportations, going to the quote unquote safe spaces. that would be churches, schools. but there is going to be, forget if he successfully carries this out but any attempt will have reverberations and ramifications across the united states in any number of sectors. >> general mccaffrey, how would it work for the military to be
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involved in domestic deportations? >> well, again, it's not going to happen. we are not going to round up 10 million, 20 million workers. it would be devastating in agriculture, construction, restaurant industry. it will not happen. to use the armed forces as an internal police force, going door to door with armored vehicles in the streets, that's not going to happen either. i think the problem is we have a border policy that makes no sense. trump did better, biden came in loosening restrictions, we ended up with 3 to 5 million illegal immigrants and it is a problem and it has to be addressed by congress and rationally by the administration. if there are deportations, if the criminal justice system and law enforcement and not the
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armed forces that should be involved in this. >> general mccaffrey, thank you so much. our thanks to kelly o'donnell, ashley parker, and john brennan who i misspoke is not a marine but we will be seeing him later in the program. in 90 seconds, how elon musk is impacting the trump transition including the debate over treasury secretary. we will be back in 90 seconds. stay with us. you're watching msnbc. 90 secon. stay with us you're watching msnbc. thanks to a unique combination of herbs, iberogast helps relieve six digestive symptoms to help you feel better. six digestive symptoms. the power of nature. iberogast. if you struggle. and struggle. and struggle with cpap. you should check out inspire. no mask. no hose. just sleep. learn more and view important safety information at inspiresleep.com
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president-elect trump is reportedly facing an internal battle on the appointment of treasury secretary. elon musk posted support for one contender against the other. this could be a big test of elon musk's influence on the president-elect. joining us now is dasha burns. some of the contenders are headed to mar-a-lago this week. what more can you tell us on what is going on here because this is such a key post? >> it is a key post and there is so much jockying for the post and heavy hitters weighing in on this as well. elon musk putting this out on social media actually posting on x that scott best who is one of the contenders, has the more traditional wall street resume, posting that he would be business as usual whereas howard
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lutnick, the other contender would enact change. lutnick is cut out of the maga mould. he is the less conventional choice and best is the more conventional. mark rowen is being reported and also kevin warrish, a former federal reserve worker as two potential picks. all of this is in discussion at mar-a-lago with the transition team. the musk of it all is a big factor here. we reported recently that elon musk since election day has been wielding his influence at mar-a-lago. he has been at dinners, meetings, calls, travelling with president-elect trump, pretty much everywhere he goes. there has been some consternation on the part of inner circle members at mar-a-lago who feel he is -- one source telling me he is acting as if he is copresident. another telling me that he has an opinion on everything and
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anything and is perhaps overstepping in the view of some of trump's staff. it doesn't look like he is going anywhere any time soon. the way that he is publicly wielding his influence now only escalating now. >> i was going to say, by posting in favor of howard lutnick who is also powerful because he is the head of the transition team inside the trump transition, lutnick has a lot to say about who has access but some of the other possibilities have been to mar-a-lago and have a lot of support on wall street and elsewhere. >> that's exactly right. there are factions within trump world. some supporting the more traditionally qualified candidates and then you have those characters like musk, like rfk jr. as well. there is a divide right now in trump world and we are seeing this play out with the various
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contenders for about every role that is still unnamed. we see the people that have a resume that would fit with the past people to hold that role and then we have those outsiders. and we have both traditionalists and outsiders in the trump circle right now. that is where the butting heads is happening. >> dasha burns, thank you so much. we appreciate it. joining us now is democratic senator chris murphy from connecticut who serves on the foreign relations committee. elon musk and donald trump are spending a lot of time together over the weekend. we saw them at madison square garden and on the trump plane. are you concerned about conflicts of interest potentially about him having access to proprietary information of his competitors? he has $50 billion of government contracts including critical ones, spacex, star link? >> yeah , am i concerned about
