good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. shaking hands and twisting arms. vice president-elect jd vance joining trump's ag pick matt gaetz as they take their charm offensive to capitol hill. the house debates releasing a report that could make gaetz's path to confirmation a whole lot harder. plus, what is the meaning of a mandate? trump and allies says the american public has awarded him sweeping authority to change the government and the country. they say it repeatedly. but is it true? and he became famous hosting tv episodes like "black market babies," buddying up with oprah and pushing weight loss pills, but does dr. oz have what it takes to head up healthcare coverage. >> the house ethics committee is

meeting now to make the crucial decision of what to do about the report against matt gaetz. trump is not backing down on gaetz for attorney general or anyone else on his lengthening list of unconventional, some would argue, unqualified choices to lead major departments in his administration 67b8g9s. today, vice president elect d vance with gaetz on capitol hill as they meet with republican senator they need to get through the confirmation battle and all of that overshadowed by the allegations that gaetz denies. senator josh hawley said today it may not matter what the committee does. >> my working assumption is between now and the next two months is there is going to be no shortage of information, i assume the contents of that report will make their way to the public. should they, it sounds like not under the house rules, but let's be realistic. i'm already reading pieces of it

it in the press. >> meanwhile, trump's announced more picks. dr. oz to oversee the country's largest insurance programs, medicare and medicaid, and former wrestling executive and major trump donor linda mcmahon for education secretary, a department that trump has long talked about shutting down. i want to bring in nbc's ryan nobles on capitol hill for us today. former kentucky democratic congressman john yarmuth, tim miller, host of the bulwark podcast, helped lead jeb bush's 2016 presidential campaign and is an msnbc political analyst, and frank figliuzzi served as fbi assistant director for counterintelligence and is an msnbc senior national security analyst. great to have all of you here. a few things happening on capitol hill. or maybe a lot. what can you tell us? >> reporter: yeah, so, right now we're seeing a steady stream of republican senators entering a room where jd vance, the vice

president-elect and matt gaetz are and gaetz is holding court, taking questions from the senators in a closed door setting, trying to get them to a place where they feel comfortable voting for him to be confirmed as the next attorney general. it seems in the early going that he is having some success. josh hawley said after leaving the meeting he feels inclined to support whomever president trump appoints to his cabinet. marsha blackburn said she looks forward to him being confirmed the next attorney general. there is a lot of work to do and there are many skeptical republican senators that believe he's up to the job and that his past and allegations against him whether or not they render him disqualified for the position. one of those skeptical senators is thom tillis of north carolina, expected to meet with gaetz later today. listen to what he said about the confirmation process. >> every member should meet with him, regardless whether they're a no vote or yes vote. i met with a supreme court nominee i had every intention of

voting against and did. so people should meet and go through a respectful professional process. it is pretty straightforward. >> reporter: tillis, i saw him on my way over here, walking toward the meeting room. this comes across the backdrop of the house ethics committee, in the process of meeting right now to discuss what they're going to do about this report that they have been compiling into matt gaetz, this report that puts them in a difficult position because gaetz is no longer a member of congress. the chair of that committee, michael guest, told reporters that the report is not yet complete, which could complicate this process to a certain extent. he also said each one of the members will have the ability to talk about their view of the report once this meeting wraps up. we really don't know what is going to happen here. do they release it to the public, in private to the senate judiciary committee, just give them the underlying evidence? all of that is on the table right now as ethics committee

members meet right now. >> ryan nobles, thank you for that. we have been keeping our eye on all the closed door that members have been going into. you've been there, part of the ethics committee. how do you think they're weighing their decision? >> i think what you have to understand about the ethics committee is that it is a perfectly even split partisan-wise, 5-5, in order to get anything done you have to have a vote from the other party. when i served on the committee, we never had anything but a unanimous vote and we actually dealt with some fairly controversial matters. i think it is part of the credibility, the stature of the committee, that is so bipartisan and traditionally has been. so i think what you got here is assuming that all five democrats would agree to release the report, which i think is pretty certain, then if it is not released, it will be because all

five republicans voted against it. and then you got the kind of partisan perception that damages the committee, damages the institution, and certainly doesn't serve the american public well. >> so, some of what is reportedly in that report is known. the lawyer, for example, for two women said they testified, what else might be part of an ethics committee investigation, what kinds of things could they be looking at that we don't know or haven't been made public yet? >> well, i think they could be looking at financial records that might bring out other possible transgressions, things that might even actually indicate illegal conduct. so, there is a wide range of things that the committee could be looking into. and i think because of the fact that so much of this information

