landslide in the 17 blue states and a republican has won a landslide in the 25 red states. it's two different nations. they are winning big majorities only and half the country, and i think that's part of the illusion of these close national elections is there are very few places anymore where elections are close. it's just the aggregate of the country. >> michael pot hurts her, the piece is in his sub stack. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> that is all in on this wednesday night. alex wagner tonight starts now. good evening, alex. >> hard to imagine any politician, anything gaining a majority of support or interest or anything.

thank you, chris. tonight, we are turning to the greater los angeles area where firefighters are fighting five wildfires at once. collectively, they have burned more than 25,000 acres in the past 36 hours. completely destroying at least 1,000 buildings. just before we got on air, officials announced two schools have o been destroyed. officials announced that all unschools in the los angeles unified school district, which is d the second biggest school district in the united states, that they will be closed tomorrow because of the crisis playing out in los angeles. g these fires are happening in relatively dense urban areas. they have forced more than 100,000 residents to evacuate their homes, to cut off power for hundreds of thousands of customers. they have left at least five people dead. to understand how these fires got so bad, experts are pointing

to pewind and water. in cold months, california faces a unique topigraphical areas. the air gets faster and warmer as it races downhill, which is how the wind has created gusts of up to 100 miles per hour around the fires. these santa ana winds are abnormally strong. the strongest in more than a decade. experts don't think they alone would have excaused fires this destructive. the winds were made extra dangerous by the rain and lack thereof in southern california over the past few years. 2022 and 2023 were some of the wettest rainy seasons ever recorded in southern california. in the past eight months, a lot of the region has seen less than

a quarter inch of rain. that comes after a summer of record-breaking heat. all of that means the vegetation meof southern california, the trees and bushes and grass, all of that spent years growing, especially in the wet years, only to spend the past eight months drying out and becoming giant piles of fuel for these fires. normally, los angeles would start seeing rain in the month of november, which would lower the fire risk. but it did not this year. that confluence of factors, the abnormally strong winds and abundance of dry, fire-prone fi vegetation, both of those factors are likely getting worse because of climate change, by cthe way. those factors are what experts are saying made these fires so bad. as to why these fires have been hard to put out, officials are pointing to wind and water. overnight last night, the winds

were so strong that all firefighting aircraft were grounded. without air support to do water drops, firefighters were stuck fighting the flames alone. not only did that mean firefighters had to fight four major fires across different corners of the region, but it meant strong winds picked up embers sending them miles from the main fires and creating small spot fires. even with 9,000 firefighters in los angeles county, that meant personnel was spread incredibly thin. here was l.a. county fire chief e anthony marone earlier today. >> there are not enough firefighters in l.a. county to address four separate fires of this magnitude. we are doing the very best we can. but, no, we don't have enough fire personnel in l.a. county between all of the departments to handle this. >> to make matters worse, water

for firefighters' hoses was in sport supply. the hydrant system relies on water tanks, each one holding around a million gallons. by 3:00 a.m. last night, they had all run dry. 15 hours of fighting multiple major fires at once had depleted the tanks faster than they could be refilled. tonight, thankfully, the air su. additional firefighters are also on their way coming from all across california as well as arizona. they are expected as early as tonight. president biden has signed a major disaster declaration which will clear the way for federal funds and resources to help fight the fires. officials warn that los angeles is not out of the woods yet. the national weather service is cautioning that walthough the winds will cacontinue to die do throughout tonight, another round of powerful santa ana winds could pick up again as early as tomorrow afternoon.

officials also warn that despite what is nearly 36 hours of continuous firefighting from l.a.'s 9,000 firefighters, four of the five major fires are still at 0% containment and could continue to spread. evacuation zones around the fires have expanded multiple times vein the past 24 hours. officials ask that anyone near the fires keep up to date on all evacuation orders and warnings, they pack a go back, make an evacuation plan and leave immediately when ordered to do so. we go now to morgan chesky who is live in altadena, california. what can you tell me about the status of the fire there? >> reporter: the status is heartbreaking in every direction you look. one of the main thoroughfares. i see nothing but fire trucks. we have another passing me right

now. i'm standing across the street from a junior high that will likely be hia total loss as a result of this eaton fire. this time yesterday, i remember yeseeing the notification it wa 400 acres. it's hard to fathom how this time tonight we are looking at a g blaze that's 10,000 acres and responsible for claiming at sileast five lives. i think what's most important to say whis that it's still very mh actively burning in and around the hills of this area. we have had a chance to report on some of the fire fight. you mentioned it, but i want to reinforce this fact for everyone listening and watching tonight. that is, when we saw an apartment building engulfed in flames, i saw the engine pull up this afternoon, a fire captain have one of his firefighters attach a hose to a hydrant and that hose didn't fill up. i asked the captain, out of every ten hydrants you attach to today, on average, how many are you getting full water from? little to none.