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conflicts of interest? >> where do you start? >> yeah, listen, this entire white house will be one giant conflict of interest if we haven't figured this out already. donald trump running for president, in order to make money for himself. elon musk wants to be close to donald trump to make money for himself. i don't know a lot about all of these candidates for the department of treasury but they are all billionaires who have spent their entire careers just making money for themselves. none of them have spent any time thinking about the rest of us. none of them have spent any time trying to figure out how to improve working conditions, raise wages. all they have done is to work to depress wages, to depress working conditions so that they can become even richer. that's the last kind of person who should be running the department of treasury but it seems the competition is just
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between one billionaire versus another. none of them will care about the rest of us. >> i was going to say that one of the potential players here is kevin marsh who was a governor of the fed and spent a lot of time worrying about labor markets and all aspects of the economy in addition to being from some wealth. that said, the elon musk factor, the factor of the lack of involvement in vetting of these potential conflicts, and there has been a lot of attention on matt gaetz as you know. why do you think he is not qualified to lead the justice department? >> well, i think the selection of gaetz is just a clear signal that the department of justice will be handed over to the white house to become the political arm of the white house. matt gaetz was trump's chief lieutenant in defending the insurrection against the united
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states of america. that alone disqualifies him. but essentially, i think trump is telling you that he is going to do what he said he would do during the campaign. he will use the power of the white house, use the department of justice in order to punish political enemies. matt gaetz said at one point if the atf didn't get in line with conservative priorities, they should be abolished. they think that the department of justice is supposed to be a political enemy. the rest of us understand that the department of justice has to stand up for the rule of law, regardless of whether you are a democrat or republican. you should be protected in this country from persecution and prosecution even if you are a political opponent of the president. i don't think that's the belief of donald trump. i certainly don't believe that is what matt gaetz thinks. >> as a consumer of intelligence when you were briefed on the hill, what is your view on tulsi
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gabbard who has no experience in intelligence and would be in charge of editing the presidential daily brief and appointing the briefer? >> well, i just think we have to do a really thorough job of vetting tulsi gabbard and asking some very difficult questions. obviously, we have all watched her tow the line of some brutal despottic regimes, defending moscow's invasion of ukraine, engaging in secret diplomacy with bashar all assad in the middle of his murderous rampage in syria. we have to ask some real questions about tulsi gabbard's position. that's why we have to have hearings. that's why we have the commotion about recess appointments in which trump would get the cabinet picks in place without hearings and confirmation votes is incredibly disturbing.
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there are some serious unanswered questions about his team, especially his national security team. >> the president's decision, president biden's decision on the atacms, is this going to help ukraine in a potential negotiation with vladimir putin? >> well, i don't know what kind of negotiation there is going to be. my worry is that donald trump was telling the truth when he refused during the debate to say he wants ukraine to win the war. it may be that donald trump wants russia to win the war and he will essentially hand ukraine to putin because he is going to refuse to continue to fund the war. there is no real negotiation if russia knows trump is cutting off military support for ukraine. so i think what you are seeing is biden trying to put ukraine in a position where it may have some additional leverage if it is forced to a negotiating table once trump becomes president and
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the ability to strike inside of russia certainly is a different kind of leverage that they have not had. >> and you've tweeted some really interesting thoughts about where democrats have gone wrong. where have democrats gone wrong regarding the working people, people across the country who are worried about what they were going to do the next day, not just inflation, but more broadly about their children and how they are treated by the so-called elites? >> yes, i certainly don't have all of the answers but i think that we have to be much more transparent and purposeful in the way we identify who has power, whether it is wall street, the billionaires, drug companies, insurance companies, and how we will take power from them and put it in the hands of regular people. i hate the fact that the republican party is seen among constituency as the more populous party.