or at least the allegations become public and i rarely agree with senator hawley about anything, but this will be public at some point, even if they were to release it strictly to the senate judiciary committee, you have to assume if there is a hearing that some of that information is going to be public in the hearing. so, again, a wide range of things they could look into and i suspect that you got -- you had a doj, department of justice investigation into these same matters, they chose not to prosecute, but that doesn't mean it exonerates representative gaetz, just means they didn't know they could make a case. i think because of the information that is already made public that it is important that the public understand whether these allegations are unfounded, whether they're verified because

you, unlike some of the cabinet positions, secretary of commerce and energy and others, this position has a very direct impact on justice that is meted out to american citizens and this isn't just implementing congressional policy, this person has to make very serious decisions about prosecutions or not prosecutions and you want to make sure that the person has as much credibility as possible. and i think there have been enough questions raised about representative gaetz that these ought to be discussed in public. >> well, frankly, we did get word earlier today that they have written to the fbi and they say they want the complete evidentiary file including all interviews in the closed investigation into gaetz's alleged sex trafficking of a minor. a witness says that gaetz didn't

know the age of that young woman at the time. and he was never changed. but what would be in that file that the judiciary members are asking for? >> yeah, look, as has been said, it doesn't have to meet the threshold for a criminal prosecution for it to play right into the kinds of concerns senate judiciary committees should have. is he subject to blackmail or extortion? because there is more out there than we are aware of. does he have -- is there evidence of a substance abuse problem? is he using illegal drugs during these transactions? has he tried to launder money by writing out a check for a young lady and saying it is for tuition reimbursement when it is for something else? all of that would be in there and the reason we're talking about this, chris, is because trump is not submitting his nominees' names to the traditional fbi background investigation, which the agency has been doing since dwight eisenhower. he's trying to do an end around

and that's why we're talking about how do we get to the ethics committee report, to the doj investigation, all of that would be not necessary if we simply have an fbi investigation. and by the way, having studied the history of the mous and the executive orders in place since eisenhower, i would assert that president biden and the senate judiciary committee should demand an fbi background investigation right now. >> what do you see the dangers if there is an end around and instead of using the traditional methods of investigation, they used private investigators? >> so, first, private investigator is loyal to whoever is paying their invoice, right? there is no incentive or motivation to get to the bottom of it. more importantly, they have no power or authority to do what the fbi would do, to pull doj files, to get into grand jury material, to figure out what that ethics report actually

says. all of that would be reviewed as part and parcel of an investigation. and the senate would be informed if we have a threatened risk that is going to head a major agency. >> there are a number of people who have been reflecting what we heard from senator lisa murkowski who said, look, we know what our responsibility is as the senate going forward. let me play that for you. >> there needs to be legitimate vetting. when i say legitimate, i mean just thorough vetting that the committees do. this is our job. this is the role of advise and consent and i think we need to embrace advise and consent with full enthusiasm. we're a separate but equal, separate but equal branch. so let's not cede any of our constitutional authorities. >> is this an opportunity, do you think at what has been most people would accept a fairly fast-paced and chaotic time for senators, particularly senate

republicans, to send a message, look, american people, you may have some concerns about what you're seeing, but don't worry, we're going to check the information, we're going to do our job, we're going to vet. and we're only going to let qualified people get through. what do you make of this kind of messaging? >> well, i think it is encouraging. that's nice sounding at least. for me, it is a we'll believe it when we see it effort. whether the senate has the background -- backbone to do real advise and consent across all of these nominations, because let's be honest here, matt gaetz, like, if you judge it across multiple different metrics, maybe is not the most unqualified of the various people that could have been nominated. there are a lot of very questionable nominations. the reason everyone is focused on matt gaetz is because of the ethics committee investigation and a lot of his colleagues don't like him on the hill.