it was at that point that the whole crew stopped, looked up at this apartment building and they realized there was nothing they could do except try to spray what little water they had on an opposing e ing building to keep from heating up next door. i heard it elsewhere. that's certainly going to be one of the aspects of the fire fight that's going to be folk focuse. i don't know i covered a fire and seen so many firefighters and so many fire trucks and so little water being used on one blaze after another. to reinforce the scale of this tragedy, this generational disaster happening here in southern california, a gentleman pulled up in his car with his wife while we were watching the apartment building burn. he wanted to check on his mother's home which was next door. he was relieved to see it was still standing. when he realized there was no water, you could see him become

crestfallen in an instant. i asked, have you been personally impacted by this i elsewhere. he said between myself and my se wife, we have five family members who have lost homes as a result of this fire. a fire that's one of four, perhaps five burning in this area, that is still burning at this hour and burning this time tomorrow. >> that's just a catastrophic situation, morgan. the image of firefighters with hoses run dry is a terror. i wonder if the fact that firefighting aircraft is back in the skies, whether that's mitigating this at all. what you can tell us about other methods by which they are trying to extinguish the blazes. >> reporter: we have seen some aircraft return to the skies. winds have died down somewhat. there's a hope that they can make some progress. i should add that there's only a limited amount of firefighting

that aircraft can do under the cover of darkness. some helicopters are equipped with infrared that will allow them. the planes that we see during the day, they typically don't operate at night. if there's any solace whatsoever, it's that the winds have somewhat died down and that crews can perhaps position themselves in more defensive areas as some of the spot fires pop up. alex, you walk up and down this main thoroughfare in altadena, you meet someone if they have not personally lost a home or a business, they know someone who has.pe >> morgan, you are doing some essential reporting there. this is an unfathomable level of destruction. thank you for that. stay safe. a brush fire has broken out in the hollywood hills area of los angeles.

that's according to the fire chief who said that at a news conference this evening. a mandatory evacuation order has been issued for that area.r we will get more on this as we talk with a meteorologist with the national weather service in los angeles. dr. cohen, i'm really -- a lot of people -- we have so many questions, all of us, about the magnitude, the scope of this fire, these fires. the first thing that strikes me as inordinate and unusual are the winds and how fierce they are. can fiyou talk a little bit abo how unusual these santa ana winds are in terms anof velocit and their ongoing status? >> we have had some of the most historic combinations of powerful winds, destructive, life-threatening wind storm that combined with very dry edconditions and a tremendous amount of fuel, vegetation, for

the fires to burn through, from all the precipitation we got in the past couple of years. it turned off. the fuel dried out. it led to the very catastrophic circumstances across southern california. >> as we talk about the circumstances, there were these two years of almost deluge in lu 2022 and 2023. really, really wet seasons in california. then there was -- this year has been incredibly dry. the feast or famine aspect of this, how unusual is that, that you would have these really wet seasons and really dry seasons that dried out all the vegetation that sprang up in the previous two years? >> it's certainly not common.nl what we have seen over the past 24 hours are apocalyptic scenes. there's no other way to put it. that's something that really is a once in a lifetime or even much longer outcome.

the main message here is that everyone needs to remain at a high state of readiness, have multiple ways to receive emergency information from law enforcement, from emergency management officials. when the evacuation orders come, you rsmust take those seriously and evacuate. your life depends on it. >> if feels like the destruction is increasing at a ferocious clip. i wonder what you can tell us about the forecast ahead. we know the winds are dying down right now, but they are expected to strike back up again tomorrow. is that right? >> we are seeing the strongest winds now having passed at this point. talking about wind gusts over the san gabriel and santa monica mountains pushing 80 to 100 miles per hour reported during the overnight hours last night. while those winds are weakening considerably compared to where

they were, they will remain strong on the torder of 50 to miles per hour over the mountains. some of the nearby valley locations across the san fernando, san gabriel valley, santa monica and the malibu coast vicinity. we will have a tremendous amount of potential for fires to spread rapidly, to spot and cause new fires to form ahead of them with explosive fire growth. we have red flag warnings remaining in effect which indicate that the volatile combination of parameters continues to remain there for fires to n grow rapidly. everyone needs to say vigilant. don't go to bed without having multiple ways of receiving emergency information. >> dr. cohen, it is quite a time to be looking at these images in los angeles. >> our hearts go out to