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they are not. they get in power and give more tax breaks to billionaires. the democrats have to have a conversation on whether we want to be a big tent party or have a dozen litmus tests. right now people don't feel terribly welcomed in the party if they don't line up with us on a whole host of social and cultural issues and topics like guns and climate. we have to let people in who have some diverse views but who want to be part of a party that is going to stand up for working people and take it to that billionaire and corporate class that has been screwing americans. that is a hard conversation for democrats to have. i think we have to be in the business of actively be growing the coalition. right now the coalition is shrinking. >> senator chris murphy, thank you very much. >> thank you. next, more on the trump transition as the president-elect's choice to lead the pentagon faces new scrutiny. you're watching andrea mitchell on msnbc. scrutiny. you're watching andrea mitchel on msnbc
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the biden administration is still waiting for donald trump's transition team to sign key agreements critical to the transfer of control of the nation's sprawling number of federal agencies including a provision from the transitional act that governs the process for national security officials. an amendment to the act signed into law by trump himself was
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president. joining me is the former communications advisor and back with us is john brennan, and also senior national security analyst. so this is a big departure. it is usually month in advance for the candidates, not just the president-elect. the typical process is the fbi looking at some of the people before they are even named. what do you see as what is going on behind the scenes and what are the security risks? they have already faced some embarrassment with pete hegseth. they were not aware of his prior problem that he is now addressing with you know, a charge that wasn't pursued against him involving a sexual encounter. >> well, andrea, there is a wide array of programs on each national front there.
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diplomatic, intelligence and military programs that will go and continue from one administration to the next. you need to make sure there will be continuity there. most of the senior officials of the biden administration will lead government on inauguration day. you need to be able to ensure that the individuals who will be in charge of the programs in the future are going to have some time to prepare to take over the reins of responsibility which requires getting security clearances, getting the opportunity to get read in and briefed on the programs. same is true for the domestic front and law enforcement. you want to make sure the incoming administration has as much time as possible as well as the ability to understand the programs so that there will not be any slip between one administration and another. i was involved in the transition from bush to obama administrations and it was seamless with what the bush administration did to facilitate the incoming obama administration. and the obama administration
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tried to prepare for the trump administration but they were reluctant to engage in briefings. so this is a repeat performance of the 2016-2017 challenge. >> and brendan buck, i'm aware of several meetings scheduled with mike flynn that were supposed to take place when he was national security advisor that they did not engage in. there was a real reluctance there but at least there were fbi interviews with people before they were nominated. that's going to happen, right? >> i don't know. look, at least eight years ago, donald trump came in here with some recognition that he didn't know a lot about how this works. there was a lot of deference to others. this time you have a president who is not just confident about his ability to do this job but bordering on arrogant. there are people around him who
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know what they think they want to do right when they come in and i don't think they are terribly interested in getting briefed on a number of things. a big part of their philosophy is that the people in the government are out to get them, they are out to stop their plan. so it is not surprising that they don't care too much about that. there are real national security implications about these things and a reason we have the processes and systems. it may be one they don't care but also, they don't value that enough to deal with the ethics requirement that come along with signing these documents. obviously, as you talked about with the senator, a lot of entanglements will be difficult with a straight face to say there are not conflicts of interest and maybe that is a bigger priority than making sure we have a stable national security transition. >> and john brennan, i guess these people could be sworn in if they get confirmed but they won't have access to intelligence without getting
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security clearance, am i correct? >> well, yes. those security clearances for the cabinet level officials can be bended quickly as along as there will be a background investigation. there will be acting directors, acting secretaries, others, whee are going to have to hold those positions until those confirmations are completed. so therefore, on noon of january 20th, you will have the transition from one administration to the next. again, it is critically important that the people in charge are going to be able to access the information and have the security clearances they need in order to make sure they are fully informed about what is going on. i'm hoping within the next seven weeks or so, it will be an expedited effort to try to get the people that are going to be in the positions of authority, the clearances and security clearances that they need and background investigations completed. >> you raise a big point about
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the recess appointees because they can serve until the next congress which is effectively almost two years. that's as long as many of the cabinet officials survived in the first trump white house. so that could be a full tenure for them. mike johnson, the speaker left open the possibility of the recess appointments. he is not ruling it out. he switched his position after being in mar-a-lago. so it twists the senate confirmation process. brendan, how likely is it that the senators will give up a key power they have in the constitution? >> it is not surprising that mike johnson is okay to go along with that. the house would have to vote to also adjourn. so i'm sure he would be happy to do that. i'm skeptical this is going to happen though. as you know, this is one of the enumerated responsibilities of