the person nominated to run the defense department, pete hegseth, has allegations against him and his private life that are as severe if not more severe than the allegations against matt gaetz. his resume, if you will, is less, you know, he had less subject matter experience than matt gaetz does to lead a department, as significant as the department of defense, given he's a weekend talk show host for the last eight years and then go down the list, linda mcmahon is facing lawsuits and allegations, matt whitaker just nominated to be head of nato. if lisa murkowski is serious, that means there will be serious investigation and review of all of these members, not just matt gaetz and if that were to happen, that would create a ton of tension with the incoming administration, whether they have the backbone for that, i don't know. but i hope that they do. >> i want to play with trey gowdy had to say, he said this

on fox news about gaetz specifically and potential backlash to the pick. >> do not use the justice system as a weapon. and the message for republicans is don't do it on the other side either with this absurd ag pick that you just made. the justice is different. it is a combination of policy, law and also morality. you do not use our justice system as a political weapon. voters rejected it in november, and they're going to reject it if republicans try to do it also. some things rise above the din. the justice system is one of those things. >> so you lived inside this system for a long time, congressman. do you think that was the message voters were spending? do you think they're going to follow all of this carefully and will care? and if so, how could any opposition manifest itself?

>> i think a portion of the citizens will unfortunately i would suspect majority won't pay much attention to it. and it will fall just like most things do today on your partisan identity, people who in the maga world will support matt gaetz month matter what and the opposition to oppose him no matter what. my good friend trey gowdy raises the most salient point, justice department is different, and matt gaetz has serious allegations against him, and i think what you'll see is resistance to justice department actions if he's the one who is in the position because clearly there will be a presumption among the non-maga world he is using the justice department as a weapon. he's basically said he intended to do that and, of course, president-elect trump said the same thing. so, i think there is a -- we're on very, very dangerous

territory here with matt gaetz as a potential attorney general. >> well, we're keeping our eye on capitol hill for developments from there. in the meantime, thank you, congressman john yarmuth, tim miller and frank figliuzzi. coming up, guilty on all counts. the swift decision at the trial of a man accused of the high profile killing of laken riley. the emotional victim impact statements that are being read in court right now. impact statements that are being read in court right now everyone customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. customize and sa— (balloon doug pops & deflates) and then i wake up. and you have this dream every night? yeah, every night! hmm... i see. (limu squawks) only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ at humana, we believe your healthcare should evolve with you, and part of that evolution means choosing the right medicare plan for you. humana can help.

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we have this breaking news. we're standing by for the sentencing of the man convicted in the murder of laken riley. jose ibarra found guilty on ten counts earlier today in the death of the 22-year-old nursing student on the university of georgia campus earlier this year. nbc's priya sridhar is outside the courthouse for us. i understand that there have been some incredibly emotional victim impact statements and they're continuing right now. tell us the latest. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, chris. we heard from laken riley's mother, her father, her stepfather, her sister, and then several of her roommates and they're basically describing her as a young woman who loved jesus, she used to go on mission trips. she was a dedicated nursing student, she really wanted to serve her community. she was very excited to become a nurse, some of her roommates describe the type of person and friend she was, they said she

used to decorate their apartment whenever it was someone's birthday and give them different gifts and they say this entire incident has been so traumatic for all of them, they don't feel safe and comfortable walking around. many express guilt for not being with her that . let's take a listen to what her parents had to say not too long ago. >> on that horrific day, my precious daughter was attacked, beaten, and shown no mercy. she fought for her life, in dignity and to save herself from brutally raped. this sick, twisted and evil coward showed no regard for laken or human life. we are asking the same be done to him. >> our world has been torn apart

and no matter what happens here today nothing will ever bring her back. i am haunted by the thought of the fear she must have felt in those final moments and it breaks my heart knowing that she suffered. i have to live with the fact that i could not protect her when she needed me the most, the pain of not being there, of not being able to stop what happened to her is something i will never escape. >> reporter: and one of the more powerful moments was when her stepfather actually read from her diary an entry she wrote on december 17th, just a few short months before she was brutally killed, she wrote a note to her future husband, talking about how she was working on herself to be the best woman she possibly could, to be a good wife, and mother. so a loot t of these victim imp statements talking about how she won't have that bright future and she had so much promise, chris.