everyone. >> go ahead. >> i want to say, on behalf of the national weather service, these are our communities.e these are our people. it is so heartbreaking to see all of the devastation that's occurred. i just want to make sure everyone knows that we are here for them. we work very closely with emergency management, fire agencies, law enforcement so that we have a community response to have people be prepared and respond to these disasters. our deepest sympathies go out to everyone who has been affected. >> dr. cohen, thank you so much for your time. everybody heed those warnings. we will monitor the situation throughout the hour. coming up, a new report on what donald trump did just hours before asking the supreme court for a really big favor. it involves justice samuel alito. first, the deadly fires rage in los angeles county.

the full scope of devastation is unknown. our incoming president is already playing the blame game. the breaking news coverage continues right after this break.

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it's impossible for me to express the level of appreciation and cooperation we

received from the white house and this administration. mr. president, thank you for being here. not just being here today. thank you for being here since the minute of this incident. >> that was california governor newsom with president biden today. that was happening at wildfires blaze through southern california. as the governor received support from the outgoing president, the incoming president is throwing barbs. president-elect trump attacked the governor writing, governor "new scum" refused to sign for snowmelt to flow into california. he is the blame for this. the governor's office responded, there's no such document. that is pure fiction. earlier tonight, a few moments ago, the governor himself responded.

>> people are literally fleeing. people have lost their lives. kids lost their schools. families completely torn asunder. this guy wanted to politicize it. i have a lot of thoughts. i know what i want to say. i won't. i stood next to the president of the united states of america today. i was proud to be with joe biden today. he didn't try to divide us. >> joining me is charlie sykes, a columnist at "the atlantic." what's your reaction to the situation as we go through these horrifying images of destruction and despair? a major american city laid waste by these unmanageable fires. this is the incoming president's reaction. >> it's a catastrophe of global magnitude and man tragedy hard

to get your head around. there's a time to ask questions about why are the firefighters not getting water, but this is not that moment. people may think that this is normal. but there once was a time, actually, that -- i'm old enough to remember, when a disaster like this would bring out the best in americans. we would pull together. let's put partisan politics aside for the moment and let's assure the people of southern california that this country has their back, that we will do whatever it takes. donald trump does not have that instinct. he just won the presidency. he is about to assume the presidency. yet, his first instinct is to lash out, is to politicize, is to make up declarations that didn't exist. to use juvenile nicknames for the governor of california. i guess the juxtaposition of the

seriousness, of the tragedy, and the unseriousness and demagoguery of donald trump should be breath taking, but we have seen this. for anyone who thinks he has been sobered by his return to power or that he will grow into office, this is his first instinct is to lash out and score points and to see this through the crudest political lens. this is who donald trump is. i suppose we shouldn't be surprised. the problem is, how will this translate into his presidency? how will this translate into the way the federal government deals with these disasters in the future? we have had troubling indications from the past. >> i also think the rhetoric increasing increasingly is to pit americans against each other, it bears fact checking. part of the reason firefighters don't have water is because they are tapping the same lines at

the same time to fight large fires. the water pressure goes down. number two, this is from the national resources defense council. for donald trump to tie water management from the bay delta area into devastating wildfires that have cost people's lives and homes is nothing short of irresponsible. it's happening at a time when the metropolitan water district has the most water stored in its system in the history of the agency. it's not a matter of having enough water coming from northern california to put out a fire. it's about the devastating impacts of a changing climate. we just spoke with a meteorologist. we were talking about climate extremes, weather extremes, years of deluge, years of growth. winds that are increased by climate change. all of those factors coming together on the city of los angeles. that's what's happening now. >> yeah. >> to ask for donald trump to --

first of all to lead on this, but also to diagnose a problem that is here on our doorstep, which is the climate problem we face as a globe, seems like an impossibility. >> also, is it too much to ask he not lie about this particular moment? he said this rhetoric phrase, the ties -- i guess one question we have to ask is, how does it help? is he contributing to the solution? is his rhetoric going to make it more likely that los angeles survives, that lives are saved, that houses are protected, that schools are able to be shielded from this? what does he accomplish by his rhetoric except to scratch the id of his grievances? we have had reports from his first term that he considered not giving federal disaster aid to certain states because he didn't like the politics of their governor. this is the real danger.