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the senate in the constitution, to vet candidates. if there is a problem getting a candidate or nominee through the senate, voting to go into recess for the purpose of an adjournment resolution is not only allowing them to be confirmed in another way, it is an affirmative vote to say that you want to take away one of the key powers of the senate. and if i know anything about the senate, they take themselves pretty seriously. i think donald trump is very strong in the republican party but i don't know that he is so strong that you will find 50 senators that willing to say our authority is no longer important enough. i can count very quickly but i imagine mitch mcconnell would lead the effort to block something like that. the more likely scenario is that he gets them through the traditional way. they wouldn't want to neuter their own chamber. >> brandon buck, john brennan, again, thank you so much. next, the growing fears
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among top federal law enforcement officials about potential revenge prosecutions from the president-elect. this is andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. is andrea mitchell ret on msnbc one extra push and... crack! so, we scheduled at safelite.com. we were able to track our technician and knew exactly when he'd arrive. we can keep working! ♪ synth music ♪ >> woman: safelite came to us. >> tech: hi, i'm kendrick. >> woman: replaced our windshield, and installed new wipers to protect our new glass. that's service on our time. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ power e*trade's award-winning trading app makes trading easier. with its customizable options chain, easy-to-use tools and paper trading to help sharpen your skills, you can stay on top of the market from wherever you are. e*trade from morgan stanley power e*trade's easy to-use tools make complex trading less complicated. custom scans can help you find new trading opportunities, while an earnings tool helps you plan your trades and stay on top of the market.
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as president-elect trump has named loyalists like congressman matt gaetz to be attorney general and his criminal defense attorney todd blanch to be his deputy, multiple current and former justice department
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officials are getting alarmed, so alarmed about potential revenge prosecutions that nbc news has learned they have begun reaching out to lawyers in anticipation of criminally investigated and charged. joining me now is justice and intelligence correspondent ken delaine epiian and former u.s. attorney chuck rosenburg. this is your investigation. territory. these investigations could be broad. people are taking it seriously. >> they are. i have been covering these investigations for years, the jack smith investigations. i'm not aware of anything illegal or inappropriate done by these people. never theless, they are gearing up with this because they found what happened with john durham's investigation. we heard about it and cia officers had to hire lawyers and they sat for hours of
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interviews. that itself is painful and cause tumulti and anxiety. no chrjs were brought. two people were acquitted in the durham case. you can see that playbook repeating itself here to a greater degree, dragging people through years of investigations and people are concerned about that. >> and chuck, what argument and reasoning could the trump department make in doing these prosecutions? >> to ken's point, without facts it will be hard to justify it but both of you have pointed out and you are right, there is an emotional, psychological and financial cost simply to being under investigation. if you are talking about charging somebody, convicting someone and putting them in prison, you need facts. as ken noted, there is nothing in the public record to suggest some of the targets of trump
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have done anything that would merit being charged, convicted or sentenced. but being under investigation is fraught. i understand why people want to be cautious and be prepared. remember, and you know this as well as anyone, trump had promised to lock up hillary clinton and that never happened. by the way, i'm still waiting for mexico to pay for the wall. >> well, but the difference now is that there is a different sense of empowerment and also of victim hood because donald trump feels he was persecuted by the justice department. there is no question about that. and chuck, the deputy attorney general, the dag as you know well, is an extremely powerful figure. this will be todd blanch, respected criminal defense attorney, but would he just go along with all of the prosecutions? would he stand up to his former
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client? >> well, good questions, andrea. so the deputy attorney general of the united states is the number two official in the department. he or she and right now it is a she, lisa monaco, serves as the chief operating officer. but whether you are the deputy attorney general or the attorney general or a line prosecutor, in some u.s. district offices in the country, you still need facts. again, we have to draw a line between charging and convicting someone on one hand and making their life miserable, simply by investigating them on the other. the most important question you are asking is whether mr. blanch, if he is confirmed as deputy attorney general has the integrity and adjustment to serve in the role which may mean standing up to the attorney general or president under certain circumstances. the answer to that question and it is an important one, we'll
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see. >> and also, the prosecutors in forecast on the manhattan d.a., alvin brag's team, they have until tomorrow to say how they want to proceed with the hush money conviction now that he is elected. what do you expect to hear or what is at stake there? >> so as you know, trump was convicted in a state court in new york of falsifying business records and the like related to payments to an adult film star. so what's going tohappen next? what normally happens next is the defendant would be sentenced. in this case, we are waiting to see from the prosecutor, mr. bragg, whether he will recommend that the sentence be imposed or delayed or continued until after trump has served his final term as president. by the way, you and ken both know this, prosecutors only propose. it's the judge, judge merchan in this case who will decide it.