>> priya sridhar on a day of deep heart break and we're continuing to wait for the verdict, which we will have for you when it happens. but we appreciate it. in the meantime, we want to get some other breaking news that donald trump's lawyers just fired back after the manhattan d.a. refused to dismiss the criminal convictions in his hush money case. the president-elect's team arguing it threatens, quote, the operation of the whole government apparatus. tom winter is here to break it down. what else do they say, tom? >> a couple of things including a final line that might be more something that would be more campaign statement or something more from the president-elect's mouth saying, november 5th, 2024, the nation's people issued a mandate that supersedes the political motivations of the district attorney of new york's, quote, people, the people that the district attorney represents. this case must be immediately dismissed. so what they're arguing in their letter today kind of two fold. one, we know one of the things going on in this case, chris, you talked about it before, this

idea of presidential immunity, whether the supreme court's decision actually impacts whether this prosecution was valid, whether there should be a new trial, the types of things that could come out of what has already occurred. that has to deal with actions before election day. now since election day, in the fact that donald trump is the president-elect, what his attorney todd blanche who figures to be the next deputy attorney general, more on that in a second, that basically what they're saying here is there is a transition already under way, this is -- there is a supremacy clause in the united states and they're saying the presidential immunity doctrine and the supremacy clause must mean that this case is dismissed, just on those grounds alone, you don't even need to figure out the immunity motion, but either way they're asking the opportunity by december 20th to make a filing in this case to make that argument effectively and asking for the judge not just to delay any sort of sentencing, or to throw out any sort of sentencing, just to dismiss the case in its entirety. that's the gist of their

argument here today. blanche, of course, because he's the person that donald trump has chosen to be the next deputy attorney general presumably wants to clear all of this up before he has to go to d.c. with the mandate to do what he needs to do within the justice department. he's a former federal prosecutor, as you discussed before, and somebody who universally in law enforcement, he was certainly respected in the u.s. attorney's office for the southern district of new york. he's going to go there with an idea of doing what he needs to do, who his ag will be, of course, is a very much an open question and you already discussed that in the last couple of minutes. but the bottom line, they want to see this case dismissed in its entirety and file on that by december 20th and the possibility depending how long it takes to fill the ag position, could he be acting attorney general? there is lots of possibilities? tom winter, good to see you, thank you. up next, president-elect trump claims he won an unprecedented mandate from the american people.

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it is the buzzword we keep hearing from donald trump and his allies since his election victory. mandate. >> america has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate. >> the president has won a mandate. >> we just got an overwhelming mandate from the voters of this country.

>> you think about a president of the united states like donald trump elected with the mandate he's been given. >> ident trump that a huge mandate from the american people, they were historic. >> so you know we had, like, historic kind of numbers. especially for the president. >> well, actually as the votes have been continuing to be counted, he has fallen below 50% of the popular vote total. his margin over kamala harris has narrowed to one of the smallest in history, smaller, for example than joe biden, barack obama and george w. bush who all won the popular vote by more than 50%. another reminder, republicans have maintained control of the house, but they currently have a one-seat majority with five races still to be called. joining us now, nbc news chief political analyst chuck todd, jeremy peters, reporter for "the new york times," msnbc contributor. good to have you guys. chuck, i looked it up in the funk and wagnals, but what is a

mandate? >> ronald reagan, 1984. ronald reagan, 1980. george w. bush, 1988. 1980, not only does reagan win, he brings 12 senate seats with him. that's what a mandate looks like. this is a decisive win for donald trump in the career of donald trump. this is his best showing. this is his strongest showing. but it is sort of -- i'm watching the trump folks make almost the exact same mistake joe biden and his team made which is assuming victory equals mandate. we pulled this off, you know, biden narrowly got the senate, basically because of donald trump's temper tantrum, but they used winning the senate, holding the house and the presidency and called themselves fdr and we saw what voters said to that. when you miss interpret an election, think you have a

mandate but the voters didn't give you one, but they're acting as if this is that he at this i '88, this is -- this is certainly as decisive as we have had in the trump era, but as you point out, the numbers show still one of the closest elections in american history. >> so, jeremy, is this a case where if trump and his allies say something enough it becomes accepted, that's what it is, or is reality going to catch up with this mandate very quickly? >> right, well, that's their habit, say something until enough people start to think it is true. like january 6th wasn't really an insurrection. so, i think -- >> the last election was stolen. >> exactly, right? and eventually not only does the president-elect start to believe this stuff, but his followers probably already did, even

before he started beating the drum. to chuck's point, even when these elections are more convincing majorities, i'm thinking george w. bush's re-election in 2004, he said i have some political capital now and i'm going to spend it, it didn't work out so well for him. when you boast about these man mandates even don't have the popular support to back it up, it doesn't seem to really work out well. he pushed george w. bush pushed immigration reform. and we know how that ended up. crashed and burned in congress. we're still waiting. >> yeah. so, chuck, in the new article about trump burning what political capital he might have, quickly, you write he's taking full ownership of the entire bureaucracy now. there is no fantasy or myth cal deep state to blame for not fulfilling his promises. he's appointing folks he says shares his vision. no excuses of being jammed by the old establishment wing of