will he be -- we know how vindictive he is. at this moment of maximum tragedy and danger, if he cannot restrain himself, what can we expect when he gets back into office? there's going to be a massive rebuilding. there will be more disasters like this. how will donald trump respond? will he try to take it out on his political opponents? will he see everything through the lens of his own ego and his resentments? this becomes more than just simply mean tweets. this raises questions about, will he be the president of all americans and a president who wants to solve problems and protect the american people as opposed to scoring these petty points? >> i think this is where it tips from just rhetoric and nastiness and donald trump's bad behavior into a real issue in terms of americans getting the help they need. you mentioned what happened in

his first term. he was actually going to withhold aid from california after the 2018 wildfires until his aides showed him that there were parts of orange county that supported trump. because of that, he relented. that happened in puerto rico. delayed aid to washington state, which was run by a democrat for four months. he told the governors of connecticut and maryland that they should ask nicely for their disaster aid. they were not trump acolytes. he delayed disaster aid to george georgia because he was mad. he delayed aid to utah. this is what he did in the first term. what do you think of the road ahead as he comes in more emboldened to punish his enemies? what that means in a moment like this where he is looking at the

same images we are, and this is his response. >> alex, that list you read is breathtaking. we ought to remember that. i guess one of the differences with trump 2.0 is that there were apparently some grown-ups or responsible individuals in the room who told him, you shouldn't do this, or figured out a way to make him relent. will they be there in the next term? this is what i think is the scary part. the people he surrounded himself with now are the ones who i think are going to reinforce many of his worst instincts, are not going to tell him that, you cannot take out your resentment against the governor, who you call these ridiculous nicknames, you can't take out that political resentment on the american citizens, on the american people who have been impacted by this. who will say that? is stephen miller going to tell him things like that? will the people -- the maga

acolytes that he stacked his administration with, will they be the ones who appeal to the better angel of his nature? we saw it in his first term. he was dissuaded from the worst, most damaging things. it's not clear that will happen again this next time. again, to your point, he has seen these images. if these images do not sober you, if these images don't make you cry out and think, these are our fellow americans, these are fellow human beings, this is a tragedy, if you don't have that instinct, then i think it's a tremendously troubling commentary on the man who is about to become president of the united states. >> yeah. we know from governor newsom how essential white house support is in moments like these. we look towards january 20th to see what's next. charlie sykes, msnbc contributor, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you.

still to come, donald trump throws a hail mary to the supreme court to get out of his impending criminal sentencing. i will talk about it with lisa rubin and mark joseph stern coming up next. did you know... 80% of women are struggling with hair damage? just like i was. pantene miracle rescue deep conditioner with melting pro-v pearls. locks in moisture to repair 6 months of damage. for resilient, healthy-looking hair. if you know, you know it's pantene. prime's exclusive wild card playoff game is coming part of wild card weekend. the steelers. the ravens. they're a prime super bowl contender. what a night! prime's exclusive wild card playoff game. steelers. ravens. part of wild card weekend. hey, everybody. only on prime.

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donald trump's sentencing in

the new york hush money case is two days away. he is throwing a hail mary in the direction of the u.s. supreme court. trump's lawyers filed an emergency appeal this morning arguing the justices should block trump's sentencing because he is protected by the court's ruling on presidential immunity. they have been nominated to take top positions in trump's incoming justice department. if confirmed, they will go from fighting the law on trump's behalf to enforcing it. today, justice sotomayor told new york prosecutors to respond by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. as the court signals an interest in trump's appeal, abc news is reporting, and nbc has confirmed that justice alito spoke with donald trump on tuesday in a call initiated by trump to recommend one of alito's former law clerks for a job in the incoming trump administration. in a statement, justice alito

said, we did not discuss the emergency application he filed today and i was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed. joining me now are lisa rubin, legal correspondent, and mark joseph stern, a senior writer for "slate" magazine. mark, because it's samuel alito, i need your reaction to a friendly phone call between buddies. didn't talk about any of the matters before the court. your thoughts? >> i think there's a 0% chance that sam alito is telling the truth when he says he did not know that this emergency application would be filed. trump and his legal team have made it very clear that they would go to the united states supreme court to block this sentencing if necessary. alito reads the news. he doesn't live in a hole. i think that he was well aware when he got this phone call that it would look at a minimum really bad, that it would raise a lot of questions about what