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so there are a number of options available to the judge. we will see what both sides have to say. they will opine on what they think he ought to do. the trump folks will argue that not only should this case not go forward at all to sentencing but that it should be dismissed in light of the supreme court decision this summer on presidential immunity. lots of issues on judge merchan's plate. we will know soon what he will decide. >> chuck rosenberg, as always and ken dilanian, thank you for your reporting. we will go to athens, georgia for the latest on the trial of a suspect accused of killing nursing student laken riley. o killing nursing student lake riley. we all need fiber for our digestive health, but less than 10% of us get enough each day.
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♪ watch ziggy from the plane ♪ ♪ ♪ my garage i could open ♪ ♪ while i'm hiking in wyoming ♪ ♪ if my home just had a brain ♪ testimony continues in a georgia courtroom in the trial of jose ibarra, the man accused of killing nursing student laken riley earlier this year while she was jogging on the campus of the university of georgia. ibarra is an undocumented venezuelan immigrant who faces multiple charges including felony murder. joining us from outside of the courthouse is priya sridhar. tell us what the court heard so far today in this horrible case? >> reporter: that's right. so far state prosecutors are saying they have digital video and forensic evidence that directly tie jose ibarra to the
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brutal killing of laken riley. they were able to recover dna from underneath her fingal nails when she tried to fight off ibarra when they say he attempted to rape her. they were able to recover a fingerprint from her cell phone that she attempted to use to call 911. we heard from several witnesses including ibarra's own roommate who identified him in a surveillance video that they say shows him taging the bloody clothing he wore when he committed the crime and dumping it in a dumpster near his apartment complex. take a listen. >> do you recognize anyone in the video? [ speaking in a global language ] >> who do you see? and how do you recognize him? [ speaking in a global language
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] the cap and the and loafers. >> reporter: right now the court is on a lunch break but before the break, we heard from an fbi special agent who said the same clothes found in a dumpster can be seen on jose ibarra himself and selfie pictures he took and posted on his snapchat. the defense says that all of this evidence is circumstantial and that they can't tie jose ibarra to the cell phone pinged off cell towers near where riley's body was discovered. they say his room mates often used his phone. he has pled not guilty to the charges he faces and he has not had a juraey trial which means a judge will determine the sentence. >> and how long will this take place? it is a judge and not jury trial
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so it may go more quickly. >> reporter: that's right. we anticipate it could go much quicker than it would have been if it had been a jury trial and they would have had to get a consensus from a number of people instead of just one. we are expecting that the state's presentation could end as soon as today, potentially tomorrow and then it will be the defense's turn. they do have some witnesses. it is likely to end early this week. >> priya, thank you so much. that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. remember to follow us on social media at mitchell reports . you can rewatch highlights of the show on youtube. go to msnbc.com/andrea. chris jan sing is next after a short break. s next after a short break. that is taken once every 8 weeks. ( ♪♪ ) fasenra helps prevent asthma attacks. most patients did not have an attack in the first year.
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