the gop. but given trump's ability to thrive under circumstances that might bury any other politician, what is the real level of threat as you see it? >> he's clearly trying to bully his own party into acting as if they have a mandate. i go back to the biden example, and we know trump is going to find himself in the same position. he's going to want to do his tax bill. but it is going to be bigger than that, it is going to be one giant bill, reconciliation, we all hated that word when we had to deal with it at 21 and 22 and they have one shot at this and you have this incredibly narrow majority in the house where they can't afford to lose one or two votes. in any given specific agreement. this is more of a slog than they realize and i think burning all this capital on confirmation, on trying to get folks who literally, you know, if anybody

is paying attention, they're not going to like the picks, this is, you know, as one of the lines you see on social media, these folks didn't vote for matt gaetz, they just wanted cheaper eggs. and so when you go about this, he's now going to own everything before he could blame all those establishment republicans, i couldn't get my -- there is no one to blame anymore. i just don't think he realizes everything is going to stick to him now. i know he thinks he can talk his way out of everything, but now he controls the bureaucracy and the politics of his party. it is all going to stick to him, which is why recovery for the democrats may simply be -- they may thank overreach by trump. >> well, i think to that point, jeremy, lara trump talked earlier today about getting some of trump's polarizing cabinet picks confirmed. take a listen. >> the american people overwhelmingly came out and elected donald trump. they really did send a loud and

clear message they want donald trump to have every ability to do what he needs to do as president of the united states and one of the things that he needs on his side are people in these key positions. he can't do it and lo. he needs a team around him and he's strategically picking all these people to do just that. >> the price of eggs, are they overextrapolating what the american people said. he was elected, fair and square, they hold the senate, likely hold the house, but is it dangerous to interpret winning as whatever you want, go ahead, that's what we're telling you, do whatever you want? >> this is the kind of behavior you expect from a president-elect who had a super majority in the senate, elected on his coattails and that's just not the case. with gaetz, i think you've seen enough republican skepticism in the senate to his nomination. i thought it was curious lindsey

graham put out a statement saying this should go through the proper process and senators not close off their minds to this. that says is there a t of resistance in the senate and doesn't take a lot of votes for this to fall apart. >> there is indication he wants to fight it out. >> tee despite what we know about him, the various allegations against him, and his kind of, you know, just dogged myopic determination to defend trump about almost anything, he is a popular figure among the maga base. especially around the january 6th case and, you know, his ing of history there. the maga base sees gaetz as a top surrogate, if not kind of maga heir and that accounts for something. i don't know that that means he's going to get through in the

senate though. >> we'll see if that's enough. jeremy peters, chuck todd, another great piece, i recommend it to folks. thanks so much. don't freak out. thanksgiving is just eight days away. how much of a bite will the turkey and fixings take out of your budget this year? good new details next. budget t? good new details next. ["the glory of love" plays] giving. [♪ you've got to give a little ♪] [♪ take a little ♪] giving without expecting something in return. ♪ giving that's possible through the power of dell ai with intel. so those who receive can find the joy of giving back. ♪ [♪ that's the glory of love. ♪] (♪♪) if you're on medicare, remember,

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this breaking news from inside a courtroom in athens, georgia, where a judge is about to sentence jose ibarra after finding ibarra guilty earlier today of murdering laken riley, athen county superior court judge h. patrick haggard. there was no jury at this trial. he made the decision of guilty, and, of course, if you've been following it, you know that 22-year-old augusta university nursing student was killed while jogging on february 22nd. this case been at the center of a political firestorm, republicans trying to tie her dense death to evidence of president biden's failed immigration policies. >> -- without the possibility of parole. count two will be vacated as a matter of operation of law.

count three vacated by operation of law. count four, vacated by operation of law. count five, life in prison, consecutive to count one. count six, 20 years to serve consecutive to count five. count seven will merge with count one. count eight, 12 months consecutive to count six. strike that. 12 months -- i don't want it to six. this is just consecutive. count nine, 12 months,

consecutive. count ten, five years, consecutive. to count six. so that would mean the misdemeanors would come after the felonies. that will be the sentence. mr. ibarra, i would advise you that you have 30 days from today to seek any post judgment relief in the form of a motion for a new trial or appealing this case directly.