exactly he discussed with the president-elect. yet, he still decided to have the conversation. to do so about someone who is going to be apparently a low-level appointee in this administration. we are not talking about an appeals court judge or potential attorney general. we are talking about someone who might be general counsel at a federal agency. the idea that trump needed alito to vouch for him and needed him to do so at this moment because it was so urgent, it really does not pass the sniff test. it suggests to me that something else was going on here. >> also, maybe that sam alito doesn't care. this is someone who has said, middle finger to the optics to me being partisan, whether it's my wife raising an insurrection flag or taking a call from the president when he will have important business before the court. do you think sotomayor saying, get your filing to me by tomorrow morning, signals that

the court is going to take this up and take it up with quickly? >> i think it's likely we will hear from the court before friday. it doesn't mean that we will have the outcome that trump would like it to have. this is justice sotomayor trying to make sure that in the interest of fairness, they have an opportunity to have full briefing and that they can make a decision, not that they will, but they could make a decision prior to friday with ample time to do so. >> mark, how do you read the tea leaves on this? we will get into trump's legal argument in a second. this is based on the presidential immunity ruling handed down by this conservative supreme court. >> i think there's a good chance that the supreme court will step in and halt the sentencing and run interference for donald trump again and claim that the judge in new york somehow allowed for illegitimate testimony. i don't like this prediction. this should be laughed out of court. it's a very frivolous appeal.

but this court has a track record of stepping in and twisting, con torting the law t help trump. the fact the court is acting quickly making sure it can get the filing in before friday means there's a chance they will say, this sentencing cannot happen. >> can you talk about trump's argument? mark is not a fan of it holding water with the court. trump's lawyers are contending presidential immunity extends to president-elect and being a convicted felon is not a good thing when you try to carry out presidential duties. a lot of convicted felons can tell you how much of a mark that is against you even after you served your time. is there some weight to that argument? >> it would be some -- it would be harmful to have this on his record? i don't think it animates any of the concerns the court was thinking about whether n it iss

that ruling. they were concerned about distraction in terms of the time it took away from the president as well as the being under the shadow of investigation and prosecution while conducting their job. simply being sentenced doesn't do that. the fact this man had been convicted by a jury of 34 felony counts didn't stop him from being elected with 312 electoral votes. the idea that this is going to stigmatize him in some way that will be irreversible is also kind of laughable when he is going to be as of friday ten days away from his second inauguration. >> for people who aren't following -- he was convicted of the felony but not a convicted felon until sentenced. there's some meaningful difference between who donald trump is on thursday and who he is on friday after he has been sentenced. >> particularly given that the judge said, i don't intend to sentence him to incarceration or probation or any penalties. he said in writing his intent is to give him an unconditional

discharge. that's no penalty whatsoever. all it does is keep the conviction intact. the only reason donald trump should or would care is because it comes with the label. >> it's the name. it's the spin. it's the messaging. it's the pr. mark, the court waited so long to hand down the immunity ruling as to render jack smith's work moot, the department of justice work moot in some ways accountability moot. if they move in 48 hours on this, i guess i wonder what you think the long-term affects are or short-term in terms of public opinion. >> we just had an election where the american people saw fit to return trump to office and didn't seem to mind the court stepping in and running interference for him. i think the reality here is that the law has been con torted to such an extreme degree that i don't know how much more damage

scotus could do to it. what we see is chief justice roberts' immunity opinion working as it was intended to work. it's gunking up the justice system. it's a confusing, imprecise, ambiguous opinion on purpose. chief justice roberts did not explain the difference between an official act and unofficial act. as the dissenters pointed out at the time, and they were correct, all this did was give trump ample fodder to delay and appeal every single adverse decision against him on the grounds there might be some plausible argument that he could seize immunity and use it to prevent a sentencing and the future more prosecution. i think that the court's image is tarnished. i'm not sure its decision making is breaking through to the american people as it should. i think intercepting a sentence

here when trump doesn't face prison time would represent one of the more egregious extensions of that immunity decision that i could even contemplate. >> with justices like these, who needs a separate and co-equal branch of government? i have so much more to ask you about. the president-elect is trying to stop attorney general garland from releasing special council jack smith's final report on january 6. will he be successful? farxiga has been trusted again and again, and again. ♪far-xi-ga♪ ♪far-xi-ga♪ ask your doctor about farxiga.