if you make a motion for a new trial, and that is denied, you have 30 days from that date to file your first appeal. first level of appeal. court will appoint a lawyer to represent you. if you cannot afford one. i'll also advise you that you have four years from the date that your conviction becomes final in order to file a habeas corpus petition. mr. donley, can you tell me, are you all going to be involved in the next stage? >> that remains to be seen. my understanding is that we will remain on at the court's appointment until -- unless relieved by consequence. >> all right. and you'll make those

arrangements. >> we will. we will communicate with mr. ibarra and the court. >> all right. anything else, miss rolls? >> no, your honor. >> okay. it is going to take a little -- can we take -- okay. that will be fine. we can do that. >> everybody remain seated, please. >> all right. that will conclude the proceedings. >> an extraordinarily emotional day in that athens, clark county courtroom, in georgia. you just heard jose ibarra sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, a second

life, consecutive life sentence, plus 20 years, plus two 12-month sentences, plus 5 years for a total of 27 years, in addition to the two consecutive life sentences. i want to bring in msnbc legal analyst and criminal defense attorney danny cevallos. let's start there. he was found guilty on all ten counts on the ones in which he was sentenced, life, life, 20 years, a year, a year, five years. clearly a message the judge is sending there. these are not concurrent sentences. >> it is that reason that i think you're getting a glimpse into the judge's feeling about this case. because when it comes to the murder convictions, under the statute, because the state did not seek the death penalty, that left the judge with a binary choice, two decisions, life without the possibility of parole, or life with the possibility of parole. but now you see the judge imposing consecutive sentences as opposed to concurrent sentences, which are generally

speaking the norm. so that tells you that this judge by conseccing this defendant, he's saying he thinks this defendant was not just guilty, but really guilty of a horrible, horrible crime. because consecutive sentences mean you have to serve your sentence end over end over end over end, you don't start one sentence until you completed the one before, concurrent sentences you serve them all at the same time. so this is -- he's essentially maxing out this defendant in sentencing. >> one thing that the prosecution did and very powerfully was to lay out a timeline, so she goes jogging in the morning. she texted her mom at 8:55 a.m. on february 22nd saying going for a run. and then there is surveillance footage from on the campus and you see it here, she called her mother at 9:03, her mother didn't answer. at 9:11, riley called 911.

the operator calls her back twice. and at 9:28 a.m., the heart rate data from her smartwatch showed that her heart stopped. we played a little earlier the heart gut wrenching testimony of her parents, her dad saying i couldn't protect her. and knowing that from the time or before the time at 9:11 she called 911, and 9:28, when her heart stopped beating, there were horrors inflicted upon this innocent young woman. given that, and by the way, the prosecution also played body cam video in court of the moment her family learned she was dead, is there any surprise that the judge did what he did? >> none. i'm a jaded defense attorney and i had to turn away during a lot of this evidence, but what this case may be remembered for is

that it shows us how far technology has proceeded. it makes it so hard to get away with a crime, where as in the 1960s and '70s, you could hop into your amc gremlin and disappear from society. you can't do anything without creating a digital trail. look at the evident in this case, the gps information from her watch, you saw the surveillance video there, you had the body cam, you had dna, you had fingerprints, you had absolutely everything and the prosecution organized that. >> she fought for her life. >> exactly. not only do you have evidence of that, you had 911 calls, evidence of injuries on the defendant, shortly after, you had dna under fingernails, i mean, the evidence in this case was overwhelming. that, by the way, and the defense may not say this out loud, that is why you choose a judge only bench trial in cases like this. normally you do that maybe if you have a complex issue of law. no complex issue of law in this case. you do that when your case is

hopeless. you do that when you know you have no chance and you know you have a case where a jury is going to be furious with your client because the evidence is so overwhelming. now, it is not an official rule, but generally speaking, you take a bench trial when you know you're going to lose and it might curry a little favor with the judge when it comes to sentencing because you spared him and the prosecution a two-week, three-week long jury trial when with a bench trial, you saw this case was in and out in four days. that's pretty typical for a bench trial. that might get you a little bit of help with the judge. that was about the only thing this defendant had going for him when it came to sentencing. and everything else was really bad news for the defense including that heartrending testimony from the victims in this case. and really everyone is a victim in this case. >> and anybody who knew her, anybody who loved her, let's bring in nbc's priya sridhar outside the courthouse in georgia. talk about the emotion that was being felt inside, priya. >> reporter: it was just