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with 12 days go until donald trump is inaugurated and begins to clean house at the justice department, the race is on to salvage what remains of special council jack smith's two criminal cases against trump. all that's left is the two volume report outlining the investigation and charging of both the 2020 election interference case against trump and the criminal case over trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents. the special council's office revealed attorney general garland is planning to release part of the report to the public. the volume about trump's alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election. the fate of that much of the report now rests at the 11th circuit court of appeals. back with me now are lisa rubin and mark joseph stern, senior

editor for "slate" magazine. lisa, why can't the attorney general release this report? >> because judge cannon of the southern district of florida, she was the judge who had the mar-a-lago document case, before she decided it was unconstitutional for a special council to have brought that in the first place, she decided yesterday that she was going to temporarily enjoin the attorney general, jack smith, and anybody working with either one of them, not only from releasing the final report and by that she didn't distinguish between the volumes. >> because they are one final volume. >> even though she doesn't have jurisdiction over that part -- >> the january 6 case. >> she enjoined the release of the report and also said to them, you can't even disseminate or convey to people the contents or information of the report in any way beyond the department of justice. that means, garland can't release the report without being in non-compliance with the court order. >> this goes to the 11th circuit

court of appeals, mark. before, that would have been seen as a conservative court that might not do the bidding of someone who is basically running up again frt st the incoming republican president. but has been going up against cannon. >> i don't think the 11th circuit will back up judge cannon. judge cannon leapt ahead of the 11th circuit here. trump and his co-defendants filed the requests at the 11th circuit and with judge cannon at the same time. if the 11th circuit had wanted to block the release of this report or any part of it, it could have done so. it didn't. it chose not to. that's a good omen. it suggests the 11th circuit will not try to block this report. judge cannon wouldn't wait. she couldn't wait for the superior court, which has total jurisdiction over this case, as

lisa said. judge cannon doesn't have jurisdiction. it's not her case. she couldn't wait for them to act. she said, i'm going to step in and shield trump and his co-defendants from the release of any part of this report, including provisions of the report that are all about the election subversion case tried or at least attempted to be tried in a d.c. court over which she has no control, no authority, no jurisdiction. this is a great example of her acting without authority and outside her lane. >> it's par for the course with cannon. she's made a number of these calls that have ultimately humiliated her. >> i don't know that aileen cannon sees it that way, that she feels humiliated. i think she feels celebrated at the right. you saw that with trump going out of his way to praise her as a brilliant and brave jurist. aileen cannon, while den igrate

other places. >> the 11th circuit slapped her down before. >> absolutely. the 11th circuit slapped her down during the vest investigat phase. she tried to prevent law enforcement from making use of the things they seized from mar-a-lago. it was because of that, that the indictment was delayed, perhaps longer than it would have been even though this case was indicted in june of 2023. putting that aside, yes, aileen cannon is a judicial maximalist for all of the reasons mark was outlining. grabbing authority and power that she doesn't have to return what has now become a predictable result for donald trump. >> mark, if the 11th circuit does rule in favor of the doj, if part of this report comes out, what import do you think it has? what weight do you think it will carry? >> i think it will prove conclusively that jack smith was right to bring these charges,

that merrick garland was right to appoint him and back him up under serious political attack and that there's a credible case that trump committed serious crimes, particularly with regard to january 6 and attempting to overturn the election. jack smith still has his hands on a great deal of evidence that we probably have not seen and that we won't see until this report is released, if it's released. the public deserves to see that. i very much hope that even if judge cannon still tries to suppress this report and keep it from the public, that maybe joe biden and merrick garland decide that immunity decision that the supreme court handed down, it works for democratic presidents, too. maybe joe biden needs to step in and ensure the public sees this record of crime, because otherwise, trump is going to step in and wipe it off the books forever. >> lisa rubin and mark joseph stern, thank you both for your time and wisdom. appreciate you. coming up, we will check

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across los angeles county, at least five people are dead and more than 100,000 are under mandatory evacuation orders as multiple wildfires continue to rage across the area.

breaking just in the last hour, there is a new and fast-moving fire that has started in the hollywood hills. right now it's being referred to as the sunset fire and the los angeles fire department has issued a mandatory evacuation for parts of that area. msnbc will of course continue to follow this very kinetic and destructive situation as we have more information throughout the evening so please stay with our coverage. but as for now, that is our show for tonight. now it is time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> that evening, and with this new report tonight, this means that the entire city of los angeles, the entire region has fire spreading through it, from the western edge that we knew about last night, the pacific palisades, now to what you just reported, the hollywood hills. that's just about dead center. and then we've already had fire out on the eastern edge of los angeles. this means that really everyone in the region now, people who,