unbelievable. i don't think there was a dry eye among the spectators, the family members, friends and roommates coming into this courthouse behind me every single day, listening to all this testimony. it was so difficult for them to hear some of the more graphic pieces of evidence including actually seeing the clothing that laken riley was wearing on that last day of her life, when she was going out for that jog, just covered in blood and then hearing those gruesome graphic details from the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on her. we heard from as you mentioned both of her parents, her stepdad who read a journal entry she had written herself. we heard her own words talking to her future husband, just about how excited she was to meet him in the future, and how she was trying to conduct herself in a godly way and have relationships to be the best future wife and mother that she could be. we also heard from several of her roommates that just described her as such a loving friend, the small acts of kindness, decorating their apartment on birthdays and

presenting gifts and just how different their future will be without her in it. they say that this is just traumatizing for all of them, they don't feel safe walking around, and they really pleaded with the judge to deliver the sentence that he ultimately delivered, chris. >> thank you so much for that, priya. we saw some video as we were watching this of jose ibarra walking or being walked out of the courtroom. what faces him now? >> well, this normally sentencing takes months after a conviction. so, to some degree, i won't say it is unusual, it is unusual in high profile cases that the case proceeded right to sentencing after a bench trial. but it is permitted under georgia law. normally you need months to prepare a presentence investigation report and most of the way sentencing is much more complex because you have a midrange type sentence. you might have the prosecution asking for 20 years and the

defense asking for five years. that was not an issue here. under georgia law, someone convicted of these crimes is either getting life with or life without the possibility of parole. and, yes, the judge had to calculate or figure out what he was going to give on the lesser crimes, but they're really not as consequential because he's already serving these life without sentences consecutively. so whatever he gets on the misdemeanor really doesn't matter. from here, he's going to go, get processed, in the prison system, he can pursue his appeals, but he'll be inside while he does that, not out. >> guilty on ten counts and by my count one, two, three, four, five, six, actual sentences. so the four that the judge said he vacated, why? >> that's a doctrine called merger, whatever they may call it in georgia, but the idea is that you don't necessarily -- you cannot sentence people for essentially crimes that maybe they're in the alternative, so, essentially, they're saying those crimes, you don't sentence on those because they're part of

the lead crime, they sort of merge into it. and that's why it wasn't a matter of innocence or wasn't a matter of mercy, it was an operation of law. and if he hadn't done that, you better believe on appeal he would have challenged the validity of the sentence. it is not a statement that he somehow is declining the sentence on some of those convictions, it is instead just a legal procedural issue that the judge really had to do. >> so, let me just say, finally, you know, for a lot of people who use the word closure there is no word for closure when your daughter is brutally murdered. there is nothing that can bring her back. he will never see the light of day, right? >> if you're playing the odds, unless there is some magical appeal, you know what, i'll go as far as to say it is virtually impossible he'll ever see the light of day. i followed this trial, sometimes you see appealable issues. i saw none. i don't know the defense could find any -- maybe they have a couple of evidentiary issues, but those are a long shot on

appeal as it is. i feel pretty confident in saying you can bet this is someone who will never see free air or the sunlight as a free man again. >> danny cevallos, thank you. we'll be right back. danny u we'll be right back. hi, my name is damian clark. if you have both medicare and medicaid, i have some really encouraging news that you'll definitely want to hear. depending on the plans available in your area, you may be eligible to get extra benefits with a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. most plans include the humana healthy options allowance. a monthly allowance to help pay for eligible groceries, utilities, rent, and over-the-counter items. the healthy options allowance is loaded onto a prepaid card each month. and whatever you don't spend, carries over from each month. plus, your doctor, hospital and pharmacy may already be part of our large humana networks. so, call the number on your screen now, and ask about a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. and remember,

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[ screeching ] [ chuckling ] [ vocalizing ] that's a choice. [ vocalizing ] think of what we could do together.

♪♪ ♪♪ it is good to be back with you on this second hour of "chris jansing reports." at this hour, the gaetz keepers. the closed meeting happening now on capitol hill. lawmakers deciding whether to release the house ethics committee report on trump's pick for attorney general, matt gaetz. but will to see the light of day with pushback from the speaker? and back in the ring. donald trump taps former wrestling executive linda mcmahon to lead the department of education. but her choice is bringing publicity to lingering charges that the wwe abused workers, including children. also,